Kickstarter: 3D Tabletop Miniatures

Customizable 3D Printed Tabletop Miniatures by Hero Forge

This Kickstarter run by three dudes and four ladies is looking to start a company that produces incredibly detailed, versatile custom 3D printed gaming miniatures for your tabletop characters. If you have ever spent hours combing through a bin of Reaper Minis trying to find a statue that even remotely resembles your Player Character, then you'll definitely appreciate this project.

"Hero Forge is a service that lets you design custom tabletop minis, have them 3D printed, and delivered right to your doorstep. By using a sophisticated parts system and web UI, we're bringing the flexibility, ease, and control of a robust video game character creator to the tabletop.

Choose your race, your gender, your build, and your facial expression. Select and swap individual armor pieces, weapons, adventuring equipment, hairstyles, and faces. Choose your pose and watch all of the dynamically rigged parts and attributes conform to fit your selection. Choose the scale of your mini, and even the material it's printed in. We're bringing a high-tech update to a classic analog hobby and giving you the opportunity to breathe your vision and creativity into your miniature."

Video: Minecraft Middle Earth Special

"The Two Towers (and 10 thousand hours): A Minecraft Middle Earth Special" 

Hosted by Jesse Cox

Alright, this is mind-blowing.  I played some Lord of the Rings Online as part of a MOOC last year, and this fan built world puts that experience to shame.  Wow.

"Outside the Blocks returns with another trip into the amazing world of Minecraft Middle Earth - the largest project ever attempted in Minecraft. The goal is to recreate the entire world of Middle-Earth from J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings."

The map file is currently well over 8GB with a server whitelist featuring over 14,000 individual Minecraft accounts with many more being added each day.

In addition to building Middle-Earth, they've released an adventure map about the fall of Gondolin."

Video: Minecraft Middle-Earth

"Minecraft Middle-Earth Tour - Moria" by MilkTheMoose

Everything you see in the video was created by the Minecraft Middle-Earth (MCME) community. You can find the official server site at MCMiddleEarth.com. It is technically not open to the public to explore, but all you need to do is apply for the whitelist. Whitelisting is a pretty easy process, as long as you read everything, understand everything, and answer the simple questions on that form you usually get accepted.

Fan Film: Born of Hope

"Born of Hope" by LOTR Prequels

Born of Hope is an independent feature film inspired by the Lord of the Rings and produced by Actors at Work Productions in the UK. Read all about it over at The Guardian.

"On the eastern flank of Epping Forest, a short walk in from the town of Debden, there is a huge tree, lying on its side, upended by a storm. It was in this clearing that independent film-maker Kate Madison, along with dozens of game volunteers, filmed Born of Hope, a homemade prequel to Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy that has caused a great stir since its release in December. A production pulled together over four years with a budget of a mere £25,000 – about a tenth of one per cent of the cost of Jackson's epic – it has impressed critics and recorded close to a million views on video streaming sites. The upended tree seems a fitting place for it all to have begun."

Fan Film: Beren and Luthien in 30 minutes

"Ranger" (Beren and Luthien, from the Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien) by Josh Fortune

"Ranger is the tale of a wandering man who meets and falls in love with a beautiful Elf maid. To win her hand, however, Ranger must fulfill a deadly quest to steal a gem from a dragon - in order to placate her father, while also competing with the hatred of another would-be suitor."

Music: Nightfall in Middle-Earth

"Blind Guardian - Nightfall in Middle-Earth" by Best Rock Albums

Here's an altogether different way of summarizing The Silmarillion.

Video: Silmarillion In Three Minutes

"The Silmarillion In Three Minutes" by John Kloess

[Previously: The Silmarillion Project]

I love The Silmarillion pretty hard, despite the fact that I can't pronounce a single name in it, but there's no doubt that it's one of the most challenging reads of the fantasy genre. If you're curious about the back story of The Lord of the Rings, but you don't want to wade into the Swamps of Sadness that are The Silmarillion, this is a great place to start. It's not only concise, but funny as well.

"Have you ever wanted to to read JRR Tolkiens history of middle earth: "The Silmarillion"? Then wave it in the faces of all those fantasy nerds? Well now you don't have to! Instead you can take this shortcut and prove yourself the lazy bum you are!"