Thread: Tavern Revelries 2.0 and the Chronicler Hobby

Introduction to Revelries

Throughout the story of Middle Earth, characters would often engage in revelry and merrymaking with food, stories, dance, and song to uplift their spirits, to share new things, to ease the weariness from their travels, or celebrate the journey they were about to undertake.

Revelries are group-based, non-combat actions triggered at taverns, houses, and campsites that can generate rewards or enhancements for both fellowships and individuals alike. The Chronicler Hobby (see further down) allows players to gather consumable items from throughout Middle Earth’s people and use them to build up merriment and trigger these revelries. The more a gathering can muster “merriment” and activity, the more rewarding the results can be.

Like Fellowship Maneuvers, different combinations of Revelry actions will result in different rewards. The combination of these actions, in the form of pairs, flushes, or straights, grants bonuses for using Fellowship Maneuvers when adventuring. Revelry combinations outside of a Fellowship can produce secondary rewards for any number of things, such as crafting, loot, repairs, reputation, XP bonuses, or emotes.

Merriment

Revelries can occur at Taverns, Player Houses or Halls, and Campfires. Each of these hotspots has a Merriment Level. This level is increased as players enter the location and engage in leisure activities with others such as eating, drinking, smoking, dancing, playing music, or telling tales. A meter appears to show the current level. As a player consumes revelry items such as food, ale, pipeweed, tales, dance steps, emote action, or sheet music, the meter will increase. A side-effect of using certain consumables in a revelry allows players to earn emotes, such as for dancing, music, or telling a story.

Revelry Consumables

Consumable items that generate Merriment are regular drinks and food from crafting, vendors, or loot; pipeweed; and items from the Chronicler Hobby such as dance steps, chorus music, news, and tales. With the exception of pipeweed, these items are also used when triggering a Revelry and are consumed when clicking on revelry actions.

Revelry Action Wheel

As the Merriment Level peaks, a Revelry commences. When the Revelry Action wheel appears, just as with Fellowship Maneuvers, players select a sequence of the four colored icons, each of which represents different social activities.

Revelry Combinations

As with Fellowship Maneuvers, members must each select an action to fill in the slots that equal the size of the fellowship. In a slight twist, when individuals do a revelry they must select the sequence of actions themselves to create the combinations they desire to fulfill.

Revelry Rewards

Revelry combinations performed within a fellowship will create modest but lasting rewards for grouping, such as bonuses for fellowship maneuvers. Revelry combinations performed solo within the alloted time will create modest rewards for non-combat features of the game, such as crafting, repairing, reputation, and others.

Introduction to the Chronicler Hobby

NPCs are everywhere. The ones we notice the most are quest-givers and vendors, but there are many others that go unused for practical purposes. So, since giving each its own quest or use is not realistic, I propose that these quiet inhabitants be treated as resources that can be harvested. A Chronicler goes around as a hobby and farms these vocal sources for useful knowledge which, once written, becomes a useable item to the player as a consumable.

Becoming a Chronicler

A Hobby Master gives you the option of becoming a Chronicler. Once you have trained in this hobby, and are given your chronicling supplies (a kind of journal and an ink set for taking professional notes), your skill window will receive two icons to place in a quickslot.

1) Track Locals

2) Chronicle

Track Locals shows local NPCs who are willing to speak and share with you. There could be upwards of 5 or 6 NPCs randomly marked as nodes within a given location, such as at Bree, Estaldin, or Tinnundir.

Gathering Knowledge

Clicking the Chronicle icon starts the gathering process once you’ve targeted a vocal source node, using your chronicle supplies to record what the NPC is sharing. As with fishing, every time you speak to an NPC and receive a consumable, your hobby’s progress bar advances, increasing your rank and title over time.

Most NPCs already have names and titles, such as Townsperson or Second-Watcher Heathshaw. While some have just quests or a quick line of dialogue. For this concept we will turn Heathshaw into a Node. In this case, he is a Tier 1 Vocal Source Node, called a Friendly Person (as opposed to a Shattered Pitcher or Copper Deposit for other professions).

So you’ve tracked Heathshaw on your map and run up to him. Note you do not right-click on the character as you would to gain a quest. Instead you would target him and then click your Chronicle icon like casting a fishing line. Heathshaw begins a talking animation and you start to record his news, stories, favorite dance steps, or whatever he is willing to share. The conversation will appear as two or more items to loot.

