I particularly like the old and very outdated orc roleplaying guide by Tazkram.
Guess the rest might be useful too.
Violence is dangerous, a roleplaying resource
by Gahalla
I will try to keep it a bit simplified and will try to avoid medical jargon where unneccesary. Remember, this is just a resource. If you want to use it or not is up to you. Also, it will be described primarly on how things are or were IRL (but in a simplified form, it’s much more complex).
Injury
I think everyone of us realise that with violence comes injury. It’s more or less the definition: Violence is the attempt of causing injury to another. What kind of injury that is caused vary based on how good the hit is, what one hits with and if the hits is cushioned by something.
In general every hit one takes will have four effects:
• Pain
• Bleeding
• Exhaustion
• Tissue damageThis isn’t much of a surprise to anyone I think. Fairly straighforward and obvious. What most people seem to think however, is that it’s the tissue damage that determines wether you can continue the fight or not.
This is not entirely incorrect, as if you recieve enough tissue damage you simply cannot continue to fight. Most likely however, you’re also dead. If not now, then very soon (alternatively you’ll live but never fight again).
Instead it’s the pain, the exhaustion and the bleeding that will determine your capability to fight. Everyone of us have at some point felt that numbing pain, that makes one unwilling to move and slows all reactions.
The same thing applies in combat. Pain makes you slower and incapable of positioning yourself correctly and in combat that is everything that matters. Even a single bruise on the arm can make you that split-second too slow that allows your foe to plant a axe in your face.
Bleeding is what kills. Virtually all deaths from violence are due to bleeding, even if one is shot through the brain it’s the bleeding that kills (there’s so many bloodvessels in the head that it happens within seconds though).
Furthermore, bloodloss directly affects your ability to continue fighting. Just losing about 1 L of blood (out of 4-5 L) decreases your mental and physical ability with about 75%. After that you can do little more than sit or stumble around.
With a open wound and a elevated pulse due to fighting… that does not take very long. One can go down as little as 10 seconds after being cut.
The exhaustion is also a determining factor. We all know how it feels when lactic acid hit a body part. It becomes slow and dulls reflexes. This is directly lethal in a fight. Furthermore, both pain and bloodloss makes you more exhausted.
What this means is that every hit you take, even that little graze in your arm or the bruise on your shoulder will directly affect your ability to survive the melee.
Every hit will make you a little more tired, a little more sore and cause a little more bloodloss (remember, a bruise means it’s bleeding under the skin. These can be just as lethal as an open wound). It adds up and gives your enemy a little easier to score a good hit. A good hit will always end the fight.
The only tissue damage that is likely to affect the fight and not kill, is broken bones. Partly because it robs the injured of the ability to use that bone (unable to stand, unable to use an arm or having difficulty breathing)
No such thing as instant death
That’s right. There is no such thing as instant death. With two exceptions:
- decapitation.
- Blown to bits.
In all other cases it’s the bloodloss that kills you. If you’re lucky, it’s an artery and you’re unconcious. But chances are you’ll be aware that you’re dying and slowly die as you lay there helpless. The pain crippling you to the point where you cannot move. It’s slow, it’s agonizing and it’s scary.
After battles in past ages, the victors would send out soldiers out on the battlefield to collect one ear from each enemy fallen and mercy-kill those that were still alive. It has not been unheard of that there have been survivors of a fight that have been lying unaccesible on the battlefield for days before finally succumbing to their wounds.
However, there’s a flipside: It’s not unheard of that men who have recieved a fatal wound to keep on fighting until they fall over dead. Men who’ve been impaled on spears that attacks their killer. This is a very common thing with firearms, crossbows and bows. Often men would take fatal wounds, but if they weren’t knocked over they’d keep on going. Potentionally taking
their killer with them to the realm of the dead.Armour = lifesaver
Violence is extremely lethal. Particularly armed combat. This is the very reason that armour was invented in the first place. It allows the wearer a sporting chance, by turning a fatal wound into a bruise. By turning a amputated arm into a broken arm instead. Deflecting both blade and arrow.
A sword (as an example) generally have the ability to cut through all human tissues with ease. It cannot however, pass through metal. Which is the very reason people started wearing maille. Maille provides the advantage that it is impossible to cut through the ring-weave. Thus allowing you to avoid the fate of having the arm severed and you bleeding to death.
Maille has a great weakness though… pointed weapons can easily pierce the weave (by splitting the rings). Particularly arrows (but also spears). The counter this people generaly used various combination of cloth armour.
