changed:
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<p>
Finally the [Dwarves] have come upon you in
Other Minds as well. Fortunately for you this
time not in war-gear and with sharp axes ready
to chop off heads, but in civilized essays, maps,
adventures and the like. This issue of Other
Minds is dedicated to an often under-represented theme in role-playing – the proud
“Children of [Aulë]“ and adopted children of [Ilúvatar].
</p>
<p>
Since the great events reported in The [Silmarillion] and [The Lord of the Rings] are centered
upon the deeds and histories of [Elves] and [Men],
Dwarves play only a minor rôle there. The
only exception in [Tolkien]’s works where
Dwarves play a central rôle is [The Hobbit]. Unfortunately, this is often seen as “only a children’s book” and consequently the Dwarves
are marginalized with it too.
</p>

This lack of focus is unfortunately augmented by a lack of first-hand writings about the
Naugrim. The Lord of the Rings (mainly the appendices),The Hobbit,The Silmarillion and the
[History of Middle-earth series] all offer some
guidance, but compared to the wealth of information provided about Elves, Men and Hob-
bits, the passages that deal with the Dwarves
are quite limited in number and extent.
Nonetheless, this is our chance to stand up
and develop our own interpretations. Whether
closely based on Tolkien's – few – notes or
more orientated towards liberal interpretations, we have the chance to further develop
the original material by Tolkien and the various
RPG publications into something solid that
gives the Naugrim what they deserve: a firm
and broad base to stand upon for further developments!

So far, so good. But what do we have for you
this time? Again, a wide mix of contributions
that sheds light on many aspects of the Naugrim. First there is Neville Percy’s fine analysis
about the Dwarven women. Its well-balanced
mix of scholarly research and “gameable” extrapolations makes it an excellent piece of information for the scholarly-minded as well as
the gamer.

Second comes a contribution by myself that
deals with the history of the Dwarven mansions. In broad strokes it depicts their development throughout the ages. Its survey-like nature leaves ample room for further details developed by “Other Minds” to build upon.
Neville Percy’s prolific output on all things
Middle-earth is astounding. He seems to be a
real fan of the Naugrim – looking at the number of contributions of any kind he has to offer! Beside the above-mentioned treatise on
the Dwarven women he serves us with not
two but really three short and very “gameable”
contributions on top of the first. The first of
the three portrays a Dwarvish rune-cryptogram that may be encountered in any sizeable Dwarf-hold. It might be an interesting
hint for an adventure. Then he provides us
with a very useful list of names for the western
Dwarves (both male and female) that might be
used in your campaign. The final icing on the
cake is his description of a subterranean monster, the Giant Moldewarp, that could be a real
challenge to any Dwarven mining in great
deeps.

Tom Davies' contribution is a true gaming
piece that deals with a legendary item made in
the distant past for the Dwarves and which
may be introduced in a campaign. Its structure
as an adventure idea with no specific plot
makes it very easy to use and/or adapt to your
own needs.

Now, beside all the content-related topics,
we thought that a little survey of Middle-earth-gaming related websites available out
there are on the net might be helpful. Of
course we are aware that there can be no complete or even representative answer to that (es-
pecially due to the rapidly changing nature of
the Internet). Do note however, that we will
copy this list in coming weeks to the Other
Minds website in the “links” section, and that all
registered users (it's free, private, and safe) can
contribute links as well. In the past weeks and
months there have been some new sites – in
addition to the established ones – that definitely deserve attention. Enjoy our findings and do
not hesitate to send us any new pearls you have
stumbled upon!

Oh yes - you will encounter several text
boxes whose content is unrelated to the contribution it is placed within. These are several
tidbits of knowledge about Tolkien's Dwarves,
that is interesting, but not big enough for a
separate essay. Neville Percy, our prolific
"Dwarven" writer found them and accordingly the credits go to him.

In addition to our own "categorization" logos (core, optional and house), we introduce
the logos of the specific games a contribution
has statistics for. These logos remain the sole
copyright of the respective companies of
course.

[Thomas Morwinsky]

July 2008