Overview
‘Laurelin [EN-RP]’ is a server especially dedicated for heavy Tolkien roleplayers. You will notice how the server is very much alive with roleplayers and rich with kinships and action.
Introduction
‘Laurelin [EN-RP]‘ is a server especially dedicated for heavy Tolkien roleplayers. You will notice how the server is very much alive with roleplayers and rich with kinships and action.
If lighter or crossworld roleplay is something that you want more, you can also check out ‘Landroval [EN-RE]‘ which is more freeform. “RE” stands for Roleplay Encouraged. Many roleplayers are known to switch between the two servers, and to even keep similarly named kinships in both.
Laurelin has gotten it’s name from one of the Two magical Trees in the Silmarillion. Laurelin was golden as it’s counterpart Telperion was silver, and they both were very radiant, emanating glorious light. The light of Laurelin became the Sun as the light of Telperion became the Moon. Their light was also captured in the hallowed gems known as Silmarils (and Galadriel’s hair, according to some).
Landroval is one of the Great Eagles, a brother of Gwaihir. The Great Eagles are also said to be Maiar (such as Gandalf, Saruman or Sauron) who chose to take a form of an eagle.
Read the essay[fav.me] of LotROLaurelin in deviantART.
Is This My Server?
- Are friendly and patient.
- Are good in the immersion of heavy roleplay.
- Know a lot about Tolkien’s fantasy lore.
- Enjoy (long term) storytelling and storylines.
- Are artists of some kind – poets, authors, painters, musicians.
- Have a good sense of humor.
Roleplayers in Laurelin also tend to take example not only from the Lord of the Rings or the Hobbit books, but also from other productions of Tolkien such as the Silmarillion and History of Middle-Earth series. Tolkien’s world is vast and there’s plenty to explore and surprises to discover.
If you’re into Tolkien and roleplay and like to make proper backgrounds for your characters, you’ll certainly be at home in Laurelin. You’ll notice that if you do write a proper background story for your character, you’ll likely get better responses than you would in the non roleplay servers, because you’re giving the others more to talk about in character.
It’s fine to take influences from other fictional universes and stories, as long as you can somehow adapt them into Tolkien’s lore without making a clash.
Laurelin has had special rules for enforcing the roleplay – for example, all the names of the characters and kinships should be Tolkien themed. For example, it’s not a good idea to name a character as Surfergurl or G.I. Joe, but it’s recommendable try to find the Middle-Earth equivalents, such as Soloril (grittering wave) or Mahtavenwë (warrior shape).
If you’re not well versed in Middle-Earth languages, can also use Lotro’s own name generator which can be found at character creation, and the character creation can also give you hints on how to form them.
Roleplay Instructions
The people in roleplay mode have their names in white, as people not in roleplay mode have their names in default gold. The roleplay mode has no side effects on normal questing or leveling.
So what’s the difference? When you see a character’s name in gold, the character may not be present for roleplay at all, but in character or storyline wise he or she may be in another region. However, if you do see the character’s name in white, the character really is present and ready for roleplay, able to react.
You can toggle roleplay mode by typing the commands ‘/rp on‘ (white) or ‘/rp off‘ (gold).
Roleplay happens primarily in the ‘/say‘, ‘/me‘ or emote channels. You can perform an animated emote and replace the text in the same style as ‘/me’, which is a channel for describing thoughts and actions. Some people also use it for talking in character, if they add quote marks.
You can also make the ‘/say’ channel to hover overhead from the settings of the game.
Whether any roleplay happens in kin chat or fellowship chat, depends much on the kinship you’re in or getting recruited for.
When you roleplay, especially when you do heavy roleplay, it’s essential to remember that at the very moment you’re your character, not yourself. It’s very important to separate your character from yourself and use a “switch” when you’re in and out of character. Your dreams, memory and learning curve are separate from your character’s dreams, memory and learning curve.
When you step into your character’s shoes, think as your character, and talk as your character. It is what your co-players’ characters expect you to do.
Your character cannot be seen saying things that you think, such as: “It’s so hot in here, hold on I’ll plug the fan”, “Hold on my dad’s calling… oh wait he’s behind the door”, “So how was the Olympics opening ceremony?”, “Omigosh I got the tickets to the concert of my favorite band!”
All such things should be said in way that’s off character, for the sake of immersion.
Telling things by your character that only you should know such as names hovering over the characters is known as Meta-Gaming or Meta-Roleplay, which is commonly thought as a mistake by the experienced roleplayers. If you see a character that interests you, introduce yourself or get introduced, unless you already know or guess the name of the character.
