User:HubToo/It's a hARDA world

Why another Lord of the Rings mod server?
It's a hARDA world is a Lord of the Rings server focused on survival role play and building, using More Player Models to impersonate the various races of Middle Earth (for example, if you set your appearance to one of a hobbit, you'll barely see above one block high! You can use any of the playable LOTR's NPC skins). Our main focus is not on PVP, raiding and war but these are all possible, provided you mutually agree on it previously.

While there are other survival LOTR servers out there, we haven't found any providing an "organic", balanced experience.

Among the things that can be seen: We think that playing in these conditions is just a waste of time!
 * server owners installing so much Bukkit plugins that the vanilla Minecraft & Lord of the Rings gameplay is seriously affected,
 * administrators abusing their powers, using unavailable magical artifacts, sometimes offering or selling enchanted items or captive non player characters,
 * players abusing player location commands and teleportation to assault others,
 * cheaters using fully enchanted mithril sets of weapons and armors, probably obtained through X-Raying or administrator complacency,
 * servers suffering from so much lag that mining is a pain and mobs can't even fight back.

Instead of that, we want to play the hard way: Our only concessions being: Finally, we want to fully use the standard factions, alignments and way points system present in the LOTR mod: We have a very active private forum for things related to the server (technical and game issues, suggestions, projects) or the gameplay (world news, exchanges between players of the West, of the dark side, stock exchange supply and demand, FAQ with answers).
 * in hard difficulty setting for tougher opponents,
 * unassisted (randomly) enchanted items,
 * amplified hunger for greater realism.
 * the use of (lootable) death chests, because items shouldn't disappear without reason, especially scarce enchanted items,
 * the possibility to trade items between players, regardless of distance because of the size of the world, preferably using the silver coin currency (with a stock exchange to make your trading supply and demand offers),
 * the possibility to name items for free, because this is ridiculously expensive in the vanilla game,
 * the use of moving ships to sail on the rivers, seas and oceans.
 * players start in their faction territory, instead of the Shire, and with already biased alignment toward their traditional allies and ennemies,
 * and there is no teleportation system other than the one provided in the mod: you are entitled to one teleportation to at defined way point per Minecraft day (20 minutes in real time).

Our server is in France but the chat is in English.

We welcome mature players of any age.

The story
You awaken as an shapeless soul in a dimly lit underground hall. Eru lets you decide what incarnation you will have on Arda. You see banners along the walls, with golden signs below them. You're told to push your will against one of them in order to choose your destiny (don't use the bronze signs, they are only here in case you accidentally go back to the Hall to safely return to Middle Earth): (you can also have a look at the factions roll, to see who's playing what, or choose a difficulty level based on the frequency of invasions in your choosen biome:
 * Elves of Lindon, Lothlórien, Mirkwood
 * Dwarves of Durin's folk (Iron Hills), Blue Mountains, Red Mountains and Kvoth (the Bangari)
 * Orcs of Mordor (Núrn), Dol Guldur, Gundabad (Misty Mountains), Angmar
 * Uruk-hai of Isengard (Uruk Highlands)
 * Men of Gondor, The North (Rangers of Eriador), Rohan, Dunland, Near Harad, Bree, Dol Amroth, Moredain, Ithilien, Umbar, Rhudaur
 * Shapechangers of the House of Beorn
 * Hobbits of The Shire
 * Half Trolls of Pertorogwaith
 * Ents of Fangorn
 * No invasions (easy): Lothlórien, Núrn, Misty Mountains (?), Near Harad, The Shire, Pertorogwaith


 * Rare invasions: Lindon, Angmar
 * Uncommon invasions (hard): Mirkwood, Iron Hills, Blue Mountains, Dol Guldur, Eriador, Dunland
 * Common invasions (very hard): Uruk Highlands (?), Rohan)

After choosing, you awaken on Arda in the body of one member of the race you have choosen (well, due to technical limitations, at the moment you have to select it manually using F12).

You're equiped with the prefered weapon of your faction, a full armor set (unless you are a Hobbit, as most of them have no use for that), a whole stack of bread, a small bag (Hobbits get a larger one, along with a pipe and pipeweed) and a questing book. Men of Rohan also get a saddle (being born on it!).

