Today we’re opening the floor up for discussion. Some people have already answered these questions–we’ll have our first set of answers up soon–but let’s put it out for everyone! FEel free to answer with in the comments. if you want to go all out, and put up screen shots, videos or audio, leave that in the comments so we can get in touch with you!

1. What’s your Name.
2. List some of your favorite toons.
3. Describe your philosophy of RP.
4. What was your favorite RP event? Why was it so good? Did you organize it?
5. Have you organized RP before? How did it go? What did you learn from it?
6. Talk about an A-ha moment for a Toon—a moment where all the RP clicked and you knew this was the story they were supposed to tell?
7. If you could ask any RPer one question, what would you ask? What is your answer to your question?

This is Bricu and the fox kit from Tol Barad.

I won’t parse words here: Cataclysm RP was more difficult than Wrath. Don’t get me wrong: I enjoyed a lot of this xpac, and the rp it inspired, but coming off the high of Wrath… Well, it was hard to top.

Truth be told, cata was a Hard xpac. We lost people. Stories took forever to tell because everyone was busy. So of the RP hooks just didn’t set. But with the upcoming 5.04 patch, all this is going to change. Rp has picked up. People have returned to the game… And new stuff is coming.

So, dissect the RP of the Cataclysm. How did it affect you and your circle?

Lady Constanza Montrose looked out from her balcony in Stormwind, took a deep breathe of the warm, summer air and wished for the entire bloody city to burn. Not the now-familiar dragon-fire that nearly sacked the entire city, but the familiar, Scourge fires that still burned in Stratholme. It was not too long ago that this would have been a real possibility: That the combined armies of the horde and the bloody alliance would be far, far too busy dying in The Lich King’s citadel to deal with the war at home.

Then Magdalena Maunt, that wretched woman, squandered everything on revenge. She was foolish, wasteful, prideful and better off dead. That though gave Lady Constanza some small comfort. Comfort enough to smile for a brief moment.

It was a brief moment, ruined by the recent past. Maggie’s squandered resources set the entire Stormwind cell on edge. And by the time it was settled…

“Bloody dragon,” she said to no one in particular.

Just as she consolidated her rule, Deathwing wreaked havoc on the city. She should have seen it coming. When her rank-n-file started reporting the new cult, she should have done more to either remove them or co-opt… But that was neither here nor there. She absently began to twist the ring; the white ring around her ring finger.

She did what she always did: she rebuilt. It was a long, hard slog, but Lady Constanza had her people and her city back. This time, she was ready to deal with anyone who got in her way.

“IVOR!” She shouted as she walked back into the manse. “Come here. We have work to do.”

Heroes, Antiheroes, villains and bad-asses: What do you play in WoW and why?

Step Three of dealing with issues in WoW is implementing and assessing what you problem solved in step two. This is the part of the plan that has a tendency to fall through. It’s really easy to come up with a few plans that seem positively brilliant… But they fall short when we try to accomplish too much.

Breaking down a plan into small, confidence building steps is key to reigniting the spark. It’s tempting, once you have a plan you love, to do as much as possible as quickly as you can.

This may be how you burned out in the first place.

Go slowly. Enjoy the RP. Let it build. Enjoy it for what it is: Sharing stories with people you want to be with.

The next common stumbling block is the lack of a critical eye on the plan and its implementation. Simply following a plan isn’t enough to rekindle RP. Sometimes, a plan needs to be scrapped as the story just doesn’t go anywhere. Take time to review and revise the plan. Remember that the plan is supposed to help get you to your goal of more RP and shaking the blues. If something better comes along, by all means, go for it.

Be critical, be flexible, but by all means, enjoy it. If the RP isn’t happening or it isn’t fun, then what’s the point?

Fact is folks, hurdles can be jumped. But action alone will only burn you out again. Careful planning and evaluations can not just beat the burnout, but bring you back to the story.

Anyone else got tips, tricks or hurdles they’d like to share? Fill us in!

Two frequent commenters and contributors–Rhoelyn and Kyraine–brought up to common hurdles to RP in an MMO: Scheduling and Burnout. While solutions for these common complaints have already been discussed, it’s worth discussing them here to figure out how to Problem Solve after one Identifies a hurdle.

