Lord of the Rings Online - Hands-On @ IGN

IGN has scored some hands-on time with Lord of the Rings Online.  Here's a sample:

Instead, the game will focus on players as helping hands to the most important characters in the battle against evil. Players will acquire quests from powerful men like Strider (Aragorn) and Gandalf that play a role in the events of Middle-earth but that don't directly involve the personal stories of the main characters in the novels.

For instance, players will begin the game experience in a tutorial instanced zone that should build character importance while firmly establishing a different identity from the books. Characters begin in jail next to a similarly incarcerated ranger. He explains that he and two hobbits had been caught by some nefarious characters associated with the Nazgul roaming the Shire and surrounding areas. As he explains, the hobbits, one of which is a Baggins, need to be rescued from certain death (and torture). After breaking out, the ranger splits off to hunt down the baddies while pushing the responsibility of finding and saving the Hobbits onto the player. Several fights ensue and the hobbits are saved.