I honestly feel incredibly dumb asking this, but I genuinely don’t know, and I am seriously curious. How does Role play work for WoW? I’m guessing like other games. But, are there families to join? If so, how? How do you get stories started, or do you build off of current lore, if that’s the case where does your character come in? Do you make a character sheet? There is just so many questions I have. I recently had the want to try out RPing but I just have no clue where to start.
I don’t do RP at all but I can answer this: yes, there are addons for it that other people with the same addon can read.
There is an addon: TRP3, that’s basically your character sheet, as for when or how, many servers have server events or sometimes you may just stumble into some people roleplaying and you just join up. Many(By many I mean 2 xD) of my friends I met through RP.
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Well, would anyone be willing to help me out or anything? I would really appreciate it. Thanks.
Great question!
When I used to avidly RP my favorite kinds were simply grouping up for zone quests with other RPers, discussing the zone, talking about the quests, etc. it was more active and felt organic.
Others have created stories based on their character’s own heritage and RP’d that. Say, a mage that studies at the Academy of Arcane Arts (the storm wind school of magic, think that’s the name). They May RP that they’re being tasked with collecting artifacts for their academy and request others join them, as the artifacts are buried deep within a cave - “Aren’t they always,” says one of your companions.
And then ya set out - on foot maybe - to Blackrock Mountain, roleplaying as your character along he way.
Stuff like that.
If you’re a rogue, maybe rP that you’re applying for SI:7 and need to prove yourself to Mathias Shaw. He has a few questline appearances late in the Twilight Highlands zone that could be used as entry into that group. Or simply RP that, in order to be commissioned as a Stormwind Scout/Spy you need to complete X dungeon or quest(s).
Could even force the difficulty by doing it with white armor on or WM on and fighting the other faction.
Edit to add: The World’s End Tavern section of these forums is a great place to lurk, observe other RP and just straight up ask about possible backstories.
You get an RP addon, fill it out. Then you go to Orgrimmar or Stormwind and try to roleplay with people. You can do it with small numbers of people, one on one, or a group, whatever.
There’s a lot of nuance that you’ll slowly pick up on over time. And you’ll slowly learn a lot of subtext about how RP addons are filled out.
The make-up of people on RP realms is a lot different than on normal realms too.
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This too!
Although, it may be easier to “roleplay with yourself” first, getting your backstory amidst the Warcraft universe, and then sharing it with others. It can be more difficult jumping into group RP if you don’t have any backstory for your character.
Backstory doesn’t need to be a belabored tragic story. It can also be how your character interacts with the world. Their beliefs. Their approach to things. Many people probably find it easy to “self-insert” into the game - eg they roleplay as themselves mostly. Others like exploring different personalities via their toons.
Heck, one “easy” way to exemplify the above is what kind of food consumables your toon likes. When I played a Druid, she only ate nuts and berries and cheese - a vegetarian. Never eating meat - even if it provided a superior buff.
Fairlight here never uses healthstones. Well…mostly never. If I’m pushing “high-for-me” keys I don’t want to be that snobby dude and be the cause of a wipe!
But you probably get the idea.
Was gonna be a Human Paladin, I’m pretty good at coming up with backstories, so that should be easy and really fun :)!
Those are pretty straightforward to RP so I think that’s a great starting point.
There’s honestly way too much to cover, so I’ll just list some random basics:
- Join Moonguard or Wyrmrest Accord. The rest are dead. MAAAYBE Emerald Dream. But beyond that, they’re definitely dead.
- Avoid RPing as a powerful and evil character. Some people can do this, but it takes experience to do this kind of character well.
- If someone tries to get you to RP something you don’t want to, you don’t have to. If you get an abusive guild leader/officer and they tell you that they’ll blacklist you on the server for insubordination, it’s tauren poop. People ignore blacklists. I bring this up because it seems to be a recurring theme with new RPers. Especially with House Guilds.
- List yourself as a new roleplayer in your RP addon. People will be nicer to you (probably).
- Since you said “Human Paladin”, don’t try to be the police. Just… don’t.
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I was an avid roleplayer in my youth but wow is very much up to the individual to explore and Rp. I’d suggest asking if there’s anyone who RPs on your server in zones and ask if they wanna get a party going.
That said it’s still hard. Wow is a fast paced game now, and it’s hard to get several folks together who all play at the same pace or are even willing to slow down to RP properly. I find just reading quests and staying around for the dialogue afterwards is rewarding enough for me personally.
Still, it Can be done, but I just RP solo and occasionally interact with others as I see fit.
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Wyrmrest horde side (haven’t played Alliance side) is amazing.
I play mainly Emerald Dream Alliance side and it feels good there in my guild, but I think you’re right: there doesn’t seem to be as much IC (in character for others) stuff just wandering the streets of stormwind or Boralus within the ‘Dream.
In WRA in SMC especially it felt like it was every street! Was beautiful.
World RP, except when there’s an event hosted there, is generally pretty dead. I think Booty Bay might be one of the only exceptions.
It’s a big world, and Roleplayers generally do not leave the cities as much as other players do. If you like solo questing like me, it’s great.
There used to be more world RP, but dying community issues from expansions like WoD and BfA have caused a lot of problems.
Thanks for the tips Keelhaul, I personally don’t enjoy the OP characters, it’s no fun unless of course you’ve had the character for a long time in the RP and your character lore wise has become more powerful. I also wouldn’t become a police officer, just seems silly to me trying to mitigate other peoples fun.
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