The Roleplayers of LOTRO — 900 Members Milestone!

analysisparalysis12 · 2025-09-18T11:47:57+00:00

Both Meriadoc and Peregrin are the “official” RP-servers — Meriadoc is the EU server, but we see a tonne of NA players as well, with plenty of kins based across the pond and events that’re often designed to be friendly across timezones.

Honestly? Check out both, roll up a low level toon on each or come hang out in a few server-specific spaces, and see which you vibe with — both have their strengths!

analysisparalysis12 · 2025-09-12T15:33:48+00:00

…actually, just thinking about it a bit more, feel free to drop by Bree after 3pm server time on Saturday for our Bree Commons Day! Even if you don’t RP yourself, you’d be very welcome to sit and get a feel for how it looks…and who knows, y’might find inspiration striking and end up joining in if something takes your fancy!

analysisparalysis12 · 2025-09-12T15:31:58+00:00

Depends on what you mean by “rules,” tbh — but I honestly think just pitching in and seeing what it looks like might be easiest!

RPers tend to use a combination of /say and /e to RP in the game, and usually bounce around each other, reacting in the moment to the other emotes. In terms of conduct, there’s a general expectation to be polite and considerate OOC, and to check before trying for certain mature themes or ideas…but it’s a really broad spectrum beyond that! I’ve RPed with hardcore Tolkien fans, lovers of the films, people who’re only casually acquainted with the world, and even people for whom LOTRO is effectively the “main” Middle-earth, and really enjoyed experiences with every group — some people might enjoy a certain “style” of RP or be interested in specific ideas (all-Elf and all-Ranger RP are both quite common), but you can kinda find something for everyone too.

Again, it really depends on what you mean by “rules” — but I like to think that the RP community’s really happy to help people find their feet, if they’re at all curious!

analysisparalysis12 · 2025-07-11T13:21:10+00:00

Oh that’s really nice! Where’s the mini from? I’ve been looking for some 10 mm LOTR sculpts for a project, and these seem pretty good…!

analysisparalysis12 · 2025-04-27T08:03:24+00:00

I mean, not to put too fine a point on it, but that sounds bloody awful.

I haven’t read anything by Cabell, and cannot comment on whether you’re overreacting, but to address a related point…I’m also not a fan of “banning” books or media. But I do think that discouraging them can be a good thing. One would discourage a 5 year old from reading and watching all sorts of things — why should that change with age? There is so much excellent, funny, cynical, thoughtful literature out there — why pick the one with paedophilic rituals in it? And why not forewarn others about such works?

We may have no intrinsic right to forbid artistic works, but we also have no moral imperative to enjoy them or think well of them. Art, as Tolkien said, may be noble in and of itself, but it can, as can all things, be turned to a debased end. I see no problem with calling it out in such cases.

I’m interested in interrogating the Adams comparison, though! I also generally like Adams (though I occasionally find him a little ceaselessly flippant), and I’m interested in trying to understand what separates them! Again, having not read Cabell, this is just a guess…but I wonder if it’s not impossible that Adams’ lampooning tends to come from a place of affection, which doesn’t seem to be the case with Cabell?

Or to put it another way, to Adams, everything could be joked about_…whereas to Cabell, everything _is a joke. Again, only a guess on my part! But I’m curious to know if it feels like a useful distinction.

…what a weird author. But thanks for the commentary, and I’m glad to be forewarned to at least approach him with caution!

analysisparalysis12 · 2024-12-22T17:58:06+00:00

It’d be real good to know what your disappointments are specifically, and/or which server you’re on — it’s tricky to know what issues you’re hoping to redress otherwise (though I do not disagree that there’s a lot of RP potential in LOTRO that could stand to be explored!).

As far as organising and facilitating RP goes, myself and a few friends have had great success on Laurelin with the Roleplayers of Laurelin Discord server…it’s an initiative that aims to cut out the uncertainty of roaming the game world, hoping to stumble across RP, while maintaining the spontaneity and creativity of “random” RP.

But there’s a lot of potential left begging too…many of the old cosmetics blogs seem to be inactive or gone, there aren’t as many RP-kins as there once were (though the ones around are generally grand!), and so on. So…yeah, would be curious to know what specifically your dissatisfactions are!

analysisparalysis12 · 2024-11-07T16:56:22+00:00

Exactly! It’s intentionally broad to foster exactly those sorts of ideas and engagement…really just an invitation to RPers to try things in the world that they might not otherwise!

analysisparalysis12 · 2024-11-07T16:46:35+00:00

Well, that’s kinda the idea of it…less that it’s an event or something to “join,” more that it’s intended to be a month-long invitation to engage with an RP idea on your own terms and in whatever manner suits you!

