Roleplaying in Middle Earth

Are you a fan of Tolkien's work and a great connoisseur of the LOTR lore? Do you want the LOTR Mod for Minecraft to be really immersive? Then this guide for roleplaying in Middle Earth is for you!

Choose a Name
Before being a writer, Tolkien was a linguist. He wrote all his stories around the fictional languages he created as a hobby. You can create a name for your character using one of the many dictionaries freely available on Internet, such as Ambar Eldaron (beware though, as these dictionaries are not precise enough to be considered as references).

Languages that Tolkien created are :

- Quenya, especially the noldorin variant, the language of the High Elves who came to Middle Earth, present in these lands in some important and old names (such as Minas Tirith, Tol Morwen, etc), and still in use for poetry and songs (for example, Namárië).

- Sindarin, the language of the Elves that stayed in Middle Earth while the others followed the Valar across the ocean. This is by far the most common form of Elvish used in Middle Earth, Quenya being used for more formal matters. The poem A Elbereth Gilthoniel is written in Sindarin.

- Adûnaic, the language of the Numenoreans. "Annúminas", the name of old capital of the fallen kingdom of Arnor, is an Adûnaic word. This language is used by men from old Numenorean kingdoms for their kings' names, such as Aragorn Elessar.

- Khuzdul, the language of the Dwarves. A good example of Khuzdul is the dwarven war cry "Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd ai-mênu!" which means "Axes of the Dwarves! The Dwarves are upon you!".

- Westron, the language of common folk from the Free People. This language is unknown as it is translated in English in the books (for what I know).

Choose a Faction
The main choice is: Good or Evil? After that, you can choose a more specific faction with which you can gain alignment is. To learn more about alignment and its benefits, see here.

Good Factions
Hobbits: Even if Hobbits are not a warring faction, they have NPCs you can hire (such as shirriffs and farmhands). Hobbits-aligned players should prefer slings and daggers as weapons, and sometimes vanilla bows. Most of them don't use any armor, but if they do, it is often leather-made and/or a feathered hat. It is also known that some very rich Hobbits can have a mithril chestplate in a long forgotten chest, deeply hidden in their Hobbit hole.

Gameplay with this faction would essentially be farming, breeding, eating, drinking and smoking pipeweed. Trading could fit into some of them as well, but as Hobbits despise travels (because they think it's a dangerous thing to leave the Shire), they won't go very far; Lindon and Bree-land would be their main destinations.

Rangers of the North: This faction is likely the first warring one you'll meet when entering Middle Earth. Rangers use bows from all sorts of "Good" factions, as well as daggers (sometimes poisoned), swords and spears made by men or Elves. They wear Ranger armor, or perhaps Wood-Elven scout armor for the ones bound with the Woodland Elves; some may even wear an helmet, such as the men of the Grey Company, who wore mail-coats and helmets with a grey cape. Crossbows can be accepted as a sniping weapon, but they have a really poor reload time.

The Rangers of the North gameplay style would be centered around the invisible defense of the fallen kingdom of Arnor, specifically the last places where the Free People live, such as the Shire and Bree-land. A general rule is that they are found across almost all of Eriador. Hunting down trolls, Wargs, and Orcs (mostly allied with Gundabad) is a common hobby for them. Rangers are discreet men, who spend most of their time wandering the wilderness.

Dwarves: Dwarves are scattered throughout Middle Earth, but they all live in mountainous areas, where they build mines and fortresses deep inside the mountains. They all share a love for ores and gems, gold and mithril. Dwarves like heavy weapons and armors, such as warhammers, battleaxes, and if they want to engage the enemy at a distance, they will use throwing axes, because it's really badass ; Dwarven armor sets are as strong as iron ones, but have better durability, because they were forged by Durin's Folk!

Gameplay will include building underground fortresses, excavating mines seeking for ores and gems, and trying to take back their fallen mountainous forts from Orcs. They are also great smiths and traders, because they love to craft strong and beautiful things for money.

High Elves: High Elves live in Lindon and Rivendell. They are one of the stronger "Good" factions. They use a large variety of weapons and armors, such as Galvorn armor, which deflects all kind of projectiles.

Their gameplay should be centered around building bright and beautiful towns and fortresses, holding their realms and discussing about important things for Middle Earth, as well as poetry. Some are great adventurers that travel through many lands to see how humans live, such as the brothers Elladan and Elrohir, sons of Elrond.

Galadhrim Elves: Galadhrim Elves live in Lothlorien, hidden away from the surrounding world. They are more secretive than their cousins from the West.

Wood-Elves of Mirkwood: Wood-Elves live in the midst of the Mirkwood Forest and are even more secretive than their Galadhrim cousins, and are suspicious as well of foreigners. This is largely due to the fact that their home is completely surrounded by a corrupted forest infested with spiders. No one can enter the Woodland Realm without detection. Wood-Elven armies have heavy armored warriors as well as very speedy scouts.

Their gameplay is focused around defending the last remnants of their Woodland Realm, the majority of which has been corrupted by the Necromancer of Dol Guldur, which is a ruined evil fortress in the south of Mirkwood.