Fellsie's trial -- the peanut gallery

Last week I tweeted about an idea I had: An NPC Bank/Swap. Here is how it would work: A player puts up an NPC that they would like to RP with–a character’s mentor, daughter, child, wife, villain–and said player then agrees to roll another Player’s NPC. As part of this agreement, players agree to show up to each other’s RP events.

For this to work, there would need to be a central place for what NPCs are Banked and what NPCs are swapped. What do you think, dear reader? Is this a worthy idea? Has anyone else tried this?

Oh, and if you want nicer answers, I can be bribed. Let’s say green olives, cheese, and . . . those little pastries with the strawberry frosting on top and the raspberry drizzle.

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“Kara, I don’t have time to talk! Have you seen him?” Edgar Pomeroy folded his arms over his breastplate, and glared at the Gilded Roses’ waitress as he would any common criminal. Kara Thompson did not ignore the implication, she did not fully grasp them.

“Och, no Sir Pomeroy.” Kara stammered. “Not since this morning when he told me…”

“When he told you that he bought a commission?” Pomeroy said.

“Well…” Kara stammered.

“Yes or no! YES or NO?!” Pomeroy shouted.

“YES!” Kara shouted back. She flushed with obvious embarrassment, then took a few steps back. She smoothed her hair and the front of her dress.

Pomeroy stood his ground, but softened his tone. “Good. Now, is he here?”

“No, he went to the forge to see Mrs. Bittertongue. He has Naiara too…”

“Thank Mrs. Thompson.” Edgar cut her off, “You’ve been very helpful.”

“Next time, Edgar, you don’t need to shout. It wasn’t a secret. Mr. Bittertongue told me…”

Pomeroy waved Kara off. “Please. Let me talk to him directly about what he said. Because if its true, he can have my commission right then and there.”

Teothy leant over his workbench, tiny file in hand and tongue stuck out the corner of his mouth in concentration. In his other hand was a delicate mithril tube, ends being smoothed down to ensure the closest fit he could ensure. Leakages were bad. Sweat beaded on his brow above his goggles as he focused on his fragile task, his mechanised squirrel-cum-workbench assistant peering at the activity with tiny jeweled eyes. It was difficult work this, but Teothy didn’t mind. At least with this tube, it wasn’t going to burn his entire workshop down should he slip. A second time.

Core mechanics influences a great majority of roleplay in World of Warcraft; at the most basic, a character’s race and faction has a fundamental significance in shaping them, a character’s class and spec can have almost as an important effect. It’s pretty understandable – these core “Who You Are” aspects of the game client are going to translate readily to “Who You Are” in regards to a character’s personality and history. Other aspects of the game can have varying influence; Exalted status with various factions, or character mounts and vanity pets. One of the fundamental game facets which perhaps does not get as much use in facilitating RP stories, behaviour and histories is that of Professions.

Most people have professions on their characters; up to two primaries, and the three secondaries (Riding doesn’t count here). They’re selected for varying reasons – some people min/max in regards to the game, some people chose when they rolled a character because they appealed or seemed to fit, some people don’t even go for them, often in the case of alts or some of the secondary (cooking) professions. I won’t delve into a technical discourse on the ingame professions here, but look at how and why professions can be incorporated into roleplaying to widen both it’s breadth and depth.

At it’s most basic, a profession is just that – a profession. A job. They can provide a framework to a character’s “real life/history”, in as much as a character’s class can. A priest with Tailoring, with a bit of elaboration, easily becomes a merchant class seamstress who joined the Church of the Light in order to assist with the Third War. It provides depth to a character, and can provide additional details with which to run with. The priest of the example? Did she come from a family of clothiers? Is there a shop somewhere? Who taught her?

A lot of professions suit specific classes in a thematic way – Blacksmithing warriors, for example, or Enchanting mages – which allows the conventions to be flipped. Your dress-wearing warlock is a Miner? How did that happen, and why? Not only what a character “does” in regards to a profession itself is a source for roleplay inspiration, but also the relationship between the character and the profession in question. A hunter with Inscription, stemming from his compulsive need to chronicle his travels and experiences?

How a character “expresses” their profession is a rich source of ideas and material for roleplay. It can provide a character’s day to day livelihood, when they’re not out slaying internet dragons. But it can also be the professional solider who marches into battle with bandoliers of goblin explosives and strange teleportation technology. A mage who incorporates alchemical studies in their obsession with harnessing the arcane. A rogue who’s skill at forging documents has risen to an almost mystical level.

