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 ? 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 dictionnaries freely available on Internet, such as Ambar Eldaron (beware though, as these dictionnaries 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 in 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 accross the ocean. This is by far the most common form of elvish used in Middle Earth, Quenya is being used for official stuff. 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 my men from old Numenoreans 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 ?

Good factions
Hobbits : Even if Hobbits are not a warring faction, they have NPCs you can hire (the Shirriff and the hobbit farmer). Hobbits players should prefer slings and daggers as weapons, and sometimes vanilla bows. Most of them don't use any armor, if leather ones, feathered hat, but some very rich hobbits can have a mithril chestplate in a long forgotten chest, deeply hidden in their hobbit hole. Their gameplay would essentially be farming, breeding, eating, drinking and smoking pipeweed. Trading could fit to some of them as well, but as hobbits despite travels (because they think it's a dangerous thing to leave the Shire), they won't go much far ; Lindon and Bree-Land would be their main destinations.

Rangers of the North : This faction is the first warring one you'll meet when entering Middle Earth. Rangers use bows of all Good factions, daggers, swords and spears made by men or elves, which are sometimes poisoned. They wear Ranger armor, perhaps Wood Elven Scout Armor for the ones bound with Mirkwood Elves ; some may even wear an helmet, such as the men of the Grey Company, who wore mailcoats and helmets with a grey cape. Crossbows can be accepted as a sniping weapon, but they have a really poor reload time. Their gameplay would be centered around the invisible defence of the fallen kingdom of Arnor, specifically the last places where the Free People lives ; the Shire and Bree-Land. hunting down trolls, wargs and orcs is a common hobby for them. Rangers are discret men, who spent most of their time in 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, battle axes, and if they want to engage the enemy at a distance, they will use throwing axes, because it's really badass ; dwarven armors are as strong as iron ones, but have better durability, because it's dwarven stuff ! Their gameplay will be 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 faction. They use a large variety of weapons and armors, such as Galvorn armor, that 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 from the surrounding world. They are more secretive than their cousins from the West.

Wood Elves of Mirkwood : Wood Elves live in Mirkwood Forest and are even more secretive than their Galadhrims cousins. No one can enter their woodland realm. Their armies have heavy armored soldiers as well as very speedy scouts. Their gameplay is focused around defending the last remnants of their woodland realm, whose biggest part has been corrupted by the Necromancer of Dol Guldur, which is a ruined Evil fortress in the South of Mirkwood.