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The Road to Mordor: Seven player events you must attend
More than any other MMO I've played, Lord of the Rings Online seems to draw out player events like crazy. Maybe it's the setting, Tolkien's world-building, the renaissance fair outfits, or the disproportionately large RP crowd, but LotRO seems to be graced with far more of these kinds of player-driven initiatives than elsewhere. As such, today I wanted to scout around the forums and official calendar to highlight a few of the many, many events that festoon this great game of ours. These are great to check out, particularly when you're a little bored with the same-old, same-old of questing, raiding, skirmishing, or PvMPing. The ingenuity and spirit of these events is often quite infectious, and I never regret going to one once I make the effort. So check out seven great player events in LotRO, coming to a server near you!
The Road to Mordor: Community check-up
It's a quiet week around these here parts, what with the Thanksgiving holiday in NA and the lull before the November Update hits on the 29th. As such, I thought it'd be a great time to catch up on the current state of the community, especially as we've seen so many new bloggers and sites and podcasts arrive on the scene in the past year. I've always said that Lord of the Rings Online is truly blessed with not just a stellar community but an active one as well. Some MMOs see very little in the way of fan-created sites, keeping most of the community action centered on official forums and the like. However, when it comes to LotRO, we have not only the MyLotro.com blogs set up by Turbine, but a cornucopia of web delights fashioned by hard-working players. So to say "Thanks!" to this wonderful community, today I want to highlight some of the best LotRO resource websites, blogs and podcasts that consistently go above and beyond in making our slice of the MMO landscape a delight to visit.
One Shots: A merry dance
Every so often we hear from our friend Harperella, who loves to show off some of the great roleplay events that go on in Lord of the Rings Online. This time Harperella decided to send in an image of a group performing a dance that looks almost like it brought on a sprinkle of rain to keep the dancers cool. She writes in to explain: "Here's a picture from Ales and Tales on the Landroval server. At these events, we actually put the in-game dances to the test, performing group dances to live music. Pictured is an elven circle dance with the lovely Rohanwood in the center, doing a hobbit dance." Have you caught an image of a roleplaying event in your favorite game? One Shots is always on the hunt for something new and interesting going on in various MMOs out there, and we can use your help! Just email your screenshot to us here at oneshots@massively.com along with your name, the name of the game, and a description of what we're seeing. We'll post it out here for everyone to enjoy, and give you the credit for sharing it. It's that easy! %Gallery-85937%
The Road to Mordor: Kicking back with Ales & Tales
Every Friday, The Road to Mordor brings you the latest in Lord of the Rings Online news, guides and analysis. Massively's legal department has asked me to make a standard disclaimer here: I am not a role-player. Believe you me, I have tried. It's kind of like me with the guitar -- in theory, I want to play it and I like the idea of it, but in practice, I just have no innate talent for it. I like the idea of role-playing, I appreciate those who do, and I'm in full support of it -- but I really, really suck at it. Maybe it would be different if I grew up playing pen-and-paper RPGs, where the friends and rules were more defined. But for some reason, in MMOs, I never quite know the "rules" to role-playing, and subsequently always end up ticking people off and never fit in. I have tried, though... oh how I have tried. And I continue to try. So my latest endeavor in expanding my RP sensibilities came this past Monday evening, when I finally devoted an evening to doing something I've wanted to do ever since rerolling on Landroval (the unofficial NA RP server): I was going to go to Ales & Tales.
One Shots: Making Mondays a bit better
Friday! Our favorite day of the week. But if we were living in the lands of Middle-earth, we might very well like Mondays as well. Why? Because Mondays is when the role-playing event "Ales and Tales" happens in Lord of the Rings Online! Sure, you can dedicate your entire MMO career to just slaying any monster that gets in your way -- but taking the time out to enjoy a little slice of role-playing fun makes the experience better, in our opinion. Today's cheery Lord of the Rings Online One Shots comes from the most recent event, and was sent to us by Harperella who writes: Ales and Tales is a weekly social RP event on Landroval hosted by The Lonely Mountain Band. It's a sort of travelling pub that meets in a new location each week for the pleasures of food and drink, music, dancing, tales and fine companionship. This week, we met at the Party Tree in the Shire. Afterwards, we moved into Bag End, where we found some truly hobbity comforts around the fire in the study. Do you know about a great role-playing event we should know about -- especially one that recurs? If so, why not grab a screenshot for us and send it in to oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a brief description. (Links to sponsoring guilds, event calendars, etc, are welcome too!) We'll post it out here on Massively and give you the credit for sending it in. %Gallery-85937%