While professions can be used to enhance background, they also offer ample opportunity for “current” ideas and storylines. The most basic being; how exactly are they done? How exactly does a druid take a pile of animal hide, scales, and magical thread, and turn it into a brand new suit of amour? What’s involved in crafting a brand new boomstick, or imbuing someone’s claymore with the ability to drink its foe’s vitaity? Is it special armour – then what about special materials? What is rune thread exactly? Alchemical transmutes; how does someone turn a common jewel and some Eternals (which are what, exactly?) into something rare and prized? The possibility of elaboration is vast.

Do you use your character’s professions as roleplay device? Howso – are they their class primarily, or their profession? Or neither? How do you incorporate your character’s professions into your roleplay? Let us know in the comments field. For extra credit, put together a one-to-three paragraph piece based around your character and their professions, and which way you would like. I’ll be grading accordingly.

Let me be blunt: I typically hate wacky RP. Zany hijinks and wacky adventures don’t do a thing for me. This is just what floats my boat: A lot of RPers I know and respect have Wacky Adventure Time–so while it doesn’t work for me, it works for someone else.

That being said, Bricu has had two wacky adventures: He was turned into a sheep by Pill and he was brief member of the Cult of Batta. The RP that resulted from ensuing wackiness is still part of who Bricu is…

Which leads me to ask: What do you think of wacky? Do you have any Zany Hijinks that you would like to share? Give us your opinions of Wacky RP!

THERE BE A TIMELINE SPOILER HERE.

The credit for this screenshot is all due to one Haemon of US-Feathermoon.

The text from the Secret Journal reads:

I can hardly believe it. We’ve endured this hardship for four long years. But soon it will be over. The Brotherhood will be reborn and we will wash across this land as a flood to cleanse it of its filth and corruption

According to my extremely reliable source, this item is part of a quest that refers to the Defias Brotherhood. It’s been four LONG years since the death of Edwin Van Cleef. We’re a bit closer to sussing out the timeline from Wrath to Cataclysm.

Oh shit. Its a baby.

The WoW RP community is a rich, diverse and hella confusing place. We have blogs, twitter accounts, Nings and the official community forums. When we multiply these content sources with the age of WoW, we have way too many stories to keep track of. The history alone can make a new RPer wary of trying to break into the community. If someone wanted to know about Bricu, I would simply point to this chapter of the Wrathgate saga: Where he convinces Tarquin to run away with Threnn. In this link, its the second story.

So if you, dear reader, had one story to introduce your character and your guild, what story would you pick? Do you have any recommendations for friends or guild mates? Help spread the love of RP! Introduce your character’s, and your guild’s, stories!
For instance, on this Blog I’ve talked about three of my favorite guilds from Feathermoon: The Riders, The Roses and The Boomsticks. I’ve even plugged for Stormwind University, a guild founded by a priggish lordling known as Arrens. Four guilds on Feathermoon well worth people’s RP time and effort. But each guild–and forum–has a history that rivals other story telling mediums. If a Feathermoonie wanted to get involved with one of these groups, it would take hours to bone up on backstory.

Even if we don’t have the time to play on another server, we want to read the stories of other guilds. For instance, I’m a huge fan of the Netherbane, a guild on Earthen Ring. I stumbled on the Hearthstone Tavern Podcast, certain twitter accounts, and I’ve spent a few hours trying to find a good story thread to tug on. There is so much good stuff, I don’t know where to start.

Then again, it really isn’t my story to start with.

The goal today, dear readers, is to submit one story that gives a new RP the perfect story to understand your character and your guild.

For the Rider’s, that’s painfully easy: Our Wrathgate collection summarizes our guild’s activities in one expansion.

What are the features that you wish WoW supported? These could be technical features–OpenGL enhancements, cross-faction languages–or story features–A Wrathgate-like event for Cataclysm.

Personally, I want more customizable options; specifically, more hair styles. Hell, I also want trenchcoats and the option to by Gilnean fashions (top hats!). I also think adding a hint of grey to a character’s hair color would also be a welcome change.

What else do YOU want for Cata?

I received an email from Jan this morning asking,

Unfortunately, I’m one of those avid wow players who haven’t received any
cataclysm beta invites!

Do you think it’s wise to just wait for the release? Because some people
say playing the cataclysm beta will eventually remove the fun in playing
when cataclysm is released. I’m afraid it will feel like leveling an alt
from 70-80, which is not as fun as leveling the first one. I’m actually
still subscribed in WoW even if I’m not playing anymore just to get a
chance in getting an invite.

Do you still play WOTLK? It’s getting a lot boring now and I’m running out
of things to do…

Excellent questions!

I’m assuming that your “should I wait for release” is for what to do if a shiny beta invite appears in your mailbox.

The answer to that is sort of “your mileage may vary,” but let’s peek into it a bit.  In order to answer your question, I need to shoot one back your way:  how do you see yourself spending time in the beta?

