Middle Earth Ranger Forum

I recently was thinking about the wiki and how it's the frontpage for the forum here, and ways we could better advertise what we do here to the public that comes to the site. The wiki dooesn't get as much traffic as the forum itself, so in an effort to point searches to the WIKI instead of the forum itself, to show off all that has to offer, I messaged a few members here privately to get something up and off the ground.

Udwin was approached to provide me with full details on his complete kit because it is so well-researched and complete; a great starting example for others to follow. I took his pics and information and formatted them for the wiki, and opened a new section on the front page for these Complete Kits, arranged by race. This is a section specifically for budding members and outside observers to see the best we have to offer, displayed in a consistent format, without any forum digging to do.

This is where you all come in. When you feel that your kit is fully fleshed out and display-ready, I'd simply ask that you send pics of the kit laid out and some details to my personal email on a list of topics such as this:

Soft Kit
Hard Kit
Food/Cooking
Weapons
Lifestyle

Include a description of your persona that puts everything in perspective, make as many references to the books as possible to support your decisions, and point out any artistic/creative allowances you've taken. I will take your information and format it for the wiki and add you to the lists on the frontpage in the appropriate race box, so everything's consistent and the wiki stays looking clean and classy.

I'll be adding mine in a bit when I've finished this whole blade project, since that will factor largely into my character among other projects I have in process.

In the meantime, I hope everyone enjoys the exquisite detail Udwin put into his gearset, now visible in technicolor on the wiki frontpage, under Complete kits>Humans>Aistan: 3rd Age Woodman of the Anduin Vale, found just above the links to the Andy/MERanger.com Archive.

Enjoy!

Very cool, great addition to the wiki.

This sounds like a nice afternoon project once the weather cools off a bit. Great idea.

Absolutly wonderful idea Greg!
This is a great project and I tremendously enjoyed sitting and reading every little drop of both Udwin's and Andy's Kits. Some of the material we have seen before it is true, but all listed catagorically in a format that invites you to logicaly determine what one needs for ones own kit is extrordinarily useful to newcomer and veteran alike.

Udwin your Kit is fantastic and I truly admire the thurough an exhuastive reaserch into your persona. Your skill as a woodsman and history lover shine forth in it. The parts where you have used your own creativity are reasonable and flawless. Well done!

Greg, can we give you these seperate smaller kits as we have them made, or would you prefer that they come as a total package? I am working on a rebuild of my gear right now and trying to be more authentic in nature but several of my lesser "kit" parts could be made available sooner.

BTW I will be anxiously awaiting your kit Greg, to see it all together in its entirety like this will be very informative and I'm sure that it will set a standard for the Dunadain of the group!

As I want these to be listed by persona, I'd rather, personally, wait for head-to-toe complete kits to be assembled and posted all at once...it could be difficult making a way to navigate to pages of individual's sewing kits without first having a page for the individual. Sorry. *sad face*

All the same, I'm looking forward to getting some more put up. I *might* have a hobbit via JBook in a little bit, if he's able to juggle life and take some photos for me, but this most certainly isn't something where we need "One example per race", etc. This is a great place where kits can be listed virtually endlessly, not to compare each to the other, but rather to help individuals find pertinent references they need to justify the kit items they need, and perhaps several ways to exploit said references, etc.

In short:
Customize, customize, customize!

Greg, I LOVE LOVE LOVE this idea! Seriously! My favorite part about this is that it allows everyone's complete kit to be laid out at a glance, and it's permanent, so it won't get eaten and swallowed up by the rest of peoples' posts in the forums. Once again, love it.

It also provides excellent incentive for me to get my butt in gear and finish my own kit - or at least get it to the point where I would feel comfortable showing it off in this manner. I'd love to have a section on the wiki for my kit, but I want to make sure I'm 100% happy with it first. Soooooo a lot of work needs to be done, haha.

Right there with you, boss. I have a LONG way to go before mine is complete. There are parts of my backstory that tie in firmly to items that I don't even own yet...and there's that ever-present lack of a new jerkin I'm still dealing with, so...yeah. Long way to go. But, like I said, it's an all-or-nothing gig, so I'll be patient.

Udwin- I'm totally loving your photos and descriptions. As to your Russian style pack, "vyeshmeshok" comes from two Russian words. 'Vyeshchi' means 'things,' and 'meshok' means 'bag.'

You've inspired me to get my gear in order and the camera ready.

Very good idea. However where is the wiki?, I may be missing something but I always come right to the forum

Just type in the URL without the bit that says /forum. So like this:

http://ranger.budgetauthenticity.org/

Got it thank you kindly

This is a great idea! It will make it alot easier to get ideas to improve kits

I'm told there are a few updated photos on their way, etc., and I'm digging out a few more book quotes, but Ursus: 3rd Age Dunedain Ranger of Arnor is pretty well finished and added to the complete kits section.

These listings will all be set alphabetically in their corresponding fields, fyi.

BTW Ursus, beautifully done, thanks for the inclusion of your kit!

Another wonderful kit. I think when new people come to the site and see this, some might be intimidated by the amount of detail and thought that have gone into these persona kits. Others, however, will be like me and inspired.

Now that my wife has finally consented to showing me how to use her new sewing machine (I'm HORRIBLE at hand-sewing), I'm on the road to finishing aspects of my soft kit that I've been wanting to do.