For your viewing enjoyment, here are some of the best pictures we took on the photoshoot for the Fellowship 2 weeks ago. One of these group pictues will be included in the Deluxe Tunnels and Trolls package for many of our supporters.
News: Rick has been mailing out the early bird stuff and the little prizes–the magnets, the postcard, the T & T temporary tattoos. Last I heard, he had stuffed and mailed some 600 out of 1600 that he has to send out. If you’ve gotten yours, you’re one of the fortunate 600 near the top of the alphabet. If you haven’t, hang in there. Rick is working on the rest of them.
Meanwhile, look at the pictures above. For tvp, rank them from your most favorite to your least favorite. To get tvp (Trollish Victory Points) you must be a member of the Inner Sanctum, the true Elite of Trollhalla. Exaltedness is not hard to obtain–you just figure it out, and send me an email. Everything you need to know to join the inner circle of fun-loving trolls is on this page somewhere.
I have a lot of pictures from the photoshoot. I’ll share more with you in a day or three. And remember, don’t shoot the piano player!
The idea of having a language in common is widespread in fantasy literature, and indispensable in fantasy gaming. We call it the Common Tongue, and I believe that J.R.R. Tolkien may have been the first to use it. I noticed that no matter how far Bilbo and his friends travelled, they were still able to talk to the locals. Tolkien is quite distinct in noting that the Elves have their own language, and the Orcs have the Black Speech, but when an Orc wants to tell the Hobbits to move or die, he has no trouble communicating. Sam and Frodo have no trouble listening in on Orc conversations, and this could only happen if they’re speaking the same language–ergo, it seems most of Middle Earth speaks the same tongue most of the time–the Common Tongue.
I do the same thing for Trollworld. Somewhere I once said the Common Tongue is your own native language–for most of us that would be English, but it could be French or German or Japanese or anything, depending on what part of the world you live in. The important thing is that player characters have some means of communicating with each other across geographic and kindred based barriers. We call it “the Common Tongue”.
And you knew all that . . .
I looked up English this morning. There are hundreds of different dialects and versions of the language–major versions. There are eleven distinct varieties within the United States alone. And yet we all “understand” each other. Heh!
Do you understand me?
I’m mentioning this because The Man Called Bear and I are writing an adventure set in a different part of Trollworld, one set on the Eagle continent. But we want the players to be from Rrr’lff. How do they communicate? The Common Tongue. It exists even on different continents, just as English exists on different continents in our world. To make this difference come across, I’ll be using some creative spellings when writing the solo version of the adventure. There will also be a GM version, and we plan to make the GM work. The GM will be instructed to pick some other version of English (or whatever your common tongue is) and use it when roleplaying the natives. Speak Australian, mite! Or suthen lahk the gud ol boyz du. Or igpay atinlay. But pick a dialect and stay in it when setting your adventure in a place far from home.
Having fun with the Common Tongue should make the game more entertaining for everyone involved.
How does your version of the Common Tongue differ from mine, podna? Leave an example in your comment.
Well, now that I have your attention, I’d like to talk a little bit about the difference between being here in the Outer Sanctum and being inside Trollhalla in the Inner Sanctum.
The Inner Sanctum is where I hang out with the greatest champions of Tunnels and Trolls. There are all kinds of links and things available there, including our long-running Legend of Green Dragon game, that simply aren’t available here on the outside. This outside version is for news, articles, and forum discussion such as the ongoing T & T games. If you had been a member of the Inner Sanctum Elite you would have seen that video of me, and another one yesterday, Sunday, Jan. 6.
They are two separate places. Anyone can join the Outer Sanctum–get a password, and use the forums. The Outer Sanctum password does not work for the Inner Sanctum, and vice versa. If you’d like to come inside, find the join the Elite link at top of the page and follow the instructions. If your interest in T & T is just casual, then stay out here. Any really important news will get posted out here sooner or later–the inside is for fun.
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The video above is an out-take from the video I made to promote the Deluxe Tunnels and Trolls Kickstarter project, which is doing very well, thank you, mostly because of the heroic efforts of members of Trollhalla. If you would like to see how well we’re doing click this link. If you haven’t joined the “crusade” yet, but would like to secure the new rules and other goodies we’re offering, then follow the link and make a pledge. Do it now in order to get the early bird reward bonus. The special secret prize only lasts for a week, and 4 days are gone already. If you wait, you will miss it–even if you made the $10,000 pledge, you would miss it. (It’s only a magnet, but it is the most limited of magnets.)
As I write this we are very close to $43,000 and 600 supporters. Amazing! I happen to know that at $50,000 the first Milestone (stretch) goal kicks in, though it has not been announced yet. The FOTT is talking about what to include in that first Milestone.
NEWS FLASH!!! I just learned that someone bought my 1st edition of Tunnels and Trolls. That kind of guarantees that a facsimile edition will appear as part of the Deluxe package.
While I’m talking about things that are common knowledge to the Elite of the Inner Sanctum, did you know that there are all sorts of T & T-related sites on the web and products available through our friends at Drivethrurpg.com? It’s true. Hop over and search Tunnels and Trolls to see what you’ve been missing.
I sign all my personal emails to members of the Elite this way:
H’aaarrrggghhh! (trollish for in haste–I seem to always be in haste–there is so much that needs doing these days–not the parenthesis part–just the bellow in Khargish, the language of the Khargs, i.e. the Rock Trolls of Trollworld)
Khenn Arrth (my trollish name–only Inner Sanctum members have trollish names)
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