Middle-earth Gameplay Guide

Have you just gone through the ring portal to Middle-Earth and are unsure how to proceed? Here are some suggestions which may help to keep you alive.

Please note that some sections of the page concern tactics and suggestions by a single user, particularly certain gameplay styles which were thought up by a single user. If you don't like a certain aspect of one gameplay style, just add a subsection with different rules.

Pages to Visit
This Wiki contains information relating to nearly every aspect of The Lord of the Rings Mod. Some of the major ones that new players should read about are listed below. Emphasis on major ones; the links for the pages below only make up a small portion of the Wiki's content, due to the enormity of this mod.

As always, the Wiki contributors and the admins are happy to answer any questions you may have, but be sure to check the FAQ first!

If you have a suggestion for the mod, feel free to give it to the admins at the Suggestions Forum.

Concerning Gameplay Mechanics

 * Achievements- Set goals for yourself
 * Alignment- Determines your friends and enemies in Middle-Earth
 * Biomes- Explore Middle-Earth in its entirety
 * Brewing- Make a variety of drinks
 * Commands- Set alignment, gamerules, and more
 * Elven Portal/Morgul Portal- Provides a way back to the Overworld
 * Fast Travel System- Get to places quicker
 * Hiring- Build your own army
 * Invasion- Be prepared to run or fight!
 * Mini-Quest System- Perform tasks to earn alignment and money
 * Optimizing Performance- Tips to help you get the most out of this mod
 * Player Respawning- Handy for long distance travelers
 * Roads- The road goes ever on and on...
 * Shire Reckoning- Keep track of the date in Middle-Earth
 * Trading- Buy or sell items with silver coin currency

Concerning Blocks and Items

 * Ancient Items- May yield useful and possibly enchanted weapons/armor
 * Banners- One for each faction, used to protect an area or grant buffs to your hired troops
 * Crafting Tables- To craft faction-specific recipes
 * Ent Draught- A magical drink for friends of Fangorn
 * Horn of Command- Summon or "freeze" your hired troops
 * Beta20Banners.pngil- The new "diamond"
 * Mug- Contains drinks
 * Mystery Web- Right-click to discover what's inside
 * New Weapon Types- A rundown of new weapons added in the mod
 * Plate- Contains food
 * Pouch- Expand your inventory
 * Saddle- Now able to craft
 * Sword of Command- Grants ability to target a mob for hired troops to attack

Concerning Mobs
Hint: Far Harad is home to many exotic creatures that cannot be found anywhere else in Middle-Earth. Be wary though! Some of them are hungry predators.
 * Bandit- The most likely cause of lost possessions
 * Elves- The oldest, wisest, and fairest race in Middle-Earth
 * Ents- Shepherds of the forestBalrog.png
 * Dwarves- Short folk who dwell under mountains
 * Hobbits- The peaceful folk of the Shire
 * Horse- A suitable mount
 * Men- Mortal humans
 * Orc- A foul race bred for evil
 * Troll- Large and unintelligent creatures
 * Uruk-Hai- Powerful mutant Orcs bred by Saruman
 * Warg- Wolves of evil
 * Balrogs - Servants of Morgoth

For information on how best to fight each of these mobs, look here.

Concerning Structures

 * Angmar Tower- Ruins of evil
 * Dol Guldur Tower- Its look is fearsome enough
 * Dunlending Hill Fort- Dunlending strongholds
 * Dwarven House- The doors are visible only at night
 * Dwarven Mine- Better than abandoned mineshafts
 * Elven Treehouse- Homes of the Galadhrim Elves
 * Gondor Fortress- Contains a beacon of Gondor to call for aid or to entertain pyromaniacs
 * High Elven Hall- A grandiose Greek-like haven
 * Hobbit Hole- Home sweet home for halflings and gluttons
 * Mordor Tower- Layer upon layer of Orcs
 * Near Harad Village- A stunning southern-style complex of houses, towers, bazaars, and fields
 * Rohan Fortress- Reenact the Battle of Helm's Deep here
 * The Pits- Experienced players only! Entrance to Utumno
 * Wood-Elven Tower- Strongholds of the Woodland Realm

Building Another Ring Portal
The only ring portal that you should build is the one that brought you to Middle-Earth in the first place. Ring portals cannot be built when one ring portal is already active, which means throwing a gold ring into the fire will not yield any results (beside loosing the ring). Currently, there is no other use for the gold ring either, so save your eight gold nuggets for something else!