You may come across a “rich” node, which has the prefix “Compelling” <node name> (as in that character holds you enthralled with even more juicy news or tales, granting you more than usual knowledge to gather).

Deed Progress

The progress in deeds associated with using consumables are of course tracked in your deed log. For example, as you consume dance steps, your deeds increase to completion, at which point your character has learned the dance step forever.

Chronicler Node Tiers

In our example of approaching Heathshaw, a Tier 1 “Friendly Person” in Bree, an Apprentice Chronicler, or higher, may gather any combination of items listed in the Tier 1 column below.

Vocal Source Tier Locations

The general location of Vocal Source Nodes by Tier is illustrated in the map below. Most nodes would spawn with NPCs at settlements, typically on vendors, busy townspersons, and the like. Just look for the Tier name that pops above their head, select them, and then fish for information. Once used, the ability to harvest that NPC will fade and a new opportunity will spawn under another name nearby after so many minutes, depending on the density of NPCs in the area.

Vocal Source Consumables

• Higher Tiered vocal sources will generate higher leveled consumables.
• Consumables generate fun emotes or effects.
• Consumables increment various Deeds.
• Deeds can only be incremented so many times a day.
• Completed Deeds can award emotes, fluff, titles, items, barter tokens, skills, traits, or abilities depending on the type.
• Some consumables can also generate Merriment
• These consumables generate Merriment when in a Revelry hotspot within a tavern, home, or campfire.
• Merriment triggers a Revelry Action Wheel.
• The Revelry wheel allows a player to pick a combination of actions and get a bonus.

Player-crafted/purchased Consumables (Generate Merriment)

Node Consumables (Generate Merriment)

Example Tales:

• Tier 1 - Breefolk Tales
  • Frodo’s dancing incident
  • Nazgul attack the beds
  • Strider leaves town with hobbits in tow
  • Strider sitting in Pony and smoking
• Tier 1 - Hobbit Tales
  • Battle of Greenfields
  • Bilbo’s Birthday speech
  • Arrival of brothers to found the shire
  • Nazgul attack Buckland
  • The Dwarves arrive at Bilbo’s house
  • Bilbo returns from his journeys
• Tier 1 - Dwarf Tales
  • Battle between Dwarves and Azog
  • Thorin leaves for Lonely Mountain
  • Thorin grabs an oak branch to use as a shield
  • The thirteen dwarves of Thorin’s company
  • Durin stopping to see the crown of seven stars in the water
  • Durin and Durin’s bane
  • Thrain discovers the Arkenstone
• Tier 1 - Elvish Tales
  • Betrothing of Aragorn and Arwen
  • The wizards arrive in Middle Earth
  • Glorfindel gives the prophecy about the Witch King
  • Amroth diving from his ship

Node Consumables (Generate Merriment)...continued

Node Consumables (Do Not Generate Merriment)

Example Recipes:

• Wooden Spoon
• Wooden Sword
• Book
• Umbrella
• Handkerchief
• Small Mirror
• Painting
• Map
• Beehive
• Cat
• Puppy
• Chicken
• Lantern
• Flowers
• Torch

Example Tier 1 jobs:

• Crafting
• Defeat
• Rescue
• Deliver
• Heal
• Repair

I <3 this idea, since 2007. (my bad on breaking up the post)

Happy Anniversary, LOTRO!

Awesome post(s), the time, effort and care you put into it is obvious. +rep for you and thanks!

Huzzah! Version 2.0! I'm chuckling at the thought of referring to NPCs as rich nodes, and drooling at the thought of "Language Phrases" as consumables. Bravo!

Wonderful!

If I can quote Samwise (from the movie, as he watched the Elves heading to the Grey Havens), "I don't know why, but it makes me sad." Sure would be nice to see something like this implemented...

I remember seeing the original revelries post back when I first played and thought it was awesome. Gotta say, good -grief- chronicler sounds fun.

Hey Turbine. Eh? ... eeeeeeeeehhhh?

Thanks guys. Much appreciated.

WE'RE NOT WORTHY WE'RE NOT WORTHY *worship*

Seriously, Hayoo. Are you SURE you're not employed by Turbine? :P

Words fail for the praise of the effort put into this truely amazing idea.

+rep for Hayoo

and

/signed!

Originally Posted by Andjay

Seriously, Hayoo. Are you SURE you're not employed by Turbine? :P

lol. Not since last I checked. I just do this for fun.

