Surt, Kurn and D'edra along with Heretic were the one's who got the Realm started. Between them they had like 30 year's of expierience in Dagorhir. They created the Realm and the Concept of the Royal Army. Just as things started to congeal we took a summer hit. Surt lost his job then left for the summer vowing to return in september. Kurn and D'edra lost their jobs and moved to Tennessee. Heretic got a job and we haven't seen him much since. The rest of us have been doing this for about 6 months now. So the roleplay and Character stuff isn't set in stone with us. We've been doing the sparring thing. Everything else is pretty much on the backburner until Surt comes back to teach us more about all that.
My background is all Medieval and Ancient History. I once played with the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) which is based on true history to a degree. I don't know much about Lord of the Rings though my participation in this group has led me to rewatch the movies and to listen to the audiobooks by JRR Tolkien (the Hobbit and all 3 LOTR books). (I listen while I drive and I drive for a living so that's 8 hours of listening enjoyment) When I was a kid I wargamed with my buddies and dabbled in D n D or the steve jackson stuff. I read Conan. Grown up, I did fencing, I did paintball and I did SCA. The SCA can be serious, Dag is just plain fun!
My wife says I only seem to be happy on Saturday's when I go and come from Dag practices. She's watched me fight in the SCA and in Dagorhir and says the SCA is boring to watch, but The Dag guys are just plain nuts and fun to watch.
As I was saying. The Realm is new. We have Realm's in California and Arizona that have been around for years and years and they have alot of expierience not only with fighting and running events, but with the characterizations, roleplay and stuff like that. We have a Barad'dun Codex which was being worked on by Surt and Kurn. When I get some more paper for my printer I will run you off a copy or I will scan it and post it online. It explains more about Barad'dun and the Royal armey, the ranks, etc.
Kurn made me an officer to take his place when he left, but I really don't know anything about the standards they were setting up, about the characterizations or roleplay. I like to fight. Kilanos and Oddvar are my left and right hands, (thank god) and between the three of us we are keeping things running. Any questions you have, one of us should be able to help. When Surt come's back, we will start learning about the heart of Barad'dun.
We are not a live version of D n D. That would probably be NERO. There is a large nero group here in Vegas. You would want to talk to (in person or email) our own Knubbs. He participates in both NERO and Dagorhir and other Roleplaying activities. We are a medievalist combat sport that uses LOTR for flavour. You can be an Orc, you can be an Elf, or any other race in the LOTR, medieval fantasy or Historical universe. We do not use magic in our combat but we may hunt for gold. We do not have wizards, but we have games that involve Zombies, Vampires and oh, yes, Goblins!
Lately our practices have been family affairs. We have alot of fighters bringing their little brother's, nieces and nephews to practice. That might be discouraged at times depending on the situation. For example this weekend getting a large number of fighters traveling in from another realm. A Belegarth realm at that. But we will see. It really is about having fun, and excercise. We play 'battle' games which are challenging, and fun. That's the name of the game.
For now, all you need to bring to practice is your desire to participate. Don't worry about anything else until later. We'll let Strider teach you the basics of the game and then just jump in.
Konradr