As many of you have probably noticed, my warcraft experience includes both raiding and roleplay content. I’m as much of a lore-geek as I am about aspects of theorycrafting, and I love all the various interesting characters that my Annas get to interact with on a daily basis.
But not everyone has the advantage that I do – several friends that are walking lore dictionaries, and many resources through guilds and the realm forum for roleplaying and lore help. And contrary to what you may have seen here earlier… there’s a LOT more to roleplay than just the stereotypical “cyber” references…
So here begins a series of posts covering roleplaying basics and “hints”. To get you started on the “other side” of World of Warcraft, here are a few really awesome resources that you might find helpful as you start to explore the mind and experiences of your characters:
Wowwiki does a lot of things. Boss strategies? check. Classes and races? check. But they also have some really awesome lore information – and when I’ve got a question about something lore-related, this is almost always the first place I check.
The only “trouble” with WoWwiki is the fact that you can really quickly get overloaded with info – it’s so easy to just keep clicking through, opening new tabs/windows, and sinking hours of time into learning about a particular lore tidbit. Sometimes this isn’t really trouble at all, especially if you’re looking to get a “bigger picture” feel for a character or a zone or an instance. But if you’re just getting started and don’t know what questions to even ask, it can be a bit daunting.
If you find yourself in that situation, I’d recommend two things.
- First, don’t look for character lore right off the bat – think of something you’re interested in (for example:Who the heck is Vashj and why does she have such bad hair?) and go digging around when you have some free time. Let the curiosity lead you through the site, and just go exploring.
- Second – Go take a look at the next link in this list – Dramatis Personae!
Dramatis Personae
Dramatis Personae is an association of roleplayers that also keeps up an awesome “beginning” set of lore and roleplay guidelines for creating a character. If you’ve never looked at lore other than the intro cutscenes in warcraft and what bits you pick up from reading quest text… (You do read quest text right? If you don’t, you should!), DP is the place to start. Start with their intro to roleplay and then browse through their character creation pages. You’ll get a good taste of the lore without getting so overloaded you throw your hands over your head and give up.
Once you get a little more familiar with your character, you also need to take a look at their Character Diamond paradigm. This is useful to both a newly formed character and as a way to “dig deeper” into a character you’ve had around for awhile. I’ll cover character creation at a later date, so until then, keep this kind of thing in mind if you decide to roll a new character.
RP Archives
A nifty little site dedicated to roleplay (not just in Warcraft), RP Archives is an archive of links to articles from WoW Insider and other sources on role play basics, including how to pick a server, and the 10 Commandments of Roleplaying.
Another great website, this one has a whole set of “RP Classes” starting with the very basics – RP Survival Guide. Though not updated particularly frequently, this resource is another great place to gather information and hopefully pique your curiosity about roleplay in World of Warcraft.
**For actual character creation tips and tricks, I point you to That Damn RPer’s series Roleplay 101 – her first post is about Character Building. Good stuff!
