Frodo's path to Rivendell

[Alatar]

When geeks go mad....

Courtesy of Lord of the Rings Online and Google Maps.

http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Frodo's_ ... _Rivendell







Prim edited 29 minutes later to try to fix link.

Dammit!

Prim gave up after five attempts. Entire link needs to be pasted into your browser. Sorry, Alatar.

[WampusCat]

That's amazing!

[Primula Baggins]

It's extremely cool, though not at all to scale. I'm enjoying just clicking from point to point along the journey and seeing the LotRO images.

I'm seriously glad this game is not available to Mac users. I don't need another time sink.

[Alatar]

It's extremely cool, though not at all to scale.

I would have actually said the scale is very good. Its not real-size if thats what you mean, but the relative distances are pretty close I think. Of course, if the game were real-size it would be pretty boring!

[Primula Baggins]

The relative distances along the trail seem right, but if you compare them to, say, building sizes where those are shown, that part is way off (it's maybe twenty widths of a farmhouse from Bree to Weathertop, for example).

[Alatar]

Yes. That's correct. Otherwise us poor gamers would spend days looking at nothing but trees and road.

Its like a "scale model" of a car. It's not the same size as the original, but its expected to have the same relative sizes.

In other words, its not to 1:1 scale, but it is "to scale". But I see your point about the building sizes. They're obviously not to the same scale as the landscape.

[Primula Baggins]

That never occurred to me, but of course you're right: wandering in the Wild for weeks on end would probably not make for fascinating gaming. Tolkien covers that so artfully, but in a game you can't literally blur days together.

[Old_Tom_Bombadil]

I'll have to check this out when I get home.

(I cannot view most LOTRO sites at work. )

The think the developers have done a fantastic job of melding Tolkien's lore with a very playable MMORPG. There are many aspects that would not suit the purist, but as with any adaptation some allowances have to be made.

And yes, Prim, this game tends to captivate one for many, many hours. Usual bedtimes get pushed back later and later, and the consumption of coffee and other stimulating beverages (Mountain Dew is a traditional favorite among younger folk) increases dramatically.

I'd love to play with Alatar one of these days, but since I'm playing the US/Pacific version and Alatar is playing the European version I don't know when or if that will ever happen.

[Old_Tom_Bombadil]

Okay, I looked at this last night at home. I guess one could subtitle it "The Long and Winding Road". (And of course that road goes 'ever on and on' as we all know well.)

I recall passing through the Trollshaws for the first time and wondering how Bilbo ever made it pass the hordes of trolls, worms (dragon-type), giant spiders, and other beasts that roam the paths between the Last Bridge and the Gate of Imladris with no one to assist him but a Dwarf or two who were helping him move his belongings. Now that I'm higher level I can pass through there without difficulty. Do you think Bilbo made level 50 on his 'There and Back Again' adventure?

Another thing I'm curious about is how Strider and the four hobbits made it to Weathertop without attracting the swarms of goblins, orcs, wargs, and crebain that cover its hills. I'm guessing that Strider's tracking skills came in really handy.

Of course the Midgewater Marsh with its goblins and giant neekerbreekers, flies, and spiders is no picnic, either. Fortunately Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin had Strider along to power-level them.

It's really a shame that Frodo's coin purse was so tight. If he'd had only 25 silver coins or so he would've been able to take the rent-a-pony from the South Gate in Bree and avoided a lot of toil and trouble. Newbs!