I have to admit I’m a pretty casual beta-er.  I know there are plenty of people who’ve spent as much time as they can exploring the world, leveling up, and drinking in every shiny new pixel.  I’m more the log in for a few hours, do some random things, then next time I log in do something completely different sort.

The people reading the bug reports are probably /facepalming:  “I love the detail in this house in Gilneas!”  (Don’t worry, I submit useful bug reports, too, I promise.)

But you know what?  It’s a good way to experience it, for me.  I get to see some of the world without feeling like I have to do everything omg right now.  And everything’s subject to change.  The quests I do in the beta might change when the game goes live.  Talents and spells are going to change.  Itemization and skills will change.

Knowing that what I see in the beta won’t be the same as what I see when Cata goes live is pretty neat.  It’s a sneak peek of what’s to come.  It’s also a chance to try out a whole bunch of things without having to really make a solid commitment to any of them.  On my character screen, I have Threnn, Annalea and Davien.  The rest are a rotating cycle of alts that I’ve created just to see how things play.  None of them are all that safe from deletion if I need to free up a character slot for the next new shiny to come along.  Worgen priest!  Human hunter!  Goblin warlock!  Troll druid!  Somewhere in there will come a Tauren paladin and who knows what else.

I’m like a puppy in a room full of neat smells:  “What’s this?  What’s this?  What’s this?  Oh, look over there!  What’s that? What’s this?”

I’ve scoped out a whole bunch of spots that will be neat for RP, and as I go along questing, I’m keeping an eye out for story hooks.  Why, yes, my beta experience is totally selfish.

You mention that some friends say it will take the fun out of the release.  I think that will depend on your playstyle.  I could absolutely see, if I were to spend all my time in there getting Threnn to level cap and running the instances over and over, that it would feel like a bit of a chore having to do it all over again when the expansion goes live.  If that’s what you’re concerned about, I’d recommend trying something new with your characters.  Pick a spec you haven’t tried before.  If you have multiple 80s, don’t transfer your main to the beta servers.  Poke around on a secondary or tertiary alt instead, one you won’t get around to leveling for a while.  Do you play primarily one faction?  Roll a lowbie on the other side of the fence and play through the starting zones.

Other people I know in the beta are having a blast leveling their mains.  They’re enjoying the new talent trees and trying out the new content.  They’re getting their number-crunching started now and love theorycrafting.  The week-to-week changes are exciting for them.

Whether or not participating in the beta will take the fun out of Cataclysm’s launch definitely depends on your playstyle.  For me, it’s been fun to see a little bit of a lot of things.  That way, there will still be plenty of surprises for me when Cataclysm goes live.  For others, focusing on one character is more their cup of tea.  The advice I’d offer to anyone of any playstyle is this:  if it starts feeling like work, it’s time to switch gears — whether that’s simply playing a different character or logging out altogether.

As for whether I’m still playing Wrath, hell yes!  I’ll be honest, I don’t mind the slower pace between expansions so much.  Right now, Threnn, Anna and Davien are about as well-geared as they’re going to be until Cata greens replace Wrath epics.  PvE-wise, I can concentrate on finding some new shinies for Lyr and leveling my baby shaman.  I’m in no rush for him — he’s been around since 2006 and is still wandering around in Stranglethorn.

RP-wise, it’s quiet for all my characters, and again, that’s okay by me.  If something interesting comes along, they can join in, but meanwhile, they’re doing their day-to-day things, enjoying a little while where the world isn’t falling apart.  I have a couple of loose ends to tie up for Davien, and some others for Annalea that will probably carry into a story line for her in Cataclysm.  Threnn and Bricu are planning for the future, figuring out what they want to do now that the world’s a safer place for their daughter.  Y’know, for now.

What goals do you have left for yourself in Wrath?  Any alts you’d like to cap or gear?  Are there any achievements you’re after or reputations you’d like to max out?  Are there any storylines you haven’t had a chance to finish yet for your characters?

A whole lot will be changing in the starter zones — now’s your last chance to see the old Vanilla world, if there are any races or classes you haven’t explored yet (or if you’re up for some nostalgia.)

What about some silly fun?  Some of my hordie friends have been doing Iron Man runs — starting off in the lowbie dungeons with no gear, and equipping only what drops, then working their way up.

However, if you find yourself bored every time you log in, it’s also perfectly valid to take a WoW-break.  The game shouldn’t be an obligation or a chore, and if you’re hearing the siren song of DragonAge, Starcraft II, or going to the beach, go for it!

All right, readers, if you’re in the beta, tell us what you’re up to.  If you’re not, what’s keeping you busy in-game (or out of it, if you’re taking a break?)  Any advice for Jan?

Let us know!