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| I'm new and confused. Where do I go and what do I do? |
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First of all, you're in the right place! Reading through the information on this page will help you to understand a lot of the plaza, and hopefully help you enjoy yourself here. Also, be sure to read the Role-Playing FAQs for help with creating a character and other role-playing issues. Another good place to check out is the Newbies and Introductions, where there are welcome forums, places where you can ask questions and make friends, and even recruitment threads for each Region, so you can recieve a bit of help choosing which icon you would like. As well as this, most Region forums have their own Newbie help threads, normally found at the top of each forum called something like 'Visitors and Newbies'. These are great places to post to get help finding your way around a Region you have chosen to visit, and advice with threads and roleplaying. |
| What Name should I choose? Can I still change it afterwards? |
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Try to think about something that goes accordingly with your race. Don't use a dwarf name if you intend to be an elf! That will work only if you have a very good story to back it up. When choosing a name, try to be original. Names like Arwen234, Legolaslover or Frodo67 are very common. It is not wrong to choose such a name, but you will find that as you progress on plaza, your name will be lacking something. You can change your username whenever you like, by clicking on the Member Control Panel and then “Change Username”. Each time you change your username, the cost of changing it again goes up by 10 points. Therefore the first change is free, the second costs 10 points, the third costs 20, and so on. You are advised not to use your own personal name for a username. |
| Can I change my password or email address once I've joined? |
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You can change your password or email address through the Member Control Panel, at the top left of every forum page. Within this, click 'Edit Profile' and you will find options for your email address and password. You should make sure your account always has a valid email account attached, as the Admins will use this email to contact you about account-related issues off-plaza. It is also important that you guard your plaza password, as sharing your account is against the plaza rules and may get you into trouble. |
| What is the LotR plaza? |
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Its a website run by fans of Tolkien for fans of Tolkien. It contains a whole range of activities to get involved in, and you are sure to find something that you enjoy. Take a look at the break down below to find out more: The forums:
The discussion forums are a great place for Tolkien Enthusiasts to discuss their passion with other like-minded people. There are a wide-range of areas and topics covered here on the plaza, so be sure to have a read through the descriptions below. Please also remember: everyone should be courteous and respectful to other members and Ad hominem (Latin for "at the person") arguments are not tolerated.
Here you will find a few forums that don't fit within the world of discussion or role-play.
The Roleplaying in Middle-earth fora are a place for you to role-play within the world of Middle-earth. Set in the third age around 3014 (between the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings), it has a wide range of places to explore. All of the famous places are here, from the Shire to Mordor, and by developing your own character, you can step into the roleplay world and taste what it is like to live in Middle-earth. The Roleplay in Middle-earth fora are divided into four Regions, each encompassing several Areas within that we know and love, such as Rivendell or Gondor.
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| How do I join a Region, and which is the best one for me? |
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Joining a Region is easy. Once you have 20 fanatic points, you can go to the career centre and click the ‘Join a Region’ button. This will take you to a list of options, and you pick the one you want, press enter, and earn your shiny new icon and rank. NB. Along with chosing your Region, you also have to chose which Area you wish to belong to. The Regions and their Areas are listed above. If you ever want to change Region again, just go back to the career centre and click ‘Change Power’ at the bottom. This will cost you 50 fanatic points, but if you really want that new icon and a new Region allegiance, its well worth it. Changing Areas within the same Region can be done without cost. For Example, you can change from being a member of Minas Tirith to a member of Dol Amroth without penalty. Choosing which Region you want to join is much harder. Everyone loves their own Region, and thinks theirs is the best. The truth is, each one has a different character and style, and you may have to do a bit of investigative work beforehand. For some people, its an easy choice, they’ve always loved horses so choose the Western Mountains, they have a dark-side they’d love to develop, so Shadowed Lands is an easy choice. The best place to go is the Region recruitment threads in Newbies and Introductions, where members from each Region are there to help you choose and make you feel welcome. In the end, only you can choose your Region and Area. Try and find a place that feels like home, that you enjoy and have fun in. And don’t be worried about getting it wrong first time, lots of members will change two or three times before they settle, and changing Regions can even be a fun way of making new friends and trying new things. |
| What are Fanatic Points and how can I earn them? |
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Fanatic Points are used to measure one’s progress on the plaza. Each member can earn Fanatic Points during their membership and thus achieve higher Ranks. How to earn Fanatic Points and information on the Ranks will be explained in detail further in this FAQ. These are the common ways to earn Fanatic Points:
