Hey, lovely people!
I’ve been roleplaying since Cataclysm but have somehow yet to even step close to guard roleplay - that is until now. Seeing as I feel incredibly uninformed regarding the subject and want to do it justice, what are some tips and tricks / dos and don’ts surrounding the seemingly touchy topic of guard roleplay?
Ta!
do: ensure everyone is having fun
don’t: make up unfounded laws/plant wacky IRL laws into WoW
honestly that really just covers it.
Slightly corrupt / washed up guards are always a joy as well.
You forgot the fancy hat that says you’re a guard.
Incompetent, cowardly, all-round rubbish guards are easily my favorites. I may or may not have had the entire concept irreparably defined by Sir Terry Pratchett.
For sure! Mimi here once got arrested by some corrupt guards for merely trying to sell premium water! (Bottled from the canals). They made her sweep the floors in their headquarters. 
I would try to avoid the imposition of headcanon on other players, it’s one of the main flaws with a few guard guilds where out of game headcanon is expected to be accepted (heh) by players involved with crime RP, and going against it is offensive on an OOC level to them. It’s unfair to expect someone who knows nothing about it to then have them tab out and sit down and read through whatever Google Doc or website is hurled at them, or worse still said headcanon being treated as canon. It’s so dire.
Also generally avoid buzzbox RP it’s always just /emote calls for backup with his buzzbox while screaming in guild chat, basically a way to avoid conflict by just dogpiling criminals with Guard players and to me comes across as very lame and doesn’t give the criminals a chance to fight or even plead for themselves.
And finally try to find more creative and interesting alternatives to “three OOC days in the slammer” for punishing crimes. I’d love to see some community service or even semi-penal brigade stuff being done, like petty criminals forced to clear out a kobold infestation of a local mine! Far more exciting for both parties than “you cannot escape our magically shielded super jail”.
Stormwind City Sentry and the City Watch are both great examples of Guard/Footmen guilds working in a nice way. The latter especially since they’re wonderfully corrupt old eejits.
Hmm. Guide inspiration intensifies.
Probably don’t rp as a count/countess who happens to be a rookie for the local guard unit
Daily reminder that a buzzbox is a heavy WW1-style radio recorder thing. Walkie talkie human RPers make me scream and the addon makes it even worse.
Whelp, Gnomish Buzzboxes are more akin to Walkie-Talkies irl iirc, but they’re still called Buzzboxes.
So yea, they’re not wrong for buzzboxing as if they hold a walkie-talkie, no?
i look at the huge desk-sized buzz boxes you smash in BfA Darkshore quests
i look at you
Don’t worry, as a gnome I’m certain she made short work of such a task.
The last person to mock Mimi within earshot of Dulnus got punched square in the face.
Looks at you
https://wow.gamepedia.com/Buzzbox
That’s a bit bigger than a walkie-talkie.
There’s also gnomecorders, they work the same way.
https://wow.gamepedia.com/Gnomecorder
But they are still a lot bigger than regular walkie-talkies.
I’m currently maining a Guard character myself, which I was told to be a successful experience so far.
Keep things chill, use common sense, try to be creative and come up with penalties/punishments for things which doesn’t limit RP. Sometimes from that alone, great storylines can happen and occur, and special character progressions. This all, while having things making sense, considering a guarded city is being walked in, etc.
Guard RP can give you a nice room for social and casual roleplay and isn’t something dependant on events. Your guard character can get to know many people too and form connections.
Those connections can help the creativity further, especially if you desire to have penal service for a criminal.
Try to often consult and communicate OOC with the Individuals to see what outcome they may prefer, and what can be worked out of the situation. I admit this, besides other things can burn you out as Guard RP eventually becomes like a job, people needing for a Guard RPer to come and demanding them to solve their IC issue, but still it has a nice charm and can be a very nice experience as well.
Good luck!
Ahh fair enough, seems I misremebered then 
Mh. Remember that WoW is full of magic and alchemy, and walking around trying to throw people into jail for smoking herbs or what not isn’t the way to go about it. Modern drug laws dont apply to this fantasy game. There are banned plants, however. But that doesnt mean every single dude with a joint or cigar has to be questioned and tossed into jail.
In my experience from laying down the law, I think it’s important to keep the criminal RPer engaged in roleplay throughout the whole process.
Plenty of people throw a character in jail and tell the player “OK you are in here for 48 hours” but never roleplay with them which means that player has 48 hours of no RP on that character (or none at all if they just RP on one character).
So it’s important to keep RPing the whole way through, keep prisoners entertained.