I think every roleplayer has that one character, that one particular flavor of character they prefer, return to, cleave to. Mine is the politician. In every tabletop I play, I lean towards political characters who have one purpose, and that is to fuck everyone ELSE over without having to sully their own fingers. I find it’s my comfort zone, and I’m not exactly sure what that says about me? Am I a social lion waiting to sprout a mane and fangs? PERHAPS.

See, here’s the problem with it: it’s not easily doable in WoW or, I suppose, in any MMO. I have seen some roleplayers (cough FELLS) who play a character that isn’t an ass kicker, isn’t really involved in the uber major dungeon that the rest of us are mucking through. She pulls it off very very well, but she’s not political. Political, in my mind at least, means ingratiated into the people in the know, the people who run things behind the scenes. They can glide through a room and own it. Tarquin comes close, to a point, but he’s more mob-boss than politician because of his lethality and brutality, not to mention his absolute disdain of the upper echelon that defines this subset.

As far as I can tell, the complications in playing a political character are:

* RP’ing someone “in the know” can make you over powered. You need to be careful that you’re not wielding your imaginary contacts as bludgeoning tools. Plus? You need to keep in mind that anyone you decide is important enough to give you power socially needs to be accepted by the others in your circle as a legitimate concern, too

* People will catch onto the slick one, and sooner or later, learn to mistrust them. You need to get your usefulness out there posthaste so they keep you around for a reason.

* You need to be cognizant that the perception other people have of you is the key to pulling this character off. You not only need to pull the wool over the npc’s in your corner, but to a point, other players.

* A lot of interactions have to be ficced so things make sense. You can’t just walk into a bar and say “Yes, well, last night at tea Mathias Shaw said” without looking like an UTTER tool. Fiction, a working character dictionary of the world you’re building, and consistency in the name dropping. Also? Be smart in using other people’s NPC’s too. If you pull their brain children into the mix, you’re making the social structure of your city/organization much more believable and much more relatable.

The end result of this blabber is I’m going to attempt to make this character concept work in an MMO. It’s going to be tough, it’s going to be a labor of love, but damnit . . . I think I can do this.

I’ll keep you updated on my progress.

Ta!