How do I start

Lore World's End Tavern: Role-play and Fan Fiction
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I’m interested on RP, but i’m a noob, I don’t know how to RP and I know very little about wow’s lore (except some troll lore because I found out that i love them) and wow in general. where do I start? should I create a new character or transfer? if transfer do you get to stay on your current guild or do I say my goodbyes? do I create a character sheet before entering a new guild? do I have to know more about the lore before getting into it? which servers are recommended? I have so many questions! halp …///…

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Greetings, and welcome to RP!

I would recommend rolling alts on the RP servers that interest you first, and checking out the community to make sure it’s a good fit. Not every server is created alike, after all. The three biggest RP servers are Wyrmrest Accord, Moon Guard, and Emerald Dream(though this one is PvP oriented and suffered a bit recently). Smaller servers like Cenarion Circle don’t have the sheer numbers for RP, but may be more to your liking if you prefer tighter-knit communities.

If you transfer your character you will be needing to find a new guild to join on your new server. However, with the introduction of communities in BFA, it’s much easier to keep in touch with friends! Additionally, some RPers run RP communities, so it’s possible you may not need to transfer at all–dig up a few communities that look interesting, and you can join the events via cross-realm sharding.

It depends on the guild, really. Regardless of whether or not an RP profile is required for entry, I would highly recommend downloading anyway and filling it out. It’ll allow others to see more information about your character that may not be portrayed by the game model, and will also allow you to tell who’s in-character(IC) and who’s out-of-character(OOC). And vice versa.

TRP 3, MRP, and XRP are the main add-ons for this, and function mostly the same. I prefer TRP 3 myself(due to the sheer customization it offers), though it can be a bit daunting starting out. MRP is a lighter weight version of TRP 3, and the add-on I started with. The good news is all RP add-ons now work cross-server, so characters do not have to be on the same server to see each other’s profiles. Oh, and don’t worry–regardless of which one you end up choosing, you will still be able to read profiles from other add-ons.

You don’t have to know everything about the lore, but it helps to do a little reading beforehand to be familiar with the history of what you’re trying to RP. The in-game lore is pretty good but can be confusing at times, and there are things that happen in the lore books that we…don’t really ever see in-game. Additionally, some races will require a little more lore knowledge to RP well than others(like night elves, for instance, due to the sheer amount of history behind them).

However, it’s also OK to make mistakes, and all of us have done so–even the veteran RPers. If you have more lore questions but aren’t really sure where to start researching, asking here in World’s End Tavern is a good starting point.

As stated before, Wyrmrest Accord, Moon Guard, and Emerald Dream are going to be the big three to choose from.

WRA has the biggest community for Horde RP, but is split about 50/50 overall on faction population(so there’s still plenty of RP on Alliance too!)

Moon Guard is heavily weighted towards the Alliance, but does have a small, closely knit Horde community. It can be a little more fast and loose with the lore than WRA. Just…stay out of Goldshire.

Emerald Dream is the go-to for RP-PvP, although I’ve heard it’s been suffering from an influx of PvPers who do not respect the RP portion of the server. I’m not really sure what the status of it is now–I think it’s been recovering. But if you want to combine PvP and RP this is probably the go-to server for it.

Smaller servers like Cenarion Circle don’t have the numbers of the previous three mentioned, but do have tightly-knit communities.

As a final note–here are a couple guides written by a prominent community member, that you may find useful. One is more geared towards writing character stories here on the forums, but is still helpful in regards to polishing writing in general.

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nice! This is incredibly useful and I appreciate your time and response. Thanks! :grinning:
Let’s get started then!

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Ill give a more indepth answer once I’m home. But first, Welcome to the RP Community!

Secondly, the most important thing for RP is that there is no wrong way to RP. Don’t get me wrong. If you try playing Voljin’s long lost brother who was personally taught how to weild the elements personally by Thrall, you are going to have a hard time finding other RPers willing to RP with you. Still doesn’t make your RP wrong.

For example, I’m obessed with dragons and there will be people who won’t RP with me for that reason alone. Doesn’t make my characters any less to me.

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Where do I start?

Depends on where you want to RP. If you want to RP in game, you will need to have a character on an RP server. You don’t have to transfer or leave your current guild, you can just make and level a character on one of the servers. You’ll want to make a character anyway to test the waters on each server before deciding where you want your RP home to be. However, there is no reason you can’t have characters on multiple servers. You can also join RP guilds on servers for bigger stories and community, or you can go in solo and do walk up style RP. Once you have some friends, you can do bigger stories as a group.

