This week, we’re going to talk Romance and RP. To prime the topic, let’s have an open topic on romance: Have your characters had romances? Has your character been on a date in game? Do you fic it or do you rp the date?

Fill us in!

Listen to theme.

Write 140 word story.

Post it.

To get this picture, I played a dirty trick on Clem. As tricks go, it was pretty simple, but it was effective. Most of the good tricks, in my opinion, are simple. What are some of the really good tricks you have pulled off, or been victim of, in game?

A character who is either stupid or willfully obtuse. Dealing with a lurch is no different than dealing with any other difficult character. Some might scream at a lurch, some may ignore a lurch while others just love their lurch. Today’s filler open thread: who is your lurch and how do you rp with them?

Tru fax:  If you play Daft Punk, Bika dances.

I bring this point up not just because Daft Punk is in the air, but because–like dancing and celebrations–RP is something you do with other people.  When we RP, even in WoW, we are interacting with each other.  The only “bad” RP is where you are RPing “at someone.”

Sitting in a corner moping or sighing, sitting near the fire and emoting,
/whishes she (he) could be with the cool kids,” or telling everyone what they think and feel when they see your toon are examples of RPing AT another.  In the real world, we don’t typically dance AT another person, nor do we celebrate At them.  We interact with each other.

This, above all other things, is the key to RP.  Interaction.  Every other part of RPing, from character inception to story telling, depends on whether or not you choose to interact with people.  This is RP in its simplest form.

Can you give us an instance where you were either had a bit of surprise RP or if you were  RP’d At?  Was there a way to take the “Bad” rp and make it work?  Let us know!

I’m going to be honest: I don’t get people who feel the need to come after or condescend RPers. For the past two days, the Breakfast Topic at WoW Insider has attempted to start a conversation about RP: What we do, how we do it, what mechanics we follow and why we follow those and not others. I get it. Mr. Ross has questions about the hobby we talk about here regularly. Yesterday, Falconesse answered a few concerns.

Today it’s my turn.

First and foremost, I need to help clarify something: Dr. Who’s Police Box is a Tardis: Time And Relative Dimension in Space. It’s like a time travelling bag of holding that’s stuck in the shape of UK Police Box circa 1963. The 11th doctor explains that to Amy Pond in the above video clip.

Now that we are all set on the Doctor, let’s come back to Azeroth.

Dealing with the Sandbox that WoW provides is pretty consistent topic here at WTTRP. Some mechanics we incorporate easily: Anything magical or ‘engineery” is quickly imported into RP. Some, like rezes, require a little finesse. Some are flat out ignored by specific rp circles but others are full embraced. Levels are an example of this particular mechanic. I’ve seen it used a “seasons” or “campaigns” while most of the RPers I associate with it don’t use it all that often.

When we queue for a random–what some of us call ‘taking a job’–we don’t typically start RPing while we’re healing, dpsing or tanking. RPers want to enjoy the content just like every other player of the game. Random BGs are in a similar vein: Although, to be perfectly frank, when people do trash talk RP or Feathermoon, some of us do become more vocal…but that’s a future post.

What matters most to RPers–as much as lore and content–is the story they are telling. RPers have an idea that they want to carry out their way. Sometimes they find the right circle, sometimes they don’t. But they try to tell a story set in someone else’s world. They pay their $15 a month to let their story play out. Blizzard probably will not allow player-created content in WoW, which means the stories told by RPers will be the closest our hobby gets that form of content. It may not work for everyone, but given the population of the WoW, it will probably work for someone.

Questions about RP, how to RP, how to integrate Mechanics of WoW into RP are all fair questions. These are questions that can be easily answered by playing on an RP realm or hanging out with RPers. My question to Mr. Ross is this: Do you really care?

Honestly, these questions could have been addressed by reading a few articles on WoW Insider, WTTRP or any other RP blog. Framing the questions with “I don’t get it” comes across as condescending at best. There is enough griefing on RP Servers, we don’t need to start this conversation the same way WorgenFreeman starts to bash an RP event.

So Mr. Ross, if you’re sincere, you’re welcome to come to Tuesday night at the Pig and Whistle. Anyone else have questions about RP, we’ll be here till they turn the servers off.

Time to check in and take the pulse of your RP.  Is it happening?  Is it dead?  On Hiatus?  Is it Thriving?  Is it booming?  Is it political?  Is it personal?

Fill us IN!

We're the Wildfire Riders, who the Fuck are You?

Oh, dear readers, we are still here and kicking it old school on US-Feathermoon. In fact, after a wonderful two week vacation, including a 4 day stay in Seattle visiting with nerds of all kinds and creeds (read: Dirty Hordies), the WTTRP Blog is back and ready to address a significant issue in RP: Fear of the Bad-Ass.

What is this concern? I think Thyanel stated it best on her twitter feed:

Dear Sunwalkers: Stop looking awesome. I have no ideas for RPing one of you.

I’ve said it before that Bricu is my one and only main. I’ve played him since launch and he’s been Ret since level 10. I have rolled a few alts here and there, but until Cataclysm, I have not been interested in rolling something new.

Then we have this:

Tauren Paladin – Commisssion by *MaroBot on deviantART

Tauren Paladins epitomize bad-ass. They intimidate me.   So I completely understand where Thyanel is coming from. This race/class combo is so hard core, I don’t really know where to start with it. I can see the story just emanating from them…but I can’t write it.

Your badass combo maybe different.  Maybe it’s  a Forsaken Hunters or a Dwarf Shaman. While I want everyone to share with us, in the comments, their favorite badass combo–old or new–I think we need to figure out a way to remove the awe from the awesome combination and work on a way to RP these classes.

