First of all, I apologize if this has already been posted, but I was curious about trying out a roleplay server (preferably with a lively yet medium population.) as a dark iron dwarf rogue, since I like their whole aesthetic.
My questions are:
Are there any things I can find to read about Dark Iron lore a bit? and maybe on rogue roleplay?
What server should I play on?
Can I get some general advice on what to do and what not to do, I know Meta RP and God modding are not accepted, but is there anything else?
What to do and not to do? Well, first off, there’s a saying I’ve heard that when you RP you can really go with a lot of different ideas. The thing that matters is execution.
Some things I personally don’t do:
Put canon characters into my story, besides talking about the Warchief or some event that happened. One time Mr. Anduin appeared as an NPC only.
Make my character too powerful. I generally try to make them on par with their in game level, or the power level of their team.
I don’t put in references to a different world or game.
Some things I do:
Get creative with classes. Ravasha is a Fire Mage partially, reflecting her training before becoming a Warlock.
You want a character that serves a constructive purpose in the thread. Even a villainess must fit in the story and not break the rules of the GM.
Remember that not everybody likes my ideas and prepare for rejection.
People like a character that typically fits in the world, not too high power, and with a backstory we can believe. If your character is friends with lots of canon peeps, too strong and incorporates mismatched elements it distracts from the story you are telling.
However we can have freedom in certain things. Making class combinations, having dragons, even including one canon character in a minor role.
Ideally RP should be fun for you. It should also be fun for everybody else.
You can find groups that would accept almost any idea. But the Do’s and Don’t’s I’ve listed have been my experience on the forums.
The dwarven areas and Allied Race unlock questline already have a good amount of Dark Iron lore, especially if you play through Burning Steppes and Searing Gorge. For more information, I recommend reading up on WoWpedia(more trustworthy than WoWwiki, I believe), though do be aware that the RPG section isn’t considered official canon(though it’s still useful for getting ideas).
In regards to rogue roleplay–rogues are a very versatile class and can be reskinned as any number of things. You might be an agent of SI:7, a thief, an archaeologist, a pirate…the list goes on. It’s just a matter of what kind of character you are interested in playing.
Moon Guard and Wyrmrest Accord are the two biggest RP servers for PvE; Emerald Dream for PvP. Moon Guard is dominated by Alliance, with a small, tight-knit Horde community. Wyrmrest Accord is split evenly between both Alliance and Horde, and is home to the largest population of Horde RPers. There are also smaller servers like Cenarion Circle.
For Classic RP, Bloodsail Buccaneers is the go-to for PvE-RP and Grobbulus is the go-to for RP-PvP, I believe. There’s also Deviate Delight.
Before choosing a server though(and especially before paying money for any transfers!) I highly recommend rolling alts on the ones that interest you and checking out the atmosphere to make sure it’s agreeable. Not all servers are alike and the flavor of one might be better than the flavor of another.
These two links should give you a good run-down on the major bits of RP etiquette. While the second link refers more to forum writing, it can help you better plan a character if you’re having trouble figuring out how to start or where to polish.
Another link that’s handy if you decide to delve into forum RP:
The new forums are friendlier to writing up stories and RPing(especially if you’re ranked highly enough to post images), but can be a bit daunting at first. That link will help you figure out how to format things properly, as well as list what rank is needed for what permissions.
Related to this, leave room for character development. It’s fine to have a backstory that has impacted the character, but leave room for the character to grow and evolve in interesting ways as you RP the character over time. This is for both their ‘power level’ and their growth as a person.