On Dragon roleplaying (Don’t leave yet) I’ve been asking around the past few days but I need opinions from many sources.
I came to the forums because this is where I get most of my information and questions cleared, and its always nice to see what the communities opinion is on these types of subjects.
How exactly does the community reflect upon them, good/bad, or maybe in between? Does your realm out dragon roleplayers? Are there possible guilds on your realm that are specifically for Dragon RP?
I’m generally curious as I had a few ideas about it myself, but I’ve yet to take such a leap of faith into what seems like a dangerous endeavor.
In my personal opinion, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with RPing as a dragon. Especially now that they’re no longer the godly immortal beings they once were.
I’ve RPed with several dragon RPers, and the few times there was an issue it was never about them being a dragon.
Of course, I may be pretty biased, because I RP something even more out there than a dragon.
Personally, not a fan. I avoid them at all costs. To me, a good dragon RPer wouldn’t let you know they’re a dragon. Gotta think dragons like Ebonhorn only ever let 1 person at a time know who he truly was, and for very good reason. Most RPers I come across who RP dragons obviously break this idea of the hidden dragon among mortals.
Dragons are still dragons, regardless of their mortality and infertility. Its still a big winged lizard that could eat you in a single bite if they so choose that just completely throws off the power levels when you’re getting into a fight.
I never outted dragon RPers, mostly because they always outted themselves. There was A: no need to do it, and B: its just a dick move. I’m not going to hunt them down by any means and tell them they’re wrong, it is their 15 bucks still. However, if I see them out in the world, lets say I might be a bit more inclined to kill them than your typical enemy player.
The “community” has a tendency to aggressively and repeatedly step on rakes when it comes to RPing anything that isn’t a lowly dirt farmer. I would not trust it’s opinion about what is OK to RP.
I have found that Moon Guard is generally pretty good with Dragon RPers because we generally don’t consider that Dragon RP is something that needs to be “outed”. There are more legitimate things to out people for, like sexual harassment and pedophilia.
I’m with Abrahof. I normally avoid dragon RP’ers. Most of the ones I’ve come across have been bad rp’ers/power players that use being a dragon as their ultimate get out of jail card. “You tried to stab me? Haha! I’m a dragon in disguise, my scales/thick hide protect me.” That sort of thing.
There is however ONE dragon RP’er that does it right. The characters are characters first, dragons a very distant second. I’ve been in RP threads with this person where I wouldn’t have guessed that the character they were playing was a dragon.
I still tend to avoid dragon rp’ers, but I can’t say that they’re ALL bad, because I know that where there is one GOOD dragon RP’er, there may be more. I just haven’t found them yet.
My opinion on dragons is that they’re extremely boring. When I have to deal with a dragon in quests, it makes me want to go to sleep.
The only instances where I loved a dragon interaction was when my DK did that quest in Legion where you get to genocide them, and then in Drustvar where that Zallestrasza dragon gets all pissed at me for killing her family, then I try to kill her, too, but she kicks me into the ocean. Those two were the best dragon quests ever.
As to RPers doing dragons… same thing. Meh. Bland. I guess dragons in general media don’t appeal to me if they’re not massive, greedy monsters that destroy cities and hoard treasures.
Anyway, I don’t care about dragon roleplaying. My only RP gripe is people being overpowered, story snatchers which I’ve seen more of in non-dragons than dragons.
As to would a “good” dragon RPer out themselves? Why not? Ebonhorn, Krasus, Wrathion all had reasons for hiding. These reasons don’t translate to all dragons. The only reason my blue cares about being known or not is the inconvenience of interruptions. I mean… the only dragon that really cares is my black, because she is a black. However, running around screaming “I AM A DRAGON!” is on par with running around screaming “I AM A KALDOREI!” Crazy people might do it, but normal people don’t.
To me, that is the only reason my dragons are “secret.” Because they don’t just blurt it out to everyone they meet, but they don’t really hide it either. Most are odd balls and eccentrics with complex feelings and emotions, so it isn’t their first line of conversation. But if your character puts the pieces together and approach them about it, they aren’t going to be all “OH MY TITANS PLS NO SECRET TELLING!” Most will be like… “Your… point?”
My draw to the beasts is the same draw that keeps the short lived races out from my radar. I love their vast history and diversity, so I like to research and write them. Can do some crazy things with them.
Anyway, ramble over. If you want someone to bounce ideas off of or tips, let me know. And feel free to search the Exotic Roleplaying Guide I posted here a while ago.
My opinion is more than a little biased since my favorite creatures of all time are dragons, but my opinion applies to any abstract character concept. If you can explain to me why your character exists with solid lore backing you up, then go for it! Dragons are probably the easiest ‘non-humaniod’ race to pull off simply due to the fact they already have a lot of lore based characters who shape shift into humaniods and interact with people normally.
