From the Mouth of Sauron Issue: E-7 Date: 02-04-94 Note: all authors retain exclusive rights to their material. Reprinting is allowed for non-commercial game use only. Editorial I've only one thing to say this time around: the Mouth needs your help! Yep, the magic well of articles and comments that filled this electronic rag to overflowing nearly ran dry this issue. And the Mouth is only as good as it's contributors. So all you writers and question-posers, take keyboard in hand and have at it! Anything, anything at all that's even remotely connected to ME-PBM will get published. I don't do rejections unless you get nasty about another player, and so far no one's done that (well, in public anyway). On the brighter side, there's a good deal of info on dragons this time around. Some of this was discovered by yours truly, the hard way. Oh, my aching dwarves.... TO WEI WANG: you didn't send your address along, and my system doesn't pick it up. I can't put you on the mailing list until I get it. If anyone out there knows who Wei is, please tell him this - I can't find him. Artifacts No changes. Encounters Demon of Aglarond: apparently one reader didn't get the Mouth with the correction to the Demon of Aglarond. The Demon is NOT a balrog, but ranges the same area as 'a balrog' (White Mountains/Gap of Rohan) and affects loyalty at pop centers. The Demon has a guesstimated challenge rank of 50. Radagast: Radagast seems to be either a character AND army encounter, or just a character encounter. He appears as an old man in brown robes feeding a flock of birds. Options are: ATTACK the man CAPTURE the man and take him hostage INTERROGATE the man for info FEED the birds REQUEST the man's name ALLOW the man to join you SAY _____ (only one word) FLEE The results of only one option are known, and even this is unconfirmed: FEED the birds = escape unharmed for Dark Servants, learn new spells/get skill increase for Free Peoples. Swamp Thing: actually, this is the lake encounter in the file. If you kill the monster you'll most likely get a tidy sum of gold (11,000 reported). Thanks to Arnold Mohammed and Dena Kiker for this information. Dragons Angurth: DEMAND obedience = combat for Free Peoples. Bairanax: Act MEEK = escape unharmed for all allegiances. FLEE = combat for all allegiances. Daelomin: DEMAND obedience = combat for Free Peoples and Neutrals. Itangast: Say NAME = combat for Free Peoples and Neutrals. Act MEEK = injured/killed for Free Peoples and Neutrals. Klyaxar: Offer TEN thousand gold pieces = combat for Free Peoples and Neutrals. Khuzadrepa: Say NAME = combat for all allegiances. Lamthanc: SAY "Riddle" = combat for Free Peoples and Neutrals. Lomaw: Act MEEK = escape unharmed for all allegiances. Ruingurth: SAY "Riddle" = escape unharmed for all allegiances. Scorba: SAY "Riddle" = injured/killed for Free Peoples and Neutrals. Smaug: Offer ONE artifact = injured/killed for all allegiances. Offer TWO artifacts = injured/killed for all allegiances. Thanks to many people whose names I forgot to record for the credits in this section. Other Corrections and Notes The Arthedain pop center at 0707 is Culwic, not Forwic. From Doug Bergstrom Question: How accurate is that equation for assassinations? Seems abit odd to me since this is a hard action. Question: Does anyone out there seriously think that the Dark Servants could win a grudge match? From Eric Schnurr It seems that the loyalty of a pop center you get thru INFOTHR comes in at 2/3 the Emissary rank that took it away. I haven't done much Emissary work so please verify it and let me know. (I only have two data points to work off of.) In Your Ear Nothing this time. Personals ME 27 Dem Forests Be Smoking Again! ME 43 Are we having fun or what? ME 104 You free peoples barely gave me a chance to join you and now you complain that I am in first....OK already, it is just a game. Good job! Note: if you want your name or position attached to personals messages, please indicate this. Otherwise, they go in anonymous. ME-PBM Wish List From Jeremy Baxter increase the ratings of light troops by 50% so they are a viable alternative to the heavy types in rough and mountainous terain. Allow a free RECON from an army not moving evaisively each turn. Disband armies automaticaly after you hit 100% tax instead of knocking you out of the game. Prevent Neutrals declaring for the winning side if the larger side has twice as many active nations as the smaller. This would be fun, If a neutral waits too long they have to declare for the losing side - or even the odds by taking out one of the victorious nations. If you wait too long the victors will just ignore you so preventing a victory by inaction. Spells to produce false armies, scramble character i.d.s, lie about artifacts held etc - a bit like spreading rumours This way you could try and convince a player that one of his allies just nicked his prize artifact - etc. Make the presence of characters in a town, especially agents doing Guard Loc increase the chance of reporting foreign characters. From Doug Bergstrom Wish List: 1) Allow Eothraim startup to have characters at capital. 2) Make Vamuag hidden and give QA one decent commander. 3) Add a quick line to char description when assassinated..i.e. Bain was found under boulders, Argeleb thought wine tasted funny, Akhorihil didn't recognize the new guard...this would add a little flavor. 4) Ask neutrals if they want to be in a grudge match prior to game start (there is a "REAL" bias against them). Editor's Note: I definitely agree with this last. Playing a neutral in a team game is much harder than playing one in a regular game. The coordination of a team allows them to eliminate you much more quickly and with greater confidence, meaning they aren't as eager to recruit you as they might otherwise be. How I Got Shafted in ME-PBM Nothing this time.