LMB Riding Club Newsletter - Issue 8 - Snowy Horse Released

[Kiralynn]

Greetings and welcome to the eighth edition of the Lonely Mountain Band Riding Club newsletter!


CLUB NEWS

The Lord of the Rings Online Community (Turbine web site) is holding lotteries for the upcoming class horse, Steed of the Rune-keeper. There is a flash lotto for this steed on Friday, January 20th until 11pm. It will also be available as a store-exclusive mount for 1995 turbine points.

From Turbine: Rune-keepers require a large number of tools and implements to ply their trade – rifflers and chisels, stones and writing tools – and their mounts must be capable of bearing them all. The Rune-keeper's steed is well-supplied and ready for a long journey. This liver chestnut steed wears a teal blue saddle pad with silver embroidery and matching neck covering, and its tack is marked with runes of endurance and speed to ensure its rider swift travels. This steed has 250 health and allows you to travel 68% faster than running on foot, making it faster and stronger than many other mounts!

Use code MLCLC2 to buy "Max Morale x5" free in the Turbine store through January 26th! It will be listed as "+# Max Morale x5 (90 min)", where # is some number. Only one is available per account.

A new horse has been released! Buy the Yule Festival Snowy Horse (not to be confused with the Snow Horse) at Hengstacer Farms north of Bree until January 30th. You will not see him on display, but he is available for the normal holiday mount price of 1 horse token, 20 yule tokens and a document of mount ownership.

Need to collect reputation items to buy a new mount? Contact Kiralynn if you need Bree, Mathom or Wardens reputation.


UPCOMING EVENTS

The riding club's Winter Derby will be held on Monday, January 23rd at 3pm EST. Participants should meet at Thorin's Hall Inn for a pre-race party and sign-ups starting at 2pm EST. This is a race for daytime and overseas players. The grand prize is a code for 1600 Turbine Points! Second and third place riders will receive gold prizes. Riders must register ahead of time by in-game mailing their name, horse's breed and name to Kiralynn. They can also register by sending a /tell before 2:45pm EST on race day. The top three winners will qualify to compete in the Spring Racing Carnival. This is a special race season kick-off event, so the normal 1 gold entry fee has been waived.

Here are the rules for the upcoming Derby:
* Only standard speed horses will be allowed. Goats may not race.
* No mount speed buffs will be permitted.
* Riders must only use their horse for transportation. Stables, milestones, wayfaring, camps, rally points, acorns, mustering horns, summons and all other non-mount forms of travel are forbidden.
* Spamming fellow riders, giving a false start signal, having allies ride in the wrong direction to mislead riders, and all other forms of unsportsmanlike behavior will result in disqualification.
* Members of the kinship "Worthy of Song" are not allowed to participate.
* Riders must clear all checkpoints in the proper direction and order. Course judges are the final authority in determining if a checkpoint has been properly cleared. A decision can be appealed if screenshots or video can be presented immediately after the race.
* The winner will be determined by the first rider to cross the finish line, not the first mount.

If you are willing to volunteer as a race judge, please contact Kiralynn as soon as possible. We will need 5 judges to properly cover the course.


EQUESTRIAN NEWS

This month's equestrian feature is the Prized Inn League mount. It can be purchased from Ivy Tunnelly the barmaid at the Bird and Baby Inn in Michel Delving after reaching Kindred reputation with the the Inn League. It costs 20 Badges of Taste and a document of mount ownership, and is only available during festivals. This mount has a special effect. While riding it, sometimes you... and sometimes your mount... become intoxicated! Contact Kiralynn if you would like reputation items for this faction.

ALE AHEAD!


Having trouble naming your new mount? Visit the horse name generator.
For some reason, the game will not allow you to name a mount "Flint" or "Citadel". Turbine has not responded to posts or bug reports asking if this is intentional. If you know of any other reserved names, please reply and let us know.

I am collecting names in other Middle Earth languages to add to the name generator. If you have a suggestion, please reply to this post with the name, source language and translation.


RACING TIPS

There are two ways to jump. You can tap the space bar for a short leap and hold it down for a long jump. Jumping is slower than galloping, so use the short leap whenever possible.

Your first horse will cost 500 silver and all regular horses cost 220 silver thereafter. Festival horses cost the same amount. Faction horses, which require kindred standing with the appropriate group, cost almost 5 gold each. You can also buy a grey horse or pony after completing the Volume 1 epic quests for 5 gold, 64 silver.

Roleplay from horseback! You can play music while mounted. You can also use the following emotes with animations - Bother, Bye, Calm, Cheer, Cry, Drink, Eat, Fidget, Firebreath, Followme, Hail, Laugh, Look, Lookaround, Munch, Roar, Salute, Shakefist, Swordsalute, Think and Wave. You can also purchase three horse emotes in the store - Mountbow, Mountkick and Mountrearup.

Have a tip to share? Reply to this post!


BACK ISSUES

Here are links to Issue One, Issue Two, Issue Three, Issue Four, Issue Five, Issue Six and Issue Seven in case you missed them.

[Kiralynn]

For those who are interested, here is a preview of the Rune-keeper horse.

[Aldekim]

Hijacking this topic for a moment, I just have to say...Kiralynn you're the best!! Your Riding Club has been a truely great addition to the Band.

[`Tinki`]

I second that remark and the motion carries!

[Carica]

Aye, I may not leave comments but I've always read the newsletters. Much appreciated! :)

[Kiralynn]

You are are so sweet, thank you! I'm glad to hear someone is enjoying the newsletters.