9/22/01 - Latest News
Gaming Havens - Decipher Special Reports #2,3,4!
Berendir @ 4:39 pm EST
It's been a busy day, but for the hundreds of fans who sated their thirst for knowledge on Decipher's new LOTR card game, and the numerous winners of their trivia contests, it's been well worth it. There's no way for me to bring you the entire wealth of imparted news from this chaotic message board celebration of Bilbo and Frodo's birthday, but I've been doing my best to bring the tip of the iceberg to your attention. There's still time to check it out for yourself! But for a quick recap of the days events I've written up my next three reports.
Chuck Kallenbach
Berendir @ 2:54 pm EST
The Decipher event continues, and more special reports are on the way. One of the Decipher employees who has already represented himself on the Party Message Board has just unleashed his bio: Chuck has happily put "game designer" on his tax return since 1997. He has worked for the Decipher TCG studio on Star Trek (First Contact and The Trouble with Tribbles), Star Wars (from Jabba's Palace to Endor), Young Jedi, Jedi Knights, and The Lord of the Rings. His proudest professional achievements are being lead designer for Young Jedi and designing the Star Wars CCG card, "Star Destroyer!" Interested in learning about this key player in Decipher's new LOTR Card Game? Go Here.
Gaming Havens-Decipher special report #1
Xoanon @ 12:36 pm EST
The Cool folks at Decipher are celebrating in a very special way today! They're getting the talent behind their LOTR goodies and doing Q&A sessions with them! check out Berendir's first report! More coming soon! [More]
Gamespy Poll
Berendir @ 12:02 pm EST
Elves vs. Dwarves? Gamespy.com is running an interesting poll, pitting the ancient races, Elves and Dwarves, against one another. I believe this poll shows a bit of the Middle Earth mania that is sweeping over the movie, literary, and now the gaming world. Show your love for the Havens and vote for Dwarves at Gamespy.com!
Is this directly Tolkien related? No, there are certainly Elves and Dwarves in other realms of fantasy, though none describe the ancient history the two have shared with, and against each other better than our very own Tolkien.
Decipher's Birthday Party Begins!
Berendir @ 10:11 am EST
Decipher's celebrating Bilbo and Frodo's birthday in style all through the day. Don't be late folks, if you have burning questions that just can't wait, go Here and check out the action. Throughout the day I'll be bringing updates on the happenings of this great occasion. The first event began with Kevin Reitzel - Marketing and Riders of Rohan Program. So what have we learned thus far? Well, that the LOTR trivia has been a bigger hit then the collecting of information. How many cards in the set? 365 cards total, I believe 11 cards per pack, 36 packs per box. We also now know there will be a beginning of around 200 product champions, which will be expanding over time. The questions grew progressively more difficult, which I was glad to see; especially after seeing how simple the first one was! 1. Q. In what town did Aragorn meet Frodo Baggins? 2.Q. Who is Arwen's mother? Q. The identical Elven brothers Elladan and Elrohir were how much older than their sister Arwen? Congradulations to all the winners! I believe they are being sent various prices surrounding the LOTR card game. Anyone else have any information they have learned? Throughout the day feel free to give me the heads up, i'll be around. What's next?
The real fun though rested in the three LOTR trivia questions - most highly anticipated by the message board occupants.
Answer: Bree
Answer: Celebrian
Answer: 100 years
10-11am
Tom Lischke (Design)
9/21/01 - Latest News
LOTR Game Art
Berendir @ 4:19 pm EST
Greetings,
Taking the current poll into consideration, you'll notice a vast increase in Tolkien game art, and much less fantasy art. Correlations -however weak- can be drawn from the fantasy art remaining in the picpost right now that is not directly Middle Earth related.
Good news to all you Table Top, Games Workshops fiends out there. Above you'll notice the heated beginnings of a promising battle. Want to see more? You had better!
Check out the recently added art from the LOTR Boardgame, and Game Workshop's Table Top game.
Just added Chess pictures for all you avid chess/Tolkien maniacs.
Celebrate Bilbo's birthday at Decipher!
DarthCaeser @ 12:44 am EST
Decipher is throwing a bash in celebration of Bilbo and Frodo's birthday. You are Cordially Invited... Join the growing Decipher The Lord of the Rings™ community. The time of the quest is drawing near, but on Saturday, September 22, we will first celebrate the birthdays of Bilbo and Frodo, and get to know each other! A number of events are planned. Decipher people will be on hand all day to answer your questions about The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game and Roleplaying Games on a special Birthday Bulletin Board. There will be trivia questions throughout the day, and what is a good party without presents? There won't be any squibs, crackers, backarappers, sparklers, torches, dwarf-candles, elf-fountains, goblin-barkers, or thunder-claps, but we will be giving away The Lord of the Rings TCG cards and The Lord of the Rings Adventure Games all day long. [More]
to Bilbo Baggins' eleventy-first birthday party! It will be a party of special magnificence.
