Trish

“Exploring The Lord of the Rings” Begins Tuesday January 3rd

Explore The Lord of the Rings – On Location!

On January 3, 2017, Professor Tolkien’s 125^th birthday, Signum University is launching a major and innovative new program called “Exploring The Lord of the Rings.”, Signum founder and president Corey Olsen, The Tolkien Professor, will teach a detailed, chapter-by-chapter course on The Lord of the Rings…in Middle-Earth.

The course will take place on LOTRO on Tuesday evenings, 9:30 PM Eastern Time. In a Lore Hall provided by the Standing Stone developers especially for this course (direction are here), Corey, as Narnion the Loremaster of Gondor, will spend about an hour and a half discussing the book chapter and its themes, reading passages and doing some close reading so that participants can really get into the story as it unfolds.

For the final portion of the class, in-game participants will take a “field trip” to visit the places connected with the part of the book just discussed to examine both the visual adaptation and the related quests and story lines. “In the end,” said Corey, “we will be studying The Lord of the Rings and also thinking about the adaptation of the story that the Standing Stone folks have done, which in my opinion is brilliant.”

A discussion board with information about the course, a place to post questions for Narnion, and forums for participant interaction supports the course, and all are welcome to come join the conversation.

Participants do not need to be in LOTRO (or even play at all) to attend or participate in discussions. Each class will be broadcast on the SignumU Twitch channel, and discussion will be highly interactive. Everyone attending, whether in game or not, will be able to participate in the discussion. For those whose schedules or time zones make this inconvenient, recordings of the classes will be posted promptly on the Signum University YouTube channel and on the Signum University iTunesU feed.

So, if you’ve ever wanted to study The Lord of the Rings in depth and are interested in taking a long, detailed and fun journey of lore, join Corey at the Landroval Lore Hall in Bree (the class will take place on other servers in rotation) or on twitch.tv/signumu at 9:30 PM EST on January 3.

The Tolkien Professor Says Any Kin, Any Server

Corey Olsen, The Tolkien Professor, and also known as Gryfflet the Burglarious from his Friday afternoon stream on Turbine’s Twitch channel let listeners know on his November 25th stream that he would be happy to join any interested kinships at events they are having over the holiday season or into the new year to talk Tolkien and LOTRO.

This invitation extends to all servers, not just on Landroval which is where he is currently playing. “I don’t want to limit my interactions with players and kins just to Landroval,” he said. “I am establishing at least one character on every server so that I can join any kin that would like to include me in an event.”

Corey is preparing for a new discussion series entitled “Exploring The Lord of the Rings,” a weekly in-game and streamed session that will walk (slowly) through all three books of the trilogy and consider how Turbine has adapted and expanded on the original story. The series will begin on January 3rd (Tolkien’s birthday) and will convene on a different server each week so that all attendees will be able to join him in game.

To invite Corey to participate in an event, kins should send an email to Maven (Trish Lambert) at lambert@mythgard.org.

Wigend’s Intermediate LI Lesson

Wigend, the guardian played by LPN’s favorite Tolkien Professor Corey Olsen, has hit level 75 and has been gifted with some outstanding legendary weapons by fellow guardian, Nitesh the dwarf. To make the most of these new toys and to up his game overall, Wigend has asked Nitesh to spend some time with him to go over LI strategies and other pertinent topics. Wigend/Corey already has a solid basic knowledge of legendaries, so this conversation will be at more of an “intermediate” level, talking about how to manage LIs to best advantage as Wigend levels.

Though the conversation will be guardian-to-guardian, Nitesh says “The LI system I’m going to talk about will work for any class in the game.” So no matter who you have fighting the good fight in Middle-earth, there is bound to be something worth learning that you can put to good use.

The lesson will take place on Sunday June 26, 2016 on the Signum University Twitch channel at 9:30 PM server time.

It will also be recorded and published to the Signum University Youtube channel, so if you miss the live lesson, it will (in true Signum U style) be available asynchronous for your viewing and learning pleasure.

Corey Olsen Makes a (Chicken) Run for Minas Tirith

Inspired by LPN’s own Arathaert and his famous pan-server chicken runs to Helm’s Deep and beyond, Signum University offered a special incentive in last fall’s fundraising campaign: If $7,000 in donations were received for “LOTRO,” university president Corey Olsen (perhaps known better on LOTRO as Gryfflet the burglarious hobbit) would make a run for Minas Tirith as a chicken. No surprise, the community came through, and over $7,000 out of the total $35,000 in donations was earmarked for Corey’s epic chicken run.

The run will take place on Saturday, January 30, at 10:00 am server time. Anyone on Landroval is welcome to join the run anywhere along the way from Sandson’s Farm to the Minas Tirith main gate. Corey wants to walk around Minas Tirith after arriving, so there will be a lot of architectural discussion, along with the usual awesome Tolkien tidbits that characterize his Twitch streams.

This event came about because of donors’ generosity to Signum University, and the university is paying it forward. During the event, Corey will be inviting donations to a charity, and he hopes to raise a nice sum. Details are still being worked out with the charity—details will be announced once all is set.

If you can’t be in game or don’t have any toons on Landroval, no worries. The event will be streamed on the Mythgardian Twitch channel, so you can watch as little or as much as you want.

Want to be part of the core “keep the chicken alive” team? All levels are welcome to join in for whatever stretch makes sense. LPN’s Maven is managing the event, and there will be a strategy call with Corey on Friday night to talk through the route and plan. If you want to be included, send Maven an in game tell to Glordriel (Landroval) or email her at lambert@mythgard.org.

Where on Middle-earth Is Wigend? An Event with Corey Olsen

As part of the annual fundraiser of its parent institution, Signum University, the Mythgard Institute is holding a special LOTRO event on Tuesday, October 6th at 930 pm server time on the LOTRO Twitch channel.

Where on Middle-earth Is Wigend? will be a lore-filled evening, as Tolkien Professor Corey Olsen, as Wigend the Guardian (Landroval) whooshes from place to place. Corey has selected some interesting spots to land, and he will talk about each in terms of Tolkien’s works as well as LOTRO’s adaptation.

There will be prize drawings during the event: 1000 Turbine Point codes. You must be present to win!

There will also be a special fundraising goal announced for the duration of the campaign. It involves Corey, chickens, and Rivendell…or Isengard…or Helm’s Deep. Let’s make this happen!

In addition to the event on the lotrostream Twitch channel, viewers can post comments and questions directly to Corey via the Mythgard Institute Netmoot. Corey will be monitoring the site throughout the event, so if you have a question you’ve always wanted to ask, this is your chance.

This event will be fascinating for any Tolkien fan, whether they play LOTRO or not. So spread the word amongst your friends and acquaintances.