NUMENOR: THe Lost City of Romenna

Hello.

In the next few months a consotium of SL Tolkien addicts will be building Romenna, one of the great cities in the east of Numenor in preparation for a roleplaying campaign at the end of Tolkien's SECOND AGE. Currently the project is one sim, with design plans for many more.

Although we know there is great interest out there, we now need to quantify that interest. Everyone loves a free lunch...that is unfortunately not what this will be if it is to grow beyond one sim. We need to know not just who is interested, but who is willing to pay for residency on the order of $5-$10 a month. If enough people show interest and commit to a year, we will buy more sims now.

At current pricing, before the 15th, we can break even at 20 reservations ($10/slot) for each sim added (the first going to happen no matter what.) Supporting an effort like this will be difficult and require these core memberships.

Note that this project is different than the typical SL endevour. It will have constant attention from a devoted, 20-year experienced GAMEMASTERING TEAM, recurrent weekly/bi-weekly VULs (vulnerability periods or 'hot times" as well as an ongoing, supported story from the minds of the most devoted Tolkien scholars. The price will be well worth people's investment.

It will also be a 'hardcore' RP community. Non-human avatars will only be allowed on the basis that they supplement the story. RP will be mandated at all times in the sim.

If you have an interest in this, please reply here or contact me in game for further information.

Thank you...we look forward to hearing from you

Nick "Narduzan" Lassard
Captain of the West Gate of Romenna
Faction of the King

We are also interested in talking to any sim owners that might wish to join this project or affiliate with the roleplay.

Nick

Would your "rent" be in the form of RL tier paid similar to Ansche Chung's Dreamland tier?

Or would it be paid in the form L$ (roughly 2820L = $10, give or take a few for market flux)?

Hmmm... if I remember the Silmarillion right, the faction of the king worshipped Sauron at the end of the 2nd age. Is that the period you are creating?

Or is the period you are creating pre-rift (the rift between Elendil with those who remained loyal to the Vala, and the usurper King)... the period before the armies of Numenor marched against Sauron and brought him back to Numenor.

Sounds interesting, either way.

The payment would be in the form of Lindens to the city coffers...keep in mind this is an estimation of what kind of monies would be needed to support the effort, not the exact method. I and my compatriots aren't in this for profit, but neither do we wish it to be a terrific financial millstone about our necks. We are aiming to do something very different than that which exists elsewhere, but to make it happen requires people to understand an ongoing 'book' in which their characters play a part might just be worth the price of a night at the movies once a month.

The period is during the last darkening days of Numenor. It may or may not be in the time after Sauron has been brought back to the land in "subjugation." (He will not be the feature of Romenna anyway...only alluded to if so.) I, however, am not the main storymaster nor plot driver. My speciality is side plots and support.

Ariana Logan (in game) can answer any questions.

Nick

Its strange that in game there is terrific excitement about this, but here nary a comment.

If the pricing is what people are concered with, please realize these are 'out loud thoughts' on financial considerations for supporting the series of sims, not 'entry requirements' for players.

The RP will be open to all who wish to play, free of charge, as long as they agree to the rules. Even negative feedback here is reasonable...its important to hear what people are thinking and flesh out the ideas.

For those who might be wondering what the city will look like....

is wow... if what you end up creating is half what's in that sketch, this should be a pretty fascinating sim. I look forward to it.

Actually...2 sims.

I'm buying the next one either today or tomorrow.

There is also the possibility of more joining. TBD on that.

N

This is a planning sketch.

Dimensions of buildings are not final.

Please IM me more details or send more specifics to my email at [email]rprovine@btigroup.com[/email]. Depending on how things go down the line I may even be interested in sponsoring a sim or something of that nature. I look forward to hearing from someone, it sounds very exciting.

Atalar Longstaff

The northern section of the project has been added. (Obviously still processing as is the other.)

I will be completing the second schematic and upload it here as I complete it.

Wow, this looks amazing already! I'll be watching this one ^_^

Philosophy is important.

Most of SL is completely unzoned. Some private islands hold to an idea, but most don't.

This world will be very detailed, gamemastered and held to a high standard. Eventually we will have a 'front porch' where people can sample the feel of what's inside, however, the remainder will be strictly controlled to preserve the RP atmosphere.

