Lord of the Rings Online

I never read the LOTR books. My only knowledge comes from the movies so when I started playing this game, I was completely lost. Instead of seing familiar places like Rohan, I started out in areas I never heard of before.

Where can I find a site that will bring me up to speed with the LOTR lore and help me understand where all those beginning areas fit into the LOTR world.

Thanks,

Tomas

Are you talking about the single player starting area because pretty much after you get past that its just like the movies....well except for the Dwarves & Elves since you dont' see those places in the movie.  Honestly the best thing to do it just read the official information for the game .. otherwise you're going to have to read the books.

theres also these "book" thing that might be worth a gander. and single player? well whatever, just blow through it man, the rest of the game kind of falls into place. DONT FORGET YOUR DEEDS!!!

i think you could read a lotr wiki or something if you cared to do that. fact is the game lacks magic, mind blowing visually, but lacking in depth. i know it makes for a good ride for the first month (if you arent digging things make a champ) after that though it is very 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4-1.......

edit:i never saw the movies, i avoid mainstream media. i saw the animated ones by ralph and dont want to corrupt those memories. i did read the books when i was a kid, ..it has nothing to do with this games weak point imho.

You could... Read the books? Or listen to the audio books...

But if you truly don't have time for that, I suppose you could start at, where else, a wiki: http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

Though, it is quite incomplete...

(edit) I found a place that's probably more suitable for what you want: http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/default.asp

...Since we're on the subject. Does anyone know if Tom Bombadil makes an appearence in LotRO?

Yes, he does.  There is a farily extensive quest chain involving him.  Pretty much the entire first book up until Frodo gets to Rivendell is represented in game one way or another.

http://www.tuckborough.net/placeindex.html

http://www.glyphweb.com/ARDA/placland.html

Currently, this game is restricted to Eriador.  The places in the movie, that are currently in game, are Bree, Shire, Rivendell, and probably something else that i can't remember.  The upcoming expansion will be Mines of Moria, the place where the fellowship escape from the Balrog, and where Gandalf falls down.

Start with the Hobbit ... then read the trilogy

Yes, do yourself a favor and read the greatest fantasies written in the English language. At first I had a few gripes with the way Turbine handled some of the lore (loremasters especially) but as I've played through the game, and I'm only level 22, I'm seeing they did a fairly brilliant job incorporating all of the "gray areas" left by Tolkien.

If you're a terrible nerd like me and have found yourself wondering, "What did this part of the Shire look like or what's it like on this side of the river" then you have the opportunity to explore that in this game.

Indeed, the best way to go about learning the lore is to read the books. However, I have found in recommending people to read these books is that some really enjoy them, and some don't like them very much at all, mostly because the writing style isn't very modern. It's quite ponderous and tends to put them off or bore them to death.

So, you could look at the Cliff Notes, but be forewarned, there is a lot going on in these books and I highly doubt the Cliff Notes will give you everything you can find in the actual novels.

The Hobbit: http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/LitNote/The-Hobbit.id-171.html
The Lord of the Rings: http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/LitNote/The-Lord-of-the-Rings.id-172.html