Rp tips and faux pas

Lore World's End Tavern: Role-play and Fan Fiction
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This is a repost from general discussion, didn’t have any traction but this may be a better place to ask, thank you

I’m new to rp but I like it, so far at least. When I first joined an rp server years ago the world felt more alive. People we posted up by campfires, groups fishing together, seeing people out and about. Was nice, made Azeroth feel lived in.

I’ve been giving it a try here and there but as the title states, what are some tips and on good and not so good.

I’ve got trp3 but it seems there’s a dozen ways to set it up. I’ve seen people mention other people do a sort of quasi in character/ out of character but it seems people don’t like that. Which I kind of do but I’m sure the etiquette there. I also like to talk in the 3rd person time to time, is that looked down upon?

When in a rp guild it seems the guild leader has a vision or direction, how do you avoid not stepping on toes?

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For your TRP, you should set it up however you like and whatever looks good to you. It is fine if you want to add a few OOC details that you think are important for others to know, but most serious roleplayers avoid putting too much unnecessary OOC info or trollish-type content. I personally think of it as an advertisment for my character—I put just enough to indicate that my character is interesting to hook others in so that they will want to RP with me. :slight_smile:

Roleplay is typically always done in the third person, with the exception of writing dialogue.

As for guilds, I suppose just being polite and not pushy is enough to not step on the leader’s toes. It depends on the leader’s personality. I was once a guild leader so I can tell you that good leaders really appreciate their members taking the initiative and are open to suggestions!

My guide offers a lot of tips which touches on pretty much all of these things:

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I myself tend to keep my own TRP profiles straightforward. It doesn’t need a ton of fancy formatting either. Obviously, everyone is different, but I feel like the following is fairly straightforward and gets the point across on each major tab:

  • Characteristics

Under Basic Info, I go with:
Race: (Usually self explanatory by just looking, but make sure to clarify if a playable race is standing in for something else)
Class: (See above)
Age: (https://warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/Life_spans can be a useful resource for non-human races)
Eye Color: (Exceedingly useful on races that lack a certain color)
Height: (Use the chart at https://warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/Height for player model sizes; I treat those as the average heights)
Birthplace:
Residence:

Additional Info:
Real Name/Nickname/Alias: (Useful if you use an alias or otherwise changed your name for some reason)
Family Motto/Personal Quote: (This one can say a surprising amount about who you are with very few words)
Voice Reference: (Not strictly needed, but generally good for helping people see what you sound like)
Theme Music and/or Battle Theme: (Just a fun addition I like; I use songs with lyrics for the first and prefer an instrumental battle theme for the second)
Date of Birth: (Self explanatory; current year in lore is either 43 ADP or Year 635 of the King’s Calendar)
Date of Death/Rebirth: (this can actually become relevant if you’re undead for some reason or another)

SPECIAL NOTE: Keep in mind that the passage of time can be a little weird at times, especially once timeskips come into play. Just because your birthday arrives IRL, that doesn’t mean your character is suddenly a year older.

By all means, celebrate it if you wish, but keep an eye on the actual passage of time in lore. Most expansions tend to only last for a year in lore despite taking multiple years IRL. It’s been almost 21.5 years IRL since WoW launched, but in lore it’s been 18 years since the start of WoW (25 ADP to 43 ADP)

https://warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/Timeline

^ If lore is important to you, then this is the most important link you’ll ever bookmark.

Personality Traits:
I like to use the following as I feel this is the best mix:
Chaotic/Lawful
Forgiving/Vindictive
Altruistic/Selfish
Truthful/Deceitful
Gentle/Brutal
Superstitious/Rational
Renegade/Paragon
Cautious/Impulsive

  • About

For this tab, I feel Template 3 works the best. I go with the following:

Physical Description
Personality Traits
History

  • Misc

Always try to make use of your “At First Glance” tabs, but keep in mind that you’re not writing a novel on these! Never use them to tell people how they should feel about your character! Always try to approach them from the thought of “What is the person going to notice about me before anything is said?”

Here’s the ones I used on this character as an example:

Monotone Voice: Lilus speaks with a voice largely devoid of emotion.
Scar: Lilus has a visible scar on her left arm: that of a bite from a humanoid creature, strongly suggesting the events leading to her end.
Youthful Appearance: Lilus retains her youthful appearance due to dying relatively young by gnomish standards.
Expertly Crafted Armor: Dark runes cover the gnome’s armor that fits her small frame perfectly. Soot under her nails leaves little doubt as to who crafted it.
Gentle Nature: Despite her voice and appearance, Lilus seems to have a gentle and protective nature, but she is also known to be exceptionally violent if pushed too far.

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