The most common kind, the gambeson (or jack, padded jack or a multitude of other names) consisted of about 20-30 layers of linen. Which was not only capable of stopping and absorbing an arrow but also quite useful against bladed weapons.
It was often combined with maille for knights, particularly during the crusades IRL. There’s plenty of records of how knights would ride looking like pin-cushions due to all the arrows that sat in their cloth armour but had failed to injure them. Later, during the renaissance the maille+cloth was changed for the plate-harness.
It is much stronger and durable and even less likely to cut through that the other armour. Like clotharmour it’s also very resistant to weapons such as bows and firearms. Even today we wear armour, namely: Kevlar body-armour. Nowadays they also include maille or plate into these body armours, to help protect the body.
However, armour doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed to live. Not even if you face someone unarmoured. It’s also not guaranteed to protect against a good hit. Generally, they also have weak spots and the face is always a weakspot.
Similarly, firearms can penetrate even plate-harnesses if they get a perfect hit (but they are not guaranteed to do so if they don’t).
Also, the impulse (change in momentum, a physics-term) will not be stopped by armour (it might be deflected away however, which is why armour relies on many angles and sharp edges) and a strike that would cut you in two might not cut you in two, but the impulse will still move through the armour and break the bones underneath.
Similarly, armour can be circumvented. When fighting against someone armour, one generally directs all strikes towards the unarmoured areas. You don’t have to impale their chest to kill. Severing a unprotected hand works just as well.
One can also use something that can punch through armour, this is why all those maces/warhammers/healberds and such have a spike on their back. To be able to punch through armour. Pikes are good at this too.
A common thing many roleplaying games have going is that if you’re swift and agile, you’re better off with light or no armour. This is a myth. Armour is generally made to suit it’s wearer like a glove and is suprisingly light. All it does however, is prevent the armoured part of the body of taking a worse injury. Yes, it’s heavier and more exhaustive to wear. But it will save your life if you are a split-second too slow or unlucky enough to get hit by a missile-weapon.
Basically:
Armour isn’t made to keep you in the fight. It’s made to allow you to survive the fight. If you get hit you’ll still have to pull back and recover as soon as you can.
Multiple adversaries = suicide
This is also very important to note. Multiple adversaries are much much more dangerous than a single skilled one is. Even multiple unarmed enemies are more dangerous than a single unarmed opponent.
The reason is that combat is generally a shift between the offensive and the defensive. When the enemy attacks you, you go defensive and focus on dodging, blocking parrying or steeling yourself against the blow. Then you’ll go offensive and try to hit him and he’ll be forced to defend himself.
However, if you face multiple opponents then they can essentially rotate being offensive. Constantly attacking and forcing you to constantly defend yourself. Never giving you a moment to strike back.
Also, I’m sure some of you have seen a fist fight broken up before? On tv if nothing else. As you might notice, it’s very common for the ones breaking up the fight to grab hold of the fighter’s arms. Redering incapable of hitting each others. That’s a tactic that works just as well if the fist-fighters had held weapons.
So, if you face multiple enemies they can encircle you and grab your arms. Allowing one of them to approach without risk of being hit with your weapon to say… lift your visor and stab your face.
Several opponents can also rush forward against riders and overwhelm their ability to strike at them and pull the riders off the horse. This is the fate of the knight who can’t ride at full speed.
There is a way to survive multiple enemies though and that is too keep moving backwards, forcing them only to engage you one at a time. It’s not easy though.
As a rule of thumb:
1 opponent = dangerous
2 opponents = survival unlikely
3 opponents = probably suicide
4 opponents = limit of how many you can physically fight at the same time. Death more or less guaranteed. Likelyhood of even harming them very low.Veterancy and experience
The age old expectation that experienced soldiers are better at killing. It’s both true and false at the same time.
Generally, experienced soldiers are very good at surviving. Not neccesarily killing the enemy. They have learned what is a smart idea, what is not a smart idea. What the sound of incoming arrows sounds like. How to brace themselves against the charge. When to run. How to spot the unit banner. How to hide among the dead. Things like that is what they pick up through experience. Some will also become a bit better with weapons, yes.
In addition they will have become steeled. They will not hesitate before killing. They will be more difficult to scare and less likely to paralyse in fear. This too gives them a better chance at surviving.