9/19/01 - Latest News
Decipher Contest #3
Berendir @ 8:18 pm EST
Contest 3: Test of Logic. Well ringers, here's Decipher's newest contest. Several pieces of information, indicated by the numbered arrows, are missing from this card. Supply the missing information by answering the questions below.
Go check out the official contest page Here, and good luck!
9/18/01 - Latest News
"Lord of the Rings: The Search" ships
DarthCaeser @ 4:21 pm EST
Rio Grande Games has begun shipping it's new 2-player LOTR game, Lord of the Rings: The Search. "Frodo and Sam must find Mount Doom so they can destroy the One Ring. As expected, they begin their journey in the Shire and explore Middle Earth, searching for Mount Doom. On their journey, they can meet several companions such as Gandalf, who will help them in their search. They also will confront monsters. If they look carefully, they will find valuable artifacts that they may use to speed their journey. This 2-player game is based on the classic J. R. R. Tolkien epic and features many of the characters and artifacts from the books with artwork from John Howe. The players take the roles of Frodo and Sam as they search for Mount Doom and try to be the first there with the Ring. The players score points for the companions and artifacts they collect on their journey and also for reaching Mount Doom. After a player reaches Mount Doom the game ends and the player with the most points is the winner!"
9/13/01 - Latest News
Decipher updates
DarthCaeser @ 1:41 am EST
Decipher has added more updates on the the LOTR section of their site. First off, the second contest, the test of skill, has begun. [More] They've also posted an article on the Foil Program: "The much-anticipated launch of The Lord of the Rings™ Trading Card Game will bring many brilliant images from the upcoming movie to life. These images will look even cooler in their foil versions! The Fellowship of the Ring™ set, which releases on November 6, will feature a parallel foil set." [More]
9/12/01 - Latest News
Game Art Update
Berendir @ 1:39 pm EST
At long last the Game Art section has been updated. I've taken the liberty of extracting some of the art representing games that are no longer in existance; such as "The Trilogy".
A slew of Games Workshop miniatures have been added.
There's also a sample card from Decipher.
Take a look at WXP's incredible images from their online Preview Here.
Have you taken a look at the great artwork of the LOTR Boardgame?.
Give the whole thing a walk through, and if there's any other fantasy games deserving of a few samples, send word my way.
9/10/01 - Latest News
Games Workshop spy report
DarthCaeser @ 12:08 am EST
This great report was sent in to us by Ringer Gaming Informant Astaldo 44.: "I was pleased to be able to attend the Diamond Comics Distribution Retailer summit in Fort Wayne, Inidiana over this past weekend. Diamond owns Alliance Games Distribution, which is going to be the exclusive distributor for the new Games Workshop miniatures game based on the Lord of the Rings films. For those who don't know, Games Workshop is one of the biggest manufacturers of hobby games, and probably the maker of the finest metal miniatures in the world. The Diamond Retailers summit is not a convention, but is open only to retailers of comics, games and other hobby products. The centerpiece of the presentation was a showing, on a big projection screen, of the first two theatrical trailers. It was nice to see them somewhere other than my own monitor, but I have to admit that I was disappointed that they didn't show some kind of footage that we hadn't seen before. They also talked some about the license, but they were pretty careful to skirt around areas that they weren't allowed to talk about. One of the key points was that, due to the requirements of doing a licenced product, the game was going to be a limited print run, and no more would be made after the initial run. Then we got to take a look at the boxed games themselves, the rulebooks, and the miniatures... my God, the miniatures! They are breathtakingly well done. The ringwraiths in particular are *awesome* and the two different Aragorn figures we saw are the spitting image of Viggo himself. We saw miniatures of the ringwraiths as they appear to Frodo when he's wearing the ring! (Those would be "Twilight Ringwraiths" I believe -DC) I am not articulate enough to express how awesome these miniatures are. They are possibly the best I have ever seen, and, for the record, I am not a big fan of Games Workshop's other products (although I do acknowledge their skill in miniatures production.) All true fans of LotR are going to want these miniatures--not just the gamers. I did have to sign a non-disclosure agreement, so I am unable to talk about a lot of the specifics. I will say that the folks at GW are swell people, and that they gave us a bunch of info not yet available to the general public."