A Brief Guide to Roleplay
So You Joined a Role Playing Guild
Written by Sir Bertran the Bold
Dr. Bertran the Bold, PhD, got his masters in
Roleplaylogy from the University of Lordaeron. Now his old teachers are
zombies.
So, you’ve joined a heavy role playing guild and you’re not exactly sure what to do.
Or maybe you role play all the time and just want to see what this guild does in the way of
role playing. Regardless, I, council member Sir Bertran the Bold, have put together this
brief guide on role playing based on my experiences with the guild and in the RP world in
general. Before we begin, I recommend these two sources:
This (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/story/) is a history of the Warcraft
universe as told by Blizzard. I have it bookmarked and I re-read it every once in a while to
get ideas for my role play character. It’s also good to know the history so you know what the
hell people are talking about when they start discussing it in game. It’s a little long but
I think it’s a fantastic read, personally, and it can really help fill out your character.
Now that you’re a little versed on the basics, we’ll start with developing your character.
Hopefully you’ve got a good idea of how RPers talk from the FAQ, so now you need to ask
“What will my character bring to the guild in terms of RP? What is his/her personality?
Where is he/she from? Why is he/she here?”
Start with the history of Warcraft. We know it’s been four years since the end of
Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. So every single one of our characters
(unless they were magically born in the last four years) experienced the Third War.
Is your character a little gray around the ears? If he or she is old enough they could have
fought in the First and Second Wars twenty odd years ago. Most of us were probably at least
alive during the entirety of all three Warcraft games. How did this affect them? Were there
any events in the history that your character saw first hand? Did he or she witness the
destruction of Stormwind in the First War, then move to Lordaeron only to watch it fall in
the Third? Was your mother killed in the First War, your father in the Second, and your
brother in the Third?
Now be careful, because this is where you might stumble into a trap. Note I ask how the war
affected YOU, not how you affected IT
. Did you save the Alliance from the Burning Legion? No. You didn’t. Anyone who played
Warcraft III could tell you that. You don’t want to be a munchkin, someone who’s character
is just cool for the sake of being cool, so great that they belong in a castle somewhere
holding hands with Jaina Proudmoore and Thrall. If you knew any of the characters from the
Warcraft games, make it a loose association, not a close friendship. The bottom line is,
if you’re so great why weren’t you in the other Warcraft games? Now, don’t panic, this
doesn’t mean you’re not great. That’s what World of Warcraft is for. This is YOUR
story, your chance to BE great, and on an RP server you get to live AND tell it!
Go to the roots. Make your character simple, tragic, flawed. No one is interested in talking
to a guy who single-handedly held off the Orcish horde in the great untold battle of Westfall.
If you’re perfect, ageless, or simply a super superhero… you’re boring. If you’re a blank
slate who is always cheerful, and friendly, and basically like everyone else in the world…
well… you’re boring too. So explore some flaws. Make a character who ISN’T always right
, maybe one who would do things that you, the player, would call wrong or evil and wouldn’t
think about doing. Make them paranoid, make them naïve, make them simple-minded or obsessive.
If you give them a flaw that you don’t have then you can shape and control it and it can be
interesting. Maybe if you met your character in real life you wouldn’t even like them. \
That’s what’s great about this, you are NOT your character! People might like you
EVEN MORE if they find you interesting than if you are just another nice, friendly,
honorable, noble soldier trying to get by in this work-a-day world (of Warcraft).
Now, normally tragic characters can get pretty cliché, but the bottom line is the Alliance
in Azeroth has been getting a pretty raw deal for the last twenty-five years.
There’s plenty of tragedy to go around. So find an event in Azeroth where things went bad
and put yourself in the thick of it.
If you are good friends with another guild member, ask them if they’d like to be incorporated
into your history. Work out a place where your roads have crossed before. For example,
Bertran’s father had a servant who had a son named Athosseul, who is now Bertran’s best
friend. Athosseul’s younger brother is Kembal. Kembal is good friends with Uliam who is a
cousin of Butterscotch Freeland (the RP character that I use when I’m on the Resource QM).