The reason most mediveal (or semi-mediveal) soldiers won’t become better at fighting as such is because they grow up fighting. Most melee soldiers spend their teenages training to use weapons. They generally specialise in a specific type. It takes years to learn to fight by reflexe (which is needed, anything else is too slow). It isn’t conscripts that take a few months to learn how to point a rifle and shoot.
It takes years because they need to build the strength and the stamina needed to fight for hours unhindered. That means that most veterans aren’t much better at fighting than when they were deployed, because they fought both now and then by reflexe. As long as they kept in shape they’re just as good now as they were then.
In fact, most veterans will probably be worse due to the injures they’ve taken throughout the years and the toll of age. Weapon-masters are generally veterans too old and injured for the battlefield but still in good enough shape that they can train the young ones at fighting. Generally between 40 and 50 years old. They are the ones that lived through campaigns and realised: “Now is the time to stop, or else I’ll get myself killed”.
Basically… it’s very unlikely that you become better and better at fighting. There is a peak after a few years of fighting, before age and injures start to pile up.
Recovery and old injuries
Recovery from wounds of violence takes time. A long time. The deeper the wound the longer the time it takes to recover. We are talking months but it can easily take years. During this time you have to rest and allow the body a chance to mend itself. It’s a slow and boring time.
Not only can you not fight, but you can’t practise, you can’t stay in shape and not even help with physical labour. So not only are you weakened because of the injury.
You body will also weaken due to not using it and not keeping in shape (it also gets some help form the hormones tasked with recovery. It boosts muscle-degeneration to get materials for the recovery) There is also plenty of wounds that you’ll never recover from fully or at all.
First of all are the organs, this is fairly straight forward. If you take organ damage you won’t ever fully recover due to that it’s function will be disrupted a bit. This is if you survive it. You’ll survive losing a single lung (you’ll run out of breath a bit faster) or a single kidney no problem, but the others aren’t that good to hurt. Not only is it extremely cripplingly painful, but you’ll feel bad for weeks as the body adjusts to the change in functionality.
All the body’s tissues are a bit like elastic ribbons too, particularly muscles and tendons. That means that if they’re cut straight through, they’ll snap back. So if the tendons in the elbow or the biceps is injured it can snap back and end up inside the chest. If a tendon or muscle is severed it is extremely unlikely or even impossible to recover from that.
Bones will almost always recover and be stronger afterwards, they are really the exception to the rule. Bones will almost always regrow as stronger. Unless the bone is shattered. Then it won’t be able to regrow at all.
The other part is that one never really recovers from really bad injuries. Not fully. You can go back to living like you used to, but the old wound will be there. They might even burst open if they are in body parts that are used often. Even years after having recieved them. If nothing else, it will always be painful at night or when moving reminding you constantly of it. As a soldier of the melee, this is a hazard.
The body will more or less mend around the wound, leaving a tiny fraction of scar tissue where the injury occured. This will eventually add up and make you weaker and weaker. All those flesh-wounds will perhaps not kill you, but in a few years they’ll directly impair your ability to move.
Old injuries also have a nasty habit of becoming infected time and time again. Long after you’d think they’d healed. This worsens with age.
Magical healing
Yes, this is a setting of magical healing. You can recieve healing that will help you recover faster and better than in real life. You can even be ressurected.
However, this should not be a guarantee. You shouldn’t count on that healing can save you anymore than you can count on modern medicine to save you. Even with priests you can still die by being stabbed on the steps of the cathedral. Even with healing, there’s no guarantee that the wound won’t affect you afterwards. Just look at Aedis Brom and Christoph Faral in Stormwind. Two old veterans constantly complaining about their old injuries that to this day haunts and torments them. Zul’jin lost and arm and a eye. There are many more examples.
Even if you can count on the local priest to save you, remember that getting beat up is extremely painful.
There’s also one thing magical healing will never bring back… your friends that did not make it. The horrors you’ve seen cannot be reased from your mind. The mental scars of years from fighting will never heal.
Few veterans relish the idea of returning to war.
There is a reason why most cultures cheer and celebrate war-veterans and why armies celebrate victories. It’s to take the veterans minds off these kinds of things. It’s to make them feel better. Because war and violence is not fun. Not by any stretch of imagination.
Like the old saying goes: “War is hell”
Magical violence
Violence caused by magic is a tricky things to define. It is simple to think of it as insanely, supernaturally dangerous or not very dangerous at all. But what I think is important is to deconstruct every spell a little.
