Choose my Adventure: Meet Gibbi the Hobbit
Join me as I brave my way through lands unknown in an adventure dictated entirely by you, the Massively readers! Vote for everything from game played to character creation to ultimate goal and watch it unfold in a series of journals and galleries here on the site. Then, as the ultimate goal is reached, we'll do it all over again in a new game!
All through the week you voted on what type of character I should make to begin my journey through this Choose my Adventure in Lord of the Rings Online. My new male Hobbit Warden has begun his new life on the Brandywine server and is ready for action!
So without further ado, I present to you Gibbi of the Harfoots! His story is a sad one, but he has determined that his life needs some adventure, which is very unbecoming of a hobbit. Unless you count those meddlesome Tooks, of course. Follow along after the jump for his background story, another poll for next week and a list of playtimes where we can all play together and you can have your chance to be involved in his evolving story.
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Gibbi has always been curious about life outside of the Shire, but his complacency usually beats out his curiosity. The Shire is his home, and it's where he will always get whatever he needs, whether it's good friends, good food or good drink. Nothing beats an afternoon or two at the Brandywine River, catching catfish for elevensies. Yep, Gibbi really did have a good life. Or so he led the other hobbits to believe.
When Gibbi was quite young, his family was lost in an expedition northward. Despite a presumed state of peace between Hobbit and Man, some rebellious marauders had murdered his family near Lake Evendim. Gibbi was much too young to remember any of this, but the surviving members of that party have always been quick to recap the entire story -- once they have a few ales in them.
This story had always weighed heavily on Gibbi, and played a large part in his fear to travel. But one particularly ominous afternoon in Tookland, Gibbi realized his new fate while trying to deliver a letter to Celandine Brandybuck in Archet.
"I've heard from hobbits living in Staddle that Archet is beseiged by ruffians." The postmaster told Gibbi. "If you are set on having your letter delivered, you could go to Archet yourself. I wouldn't recommend it though!"
That was all the challenge Gibbi needed to face his fears and venture beyond the Shire. Archet is such a long ways away, and he had heard it was riddled with Men everywhere! How perfect.
"Surely there can't be much more to Middle-earth past Archet, can there?" Gibbi thought.
So he left his cozy hobbit hole and set off down the Stock Road towards Buckland. From there, he met a peculiar hobbit Bounder named Boffin who seemed to be frightened by a large black rider on horseback. Once the black rider fled, the two hobbits hid at Old Odo's leaf-farm, which was completely overrun with large spiders. Eliminating these spiders actually sent a rush of excitement through Gibbi and he realized that this whole adventurer's life might just be for him afterall.
After finding no refuge at Odo's, the two frightened hobbits continued to seek shelter from the black rider, lest he return. Ironically, they ran into him once again further down the road. This time he had friends and when they saw Boffin and Gibbi, they set to attack!
Yet from the shadows of the woods came a rain of arrows that saved the lives of the two hobbits. What's this? Elves in the Shire?! Gibbi was quite excited to see elves, as he'd only heard about them in stories told by boastful patrons of the Green Dragon Inn.
A man named Amdir was with the elves and promised to guide Gibbi the rest of the way to Archet. The hobbit welcomed the companionship (and protection) from the veteran Ranger as they continued their journey towards the troubled village.
Along the way, Amdir told Gibbi of the treacherous Blackwolds who threatened Archet's inhabitants, both man and hobbit alike. Gibbi agreed to help Amdir and accepted this as his new destiny. Gibbi would be a hero after all.
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Will Gibbi realize that Archet is only the beginning of his adventure through Middle-earth? Is he truly ready for what's in store? Be sure to join him every week for the next two months as my adventure through Lord of the Rings Online continues. Of course these adventures will not only be up to me, but mostly up to your votes in a poll each week.
Plus, I am excited about involving the Massively readers in this story through play sessions and even a kinship created specifically for this series. So for this week, you will vote on Gibbi's crafting vocation as he makes his way through the Epic Introduction quests. Since I will also be creating the new kinship on Friday, I'd like to get some input on a good kin name, and if people would be interested in joining for the sake of this project. I figure it could either be those already on Brandywine who want to try the game out with a solid group, or those who want to create a new character on this server to just have fun and be part of the unfolding story. I'd like to also keep this a group with similar levels, so while it would be helpful to have some level 60s joining us, I think it would only be fair to play together as a fellowship of lower-level characters. Contact me in game to be invited into the kinship after Friday and be sure to add Gibbi to your friends list to join him in his adventures any time. Also, look for me at these tentatively scheduled times:
Thursday: 3pm EST
Friday 10pm EST
Sunday: 9pm EST
As always, any other comments or recommendations are welcome. Hope to see some of you there!%Poll-33177%
