And here is the last of the LOTRO character introductions! You can find the list so far at this LOTRO page I created to hold most of the main entries as I write them.
My original plan was to cover a couple characters with this entry. My friend actually has quite a handful of characters, as she has been playing for several years, but I mainly only interact with two of them (and of the two, only one on a regular basis — although I have hopes to eventually catch up to the other one with L the Elf Hunter).
I unfortunately lost a large portion of screencaps from the past year when my laptop crashed on me, before I could back them up (hopefully I can retrieve them eventually… so many memories). I thought I had at least one screenshot of the other character I have quested with on my new computer, but apparently not.
And besides, I do like how I’m keeping one character-per-entry. So we’ll start with the main one (and fortunately, my husband had a few from the times he’s quested with us).
Meet F, the Dwarf! We like Dwarves, can you tell?
Yup! Another Dwarf! And another Champion at that! I think he is built on the red tree trait, like B, but I’m not positive.
Unlike the other characters I’ve mentioned, F has started focusing on two-handed weapons, and I admit I enjoy watching him fight. My dwarf, Th, makes weapons and gets a real kick out of keeping F’s arsenal updated with as many awesome weapons as he can. Sometimes it’s a warhammer, and last I saw him, it was a big sword. I’d love to see him with an axe or something else awesome like that!
He also uses a bow, something else Th tries to keep him updated with (but of course, there are always Skirmish Camps that sell weapons and other items, when you need something more specific really quickly).
This is one of my favorite screenshots (thanks to Christopher for grabbing it!). Such fun memories you can make, when you game with others. 🙂
Another typical Dwarf, but loads of character
As far as personality, F can be a grumpy dwarf, looking down (errr, or is that up?) his nose at non-dwarves. Like Th, he gets tired quickly of anyone demanding he prove himself to them, or do their petty chores. He and Th will sometimes people-watch, and whisper snarky little comments about the elves, humans, and hobbits that wander past them. They’ve been known to spend a lot of time just looking at items in a location and discussing them thoughtfully, or talk about what’s to come.
I very much enjoy how my friend roleplays, and it’s been fun to see the differences between her dwarf and some of her other characters. Even when we’re rushed, it’s not just about run-and-clobber. I’ve mentioned before, we’re telling a story with our own characters. To me, that’s the best part about being able to game in an online world like this!
Taking a moment, before moving on and getting into more fights.
On occasion, our three dwarves will quest together (Th, B, and F), but that’s especially hard to do schedule-wise. And I think my husband likes me having friend-time on my own in the game. I’d also like to think F and Th work together as a good pair most of the time (especially now that I’m not getting as dizzy or blinded with wonky old laptop settings messing up my view, or really choppy play).
Of course, mistakes happen, and that’s why I like gaming with my friend — she knows I’m still a newbie at this, and is incredibly patient with me.
Hey, this place looks inviting. Right?
“Down, down, down, to Goblin Town”… ugh, yes that song got stuck in my head when we were running around there.
Dividing and distributing all the loot we picked up from the bad guys, before logging off.
Encouragement and courage
It takes time, as with anything, to get used to doing things with more confidence. Practice, knowledge, but also that nudge to just try something. Silly as it is to admit that something might be “scary” to try in the game, but yes… sometimes I would be too afraid to just dive in.
Playing with my friend, I’ve quickly gotten over that. Instead of reacting to her “want to try this?” with a hesitant “uhmmmm… sure?” and cringing nervously, I now quickly reply with a hearty “let’s go!”
And yeah, sometimes we fail. Oh so miserably. But we enjoy the ride nonetheless!
Another favorite screencap of mine. 🙂
Taking a break before continuing on with the “bash the bad guys, and do even more tasks for strangers” thing.
And sometimes? We are just outright goofy and really play up the whole “dwarves are better than you, fool!” goofiness (okay, quietly… we would never be rude to anyone in-game, of course).
“Hey you! Bring us gold, ale, and a footstool!” 😉
We got tired of this guy telling us what to do to earn his respect, so we pulled up our own “thrones” and claimed a spot of respect after running a chunk of his errands.
Crafting
I don’t have any screenshots of F crafting — it’s something we usually do on our own time.
I do believe F is an armorer. This means he can prospect for ore like two of my characters, but instead of weapons, his focus is on heavy armor. Crafting usually comes in threes (and I’ve probably been listing us all as only a branch, and not the full vocation name — it’s been a while since I’ve bothered to look things up), so I think the third thing would be a tailor like my character L does.
Our fearless leader!
In LOTRO, you can create and join groups called kinships. Ours is understandably small and private and thankfully, while I have been asked if I wanted to join one or two kinships when I first started out before joining ours, no one has asked me about ours — I’d feel bad turning them down, but we’re not currently looking for new members. It’s an easy way to keep in touch as well as have a huge house (the largest house available, the kinship house).
Just a side note about kinships and even character names: you can people watch in LOTRO, and I have such a blast seeing what folks name their characters and kinships. There have been many times I’ve had a good laugh about it. Sometimes they even go all-out and wear outfits or use accessories that really play up the names too! Anyway…
When each of our characters entered into the kinship, it wasn’t just a simple click addition! We roleplayed and had a little fun with it, with F marching around, looking our characters up and down, questioning them about what skills they had and why they were interested. Saluting, and then having a toast once the addition happened! Yet another fun angle to “the story” we’re working through.
Yay! Christopher had a screenshot of our friend F walking in and discovering us during a prank. We all had a good laugh over the silliness (and what else could you do with a table covered in ale mugs?).
Having a chat in the kinhouse with our leader, F.
Current location
F is currently working his way through the Eregion quests with Th (I think near Gwingris is where we left off… about to head to Echad Eregion?). While Th is excited about the prospects of entering the great dwarven ancestral kingdom of Moria, he refuses to leave F behind if at all possible. It’s just too much fun pounding on the bad guys with his buddy to go solo!
F visiting B’s new house. Thanks for reading!
Thanks for reading! This should be the last of the LOTRO-related posts for a little while, at least. I just wanted to get these down and out of the way for when I do regular blog entries relating to the subject, and while that was a lot of “people” to get to know, the main focus of course will mostly just be on me and my experiences with playing LOTRO. It’s just helpful to explain sometimes who the others are that might show up in my screenshots on occasion. After all, they are taking the journey through Middle Earth with me! 😉