First. What is the power source. Fire, Cold, Nature, Fel, Shadow, Light, Earth, Air, Arcane or something else?
Second, is it a physical object (like a ball of ice), a physical effect (like fire) or a mental effect (like a mindspike).
Third, is it prolonged or immediate.
The powersource will define what kind of injury it will cause. Fire, lightning and acids will cause burns. Water and ice will chill. Fel will corrupt. Earth will probably hit you like an object. Shadow and Light (or other holy magic) will probably cause less physical injury but more burn at your soul.
The second helps us define the injury more. Physical objects, like the ice-lance, will hit you like just that: a physical object. The injury caused less by what it is, as much as how it hits you. The Ice lance for instance, is just like an arrow and will cause the same sort of injury.
Physical effects, like fire, won’t hit you with a force. But they can still be cripplingly painful and could, for instance, put your gear on fire. Mental effects, only affect your mind or soul and leave little to no physical injuries. But they are no less dangerous.
Wether the effect is immediate or prolonged finalises the picture. Immediate effects are when magical projectiles hit you, whereas prolonged are things like dots, flamethrowers, cone of cold and such. Something you get caught in.
All spells will cause injury. But just like weapons, the effect of injury falls into the categories of pain, exhaustion, bleeding and tissue damage. Most spells will cause a lot of the first two. Fire hurts. Being pummeled by sheets of ice hurts.
However only physical trauma can actually cause a bleeding (possibly some shadow spells too).
As for tissue damage. It is important to remember the law of energy transfer: specifically that it is not instant but based on exposure. Most spells only affect you for a split second and are thus very unlikely to cause any significant change in temperature.
That means that most firespells, for instance, is unlikely to put you or your gear on fire. They are still painful, dangerous and not to mess around with. But it is unlikely that you’ll light up like a candle. Similarily, a ice spell is very unlikely to freeze you solid. Electricity is more likely to disrupt the heart if it exposure is constant, rather than temporary. Most electrical injuries is caused by the build up of heat.
Mind, many spells consist of a physical aspect like a block of ice, a rock or some other physical projectile… or a shockwave… and these works exactly like weapons do on the body. They can break bones and cause blood vessels to rupture and cause internal bleeding. This is certainly a great danger, much more so than the heat/cold aspect.
Prolonged spells on the other hand, cause a greater energy transfer at the expense of kinetic force. They’re more likely to put you on fire, less likely to knock you off your feet.
Right. So now we’ve discussed what dangers spells cause. How can I protect myself? The answer is quite simply: the same way you protect yourselves from other violence. Dodge it or use armour.
The spells that shoot projectiles can still be blocked with shields and deflected by armour. It’ll hurt for sure, but won’t hurt you much… unless it hits a weak spot. >>
Physical effects can also be shielded against… a shield could easily be used to protect the face against a flamethrowerspell or a cone of cold. It is sturdy wood, and even if those spells are prolonged it is unlikely to catch fire. If you look away, a helmet could to protect your head from fire or cold.Leather is almost impossible to burn and even clothes need to reach a certain temperature to catch fire. These are natural cloth-types and they tend to be more resistant than synthetic cloth.
Metal armour cannot stop lightning, but will carry it along itself towards the ground. It won’t go as much through as along, heating it in the process. It’ll take more than one to make it so hot it starts frying the inhabitant. Same with fire on metal. If you do catch fire. Drop and roll.
Magic can however be protected against with mundane means. It need not be an instant succes. That said… it is very dangerous. Definantely not less than other form of violence. But neither is it more dangerous. It is about equal. Painful. Scary. Lethal. Like all violence.
Roleplaying potential
How can this be used in roleplaying?
Well, one thing I find makes most roleplaying that involves any kind of violence is to treat it as something to fear. If you’re attacking mobs, clearing an instance, participating in w-pvp or face cultists in an alley. Treat it Ic as if it is really dangerous. Every fight risks being the last one you’ll ever fight. There is no such thing as a trivial fight.
Allowing yourself to get injured or just suffering from an old wound can be used nicely as a roleplay hook. Imagine for example the old veteran that trips on the cathedral steps because his leg locked itself again due to that wound two years ago? That dwarf that visits a priest complaining that his back hurts when it’s cold because of the arrow he took in the war of three hammers? The wound needing surgery?