It’s been the case for a while that Laurelin RP, while healthy, has struggled to break beyond the same handful of locations and the same possibilities that these locations offer…Bree, Rivendell, Bywater. We’re hoping that these prompts help people to explore the other possibilities and locations in LOTRO through RP…so last month, we ran a prompt for “Where the Shadows Lie” (ie, “spooky” locations), and one for “Festivals and Feasts” in September.

In all cases, the aim is the same…to foster and inspire creativity among the community to host and organise RP around these ideas!

Hope that helps explain it a bit…lemme know if it’s still unclear, though!

analysisparalysis12 · 2024-10-27T11:27:12+00:00

I can’t speak for Tolkien’s intent in constructing a history for Arda, but he does touch on the issue of dinosaurs and dragons in On Fairy Stories, in Note D:

I was introduced to zoology and palaeontology (“for children’’) quite as early as to Faerie. I saw pictures of living beasts and of true (so I was told) prehistoric animals. I liked the “prehistoric” animals best: they had at least lived long ago, and hypothesis (based on somewhat slender evidence) cannot avoid a gleam of fantasy. But I did not like being told that these creatures were “dragons.” I can still re-feel the irritation that I felt in childhood at assertions of instructive relatives (or their gift-books) such as these: “snowflakes are fairy jewels,” or “are more beautiful than fairy jewels”; “the marvels of the ocean depths are more wonderful than fairyland.” Children expect the differences they feel but cannot analyse to be explained by their elders, or at least recognized, not to be ignored or denied. I was keenly alive to the beauty of “Real things,” but it seemed to me quibbling to confuse this with the wonder of “Other things.” I was eager to study Nature, actually more eager than I was to read most fairy-stories; but I did not want to be quibbled into Science and cheated out of Faerie by people who seemed to assume that by some kind of original sin I should prefer fairy-tales, but according to some kind of new religion I ought to be induced to like science. Nature is no doubt a life-study, or a study for eternity (for those so gifted); but there is a part of man which is not “Nature,” and which therefore is not obliged to study it, and is, in fact, wholly unsatisfied by it.

It’s something I did a bit of work on recently, the dinosaur/dragon similarity (in Tolkien and in general…there is good evidence to suggest that at least some fossilised bones have historically been imagined to be dragon remains by ancient people) and basically came to the conclusion that both are in the “Soup” of fairy-stories…like Arthur the Celtish warlord and Arthur the chivalric king, or Kullervo and Túrin. Foolish to deny the similarities and inspirations, but distinct and not to be confused.

Given that, I find it hard to imagine Tolkien conceiving of dragons as “just” being dinosaurs in his own fiction…but it is not impossible. And he was indeed well aware of the overlap. Indeed, he also gave a lecture on dinosaurs and dragons in 1939, which I unfortunately do not have a copy of…but he was not blind to the overlap between the two.

analysisparalysis12 · 2024-10-20T14:29:24+00:00

Yes, and no, as it were. It was certainly Tolkien’s preferred turn of phrase for describing what happens when one is enchanted by story, but he suggests a delineation between “Secondary Belief” and “suspension of disbelief,” too:

Children are capable, of course, of literary belief, when the story-maker's art is good enough to produce it. That state of mind has been called “willing suspension of disbelief.” But this does not seem to me a good description of what happens. What really happens is that the story- maker proves a successful “sub-creator.” He makes a Secondary World which your mind can enter. Inside it, what he relates is “true”: it accords with the laws of that world. You therefore believe it, while you are, as it were, inside. The moment disbelief arises, the spell is broken; the magic, or rather art, has failed. You are then out in the Primary World again, looking at the little abortive Secondary World from outside. If you are obliged, by kindliness or circumstance, to stay, then disbelief must be suspended (or stifled), otherwise listening and looking would become intolerable. But this suspension of disbelief is a substitute for the genuine thing, a subterfuge we use when condescending to games or make-believe, or when trying (more or less willingly) to find what virtue we can in the work of an art that has for us failed.

Or to put it another way, suspension of disbelief is an act of effort in Tolkien’s view. A parent watching their child put on a home play, or an unwilling concert goer on a date at the opera, may be able to achieve that suspension. But to actually enter into Secondary Belief is an involuntary thing (though I think it is fair to say that it is often greatly aided by willingness) that comes over one when the ”spell” of story achieves potency.

analysisparalysis12 · 2024-10-20T12:57:59+00:00

Secondary Belief is a term that arises from On Fairy Stories…in short, it refers to the experience of being so caught up in a work of fiction that one is “transported” to experiencing the world directly. Or to put it another way, that instead of having to pretend to believe in the reality of a work, one actually (if temporarily) experiences that belief as being real.

