Valar Guild

September 15, 2013 Sunday Meeting

5pm EDT (UTC - 5)
AIM: Valar Guild Meetingplace

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Transcript work by Ar-Pharazon and Varda.

Attending: (4)
    AriehnV, ArPharazonV, GwaihirValar, VardaValar1 (presiding)

Before-meeting
Meeting begins
Membership:
    Gwaihir
Web:
Gaming:
    Various
    WoW
    LotRO
Tolkien:
    Link to the interview concerning JRRT and paperbacks.
    Entry question discussion.
After-meeting:
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Before-meeting
You have just entered room "valarguildmeetingplace."
ArPharazonV: Aiya!
VardaValar1: Aiya Phar :-)
GwaihirValar has entered the room.
VardaValar1: Aiya Gwaihir :-)
GwaihirValar: hello
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VardaValar1: Elen sila lumenn' omentielvo!
VardaValar1: Congratulations on surviving Friday the 13th. ;-)
VardaValar1: Membership:
VardaValar1: Last testing of a potential member did not work out, but maybe after some re-reading.
VardaValar1: Any other membership news?
VardaValar1: Hello from Fangorn, Sauron, and Gimli. :-)
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VardaValar1: Web:
VardaValar1: Mislaid a poem I was writing, may rewrite this week.
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VardaValar1: Gaming:
VardaValar1: Any games played this last week not WoW or LotRO?
VardaValar1: SC/BW for Fangorn and myself.
ArPharazonV: Aiya, sorry, was afk with last boss for today
ArPharazonV: And wow, we've made it to gaming fast.
VardaValar1: Hope you survived. :-)
VardaValar1: and won!
ArPharazonV: We didn't. 3% wipe on Sha of Pride.
VardaValar1: Sauron is pleased.
ArPharazonV: But still good fun, and got 2 new pieces of gear from previous boss.
GwaihirValar: Final Fantasy XIV, Diablo 3's console version, Kingdom Hearts Remix 1.5, and Pixeljunk Monsters HD Ultimate
VardaValar1: That's a lot, eagle!
ArPharazonV: More flashgaming! Including Live Puzzle 2, sequel to a puzzle game I linked some time ago.
VardaValar1: I did go into Diablo 3 for a little bit on the Barbarian.
ArPharazonV: http://www.kongregate.com/games/PipkinGames/live-puzzle-2
VardaValar1: Thanks for the link. :-)
ArPharazonV: Hard difficulty is especially... hard.
VardaValar1: As advertised, very good.
GwaihirValar: Yep, playin' a lot - we've got a lot out to play ;-)
ArPharazonV: and didn't find Rayman Legends in local pc store, but I might pick one up next wednesday at the train station.
VardaValar1: Huzzah, Gwaihir!
VardaValar1: Funny that the train station is better supplied, heh.
GwaihirValar: more likely just that less people look for it there
ArPharazonV: Trainstations here are full of shops, and this is one from a major Dutch brand.
ArPharazonV: While the local store is... just local.
VardaValar1: Lots of tourist shoppers.
ArPharazonV: Aye. Like airports.
VardaValar1: Those can look like shopping malls, big ones.
ArPharazonV: *nod*
ArPharazonV: Let's see if I did any other notable flashgames last week...
ArPharazonV: looking through kongregate browser history
VardaValar1: Bus stations, not much more than a little eatery and some souveniers, so far.
ArPharazonV: How about an Ace Attorney inspired debating/philosophy game?
ArPharazonV: Not very long, but still different from most games.
VardaValar1: Sounds like a change.
ArPharazonV: http://www.kongregate.com/games/ChiefWakamakamu/socrates-jones-pro-philosopher
VardaValar1: hah, may take a look.
AriehnV has entered the room.
ArPharazonV: if you're bored, go for it :-)
ArPharazonV: Aiya Arien!
AriehnV: aiya there :-)
VardaValar1: Never bored, seems like. Too many things to do!
VardaValar1: Welcome, Sunshine. : )
VardaValar1: Arien, did you play any non-WoW, non-LotRO games this past week?
VardaValar1: I'll guess Arien's deep in a dungeon.