Getting everyone together for an RP night isn’t easy. People have a number of obligations–family, friend, work, school, raiding–that take up a fair amount of time. But if people want to RP, they will find a way to make the RP happen. In regards to scheduling, two solutions come to mind: Find a day and stick with it or Add RP to a regular event in game. Before we can implement either solution, we have to determine which is feasible.

The first step is finding who is interested and when they are available. Both of these issues can be addressed with the following question, “Are you interested in RP and when are you free?” Once people announce their intent to RP and they share their schedule–either via email or a forum–than a day and time can be scheduled to conduct all the RP business you want.

Where this can become problematic is having two clusters of free time with little overlap between groups. If the interest is strong, one could have two groups of people running RP. This would allow for parallel stories and create some interesting dynamics when schedules (inevitably) change. One should not start working on the complicated parallel/multiple group story until the schedules are established and RP is occurring regularly.

Solving the schedule problem is relatively simple: Find a time and get people to stick with it. Burnout is more insidious, and it can take a bit of creativity to reignite RP once everyone feels crispy.

At this point in WoW’s history, we’ve been playing for around 7 years. Some people have played their characters to death. Other have just lost interest in the RP they have participated in. Some people may not even know why they’re burned out. In short, this particular hurdle needs to be examined further.

If you’re feeling “meh” about RP these days, you’re going to have to spend some time navel gazing and thinking why this isn’t working for you. Is it the expansion? Is it the people? Is it a lack of follow through from other stories? Is it just time to move on? Is it something else entirely? IF you can’t find the answer on your own, then bring it to the people in your circle. Talk to people about your feelings of burnout. They may have noticed the burnout long before you have.

A few methods to correct the burnout are as follows:

Once someone Identifies the hurdles, the next step is to figure out the possible solutions. Some of the solutions will work, others, upon review, will only serve to make our lives more difficult. But the pattern remains: Identify the issue, identify solutions to the issue. The next step? Implement.

Questions,comments, vague misgivings? Any specific methods you want to discuss in the comments?

If you want to into RP, there comes a point where you just have to do it. I recognize it isn’t always easy, and there maybe a hurdle or fifty to overcome to get your head in the game, but the fact remains: To RP, one has to just do it.

I have to be clear: This isn’t a general call to JUST GO OUT AND RP. I find the statement “just do it” minimizes the difficulties people may face when trying to start things. This is a call, however, to identify what’s in the way of your RP. So this is what we are going to do this week: Get back into RP. Step one: What’s in your way?

Are you burned out? Can’t find a group? Can’t find a concept to play? Have too many concepts to play? Are you missing follow-through from your RP organizers/circles? Let’s start talking about what’s in our way!

The Legend of Zelda was not an RPG like the Final Fantasy series, but it was the first video game I remember thinking “This is a story I dig.” Granted, I was around nine when the game came out, and the story is pretty simple: Build the McGuffin, save the girl. But the original Zelda was the first game I remember playing where the story seemed to matter: Unlike Super Mario Brothers, you could WIN the Legend of Zelda. So I played this game, shared strategies with my friends and scoured the map for as many of the secret passages as I could.

And I loved every minute of it.

Zelda was the gateway to pen and paper RPGs, console RPGs, comics, and computer games. I still remember my friends telling me that D&D was like, “playing Zelda with your friends, without a TV.” For this reason alone, this game will always hold a place in my heart.

What about you? What was your introduction into this wonderful world of nerddom?!

Annalea ragdoll by Loreli http://aodstudios.com

…but still the devils you know.

As Bricu hinted at a few weeks ago, WTT: [RP] is getting a bit of an overhaul.

World of Warcraft — and Feathermoon specifically — has been our home and our primary RP place for the last *mumbledycough* years, but it’s a wide ol’ world of RP out there, and we’d love to share them with you. And, of course, invite you to share your favorites with us.

There’s plenty yet to talk about — other MMOs, single-player RPGs, old favorites, anticipated new releases, tabletop games, and other assorted RP geekery.

So, give us a holler as we gear up for a whole new set of awesome: what are you playing these days? How’s your RP going? What would you like to see us write about over the next few weeks and months? What’s got you excited?