New to RP and looking to learn

[Brauhn-argent-dawn]

Hi all!

Just a thread to set out my thoughts.
I am new to RP - I have done a little before but never really anything in depth. Just an evening here or there.

Anyway, since the start of the expansion I have been desperate to play a Kul’Tiran, specifically a burly warrior (I have always loved to have big shoulders, and being an alliance character was always envious of Tauren)

And I finally unlocked Kul Titan this week after a few months away.
I have made my warrior on Argent Dawn, I have always been on Darkmoon Faire but roleplay there is dead. AD is all that is left.

He is currently a little vague until I can get my ideas clear - I am trying to keep many doors open.
He’s a warrior, born in Kul Tiras and has never left. A few months ago he did leave on a merchant vessel as a guard, and was shipwrecked off the coast of Westfall, now he doesn’t have enough coin to make his way home and is stuck in the Eastern Kingdoms.

That’s about as much backstory as I have right now.
I suppose the main reason I’m here is to get some ideas and more of a feel for my character,
Where are good places to RP? I have stuck to Darkshire but I don’t know where else people gather, I’m pretty sure Feathermoon Stronghold, but isn’t that more of an elf thing?
Where should I take this character? I have many ideas of my own but none set in stone. I know I want him to be kind, generally a good and honourable man, but should he go down the path of becoming more of a ‘paladin’ style warrior of the light? Or perhaps stick to being a mercenary for hire?

I have taken up skinning and herbalism - partly as I like the idea of being a ‘self-sufficient, rough and tumble traveller’ but also to make a few pennies on the AH and include that in my story,

Any suggestions appreciated! Again I don’t want my whole character mapped out for me by other people, a little of my own imagination is good, I am just wondering where he fits in right now, for the time being I have been RPing it almost in a ‘loremaster’ style - where my story just fits into the zone I have been questing in (he hit level 50 today after finishing up Westfall and Duskwood, I have been doing a lot of dungeoning too)

Thanks!
Brauhn Blackwater

[Kaeîmar-argent-dawn]

First off, your backstory is very solid. A few things to clarify though; you say he is a Warrior, but what does that mean? Who taught him to fight? Did he serve time with the Kul Tiran Marines? Was he picked up by a small mercenary band in Drustvar who taught him to fight? Did he learn in tavern brawls and back-alley dustups? Or was his father a veteran soldier who taught his boy the way of the blade informally? All of these different routes create a very different kind of ‘warrior’ and this will impact your character far beyond just his fighting style.

Sadly, I am mostly Horde-side. But as I understand it, a lot of roleplay happens within Stormwind though apparently quality can be a bit of a mixed bag. But as long you as you enjoy the Rp, that ain’t an issue. As a Kul Tiran looking to get home, heading to Stormwind (with its big ol’ port) makes a lot of sense, eventually. Perhaps once he’s earned enough currency to make his way there? Horses, carts, supplies and especially gryphon rides to make the journey don’t come cheap (I know in the game world it’s, like, 5min jog away but in-universe the zones are much bigger).

And if you’d like to visit other zones/continents… Well, wouldn’t it be just gosh-darned inconvenient if the ship he was sailing on back to Kul Tiras also sunk and he washed up somewhere else? Or perhaps a Horde attack forced it off course - damage sustained meaning it needs to dock in a new land for repairs. Or maybe it was co-opted for the war effort and redirected to Feathermoon to drop off emergency medical supplies and arrows for the Sentinels, passengers be damned!

TL;DR - Your backstory is very solid and I like the idea of him washing up in the likes of Westfall and going on his adventure to get back home from there. But don’t limit yourself to a few local zones! Perhaps eventually your Kul Tiran becomes enamored with these new lands, and the people he meets during his quest to return to his homeland. And then perhaps he decides to say. Maybe he enlists in a foreign fighting force (guild), to protect his homeland? Perhaps he finds something or someone worth protecting that he never had in Kul Tiras? Was he lonely, does he desire friends? His motivation is yours to craft. It’s good to have a starting quest, a goal to strive (Returning home to Kul Tiras) but always look for ways to progress once it has been achieved. Or maybe even change it if character development demands it!

[Grawle-the-shatar (Grawle)]

Sorry to hear about Darkmoon Faire. I disagree that ‘AD is all that is left’, finding some very good RP on Moonglade/The Sha’tar/Steamwheedle Cartel, but the vastly larger population of AD (where I’ve never played) can’t be denied:)

That doesn’t answer your question, though, but I think Kaeîmar did a good job with that.

I just want to add, your warrior can be virtuous and honorable even without having anything to do with the Light.

I also like your backstory, it makes good sense - including the profession choices which don’t require too much equipment.

Skinning only needs a sharp knife, a spacious bag, and a strong back to carry those skins - herbalism also mostly just needs a sharp blade (even though the game says spade) and a bag/container in which the herb won’t be ruined before you can sell it.

Kaeîmar raised a good point about how/where this warrior learned to fight. Sounds to me like you could have been part of a group of guards for hire, in which some training might’ve been required. Maybe you were an experienced outdoorsman before leaving Kul Tiras. Perhaps you were in one of the Kul Tiran fighting forces (you should probably decide which one, and which part of Kul Tiras he’s from) before you signed on as a ship guard wanting to see more of the world.

[Brauhn-argent-dawn]

I really appreciate your in-depth reply! I am very much rolling with the basic backstory of Washed up ina west fall, but agree I want to branch out a little more into other areas. Especially as I hit 60 today and think it’s time to explore the world a little!

I hadn’t particularly thought about building on how I actually BECAME a warrior, purely on what I was doing as a warrior, definitely going to include this too!

I have taken a slightly odd turn, after being an ‘honourable man’ I was recruited by a band of pirates tonight, however they seem like a fun group to RP with and I have decided that’s the main thing so perhaps I can be more of the ‘plunder is great, let’s not throw out captives overboard’ type,

Cheers!

[Kaeîmar-argent-dawn]

Plenty of stories regarding heroic and honourable pirates or ‘privateers’. Francis Drake springs to mind - he essentially carried out licensed piracy in the name of the English and went on to become one of the nations greatest heroes and influential figures. Plenty of stories of him sparing prisoners, granting them letters of safe conduct and even apportioning them some of their own loot proportionate to their rank so that they wouldn’t be utterly destitute when he released them.

Plenty of less savoury tales regarding to man as well, to be fair. But your character doesn’t have to dabble in that side of things if you don’t think he would.