Welcome to the online home of The Grey Council LOTRO kinship located on the Brandywine server.

The Grey Council was founded by two veteran LOTRO players, Barithir and Gwigwyn. Gwigwyn was a beta player and Barithir joined LOTRO when it launched publicly.  Like most players they have been in their share of kinships both together and separately.  With The Grey Council their goal is to find others who have the same vision of what a kinship is about and bring them together for the benefit of all.

I think we can all agree that when it comes to playing an MMO game, the social aspect becomes almost as important as the game itself. The experience of playing a 6 or 12 person multi-hour instance with people you know and whose company you enjoy cannot be compared to playing that same instance with strangers.  Just the simple act of retelling the story of what happened to kinmembers that weren't there via Vent or Mumble makes the experience better.  Much like the retelling of a battle in the feasting hall of a castle or the common room of a public house would have been back in the days or yore.

That's what we are striving for with The Grey Council.  We want people who want to play together and work together for the benefit of all members.  What we are specifically looking for are the older LOTRO players.  That's the "Grey" part in the name The Grey Council.  You aren't required to have grey hair, but we want to convey the idea that we are actively looking for the older players to join our kinship.  One thing we have noticed in the different kinships we have been part of is that we have tended to group and socialize more with the older members of each kinship. 

We have nothing  against the younger set, we have kids of our own, but we've both been in kinships where the kinchat and Vent chat is a constant discussion of classes and professors and teachers and homework and that's just not something we enjoy so we are building a kinship where that isn't an issue. For those who enjoy that, believe me there are kinships out there for you, it just isn't this one. 

So Gwigwyn and Barithir have joined forces with Oak to find a home for the older group of LOTRO players on Brandywine.  Our guidelines are that the target age group is over 35.  We have younger players, so 35 and over is only a guideline not set in stone.  Those of you who enjoy the company of their elders are welcome to join.

Recruiting at this stage of the game isn't as easy as it was 4 or 5 years ago. The number of kinships has grown immensely and some have become well established with hundreds of members. A lot of people have been in the same kinship for years and have no intention of moving, and there aren't as many new players coming aboard as there was back then. Despite that, we are determined to make this kin work and grow and improve the LOTRO experience for all members.

Our goal is to be a self-sustaining kinship.  No matter what you want to do in the game, we want you to be able to do it with your kinmembers.  No matter what instance you want to do, we don't want you to have to go outside of the kinship to put together a group if you don't want to. If you form or join a group with people outside the kinship we want that to be because you wanted to, not had to.

We want the members to be able to get any crafted item they may need from within the kinship. You can use any method you like to obtain an item, we just want the kinship to always be a resource.

We also want you to be able to get any ingame help you may need from within the kinship. If you have someone outside of the kinship that is helping you, that's fine, but we want you to be able to call on your kinmembers in your time of need. We don't want people who become a burden to others, and call for help constanty, but we want you to know that help is there if and when you need it.

We are determined to keep the internal conflict and drama to a minimum. We prefer players that don't become a subset within the kinship. If you have 2 or 3 people you have become good friends with, it's inevitable you will group with them more than others.  We just ask that you include other kinmembers who may want to join you from time to time. We will always be available to help mediate any problems amongst members. We won't allow conflict to spread and threaten the cohesion of the entire kinship.  We expect everyone to be mature and to handle any problems in an adult, thoughtful manner.

We realize the difficulty in attaining this goal, but we believe the end result will be worth it.  Our immediate goal is to have a strong core group of players in place when the Rohan expansion is released.  If you feel like this is something you want to be a part of, we want you to join us.  Contact any of us either through LOTRO mail, complete an application, or talk to us ingame, we look forward to answering any questions you may have.

Sincerely,

Gwigwyn- Leader

Barithir - Co-Leader