Hardcore Tolkien gaming enthusiasts undoubtedly know about M.E.R.P. and the Middle-earth Role-Playing Web site. MERP sponsors an annual gathering in Spokane, WA called MERP Con and this year several prominent Tolkien game creators and artists joined the MERP Con gaming group.

The presentations were not very ostentatious but some very interesting proposals were put forward by several guests (who included Joe Mandela, Thomas Morwinsky, and Chris Seeman to name three of the most well-known game designers).

I think the most significant announcements to come from this year's MERP Con were the inaugural issue of Other Minds: The Unofficial Role-Playing Magazine for J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth and beyond and the unveiling of a new set of extremely well-researched, intricately detailed maps of Middle-earth produced by a team of cartographers led by Thomas Morwinsky.

As I stated in my own talk (audio file only), I think that the Morwinsky maps set a new standard in Tolkien cartography. You can actually download them for yourself in the .PDF file of the first issue of Other Minds.

Hawke Robinson, who brought us all together, is the co-editor of Other Minds with Thomas Morwinsky. Chris Seeman and Chris Wade are Assistant Editors for the magazine. Middle-earth gaming enthusiasts may recall that Chris Seeman was the editor of Other Hands, a Tolkien gaming journal that was forced to discontinue publishing a few years ago.

As Other Hands' name was inspired by a Tolkien letter, so Other Minds' name was inspired by Other Hands. The articles that were accepted into the first issue (several submissions were cut to save space and time, I was told) include: "The Battle over Role Playing Gaming" by Hawke Robinson; "Mapping Arda" by Thomas Morwinsky, Stephane Haerle (I cannot use the proper characters here), Gabriele Quaglia, Oliver Schick, and Chsitian Schroder; "Of Barrow-wights" by Neville Percy; "Magic in Middle-earth" by Chris Seeman; and "Thoughts on Imladris" by Thomas Morwinsky.

One of the distinctive features of Other Minds is its publication under the GNU Free Documentation License. That is, anyone who complies with the requirements of the GNU license is free to reuse the materials (with some noted exceptions) provided in the magazine. The Morwinsky team maps are therefore now available for people to use in their own .PDF files, on Web sites, etc.

The next issue of Other Minds, tentatively scheduled for release around the end of the year, will focus on the topic of Numenor. Anyone who wishes to submit content to the magazine is invited to make the effort, but be sure to visit the Web site and see what the requirements are.

Other Minds represents a step forward for Tolkien scholarship. The articles will be reviewed by readers (I have agreed to be one of the readers) and the editors will select the articles to be included in each issue. The GNU licensing will make the material reusable by other resources and unlike many popular online Tolkien research sites Other Minds at least assures you that some level of professional review will go into the production of the content.

Some people will naturally ask if I plan to contribute to Other Minds. I would certainly like to. I do have an ongoing arrangement to contribute articles to News from Bree for Middle-earth Games, so I will certainly be writing about Middle-earth from time to time.

On the other hand, I recently said I would try to publish something here once a week and that hasn't really happened. So I don't know when I'll be able to contribute something to Other Minds (and there is no guarantee I'll make the editorial cut). But I hope to make a contribution in the future and wish I could have written something for the first issue.

Other speakers brought up some neat ideas, and my mind was spinning as I listened to the presentations. One area where I have overlooked Tolkien online research on this site is libraries. So I hope to be able to create a resource about libraries that help Tolkien enthusiasts pursue their Tolkien interests. And I do need to continue working on the academic studies resource as there is a great deal more information out there that I haven't yet been able to add to the site.

I do hope you'll take an interest in Other Minds. It should be published on a quarterly basis and promises to offer some great content in the future.

NOTE TO PEOPLE WHO MISSED MY LIVE TALK BROADCAST: I had to start about 15 minutes later than scheduled, and we didn't realize until too late that people who had joined the chat were leaving. Please accept our apologies but it was very late at night, everyone was tired, and we were running about 15 minutes behind schedule.

Hawke has made an audio file available (I linked to it above) and he is working on the video. You cannot hear the questions from the audience in the audio file so he edited out the silent spots and you hear me just go into answering the questions.