As much as I love the Silmarillion, and probably find it my favourite of all Tolkien, (I refer here to Sil77), I think that any RPG line set in Middle-earth ought to focus upon exactly the time frame in which TOR is set: in the time of and between The Hobbit and LoTR. That's the period in Middle-earth with which most players will be familiar, even if it is just through the movies, and thus what people will most have in mind. It just seems to make sense to situate the game there.

That said, I would certainly never object if Cubicle 7 were to release supplements covering other time periods, although I don't think that will be the case (among other things, I don't think it would be within the scope of their license). And if other fans were to make up materials for other periods, I'd be interested. But for most people, Tolkien is primarily The Hobbit and LoTR. Not to mention, those are the only ME books Tolkien published in his lifetime, and thus arguably the most "authoritative."

I certainly don't want to judge on whether this or that approach is better or worse. Since you inquired, I just gave my assessment why - IMO - MERP was developed in the way it was done.
Focussing on the two core books is IMO a good decision in many respects, and the ones you mentioned certainly not the least

In doing this (judging MERP), we also have to take into account the time it was made. It began in 1982, shortly after the controversial Bakshi movie and long before anyone even dreamt of a movie like the Jackson trilogy. It was an adventurous time with RPGing in its youth and its heyday of the '80s and '90's still in the future.

Cheers
Tolwen

Brooke (& others)

It may interest you to know that I am currently working on (amongst other projects!) a Gazetteer for Near Harad & Umbar, because my campaign begins in Umbar. The current draft (not finished yet!!) can be accessed at the fanmodules website (along with a lot of other material on the areas you have expressed an interest in):

http://fanmodules.free.fr

I myself visualise Umbar in some ways as similar to Venice (ie as a martime and trading republic, proud of its republican and maritime traditions), and very scornful of Gondor, who they regard as stupid, being perceived by most of the population in Umbar as elf-lovers and king-lovers (the thought of being ruled by one person fills most Umbareans with horror!), whereas Near Harad is very similar to Egypt, being basically just a fertile strip of land around the River Harnen, with desert on either side...

It is (in most periods of Umbar's history) a crime to be an elf or to harbour an elf in Umbar's territority... (and yet players still want to play elves!)

Robin S.

Robin,

This is awesome, especially as I've had to put me Easterling project on hiatus! Will read with interest.

Robin,

Took a look at the site, but I'm not exactly sure which file is the Gazeteer. Any help would be appreciated!

Did a bit of looking myself.

Here's where I found the desired info....

Lands of the South / Umbar
Lands of the West / Near Harad

VERY nice site, Robin! Bookmarking it after I post this!

Sorry Brooke (& others), my Gazetteer on Near Harad & Umbar is still in the files section in the yahoo group 'fan modules' - you can either visit that group, or download file from this link:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/65632786/Umbar%20%...rst%20Draft.doc

Please remember, this is a first draft and is still not complete, there are still other maps to check! At the moment I am busy with my TOR magic system, once this is finished I will be back working on the Gazetteer!

Robin S.

Not much progress has been made on my unofficial Easterling Sourcebook, mostly because I have a looming deadline for my dissertation. Yet, I have expanded the projected cultures to six:


--Dawn Elves: elves who did not move West like other elves, but rather stayed in the East; I imagine that they now live to the south of the area in which Cuivinén was once located, in a rainforesty sort of environment; they are sometimes also called Jungle Elves, because of their environment, or Dark Elves, because they never beheld the splendour of Valinor; they call themselves "Dawn Elves," because they remained in the lands where the elves first awoke;
--Dwarves of the Eastern Mountains, which is inspired by the fact that four out of the fathers of the Dwarves awoke in that range; I've done some more digging, and discovered that these are likely descendents of the Ironfist and Stiffbeard Dwarves; I figure that the "Easterlings with axes" mentioned in LoTR are Dwarves of the Eastern Mountains, and that they were different enough from Western Dwarves (i.e. Durin's Folk) that they were not immediately recognizably as Dwarves as opposed to just a different stock of Men;
--the Fighting Dervishes: groups of independent hunter-fishers subdued by Khamûl in his rise to power, and who developed their unique fighting (or, as they would put it, dance) style in order to resist his growing power;
--Khamûlites: i.e. Khamûl's people, loosely based upon Mesopotamian cultures, and which, due to Tolwen's urging, I imagine being organized into an empire of city-states about a century or so before the events of The Hobbit, perhaps in the 29th century TA;
--Men of Dorwinion, whom I imagine as a racial mixture of Men of the West and Men of the East, and sort of a cultural borderland between the two regions;
--the Wainriders, whom I imagine to be much like gypsies, (or Roma, as is the preferred term), turning turn to war only when necessary or under Khamûl's influence.