The web team for the Lord of the Rings Online have published an article detailing the dread system. The write-up describes the inner-workings, how dread and hope is accumulated, where it can be done and more. A snippet is below:

The initial inspiration for the system was what I was calling the "evil-o-meter." I just imagined getting near some source of great evil, such as the Witch-king, and watching a needle peg all the way to right. And it's hard to explain, but imagining that in my mind made the situation that much more intense and cool. For some reason, that completely artificial mechanism added an important layer to the scene. Sure, we try to convey evil through our art, sound cues and other sources, but it just seemed really awesome to me to really tell you, the player, that, "HEY, THIS GUY IS EVIL!"

Click here to read the entire article.