Another one of my articles for Lord of the Rings Online is up at LOTRO.com: “Hero’s Guide to the Lone-lands” Some people seem to like it.

This zone is something of a curiosity — its a mid-level region, so every character is liable to spend a little (or a lot of) time here, but it’s also true to Tolkien’s sketchy descriptions of the land as a brown and barren expanse. A muted palette and desolate landscape isn’t necessarily what you’d want in a major zone in an epic high-fantasy MMORPG, but this is Lord of the Rings, where things are more pastoral and subtle. It’s actually a great zone, full of dramatic ruins and woebegone swamps, all of it dosed with sorrow from a history of wars and plagues. Then the LOTRO devs added in a couple of off-the-road fantasy locations, like a bloody mire of ghosts and walking trees called the Red Swamp, to make it one of the standout mixes of Tolkien’s lore and new content inspired by the lore. I was glad to get to write about this one.

Read it? Share your thoughts on over on the LOTRO forums.