[Bêthberry]

Greetings Gamers for Threat of the Trees,

I am really pleased to see so many back. I think you have a chance to keep this game alive, with a very large emphasis on the "you."

My involvement as the Rohan Moderator is to be a facilitator. I will assist you to make moving the game forward less difficult, but I will not myself make the plans or determine the decisions. In Rohan, no Mod will ever take over the job of game owner or step in for a lost gamer. That is the responsibility of the gamers themselves. I do, however, have some suggestions. Most of them require you to think outside the box, to take a leap into improvisation.

First, you need game owners--think of this role as manager if you want--who will accept responsibility for organizing all the nitty gritty of gaming--nudging people who don't post, but more importantly responding to cues in posts and suggesting ways to develop the game and helping everyone reach decisions about what to do. This is a serious commitment and you need to have one or two people who will do this work.

Mattius, do you have the time to co-own the game with Brinniel? I would also encourage DayVampyre to consider taking on this role. Whether via PM or here on the discussion thread, you need to identify two people to assume these tasks. And then they need between them to identify just what each one will do.

Secondly, all of you need to think not in terms of what you once planned in the past, but of where the game can go now. If necessary, throw out the original plan. Improvise. Belin, Anglachel and I did that on My Crow Management; it ended in a way none of us, including the Game Owner, had originally intended or imagined, but in many ways I think it is a more unique game for that. The challenge of how to go forward in a different way forced us to think imaginatively. This was collaborative interactive gaming. That is what I would encourage you to do here.

Third, this game is too complex for outside gamers to come in and pick up an existing character. It is, after all, a sequel to The Blue Mountain, and so doing that would require a strong hand with characterization and much research. It is not likely that Rohan gamers would want to do that. (Not impossible, just very improbable.)

Thus, you need to think how to jettison some of the characters who have lost their writers, even if one of them is Mattius' character. After all, Aragorn had to go on without Gandalf. Nothing is impossible in fiction if it is handled credibly.

You also must determine what plot possibilities are possible with the gamers you have. If you are sad to see a good idea go, keep it for another game. One crucial point to consider here is that it is too much to ask one gamer to write both the captives and the enslavers; Child agrees with me. How are you going to resolve this?

So, all of you here, Brinniel, DayVampyre, Vanima, Aywlen, and Mattius especially (Child wants to see you resolve the problems, as she has done her job of setting out possibilities for you), have some serious work to do here. I am going to give you a deadline to accomplish this work: the following points must be resolved by the end of September.

1. Two gamers must come forward and commit to specific jobs as Game Owners.

2. All of you must decide what general plot line to follow given the gamers/characters you have active now. You must post that here and agree to descuss how to get there here in the Discussion thread.

3. You must have a set up so that the same person does not have to run both Easterlings and entwives.

4. You must decide how regularly you expect gamers to post. If you want to go with once a week, fine. If you want to leave it open, fine. Whatever choice all of you agree upon, you must hold each other to that.

5. You must make a realistic timeframe for concluding the game. Rohan is not a land of laissez-faire gaming or maybe-I'll-post-if-I-have-nothing-better-to-do. You must make a serious commitment to finishing this game within a certain time. I don't care what it is as long as you all commit to it and as long as there are at least two or three posts every two weeks. Whatever time frame you choose for concluding the game, I will hold you to it.

I will make one last requirement: The gamers here must resolve these points by the end of September. I had asked you to resolve the plot difficulties by August 15, but no one came forward to argue one way or another. If nothing happens by the end of September, I will say that you have forfeited the game. I am prepared to delete it if you do not accept responsibility for your gaming. (I will give a one week warning here before deleting the game.)

Ask me if you want help generating ideas, ask me if you want help with characterization, ask me anything else you wish, but take ownership for your own game. I am not a teacher forcing you to do homework. I am someone who loves interactiving writing and who wants to see all of you share in that excitement. And I am someone who is aware of how prescious are the resources here at the Barrow Downs, as well as the standard of excellence which the Downs represents.

This is your game. It is a great game and I don't want to see it lost. And I want to see you have fun. What are you going to do with it?

Bêthberry,
Moderator for Rohan