VardaValar1: WoW:
VardaValar1: The recent expansion doesn't support a whole stack of older video cards. Drivers also should be updated.
VardaValar1: Ioreth-V was very displeased with the destruction to the panda area, understandably. Passing on her comment.
AriehnV: .. err rift
VardaValar1: Thanks, Arien.
VardaValar1: She does still play, especially liking the pets. She prefers the hunter pets in WoW to the hunter in LotRO that has no pets. But she's not happy with the way they turned cookie cutter more or less.
VardaValar1: Any other WoW comments?
ArPharazonV: Timeless Isle's fun!
ArPharazonV: New raid is fun!
ArPharazonV: Legendary cloak is fun!
VardaValar1: Excellent to hear!
ArPharazonV: Pet-battle tournament is frustratingly difficult!
AriehnV: .... love bronze dragonflight5 ;-)
ArPharazonV: Especially since you can't heal your pets throughout the entire thing, which means you need a lot more pets to get through it.
AriehnV: crazy guys but fun
ArPharazonV: Well, that's it from me, WoW wise.
VardaValar1: Good news for that expansion then. : )

VardaValar1: LotRO:
VardaValar1: The LotRO servers have all been competing to reach 1,750,000 bounder's tokens first.
VardaValar1: Of English-speaking servers, our Landroval server came in second, just behind highly populated Brandywine. We were neck and neck with Meneldor for a while. Go eagles. :-)
ArPharazonV: Grats! Very impressive.
VardaValar1: European servers did brilliantly. Here's the results:
VardaValar1: https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?521528-Bounder-s-Bounties-Server-Totals
VardaValar1: In-game, we're now able to collect bounder's tokens for personal use at last.
VardaValar1: The Farmer's Faire is the best source, and lets us finish up the deeds there, or go well into them.
VardaValar1: Any suggestions, further comments, beefs, huzzahs about anything?
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VardaValar1: Tolkien:
VardaValar1: About that article I mentioned last time concerning JRRT's dislike of paperbacks and the probems with the American publisher,
VardaValar1: here's the link for that:
VardaValar1: http://www.locusmag.com/2006/Issues/06Wollheim.html
VardaValar1: Locus is a very big deal magazine, and she is President of DAW Books.
ArPharazonV: so ‘degenerate a form’
ArPharazonV: wow
VardaValar1: Have to remember that was a long time ago. : )
ArPharazonV: He'd be rolling in his grave if he knew about my book inventory.
VardaValar1: Paperbacks weren't nearly as accepted then, especially in the UK or among academia.
VardaValar1: He became more accepting later.
VardaValar1: I have walls and walls of paperbacks. Just ask Menelvagor. :-)

VardaValar1: In quick other news, Gwaihir's game review url has a new name:
VardaValar1: http://www.shadowedblade.net/
GwaihirValar: I rebranded it when I decided it just wasn't possible to be a 'general gaming site' as an individual. So I decided it woudl be better to try to focus
GwaihirValar: and to make the name a bit less generic
ArPharazonV: a knife in the dark, eh? :-)
GwaihirValar: Now I sort of split my focus between three things - gaming, anime, and my photography.
VardaValar1: Much easier to remember actual words, and those are memorable.
VardaValar1: Nifty co-splay pictures. : )
VardaValar1: I like cons when money's available and they're reachable. : )
VardaValar1: Other good stuff too, like landscapes. Middle-earth is, after all, here.
VardaValar1: Back to Middle-earth,
GwaihirValar: Ya, we have a few here in Winnipeg so I attend those. Hoping to attend some a little further out as able to, but it's not easy lol
VardaValar1: Too true! Glad you could go to those.

