bought the Silmarillion today! Any pointers?

[HotSnow50]

it´s a bit like classical greek sagas, very epic at some moments and too little tactical scenes.
imagine Ungolianths end

I hate spiders but... Looking forward to spider parts

I guess that's sorta goofy... CHALLENGE YOUR FEARS, they said! hehe

[Majestic]

it´s a bit like classical greek sagas, very epic at some moments and too little tactical scenes.
imagine Ungolianths end

Ungoliant's end was especially deadly if she sat on you!

[Arthadan]

I can offer two tips.

First one is take it easy, there are very dense parts full of names which are a bit hard. Second one is use some online help to keep track of things, I'd recommend the Encyclopedia of Arda.

Tolkien wanted to tell this in a more "didactic" way (at least at some pint, a life time creating his mythology gave him plenty of time to change his mind about many things many times). The main character would have been Ælfwine, an anglo-saxon with traces of Númenorean blood who decided to sail to West and ended finding Tol Eressëa (an island near the land where the Valar dwelt). There , the Elves would have told her each night one story in a place much like the Hall of Fire of Rivendell. And stories would have been woven together by Ælfwine's questions about the characters and historical facts in them.

Instead of that we got Christopher's Middle-earth "Bible".

"In the beginning Eru, the One, who in the Elvish tongue is named Ilúvatar, made the Ainur [...]"

[Nevarre]

I have heard, that this book is a hard one to slog through... I really like Tolkien's writing style but see at the bottom that his son edited it... Anyone have any tips for me before I launch in?

The Silmarillion is a wonderful book, but my suggestion would be to not read it first, but listen to it. There's a wonderful audio book - narrated by Martin Shaw. If nothing else, you will be able to enjoy him saying the more complex words, rather then struggling yourself.

[Majestic]

I can offer two tips.

First one is take it easy, there are very dense parts full of names which are a bit hard. Second one is use some online help to keep track of things, I'd recommend the Encyclopedia of Arda.

Tolkien wanted to tell this in a more "didactic" way (at least at some pint, a life time creating his mythology gave him plenty of time to change his mind about many things many times). The main character would have been Ælfwine, an anglo-saxon with traces of Númenorean blood who decided to sail to West and ended finding Tol Eressëa (an island near the land where the Valar dwelt). There , the Elves would have told her each night one story in a place much like the Hall of Fire of Rivendell. And stories would have been woven together by Ælfwine's questions about the characters and historical facts in them.

Instead of that we got Christopher's Middle-earth "Bible".

"In the beginning Eru, the One, who in the Elvish tongue is named Ilúvatar, made the Ainur [...]"

Yeah, it very much can be similar to the Bible, which also has chapters (even nearly entire books) full of genealogies.

You know you're right about Professor Tolkien - being as he wrote the book over so many decades - changing stuff as he went along. Of course George Lucas has done the same thing with his Star Wars saga. It makes me realize how - when we start up an RPG campaign, we're forced more to 'lock everything down', for the sake of consistency. I mean sometimes - as GMs - we can retcon stuff, insert details, or fudge a contradiction. But for the most part we don't have the ability to make massive, sweeping changes to our stories once we get the ball rolling.

[HotSnow50]

...for the most part we don't have the ability to make massive, sweeping changes to our stories once we get the ball rolling.

When I read your post, Majestic, I think the part that I quoted above holds the largest interest to me right now. While I am new to TOR, I am NOT new to GameMastering/LoreMastering/etc. and I think one of the most important parts of being the "drum AND rudder" of the game is knowing that your job at hand is first and foremost to provide a great experience for your players. I am the largest Tolkien fanatic in my group of friends but, being that I am new to TOR I find myself quickly discarding my growth-gained experience as a Loremaster (ability to think quickly while simultaneously providing LORE-RELATED events, off the cuff and at the drop of a hat) in lieu of bowing to the areas of Tolkien lore that I have yet to read in my current pathing through the Silmarillion.

Majestic, this is a question I want to ask you directly. If your players want to make a trip through the Misty Mountains in search of Gollum's cave, why the heck SHOULDN'T we let them find it and take the ring for themselves? I don't feel that there's any reason why I shouldn't let my characters change canon, IF they do it in a Canonically appropriate way. No semi-automatic rifles, no lightsabers, no sacks of infinite space and mules that fire laser beams out of the butts, but... Real roleplaying that takes them there and back again.

And, heck... Who's to say the ring doesn't make them slowly destroy themselves and a little 2 paragraph narrative at the end shows just how destructively stupid it was for them to have messed with the timeline! Hah, but in a believable way, you know?

Perhaps I misunderstood what you meant by "forced more to 'lock everything down,' for the sake of consistency..." but I think even broadly-sweeping changes to canon can be done during an adventure without breaking Tolkien canon... After all, if it's so horrible to break from 100% canon why make a character in the story in the first place? Why not just read the book or watch the movie and declare the whole shabang creatively set-in-stone, you know?

[Majestic]

When I was talking more about 'locking down the setting' and such, I was meaning more of a "you've decided where things are, who the major players are, how events are unfolding" and that kind of thing". In other words (to easier illustrate my point), when George Lucas started writing his story, Han Solo was a large, green-skinned character with gills and no nose. He also had a bunch of names that ended up changing, for major characters and even entire worlds. But once filming began, and the actor Harrison Ford has been cast as Han, that character was then more or less "locked in". For other characters, he still had complete freedom. He could move worlds, characters, names, and whatever else he wanted. The same with Tolkien, who started work on (what would become) The Silmarillion way back in 1914. In many ways he had lots of freedom to move and change early concepts. The canvas was still pretty blank and wide open, and he was free to switch things around, blend concepts and characters, and make huge, sweeping changes, if he wanted to.

George Lucas took an early version of Mace Windu (from his original SW script back in 1973) and changed the character to be a brother of Leia, then a friend of Luke in later drafts. Then they revisited the name Mace for one of the Ewok movies. Later, West End Games finally created a character (a short, furry alien) with the name Mace Windu in the early 90s for their RPG, using that original name George had come up with. But all that changed when Lucas finally chose Samuel L. Jackson to play the official character of Mace Windu as a powerful Jedi Master in 1999. Before that, the character wasn't "locked in" yet, really. That's all I was referencing. How in some ways - as a GM - we are forced to really think globally and establish much of our worlds (and the characters, and history, etc.) from early on, and may not have the flexibility of the original creator (especially when we're playing in an established world).

As for your specific question, if the GM and players are all for it, I think it's totally cool to play through a "What If?" game. I've long thought that would be a fun way of doing an RPG. For whatever reason, me and my group haven't really done any of that. We've tended to stick more to our own, unique PCs, even when they're running around in a familiar world (like the Star Wars universe or Middle-earth). I have nothing at all against those who choose to do things differently, though, and think that could be a lot of fun!

[HotSnow50]

But all that changed when Lucas finally chose Samuel L. Jackson to play the official character of Mace Windu as a powerful Jedi Master in 1999. Before that, the character wasn't "locked in" yet, really. That's all I was referencing...

Totally getcha, and I didn't know that about Han's character! That's pretty wild

[Feanor]

Feanor is my favorite in the book simply because of his raw power of creativity. The second, is the Beren and Luthien tale, and third the Turin Turambar story.

[Glorelendil]

Fingolfin.