Interestingly enough, the authors have adapted the mechanics to a certain extent to reflect the spirit of Middle-earth for example, there's no money, and various resources, as well as points of influence and rank points, serve as currency. The essence of the game is to participate in the armed conflict, but nothing stops you from choosing a more 'roleplay' approach and focus on quests, contacts with NPCs as well as exploring a variety of fun features.
The creators offer nearly 20 political factions representing the main races of Tolkien's world, i.e., humans, elves, dwarves and orcs, divided into various 'nations'. For some time, the player can travel peacefully and perform tasks until the conflict starts and Middle-earth becomes swarmed with hostile forces. The story arc begins shortly before the war for the Ring breaks out. As indicated in the header, the modification allows the players to take part in the events described in The Lord of the Rings novels.
The title seems to be pretty self-explanatory.