Chopping Down Trees in Fangorn or the Old Forest
This may not come as a surprise to you, but Ents aren't exactly fond of their tree-friends being chopped down for firewood. The reason is most likely because some of those trees aren't really trees; they are Huorns! No matter what your alignment is, trying to chop down a tree or Huorn will result in them attacking you, so keep your tree-chopping to other forests, or you will pay most dearly!

Entering a New Biome Unprepared
Alignment is a major feature of this mod. Basically, the peoples and races of Middle-Earth are divided into numerous factions, and it is impossible (unless in Creative Mode or if you don't kill one thing and do quest for all factions) to gain a positive alignment with every one of them. Thus, even as you make friends, you will make enemies. Certain factions only spawn in certain biomes, so you would do well to research a new biome and its inhabitants before entering, else you may just find yourself surrounded by hostile NPCs. For more information on alignment, see here.

For some of the more adventurous players, the prospect of facing many enemies at once may not seem like a big deal. However, note that some biomes hold more dangerous enemies than others. For example, Angmar Orc warriors from the region of Angmar deal much more attack damage than the normal Orc, in addition to inflicting the Wither effect. The Rohirrim of Rohan are all mounted on the best horses that can be found in the mod, and will see you from 24 blocks away.

Being a Stranger in the Woodland Realm
As a side note, Wood-Elves in particular are suspicious folk, and may attack you even if your Woodland Realm alignment is positive. You must have at least +50 alignment with the Wood-Elves for them to completely trust you. This alignment is most easily gained by killing Mirkwood spiders or Gundabad Orcs.

Simply Walking Into Mordor
When you first enter Middle-Earth, don't go into Mordor lightly. It is a barren wasteland swarming with Orcs, and any good or not yet evil enough (below +50 Mordor alignment) player who goes there without suitable armor is likely to meet a grisly death. Even though the ring portal can only spawn in the Shire, suit up, because very little vegetation grows in Mordor, meaning you will be hard pressed to find food. If you need out, the best thing to do is to find a safe place, stop, and look at your map. If you are in the western half of Mordor, head to the West, towards Ithilien. If you are in the Eastern half of Mordor, go towards the East (Rhun). However, try to avoid going to the northwest or in any southerly direction! Going towards the northwest will land you in Dagorlad and then the Brown Lands, both vast areas with little food and few living trees. Going in a southerly direction will likely make you end up in the deserts of Harondor or Near Harad, with absolutely no food or wood. As well, you run the risk of approaching Nan Ungol, a dangerous place even for players with a hundred Rohrrim to back them up.

Entering the Forodwaith or Near Harad
The Forodwaith biome is freezing cold, while Near Harad is scorching hot! Both will cause you to take damage periodically. There are several ways to avoid this. In the Forodwaith, you can either stand near a light source (torch, furnace, etc.) or wear Warg Fur Armor, a cozy outfit for the cold. In Near Harad, it is best to stay out of the sun. This means keeping to the shade and/or traveling by night, but beware the scorpions if you choose to travel at night.

Killing mounts in Rohan
If you didn't know already, the Eorlingas are rather fond of their mounts. Killing one in the sight of a Rohirrim will bring their wrath down upon you. Not the best idea. If you have a need for leather, kill cows instead.

