Lord of the Rings Online's Developer's Diary with Allan Maki gives us a look at Monster Play in the Ettenmoors.
Welcome to the first of many Developer Diary installments discussing monster play. We've kept the wraps on this aspect of the production for long enough, so here's your first look behind the curtain at the geography of your monster playground!
Where is the Ettenmoors?
North of Rivendell are the troll-fens where Aragorn's grandfather, Arador, met his end at the hands of the Hill-trolls dwelling in the Coldfells. Long lost to corruption, the Ettenmoors once served as a home to the kingdom of Rhudaur.
In the north, flowing out of the Misty Mountains, is the Hoarwell River. The great river flows toward the south, becoming impassable until the Last Bridge at the border of the Lone-lands and the Trollshaws. It is rumored that Fallohide Hobbits may once have migrated along the shores of the Hoarwell River, perhaps even making themselves a home along its banks as they journeyed west across the Misty Mountains.
In the Northwest, a terrible peak rises to cast its great shadow far to the east. This mountain, once home to the goblin Golfimbul, is known as Mount Gram and at its foot, the fearsome forces of Angmar have laid claim to the land.
Hope is not yet lost in the Gramsfoot. An Elf, Lainedhel, discontent with Elrond's choice to trust the power of the Elven-ring Vilya to defend Rivendell from the host pressing through the North Downs into the Ettenmoors, has rallied the Free Peoples of Eriador to the Ettenmoors. Their fortress in the southeast stands as a bastion of Light against the ever-growing darkness.
Read more here.