You are at the (banner protected) headquarters of your faction. Still weary from your incarnation, you fall on a bed and sleep for a few days. You are roused from bed by the commanding officer of the headquarters (with a kick in the ribs if you are an orc), who tells you to "get a life" and come back to him when you'll be worthy of commanding others of your faction (sorry, you won't be a self proclaimed king right from the start... but see below for instructions on how to enter the rat race).

Anyway, you start to feel hungry and understand you'll first have to work on finding a steady food supply. These bodies seems to have needs far beyond your previous shapeless state...

You promise yourself you will return some day, perhaps as the Lord of some lands, ruling from a magnificent castle.You head for the doors, the world awaits you!

How to become a king
As a famous last century thinker said, "It's good to be the king!". So we can understand why most people want to be king of their faction.

But as another (multi century) thinker said, "There can be only one!" and he added:

''Give me your kings, let me squeeze them in my hands, Your puny princes, Your so-called leaders of your land, I'll eat them whole before I'm done, The battle's fought and the game is won, I am the only one''

As we already said, everybody here starts as a commoner, so we'll need a system to decide who's going to be king of a faction. And of course, it's going to be hard (remember, "It's a HARDa world").

Obviously, in Middle Earth, leaders are distinguished by their military prowess. The nobility system being also inspired by the feudal system of middle ages Europa.

Here's our proposal.

Once you meet the following conditions (hired soldiers must be from your faction), you will automatically gain a nobility title (if you want to stay a commoner, please say so on the relevant forum):

Your title will appear in a distinctive way in the chat, on the faction roll and in the faction scoreboard.

As a member of the nobility of your faction, you should select a lord among the people above you in the titles hierarchy (immediately above if there's someone there), or you'll be a vassal to your King.

On a voluntarily basis, commoners can also select a lord (of at least Baron status) or become a squire to a lord (of a least Knight status).

You'll always address him beginning with "My Lord" (or ML for short).

As a vassal, you'll come to him with your hired soldiers when he requests you to do so. But you can also request his protection when you're under attack (in order to do that, players of at least Baron status, will have access to additional teleportation commands, which should be used only with your Lord or your vassals ).

In exchange for his protection, once a year, you'll pay the taxes he requests from his vassals (commoners are not entitled to do this, except when they choosed a Lord).

A Squire will assist his Lord in any duty requested. A Lord will have to provide food and fighting gear to his Squire. A tax exemption is suggested, as being a servant to a Lord would be sufficient payment.

Failing to comply with the above conditions will result, at the request of your Lord, to the forfeiture of your nobility title (you'll get the Traitor status instead).

Should you gain the same rank than your lord, you'll have the option of buying out your vassal status to him.

Most probably, your Lord will lead you into war or expeditions against other factions. So think twice before entering the rat race, because war is a risky and costly business...

One last word: there can be only one King per faction. The first one to get there, gets the title, as well as additional powers ( to be used wisely) :
 * choosing to have the spawnpoint of his faction set in his city
 * choosing the titles of the nobility of his faction
 * gaining "justice" powers, making him a moderator on the server (20 Kings to rule them all, and in the darkness of Moderation bind them!)
 * casting the traitor status on players of his faction (along with a negative alignment between -500 and -1. This status will be automatically revoked when the player regain positive alignment with his faction)

After a King has been crowned, the players reaching the same alignment score will get the Prince status.

However, should a King be absent for more than 30 days, his title would revert to the active prince with the highest alignment.

I'd rather want to be a pacifist
That's fine. We officially support the pacifist way of life.

If you manage to get 0+ alignment with all factions, you will be allowed to claim the pacifist title on the relevant forum.

If you want to do it the hard way, select a golden sign in the Awakening Hall, and try to balance your initial biases after that (for maximum difficulty, try to be a Gundabad pacifist :-) ).

If you want to be a pacifist right from the start, select a bronze sign to start with 0 alignement with all factions (you won't get a starting kit, but it's for warmongers anyway).

Pacifists get a full white display in the chat. Attacking them is strongly discouraged! (if the enemies of my friends, are my enemies, then you'll get lots of enemies...).

They also attract 5 citizens per IRL week.

I want to be the founder of a village / town / city
As you have seen above, Lords starting at Baron status and Pacifists attract citizens. Some come for protection and others for tuition.

