Roleplaying tips

[Vangelis]

As a roleplaying guild, it occurred to me that we don't have much (any?) advice in our halls regarding the roleplaying side of the game. Obviously you can improve your playing skills as you gain experience with a character class, or if you get good tips from more experienced players. What is less obvious is that roleplaying can also benefit from tips and experience.

So, here are a few roleplaying tips from a novice WoW-er but a veteran roleplayer.


1. Roleplaying is more like a "theatre sport" than like a "play".

In a play, actors present a story while the audience watches. Theatre sports are different: they are games in which there are only actors and no spectators. In other words, everybody participates in building the story or situation, and the fun is in the twists and turns of the situation as everyone contributes.

Another analogy might be hacky-sack, in which everybody does a move or two and then makes a pass to another player. The point of course is that nobody wants to play with a person who never passes the sack.

I would submit that the art of "making a good pass" is what distinguishes the great roleplayers from the merely good ones. One of the most fun elements of the saga entitled "A Matter of Honour" is the character of Likimeya: he was briefly introduced, fleshed out by another writer, and passed around amongst almost everybody until finally he was ultimately sheeped (by Anchar) and bonked on the head (by Gorgo). It was great roleplaying, and the passes were perfect.

"Blocking" is the opposite: in which a storyline or character is introduced, and is prematurely terminated by the actions/writing of another player. If, after Likimeya's name was mentioned, the next writer began with "... but who Likimeya was we will never know, because just then my personal arch-enemy showed up and attacked the party", that would be blocking, and would spoil the fun for everybody else.


2. Everyone is their own main character.

You are the main character in your own storyline, but remember that every other player-character is the main character in THEIR storyline. Good roleplaying does not force them into your story, but rather meshes the two (or more) storylines together so that everybody's plot moves forward. It also respects the other players' wishes about their character and their play experience. Two points flow from this.

First, make sure you have checked it out with the other players you want to involve in your storyline. There is nothing more frustrating than having a plan for your gaming evening (or forum story) and then feeling forced into someone else's plan.

Second, you must be very respectful with other player's characters in your writing (particularly in forum-based RP). Ideally you would never write about what another player's character thinks or does, but when that's impossible (which is often), you need to write about them as neutrally as possible, or (as a last resort!) be very, very sure about their character.

For example, I was involved in a nice little mini-RP event when I set out to earn my warrior's sword, which required a battle with a nasty level-42 elite. Tantor knew the test was coming up for me, and sent me a message that he'd like to be there for the event, so on that day I invited Andenia and Danano to come (who are Tantor's main contacts in our guild) and arranged a time for everyone to be present. We gathered, had a little roleplay about Tantor's tortured love for Andenia, had a great battle in which Andenia unfortunately died (amid wails of grief from Tantor and guilty solicitude from Vangelis), and then went our separate ways. Thus the Andenia-Tantor-Windfoot story included another encounter, and my own story of growing respect for at least one member of the Horde was advanced as well. Plus, of course, the time was checked out and agreed-upon by everyone involved.


... and that's enough for now. Thanks for reading - comments, additions, or criticisms are always welcome.

[saul]

I found this thread extremly usefull. I'm a new member to the guild and a first time RP'er. The part about the hacky sack was amazing. I will read this thread sevral times and try to take bits of it each time to become better at RP'ing.

[Vangelis]

Nice to know someone read it.

MAKING A NEW CHARACTER

(Pet peeve: in roleplaying games, you play a "character", NOT a "toon". There's a huge difference.)

When coming up with a character concept, all you really need are answers to two questions:

1) What did you do before setting out on your life as an adventurer?

2) Why did you decide to become an adventurer?

... The rest can be improvised along the way.

For example, my first-ever character in WoW was Boswell, because my buddies were putting together a party of gnomes and wanted me to buy the game. I had gotten the game that same day, and knew NOTHING about the game mechanics, the world, the history or anything (Okay, I had played war2 way back, but that was it). Quick-and-dirty character background? Amnesia. Thus I could have fun roleplaying my complete ignorance of the game. I remember riffing on "ooh! sparklies!" when I first saw a lootable corpse - it was fun.

As I played I learned a bit more about the world, and eventually I came up with the raw ideas for the background, which you can read for yourself elsewhere on this site. But I was close to 20th level before I got around to writing it. The fact is, an amnesiac-ingenue is great fun to play, (particularly as a warlock!), and I didn't need all the detail before I started.

