The music of LotRO: Community perspective

by Shawn Schuster on Oct 30th 2008 5:00PM

Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Culture, Game mechanics, Interviews, Roleplaying

Lord of the Rings Online has a unique and popular roleplaying addition to the game with its music system. This is a feature that allows your character to equip various instruments and either play them real-time according to certain keys on your keyboard, or load up what's known as an ABC file to play the music automatically. While the system can appear difficult to learn at first, the complexity actually lends itself to a quick learning curve for those already familiar with real life music.

In the first part of this feature article, we're going to briefly cover the basics of the music system, just enough to help you understand how it works and get you started. In the second part, we'll show you an email interview we did with one of the leading original composers on LotRO's EU servers: Achazia of The Shades. Not only does she and her bandmates write their own music, they even perform most of it in real-time at scheduled concerts. We'll get her take on the band, the recent changes to the music system and the future of her band in Moria. Simply follow along via the link below and enjoy!

Getting Started >>

Tags: abc-files, achazia, featured, joystiqfeatures, lord-of-the-rings-online, lotro, mines-of-moria, music, music-system, the-shades, turbine

Reader Comments (1)

I find the music system in this game extremely fun. Sure it's entirely just fluff/RP content and for some that means useless, but it sure adds a sense of realism to the world. Being able to sit by the fire and listen to an Elven Harpist play a sorrowful Enya tune in the Prancing Pony is about as immersive as one can get. My Dwarven bagpipes make the odd appearance here and there. The music system is one of those many details that sets LOTRO apart from the rest.