These citizens come in your inventory as spawn eggs of the base members of your faction, on Sunday, every In-Real-Life week where you have been active on the server.

You can either place them in a village, town or city that you have built, or exchange them with the server for more sophisticated citizens: commanders, smiths, merchants, etc. (but no soldiers, farmhands or slaves, because you can obtain these from a recruiting NPC).

For this, you'll need to use an ordinary crating table, and place : Here are the recipes for this (click the Expand link below to unfold the table): If you are in a Hobbit or Dwarven faction, you'll also be able to marry couples in order to further multiplicate your population. Such is the Power of Love!
 * 8 eggs around an item to obtain a recruiting NPC (Chieftain, Commander, Captain, Warlord, Lord, Slaver, creature Keeper, Marshall, Shirriff Chief)
 * 4 eggs (crossed, not on diagonal) around an item (usually the one they are holding in hand) to obtain a trading NPC
 * 1 egg with an item on its right to obtain another specific base member of your faction (Drunkard)

Builds
We provide a 1:1 map of hARDA with many Points of Interest flagged.

You can use it to visit our world from your Web browser!

Use your mouse wheel or the "+/-" control in the lower right corner to zoom in or out.

Use the "Markers" control in the upper right corner to toggle the different Points of Interest types.

Major builds

 * Minas Morgul (from the EpicQuestz build, with their kind permission, remade with LOTR blocks and terraformed landscape around)
 * Osgiliath (ruined edition) (from the EpicQuestz build, with their kind permission)
 * The Osgiliath region (r.153/154/155/156.128/129/130.mca) is a special WAR ZONE. That means that:
 * PVP is allowed there, without prior declaration,
 * Armies brought or left there can be attacked, even if their owner is offline (but it's funnier when they're there...)
 * Modification or destruction (bombs...) are allowed. These region files will be restored from time to time...
 * ... we plan to progressively import some of the wonderful creations of EpicQuestz (see them on YouTube), Divici and Edinburgh

Player's builds
Here are a few of our player's builds with screenshots or pictures galleries:
 * Amon Faeoron, the magnificent Mirkwood castle of Lord ~Draug
 * Barad Peredhil, a stronghold by Lord ~Draug, between Dunland and Eriador
 * Umbar, an incredible city and port build by Lord ~Oldur
 * New bridge, roads and guard posts in the Shire, improvements by Pacifist Ffets
 * The fortress of Carn Gûl, a dark castle in Angmar by Lord Dragonovith, now destroyed and long lost

Builders instructions
Avoid building near the predefined way points, as these regions might be overwritten when we import Points of Interest !

Also avoid building in the region file (a 512x512 blocks zone) of your faction headquarters, as this area might be overwritten if we have to restore it from backup. You can verify the region file you are in with the /chunkinfo command. Builders, you won't have free blocks or fly mode because the normal way of doing things here is the hard way : survival build, using only blocks you collected or traded, without fly.

If you have a significant build to submit, just work on it in creative mode on your own machine, save it as a WorldEdit schematic file, and provide a link to it in the forum. Player's building importation will remain exceptional and is subject to prior review and approval. If accepted, your build will be stripped down of everything that could unbalance the game (crafting & enchantment tables, furnaces, chests, anvils, etc.) before importation.

If you want to build one of the MiddleEarth major Points of Interest, we can help! We can provide a copy of the region files where you want to build, for use on your computer.

When you are done, we'll make an inventory of all the blocks in the region, strip down everything unwanted, and copy the region file in the main world. That way, no one gets extended privileges in the world where we play.

When placed in our main world, the builds won't be the property of the builder/editor, and will be accessible to all players. MiddleEarth POI won't be museums, but places where you will actually be able to install and play. Want a room in a Minas Tirith house?

Ships
Last but not least, you can have working Ships on the server!