[Annelwyn Tinkwell]

this is a wonderful thread! thank you very much for all the helpful ideas

[Windfoot]

Came across a thread on this topic on the Feathermoon boards, written by Uthas, a very well known intensive/immersion RPer on Feathermoon. Here is a portion of his comments on RPing, where he sets out 10 basic RP guidelines:

"1. Laugh at yourself. This is an important skill in any endeavor you undertake in life. You need to be able to laugh at your own inconsistancies. This doesn't mean being a pushover and not standing up for yourself. You just need to be able to loosen up a bit and realize that human beings are crazy, illogical, silly creatures. That's part of what makes us wonderful.

2.Don't let people push you around. Hand in hand with number 1 is the ability to say NO when people are making you feel uncomfortable. There is no need to say know with a slap or punch to the face, just a simple indication of your discomfort will usually do the trick. There are a lot of topics that people don't like to talk about, but they are not universal. You can never tell what someone else is uncomfortable with. Half the time you can't even tell what YOU are uncomfortable with until it happens. That being said, being uncomfortable does not mean the same thing as "I'm losing.” Difficulty is part of life, and the struggle to overcome adversity is a compelling story. Don't quit immediately if things get tough, give them the old college try first. You can always stop later.

3.Have a solid character. This is pretty important. I'm not saying you should have every detail about your character fleshed out before you log in, but know what makes them tick. There are a lot of 20 questions lists out on the internet to help you establish your character's personality. Answer simple questions such as: Where was the character born? Who were his/her parents? How did I get to be my class? What are my goals? What sort of story do I want to see this character involved in?

4.Know your lore. No, you don't need to know who made Jaina Proudmoore's cloak, but you SHOULD know who Jaina Proudmoore is. Blizzard includes a pretty good history of the world on the main WoW site. I encourage everyone to read it and absorb what they can. That deals with most of the historical lore from the game, but not a lot of the current details. Try to know the leaders of the 2 big factions, and why they're the leaders.

There is a relatively large debate about exactly how important the lore really is to rp. I personally regard it as very important, but definitely go beyond the bounds of it in my own stories. The lore of the setting is the framework of communication between the players. It allows us to have a set of rules and references in common with one another so that we can work collaboratively to tell stories. This doesn't mean that you should necessarily stick to it by the letter if it's getting in the way of a great story you want to tell, but keep in mind that the farther from it you move, the farther from the other players you also move. If you want to rp a starship captain, you might want to consider some other games as better options for your rp.

5.Know your rp types. There are essentially 2 types of rp: soft and hard. I'll explain them here.

Soft rp is undirected interaction with other characters. There is no story arc involved, just simple interaction from the perspective of the character. It oftentimes takes the form of rping out ordinary activities, such as sitting in a tavern drinking, or doing house chores, or some other activity usually skipped in stories. It is very useful for character development, but also very prone to something I call Earless syndrome, which I'll get into later. This type of rp can be very rewarding in its spontenaity, but frustrating from its seeming lack of purpose.

Hard rp is a much more difficult affair to pull off. It is the telling of a directed story, with an introduction, build of action and plot, apex, and conclusion. This takes a lot of organization to pull off well, but don't let that stop you. You might bork up the first few you try, but keep at it. It's my favorite form of rp, because I love crafting stories and seeing how people react to them over time. It's strength is that it can be far more powerful and hard hitting than soft rp. However, it's definitely prone to Hero syndrome, which I'll get to later. It is also very prone to feeling extremely scripted with no room for deviation. I'm going to get into how I try to do hard rp in a later section.

6.Rp WITH people, and not AT them. This involves three major types of behaviour that I call Earless syndrome, Hero syndrome, and the Poisoner. The basic idea here is that we are all working together to create cool stories. We can't do it in a vacuum, and we can't do it at the expense of the other players. We're all paying for this game, and no one wants to feel like they're being screwed over by someone else deliberately.

The Earless player is someone who engages in conversation with other characters, and either doens't let them speak, or spends the entire time they're talking thinking of what he/she is going to say next. Real conversation and powerful stories are told when characters have a true give and take relationship. When someone else is talking, give them the respect to listen to what they're saying, because you want them to do the same thing for you. We all understand how cool you think you're character is, because we feel the same way about ours.