Butterscotch Freeland was another servant of Bertran’s father alongside Athos and Kembal’s
father. The characters are all interwoven, but our histories aren’t completely bound together.
It can be fun to share a history with someone else, even if it just means you met once ten
years ago.
Be cautious about history. Don’t say your mother was killed by a Tauren ten years ago unless
you have a damn good explanation for how you met a Tauren five years before any of the rest
of the Alliance did. The whole continent of Kalimdor, the Night Elves, the Taurens… we didn’t
know about any of this until Warcraft III. This is why reading the history is SO important,
even if you only read the last chapter (which is also in your game manual).
Professor Bertran
continues to expound on role play technique while his students sneak
out
to Warsong Gulch.
So, now you’ve got your history all straightened out and you have a flawed, deep,
three-dimensional character who’s played some small part in the history of Azeroth and
is out to make something more of themselves. So what do you do with them? The first part
is staying in character, and I don’t mean not talking about toaster ovens or referring to
levels as seasons (though you should do these things too). If your character is a womanizer:
flirt. If your character is out for revenge: mention it. If you’re from Lordaeron, mention
it when someone mentions Lordaeron or you go there. If your character is jaded: make
sarcastic comments in the middle of a dungeon. If your character hates dwarves: spit on a
dwarf. (Just make SURE to send them a tell about it! Or mention OOC in a channel that your
character is a jerk. We don’t want people to get confused and think you actually hate them,
even if you do.)
Play your character for their character whenever you’re on, but don’t overdo it.
If you push your character too hard by explaining your full history every time you meet
somebody or monopolizing conversations to show how much of a jerk/flirt/cynic/honorable
warrior you or you’ll leave people with a bad taste in their mouths. Open up the idea with
an offhanded remark or simple statement and let THEM ask YOU about it. If people are
interested: talk. If they’re not: don’t. Make it SUBTLE. You’ll have plenty of opportunities
to demonstrate your character throughout the game, there’s no need to push your history and
personality on anyone.
Now, you have your character set, perhaps even a mission statement
(I’m out to save my friend or I’m out to kill this guy or I’m out to retake this land).
So what now? The game doesn’t have any personal quests for “The Adventures of Character X”
where your past comes back to haunt you. So make it up. This is what I like to call an RP
event (I’m not sure if there’s a real name for it, though there probably is).
Now, doing this within a guild can be fun and interesting, as you can get your own
audience and even other players involved. Start by whispering people you think might be
interested and asking them if they want to participate. Set up a definite plan with this
person, a storyline with a beginning, middle, and end. You can make a post on the forum
asking if anyone is interested in participating in your RP event. Talk about what should
happen to your characters. See if the histories and personalities of all involved can have
an effect on the story.
So, something happens to your character, but how? Perhaps you start with an ominous message
in the guild chat, “ *character x suddenly finds a stone that glows with a hot light* How odd.
*turns the stone over in his hands, then disappears* ” and then, suddenly, “Character X has
gone offline.” Duhn duhn, ominous, huh? Or, if there’s another person involved, maybe you get
them to say something in the chat. “Character X has been acting weird, lately. The other day
he (the start of your story that clearly could not have been done in the game.)” Another
solution is the ol’ change of character… becoming quiet or concerned or paranoid, start
dropping hints here and there, do SOMETHING that is extremely contrary to your
character’s pre-established nature. This is the set-up.
Now that you have a beginning, the next part is hard. How do you inform everyone about what’s
going on without eating up the guild channel? For this part I recommend employing your
fellow guild mates, even if they’re not directly involved. Send ominous messages to them and
subtly suggest that they should tell everyone. Spread rumors. Make odd appearances in odd
places and say odd things. ROCK EVERYONE’S WORLD! Erm… excuse me.
