Movie Stardom

Champion of Eriador, Protector of Lothlorien Warlord of Angmar and now ... Famous Moving Picture Celebrity!

Well, nearly at least.

My great and many talents were recently noticed by that most talented and occasionally disruptive group known as the BBB and I was invited to participate in a short sequence of moving picture shots for what is going to be an absolutely epic production.  Filming will continue for another month or two and editing will most likely keep the BBB busy in the editing room for even longer but I suspect this film is going to be worth waiting for. 

This time I played only a minor role but I am sure I will be getting more callbacks soon once my theatrical talents hit the big screen.

My friend Ruset is starring in another production that is proceeding well albeit slowly.  This past weekend he was spotted resting between shoots with chief camera operator, Buttertoes  Fleetfoot.  It is really good to have Butter's talents here on Landroval and I hope she enjoys her new home.

In other news, and giving fair warning to the residents of Bree, my sissy half brother has decided to take up the bagpipes.  If you love bagpipes you might find Bjedde's playing bearable.  If you are like the rest of us I suggest running on sight or at least cutting your ears off.  A young lady minstrel found herself in a tight spot the other day and (un)fortunately the cameras were rolling.  The result was a short moving picture clip that was taken on the fly with no intentions at the time of putting together into something viewable.  The results were acceptable but could be improved if the bagpipes were silent...

So, in real news, the Riders of Stangard have been heaping praise on my exploits and consider me one of their own.  They haven't offered me one of their horses yet but I expect to have one in my vast stables any day now.  Still waiting for the Rohan campaign.  I expect to make my presence felt in the Limlight Gorge soon.  Friends of mine have been begging me to help them with some minor orc bashing business.  Who am I to neglect my friends?...

Harvestfest

Hello there readers of Andurula's blog, Ruset here filling in for the Most Absent Champ.

Andu feigns distaste for 'silly' festivals and has asked me to fill in this week for him since he doesn't want to be anywhere near the festivities which he deems beneath his standards.  Personally, I wonder since every time a festival opens up Andu is no where to be seen.  He might be off fighting orcs or he just might be shopping for a new dress. Who knows, but I know what I prefer to believe.

Anyway, here I am filling in for Andu.

Oops, sorry, let me step out of the shadow here.

Burglaring comes naturally to me and I sometimes forget I don't always need to stay in the shadows.  Hold on a sec, let me put on something more comfortable.

That's better.

Anyway, let me introduce myself properly.  My name is Ruset.  Just Ruset to you since I have professional burgular standards to keep up with.  I have been friends with Andurula for years now.  He and I were in the same kin way back on Gladden server, named Something, Something, Taters.  In fact my name comes from that group. I was one of six young hobbits that all got their start around the same time.  We had some fun, let me tell you, six young low level hobbits tearing up the Shire.  Nothing could stand in our way. Fun times.  Anyway, that's how I know Andu. Andu likes to think of himself as Awesome but he wasn't half so awesome before I taught him how to think like a burg.  Back in the old days he would just go in crashing and bashing until either the orcs or he dropped.  He dropped more often than he will admit, even to me.  I taught him a few tricks and showed him that not every fight needs to be won directly.  Sometimes a little sneak and riddle will get you what you want without all of that messy stuff.

With Andurula gone maybe I can let you in on a little secret.  Andu has hopes of being a movie star!  He was all agog and giggling like a little champ girl the other day when he got a call back for an acting role.  Turns out this 'role' is a silent part named 'Gondor lord'.  Apparently he will be asked to stand around for a few hours and try not to do something stupid.  I give him a 50/50 chance of being successful.  He was all a-twitter; giggling and crying and trying on a thousand outfits in an effort to find  something suitable for 'Gondor Lord'.  Good heavens you would have thought he was playing the lead role or something.  Small beginnings but the crew putting on the production are top notch so I am sure they will take good care of Andu and not make him look too silly.  A little silly might be alright.  He could use a little more humility.  Or maybe a lot. 