As far as PC characters go, I think any extremes are bad. If you are Stormwind Guard #14529, your character is not very interesting and probably won’t be very successful. On the other hand if your character is full on ‘RAWR IMMA DRAGON!’ then again, your character is not very interesting and probably won’t be very successful. If you are truly concerned with having too much power with dragon form, add a lore reason why they can’t take their dragon form. Were they cursed by a powerful mage and now seek out this mage to restore their former glory? Did your dragon lose their memory and forgot they even were a dragon let alone how to shift back?
Raiku is still a work in progress, but his base lore is that he was a netherdrake that got sucked into the Nether when the original Draenor was ripped apart by portals. He lost his original body and had his soul bound to a Belf warlock. He and the warlock now search for a way to restore the drake’s form.
The thread was accidentally posted on the Story forum instead of the World’s End Tavern. They were posts correcting them, it was switched, they deleted them after.
I personally am currently ambivalent on the subject. In the past it was on the list of things I’m wary about, more so out of caution than anything; primarily based on the stigma towards them. In my personal experience I’ve seen the profiles of a few dragon rpers, many of which set off various red flags to me. I have likewise heard of cases where the theme was played intelligently and faithfully and was once in a guild where one was the leader; a generally enjoyable experience in retrospect.
These days I’ve come to see it as one of a few where I think it isn’t inherently bad but has alternatives that encompass similar aspects but are easier to pursue and accept. I personally never placed any value in the idea however, popular opinions notwithstanding, so I may be a bit biased overall.
In short I tend to find myself thinking something along the lines of; you can, but why would want to?
I have no issues with Dragon Rp, only that it’s often done badly… or perhaps “poorly” is better said. It was said to me when I was looking into it ages ago that one shouldn’t make the fact that they’re a dragon the center of their character. It should instead be a highlight or a detail, or better yet a complication. If you take away the fact that they’re a dragon, can that character still stand on their own? If they crumble as a character then perhaps rethink the approach. I have a few dragon characters of my own that I’ve Rp’d at one time or another and this advice really helped clarify my perspective on the matter.
To clarify, I’m not saying don’t. I guess, just be thoughtful about your approach and motivations.
As a semi-Dragon Rper myself my character himself isn’t exactly a dragon but instead his Black Drake mount is a big part of his story both IC and OOC since his Gryphon was killed. As a result the mount takes on the form of a dwarf whom thanks to Kirsia and some of the RP here in the WET forum has developed his own personality. So I have a dragon side character whom occasionally gets a spotlight away from Bowen here. Such as in the scales RP that is wrapping up.
Draconyxion or “Draco” for short isn’t hiding so much as it is just easier to be in a dwarf guise than in a 50ft long flying lizard when living with Bowen or the other Dwarves of Aerie Peak where Bowen is originally from. Draco is from outland so may or may not be on Wrathion’s radar.
This is because Ebonhorn is a black dragon, not because he’s a dragon. There’s nothing in the lore that’s ever suggested dragons need to hide what they are in public; quite the opposite, actually. They use illusions to mesh with society and make other races more comfortable, but the only times we’ve seen them actively concealing that they’re a dragon is when they’re on covert missions, like Kalec, or trying to hide that they’re a black dragon, like Ebonhorn or, initially, Wrathion.
I’m okay with Dragon RP so long as they aren’t RP’ing a dragon to become some overly powerful being, i’ve rp’ed with one but only in private and I wouldn’t mind seeing more, as long as they are a bit more down to earth or hidden
I believe people should rp what they want
if it means anything, my usual characters are farmers, commoners, and with this one a poor soldier nothing too special about them, but it always makes interacting with “Heroes” or other more unique adventurers more interesting.
Can’t imagine trying to RP a dragon, but i’m okay with seeing them
Agreed. Most of the time, dragons don’t take their humanoid forms to conceal themselves. Night elves even outright revere green dragons who are perfectly comfortable remaining in their dragon forms around elves. The answer why they choose to shapeshift is pretty simple, actually.
Negative, its snowflaking in its worse form. The greatest offenders being those to go out of their way and broadcast to the world that they are dragons. If they were good dragon RPers (which is almost an oxymoron) you would never know they are dragon RPers
So… Kadu, barring black dragons, when’s the last time you saw a dragon hiding? Not just shapeshifted, but actively hiding their true nature?
In my (admittedly flawed) memory, it was Krasus. During the Second War. And even he implied that it was not so much that he was a dragon, but rather that he couldn’t afford to act openly.
It’s tricky. The only time it gets annoying for me is when there are too many people doing it. But it’s hard to say how many are doing it when it’s usually a closely kept secret. So I don’t know how I feel about it, at least on Wyrmcrest Accord. For what it’s worth I’ve been around for about 2 months now and I haven’t seen anyone do it as of yet.
![:man_shrugging:](https://d38bqls1q93fod.cloudfront.net/en/wow/images/emoji/twitter/man_shrugging.png?v=6" ":man_shrugging:")