Exclusive Interview: Galenhir Founder of the LMB Kinship.

Posted by in Events, LOTRO, News, Seeing LOTRO | 11 comments

 

Players have been voting for their winners in this years 2nd Annual: Dragon Slayer Awards bought to us all by Guildlaunch.

I can happily report that LOTRO was represented when a Kinship won the award for:

 

 Congratulations to the Lonely Mountain Band!

The award: A very fine trophy of a Dragons Head with Detachable Sword!

dragonslayer trophy

 

Brian the software tester and staff editor at guildlaunch presented the award in the awards show. Which you can view here:http://community.guildlaunch.com/promotions/g/DragonSlayer/2013/stream.html

The award was accepted by John Di Bartolo the founding member of the LMB.

Nice game room, John!

LMB founder John DeBartolo accepts Dragonslayer award

“Greetings Friends, John Di Bartolo here. Founding member of the Lonely Mountain Band a Lord of the Rings Online Kinship. On behalf of all the members of the Lonely Mountain Band. I’d like to thank everyone who voted for the Lonely Mountain band in the dragon slayer awards. Of course I’d like to thank Guildlaunch for sponsoring such an awesome award!  But most of all I’d like to thank all of my Kinmates in the Lonely Mountain Band, this award is truly yours, you made this happen! What an awesome award!  Best Gaming Team/Guild/Clan for the 2013 Dragon Slayer Awards! Thankyou everybody! and thanks to my kinmates in the Lonely Mountain Band! I offer you this high sword salute! /real life sword salute which fades to a clip of Galenhir by an oven in LOTRO /swordsaluting”.

 

I loved the end of the award speech! How fitting for all of us, especially as our emote of the month is a /salute!

Exclusive interview with the Founder of the Lonely Mountain Band: Galenhir.

 

How do you feel having won the award for Best Gaming Team/Clan/Guild?

I feel it really is a great honor to have won the Dragon Slayer award for best gaming guild.  Many of us take our gaming groups very seriously, like an extension of a wider family.  Very often people find life long friends in their gaming groups, and that is the case with Lonely Mountain Band.  So winning the award just confirms in a really cool and public way what many of us already felt about the Lonely Mountain Band.  I kind of feel guilty though about being the only one to receive the trophy, I’d like every member in the kinship to have this dragon head with a sword in it.   It takes a whole kinship to slay a dragon!

Where were you when you heard the news?

I was simply at home at my computer.  Guildlaunch contacted me through the LMB facebook page.  Needless to say I was very pleased and excited.  They over night mailed the award and asked for an acceptance video.  It wasn’t easy keeping it a secret from my kin!

Why do you think the Lonely Mountain Band won this award?

Well, getting a lot of votes definitely plays a big part, so getting the word out through the music project Lonely Mountain Band, plus myMiddle-earth definitely helped with votes.  But I do think we deserved to win because Lonely Mountain Band has been very influential on the Landroval server as a whole.  The members of the kin work tirelessly to put on great server events like Weatherstock and the weekly “Ales & Tales”.  Honestly when I founded the LMB and then later Ales & Tales, I never imagined it would get to this level, especially since this is the first MMO I player longer than a month.  I think that LMB tries to find ways to make LOTRO more ‘immersive’ and have the world more affected by the player.  The ABC music has been used to great levels by members of the LMB.  I would love to see Turbine develop more ways for players to influence the LOTRO world; for example I’d love to see player made books or scrolls that could have custom text or images, kind of like mixing the mail system with game objects.

Why did you decide to found a kinship? Why did you decide to step back from leadership?

I originally founded a kinship because I wanted to mix my love of Tolkien, music & role-playing with a gaming group of like-minded people.  I was seeing a lot of kinships fall apart because of silly in-fighting and I felt as though I had a vision for a kinship that many Tolkien and fantasy fans would identify with.   Starting with a kind of kinship constitution and delegating responsibility to members and officers, and then setting up in-game events that shared the glory with all, I think that has been the core of LMB.  I think everyone in LMB really feels that the kinship is theirs to guide and influence.  I stepped back from leadership because my time was really beginning to be devoured with my work with the Middle-earth Network, writing music for the albums, and my real world schedule was changing a bit.  I also feel that showing that I didn’t ‘own’ the kin and that I could pass on leadership would show the members that this really was a membership driven group.  I’ve seen several groups fall apart because the founder or leader doesn’t want to let go of ‘the power’.  But that was the problem with the kings of Middle-earth wasn’t it?  Rotating leadership can also breathe great new life into the kin, and that is exactly what happened with Harperella.  Harperella brought the LMB kinship to a whole new level!  At some point in the future I’d like to step back into full leadership again, but I don’t have a time frame for that yet.