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| What are Ranks? |
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This Plaza works with a detailed Ranking System in which every member gets to choose a certain Middle-earth Region he/she wants to join and start a career in. Every new member starts as a "New Soul" with 0 Fanatic Points. As you acquire Fanatic Points and experience you might reach levels where you can promote yourself to a higher rank. Once you score 20 points you will first have to choose which Region of Middle-earth you wish to join. The Unique Positions, being Administrator, Ruler, Librarian or Cottage Maia are given to special members who have proven their worth over time. Appointments for these Ranks are made by the Valinor team. For an overview of the Ranks visit: The Special Character Ranks, or SCR, are Awards given to Region members by their Rulers. They are awarded every month to members of a Region that have been very active and/or did a lot of work for the Region. The Members who receive this honour earn a special icon that portrays the face of a book character, and have the privilege to be able to role-play with this character for a whole month. After that, the rank is given to the next deserving member. For example, one of the Elves in Wilderland could receive the Legolas icon for a month, while a hobbit can sport the face of Pippin around the plaza. Receiving an SCR does not mean you earn the right to act in any way like a Ruler or Administrator. You will not receive special powers when you get the rank; you are still a normal member. The Admin Tribute Ranks, or ATR, are Awards given to plaza members by the Administrators and Librarian. Just like the SCR, they are rewarded every month to members of the Plaza who are very active and/or did a lot of work for the plaza in general. They are generally given out to plaza members who are active in places outside the Regions, mainly the Lore forums and the Cottage of Lost Play and Library. Receiving an ATR does not mean you earn the right to act in any way like a Ruler or Administrator. You will not receive special powers when you get the rank; you are still a normal member. Each of the Middle-earth Regions has up to four or five Unique Positions that can be considered as the rulers of that Region. Members who receive these positions are honoured as head of their Power and get Administrative Powers over their own Forum, the Subjects of their Region and the Region Pages (ReP, special web pages) of their Region. All members that belong to their Region automatically become their subjects. Unique positions are appointed by Valinor to those members they deem deserving of such honour and responsibility. The Administrators are appointed as the Valar that aided Eru to take care of Middle Earth, which is more or less what they do in the plaza. Pay due respect when encountering one (except on battles) and ask them any question you may have concerning the working of the plaza. You may find some Admins are closer to one Region than the other, and questions regarding these Regions will sooner find an answer if you ask these admins. Of the admins, there are two who hold another special position: The Technical Administrator has direct access to the server and the power to make changes to the entire plaza. The Financial Officer controls all the Plaza Finances. She overlooks the Support Membership program. The Rulers are the people holding the Unique Positions as mentioned in the Ranks section. They have administrative powers over their own Region Forum and over all their subjects. The rulers are those from the Region who Valinor deems most fit for this position of responsibility. The rulers are there to clear any doubt you may have and to enhance and contribute to the beauty of the Region. Share your ideas for the Region with them! The Cottage Maiar are Unique Positions comparable to being the Ruler of the Cottage of Lost Play. They have all the administrative powers that Rulers have, and are able to award Fanatic Points to members who have written excellent Poetry or Prose, or portrayed good Art. |
| What is spam? |
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Spamming is something that can be difficult to understand. Essentially, it means anything that doesn’t fit within a thread. Since each thread on the plaza is designed for a specific purpose (whether a role-playing game, a discussion thread or even a newbie help thread), then being sure you contribute to a thread in some way will make sure you aren’t spamming. General chattiness, for example, is often spam, but in a thread designed for such chatting and making friends, it may be perfectly acceptable. If one of your posts unfortunately falls under the category of spam, it will most likely be deleted by a ruler or admin, but they will often do their best to help you avoid this again by sending you a PM or explaining how to avoid it. You will only get into trouble if you repeatedly spam, so don’t be afraid of asking questions and trying things out. And of course, when in doubt, reading the Opening Post of a thread or other people’s posts is a great way to see what’s acceptable and what’s not. |
| What is a supporting member? |
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A support member is someone who helps to fund the plaza by donating financial aid. There are many ways of doing this, from a one-off paypal payment to a standing order, and a range of different prices. Supporting members gain benefits, including their own private forum and advanced PM system. You can tell who is a supporting member from the shiny ring icon in their profile. To become a supporting member, click on the link on the left-hand side of your screen, or go here: Become a Supporting Member |
| I can’t enter the Derndingle of Mystery/Supporting Member forum. Why? |
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p>These forums are known as ‘Private’ forums. Only members can enter these. You need to be a supporting member to enter their forum, and similarly, you need to be a member of the Derndingle of Mystery to enter that one too.