VardaValar1: Two of you are Maiar, and one can scout.
VardaValar1: Sooo, I'd like to ask each of you for one good entry question we might ask potential members.
VardaValar1: It has to be over LotR books. It would help if they can't answer it correctly from the movies.
VardaValar1: You can take your time and think. This isn't easy.
VardaValar1: It has to be something not too hard, but something a book reader would know.
GwaihirValar: hmm... I have to admit I'm very rusty... but I'll do my best.
ArPharazonV: ...I have no idea to be honest. Too long since I read the books myself, it's hard enough to come up with trivia questions.
VardaValar1: I am too. But then a test came up.
VardaValar1: One way is to think of something that didn't ring true in the movies.
ArPharazonV: I always liked the "How many elves were at Helm's Deep?" question ;-)
VardaValar1: hehe
GwaihirValar: I've been due for a reread of LotR for a while. That'll probably prompt me to do so lol... hm...
GwaihirValar has left the room.
ArPharazonV: But if we're going on distinct differences between books and movie... you can go with Helm's Deep, Glorfindel, Oathbreakers, Anduril...
VardaValar1: I'm also needing all of us Maiar and Valar honors to be try to work out some test questions to use. We need to rebuild our guild, as our numbers are falling off.
VardaValar1: Scouring of the Shire,
ArPharazonV: That too.
ArPharazonV: Bombadil.
VardaValar1: Aye
GwaihirValar has entered the room.
GwaihirValar: misclick lol
VardaValar1: Happens. : ) Welcome back
GwaihirValar: I've always liked the How did Saruman die? question
VardaValar1: Good thinking, Phar. Pinning down areas where we can consider questions.
ArPharazonV: That's a good one, yes.
VardaValar1: That's a good one, aye. Scouring, plus non-movie.
GwaihirValar: although to be fair... nowadays I'm not so certain we should be excluding movie fans. We're primarily a literary guild, but that's no reason we can't help expose people who are movie fans to the materials.
VardaValar1: Going into that one deeply could also be a Maia question. : )
ArPharazonV: Who did the Fellowship meet along the way back home in Eriador? :-)
VardaValar1: We don't exclude movie fans, but people who don't want to be bothered with the books can never really understand why we are Tolkien fans.
GwaihirValar: When Gandalf separated from the Hobbits on their way back to the Shire, who did he intend to visit?
VardaValar1: Most book fans also watched the movies. : )
ArPharazonV: I agree. You can expose movie fans to the materials, but if it turns out they don't actually like the books, maybe they shouldn't be included as "regular" members.
VardaValar1: That's good, maybe too tiny a detail.
VardaValar1: We certainly include guild friends in our friend channels, courteous folk who are ok with Tolkien fans.
ArPharazonV: So best to have them at least read the books to include them in the main guild.
VardaValar1: The movie only folk are fine there, and we can still game with them.
VardaValar1: The courtesy part is the most important criterion anyway. : ) Literacy helps a lot, and similar tastes mean we tend to be natural friends before we even meet.
VardaValar1: The LotR is not kiddy fare. It takes the ability to focus for a while and to be able to read words of more than one syllable. : )
VardaValar1: I did not set up the criteria, by the way. I merely agreed with Eru and Manwe, then kept it up.
GwaihirValar: Indeed
VardaValar1: Phar's approach to areas seems a good one for coming up with new questions. I'll keep playing with that.
VardaValar1: And thanks for the specific questions too, and reminders.
ArPharazonV: It was your idea :-)
VardaValar1: When you want to go scouting, it can be nice for your own gaming to look for folks in the times and games you most like to play.
VardaValar1: Some of the ideas in one part of the book were mixed with others in the movie, space considerations and yet a nod to book fans.
ArPharazonV: Treebeard's speech when the tree tried to swallow Merry and Pippin.
VardaValar1: Exactly what I was thinking of, Phar!