Looking for Diamonds and Redstone
Diamonds and redstone have been removed from the Middle-Earth dimension. Don't spend hours looking for ores that are non-existent! If their absence simply cannot be tolerated, plan a trip to the Overworld.

Searching For Saddles
It is known that in vanilla Minecraft, saddles can only be obtained from the chests found in abandoned mine-shafts and naturally generated structures. In this mod, there is in fact, a crafting recipe for the saddle. It can be crafted on a regular crafting table using three leather and two iron ingots.

Travelling to Utumno
Utumno is another dimension that can be accessed from the pits in the Forodwaith. If you are not an extremely experienced and well-prepared player, do not think to survive this realm. The journey to the portal is daunting in itself, and once you enter Utumno, you will need to brave all three levels (ice, obsidian, and fire) of dungeon-crawling madness before you can find the Melkor Plate, activate it, and return safely to Middle-Earth. The foulest and darkest creatures dwell here, including Utumno Orcs, Utumno Wargs, Utumno Trolls, tormented Elves, and even Balrogs, the demons of the Underworld. These beasts will always be your enemies, for it is impossible to gain positive Utumno alignment.

And on top of it all, the whole place is essentially a labyrinth in the dark; the player will need to find stairs that will lead them down each layer, or otherwise use keys to jump down a level. The walls of special Utumno bricks cannot be mined with any tool except the Pickaxe of the Underworld. Don't even think about bringing stacks of torches or the materials to make them; torch-light does not travel far in Utumno.

Be Swift in Collecting All the Crafting Tables
The new crafting tables in the mod allow you to make stronger-than-average weapons and armor unique to each faction, so you would do well to collect all the ones available to you (you need at least +1 alignment for a specific faction to use their crafting table). The category page for all current crafting tables can be found here.

Collect From Hobbit Holes at the Beginning of Gameplay
As of Beta 13, your Ring Portal always spawn in the Shire. No doubt when you enter Middle Earth, you will see many, many Hobbit Holes spread across the land. The chests in these structures hold almost anything you might need at the beginning of your adventure, such as books (sometimes enchanted), string for bows, bottles, mugs, and lots and lots of food (unsurprising, since Hobbits eat about seven meals a day). Rumor has it that in Hobbit Holes with both expensive chandeliers (gold or silver made) and expensive flooring (stone or clay bricks), you can find a chest containing valuables under the rug in the foyer.

Fort Besieging Tips
If you want to know how to lay siege to an enemy fort and take it over, click here.

Fort Defense Tips
If you want to know how to build a stronghold against enemy players and their armies, click here. Try adding some Defensive Traps to your fort for better protection against your enemies.

Orcs (and Other Hostile NPC's Excluding Spiders and Wargs) can Open Doors
Unlike in vanilla Minecraft, running straight into your house with an Orc on your back won't get the Orc off your back. Instead, the Orc will simply open the door and walk right in to get you. The same can happen if you do not put iron bars or glass panes in your windows. If you do put glass or iron bars in your windows, though, enemies can't see you. They also cannot open iron doors, nor tunnel through walls (except for the bombardier, who can blow through walls, even though he never does this intentionally).

Get as Much Alignment as Possible
When you've found a faction that you like, try to get as much alignment with that particular faction as you possibly can. Besides from being able to use their crafting tables and not being attacked by that faction, getting lots of alignment with the particular faction gives you several other benefits; it allows you to trade with some NPC's, and to hire units. Getting higher alignment will make hiring units cheaper, too, so get alignment! A final benefit of getting a lot of alignment with that faction is the ability to get a shield for that faction, which doesn't offer any protection bonuses, but it sure looks cool!

