The Legendari(um) Game

J.R.R. Tolkien, born on January 3, 1892, was a literary genius of the 20th century. The reason for his fame all lies within his works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. I cannot even begin to count the number of times I have seen The Lord of the Rings movies, or how many hours I sat in anticipation, waiting for the new Hobbit movie to come out each December.

My interests in these films and books since a young age continued to build, until I finally started to do some research on Tolkien and his works a couple of years ago. The day I read Tolkien’s Wikipedia page all the way through, my life changed. That was the day I realized that there was more to the The Lord of the Rings. There was much, much, much more. Similar to coming home past curfew and carefully opening the door as to not wake your parents, I began to slowly open the door to other parts of Tolkien’s world. My findings would excite me every time I read new information, and one day I finally decided enough was enough. I told myself I was going to take an ELI and learn everything there is to know about Tolkien’s work. Now that I have begun, I realize that is impossible, because the world that Tolkien created is so expansive and so detailed that it would take years of research merely to know the details and names.

Now that the reason behind my ELI has been covered, I suppose I should talk about what exactly I am going to be doing this semester. In the simplest terms, I am going to research Tolkien’s Legendarium and through that research, create some type of board game based off my findings. Now for details. For my first goal, I am going to read The Silmarillion as well as other articles on the history of Arda. The Silmarillion, a book full of names, places, and events, is a summary of everything that happened before The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Reading almost more like a textbook than a novel, it is very detailed, and at times, hard to follow. Once I have finished reading this, I am going to start on my second goal, creating the game. At this point in time, I have no real visions for my completed game, but I am excited to begin my work soon. My third and final goal is going to be one that will take place most likely in the future. For my third goal, I hope to document a marketing plan for my game (if I feel like it has any potential to sell at all). So far I have thoroughly enjoyed my project, and I am looking forward to finishing my research and starting my game soon.  

~Chad R.