Here are my 2 cents:
I think the rules should change
automatically when the list is reduced to 6 characters and to 3.
From 20 to 7 - each player has 3 votes: 2 hurts and 1 heal. Double hurts are allowed.
From 6 to 4 - each player has 3 votes: 2 hurts and 1 heal. Double hurts ar not allowed: a player has to hurt 2 different characters and heal one, or he may use only 1 hurt and 1 heal.
When but 3 characters are left - each player has 2 votes: 1 hurt and 1 heal. Or, as
Tuor suggested (see his post below) either a hurt or a heal.
Four posts between turns seems quite reasonable. Maybe by the end even five or six posts between turns would be needed. I think the Gamemaster can assess the current situation and make the announcement about the change of the rules to be implemented at once.
The end of the last game was stressful and rushed. Refresh page - count - post - count - correct - refresh page - correct again... Grrr... There was absolutely no place for associated banter, which is usually so fun.
Also, yes, I think it is much more interesting if we keep either to Silm or to LOTR. Gothmog I and Fingolfin seemed to me out of place in the last game regardless of the fact that both were great characters. It would have been much better, IMHO, to have Durin's Bane and a contemporary Elf (Gildor, Glorfindel or Galadriel) in the game - with the understanding that we consider mostly their deeds in the TA, not what we know of their FA history from Silm.
But in the FA game Sauron should be regarded as Gorthaur Melkor's Lieutenant, not as the Ringmaker and Mordor Lord.
I also much approve of the idea of thematic lists (all orcs, or all Valar, or all Maiar, or the Fellowship, or Elf-Lords of the FA). Maybe we can also have a game based on the LOTR Appendices, with Romendacil, Castamir, Earnur, Arvedui etc?
