Hello felow roleplayers, with the Mechagnomes now out and having played and roleplayed with them I thought I would write a little guide to robognome rp if you are interested in joining the mechanic party.
What is a Mechagnome ?
A Mechagnome is a Gnome who went through the process of mechanization, replacing limbs and body parts with machinery as a way to enhance himself but still keeping his organic individuality with typically the torso and head left untouched or just upgraded, for example with special glasses, and not outright replaces like limbs usually are. So biologically they are no different from a regular Gnomes with an average height of 90 centimeters. Adulthood is reached around the thirties and they can live up to four hundred years, maybe more with their knowledge of biomechanic.
Mechagnomes can be split in two main categories, most are the Gnomes we met on their island but now that they rejoined the Alliance some Gnomeregan Gnomes also chose to undergo mechanization although since it’s a Mechagnome guide and not a Gnome guide I will focus on the actual Mechagnomes.
Culture of the Mechagnomes
Mechagnome culture is very similar to their Gnomeregan cousins with the same focus on intelligence, tinkering and science with a general lack of interest for the matters of faith. Their sense of ethics is also much more pragmatic than most of the Alliance races. Their main difference is their obsession for upgrading themselves, as explained in their short comic book mechanization is a goal every Mechagnome strives for, gaining mechanical limbs is seen as a reward for an accomplishment. Think of it as a somesort of right of adulthood. That being said the recent uprising against the tyranny of King Mechagone somehow calmed the burning passion Mechagnomez have for their upgrades, although they are far from rejecting them they now understand the importance of keeping a balance between organic and machine and now put free will at the center of their ethics. Mechanization must always be a free choice.
This put your character in an interesting position concerning his relation with organics, for very long the Mechagnome believed in the superiority of machines and strived to mechanize themselves more and more, only recently was the new focus on balance found. You will have to decide where your character position lies, does he still look down on organics or did he embrace balance ? With everything in between of course.
They speak Gnomish and Common, they like to use machine-like sentences judging by the sound of their emotes, however they don’t speak like robots all the time. A Mechagnome could say something like « Target locked, initiating combat protocols » at the start of a fight but he isn’t going to speak like this all the time so don’t overdo it.
Another side effect of this change is that in the future some Mechagnomes could refuse mechanization as they are exposed to other cultures, especially of their Gnomeregan cousins. However I would advise you be very careful if you go this path as your character was borned far before this reunion and so grew up in a cultural environnement totally pro-mechanization so he would need a good reason not to have been mechanized by now which seems very rare as we didn’t see any fully organics Mechagnomes natives. He would most likely failed something horribly, deeming him unworthy of mechanization.
- Political structures of the Mechagnomes
For centuries Mechagnomes followed the ancient Gnomish monarchy but with Mechagone toppled things recentry changed. Prince Erazmin renonced his right of succession and offered the crown to High Tinkerer Mekkatorque, uniting Gnomeregan Gnomes and the Mechagnomes into one state. Although not stated it’s more than likely than the King position is now not hereditary anymore but meritocratic just like the High Tinkerer position. Mechagnomes and regular Gnomes are now united in a technocracy.
Mechagnomes and the outside world
The Mechagnomes relation to the rest of the world are fairly simple, they obviously like the Alliance and feel a close kinship to their Gnomeregan brothers for most as they consider themselves as part of the same specie which is technically true. A Human with a peg leg is no less of a Human. That being said it wouldn’t be too far fetched to imagine a Mechagnome looking down on his cousins in a « we are the true Gnomes » sort of way. When it comes to the Horde their relation with them is much better than most Alliance races as they joined the Alliance only after Sylvanas departure and so didn’t take part in the 4th war with their long isolation keeping them away from most of the bad blood between the factions in History. However once again it wouldn’t be far fetched to imagine some Mechagnomes disliking or hating the Horde, first because of a feeling of solidarity with their Gnomeregans cousins who fought the Hordes for a long time but also because of diverging ethics. Some Horde races are at the opposite of the Mechagnome love for free will as Goblins often commit forced experimentations on sentient test subjects or the Forsaken raising people against their will and of course testing their Blight on captives. Such ehtical differences are likely to push the Mechagnomes more and more away from the Horde in the future despite their help in dethroning Mechagone.
How to rp a cyborg ?
Being partially machine offers great rp possibilities, however it also has some large pittfalls one can fall into, mainly they can very easily power rp. I call this the Inspector Gadget Syndrom, when whatever the problem is the Mechagnome robot limbs just so happen to have a solution. The Human Rogue need to lockpick something ? Well let the Mechagnome Mage do it, she just so happen to have a universal key as one of her fingers. To avoid this you must keep some rules in mind when creating your character :
-What can any mechagnome do ? No matter what kind of upgrades you had mechagnomes have a set base of capacities they all share. First of all they are usually stronger and faster than their organic cousins, however that doesn’t mean they have unlimited strength or speed because of Newton’s third law ; any force exerted in one direction provoke an equal force toward the opposite direction. In theory you could make so your limbs punch as hard as a tauren, but the resulting kinetic energy would snap your still very much organic gnomish spine so keep things believable. According to racials Mechagnomes probably have various tools mounted in their limbs, a good rule of thumb to avoid op stuff is to only have tools your character would actually use. Why would he carry around a mounted forge if he doesn’t melt stuff ? Mechagnomes were also shown to have a good mastery of electricity and holographic projections, so having things like Emergency failsafe or hyper organic light originator shouldn’t be too far fetched, although keep in mind that lorewise your projections are just decoys.
