Disclaimer: I’ve never RP’d in wow despite being on MG and WrA for well over a decade. I’ve read many posts on the forums about the state of RP as well as the pros and cons of server lore or the lack thereof as well as invite-only RP and the desire for more widespread RP.
What if we setup a West Marches-esque style of RP? Player-driven stories where summaries of each RP session are posted in a central location (like here on the forums) so that players can easily find the reports and riff off them.
Example:
“I’m looking for 4-5 people for a mission into the Blasted Lands. Reports of figures in the night centered around the Dark Portal suggest possible trouble. I’d like to head out on (enter a day/time), investigate (duration), and see what we find.”
Afterwards, a brief summary can be posted detailing the outcome of that session. “Myself and (others) went out the other night to see what we could find. It turns out it was just some murlocs scavenging small rocks.” Other players can run with that, do their own, separate investigations or even offers from new/other players to go back again because “I may have a perspective that could shed some light on things”. Or maybe the situation has changed since the initial investigation and it’s not shadowy figures at night but a small group of upstart bandits are trying to move in for some reason.
The point is it’s a style of play allowing for any number of players to participate while keeping all the plots in a centralized area to spawn any number of additional story lines.
Even if you don’t want to schedule your play time, being aware of what has happened and where would allow you to show up somewhere solo for your own view possibly leading to impromptu RP with others doing the same as well as another session of notes in the centralized location.
The ultimate goal to bring widespread, shared RP out into the open for all to see. Players can come and go as they see fit, always adding to the stories but not taking away, and putting a giant spotlight on a great, low-stress introduction to the entire RP community (or at least those involved). No need to wait for plots to wrap up to be introduced, RP sessions could be as short or as long as anyone wants, and the ability to add in almost any type of character since you’re making up objectives as you go anyway. Pirates investigating the rumors of their lost cargo appearing on the shore could run into scholars who heard the cargo may have had rare tomes within it. However, a group of murlocs has already started scavenging and thieves are already planning on who they can sell their ill-gotten goods to.
Note: this doesn’t mean it becomes server lore. It would be self-contained to this “campaign” or whatever you want to call it. You could just as easily not be interested and therefore none of it impacts you.
