By: Martuk

There are many hallmarks to what makes a great Kinship. Leadership is one of the most important things when it comes to forming a strong base and making it grow and thrive instead of withering away with the passage of time. There is One group of people that have managed to grow a healthy Kinship in not only Middle Earth, but many other worlds as well. I recently had the privilege of interviewing Captain Bugbig, the Kinship leader of Shadow Company on Landroval server. The conversation provided some of the finer aspects of being a mercenary and how thanks to great leadership and a mature members base has grown to be a strong Kinship spanning several gaming worlds .

Martuk: First off, let me thank you for taking the time for this interview.

Bugbig: A pleasure to be here

Martuk: Please introduce yourself and your kinship for our readers.

Bugbig: My name is Karl and I hail from Austin, Texas. I have been playing online games since day 1 of eq1 and founded Shadow Company and have been its leaders since 2004 under the toon name of Bugbig. Shadow Company's niche caters to the more mature gamer.

Martuk: What server is your kinship located on?

Bugbig: We can be found on Landroval in Lord of the Rings Online, the unofficial role-play server here in the U.S.

Martuk: What kind of Kinship are you? Are you family oriented, role-play, raiding, or other?

Bugbig: Shadow Company by definition enjoys all aspects of online games without being "hard-core" in any one area. What that means is yes we role-play, we raid, we quest, we adventure together, and all that... we want to squeeze as much content out of online games as possible. The downside to some gamers is that we do not excel or focus at any one area but typically can hold our own in all basic areas of the gaming MMO experience; social, role-play, raiding, questing, exploration, and crafting.

Martuk: Do you have a specific role-play theme for your Kinship, and if so what is its story?

Bugbig: The theme is a group of mercenaries; our motto is "For Power and Profit". I chose the mercenary theme to allow the most flexibility in other's role-play. A mercenary company gathers upon many different adventurer types of classes, races, and motivations which the differences I find interesting. However, we provide this under a structured, military umbrella to give a sense of camaraderie. If you wish to learn more detail on the company, we have approximate 1,000 posts in our role-play forums that tell the tales, background, and individual stories that make up Shadow Company.

Martuk: A common problem with many Kinships is often leadership participation. Can you tell us how active the leadership of Shadow Company is as far as availability and participation with kinship events and other areas of leadership?

Bugbig: Many of the company's officers have been with the guild in a measure of years. As such this cadre understands their expectations. I also publicly post the 10 leadership dimensions of SC's officers; this includes participation. But to more directly answer your questions leadership participation is a must or the guild quickly dries on the vine. It is also very important to me that officers are having a fun time in the game they are in. If they are not feeling the love of the game or need a break for any reason it is not uncommon for an officer to rotate down for a while and participate at the membership level thus ensuring the officer's that are in ranks are active, positive, and motivated.

Martuk: That's a great system.

Bugbig: It seems to work for us, thanks.

Martuk: Can you tell us if your Kinship host any sort of regular events or Kinship gatherings that help build the relationship of your members?

Bugbig: Definitely, it is important to bring the guild together for regular events/bonding and strangely enough to see the "face" behind the voice you see in kinship chat. Shadow Company hosts our Roll Call Event approximately twice a month. This is a formal, military formation where we give out promotions, awards, etc. Then after the formation we have a social event typically in the form up a Pub Night with entertainment or Mercenary Games that revolve around competitions of strength and cunning (duels). In the past Shadow Company has also hosted Battle of the Bard competitions, Masquerade Balls, Reoccurring Raid & Adventure Nights, etc. The goal is to have options for our members and provide an atmosphere

Martuk: A very diverse setup. I’m sure the members love it.

Bugbig: As said above, we are not hard-core in any one area but are all about providing options and let the members decide what to participate in. That combined with a very niche type of gamer we seek (mature and respectful) seems to work for us

Martuk: How many members does Shadow Company currently enlist and is there a certain number of members the Kinship is shooting for?

Bugbig: In LOTRO we have 100 individual members. When a new game of interest comes out and I launch a new Shadow Company Troop I rarely set specific membership goals, but instead focus on quality (based on our posted type of gamer we seek) not quantity. With that said SC typically grows to around 80-120 members in the worlds we explore. This seems to be a nice balance between getting to know everyone yet still have the critical mass needed to have a steady supply of guild groups and activities.

Martuk: I understand that LOTRO is not the only world Shadow Company currently enlist members in. Can you tell us what other commissions you currently have active and where?

align="center">Shadow Company Roll Call

Bugbig: Certainly, Shadow Company also resides in Vanguard-Florendyl commanded by Captain Euwen and still maintains its founding Troop in EQ2-Antonia Bayle commanded by Captain Lith. Both Euwen and Lith are long time members of Shadow Company. I personally lead the LOTRO Troop.

Martuk: Can you tell us how a person wanting to join Shadow Company can do so and what sort of requirements or members might you be looking for?

Bugbig: Well the first step is to play a game on one of the servers listed above *smiles*. Next step would be to do some research on us to include reading our policies, our forums, watching our guild videos etc...All that can be found at http://shadowcompany.guildportal.com. Our requirements are simple...you are mature, friendly, and respectful and can adhere to our posted code of conduct. Dishonor, disrespect, "leetness" or drama is not tolerated. SC has attracted and retains an older gamer, typically 25-40 but we have members 60+ to include Bugbig's role-play daughter, Seaufly (sorry Sea if I'm posting your age!). We have military officers/enlisted (I'm a former Army Captain myself), PhD’s, Agency Director, Oh and did I mention we also have TenTonHammer Community Manager's in the guild as well? *smiles*

Martuk: Why who could that be I wonder?

Bugbig: Not sure but this interview better turn out well or even a valued Company Officer can get shown the Company Catapult!

Martuk: Least I wasn't threatened with the new Trebuchet. Thank you for taking the time for this interview Captain Bugbig.

As a writer I try to keep an objective view, but I can say that without a doubt Shadow Company is one of the finest Kinships I have ever been a part of, and Captain Bugbig only reaffirms my belief of that with this interview. The members and officers are among some of the most mature throughout the MMO universe. Before we parted ways for the day Captain Bugbig had a few words for the Landroval community.

I would like to tip my hat to the LOTRO-Landroval community and to the talented team at Turbine for creating such a fantastic game. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my fellow Shadow Company guild members, this world and others, for making Shadow Company their home and providing such a unique experience for myself and each other as we explore the fantastic worlds of online gaming. And a big thanks to TenTonHammer, I am a subscriber to your newsletter and frequent visitor and appreciate all the work that goes into the articles, guides, interviews, etc and keeping me up to date in this hobby I so enjoy. And lastly, "For Power and Profit!".-Bugbig

If Shadow Company sounds like the Kinship for you have a read Here.

Join the discussion on our

Join the discussion on our Forums.

You can view the LOTRO Shadow Company Guild Movie below.