AriehnV: i ve got a possible good candidate in Rift .. but he sais he wants to play lOTRO as Vip member with fee ... but when he does do that he wants to focus on the game he is paying for .. and at the moment he is still a bit too busy in Rift
VardaValar1: Some were drastic changes because it helped with movie progression, not necessarily a good thing.
AriehnV: but he has read most of the books seems a true Tolkienean
VardaValar1: Arien, we have people scattered across multiple games. No problem.
ArPharazonV: Compression was the main argument for the changes. Compression of characters, compression of time/plot.
VardaValar1: Did he complete the LotR? And is he a nice person you'd want to have gaming with your friends?
VardaValar1: Aye, Phar.
ArPharazonV: Compressing Arwen and Glorfindel. Compressing the Oathbreakers with the followers from Gondor. Compressing the Elves from Lorien, with Haldir, with... well... some shifting went on with Eomer and Erkenbrand and the Rohirrim there.
VardaValar1: If he's courteous and a Tolkien fan, he's welcome as a guild friend.
VardaValar1: Well said.
VardaValar1: Guild friends are welcome in our friend channels and at meetings if they don't mind spoilers.
VardaValar1: Shifting Eomer into Erkenbrand's role may have been a mistake, since that time in Helm's Deep was where Aragorn and Eomer picked up a greater friendship. It helped after Aragorn became king and had to put down bandit groups (including orcs).
VardaValar1: But it did make sense in that adding the Erkenbrand character was yet another non-continuing character, hard to keep track of.
VardaValar1: If you have suggestions for more entry questions, my email would be happy to hear them. : )
ArPharazonV: And I guess they wanted an additional role for Haldir.
VardaValar1: They knew we wanted more elves, and they just had to have an emotional moment. At least that means they didn't kill Legolas.
VardaValar1: If anyone wants to swap entry questions due to serious interest in doing entry tests, that would be great too.
ArPharazonV: Ooh, killing Legolas, now that would've been a twist.
VardaValar1: True
ArPharazonV: "Hey, Legolas, I'm at 30 already, how many are y- Nooo!"
VardaValar1: They left out his role making the new colony of elves in Ithilien.
VardaValar1: Gimli! Don't do it!
ArPharazonV: They put Gimli in the Glittering Cave in the cut epilogue, right?
VardaValar1: And the dwarf vs elf hostility continues. Oops.
VardaValar1: Gimli and Legolas both had very brief mentions for their colonies that were intended to be put in, but didn't make it. In the Making of stuff, I think.
VardaValar1: It showed Gimli with gold running through his hands but not controlling him. Don't think it had him talking. It was a good picture.
VardaValar1: They showed a quick shot of Legolas turning around looking up at the woods in Ithilien, also no talking.
VardaValar1: They would've been good inclusions in the ending, as showing what happened to main characters.
VardaValar1: They implied but didn't show Faramir and Eowyn getting married.
VardaValar1: That was actually sad, since Eowyn had a much shorter lifespan, and her bloodline would shorten the lifespan of the line of the stewards.
VardaValar1: But I liked it anyway. : )
VardaValar1: No Beregond or Bergil. Pippin doesn't have his big scene saving Beregond.
VardaValar1: At least, we don't know that's what he's doing.
VardaValar1: ok, thank you all for coming! Thank you for the good ideas.
VardaValar1: *picks up a hammer given as a gifty by Elwing-(V)*
VardaValar1: *tinnnnng*
VardaValar1: *dawn appears in pink and gold, mixed with blue*
VardaValar1: Hah, she added special effects!
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After-meeting:
VardaValar1: Ok, headed back to the tabletop Pathfinder game. : )
AriehnV: have fun
VardaValar1: You folks have a great evening, night, or morning!
ArPharazonV: have fun!
VardaValar1: You bet. : ) How can a game with Sauron as Dungeon Master not be a blast? : )
VardaValar1: Namarie for now!
AriehnV has left the room.
ArPharazonV: saving and sending transcript!
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