Remembering back to the first time we read 'The Trilogy', we each vividly, joyfully, and tearfully recall many scenes that were unfolded before our mind's eye by Professor Tolkien. Throughout the design of Middle-earth Play-By-Mail (ME-PBM) we reminded ourselves of these elements of Tolkien's world and legends, and the characters of The Lord of the Rings™ in particular, and tried to allow the players to experience the enjoyment of reliving, or experiencing for the first time, the same such joy and emotion. This became the one unbending rule that we applied over and over again in molding the game into what it is.

Starting with this rule, and the vision of J.R.R. Tolkien, GSI added its own flavor of what we wanted for the game and combined it with the thoughts and encouragement of the folks at Iron Crown Enterprises (I.C.E.). The chemistry was interesting and fascinating because of the extremely high standards that each brought to the project. One of the most difficult factors to overcome was that each group that contributed to the design had a different vision of what they saw in Middle-earth. Combining these vision into one proved an incredible challenge. The result is more grand than we could have anticipated.

GSI wanted the game to be 'state of the art': Each ME-PBM turn includes roughly a dozen pages of laser-generated output - incorporating well-organized text; descriptive prose detailing the results of each turn; graphics: which include a hex map presentation of each player's home region including icons representing armies, cities, harbors, terrain, roads, bridges, etc.; and individual reports on the actions of the heroes, including a portrait and statistics for each character. Additionally, each registration includes a 2'x3' four-color map of northwestern Middle-earth with a hexagonal grid overlay that will facilitate the players plotting out their actions and plans.

We wanted a game broad in scope - one that would allow the players to operate in the strategic arena as well as to role-play at the individual character level. We wanted to encourage the players to explore the rewards of the economic activities via the market. We also wanted the players to deal with the diplomatic theater, and ultimately, to challenge their lore of Middle-earth as well. To this end, we focused the game mechanics on the heroes of Middle-earth - the goals and direction are provided by the player, but the actions are carried out by each hero under their command. These characters can lead armies, kidnap diplomats, manipulate the market, steal artifacts, solve riddles, or sack citadels. Although these actions influence different levels of the game, the heroes are still the focus of these actions.

The Lord of the Rings™ focused on the neverending struggle between Good and Evil. This served as the starting point for our design. We elected a novel format for the game - the idea of 'team play' - and divided the players into 2 distinct sides - The Free Peoples and The Dark Servants. Then we added a third element that would challenge both sides - The Neutrals. Each player would control one 'nation' - 10 nations representing the side of Good (Gondor, Elves, Dwarves, Men, etc..), 10 nations representing the side of Evil (Nine Dark Riders and the Lieutenants of Sauron), and 5 representing nations that could choose either side - but must choose one side in order to end the game and win.

We hoped in this way that the players would experience the overall view of their nation and yet operate through the actions of their minions. Each nation has its own set of strengths and weaknesses, following the 'historical' records of their nation. This means that no two positions would play the same, but would ensure that the positions would start off with equal chances of victory. The forces of the Witch-king may choose to strike fear in the hearts of the Free Peoples with the use of their black mages, while the forces of the Dark Lieutenants may rely on secret emissaries. The forces of South Gondor may launch preemptive naval strikes against their neutral neighbors, yet the quiet Woodmen may strive for subtle success and steady growth with the use of their silent agents.

To allow the players the greatest freedom of play, and yet allow them a wealth of reference material, a setting was chosen that is some 1500 years BEFORE the War of the Ring! This era is vaguely discussed in the works of Tolkien, but is well explored by the folks at I.C.E.. This setting permits the players to explore and ask 'what if', and also allows them to rewrite their own version of the Third Age of Middle-earth.

The setting was then exhaustively researched to find as many characters/heroes, cities, artifacts, etc. that could be drawn from the actual and available literature. These findings were then presented to the knowledgeable folks at I.C.E. for careful comparison with their own research. Careful work then went towards assigning nations and characteristics to each and every item found to ensure that they remained 'historically accurate' and yet balanced within the game mechanics.

Because of the available references and resources, many players can enhance their chances of enjoyment or victory by availing themselves of either the literature of Tolkien or the products of I.C.E.. Details about almost every hero, and certainly every nation can be found in either of the resources mentioned.