To do it, first build a ship (any shape you want, but only certain blocks are allowed, and you have to use a minimum of 25% wood / hay / thatch / reed blocks for buoyancy, plus a certain amount of wool blocks for sails). Then put a "Ship" sign (you can also name your ship and its owner): The usable craft ID are: Then put a "[helm]" sign somewhere else: The text will be replaced by a helm representation, like this: Then put a "Cruise: OFF" sign (it has to be on a plank block, facing the bow of the ship): To launch the ship, you'll have: If you have a stick in hand, you can also move in the direction you are facing by right clicking it.
 * FastShip (10 blocks speed, made from 1K blocks max, with 33+% of sails)
 * Ship (5 blocks speed, made from 10K blocks max, with 20+% of sails)
 * SlowShip (2 blocks speed, made from 100K blocks max, with 10+% of sails)
 * portcullis
 * 1) To claim the ship by clicking on the "Ship" sign with an empty hand
 * 2) To launch the ship by clicking on the "Cruise" sign
 * 3) To direct the ship by clicking on the direction wanted on the "[Helm]" sign

Installation
First of all, to use mods you'll need to install Forge (download 1.7.10-Latest version from here) and connect to Minecraft using your (newly created) Forge profile.

Then you'll need the following mods to join our server: Usually, you just drop their Jar or Zip file in the C:\Documents and Settings\\AppData\Roaming\.minecraft\mods directory on Windows.
 * The Lord of the Rings beta 26.4 (download it here)
 * More Player Models 1.7.10b (download it here)

Beta 25.x versions of the mod are only partially compatible with More Player Models. If you join for the first time and your screen is black, don't panic! Open the More Player Models menu (normally f12) and set the "Point of view" configuration switch to "Off" (in the lower right corner of the screen).

We also have recommended texture packs (in this order, from top to bottom): Finally, add the server to your multiplayers config:"Name: It's a hARDA world Address: harda.tournier.org:25575 Our texture pack is configured for automatic download if you ask for it."
 * 1) Hobbiton Texture Light, derived from the Hobbiton texture pack.
 * 2) Werian (from which Hobbiton is itself derived)

Removing the server texture pack
If you activated the automatic download of our resource pack and do not want it any more, edit the server configuration above, set "Server Resource Pack" to "disabled", then go to your ".minecraft/server-resource-packs" folder and remove the HobbitonTextureLight files.

Rules
Please read the rules carefully, and comply with them. Trespassers will be banned! DO'S DON'TS
 * 1) Live to see another day: quickly assure a sustainable food supply (hunger is harder than usual around here...)
 * 2) Life is fragile: be careful and think about cooperating (especially with other players from your faction)
 * 3) Life is hard: you can take items from killed players and unlocked chests
 * 4) Be yourself: choose a player model compatible with the race you want to play (human, elf, dwarf, orc, etc.)
 * 1) Avoid permanent ban: do not cheat (X-Ray, etc.) or even try (we have a full battery of things to counter and detect this)
 * 2) Respect other players: do not insult others, don't kill newcomers, do not destroy blocks in other people's builds (griefing), do not destroy blocks or steal equipment in your faction headquarters (this include asking for Gandalf there!), do not trap way points and do not kill hired units while their owner is away
 * 3) Respect your alignment: avoid attacking your allies, avoid trading with your enemies, do not claim land on enemy territory, do not masquerade with a deceitful player model (again, we have ways of knowing)
 * 4) Don't ambush other players: do not hide on the map and do not TP jump on other players to attack them (PVP & wars have to be previously mutually agreed in the chat)
 * 5) And last but not least, there are no divine interventions: do not expect anything from the admin (who uses no special powers) and don't ask for promotion

Common sense and correct behavior also apply! Remember the idea is to have some good time playing together...

Staff
The Server owner uses the Minecraft ID HubTou and the nickname ~Krimpatul in the game. He's sometimes using his daughter's account, HelTou, for heavy admin duties.

He can be reached on the forum or in the game with the /mail send HubTou command.

Users with administration privileges have their name in pink in the chat and in the players list.

Moderators:
 * Lord ~Zariel (aka Zorashad), King of the Elves of Lothlorien
 * Lord ~Youngur (aka B1ackhawk3007), King of the Elvees of Mirkwood
 * Lord ~Fili (aka pannekoekcom), King of the Dwarves of the Iron Hills
 * Lord ~The_Witch_King (aka scare_jo), Witch King of the Orcs of Angmar
 * Lord Bastfer, King of the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains
 * Lord Bodhranist, Consul of the Rangers of The North
 * Lord ~Baldor (aka spokiechris), King of the Men of Rohan
 * Lord ~Oldur (aka kf131), Sultan of the Corsairs of Umbar
 * Lord Shipcommander, King of the Knights of Dol Amroth
 * Lord ~Rorgil (aka Raiden_Rex), King of the Rangers of Ithilien
 * Lord ~Lord_SkyFoogle (aka Mouth_Of_Sauron), Beastmaster of the Dwarves of the Red Mountains
 * Mister Ffets, first Pacifist of The Shire,

Commands available
Help & information:

  /help : View the list of available commands.