/megasigned
I love all these ideas and I think even the good Professor himself would get a chuckle out of the sample consumables and titles and so on you've come up with. Truly remarkable work, worthy of more than just Lotro Hall of Fame status. I was previously dubious about in-game music "getting people somewhere", but if the "somewhere" is different than the traditional definition of progress (xp and combat-relevant progress), I'm more at ease with it. I will say, though, that in-game music groups often have enough to deal with without needing to watch a gauge or track a new kind of progress, so maybe it should be the listening to such music rather than the playing of it that gives benefits (--for those who need more benefit than they get just by listening with their real-life ears--I hope that there's something there too! I know I get a kick out of it.). But that's all debatable.

Turbine, it looks like much of the work has been done for you! What do you say?

Thank you very much!

I understand the frustrations with in-game music groups, but this idea is a more inclusive activity for everyone. Music groups, who are actually playing music to entertain players, would probably not be playing for game merriment (unless they incorporate the chorus and tune items into their composition). Rather, the audience would be drinking their health, toasting their music, eating food, dancing, etc. to bring the meter up together as a company. The meter is pretty straight-forward. Simply drinking and eating would naturally build up Merriment in very little time, so no one would feel like they'd have to keep an eye on it. Indeed, during one performance, there most likely would be 3 or more Revelries initiated.

Ah yes, I remember Star Wars Galaxies had a /listen feature that tied into combat benefits for participating with the Entertainer profession. But that depended entirely on an Entertainer being present and you were out of luck if the cantina were empty. This idea will let you have a small Revelry individually, so long as a tavernkeep or NPC is nearby (I'd have them clap and drink with you, just for atmosphere).

YES PLEASE! This was amazing with its ideas, creativity, and awesome lore based goodness. +rep

Fantastic idea! You've clearly put a lot of time and thought into this, and it would be a wonderful addition to the game- if only Turbine would recruit you to implement it! It would add a nice social opportunity outside of kinships for players to enjoy as well, which would be good to see.

/signed but then, that should go without saying!


As an aside, a question regarding your choice of "Chronicler" as the name for your hobby- have you read The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss by any chance?

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Mandost

As an aside, a question regarding your choice of "Chronicler" as the name for your hobby- have you read The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss by any chance?

Can't say that I have. Chronicler was originally called Scribe, but was later changed based on a concern in the original hobby thread that scribing was too close to sounding like a scholar.

Nice idea. It better then the normal grind of quests. It would also help in Role Playing also.

Originally Posted by Notaforumguy007

I <3 this idea, since 2007.

You broke his post combo -.- Now his conclusion got interrupted



/signed btw

This is fantastic! Lovely work, I'd love to see this implemented.

Thank you for the time and thought you put into this!

Thanks, guys!

In a few weeks, hopefully, I should have a few more interface mockups to better illustrate the Tales and Language items.

Now these are features I'd pay Turbine Points for! Bravo!!!

+rep for that!

Amazing job, like for the first one !

Congratulations
I hope that Turbine will use it !

/signed

Absolutely fantastic idea.

This would take resources though, so my thought is for turbine to sell the hobby in the store for 400-500 TP? Developers don't work for free you know. ;P

Once per year i found a post worth to be in the game.

This year winner... is totally this one! aweome job.

/SIGNED

+ rep


My only question is, has Turbine contacted you and put you in charge of the next update so this can be added.




*I shudder to think of the bugs though.....*

Thanks, all!

Originally Posted by Widoch

+ rep

My only question is, has Turbine contacted you and put you in charge of the next update so this can be added.

heh. Revelries is probably not even possible (due to tech, time, relevance, etc). Fun to think about though.

I would pay 2000-5000 TP for this.

Originally Posted by Andjay

I would pay 2000-5000 TP for this.

I would pay TP for this too. I would love an expansion that does NOT raise the level cap by 10 and add a bunch of new raiding content, but rather adds role playing content like tavern revelries. The reason I still play LOTRO and have quit every other MMO is because out of all the games out there I feel LOTRO is one of the few where you can just explore and have fun w/o grinding and dealing with "wtfIpwnzYOUN00B" type people.

Turbine, please hire Hayoo, please implement Tavern Revelries. I remember when the original suggestion came out 5 years ago or so, I am shocked and upset a system like this has yet to be implemented. We NEED some sort of game mechanic that gives players something to do in taverns, it would make LOTRO infinitely better, and I for one would PAY for it.