The Laurelin hobbit calendar

Come celebrate yule with us at the Green Dragon!

Date: Friday December 23
Time: 7:30PM UK time (2:30PM servertime)
Location: Green Dragon Inn, Bywater, Laurelin server

While we fully expect that many hobbits may be busy preparing for Yule with family and close friends this Friday, other might need an ale to calm down before the festive storm. Yer are heartily welcome to the Green Dragon Friday Yule party!

Plans are still being made, but expect lots of food, festive moods and yule entertainment. Perhaps even some gifts? We’ll see!

So do come for a mug of mulled cider, good company, a story, a dance and (hopefully) tender pork with all the trimmings. If yer have entertainment and news to share, that’s grand too! Welcome, hobbits! And a very merry Yule to everyone!

Please note: Green Dragon Friday is a roleplaying event for hobbits. While travelling dwarves are always welcome at the inn, for lore reasons we generally ask that the Big Folk do not attend. Please roll up a hobbit instead to attend, it is grand fun!

Unless other events are on: The Grand Order goes on adventure! We’ll meet up and see if there are adventuring opportunities.

Date: Saturdays
Time: 7:30PM UK
Location: Meet outside Songburrow Hall

For the twelfth year, The Brandy Badgers go wassailing in Winterhome! And joy come to our jolly wassail!

Date: Monday December 26
Time: 7:30PM UK (2:30PM servertime)
Location: Winterhome, Frostbluff, stable master.

Once again, the people of Winterhome have opened their doors for us and invited us to join in their Yule festivities. To thank them for all the work they do for us, the Brandy Badgers will go on their annual wassail through Winterhome. We will walk through the town, stop at the houses, and wish the people well with our songs.

It would be grand and lovely if yer join us there! Welcome!

OOC details

It is quite likely that Winterhome will be layered, with players split into different versions of the village. Please contact the organizers for instructions of how to get into the right layer.

It is Green Dragon Friday! But in Brockenborings! With a New Year’s theme! Yay!

Date: Friday December 30
Time: 7:30PM UK (2:30PM servertime)
Location: Plough and Stars inn, Brockenborings, Laurelin server

Barmy keeps the Green Dragon closed to clean up the inn after the Yule party. So we’ll be at the Plough and Stars in Brockenboring for the New Year’s party! And there are no better hobbits to greet the new year with than yer fellow Brockenborians! After all, we always do so!

So come greet the new year and the coming brighter days with us! Bring a tale, a song, a poem, a riddle or something similar, especially things related to the new year! If yer have fireworks that’s grand too (fer use outside)! Let’s greet the new year with a party worth remembering!

OOC details:

Same as the regular Green Dragon Friday, this is a hobbit RP event, with dwarves welcome! As usual, we request that tall folks respect the hobbit-oriented nature of the event and not attend. Do roll up a hobbit instead, though, it is marvellous fun!

Unless other events are on: The Grand Order goes on adventure! We’ll meet up and see if there are adventuring opportunities.

Date: Saturdays
Time: 7:30PM UK
Location: Meet outside Songburrow Hall

A new year awaits! Full of promise, opportunity and pies! No better way ter celebrate than ter pelt yer best hobbit friends with snowballs!

Date: January 1st
Time: 7:30PM UK (2:30PM servertime)
Location: Frostbluff, Winterhome, snowball field

Snow, snow, snow, right now! No better time, then, than ter go play in the snow!

So let us gather our hobbit forces, enter them snowy fields, throw snowballs at each other and be merry! I am sure there will be lots of firework too! And perhaps some mulled wine by the fire while we wait fer the next round?

If the weather is grand and many hobbits show up, we will try fer a nice group drawing as well! And we’ll certainly visit the theatre afterwards. Welcome hobbits!

Rehearsal for The Brandy Badgers! New song notes are available in the usual place!

Date: Every other Monday
Time: 7:30PM UK time , 2:30PM servertime
Location: Michel Delving square

Date: Every Friday
Time: 7:30PM UK time (usually 2:30PM servertime)
Location: Green Dragon Inn, Bywater, Laurelin server

Weekly hobbit gathering at the Green Dragon inn in Bywater, running ever since May 18 2008. This is an event for and by hobbits, although a few visiting traveling dwarves are always welcome. It is also a 100% in-character event, so don’t go talking about things not belonging in Middle Earth!

Come along for songs, dances, poetry, tales, riddles, news and much grand roleplaying! And do offer yer own entertainment, if yer like!

At other times over the year, GDF will move to other inns in the Shire. The new years party is usually held at the Plough and Stars in Brockenborings, while we always escape Bywater when the mayor hosts the Farmer’s faire in the late summer.

Event guidelines:

Green Dragon Friday is an in-character roleplaying event aiming to replicate a lively hobbit night at the inn. We try to enable a healthy lively hobbit roleplayer community here on Laurelin. To help us do this, please follow these guidelines:

Short version:

• Be a hobbit!
• Be in-character, talk about things belonging in Middle-Earth. That also goes for entertainment!
• Avoid forced emotes, unnatural pets inside, spamming with emotes, etc.!
• Take part, be active!
• Try avoid multi-boxing!
• Keep news and events relevant for Shire hobbits!
• Acknowledge what others are doing, spread out if things are too busy!