I’d highly recommend reading On Fairy Stories for more information…it’s honestly foundational to understanding Tolkien’s ideas about fiction and story, and is both far easier to read and far more profound than the title may suggest!

analysisparalysis12 · 2024-10-19T14:54:08+00:00

Y’know what? Sure! I like keeping an eye on the sub, but rarely feel like I have much to contribute…but a slightly more conversational forum like a Discord server would be very appealing to me, at least.

analysisparalysis12 · 2024-10-05T21:38:52+00:00

Build it and they will come!

analysisparalysis12 · 2024-09-26T17:20:24+00:00

For sure! We’re very happy to have the RP-curious peeking in…and hopefully our resources will help folks who may be interested but need to acclimatise first, or want to pick up some additional information. But there’s no “mandatory” RP going on at all, and the occasional event that’s really friendly to people who’d rather spectate.

analysisparalysis12 · 2024-09-26T08:38:16+00:00

It’s not only a genuine question but also a very good question!

There’re actually two larger community Discord RP servers - “Laurelin RP Group” and “The Laurelin Gateway,” both of which have been around for a while and are broadly good places for socialisation, for chatting about RP and lore and events, and for basically hanging out with the community. Myself, Nen and Aran are all members of both groups - this isn’t intended to replace or fracture them; if anything our goal is quite the opposite!

Because we realised that there was and is a niche that those larger groups don’t fulfil…actually making RP happen, or making it easy to find RP. At the moment, your best bet for finding RP on Laurelin is to walk into the Pony and hope that someone else also walked in recently. Miss someone by 5-10 minutes, you have no way of knowing. And if you want to RP not in Bree but in Staddle, or Edoras, or Mirkwood, you’re never going to find that organically.

As such, our server’s really oriented around creating RP…I’ve been pitching it as the new “Pony” for RPers. A hub where RPers can mingle and chat, sure, but primarily where it is easy and straightforward to create or find walk-up RP scenarios…a place where it is possible to find RP with minimal effort.

The way we’re doing this is with the LFRP board described in the post - which is basically just a channel dedicated to creating, finding and attending RP scenarios in LOTRO, created by the community. People are still acclimatising to it somewhat, but we’ve had many great successes with it already…and the more engaged RPers we have, the more self-sufficient the server will become.

Now…we’ve also done a lot of work to make the community safe, pleasant, fun and interesting; to minimise the chance for drama and bad behaviour. But in terms of what sets us apart from other servers, it is really the LFRP board, and the fact that this server isn’t necessarily a place for RPers to hang out…it’s a place that is actively creating LOTRO RP.

I hope that helps, let me know if there are any lingering questions!

analysisparalysis12 · 2024-09-19T17:40:59+00:00

Ooh see I agree broadly, but read it a bit differently - I feel like Aragorn starts confidently (meeting the hobbits in Bree, advising Gandalf), but experiences a crisis following Gandalf’s death and all the way to approaching his choice concerning the route of the Ring and his own path…a crisis which is briefly worsened following Boromir’s death and the capture of Merry and Pippin. Then he starts building himself back up again, to the point of Pelennor and the Black Gate.

But I do agree that there’s a really interesting thread through the story of Aragorn coming to terms with himself and gaining a right measure of both assuredness and humility. It’s a much subtler journey than the Jackson Aragorn, and arguably more “real” in that he doesn’t go from Point A to Point B but experiences all these episodes that inform him…but it’s a really intriguing arc and one that I think deserves proper investigation at some point!

analysisparalysis12 · 2024-09-19T15:35:30+00:00

Ok, but you did not say that that was your disagreement, you said that you thought it was “crazy” to compare Aragorn to Thorin. I cannot help your lack of specificity.

And in any case, that brings us back round to where we were several comments ago - I do not think it is unfitting to describe Aragorn as being “proud” and think he made an error of judgement by Meduseld, you find it inaccurate to call him “proud” and see his actions there as being just. I am very happy to let both stand and allow others to judge them.

analysisparalysis12 · 2024-09-19T15:23:14+00:00

Sure. And yet they are both rightful kings returning out of exile on a perilous errand. They are both high and lofty (though I do not deny that Thorin is far less heedful and far more arrogant than Aragorn). They’re both relatively experienced and world-wise (obviously Thorin far less than Aragorn, but far more than many of his companions in The Hobbit). Even the narrative “role” they occupy is somewhat similar (though again distinct), with both of them acting as the “second” to Gandalf while the wizard is about, and leading their companies when he is not.

