ToME WikiOrvin: Darts as weapons are mentioned several times in TT:
"At last as the afternoon was waning they came to the eaves of the forest, and in an open glade among the first trees they found the place of the great burning: the ashes were still hot and smoking. Beside it was a great pile of helms and mail, cloven shields, and broken swords, bows and darts and other gear of war."
"Behind them orc-archers crowded, sending a hail of darts against the bowmen on the walls."
"At last Aragorn stood above the great gates, heedless of the darts of the enemy."
"But the Orcs laughed with loud voices; and a hail of darts and arrows whistled over the wall, as Aragorn leaped down."
Yet, there are no darts in ToME. It seems from the last quote that Tolkien means darts and arrows to be distinct. Is he referring to what ToME calls bolts, or another projectile fired by a bow? In FoTR or The Hobbit, I seem to recall some discussion of dart games in the Shire.
Should there be a ToME projectile called a dart? Should it only be launchable from a bow, or should it also be launchable by hand? Maybe, another archery sub-skill?
NeilStevens: There is potential merit, I think, in having a missile weapon type that requires no launcher.
NerdanelVampire: Dart: "n 1:a small narrow pointed missile that is thrown or shot." I think the "darts" passages could be used as evidence for crossbows in Middle-earth. I hardly think the orcs could throw darts like in the game of darts effectively to the top of a castle wall, particularly as the orcs also bother with bows. (And if you throw something without a launcher, can you be called an archer? I doubt that.)
KhymChanur: Well, lawn darts are supposed to be dangerous:
- A set of lawn darts usually includes four large darts and two targets. The darts typically are about 12 inches long with a heavy metal or weighted plastic tip on one end and three plastic fins on a rod at the other end. The darts are intended to be grasped by the rod and thrown underhand toward a target. While the tip may not be sharp enough to be obviously dangerous, these darts can cause skull punctures and other serious injuries.
So the orcs could have been throwing lawn-dart sized darts that were sharpened to be dangerous.
NerdanelVampire: How much kinetic energy one of those would have if thrown against the defenders of a castle wall? Well, perhaps Tolkien really meant "javelin", but in the first quote the darts are mentioned in connection to bows and in the second the darts are sent by archers.
KhymChanur: Ah. Maybe we should go ask about this on a Tolkein newsgroup or something? Or a medieval/SCA type newsgroup?
NerdanelVampire: For what it matters, orcs use crossbows in Peter Jackson's movies. I used to hang on a Tolkien forum, but when I went back to it I couldn't find that the matter had ever been discussed. (The search isn't very useful, though.) I tried Google but all I learned was that at least some people have crossbows shooting darts, but no mention of Tolkien's particular usage.
Orvin: 1) Darts could be launchable both by a launcher and by hand. 2) If launched by hand, darts should get a higher multiplier, since you could probably throw them at a greater rate. 3) Hand-launched darts should have a more limited range.
LordEstraven: It seems to me that, when Tolkien mentioned "darts", he was referring either to arrows (the Orcs) or javelins (Eol). Both kinds of projectiles could, broadly, be termed darts...
Orvin: In one quote, he refers to "darts and arrows," so I suppose he means something other than arrows.
Orvin: Here is a quote from RoTK ("Houses of Healing") concerning Faramir, in which it seems "dart" is used to refer to missiles generically: "'He is nearly spent,' said Aragorn turning to Gandalf. 'But this comes not from the wound. See! that is healing. Had he been smitten by some dart of the Nazgûl, as you thought, he would have died that night. This hurt was given by some Southron arrow, I would guess. Who drew it forth? Was it kept?' 'I drew it forth,' said Imrahil, 'and staunched the wound. But I did not keep the arrow, for we had much to do. It was, as I remember, just such a dart as the Southrons use."
Orvin: Though, in Simarillion ("OF THE RINGS OF POWER AND THE THIRD AGE"), there is passage referring to "darts and bolts" of the enemy. It does not seem that "dart" is used with a single consistent meaning in the books.
Orvin: The Wikipedia entry on darts suggests further possibilities: 1) the ability to launch darts using an atlatl (maybe, based on sling proficiency), 2) some ancient Romans apparantely carried 5 hand-launched darts in their shields
EwanMcNay: Correct. Towards the end of Imperial Rome, both legions and auxilia were equipped with darts (and in the case of auxilian in particular, these were in addition to their primary armament of javelins, so not another term for such). Several other armies and troop types have used similar relatively short-range missiles for their primarily-close-combat troops. They're short - about 8 inches long in the case of the Romans - but ancient texts suggest that they had significant impact (especially on enemy mounted, or at least their horses). Hand thrown, rather than being launched (a la an atlatl); but (consensus is) weighted to be thrown in a lofted curve and 'rain' down on enemies, with a range ~60 yards. Having said all that.. what is the ToME benefit to having missiles that don't need a launcher? Unless - which I would suggest - the launcher equipment slot could be allowed to hold a stack of darts. Maybe with a fairly small maximum capacity, fitting their actual role as a backup for melee types.