Getting Started

Food & Shelter

You will start out in the heart of The Shire, partway between Waymeet and Hobbiton. You will be surrounded by Hobbit dwelling of every description, and even open-air picnic tables: all laden with food. The Hobbits won't hold it against you if you bunk down with them, borrow a bed, and share their food. Just be mindful of new players who join after you do, and don't needlessly pillage everything in sight!

Gandalf & Quests

Shortly after you spawn, Gandalf will appear nearby. Talk to him and follow his instructions. he will teach you some basics about how various important parts of the LotR mod work, and how to progress through quests. He will also give you The Red Book in which you can keep track of quests. If you finish the initial quest he gives you, you will receive a very handy reward!

Magic 101

Your magical career begins when you craft yourself an Iron-Capped Wooden Wand (see NEI for the recipe). From there, you need to shift-right-click an ordinary vanilla Bookshelf with your want to obtain the Thaumonomicon, the book which will guide the rest of your magical education.

Ore Generation & Smelting

All the ore placement in this modpack follows the LotR ore generation scheme. Various metals can only be smelted in special forges belonging to certain races (e.g., Mithril can only be smelted in a Dwarven forge). Moreover, metal alloys can only be created in appropriate forges.

Sleeping

Unfortunately, all players must be sleeping in order for the night to pass in Middle Earth. Fortunately, you have a few viable options:

1. Sleep in a nearby Hobbit dwelling
2. Grab a bed from a Hobbit dwelling and carry it about with you, using it as needed
3. Create a Sleeping Bag, and use it as needed.

This last is particularly useful as it won't reset your spawn location, and will automatically place itself and pick itself back up again when you're done sleeping.

IMPORTANT: It's very annoying for everyone to have to wait for some one player who always takes a long time to sleep. If you find yourself unable to sleep within a few seconds of the first person who asks, please just log off the server for a few seconds to allow the night to pass for everyone else.