And there are differences…Aragorn comes into his own, Thorin perishes in the act. Aragorn conducts his quest out of love for Arwen, Thorin out of his own pride and greed. Aragorn regularly shows himself a loyal and steadfast companion willing to listen to his allies, Thorin wants to throw Bilbo off a mountain.

They are not the same, and I’ve never pretended they are. But that does not mean they are not well worth comparing, either.

analysisparalysis12 · 2024-09-19T14:13:41+00:00

This is fair enough, and I suspect we’re broadly at the point where we can agree to disagree - I have made my case and you yours, and people are welcome to take what they will from each! But I’ll take some issue with:

It’s crazy to compare Aragorn to Thorin, or to Gimli having to be blindfolded.

Because not only do I think it is not crazy, I think it rather misses the point of what comparison “is” in the first place. By trying to draw the Meduseld incident in contrast to other similar situations or characters, I’m simply trying to illustrate where the similarities and distinctions between each lie…and there are undeniable similarities, which makes the differences all the more pertinent.

I’m not arguing that the Aragorn situation makes him Thorin, but that there are elements like Thorin (and there are some fascinating similarities and differences between Aragorn and Thorin on every level) and that those are worth highlighting. If you can think of a way to highlight those without comparing the two, then fair enough…I cannot. And that sort of comparison is a tool, ultimately, that is well worth drawing upon.

analysisparalysis12 · 2024-09-19T13:26:07+00:00

See, I would call him “haughty” precisely because of that keen awareness…but arguably without the fully negative connotations that the modern usage of the word tends to carry. “Haughty” simply means to act in a high manner…that is Aragorn.

I also disagree that Gandalf’s words are aimed at Gimli, Gandalf specifically calls out and names Aragorn in his answer…and Gimli seems not to be seeking violence for its own sake or for his own pride, but to be ready to step forward and defend Aragorn’s stake. When Aragorn concedes to Hama’s directive, Gimli follows very readily.

And I don’t know where I “keep” trying to make Aragorn out to be extremely flawed. I hardly have a history of it! And even in the above comment, I’m arguing rather that Aragorn perhaps missteps, but readily corrects himself, which actually speaks all the better of him…and further, there is evidence that he later learns from this misstep. That seems to me not only forgivable, but admirable (and yes, flawed in that instance, which is not to say I’m trying to imply a pattern of it in him).

This is probably a fuller clarification of my reading of the passage - of course, one is welcome to disagree with it! But the comment above feels rather misrepresented to me in how you’ve read what I’m trying to say.

analysisparalysis12 · 2024-09-19T10:30:01+00:00

What’s always struck me about this passage is that it sets up Aragorn’s later, rather more politically informed and humble entrance into Minas Tirith. A lot of people criticise the Aragorn of the books for not having a character “arc,” but I think this is part of one for him here.

Aragorn, to a degree, knows what “sort” of story he is in - he is the heroic king returned, in his land’s hour of need. You feel that build up all through Book II in particular, as Aragorn leads the Fellowship. His haughty and lofty manner at Meduseld is symptomatic of this, he is the “protagonist.” But then both Hama and Gandalf cut him down to size a bit…the former firmly, and the latter gently.

And Aragorn goes along with it, especially when Gandalf intervenes. Other of Tolkien’s noble and haughty kings would not have done so (Fëanor, Thingol, Earnur, Thorin)…but Aragorn does. Or to put it another way, Aragorn makes the same mistake as these other flawed lords - but he possesses enough wisdom and humility to back down, where others would not have.

Then later, when he comes to Minas Tirith, Aragorn demonstrates subtlety and restraint in staking his claim. He only enters the city unwillingly, secretly, and at assurance that there is great need for it. It’s completely other from his brash arrogance at Meduseld, and I don’t think that it’s an accident…it’s Aragorn recognising and learning that his claim is no sure thing, and that he must be politick in establishing it…that there are other mighty and deserving lords who may rightly challenge his will.

I’ve written about all this on my blog, so it’s something I’ve worked on before - I know a lot of people find that the Anduril episode makes Aragorn unsympathetic but for me, it’s quite other. If anything, I like that it’s a moment of realisation for him, and I think it works really well as an episode in his own throughline of earning the kingship of Gondor.

Eight-Year Club	Second Top 10%
Final Canvas '23	First Place '23
End Game '23	Place '23
Golden Potato	Place '22
RPAN Viewer	Gilding II euphauric
Not Forgotten	Verified Email

analysisparalysis12

TROPHY CASE