Other Minds magazine, latest Issue published

[Otaku-sempai]

Not to be crass, but does Other Minds pay contributors? I'm thinking of writing up a submission but, frankly, this hubby has bills to pay!

[Tolwen]

Not to be crass, but does Other Minds pay contributors? I'm thinking of writing up a submission but, frankly, this hubby has bills to pay!

Unfortunately no - and neither is the staff paid anything. The great amount of time necessary to make an issue is wholly volunteer time spent from their own free time due to the passion for Middle-earth (this includes several rounds of feedback support and proofreading). And all the other expenses necessary to keep it running (e.g. online services or software) are paid out-of-pocket without any compensation from anyone as well.
All wrapped up, OM is a strictly non-commercial volunteer effort produced without financial or material compensation of any kind.

As much as we we'd love to see your submission in OM (especially if it is TOR-related), unfortunately we cannot pay for it. If you need payment for a submission related to Middle-earth gaming or scholarship, you have to look elsewhere unfortunately.

Cheers
Tolwen

[Falenthal]

What is our reward?
“Reward? What, like gold and treasure and magic
swords? Don’t be absurd. You shall have the gratitude
of all living beings in Wilderland, and that is worth
more than silver or precious stones.“

-Radagast, Tales from Wilderland, p.86

[Hermes Serpent]

Not to mention the fact that should anyone attempt to monetise their work utilising anything that Tolkien wrote about then either M-e E aka Saul Zaentz or the Tolkien Estate will be after them for payment to use the IP.

[Otaku-sempai]

Not to be crass, but does Other Minds pay contributors? I'm thinking of writing up a submission but, frankly, this hubby has bills to pay!

Unfortunately no - and neither is the staff paid anything. The great amount of time necessary to make an issue is wholly volunteer time spent from their own free time due to the passion for Middle-earth (this includes several rounds of feedback support and proofreading). And all the other expenses necessary to keep it running (e.g. online services or software) are paid out-of-pocket without any compensation from anyone as well.
All wrapped up, OM is a strictly non-commercial volunteer effort produced without financial or material compensation of any kind.

Understood, Tolwen, and Hermes Serpent brings up a valid point:

Not to mention the fact that should anyone attempt to monetise their work utilising anything that Tolkien wrote about then either M-e E aka Saul Zaentz or the Tolkien Estate will be after them for payment to use the IP.

Any magazine dedicated to Middle-earth role-playing games would probably need to be licensed by both Middle-earth Enterprises AND the Tolkien Estate before it could be run for profit. Or at least by M-E.

[Tolwen]

Any magazine dedicated to Middle-earth role-playing games would probably need to be licensed by both Middle-earth Enterprises AND the Tolkien Estate before it could be run for profit. Or at least by M-E.

This would open a can of worms. MEE can only license what they have the rights to (Hobbit and LotR), leaving, Sil77, UT, HoME etc. off-limits. And it is highly unlikely that the TE will be interested in licensing anything of their IP for games. The IP minefield in licensing Middle-earth stuff is well known and need not be repeated here (as is the less then amicable relationship between MEE and the TE).
And both of the above prospects are not good for scholarly discussions of Middle-earth topics as well. And these thoughts do not even remotely touch the potential costs of such a license.

Putting it all together, the current strictly non-commercial status of OM concerning very strictly abstaining from any material compensation for producing and publishing the magazine or contributors (even if it were only for covering costs) is the only option of running such a magazine.

Cheers
Tolwen

[Tolwen]

An updated version of Issue 15 has been uploaded. It contains some corrections and fixes of oversights. If you spot any other errors, let us know

Cheers
Tolwen

[jamesrbrown]

Tolwen, I don't think I ever told you this, but I enjoy your magazine. I first looked at it many years ago when I was playing Decipher's game. The articles are always very interesting and enlightening. I appreciate the volume of work you're able to produce. Can't wait for the next issue when you put a greater focus on TOR.

[Tolwen]

Hi jamesrbrown,

Tolwen, I don't think I ever told you this, but I enjoy your magazine. I first looked at it many years ago when I was playing Decipher's game. The articles are always very interesting and enlightening. I appreciate the volume of work you're able to produce. Can't wait for the next issue when you put a greater focus on TOR.

I'm happy to hear that Seeing that the material is of use for someone else is the best reward we can get. And especially such positive feedback is pleasant to hear

Cheers
Tolwen

[Tolwen]

Hi all,
Other Minds Issue 16 has just been published and is available for free download. In this Issue we have the following contributions:

• Middle-earth in Miniature, Chapter II: Dwarves: An exhaustive discussion how a Middle-earth dwarf should look like and what is on the market and whether it meets these standards. Very useful both for the wargamer, diorama builder, roleplayer or just collector.
• Review: Tales from Wilderland (TOR): Finally, we've got some more material on TOR, and even if just a review (for the time being). Hope you enjoy
• Review: Heart of the Wild (TOR): The second one for this time. We plan to have regular reviews over the next issues to catch up with the publication schedule of C7
• Umbar, Khand & Near Harad - Cultural Gazetteer: A comprehensive list of terms that is very useful for anyone playing a campaign in the area of Umbar and Near Harad (and Khand of course....)
• The population of Gondor and Rohan: The companion piece to the articles on the demographics of Eriador and Rhovanion. The corresponding urbanisation article is scheduled for OM17.

Enjoy and please feel free to comment here or also on our Facebook page!

You can find this (and all the back Issues) here.

If you encounter any issues, just send us a note and we'll fix it

For the OM team
Thomas