The New Format for a CoE Favorite
Contributed by: Happy Hobbit

The Role Play Forum started way back in June 2002. At that point, only a few RP threads existed, most being in the Prancing Pony Forum. “The Green Dragon” and the “Quest to fight the Dragon at Erebor” were the two most prominent threads that I can recall. I moderated the new forum on my own, so I guess I am to blame for the way it is today. Back then I had no RP experience and it seemed anything was possible.

As CoE grew, the RP forum grew as well, slowly at first as we all learned to expand
our imaginations. Unlike many RP forums the CoE one did not grow to be a
‘normal’ RP place. It did not have a game structure and instead it grew as a
story based forum. These stories often carried into the chat room. It was often there that
ideas began, plots formed and problems were overcome. It was there for instance
that The Hot Springs Pool & Spa was thought of. To this day there is
still a Jacuzzi in the chat room. One day I hope the RP Chat room will see a new wave of role-playing, as it was great fun to be part of the instant RP’s that happened.

We kept growing until the RP forum was just too big and people began to
lose their older, established threads among the many new ones. Something had to be done. At this time a few other RP moderators – Nillaniel, PotbellyHairyfoot, and Sadistic Yoda – had joined me. We were growing so fast that we struggled to keep up with the forum – reading every post and checking every thread.

After a time, it seemed that more and more non-Tolkien threads were springing up. Worried that we were losing our Tolkien Identity, we were pressed to find a solution. After much discussion, the New Role Playing Forum was born, with ideas from Rivka, the RP Forum Moderators and the members. In January 2003, we launched the three RP sub forums. Each sub forum was designated
for a certain type of thread, and with its own rules:

Totally Tolkien RP Sub-forum
Here you will find threads that are 100%
Tolkien based. These RP Threads are set in Tolkien’s world and contain Tolkien
races with powers/abilities that Tolkien describes. You may use your own
character but please keep its abilities/ possessions (No Unicorns for
example) to those true to Tolkien’s works.

Tolkien Related Sub-forum
Here you will find threads that relate, and
incorporate Tolkien’s ideas from his well-known stories, but sometimes “slip
off the edge” or are just not very serious. In this sub-forum, Godmoding
will be only permitted by the owner of a thread who wishes to have it.

Non-Tolkien Sub-forum
This sub forum holds all RP threads either have very little to do with Tolkien, or are only loosely based on his works. This means that you can have RP’s covering just about any theme in this sub-forum, as long as they obey the RP rules. Threads may
have a slight relation to Tolkien – names, creatures and places – but nothing
more. We hope your time here is enjoyable, and if you have any questions
feel free to contact one of the RP mods. Some people might wonder at the Non Tolkien Forum, since this is a Tolkien Site after all, but it was decided that although most members are Tolkien Fanatics we couldn’t expect everyone to be 100% Tolkien all the time. Hence to increase the ‘unique sense of being at home here’ we allow a limited
amount of Non Tolkien RP threads.

We also opened the new Rusty Pail Pub outside the three sub forums. This
is designed as a place where our members, NOT their characters, could come to
ask questions, offer suggestions, and express their opinions on ideas and
points raised.

Outside the three sub-forums, we also have the main RP and board rules listed, as well as announcements of changes, new rules, etc. Our newest feature, thanks to the wonderful programming skills of Rivka, is the RP Character Data base in which members can record their character details, along with uploading character pictures. Some very wonderful stories can be found among the information here.

We have now been joined by three more RP Moderators, Andaariel, Syriana and Gilraen.
Now as seven, we are a force to be reckoned with and the forum is at last fully moderated and running smoothly. We are still growing and the team looks forward to new and exciting developments. What they will be I have no idea but they are coming –
believe me.

-Happy Hobbit

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