Wildwood Rabbitry - The Road to DragonCon 2013 - After a night of narry a wink of sleep, the companions set out at first light on what would be one epic day.

Winding country lanes called their name and they answered. Among the winding mountainous roads they found one of Radagast’s hidden dells of unspoilt nature, The Wildwood Rabbitry. The two sisters who call this haven their’s were strong and of the earth, like the Entwives of old.

Among many Shire-like services they did for the community and the land itself, they bred giant Rhosgobel (Flemish Giants) Rabbits, the ones that in times past pulled the woodland sleigh of the Brown Wizard. They fed the weary band with homemade rolls that would’ve made Beorn himself blush, crystal clear spring water reminiscent of the Ent draught of legend, and desert cakes that Bombur could only dream of.

Continue reading “Crytozoic’s Lost Tales: The Road to DragonCon 29th of August”

Everything about TheOneRing.net is big.

Just look at some of these numbers.

33,467. News articles, spy reports and features published on the TORn front page since 2007 alone.

22,300. Spy photos, movie screencaps and fan images in the old TORN scrapbook, and the new one.

616,739. Posts from 9,981 TORnsibs on the “new” TORn gossamer forums since 2007.

700. Megabytes of plain text people have written in our Barliman’s chat since 1999. That’s several million lines of type from thousands of visitors.

These numbers are constantly growing. And it’s all from the passion and enthusiasm of the TORn community.

Your community is an enormous patchwork of brilliant, clever and Tolkien-literate people from all around the world who are passionate about Tolkien and love the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit movies.

And they love sharing that passion with each other — through stories, anecdotes, events, videos, music and fan art.

The TORn community is you

We don’t simply mean TORn staff. The community is you, the message board posters from the USA, Canada or France. It’s you, the chatroom regulars from Finland, the Netherlands or New Zealand. It’s you, the folks from Australia, Singapore and Brazil who participate in Hall of Fire and watch TORn Tuesday each week.

If you’ve ever sent in an article, submitted a photo or report, posted on our messageboards, visited our chat, or commented on our twitterfacebook or g+, you’re the reason TheOneRing.net is among the largest and most-respected pillars of the Tolkien community on the web.

Keeping all this afloat, though, takes as much money as it does love and passion.

For new servers. For software upgrades and social media integration apps. For web hosting bills.

If you’d like to make a Pledge to help TORn cover bills to help your community continue to grow, we’d be grateful and appreciative.

Just use the links below.

If you can’t, that’s ok! Keep on contributing to your community whichever way you can — through your thoughts, comments and recommending TheOneRing.net to your friends!

Make a Pledge today

General Pledge Pledge anywhere from $5 to $20!

Bronze Pledge Pledge $25. All Bronze Pledges are listed for one year on TheOneRing.net’s ‘The Tale of Honour’ web page.

Silver Pledge Pledge $50. All Silver Pledges are listed for one year on TheOneRing.net’s ‘The Tale of Honour’ web page and receive a TORn supporter t-shirt!

Gold Pledge Pledge $75. All Gold Pledges are listed for one year on TheOneRing.net’s ‘The Tale of Honour’ web page and receive a TORn supporter t-shirt and a commemorative pin!

Platinum Pledge Pledge $150. All Platinum Pledges are listed for one year on TheOneRing.net’s ‘The Tale of Honour’ web page and receive a TORn supporter t-shirt and a commemorative pin + MORE COOL STUFF!

Mithril Pledge Pledge $400. All Platinum Pledges are listed for one year on TheOneRing.net’s ‘The Tale of Honour’ web page and receive a TORn supporter t-shirt and a commemorative pin + SUPER COOL STUFF!

 

Or make a custom pledge

 

 

TORn logoBeginning last Saturday and running through to September 4, TheOneRing.net is hosting a Pledge Drive (see the banner at the top) as well as a bunch of auctions for some really cool memorabilia and collectibles.

