Why Should I Create a Lorebook Entry for My Character?

Well you don't necessarily have to create an entry, but here are a few things to consider. The Lorebook is an easy-to-use tool that is open to the public. By creating an entry for your character you are giving the means for someone to find you by distinction, class, server, and vocation. Also, with a discussion page, you can carry on conversation even from out of the game if you wished to chat with a fellow friend (also good for posting notices or possibly vocalizing the services you offer). However, from an RP perspective, it is one neat little place to gather all of your role playing information, such as a biography and description, for all to see without the hassle of searching for it through Guildportal.

A Few Things to Consider

The Lorebook is a wiki by design, as such editing is completely identical to wiki editing. Here is a good resource for editing in the Lorebook:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:How_to_edit_a_page

A few good ones to remember off the top of your head are headings and bolding. Top headings are signified by two 'equal' signs. Example:

==Main Heading==

When editing your page it will show up as the main heading. There are also sub-headings as well. Each sub-heading is accomplished by adding another 'equal' sign in the editing process. Example:

==Main Heading==
===Sub-Heading===

And so on and so forth:

==Main Heading==
===Sub-Heading===
====Example A====
=====Example a=====

Bold is easy to remember. It is signified by enclosing what you want in bold with three apostrophe marks ( ' ). Example:

'''bold'''

Another good resource to remember are bullets. These are denoted with an asterisk in front of what you wish to bullet. Example:

*Bulleted text

Perhaps the most important thing to remember is spacing. When you press enter to list something, keep in mind that single spacing will NOT bring it to another line. Example:

When editing to this:

Line 1
Line 2

It will end up looking like this:

Line 1Line2

You will need to do this:

Line 1

Line 2

To achieve this:

Line 1
Line 2

These are a few tools you will use repeatedly, so try and commit them to memory.

Getting Started

In order to create a character page, you MUST have an active subscription to LotRO. You will then be required to sign in to the Lorebook before you can do any editing as well.

To create your character page, you first would go to your account page. It doesn't matter if anything on your account page or not. For now what we want is to look at the URL. Example:

http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/User:AccountName

What you then want to do is add a forward slash and your character's name (if you are including your character's last name/surname, then you will need to place an underscore to denote that). Example:

http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/User:AccountName/Character_Name

This will then take you to a page that will tell you that hasn't been created. You will be asked if you wish to create the page. Click that link accordingly, which will take you to your first steps at creating a character page in the Lorebook.

The Basics

First, and foremost, the most important template to use is the character template. This will successfully list you in all subsections that classify you under server, vocation, and class. With the edit box in hand when creating your character page, insert this first:

{{Player_Character
|name=Iman Example
|kinship=We Are Examples
|world=Gladden
|vocation=Explorer
|class=Hunter
|race=Elf
|region=Rivendell
|age=936
|height=5ft. 6in.
|sex=Male
|skin=Medium-Dark
|hair=Gray, Ponytail.
|eye=Blue Grey
|image={{PAGENAMEE}}-{{SUBPAGENAMEE}}.jpg
|imagecaption=No character image to display.
}}
[[Category:Examples]]

Now make all the necessary changes to the examples (hair, eyes, age, class, etc.). Now click Save Page. You have successfully created your character page listing the basics of your character.

Getting a Picture for your Character

You will notice some people have pictures for their characters in the character template. This is achieved by uploading a file to the Lorebook. To upload a file to the Lorebook, look to the left of the Toolbar under Toolbox until you find the link for "upload file." Follow the browsing steps of locating the picture you want to upload and upload that picture. A few things to keep in mind, however: the photo for your character template will automatically resize to 276x276. It is usually best to get a head shot of your character.

After uploading the photo, you want to take a look then at the file name for the photo. For example, once it is uploaded, the URL to it should look something like this:

http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Image:Picture.jpg

Keep in mind that you cannot have two photos with the same file names (you will be asked if you wish to overwrite the first file; be careful that you aren't overwriting someone else's file!). Now, to add this picture to your character template, you want to find these parameters in the character template:

|image={{PAGENAMEE}}-{{SUBPAGENAMEE}}.jpg

Replace them as such with your uploaded picture filename:

|image=Picture.jpg

You should now have a picture for your character template.

The Nitty-Gritty

What you do with your character page is now up to you (however, always keep your character template above all edits so it stays at the top). The Lorebook offers a simple example player character template for you to start off with here:

http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Example:Player_Character

I, however, offer my personal template that I use (you can delete the things you don't want to use with it):

==Description==
(Describe what your character looks like here)

==Biography==
(Write about your character's life and adventures here)

==Friends and Enemies==
===Friends===
(Talk about your friends here)

===Enemies===
(Talk about your enemies here)

==Gossip==
(Talk about the water cooler chat about your character here)

==Vocation==
===Profession===
====Specific Profession====
'''Apprentice:''' Proficiency level (Trainee, Proficient, Master)

'''Journeyman:''' Proficiency level

'''Expert:''' Proficiency level

'''Artisan:''' Proficiency level

'''Master:''' Proficiency level

====Specific Profession====
'''Apprentice:''' Proficiency level

'''Journeyman:''' Proficiency level

'''Expert:''' Proficiency level

'''Artisan:''' Proficiency level

'''Master:''' Proficiency level

====Specific Profession====
'''Apprentice:''' Proficiency level

'''Journeyman:''' Proficiency level

'''Expert:''' Proficiency level

'''Artisan:''' Proficiency level

'''Master:''' Proficiency level

(Note: Remove the tiers of crafting you do not have access to)

==House==
'''Type:''' (Standard, Deluxe)

'''Location:''' (Address, Neighborhood, Location of Neighborhood)

'''Visitors welcomed:''' (yes, no, kinship only, friends only, etc.)

==Reputation==
'''Men of Bree:''' (Standing with faction)

'''Thorin's Hall:''' (Standing with faction)

'''Wardens of Annuminas:''' (Standing with faction)

'''Rangers of Esteldin:''' (Standing with faction)

'''Mathom Society:''' (Standing with faction)

'''Elves of Rivendell:''' (Standing with faction)

'''Lossoth of Forochel:''' (Standing with faction)

'''Inn League:''' (Standing with faction)

'''Council of the North:''' (Standing with faction)

'''The Eldang:''' (Standing with faction)

(Remove what doesn't show in your reputation tab yet)

==Epic Quest Line==
===Completed===
Book X, Book Y, Book Z

===In the Middle of===

Book A, Chapter B

Book C, Chapter D

==Titles==
===OOC Titles===
(Gained titles in-game)

===IC Titles===
(Titles you have earned through RP)

===Aliases===
(Other names you go by)

==PvMP==
'''Rank:''' (number)

'''Rating:''' (number, stars)

'''Total Renown:''' (number)

'''Kills:''' (number)

'''Deaths:''' (number)

'''Kills/Deaths:''' (number)

'''Killing Blows:''' (number)

'''Highest Rating Defeated:''' (number)

To see an example of what this looks like, you can see my character page here:

http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/User:Agamemnon582bc1/Agamaran_Atreides

Everything Else

Keep your character page bookmarked so you remember to update it frequently. I hope this guide was helpful!