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First and foremost, I think the place to start with this task is the Lore of the race in question. In short, one should figure out the history of the race, both Pre and Post Cataclysm. For extra credit, see what happened to the race’s cities and cultural centers during the Cataclysm itself.

Then look into the original lore of the Class. Who are the icons of the class?  What happened to these icons? What inspires you in regards to this class?  For instance: Tauren in Tier Two is an image that would make cynical Bricu applaud in appreciation.

Armed with the background on both class and race, see if you can find the quest or in game text that introduces your combination. You may need to apply a wee bit of search-fu to find it, but I promise you there will be something for you on the internet. The in-game lore, combined with the pre and post Cata lore on the races and classes will give you an understanding of how this particular combination came to pass. It will put you on a theoretical footing to start deconstructing the stories you are afraid to deal with.

But theory is only part one: Getting your Lore. Part two is more fun. Take your current main and ask the question: “How does my main feel about this?”

Indulge me for a second as Bricu answers:

“I’d rather have a Tauren Paladin at me side than some o’these fuckin’ wankers that live in Stormwind. I’d follow a Tauren Highlord ta the end o’the Nether itself.”

Sadly for Bricu, he only has one tauren acquaintance. His opinion lodge firmly in my head, I have a perspective from which to approach the combo.  The theory gives me a solid foundation and my main’s opinion gives me a method for apply it in game.  It dims the Awe enough for me to get the idea of a Tauren Paladin. A real Sunwalker. Someone who has drifted from the shamanistic and druid teachings, but is still dedicated to healing the land and their fellows…

This is how I would take the shine off the character so I could write the story. I’m sure there are other ways…and other bad ass combos. Please, fill us in!

Wrath ended with a bang:  By killing Arthas.  It is far too early in Cata’s to accurately predict how this expac will end (though I think we all have an idea), but to be fair, those of us at WTTRP care about the overarching plot of WoW in how it relates to our own stories. While I think Nameless Grunt’s interaction with Deathwing could be interesting, I care more about an RPers interaction with their own stories.

To that end, today’s open thread is about endings. Tell us about an ending to a story–or a character–and how it went. Did it go pear shaped or was it more awesome than awesome? What endings are you looking forward to? Take the word ending and run with it!

Today’s guest post is from the Riders’ favorite half-faced, surly elf, Illithias.  Like a night elf, Illi has blue hair IRL and it is awesome.  I can neither confirm nor deny whether or not IRL Illi bounces when idle for long periods of time.

On our forums, Solmandar asked:

What really concerns me is the uber “YOU are the hero of <insert zone here> and chosen by <insert epic god-like being here> to solve all of our problems!” aspects. That, combined with phasing of content.

How are people dealing with that, beyond the “Oh, we put out all the fires, but they started again” trope?

This was Illi’s excellent response:)
This particularly has been something I’ve referenced and discussed/thought about a few times. Short answer: it’s a game and it’s an exaggeration.

Long answer? I’m going to paraphrase here, but for most of the races/class types, your character is considered to have been about since the beginning of Vanilla (according to “the game”). The game assumes that your character had a hand in or helped with most/all of the content of the game – the old world raids such as BWL and AQ40, the expeditions out to Illidan’s Draenor and the Sunwell, back out to Northrend to take down Yogg and Arthas. You may not have done some/all of them in actually, but the game *assumes* so. So, naturally, by Wrath and Cataclysm, the NPCs have “heard of you”. They recognise you, or have conversations between one another about the Champions of the Naaru being on their way, or ask you to babysit their Princeling son. The game says; You’re a massive hero, and everyone knows you.

And, you know – this is a fantasy RPG. And that’s cool.

However, it’s also an MMO, and a part of the MMO where we RP. So not everyone can be “the most awesome famous hero Azeroth has ever seen!” Not everyone was able to get the killing blow on Nefarian, or recover Illidan’s warblades, or been there to witness Arthas’ defeat firsthand. So (and please note, this is just my opinion of how best to deal with this) it’s best to have metaphorically taken the game’s proclaimations of your famous awesomitude with a grain of salt. You’re a powerful hero, for certain, but you’re no Thrall. No Sylvannas. No Fordring. You’re the cult indie band to Varian Wrynn’s U2 (yes I hate each equally).

I think it also ties in to the concept that the “game world” is a recapped, truncated version of “Real Azeroth”, or the Azeroth we RP. The world doesn’t really take 30 minutes to fly from top to bottom. The cities don’t really only have a population of 20 people, all of whom are there to repair your gear or teach you how to brew potions or tell you to collect seventeen raptor horns for some godforsaken reason. We see the “game world” view of a much richer, involved, and foremost theoretical world.

So I know I play Illi as “famous, but not that famous”. She’s known. She’s traveled the worlds. She’s been present at some major events/battles/happenings. She has a history. So your average Stormwind or Orgrimmar denizen may have heard of the Half-Faced Elf, and may know something of her situation and her backstory. Or they may not. They may have read about her in the papers before, or through rumour. Some people may know more, maybe because they’re soldiers, or know of the WFR, or what have you. Some people may know less – I’d imagine there aren’t very many Tauren farmers who know who Illi is. But I certainly don’t think Varian Wrynn personally requested that she babysit his prince. And I wouldn’t think anyone we play with (with the exception of Delion, natch) would’ve.

BUT, this is all just my philosophising on the subject, and my personal point of view and opinion. This is far from canon – but I hope it helps.

How are you dealing with this in your own guilds and realms?