If you want to RP on the forums, you can start by joining a thread. Forum Etiquette is as thus: IC threads are for pure IC responses. Closed threads are for specific people. Some closed threads have an alternative thread sign ups. There are threads labeled OOC for out of character discussions stemming from the IC threads. Open threads are generally IC threads that anyone can join and post without sign ups. Some bigger ones have OOC threads tied to them or spots to post character sheets. We generally try to keep character sheets and sign ups out of the IC threads to avoid disrupting the flow. Forum RP is slower paced and less frequent than In game, but the story arcs are often bigger. You don’t have to be on an RP server to RP on the forums.

Ultimately, you start RP by jumping in. You just have to go. Get your feet wet. The water is fine :smiley:

should I create a new character or transfer?

Your call. If you make a new character, I suggest leveling it to 10-20 before trying to RP. Level 1s are okay but sometimes are regarded as trolly characters. People are more cautious with them. (Or base level DKs and DHs). By getting some levels, you show some dedication towards the toon, however RP has no true level requirement. Unless you want certain transmog lol

if transfer do you get to stay on your current guild or do I say my goodbyes?

Again, it is up to you. How much do you want to dedicate to your RP toon? Is it going to be your main or a new character? This is a decision you have to make yourself. There is no dictating rule to it. My Main is my druid. She is on whisperwind in a raiding guild. I RP with her on the forums though. Kersia here is my forum main. She is on WRA but I barely play her in game lol. I don’t RP in game much at all honestly anymore. I just prefer the forum style RP.

do I create a character sheet before entering a new guild?

Many RP guilds want to conduct an in character interview before you join. They may ask for a character sheet, but that is guild by guild basis. I would recommend having a basic idea of character appearance, age-ish, and backstory. It doesn’t have to be fully fleshed out, but you want to be able to ask pertinent questions. A big one right now is faction alignment and where you stand on current events. Nail those down and nail down your character’s involvement and views on other big story events for your race and age. That is the main reason you want a general idea of a character age. Don’t need an exact number, but you’ll want to know what big events have happened in your lifetime.

Same goes for thread sign up if you want to do Forum RP. Tavern style and walk up stuff don’t really need it, but thread creators and story makers need to know how you’ll fit or if you’ll fit in their tales.

When it comes to character sheets, you don’t need them but I recommend getting an RP addon. It helps flag you as an RPer, if you are IC or OOC at that moment, and keeps track of story and appearance. The big ones are TRP, MRP, and XRP. It is just preference on which you want, each has their own pros and cons. Other RP addons are Tongues for language and GryphonHeartItems for custom item creation and sharing.

do I have to know more about the lore before getting into it?

Yes and no. You can jump into RP with just a character name and personality. However, I recommend getting a backstory figured out, and for that you’ll want to at least understand the lore around your race and class. You can look on WoWwiki, WoWpedia, the Warcraft website and forums, and WoWHead to try and tease out information. There are gray areas in the lore though, and gaps. For those, you’ll have to use reasonable judgement. Fill in the blanks using a mix of logic and lore, and you’ll be fine.

which servers are recommended?

Mori went over this already, and I touched on it. Ultimately, you’ll want to roll a toon on each server and observe the RP, see if it fits you. Don’t be discouraged if someone is rude to you, there are more fish in the sea of RPers.

I have so many questions!

If you have any more, feel free to post here. Or you can post in the FAQ thread. My Discord is also Vynianyx#3393 if you want to ask questions there.

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if you decide to go on moonguard stay out of goldshire. other wise its a fantastic rp server especially if you play alliance, but, just stay away from goldshire. if you want to play a human maybe just go straight to stormwind and take the train to ironforge or something just whatever you do stay out of the lions pride inn

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i’m afraid to ask why should i stay away from Goldshire…

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Its better that way…

Lets just say that its a quarantine zone for a fair number of transmitted diseases that are passed through acts unsuitable to mention on the forums.

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Without RP addons, you’ll really only see some duelists in the square, and then a huge, mixed, scantily attired MOB filling the inn. If you have RP addons, you’ll see things in their profiles that can’t be unseen.

MG’s legendary ERP crowd is largely separate from its RP community. Most are off-server players, who came to troll, or for giggles, and stayed.

But sometimes stuff spills over even into /General. I play on MG, but if I am levelling an Alliance toon, I do that in Dun Morogh, Teldrassil, Azuremyst, or anywhere but Elwynn Forest. In addition to the spillover into chat, the sheer crowding of the zone can be lag-inducing.

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I suggest watching this guy Nobel on YouTube. He has great wow lore videos. I binge watch them all the time.