To join the Derndingle of Mystery, all you have to do is fill up the form which is found here and email those details to Hoth at banecookie@gmail.com |
| How do I activate and edit my signature? |
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Go to your Member Control Panel, located at the top left hand side of any forum page. Within this, you will find a section called 'Edit Profile', where there is an area for you to type details for your signature. You can edit your signature further using BB coding. For example, to make your signature appear in the centre of the screen, use [ center ] without the spaces. |
| What are PMs? |
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The PM (Private Messaging) function allows members to send messages that can only be read by a specified recipient, in a similar manner to an e-mail. The Private Messenger can be accessed by clicking the ‘# New Messages’ link at the top left of the site of the forum, or through the Member Control Panel. Alternatively, PMs can be sent to a member by visiting their profile and clicking the link that says ‘Send Private Message’, or by left-clicking on a username in a thread and selecting ‘Send Private Messaage’. Whilst the PM function is open to all, there are some restrictions in place for non-Supporting Members. The inbox of Non-Supporting Members is limited to storing five messages. If the inbox is full, you will not be able to receive any more messages. There is also a limit of one per hour on the number of PMs that a non-supporting member can send. Supporting members are able to store up to five hundred messages, and have no restrictions on the amount of PMs that they can send. |
| What are plaza credits and how are they used? |
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Credits are the Plaza’s form of currency. They can be collected once in every 24 hour period by visiting the Salary Office, via the Finance Centre. The amount of credits you receive is the same as, and increases with, your rank number. Credits can be used to purchase items for the Battle Arena. They can also be transferred to other members, subject to approval by an administrator. |
| How do I use the Battle Arena? |
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p>The Battle Arena is the engage in a friendly sparring match with another plaza member. Each fighter can choose upon their turn which part of their adversary to attack, and a dice roll will decide the outcome of the attack. The outcome of the dice roll can be influenced by the gear the attacker or defender is wearing; a better sword will give the attacker a higher chance of success, but a better armour will give the defender a higher chance of survival.
NB. The Battle Arena is currently still under construction. The Technical Administrator will make a Plaza-wide announcement when the Battle Arena is once again open for business. |
| Can I start a new topic? |
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Most forums have clear rules about opening new topics. You should check the rules of each forum before you open a thread there. But to help you out, here are a few general rules: In Regions, you need the permission from the rulers. The Regions have a thread where you can suggest new thread ideas. The discussion forums are different. You are welcome to open a new discussion as long as it is on a topic relevant to that forum, and you are not opening too many threads at once (there is no limit, but be sensible). You should also be sure there isn't already a discussion open based on a very similar topic to your own, and you should make an effort to get involved in other threads too. And remember: Everyone should be courteous and respectful to other members. No-one should open a thread in Advanced Lore, as this forum is only for those threads that have grown into a high level quality discussion, and threads will be moved here by the forum administrators. In Out Of Middle-earth - you are limited to open three active topics at once, though most individuals will never need three active topics unless heavily involved in the forum. Some forums simply expect you to be sensible when opening new topics, such as Administrator Messages, Battle Arena, and Newbies and Introductions. Remember to check out each forum's rules if you aren't sure. |
| I've forgotten where the thread is I posted in? What should I do? |
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First off, don't panic! We understand this place is big and scary and easy to get lost in, so we added a fancy feature to everyone's forums to help you search for people's posts. Just go to your profile and click the 'Find members posts' link on the right. Here you can specify dates and forums within which your post may be, and use Key Words to narrow down the search. try a few combinations and you should find what you're looking for. If that doesn't work, try broadening the search parameters by looking in other forums. Your thread or post may have been moved to a different place. Changing the 'Search forum' option should help with this. If you still don't find it, then there's a chance your post, or the thread, has been deleted by a ruler, maiar or admin. If this is the case, it won't appear in the search. A post can get deleted for number of reasons. It may not be suitable for the plaza, it may be spam, or it may have been off the topic of the thread. A ruler and admin always tries there best to give a reason for deleting a post either in the thread, or through a Personal message (PM). If you still can't find your post and don’t know if its been deleted, try contacting the forum administrator or a ruler, and they may be able to explain. |
| How do I add a picture or link to my post? |
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For a link, first highlight the text (or picture) you wish to link. If you don't, you'll just end up with a random web address in your post. Then click on the option above your post. You can then type in the http address of the page you are trying to link to (remember to remove the http:// from the beginning of the address if you've copied it directly from the web-page bar). Check that your link works by using 'preview', and finish off by clicking 'ok'. This should add a shiny link to your post. You can add links to text and to images in this way. For a picture, click on the tree image above your post. You can then enter the URL of your image. For the url, be sure to save the image to your computer and upload to an image hosting site such as photobucket.com, rather than 'hotlinking'. Hotlinking is where you link an image directly from its original site, without saving it to your computer and using your own storage space. This isn't allowed on the plaza as it steals bandwidth from the other site. |
| How do I report a misbehaving Member? |
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If you see a member spamming, writing offensive messages or in anyway break the rules given above then you can report this member to the Abuse & Spammers forum. An Administrator will then try to act as quickly as possible. In case of a spammer emergency try contacting the administrators at admins@lotrplaza.com |
| People keep using achronisms like R/A/M that I don't understand. What do they mean? |
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The plaza is full of shortened terms such as R/A/M and LotR that newer members might not know, and older members take for granted. Here is a detailed list of many of those that may appear on the plaza: Forum and Region Abbreviations:
Book abbreviations:
Everyday Plaza Terms:
Other Plaza Terms:
General Plaza chat:
Special thanks to Brandybuck, Eledhwyn, Thali, halfir and LOTR. |