LotR - Umli?

[Cut]

After having picked up the core book I pulled out my MERS (german version of MERP) rule book and while skipping the pages found the species called the umli. They are some sub-species of the dwarves. Does anybody know if they are a MERP/S thing or are they a "real" part of Tolkien's world?

[Evan van Eyk]

I actually never understood what those umli are supposed to be and I definitely have never read something Tolkien-official about them. I always felt they did not want the dwarfs to be the only non-halfbreed in their game, as all other species, including trolls and orcs have their half-human cousins.
However there is an extinct kind of dwarfs the "small dwarfs" ( that would be the Translation back from German ). They were even smaller than ordinary dwarfs. One of them appears shortly in the Silmarillion and he is actually the last one of them. It is something about Nargothrond if I remember correctly. But he was treacherous and killed for it by an Elf. That may have been an Umli, although he was never called like that. So I do not think it is really official.

[Jason Durall]

I think Umli were specifically for MERP.

The half-Dwarves mentioned by Tolkien were called "petty Dwarves", but little detail is mentioned of them.

[Cut]

[i]
However there is an extinct kind of dwarfs the "small dwarfs" ( that would be the Translation back from German ). They were even smaller than ordinary dwarfs. [/B]

Yes, I remember the passage of the Silmarillion, now that you mention it. Im Deutschen wären es dann wohl die "Klein-Zwerge" gewesen, oder?

I only have read the Silmarillion in english and may have missed one or two things :-) Should be able to look that up in my dad's copy.

Thanks for your answers. BTW are there new "Man" backgrounds provided in any of the Movie sourcebooks, like "Rohan-package" or something the like?

I mean MERS was kind of more detailed in the backgrounds and available let's call them canon-species...

[Cut]

[i]
However there is an extinct kind of dwarfs the "small dwarfs" ( that would be the Translation back from German ). They were even smaller than ordinary dwarfs. [/B]

Yes, I remember the passage of the Silmarillion, now that you mention it. Im Deutschen wären es dann wohl die "Klein-Zwerge" gewesen, oder?

I only have read the Silmarillion in english and may have missed one or two things :-) Should be able to look that up in my dad's copy.

Thanks for your answers. BTW are there new "Man" backgrounds provided in any of the Movie sourcebooks, like "Rohan-package" or something the like?

I mean MERS was kind of more detailed in the background details and more different types of PC species were available to chose from.

[Evan van Eyk]

Originally posted by Cut
Im Deutschen wären es dann wohl die "Klein-Zwerge" gewesen, oder?

Richtig ( right ). That is it. Its been quite a while since I last read it but I am sure you can find it. It is about that cursed Elf ( not Feanor ) who looses his home along with Nargothrond.

[Sarge]

I believe the petty dwarf Mim appears in the story of Turin Turambar.

As for the MERP Umli, I've never seen anything by JRRT to support their existence. The MERP write-up didn't interest me very much, so I don't think I'd ever have one in my game. Of course, there's always the chance that a player could come up with a fascinating background story and character concept for an Umli. But, considering the difference in how Dwarves were created compared to Elves and Men, I don't think they'd have fertile unions.