You've downloaded this game and stepped into a new world. People around you are conversing and getting on with their lives like it was just any other day in Middle-Earth. Elves, men, dwarves, and hobbits surround you, going about their business. And you realize something; they are interacting like they are their character! Suddenly your mind is opened and you want to join the fun! But maybe you're confused. You wonder how to do it...
Well here you found yourself with a guide that can help you with that. I'm going to explain the basic mechanics and styles in which to carry on with this wonderful in-game interaction!

What is role play?

Well, it's a fancy way of saying "improv acting"... Which a fancy way of saying "acting as someone else without planning ahead". Another way of looking at it is, you are writing an interactive story in which other people can participate in. It's a little complicated at first, but once you get the hang of it, it can be very exciting. Role play can take many different forms and be applied to other games. For example, I personally have role played in a game called Dungeons and Dragons Online.

Your chat box at the bottom left hand corner is your primary role play tool. It tells you when someone is role playing and how they are doing it. Learning to use this tool is a very strict and a little complicated, so here is the chat commands you need to do it properly. A lot of role players take how it is used rather seriously.

Starting

When you want to signal other people (particularly role players) you type into chat "/rp on" without the quotes. This just lets everyone know they can interact with you and you might interact with them. Once you do that, that's where the fun begins. However, when you type that into chat, you are not guaranteed to start role playing right away. Quite the contrary; it's sort of like when you're walking down a busy street. Not everyone is just going to stop what they're doing and talk to you. That is where cleverness begins, and I will explain this in a later chapter.

Role Play Chat Commands

• To speak aloud or toward someone in a role playing manner, you do not need to use any commands. You just press enter and type and enter again to send it.
  
• To do an emotion or action, you type "/e" without the quotes in the chat box, followed by what your character is doing. Now what this means is that this is not a spoken word, but this is something your character is doing. For example, "/e sits down and takes a swig of wine, looking around to see if anyone is watching." In the chat box it will appear in gray (as default) as "Thistledale sits down and takes a swig of wine, looking around to see if anyone is watching." As you can see, this adds your characters name and their action together so that people around you can observe or know what you are doing.
  
• Note: A lot of times, some role players combine an action and speaking in the same chat line. For example, '/e sighs, and then says, "I am here for my sister." ' That would be seen in gray (by default) as ' Thistledale sighs, and then says, "I am here for my sister." ' This happens often, looks kind of strange, but is okay to do.
  [*} Another type of chat command is doing a certain action with your character physically! This is a fun way to role play, and there is a huge list of actions your character can carry out. Here is a link to a complete list: http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Emote. Check it out, it even explains how to use them.

Style and format is for the most part up to you! However, if you do it strangely, it can confuse other people and make it hard to roleplay with you.

Your Character

Getting to know your character is a fun way of roleplaying, though an inconsistant personalitly can get confusing to other role players. Creating a general back story can help keep you in line. Write it down somewhere or remember it, it can help you stay in shape and not role play erratically. If you want people to be able to read a description of your charater or a back story (bio) that you want them to see, press "C" to open up the character menu, and then at the bottom of the window there should be a "Biography" button. Click on it, and then click "Edit" to change your bio. Just because you wrote it doesn't mean it's final however, you can change it whenever you like!
Reminder: Your character is yours! Don't let someone dictate who your character is just because they don't like it. That is their problem, not yours.

Do This

Be respectful, patient, and kind toward other role players. Some may not type as fast as you, may be typing a long response, or have to think about what they want to say. There is a simple rule of thumb in the game's role play system that some people do not catch onto; take turns. You should wait before someone else types before you respond again, it's only kind.

Don't Do This

Do not spam, the server will automatically keep you from doing so in /tell messages, but it is not acceptable to do in role play situations whatsoever! People will ignore you, and you will not be able to communicate with them. Do not use your magic in role play situations unless instructed to do so, and getting into fights is looked down upon, and can get rather annoying to other players. They will ignore you. Do not jump and run around, this annoys people and throws off role players a lot of times. There is a default key set for walking, usually insert. Press it once to activate it and again to switch it off.

Hopefully, I have been able to touch upon the basics of the role playing world of LOTRO in the above sections. It's a wide world out there, and many pleasures in taking part with other role players in creating a story. I hope you understand, and if you have any questions or suggestions on what I need to further touch upon, leave it in a comment and I will respond as soon as I can! Have fun, and good luck!