Depending on the race, our characters always start the game in a certain way. But the game storyline origins do not necessarily mean that they must also be the origins of your character – the storyline written by you is what defines your character. Else everyone would have once stopped by in Bree, killed 200 giant spiders and were told by Elrond to gather the rangers to Rivendell. Creativity and imagination is all that matters.
Think about your character’s race, and backstory. Which areas would he or she regularly stay in? Which areas would your character regularly try to avoid? Do notice however that avoiding an area in character doesn’t mean that you mustn’t have business there off character, such as for quests and leveling.
That your character is certain level in game also doesn’t necessarily mean that your character couldn’t actually be weaker or stronger. The level number is hardly a proof of anything what comes to heavy roleplay.
You may choose your player class based on your character, but instead of mostly relying on class abilities and spells of LOTRO, aim for more multi-dimensional and realistic approach.
Language and Lore
Tolkien made many original fantasy languages for Arda (Middle-Earth and Aman). Moreover, he built the continents around his languages. The known ones are (commonly used in italic):
- Ainur: Valarin
- High-Elves: Quenya, Vanyarin, Noldorin and Telerin
- Common Elves: Sindarin, Avarin
- Men: Westron (Soval Pharë, also used by the Hobbits), Taliska, Adûnaic, Dalish, Rohirric, Rhovanion, Haladin, Dunlendish, Drûg, Haradrim and Easterling
- Dwarves: Khuzdul, Iglishmêk
- Ents: Entish
- The enemy: Orc language and Black Speech
There are websites that can teach you Tolkien languages, though notice that it’s not mandatory – most of the people in the server prefer to use English as the main language, and Tolkien’s languages mainly appear in the names, songs and oaths.
- [link]
- CoE: Languages of Middle-Earth[www.councilofelrond.com]
- Ardalambion[folk.uib.no]
Dictionaries:
- Parf Edhellen[www.elfdict.com]
- Eldamo[www.eldamo.org]
You can easily indicate which language your character is currently speaking without studying the language. For example, you can use [w] for Westron, [s] for Sindarin, [q] for Quenya, and so on.
If your character says “[r] Alas, we’re out of mead,” it means that your character is speaking Rohirric, and what is seen in roleplay is the English translation. This does not, however mean that the other characters hear the English translation, or that they automatically know Rohirric. This is a way for the characters to share secrets in the plain sight.
The best sources for Tolkien lore are the books of J.R.R. and his son Christopher of course, but if you need a quick reference for Tolkien lore, you can try Tolkien Gateway[www.tolkiengateway.net], which is somewhat popular and reliable wiki style site used by Middle-Earth enthusiasts.
[link] is a site where you can download plugins (custom widgets) for LOTRO – also the ones related to ABCs and lyrics. Simply make sure to follow the instructions on the pages where you download them at.
Type “/plugins manager” command to access and load your installed plugins. It’s the easiest way to use your plugins, and it’s already available in the game.
The Neo-Sindarin and Neo-Khuzdul are plugins which you can use for telling common phrases in the languages.
Get Neo-Sindarin[www.lotrointerface.com]
Get Neo-Khuzdul[www.lotrointerface.com]
Getting Together
Turbine has some forums relevant to Laurelin in the official LOTRO site.
- Laurelin [EN-RP][www.lotro.com]
- Roleplaying[www.lotro.com]
- J.R.R. Tolkien[www.lotro.com]
- Creative Endeavours[www.lotro.com]
- Music System[www.lotro.com]
If you are looking for information about any event in Laurelin, then Laurelin Archives[www.laurelinarchives.org] is the way you should go. It has news[www.laurelinarchives.org] and events[www.laurelinarchives.org], but you can also make your inner author become alive there, so you can write[www.laurelinarchives.org] about the backstories of the characters as well as their recent adventures in-game.
LA also has an archive for kinships[www.laurelinarchives.org], though a list of them can also be found in Lotro-Wiki[lotro-wiki.com]. Be sure to learn about a kinship properly before applying to them – some may require a presence in character in some area or a longer term commitment for the storyline. What you want in LOTRO is up to you, and they may fulfill the purpose.
Kinships may also have sites of their own, for example in Shivtr[www.shivtr.com], and with them a calendar of events of their own.
Laurelin also has performing bands from time to time if music interests you, that can arrange large concerts of over 6 players syncing on stage. Songwriters / composers are also always welcome. Here’s how you can do it.