So other than the brief trip home to storm through his wardrobe, Andu has been gone this week, to the Brownlands, so he says.  I have noticed a few more maps hanging on the walls and a few new dresses in the wardrobes.  I can't tell you why for certain...  I AM quite certain that there is a well drawn map on Andu's desk, courtesy of  'A casual stroll to Mordor' detailing the mysterious burrow under Bag End.  No new horses in the stables that I know of but I am not too surprised.  Andurula loves collecting good horses but I don't think horses with pretzels on them qualifies as 'good' to Andu.  He is a bit too snobby, errr... particular for that sort of thing.  Actually, there are a lot of pretzel themed items to be found at the festival this year but none of that stuff is making it back to the house storage areas.  Makes me wonder if someone is stockpiling those pretty silk gloves... 

Watch your back !

Bilbo's Birthday

Bilbo Baggins of Bag End in the Shire, currently residing in Rivendell, celebrated a birthday yesterday.  To kick off the party, the Sons of Numenor hosted a group ride from Stock to Rivendell.  They then followed up with a fantasic fireworks display that went on and on and on...

There were some technical glitches but I did managed to put together some moving picture clips for those of you that couldn't make it this year.

It was a really well run event and I enjoyed the change of pace.

In other news, rumor has it that BBB has started production of their next video.  Some of the scenes will be shot on location in Rohan thus requiring a wait until the Rohan campaign actually gets underway.  By what I can gather this one is going to involve a very big cast of extras and the results should be epic if past performance is anything to go by.  Every BBB video gets better than the last and I am really looking forward to this one.

Otherwise, my work on the borders of Rohan continue.  This is what I see most of the time these days.

 

It is quite annyoying getting hit by grodbg spitballs and not being able to tell where it is coming from.  Thank the Valar for champ AOE is all I can say...

On another happy note, my old hobbit friend Buttertoes Fleetfoot from Gladden server has made the move to Landroval.  It was a pleasant surprise running into her during one of my resupply trips to Bree.  Buttertoes is not the most common of hobbit names perhaps but she is thus nick- named because she has a terrible habit of slipping off cliff faces - slides like butter.  For a race so naturally stealthy Butter is a bit of a throwback.  A good partner to have in a fight though and I am told she can party like no one's business. 

And I guess that wraps up the most recent news from me.

Keep the dirty side down ;-)

Scrapbooking

Still waiting for the Rohan campaign.

My friends, well my kin now, Theodred's Riders thanked me profusely for my help and extended their gift of kinship.  I had done so much for them and could do little more so at their suggestion I moved to the region of Parth Celebrant  after a brief stopover visiting my favorite spots in Lothlorien.

I spent some time here a half a year or so ago but at the time I was on a serious mission and didn't stop to take in the sights.  With my current downtime I thought it a good time to revisit the area.  The riders of Stangard already consider me an ally of theirs but there are a few things I could do to help their cause so I thought I would do it.

Besides making myself everyone's favorite and Most Awesome Champion I have been doing a bit of scrap booking; going through old photos and organizing them into something meaningful.

With nothing much of note in this blog I guess I could share a few of them here:

This formerly top secret photo was taken during a large scale cavalry event in the Rohan region in preparation for our upcoming assault.  It is not often I get to ride with over a 100 mounted horsemen and it was a really fun time.  Technically it was a stress test of the server and we broke the server in about 10 seconds after we started running.  This is over two months ago and resources have been diverted and the situation is much better now.  Note, these are basic Rohan warsteads that are being made available to a few by the generosity of the Rohirrim peoples.  Great horses but a bit trickier to ride that what most of us are used to.  Speed and inertia management takes some time getting used to but these horses have some great skills.  Riding down warg packs is a whole new game now.  Just don't think you will be ready after five minues of training. Prepare for some frustration and a day or two to get the feel of them. The skill just sort of 'clicks' all of a sudden and then you have it mastered.  Be patient and you might be almost as good as I am someday.  My family name 'Rohir', meaning horse lord in Sindarin, was not given without some thought after all.

The titles says 'Horse' but this isn't any horse but the mighty king of horses Shadowfax.  On another trip into the Rohan region skirting the fringes of Fangorn forest and climbing up some hills, I ran into none other than Gandalf the White.  It was nice to catch up and trade some stories but what I really enjoyed was seeing Shadowfax up close and in person for the first time.  He is a magnificent animal.

 

Before I left the Isengard area I took this photo.  Nothing too special but I liked the image.  I came, I saw, I kicked some butt.

 

 

 

 

And then there was Weatherstock IV.  This and other examples are why I chose to move to Landroval.  There are orc butts that need kicking on every server but true kick butt party animals seem to congregate around Landroval.

