To begin I would like to start by saying "day two" does not mean actual physical days, just when I get a chance to make a write up, I have actually been playing for 3-4 days, and have spent about 15 hours in game so far, so not too bad.

    So I was on a quest for a Hobbit, to go collect something like pipe-weed or some such. When I arrived on the scene there was another person standing next to the quest NPC. I went up to the NPC and did my usual RP deal and started speaking to the NPC saying responses to the NPC as it it were a real person. In the past this has engaged some interesting and humerous responses from people, making for some good roleplaying. This time however was different, because the approach to the speach with the NPC was serious and not humerous. The person standing next to me turns and say's "Are you talking to the NPC like its a real person?" and I replied "O cut the odd talk, Elf!  What is an NPC?". The man then said to me...

    "Dont even try to play this off, that is just wierd!" and walked away. So lesson one folks: choose your roleplaying wisely, and do not make bad roleplaying by making situations akward for those around you.

     Another Fallacy of todays roleplaying experiance for me was when I was engaged in a conversation with an obviously better and more skilled RPer in disagreement. I spoke as if I were a bandit, brigand, what have you, because in game I am a Buglar. Well at the end of our long arguement I said to him "Well good sir, you certainly have the same honor and are as venerable as I". Then in front of the crowd he said in OOC: "Honor? Your class is Brigand, all you do is Steal shit! and stab people in the back!". Of course the OOC laughed, so did I, it was funny!, Also it was a further sign that my roleplaying was simply not what it should be, and that I was not getting deep into my character, and showed that most of my RP was actually Forced, and did not flow right.

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    Being an actor myself I took this to heart as a time to start back at the beginning of my character and kind of look as his small beginning and try and see where he was at now development wise. I say this because in theatre you must often make up a backround or a destination for your character to further his motivation. Today I had no motivation, I was simply doing some "Bad Acting" or "Roleplaying" in this instance.
 

     So after a fairly quick install I had the game On my computer and I was ready to begin this "Project" of mine. In case your unclear on what I plan to do, I will give you a quick rehash. Basically I am trying to take a new School game, and apply new techniques to roleplaying. Basically trying to "Get with the times" and establish a new Roleplaying standard for myself.

    I get into the game as a Dwarf, then an Elf, then a Hobbit, then finally I land on a Human. To me I just seemed to have the most connection with a human in the Tolkien world of LOTR because of their conflicted will, and the beginning story seemed to reflect that very well.

    I chose a Burglar as my class, my characters persona was that of a brigand that worked for money his whole and now imprisoned by his own kind he starts to look at things a bit differently. I know the rest of this is going to sound odd to some but stay with me please. I began to talk to myself in game....Yes I know it sounds odd, after the first cut-throat was slain by Admir I exclaimed "Those bastards, they got all thats coming to them!" I know it seems different but I found that if you actually act out a scene like you were in a play it brings more of a Real world feel to the whole drama of it.

   Later once I was in the main world after the first 7 levels, I began doing the same thing, talking to NPC's which to my suprise actually engaged a couple of other players to talk with me. When I was jokingly flirting with female NPC guard, another group of two hobbit men came over and started trying to win her over as well. It brought  back alot of fun, and it allowed me to sort of "Set the mood" and "Start the RP" that was coming. Instead of just being with a group of friends and saying "ALriught guys its RP time!!" It was as if I was already in character and others just joined in.

  A friend that I made in game had also joined LOTRO for the RP, so now me and him have established a little "Hang out Spot" in Combe, where we plan to get a bunch of people together and try and start RP events. Thats all I have for my Project update for today but I will close with a quick summary.

   From my first day in LOTRO as part of my RP Project, I have found that People really want to RP as much as you do. To me it seems that just the boundries are not being pushed to RP as they are not as much Taboo anymore. Hopefully by coming up with some creative and new RP ideas, we can re-establish the genre of RPGS as a whole, online at least, and bring some fresh faces to the table. So far LOTRO is a great place to pick for RP because the world screams it, even if the normal mechanics do not right as you start. Until next update, I suggest anyone who wants to join me in my RP project or just to try a new MMO check out LOTRO, Brandywine sever. (Yes I would have picked the Server that started with an L"the unnofical RP one", but I had already played on that one before so i wanted something new)

From my Post

In UO, and EQ I strove to roleplay, it was one of my favorite pass times in game. There was a wide open world for me to get into and Roleplay and what helped was that I was not bound to a linear path the whole time and could make up my own story. In new MMO's, I have found that everything gives you a more linear path and it gives you "Our Story" instead of "Your Story". I took this to heart for a long time as a punishment almost, something the evil developers did to take away my fun in game, and make everything more simple. The fact is though, I need to get with the times. The Developers are not taking the roleplaying from me, they are just presenting a new way for you to take in all the information.

Before in MMO's the world had its lore and you were sent to discover it on your own, without any help and quests certainly did not take you where you needed for everything. The way that games put forth information now is just different, they want to give you all the tools you need early on to help you through it all. What I am mainly trying to say (yes I know I am taking my damn time getting to it) is that I am still a roleplayer. In most MMO's out there, I am still given a large open world to Roleplay in, I just choose not to accept the new ways of going about it. Well now I have a new outlook, which I will be testing on LOTRO. From alot of talks I have had today with people about the game, the Roleplaying is some of the best you can come by. My outlook now is to really play a character. I am not just going to wait for other players and friends, to join me before I can roleplay, I am going to make the Roleplaying myself! When I am sent to the shire to investigate something I am going to stop on the way, make camps of a sort and look around, hunt a little, play some lute. When I venture to a orc camp I am going to scout the area, and wait the extra few minutes for dark to hit before I pounce on the attack!

If this project works, and I do plan to post a blog about it, every day that I go through it, I would hope others would follow my example, if it fails, I have lost 15 dollars, which is what? A half a gallon of gas now? Haha!

Now I sit here, waiting for the LOTRO download to finish up. It will probably be done by the morning, and from there I will buy an account and be able to play a long while on the first day. Then the next few days will not  be the most fruitful as I have work. If things go well though I will be able to play a long while after wensday as the weekend I am off.

Anyone have any advice for me Character creation wise? I made it to level 18 I think before as a captain, this time around im going to try something different, and maybe a bit more exciting. Also any good sites I should check out tonight while I wait around?

Every day I sit here, and I read books, or watch movies, or look at Ma more pigs. Every time I do that I think, "Wow how lucky it is for all of those people, to make a living world that they helped create or were a part of!” I envy those with the ability to just put a pen to paper or a hand to word (or notepad for the lesser of them) and just make up a world they can live in and get taken away by.

I have tried to write stories in the past, but one thing always stops me half way through "Originality"! I look at what I have written and constantly critique myself until I realize "Someone out there has written this same thing only a lot better" and then that is when I give up. I recently read a book on procrastination, and since then I have caught myself with things one might dub as procrastinating. For example I will be around the house and my girlfriend will say "Hunny we have to clean up today so we can have your parents over tomorrow" and I will think "O well I have to do a lot of work on the car already so I will wait till later a trigger hits in my mind that says "NO! that is you trying to procrastinate! STOP it!”

I am not getting that feeling with this though, it is not a procrastination attempt this time, its something more with this and I just have yet to figure it out.