There will be no 'out of game' activities or conversation (in chat...IM okay.)

There will be permanant 'death' for storyline players, NPCs and others. This means if you get into a fight with someone and are killed( this will be very hard to achieve) the avatar will be asked to refrain from entering the sim until they return as another 'character.'

We are very serious about this.

May I make a recommendation?

Have a "Tourist" class, cities of all ages thrive on tourists & travelers from far away lands; they provide money, goods and services to the city. If someone comes as a tourist and likes what they see, they may just want to live there permanently.

OOC:
While restricting the sim to members only may improve the RP experience, it will mean you have fewer people playing. Allowing people in to experience without having to join is a great way of getting new players.

What you could do, is have people ware a HUD (or other attachment) which would (inderectly) register them with the land access list; not to mention store their player stats/inventory. (if you take this route it would be really nice if you could put my name in the credits ^_^)

You could give tourists/travelers free HUD's that mark them as such. You could build into the other players HUD the ability to report pesky tourists (and possibly kick them out). You could make some events tourist restricted (so they could only watch from a distance), you shouldn't have all events to be tourist restricted though. Consider tourists as future residents. Treat them with respect and they will be more inclined to join.

If you need a scripter for such a thing I may be available.

We'll probably try that out.

There will be requirements to be in costume and non-interfering, however. No furries or odd avatars....only humanish.

Of course, a dress code is perfectly reasonable. You will need a shop that sells such items.



Spider avatars?

Well I'll keep an eye on things from this side, I wish you good luck with your project & can't wait to see what becomes of it.

New general plot of Northern Sim section of city.

Architecture will probably change during the build to reflect a more Romanesque style compatible with Numenor.

Wondering whether a venue change would be more interesting to people.

Were debating placing the city in ME for various reasons. Inputs welcome.

Nick

Just as a general thought, if you were to base the roleplay near the start of the 4th Age, then people could be as inventive as they like with characters and events over a long period of time. The problem with placing the roleplay in the second age is that the history of that time is already well documented.... in the Silmarillion.
The 4th age is unknown - and so people could create new stories without feeling that they are trampling on the Tolkien history.

I concur.

However, not being the 'plotmaster' of this..l.only the builder, I also have a suspicion this won't exactly go where most people think its going to.

As I understand it, its not based on the Silmarillion, rather the fundamental ideas JRR Tolkien was having on his world at the end of his life.

Nick

The first piece of Numenor has arrived.

Construction commences immediately.

Nick

Due to a sim misplacement Romenna has moved.

It will not show on the main map for a bit, until the move processes through the database.

Here's a pic of the initial build. Not too much done at the moment.

Nick

Romenna II is now in place to the North of Romenna I.

Build is still underway.

Members of the Faithful of Numenor can visit to see what it looks like so far.

We are looking for top level participants right now who would like to organize some of the patriarchal houses of Romenna. These will be groups within the main "group" of Romenna. As has been pointed out, not all Numenoreans are 'faithful."

Groups will include various houses, the city guard, Venturers and nobility. Patriarchs are not necessarily men, nor the head of households. They could be the head of a thieving guild, for instance.

Becoming a patriarch is no small matter. It is essentially agreeing to pay the montly residency fee for a great manor and recruiting family members.

Additionally we are looking for scripters and animators interested in Tolkien based roleplay to become involved at this time for project work.

Projected 'hot date' will be 29 Feb 07. Reply here if you are interested, or via IM in game.


Nick

We are hoping to have our open house at the end of February.

Things are very much in build still, with the south sim being more solid than the north.

We are, however, ready for people to start expressing interest in residency.

Romenna will be a detailed, deeply charactered portrayal of Numenor at the height ( and decline) of the empire of the high men. The city will have a cast and solid gamemastering.....there will always be something going on.

Principally, the daily 'grind' of RP activities will be based on familial interactions. More on that to follow. For those of you not in the group "Faithful of Numenor" here are some screenshots.

Note that the city is in no way designed like most SL builds. This is a real city, as close as can be done with current SL technology.

Nick

The screenshots look beautiful. I'm totally impressed and can't wait to visit. Great job.