-What can your mechagnome do ? Just like any character the best way to avoid power rp is to clearly state in your trp what your upgrades do and accepting that you can’t have all options on your limbs. A frontline fighter could have his limbs be of a very resistant material suited for melee combat, but a mage is unlikely to have that. On the contrary a mage could have an inbuilt database on magical subjects for example, or an universal translator. Mechanical upgrades are costly, your mechagnome can’t have everything, realistically he would pick upgrades useful to him.
-Jamming is your friend. Tech can be a insert slur for female worgen, to keep your character balanced don’t be afraid to have your limbs malfunction from times to times. You are in a desert ? Get some sands in between the cogs. You are standing in Stormwind and there is a hot Lightforged lady with « open to all rp » on her trp but you don’t know how to approach her ? Have your arm « malfunction » and « accidentally » slap her butt.
- How to fight as (and against) a cyborg ?
Now that’s the big deal, you want to flex with those big iron muscles of yours to show that hot Night Elf in your party you are just as sexy as the Human Male Paladin. As you would expect fighting as a Mechagnome is quite different. Your limbs are made of metal, so a direct hit from a sword to them is unlikely to to cut through unless enchanted, and judging by the fact they don’t even wear armor on them they must be quite resilient so even hitting them with a mace shouldn’t shatter them, of course repeated hits wouldn’t be good. That doesn’t mean you are an immovable force, you still have fleshy bits and if you let your mechanical parts be compeltly rigid they wont absorb the kinetic energy well and your spine will suffer. However if your biological parts can absorb the shock you can basically look your arms and legs in place, so for example if you are dueling a Human and he tries to move your blade away by pushing it with his own he would most likely be unsuccesful. As such a mechagnome fighting style would most likely be very up close to not give the ennemy room to wind up powerful hits and using your nimbleness to dodge the attacks you can’t parry or block.
Jamming technology exist in wow so be aware of that, however the care for balance cuts both way. If the Paladin pulls up an EMP grenade from up his shiny bottom feel free to call a referee. Your limbs wouldn’t like certains things like electricity or water, although being hit by a shaman lightning bolt wouldn’t disable you completly it would be even more unpleasant than to most races.
Healing would also be a weak point, if you get hit in the torso sure the Light can patch you up but if your limbs are broken healers can’t do anything and you will need repairs, seeing the complexity of Mechagnome limbs it’s unlikely that the old forgotten dungeon has the tools and materials necessary for repairs so be creative, make a quick patch up with what you have, I am sure the cultists wont mind you mount their candlestick as an arm, or just hang out without said arm for the time being.
- Classes for Mechagnomes
Here are some ideas and tips on how to rp the classes available to a Mechagnome (mostly what cool action movie inspired gadgets you can have).
-Warrior, a frontline fighter with heavy metal in his arms (the covered limbs appearance are a must for that), probably has some fighting assisting system to do like Iron Man at the end of Civil War.
-Hunter, you have an interesting rp here with balancing the nature theme of hunters with your love for machines (platonic of course). Alternatively you could go full tech hunter who build his pets himself and has a VATS from Fallout mounted in his glasses.
-Rogues, (oh look it’s my class) for my upgrades I want full on Predator style with some cloaking device and heat signature based vision to stalk around effectively.
-Mage, Priest, Warlock, all casters could enchant their limbs to help with casting and of course a mounted holographic projector to have an Iron Man styled grimoire while the plebs style use paper. Those three classes also enjoy the regular Gnome quirk to them : Mages are awesome, people don’t hate Warlocks and Priest see themselves just as doctors, not men of faith and use the Light as a tool. If you go Priest some surgery stuff mounted in could be handy aswell.
-Monk, a cyborg kung-fu guy ? There must be an anime reference in there. Jokes aside Mechagnome Monks have some of the most amazing rp opportunities to the race, the whole inner balance thing links nicely to the mechagnome theme of balancing biologic and mechanic. Also since Monks are able to push their bodies strength and resistances to very high level so you can do without the usual failsafes in your arms made to prevent you from snapping your own back while punching so you can go all in. For the upgrades there is a mandatory one for any and all Mechagnomes Monks : rocket punchs.
-Death Knight, first you will be very confused as you most likely died before Mechagnomes left isolation. Being undead brings a whole new twist on the mechagnome ethics of balance and free will, is flesh just another material in the end ? You can easily go for a Frankenstein vibe here, afterall if you upgrade yourself why not upgrade your undead minions aswell ? When it comes to your own upgrades you should consider putting some saronite in your limbs, and having a chainsaw runeblade. That too is mandatory.
I hope you enjoyed this guide to the Mechagnomes o/
Robot dance