At some point during your travels through Middle-earth you may find yourself wishing for a little company; not to complete a quest or take down a particularly hard monster, but just a kindred soul or two to chat with while adventuring. Kinships are The Lord of the Rings Online’s name for guilds or clans and joining one can be a perfect way to find just such interaction -- while often adding a whole new level of depth and fun to your gaming sessions. So how do you go about finding and joining a kinship that’s right for you?
The very first thing you should do once you’ve made up your mind to join a kinship is to figure out what kind of kinship you’re really looking for. If you’re determined to sink every last waking moment into your quest to obtain the absolute best gear from the most difficult quests and monsters, then you’ll want to look into kinships that bill themselves as hardcore raiders. If your play time is limited or you just prefer to while away the hours chatting and enjoying a more leisurely pace, a casual/social kin is probably right up your alley. Roleplayers looking to stay in character while logged in are definitely going to want to find a “Heavy RP” kinship. Crafters can hook up with a crafting-based kinship to share materials, profits, and crafting tips.
Once you know what kind of kinship you’re looking for, finding and joining one is easy. You’ll find several resources right here on lotro.com that will come in handy. For starters, you should check out the Kinships forum. A large number of kinships across all servers have posted information about themselves there, or you can add your info to the “Looking for a kinship?” thread. Every server has an official server forum with a kinship area. This should help you narrow down the search to kinships that are active on the server you play on, or maybe the server you’re looking to transfer to. Don’t forget to check the Lorebook, too! Many kinships have in-depth information and histories posted in the Lorebook Kinships section.
There are, of course, many other ways to find and join a kinship. Many have their own websites and you can always ask players you meet in game to tell you about their kinships. Most will be more than happy to tell you about the great bunch of friends they’ve made since joining their kin!
