HOW DARE YOU! LET ME TELL YOU ... haha
... No, no, no I'm just kidding. Ray, I think what you suggest is perfect. I've been "listening" to Professor Olsen's podcasts from the very beginning. When it was just him and Dave doing the Riddles in the Dark series. I've been "listening" to this project since it started and just recently decided to jump in and contribute (yeah, takes me a while to find my courage haha). I did so b/c I thought/think it was something fun and exciting. However, there are a few hurdles for people to probably be aware of. There are some VERY informed people, concerning Tolkien's world, on this project. So anyone thinking of jumping in would be better served doing a little "homework" first. Also, those informed individuals (not me of course b/c I'm just starting) have put a lot of time and "heart" into this ... so any criticizing (even if it is a very well thought through) should, maybe, be done tactfully.
I think some of the confusion, at least for myself, is who exactly are we "writing" this for? This is what I mean. Professor Olsen makes a lot of comments like, "... and I don't want the audience to have a hint that Melkor isn't actually repentant." That's just an example. This to me hints that we should be coming at this from the perspective of people who are NOT Tolkien fans ... i.e. someone who will look at you funny if you used Tol Eressëa in a sentence. Now IF that's the case then I have to say that a LOT of what Atanvarno was saying I agree with ... probably should have been put more tactfully though - sorry Atanvarno but it's kinda true. However, it doesn't change the fact that our audience will HAVE to be Tolkien World knowledgeable to follow and get anything out of our frame.
On the other hand there's the selfish side of me. I would prefer to come at this from the perspective of:
write this for a reasonably well informed audience. The ideas and fleshing out of this world is, for me, like a kid in a candy store. I mean there are so many informed and talented people making all these really satisfying story lines ... it's every serious Tolkien fans dream. So selfishly I hope we keep creating it as though an informed audience were watching it. However, a newbie might be confused at times b/c what you would write for an informed audience is NOT what you would write for the layman.