The day-to-day operation of the website, and the events we host, require a lot more resources than when we first started nearly 15 years ago. We sometimes find it hard to ask our readers for the help we need to keep running, so we began discussing what it is that makes TheOneRing.net worth helping out. It started out as a search for the Top Ten Moments of TORn, but the list got so long because each staff member had their own idea of important moments in TORn history. Here, instead, is something more encompassing: Ten Ways TORn helps serve Tolkien and Lord of the Rings fandom (listed in no specific order).

And, if you enjoy what we do, consider a donation (no amount too small, because every bit does help!) to keep us running!

If you can’t, that’s fine as well — keep reading, commenting and contributing. Because TORn is as much you as it is us!

If you’ve ever sent in an article, submitted a photo or report, posted on our messageboards, visited our chat, or commented on our twitter, facebook or g+, you’re the reason TheOneRing.net is among the largest and most-respected pillars of the Tolkien community on the web.

Continue reading “Ten ways TORn serves Tolkien and Lord of the Rings fandom”

If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net. One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.

Team | Roadtrippers | Road Trip Planner | Route PlanningWondering where our adventurers are going on Cryptozoic and TheOneRing.net’s Road to Dragon Con? Thanks to the folks from Roadtrippers.com, we can now share with you an embedded roadmap of their journey! (see below) If you are following along, they are currently in Green Forest, Arkansas checking out the gigantic flemish rabbits! Yes, just like Radagast’s bunny sled rabbits! [LIVE] [Roadtrippers.com]
Continue reading “The Road to DragonCon – The Full Roadtrip from Roadtrippers.com”

The Road to DragonCon 2013Buoyed by their educational experience from the day before, Cryptozoic and TheOneRing.net’s Road to Dragon Con fellowship set out in high spirits. Before hitting the road proper, they stopped at a treasure trove entitled Toys R Us to seek out jointed, miniature busts of their favorite heroes and villains, not to mention replicas of legendary weapons.

On the way out of the trading metropolis of Denver they picked up a new member, Katalena! A master of masks and trickery, makeup and mirrors. She joined them to be a player in the masquerade that is Dragon Con.

The flat, empty, fly-ridden plains of Kansas opened up like a hungry maw before them, they had no choice but to enter and cross. All across the never-ending plains they shared stories with their companions watching via crystal slab, and chatted awhile with Cliff the Unmoving, The Adamant Wizard.

Finally the weary band made their way in the outskirts of Kansas City, where after multiple tries they found an inn to rest their weary heads.

What is next in store for the Fellowship of the Dragon? Moridan himself can’t tell you that secret.

– Doug Brochu

We’d like to continue to thank Cryptozoic – our official sponsor of our Road to DragonCon! Cryptozoic has an amazing line-up of trading card and traditional games, including their recently released Hobbit Board Game and soon to be released The Two Towers Deck-Building Game (Aug 28th).

Enjoy the pics below and as always, please support our adventures and our 2013 pledge drive!

Pledge Levels
Donate any Dollar Amount
• Request a Topic
• Feed or Fuel the Team
• Personalized Shout-Out

Ways to contact our adventurers…

• LIVE Event page
• @theoneringnet #tornlive #road2dcon
• email roadtrip@theonering.net
• call 530.64FRODO (530.643.7636)
• text 530.64FRODO (530.643.7636)
• Map of Route

 

Goblin's in Arizona??
Goblin’s in Arizona??

The Road to DragonCon team is frolicking around the mountains of Colorado today on their way to the first fan meet-up in Denver. Details on that in a little bit! First a bit of a recap from yesterday.

We’d like to welcome Cryptozoic as an official sponsor of our Road to DragonCon! Cryptozoic has an amazing line-up of trading card and traditional games, including their recently released Hobbit Board Game and soon to be released The Two Towers Deck-Building Game (Aug 28th).

Justin, Doug and Ryan woke up in the rain at Lake Powell, Utah – allowing them only 4 hours of sleep that night. Rain in the desert is not as uncommon as one might think! They made their way to a local Denny’s where the manager and waitress gave them the all-star treatment.

Continue reading “The Road to DragonCon – Day 2 Round-up and Meet-ups Galore!”