 

Speaking of Landroval, a friend of mine, Stiehle, took some moving pictures of the event.  There were some serious technical difficulties that hampered the effort but the end result does bring back some good memories.

 

 

 

 

 

And that's about it.  Still banging orc heads and making myself more famous by the day.  My next stop will probably be the Brown Lands. 

I really need to have a friend or two do a guest blog here to jazz it up a bit.  I will see what I can do.

Laters, Taters, :-)

Shinarra

A well known and respected member of Landroval passed away last weekend.  I did not know her well but I did know her and had seen her about.  She was by all accounts a very fine and decent person.

 

 

 

I lost a kinmate of my own a few months back just before I made the move to Landroval.  It is a peculiar thing.  You 'play' with them every day for a year or more, laughing, crying, throwing tantrums, winning and losing and after that time you think you know them.  And then RL rears its sometimes ugly head where the rules are different and you suddenly wonder about this person you have been in daily contact with. 

An avatar can be such a freeing thing, allowing you to be whoever you want to be regardless of what RL set you up with.  It can be a 'portal' to yourself in your best or perhaps truest sense; showing to the world exactly how you see yourself.  When something like a RL death  happens you sometimes have the opportunity to see beyond the thin slice of reality that is LOTRO, a slice that is perhaps more real in one sense and least real in any other sense, and see the bigger picture of this person that you thought you knew well. 

There have been a few cases where knowing too much about a player diminished my opinion of them but that is quite rare for me.  In so many cases, such as my former kinmate, finding out more opened a whole book of aspects of their character that I could begin to appreciate.  Knowing a person through an avatar gives me a particular insight into their true self  but seeing how they handled and presented  themselves in the rough RL is really where you see a person's character.  With an avatar you see how a person wants to be.  Outside of the game you see how well they managed to become the person they wanted to be.

I didn't know Shinarra well. I probably exchanged a few inane comments with her and saw her dancing with perfect synchronization with her long time gaming partner.  She seemed like a very nice person and of the type I was hoping to spend more time with when I moved to Landroval. 

I do know how it feels to lose a kinmate to RL.  It is a shock that doesn't easily go away.  There will be many memories left behind. The game won't be the same ever again.  It will go on and it will be fun but it won't go on as it was and it won't be the same fun.  The avatar is still there in cyber space ready to log on but the mind behind the avatar won't be there ever again.  My condolences to the kinship, The Lonely Mountain Band, and to those that knew Shinarra better than I.

It is odd to grieve over an avatar because an avatar is not real.  Or are they?...

Repping and Riding

Quiet times for Andurula the Most Awesome Champ. 

So quiet in fact that I made a trip back to Bobbitville to see the summer festival and learn a few dance moves.  When  you see Andu dancing you know things are slow...

The upcoming campaign into Rohan has been delayed (which I approve of as there were some minor technical issues that still needed addressing though the basic plans look great) I have been helping out Theodred's riders with some work in the Iron Pit.  I have some friends working in the same area so I have been tagging along on some of their adventures too. 

While wandering around the festival grounds I heard of a group ride hosted by that ancient and most honorable fraternity, Sons of Numenor.  My favorite tanking LM and I decided to join in and I was able to put together some moving pictures of the event.    The pictures are a bit crude and it was all taken on the fly with no re-do's so it is what it is.  You can see the results here

My weaponsmithing skills are still in high demand it seems and I have been producing quite a number of second age weapons. I suspect that will end soon with the new and not-so-secret campaign almost ready to go into the plains of Rohan.  Soon there will be new weapons and new recipes to learn which will make most of my current wares obsolete.  Don't worry, I will soon have a new list of weapons available at very reasonable rates. 

My elf friend Grishkana reports that he has achieved kin rep with the jewelers guild house so obtaining new champ runes will be even easier now.  Grish has been killing lots of Aurochs around Esteldin for their hides which my favorite tanking LM seems to have a great need for.

My young friend Stiehle, a hobbit hunter type, has decided to pursue a career as a woodworker.  I hardly see him anymore as he is usually off collecting yew somewhere.  I am not a huge fan of wood weapons in either case but I have friends who prefer those kind of crude toolings.  The bows are pretty to look at but I really prefer to get up close and personal with my orcs.  Just not my style I guess. 

Slow times for Awesome Champs on Landroval these days.  All to change very soon now.

Laters, Taters ;-)