Longer version:

• While travelling dwarves are welcome to stop at the inn for a refreshing ale during their travels, we ask that elves and menfolk do not attend the event. Men and elves were rarely (if ever) seen in the Shire villages, and especially not the inns. However, if yer have quests to do at the inn, by all means come inside to finish them
• Be in-character – be a hobbit! Keep player interactions (chats, emotes) and entertainment in-character, basically by talking about the things that hobbits in Middle-Earth would. Don’t discuss real-life modern-day things, game mechanics, etc.
• Avoid using forced emotes, setting off fireworks inside, bringing pets that wouldn’t belong in an inn, throwing 3000 snowballs, emote spamming, etc.
• Be active and engage with the others. It is better to participate than to just stand around waiting for others to entertain you (however, feel free to come observe things the first few times).
• Avoid multi-boxing with lots of alts. Yes, we know that you love to pull off that fat sound of a many-musician band. However, when the room is full of similarly-clad robots marching in line (if they move at all), who don’t respond when you talk to them, things get rather creepy and the immersion we look for is often ruined.
• Entertainers are very welcome! Just sign up with the hobbit hosting the event, preferably by a /tell. Note that we absolutely love solo bards/performers – a lone lute-player is often better suited for the inn setting than a huge band. Also note that we absolutely love other kinds of entertainment than music: Poems, stories, riddles, the latest news from the Shire… lovely! If you want to play music, it is grand if yer aim for a folksy hobbity vibe, with reels, jigs, waltzes, hornpipes and the likes.
• Gossip and news is very welcome! This helps bring life to the event and the roleplaying in the Shire. Just remember to keep things in-character. Related to events: We generally don’t advertise events held on other servers, events not of hobbit interest, events not held in the Shire or events not of a roleplaying character.
• The inn can sometimes be busy, especially near the entertainment fireplace. It is good if you keep this in mind when interacting with others, go into crowds to talk to someone, etc. Some examples: If someone is reciting a stirring poem from the battle of Greenfields, it is probably good to wait a bit to run up and say hello to them. If someone is regaling the crowd with an exciting tale, it can undermine the mood if you move two feet away from them and talk about things not related to the tale at all. If you’re doing a deep discussion with just one other person there, it could make sense to move away from the busiest part of the inn, for instance to the bar or another corner. This is mostly a matter of acknowledging what is going on at the inn and making an attempt of not undermining the roleplaying efforts of others.

Additionally, we ask that participants follow the roleplaying rules and policy for Laurelin, with regard to player names, chat behaviour and harassment.

Lastly, while the above may sound like a long list of rules, don’t worry too much! Them hobbits are a friendly and tolerant lot, eager to welcome new visitors to the inn. See yer there!

Questions about the event?

Contact: Lina, Grand Order of the Lost Mathom.

Unless other events are on: The Grand Order goes on adventure! We’ll meet up and see if there are adventuring opportunities.

Date: Saturdays
Time: 7:30PM UK
Location: Meet outside Songburrow Hall

The Brandy Badgers go wassailing in the Shire again, singing songs to wish all the local farmers a good harvest. Oh, and to sample some ales. Or ciders? Aye! Lots! We hope yer will join us!

Date: Sunday January 8
Time: 7:30PM UK (2:30PM servertime)
Location: Longo Burrow’s farm, Tuckborough. Then off to Bywater and Hobbiton

Event details:

The new year brings new beginnings and new hopes. Of course, one hope close to our hearts is to have a plentiful harvest, and not least to have good cider and ales to bring us through the cold of next winter.
To help this along, the Brandy Badgers will go wassailing at various Shire farms, singing songs and wishing the farmers a fine harvest. We’ll follow this route:

• Longo Burrow’s farm, Tuckborough
• Tom Cotton’s farm, Bywater
• Olo Proudfoot’s farm, Hobbiton

We hope that you all will join us during the wassail!

The new year has come,
New cycle begun.
May your home be blessed,
Your woes put to rest.
May blossom your tree,
Good cider we see.

A little more information about wassailing!

The purpose of a wassail is generally to wake the cider trees (or other crops) at a farm for the next harvest, and to chase away any ill spirits that have taken shelter in the orchards or fields during the winter. To do this, we’ll wander between the three farms mentioned above.

At each place, the likely schedule is:

• All will be wished welcome
• The Badgers will play a few tunes to warm up the orchards
• There will be a short wassail incantation/rhyme
• After the incantation, all are encouraged to make as much noise as possible (fireworks, drums, shouts etc) to chase away any ill spirits that may prove a danger to the good harvest.
• Some splashing of cider is also encouraged during this phase, as a gift to the trees and orchards and to show them the fruits of the last harvest.

And off to the next place!

OOC:

Come join the fun for good-natured hobbit banter, a fine walk through the Shire, festive music and quite a bit to drink. This is a hobbit-preferred event, but should you have good reasons to visit the Shire and join our merry singing hobbits on the walk, then do come along!

The last years we have managed to make a lot of apple trees grow in the Hobbiton farm fields. We hope to make it happen this year too, so please help with that if yer able to!

Remember, we’ll start at Longo Burrow’s farm just north-east of Tuckborough, then walk around. If you don’t find us, just send a tell to the organizers.