What would you say is the secret to your success? 

Plenty of Old Winyards.  For me the key to LMB is that our focus is on that fact that we all love Tolkien, we try to adhere to our charter, and things like keeping kin-chat to game related topics.  I think forgiveness also plays a huge part of any group – not holding grudges and letting things go.

How do you keep everyone happy in such a large kinship?

You can’t.  Some people will never be happy, and some folks realize the kin is not for them and they move on.  You’ll be happier if you realize you can’t make everyone happy.  LMB also leaves the door open for folks to come back if they want. The other side of that is having a charter or constitution that everyone pretty much agrees on, and if something is not working then hold a popular vote on it.

Whats next for the Lonely Mountain Band?

Well we will will continue with Ales & Tales and Weatherstock for sure… I would love to see a real world gathering at a convention at some point.  In case folks don’t know, the LMB kinship is different than the music project.  I named my music project after the kinship.  I think it would be cool to do a Lonely Mountain Band album in the future with all the songs written by members of the kinship!

What is your favourite LMB event/anecdote/recollection?

There are so many, but I have fond recollections of the early Ales & Tales days.  I have to be honest, the first time I heard one of my songs in ABC in game was bit of an emotional moment for me.  Astleigh Mondegreen converted my real world songs into a format to play in-game and that was totally mind blowing; truly a moment of fantasy and reality having a chance meeting in Middle-earth.

Will we win again next year?

I hope so! If we do, Harperella definitely gets the dragon head that time!

Can I have the trophy ;)….?

Only if you send a very skilled burglar to retrieve it. LOL  Honestly though, I am thinking of a commemorative t-shirt or poster that everyone in the kin can get a copy of.
(Lilikate Says: Drat! I am a hunter…I love the tshirt idea… Will need a little one for Lizzy!)
Many thanks for this interview – I really do feel so blessed to have so many folks interested in LMB and I have made so many great friends in LOTRO and in the LMB kinship.  We can truly be Far Apart, but Never Alone!
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Lilikate Says:

I have been a member of this Kinship for nine months, I am so proud to share this moment with my Kinmates. There are some members who work very hard to host events on the Landroval Server for everybody to attend.

ScreenShot00037

The Andune Ensemble

We have many activities to accommodate a wide range of tastes, but we are famed for our Bands, Ales and Tales, and Windyacres Riding events.

Ales and Tales

Ales and Tales

Many hours are spent planning and hosting Weatherstock. It is only a success because a group of people work together to make it a wonderful experience.  We also co-host events with other kinships and bands. Crossing servers to bring entertainment to many more players, who may not have experienced the creativeness of the Lonely Mountain Band.

It would not be possible for me to continue without saying something about our Kin Leader.

Harperella of Dale,  you have been a wonderful leader. The success of the LMB has to be attributed to your commitment to all of us who choose to follow you. I thank you personally for your welcome and continued support. I came to the Lonely Mountain Band to visit an event. I had so much fun I didn’t want to leave 🙂

I hope Harperella will not mind my copying her post from our forums on Guildlaunch.

Harperella-“Well done, Lonely Mountain Band! You deserve this prestigious award from dedicated community building and fine events!”

 

I will be writing a full article about our Kinship Leader, with her interview about winning this award, which will be published soon.

 

 

11 comments

  1. Andang / September 19, 2013

    Awesome interview!

    Reply
  2. Zyngor / September 19, 2013

    Great interview, and grats again LMB!

    Reply
  3. Braxwolf / September 20, 2013

    Love the interview, Lilly!

    Reply
  4. Tromblon / September 20, 2013

    Long live Lonely Mountain Band and all of their supporters!

    Reply
  5. Tinki / September 20, 2013

    I am so fortunate to be a part of this fine kinship! thankee muchly Lili!

    Reply
  6. Thuindir / September 20, 2013

    Congrats to the Lonely Mountain Band! It would be amazing if LOTRO would create a unique replica of the Dragon trophy to display in your kinship house. I think it would totally be lore appropriate & a really cool nod to your entire kinship. It would be even more amazing if your character could pull the sword out of the head and put it back in 😀

    Reply
  7. Hadford / September 21, 2013

    Huzzah for the LMB!

    Reply
  8. Forte Maestro / September 21, 2013

    Huzzah for us! I definitely want a T-Shirt 🙂

    Reply
  9. Tony Velickoff / July 26, 2014

    I’d like to join your guild…My username is TBone297 and I play in the world of Landroval..

    Reply

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