Based out of the Meneldor server, Rmoin, leader of Bastion of Light, chatted with us about longbeards, attention to detail and some solid advice on the importance of visible leadership. When I find myself on Meneldor, I wouldn't hesitate to stop in for a bite to eat. Here's what we learned from our guest.

Rmoin's Profile

Rmoin's Kin Website

Smilingbandit: Thanks for meeting with us Rmoin.

Rmoin: It is a pleasure to meet with you, thank you for providing LotRO-KinFinder.com.

lol Flattery will get you everywhere, thank-you. ;) One of the reasons we asked you to sit down with us is the very friendly greeting you gave for potential members on your profile. It's as though we already know you! (but we need to make an article out of this so)... Is your profile a pretty accurate portrayal of what a kin member will find whenever they log in?

Yes I think this is a pretty accurate portrayal of the environment in our kin. We are very friendly and supportive. Like a family (in fact a number of my own family have been members).

Currently our rating definitions leave a lot to interpretation (we are working on that) so, just to clarify, how important is roleplaying to your kin?

Some of our kin members try to role play all of the time and some role play only on occasion. I try to encourage role play but it is not an enforced practice.

What would you say is the defining aspect to your kin?

I think our kinship could be defined as a family or brotherhood. Everyone is quite helpful and supportive. We have good relations with our allies and members who have moved on to other kinships generally have good things to say about their time in Bastion of Light.

Has it always been this way? You are a Rank 10 kin having been around since 2007, has change swept through your kin in this time? What have you done to maintain the social health of your kin?

Our core members are the same but we have had significant change in membership over the years. In order to help members with endgame content we have allowed our once small kinship to grow in size. We hold social events and recently we have provided training seminars to help with team building and to add value to membership.

That is all well and good, but in all seriousness, what type of mob do you identify with the most? Hopefully not the plague ridden trolls of Moria? /mood_serious

I suppose I would identify most with a Dourhand since I'm a dwarf, though they obviously have an evil bent and will never be a longbeard.

Hmm, then how important is breakfast for your kin? I ask of course for any inquiring hobbits? /mood_concerned

We have a number of Hobbit members and some supreme master cooks so 2nd breakfast is the norm.

/mood_relieved Thank-you for clearing that up! While validating this info we noticed you also gave a very in-depth description of your kin on Turbines Kin listings. Do you give this much detail to everything you do?

I try to do things with care and forethought and in the kinship listing I try to give as much detail as I can to ensure we attract compatible members. With our recent increase in size our core members are concerned that we maintain our close family atmosphere and not lose the defining aspects of who we are.

What advice would you give for others looking to build a kin?

There are a great variety of kinships, so my advice is biased towards creating a kinship like Bastion of Light.

If you are considering starting a kinship do it with care. Understand that the leader has to be in it for the long term. If you get bored and leave your kinship will die.

You will have to log the majority of your time in the game as the character who is the Leader. A lack of leadership, or the appearance of the same, will cause members to be unhappy and leave.

Lead by example. If you want your kinship to be supportive and giving of time and resources, you have to be this way yourself. It is not enough to be this way for a time. Every new member has to witness the same behavior for the environment to remain the same. This can mean putting off some of your own in game objectives for later.

Be proactive about recruiting. Don't wait for your kin members to get sick of being alone. They will leave and you will be hard pressed to recruit new members (who will stay) while your activity level is low.

Is there anything else you would like to say about your kin?

We have always been a great place to call home. New players have a (socially) safe environment to learn the game and level characters. Now we are big enough to support endgame content as well.

Thanks for sitting down with us Rmoin, happy hunting.

Thank you for the interview it has been a pleasure.