The trick here is to find a way to spread information about what’s going on. The best way is
to start a rumor mill. Have it lead up to something disastrous. “I heard Character X was
tapped by SI:7 to kill Bertran. Hide Bertran, hide!” Don’t forget you can create up to five
characters on a server, so you could create another character who saw something that
happened or was sent to deliver a message by your character. Throw the guild into a panic.
Other guild members might get involved at this point, but don’t worry. After reading this
guide they’ll know better than to do anything that would interfere with your storytelling.
Which reminds me, don’t do anything that would interfere with people’s storytelling. If you
want to get involved, you can tell people you’ll try to “X”, or we should try “Y”. Then send a
letter or tell to the RPer telling them you’re trying X or Y. That way the ball is in their
court. They can dismiss or incorporate it. Don’t say things like, “I met him and he said X”
or “I saw him talking to Y” unless the RPer told you to do so. For all you know the RPer has
been planning to say that he/she was lost naked in the woods for a week and this could really
throw off his/her plan.
Now that you have everything laid out, it’s time for a climax. Please, please try not
to do this in the guild channel. Set up a play, if you will. Ask people to come to a place,
or send someone a tell asking them to inform everything that they should go somewhere. This
way the event will be much more personal and people just logging on won’t be confused by a
bunch of chat in the guild channel they don’t understand. Get the people who are interested
to come to a location. Pick a time when there are plenty of people on so you can present it
for a crowd. Once you have everyone gathered, it’s time for the show.
By now people should have a good idea of what’s going on, so they’ll probably confront you
about it. They might ask questions or try to help… hell, by now they might want you burned
at the stake. Take what you want and deny the rest. There are a few ways you can end
things now. Either use emotes to describe something happening to you, or go off alone to
“do something” and come back with the results. If you want to go off alone because you need
to face a non-existent enemy or do something otherwise impossible within the game, tell the
people around so. It’s usually better if the resolution can take place in front of them,
but sometimes that’s just not possible. As an audience member, you should let them leave if
they wish to do so. Don’t try to join them. If you’d like to be involved, send a tell asking
if you can come with and play along, but don’t expect to be accepted. The RPer probably
already has a good idea of how their story ends. Duels are a good way to end an RP as they
are dramatic and controllable by guild members, especially if the person you’re dueling is in
on the whole thing and can take a fall or vice versa. If they’re not you could have two
endings devised based on whether you win or lose! That way the outcome can be a surprise to
YOU! Otherwise, try to use your environment and a clever combination of conversation and
emotes to wrap things up. When all is said and done, your character has evolved and your
guild should have a new appreciation of who you are.
POP QUIZ!
Which Bertran is doing a better job of roleplaying?
Bertran A
Bertran B
If you chose Bertran B, you're wrong. Bertran A is wearing his cufflinks
right side up. Bertran B is not. Bertran B's fashion faux pas would not go
unnoticed by the social elite of Stormwind. Better luck next time!
On the note of character evolution, RP events are more dramatic if they’re personal.
Something from your history coming back to haunt you, or finally confronting that demon
(real or metaphorical) you’ve been running from. That’s what separates RPing from
the everyday quests we go on. After all is said and done the best RP events are those that
end with the character making a real change, for better or for worse. Just be sure not to
end your overall story arch, or have a back-up story in the wings, because nothing’s worse
than realizing your character is finished and you have nowhere to go with them.
At the end of the day, just have fun. These are not RP rules,
just ideas that I have had as I’ve gone along. Remember that the best ideas are the
ones I haven’t touched on, they’re the new and unique ways to tell a story that YOU come
up with. If you have any suggestions for how I can improve this guide, if you noticed any
omissions or things I need to correct, or if you just want to discuss RP theory, I am
available in-game through letters or whispers (that’s Bertran, in case you’re confused),
or you can e-mail me at ontas@austin.rr.com
Happy role playing everybody!
bravenet.com