The Hero is a player who feels the need to be in the spotlight all of the time. They will attempt to shift the action in a story around to bask them in the limelight constantly. Oftentimes when the focus of a story shifts away from them, they'll just stop participating. Don't be the Hero. Trust me, supporting actors, when played well, often steal the show. Just play your part in the story as best you can. Not everyone in real life is an amazing hero. One of the most common stories to be told is that of the ordinary person thrust into extraordinary circumstances. Don't feel the need to save the day every time. This essentially boils down to the same concept as loot envy.

The Poisoner may be the worst of the three. The Poisoner is someone who will attempt to make changes to other people's characters via “rp” methods. If you haven't talked over such a change with the player of the character in question, don't screw with them. Do not emote stabbing someone, do not tell people you've poisoned them and they have 7 days to live, do not “steal their soul” without their permission. None of us want to deal with the “Bang you're dead! No I'm not you missed!” situation.

7.Avoid cliché. Stay away from the ideas that have been done to death. Nobody wants to see Drizzt538 and his scimitars of doom.

8.Embrace cliché. That's right. Take those stories that everyone is tired of and turn them on their head. The cliched stories get told often enough to become cliché for a reason. Most people can associate themselves with them in one way or another, and so feel closer to the plot. That allows a greater emotional impact on the viewer/reader. Think about that when you're crafting a story or character. You want to be like Conan? Instead of just making a big guy with a sword, think about WHY Conan is cool. If you want a good example of this concept, read the graphic novel Red Son. It tells an alternate history of Superman, perhaps the most tired comic superhero story there is, from a completely different perspective, and breathes new life into it.

9.Spelling does count. No one minds if you make a few errors or typos here and there. I certainly do. But the only way we have to communicate with each other is the written word in this game. You lose all of the tone and body language that comes part and parcel with speech. Thus, your ability to express yourself is directly dependant upon your grasp of the language. I'd recommend picking up a copy of “The Elements of Style” by Strunk and White. In fact, it's available online for free here: www.bartleby.com/141/ Remember that the coolest story in the world amounts to a waste of energy and time if no one can read it. I can guarantee that you will be immediately more well regarded by others if you can express yourself in a way they understand.

This being said, the internet is FILLED with miscommunication for the above reasons of body language and tone. For that reason, it's a good idea to give people the benefit of the doubt. When you think someone might be saying something odd, or something you don't understand, just send them a pm and ask politely. If more people did that, there were would be a lot less tears spilled and oaths uttered.

10.Immersion. Don't break the immersion of others if you can help it. Don't speak OOC in say. Don't shout in shorthand (( LFG, SM, LRM, etc )). If you are speaking IC, speak like your character would. Don't replace to, two, or too with 2.

This brings us straight into the debate about perma-flagging. I am neither pro or anti permaflagging. If everyone stays in character the entire time, and the characters have a true emotional aspect to their personality, it's a good idea. It can really help the feeling of immersion. However, I have seen a trend of thought spring up on the forums regarding permaflagging that disturbs me. It seems quite a few people regard being attacked when permaflagged as the victim's fault. This is quite an ethical quandary. Sure, the victim gave the attacker the power to hurt them by flagging. It is important to remember however, that flagging is NOT AN INVITATION TO FIGHT. No one likes to get ganked. Blaming a permaflagger for someone else attacking thim when they have done nothing to provoke the attack is tantamount to saying that a woman wearing a miniskirt deserves to be #@!&d because “she was asking for it”. Sure, the woman could have stayed in her house and been safe. But you know what, it's her right to do so.

If you attack someone for the sole reason that they are flagged, you are breaking immersion yourself, no matter how you rp it. Your character has no idea who is “flagged” and who isn't. Think about it before you attack someone. If you have an rp reason, sure, go for it. I encourage you to warn them before hand, so as not to rp AT them, but it's your perogative not to. Just know that by doing that, you are acting like a jerk. Just because Blizzard won't ban you for it doesn't make it right. The law is not the same thing as ethical behaviour. If you're looking for fun pvp competition, there is plenty to be had with other people looking for the same thing. This brings me to my next point.

11.Take violence seriously. WoW is in essence a violent game. Part of the name is Warcraft, after all. However, cheapening violence breaks immersion and throws away an excellent story element. People in real life do not go around threatening to kill people publicly, or punching everyone who looks at them crosswise. If they do, they end up in the lockup fairly quickly. The societies in WoW may be more forgiving of violence than ours, but there is a definite limit to that. Try to take the concept of violence seriously from yourself and those around you.

12. Have fun. You are paying money to play this game every month. Don't let it go down the drain. "