Of course, the One Ring must enter into the scene somewhere. The setting historically dictates that the One Ring is still lost and, although the Wise were to discover much about it later on, the exact whereabouts of the One Ring are unknown. Since the setting allows the players to assume 'what if', then naturally the One Ring may not currently reside where it did 1500 years later. Discovery and possession of the One Ring are also elements of the game. Important ones too, since regardless of how fortunes fare for either side in terms of diplomatic, economic, or military successes, the game will end if the One Ring can be properly dealt with and will result in victory for the side that does it.

There were other powerful artifacts in Middle-earth as well and they deserved a place in the game (Glamdring, Sting, The 3 Elven Rings, etc.). To this end, more than 150 artifacts were considered significant enough to include - some belonging to heroes in the game and some that were historically 'lost'. And although these artifacts were fated to end up at certain locations and in certain hands, there location and fate in 1650 Third Age in unknown.

The tales of Tolkien dealt with more than just Good vs. Evil and so too, ME-PBM explores these other areas as well. Besides the primary issue of Good vs. Evil, the nations must deal with the treachery and conflict all too common even on their own side. The constant conflict between the Dwarves and Elves, the Civil War of Gondor, and the bickering between the various armies and leaders of darkness to name just a few. These aspects of Middle-earth were included by allowing for one side to end the game, but only the most powerful nation(s) on the winning side to claim victory. Furthermore, each nation has individual goals that help them toward becoming the most powerful nation on their respective side, and many of these individual goals must only be achieved at the expense of nations on their own side.

Of course, the mechanics of the various aspects of ME-PBM had to be meticulously researched in order to ensure historical and internal consistency. For example, much research went into historical population levels and army size limits in determining the rate at which players could develop their armies and how large armies could get. Also, since ME-PBM is designed to follow the same seasons as those of the northern hemisphere, turn by turn, the terrain and climate of Middle-earth were closely studied in order to ensure that the climate in each location on the map was as close as possible to the real climate as described in Tolkien's works. Even the movement rates for characters, navies and armies was exhaustively researched to restrict/allow only such movement as was possible for the period. For example, the famous 'Ride of the Rohirrim' was considered the benchmark for cavalry movement that all were measured by. We wanted to be sure that is was just possible to duplicate (under the right circumstances) that glorious ride.

Another important element added to the design is the idea of the market. Each nation is permitted to buy and sell its resource production with the free market - caravans that trade with the nations. The key element is that prices are not fixed, but rather are controlled by the simple factors of supply and demand. This allows the players to attempt to flood the market in order to lower prices, or to corner the market in order to drive prices up. This affords some nations with real economic clout. This element of the game proved difficult to properly design since the whole mathematics involved in the study of such dynamic systems is still very much guess work.

One extremely important aspect of The Lord of the Rings™ that we wanted to include was the idea of the 'Personal Challenge'. The fate of many a battle or endeavor rested upon the results of such challenges. Remembering the infamous battle between Gandalf and the Balrog in Khazad-dum, the face to face encounter between Gandalf and the Witch-king and then between Eomer and the Witch-king on the fields outside of Minas Tirith come to mind. Indeed the fate of the High Kings of Gondor rested and failed because of the challenges issued to those kings by the Ringwraiths of Mordor. Thus, ME-PBM allows for such hero-to-hero challenges and these challenges often dictate the results of mighty battles and whole campaigns.

There were many such elements of The Lord of the Rings™ that we felt deserved inclusion in the game. One final idea that deserves mention is the whole idea of the 'company' which runs throughout the books - the Fellowship of the Ring, the Company of the Nine Riders, the companies of Elves that wandered Eriador, to name a few. Thus ME-PBM allows groups of characters (even those of different nations) to travel together towards common goals. These and other elements were carefully considered to ensure that as many significant aspects of Middle-earth as could be were included in the game design.

When all was said and done, we wanted a game that was rich in elements and theaters of operation. We wanted to allow players to explore the tactical and role-playing aspects of Middle-earth without having to concern too much of their time with the overall strategic picture, yet reward those players who wanted to explore and utilize these elements. And most of all, we wanted a format that made it easy to fill out the turnsheet each time and yet made it difficult to master all the various aspects of play. The expert wargamer will find many challenges to their analytical side, while the Middle-earth enthusiasts and creative role-players will find a world rich and challenging to explore.

Middle-earth Play-By-Mail is a project that took three years to design and was all together five and a half years in the making. We hope that we have done justice to the ideals and dreams of all the various contributors. Each of us had a different idea of what we expected to see in the world of J.R.R. Tolkien. We hope you find many of yours here as well.