/motd : View the Message Of The Day and the time it is in Middle-earth.

/rules : View the server rules.

Players:

  /list : List all online players.

/afk : Sets your status as Away From Keyboard (AFK).

/nick : Change your nickname.

/realname : Display the username of a player based on nick.

Communication:

  /helpop : Message online admins.

/mail : Manage inter-player, intra-server mail.

/me : Describe an action in the context of the player.

/msg : Send a private message to the specified player.

/r : Quickly reply to the last player to message you.

Trading:

 Exchange items between players regardless of distance, preferably using silver coins as the currency.

The system is sometimes glitchy. Beware of dishonnest courtiers! Exchange the most valuable things face to face, because the server won't be held liable in case of loss.

/trade : Request to trade with.

/trade accept : Accept a trade request.

/trade decline : refuse a trade request.

/trade toggle : Disable the sending of shift-right-click trading requests for you.

Item naming:

 You can give a name to your items for free. Use:

/itemname : Names the item you're holding.

/lore : Edits the lore of the item you're holding.

The character "_" is used for spaces, or removing texts.

Access control:

 Put a sign before a chest with a first line saying "[Private]" and following lines listing the players allowed to open it.

Put a similar sign next to a door or trap to restrict access to the players listed.

You can also protect enchanting tables, crafting tables, furnaces, forges, anvils, hoppers and unsmelteries.

/lockette : Edits signs on locked containers. Right click on the sign to edit.

/lockette fix : Fixes an automatic door that is in the wrong position. Look at the door to edit.

Claiming land:

Remember that you can claim a 32/16/8 blocks radius cube of land by putting a faction banner on a gold/silver/bronze block.

Teleportation between Lord and vassals:

Players of at least Baron status have access to the following commands:

/tpa : Asks the player if you can teleport to him.

/tpahere : Asks the player to accept transport to your location.

Their vassals can answer with these commands:

/tpaccept : Accept a /tpa request.

/tpdeny : Deny a /tpa request.

Death chests:

 If you happen to die, your belongings will be kept in a (double) chest for one real week. Beware, it's First In, First Loot!

A message in the chat will remind you of its coordinates. Be sure to note it! (use the chat command scrolling function to bring it back if needed).

Please also note that there are no death chests in the Nether dimension. Items are dropped on the ground and are quickly corroded by the toxic environment. Adventuring there is risky, you have been warned...

Faction change:

 It's only possible through the administrator at this time and there will be at most one change per player per real month.

You have two options: Please don't use the golden signs of the Awakening Hall to change faction by yourself. They won't do the job properly and the staff will have to correct things manually after that...
 * Your character will be completely resetted. You'll start again in the Awakening Hall with fresh alignments, waypoints, ongoing/completed quests, achievements, alcohol tolerance and inventory.
 * You have compatible alignment with the faction you want to join. We only change your faction. You receive no faction kit, you have to rally by feet your faction territory and then set home there by sleeping in a bed.

Technical commands:

 If you run into technical issues, the following commands might be helpful:

/mem : View the server performance (a TPS of 20 is best, expect lags below 15).

/chunkinfo : identify the file containing the part of the world you're located in (a filename such as r.X.Y.mca giving the region file where you are located).

New recipes
As there are no more diamonds in MiddleEarth in beta 22 of the mod, we modified the recipe for crafting an enchantment table by replacing diamonds with gold blocks and obsidian with silver blocks (but the old recipe is still active): We also provide a recipe to produce small pouches (1 at a time, don't use left-shift to make several at once), as there is really no sorcery in making these and some pacifist players could have a hard time getting them: By popular request, and although you can fish them, we provide a recipe to produce name tags (many at a time works here. Don't ask me why!), again it's not rocket science: Although there's no necessity for it, here's a way to dispatch all those rotten flesh you collected (left-shift usable here): Finally, there are also new recipes to craft chainmail armor:

Limits
Please visit our server to view the detailed list.