Greetings, I have recently started a Roleplaying Guild called “The Dark Rangers” . I know there is a bit of a stigma around Dark Rangers as being “snow flakes” and some flat out don’t like the idea of people Roleplaying as them. It’s important to me that this Guild be accepted by the Roleplay Community and the Forsaken as a whole. For now we support the Desolate Council and are watching over Lordaeron.
That being said I would like to open up this post to suggestions or concerns other Roleplayers, especially the Forsaken, might have about this sort of thing. What sort of steps might we take to become accepted by the Community rather than being something folks would roll their eyes at?
The days of policing other people for the make believe they want to partake in on their own free time is over. Accepting all roleplay so long as the individuals are being respectful of one another is in! If someone judges you for the character you play, they were never going to be a good rp partner in the first place, and that’s a bullet dodged.
Firstly, congratulations on starting a guild! I hope you find fun and success.
Secondly, I highly encourage you to focus on curating a group of people you mesh well with and doing what you enjoy. Everything you do will be better and more authentic when you’re having a genuinely good time.
I agree with Thomas that, overall, trying to exert control over what other people are and are not allowed to RP isn’t something that a lot of people still do or that’s considered appropriate in most WrA circles, as far as I can tell. I don’t think worrying too much about your reception is overly necessary.
The part about being respectful of each other is key. The one thing I would suggest, if it isn’t already on your radar, is simply to avoid trying to exert IC authority or control over others people’s characters and RP without ascertaining their OOC interest and consent in advance. It’s a foundational thing that we should all keep in mind, but I mention it just because I think the perception that Dark Rangers had inherent authority and social capital in Forsaken society – especially back when all the Dark Ranger NPCs we saw were named lore characters, which isn’t the case anymore – was part of what made some people consider them taboo in the past.
I remember the days of the Forsaken community when non-Forsaken models were frowned upon unless they were DKs, but I think that changed somewhere around the end of BFA.
I love dark rangers and am glad to see more of them on the server. Hope to see you at Forsaken themed RP events!
It depends on the player behind the character.
If they are doing things like being all powerful, reading minds with their spooky dead magic, meta gaming, godmodding, etc etc then of course people are going to go “Ew that dark ranger is gross.”
But if these characters have reasonable strengths and weaknesses and stay within what is reasonable knowledge for them to have then there really isnt any issue.
We know that there were more dark rangers made back when the tree burned. We also knew there were a few before then. So it’s not too out there to have a dark ranger character. Again, its all about how you roleplay the character… just like any character!
I agree with this 100%. I am actually making this an emphasis with our RP. My goal is for the Guild to behave much in the way the NPCs always have. " I watch, I listen" should sort of be the mantra. I don’t think Dark Rangers should ever be larger than life nor claim to have the sort of power Sylvanas did. Any traits our actual toons don’t posses should be limited to things such as being excellent trackers.
Figured it would be longer before this type of guild to be started. Like instead, Dark Rangers finding themselves among all other Forsaken guilds because they’re so few in number. If there is room for more opinions then here is one.
Create something to do publicly. Dark Rangers have always been behind the scenes so to speak. Top authority and in the know about much. So be seen because with that status considerably reduced, what service can they provide the Forsaken which the other groups represented in the council don’t already cover?
Under Sylvanas I’m pretty sure it was more than a perception - they were elite city guards, spearheaded invasions of enemy strongholds with abominations in tow, and of course all had names. Names of women Sylvanas had served and died with.
But the Undercity is lost, Faranell and Calia are more concerned with restoring Gilneas, Sylvanas is long gone, and dark rangers aren’t just her old sisters in arms anymore. Many of them are her victims. It’s interesting to wonder what they’re up to.
I know it’s just where my head is at lately, but imagine a luckless group of Moonguard alliance camping noobs in some backwater of the dragon isles. Things are going well until they hear “caw, caw” and are suddenly engulfed in several murders of crows followed up by bloodthirsty hunter pets. The sky darkens as countless arrows blot out the sky.
ELVEN ARCHER Descendants of the elder race of Lordaeron, these sylvan woodsmen are unmatched in their use of the bow.
ELVEN RANGER Rangers are a special cadre of Elven Archers who are intimately bound to the wildlands of Lordaeron.
Just my two cents, the Alliance has seen fit to burn Tirisfal instead of doing for it what the Argents did for the Plaguelands. There’s now a giant dead scar streaking north to south across the zone as a result. I think the Dark Rangers probably know better than most how to defend and steward such a troubled land.
Ah, so from this i could see a ceremony or something the Dark Rangers could do to reconnect with the wilds, plagued in this current state, and that could be the public display.
When it come to being seen in the Public both the NPC Dark Rangers as well as those in The Dark Rangers Guild have made the protection of Lordaeron our chief objective so you would mostly find us there. Otherwise, we do hope to include ourselves in other public Forsaken events. Dark Rangers by their very nature don’t cause a scene or do anything to draw attention to themselves beyond what is called for in their objectives.