With the addition of Mini-Quests, getting alignment has never been easier. If you want lots of alignment with a faction, make sure your alignment with that faction is 0 or higher, then talk to several NPC's. If those NPC's offer you a quest that involves killing units that you're going to have to kill anyway to get alignment for that faction, do not refuse it! For example if a soldier of Gondor asks you to kill spawn of Mordor, always accept it, even it he tells you to kill 100 enemy units. Try to get five "unit-killing" quests, then go ahead and start attacking enemy units. Once you've reached your quota with one of the quests, go back to the NPC that offered you the quest, and right-click him. He will offer you alignment and cash (which can come in useful for hiring units at a later time or for trading with an NPC). You can right-click him a second time and ask him for another quest, or ask another soldier. Using this method, you can effectively quintuple the amount of alignment you get per NPC slain.

Note that for every enemy that an NPC asks you to kill, you will get one alignment point and silver coin. For example if an Uruk-Hai wants you to kill 24 Rohirrim, he will give you 24 Uruk alignment and 24 silver coins as a reward.

Different Styles of Gameplay
These are some different ways to experience gameplay in Middle-Earth. This section will include tips on how to do things such as playing a nomadic game using The Lord of the Rings Mod, and instructions for some new gameplay possibilities that the new game mechanics of Middle-Earth have opened up.

Achievement Collector
This style speaks for itself. Basically, the goal is to try to collect as many achievements as you can without going to Creative Mode. A good way to achieve this is to go one biome at a time, starting with the Shire. Even though some achievements are for things you would be doing anyways such as mining and killing mobs, some are for things you wouldn't think of yourself, like riding a barrel through the waters of Mirkwood. Using this gameplay style gives you a well-balanced experience of the mod.

To see a list of all achievements, go here.

Nomadic Experience
This is a style of gameplay in vanilla, but there are a few things to remember when trying it in Middle-Earth. When you're going to play a Middle-Earth nomadic game, it might be best to start the game in Creative Mode. This is so you can make a portal from square 1 without having to find gold in the Overworld first.

If you want a slightly easier playing experience, start out in the Overworld and make the ring portal as you would normally. By the time you've crafted a gold ring you'll probably have enough iron to make a suit of armor, which should make things easier in Middle-Earth.

Once you get to Middle-Earth, just pick a direction and start walking (try going east like Bilbo). The big difference between gameplay in Middle-Earth and gameplay in vanilla is this: You are no longer aiming to defeat the Ender Dragon. Mini Quests have been added, and though they're a good way to raise your alighnment, you'll still have to set another goal. A good objective for this style of gameplay at the moment is to just raise your alignment as high (or as low) as you can by fighting enemies, or simply try to make your way to Mordor in one piece.

Hostile Take-over
To play this style, you simply kill every mob you see, good or evil. This makes running blindly through battle much easier, not having to know what you are hitting. However, with this gameplay style, you don't get many of the alignment benefits, and everyone will see you as a target, so this style should mostly be played by hardcore Minecraftians.

Barbarian Gameplay
For this type of gameplay you can join a rather rugged faction (Rangers or Dunland) and support them or you can go it alone. Basically what you do is go to a peaceful biome (Shire) or a more scarcely populated place (Trollshaws and Lone-lands) and raid camps, towers, and houses for loot. You can take troops along with you and start massacring the inhabitants or burn and destroy structures.

Open War Gameplay
In this style of gameplay, you take advantage of many of the new mechanics in the mod, especially those of alignment and unit hiring. There are several subtly different ways to play this style, but the objective is the same:  Kill as many enemies as you can while looting structures and maintaining an army of soldiers ! There might not be all that much building or mining in this style of gameplay but there will surely be a lot of fighting, so you might want to try counting the number of enemies you kill in each battle like Legolas and Gimli do.

For more info on the Open War style of gameplay, see this page.

Settling Gameplay
This form of gameplay comprises of picking a biome, settling there, and basically continuing your normal minecraft existence. In this type of existence the new blocks, units and mechanics are not to be disregarded, e.g. building a castle out of Gondor bricks or surrounding your home with guards, the basic concept of this gameplay style is still firmly based in the original Minecraftian concept of surviving and building.