For w-pvp participants it could work nicely to say your good byes to your friends before each battle. Perhaps entrusting them with something for your old man should you die? To work up a atmosphere of genuine dread and nervous jokes before the battle? Trying to help raw recruits who genuinely fear for their lives? The hours before a battle are generally very nervous and pessimistic.
For w-pvp organisers perhaps you could organise toasts to the dead and digging of graves after the battle? Genuinely showing remorse over the losses. Perhaps making up a number of how many that died or became crippled and informing people of that when reporting about the victory or loss.
Guards in cities should ensure that they always outnumber the enemy before they try to capture anyone and always accept surrenders (people who fight to the death is the last thing you want… they generally take someone with them) and try to break up all fights. Even if it is between another guard and a foe. Fights can not only end up with the fighters dead, they might also kill innocent bystanders! Keeping the peace is very important.
If you’re outnumbered, running away is always the best idea. Regardless who you are. Even if you’re the best warrior in the world… an untrained peasant can still kill you if you’re unlucky. This is something every experienced soldier knows. Skill does not make you safer. Ultmately… it’s good to keep in mind: All fights are dangerous. All violence can kill you.
Violence is dangerous
Thank you.
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The Conversationalist’s Handbook by Azhaan
(First off, let me give a special thanks to Jhared/Eyildr and whatever other characters he might be playing, simply for writing a guide on forum etiquette long ago which initially inspired me to write this guide. Also, let me just say that this is by no means a “You should do this and nothing else”-guide. It’s meant to give beginners some basic insight, not lecture people who have already roleplayed for years.)
How to hold a conversation in roleplay!
Foreword
During my relatively short period of roleplaying in the glorious World of Warcraft (1-2 years), one issue that has been almost overwhelming time and time again is that of continuously seeing people with a complete lack of social ability and charisma - that’s not to say that everyone’s meant to be a people magnet, but there are so many people who just don’t talk. The kind that you eventually grow frustrated with.
However, this guide is not intended to thrash these players, but to aid them in improving their social roleplay. While I might not always be much of a talker in the offline world, I consider myself at least averagely socially trained - that is, trained in the knowledge of etiquette, consideration of other people and the importance of interest.
Conversation is the bread and butter of character progression. Pre-scripted events don’t bring life to your character nearly as much as normal talking does. Sometimes you will meet people who are all action and no talk, of course. They might seem awesome with their cold, dark gaze and clean, flawless skill in battle, but ask yourself this: “Will they ever become someone of significance? Will they ever have anyone to rely on?”
You’ll find that the answer is usually, “No, these are characters that fit well as support characters in single-player games, movies and books; not in roleplay environments.”
I wrote this guide in an attempt to potentially teach the less talkative people of our local roleplaying servers how to hold a rich, light conversation without the stern tension of awkward silence and superiority. That’s just no fun, is it?
Introductions - “First impressions are everything.”
When you meet someone new, never expect them to know who you are - no matter if you are the infamous beggar of the Old Town or the Grand Marshal of Stromgarde.
Sometimes, you’ll encounter someone who knows very little of everything; their character might be an illiterate, uneducated son of a retired traveler who lived in the jungle for most of his life, or the player might simply be new to the server. Introduce yourself or ask them to introduce themselves; just do it naturally as you would during any day in the real world.
There is one golden rule that is important to follow here: Always try to be polite, to a moderate extent (as much as your character lets you, that is; everyone’s different). If you boast about your merits or act all superior on them, they will be largely discouraged to talk. And that’s no way to make conversation at all!
There are specific things that are often good to avoid when introducing oneself or talking to someone for the first time, of course. Examples:
When you spot a damsel, it’s generally inadvisable to approach them with a pick-up line. It often backfires entirely and makes you look bad. Even the most charming of gentlemen know not to make a lady blush at once!
If you approach someone with a direct, admirable compliment, the effect is often that of making your character look like an inexperienced child. It’s understandable that characters are different from character to character, but there are certain limits to politeness.
Rude language. When you walk up to someone, you’d never say “What the **** are you wearing?”, would you? No. I’m pretty sure that not one single person on these servers would ever do that with serious intent in real life; it’s just one of those logical things born from common sense that many characters seem to lack.
Don’t just sit there like some sort of Ranger of the North with romance issues - go out there, take initiative and have fun! Just don’t be a creep. Personal questions are not to recommend for starters. Social discretion and integrity are the safety nets of a conversation.
Observation - “Is that real gold on your sword hilt? Wow!”
When talking to someone, new acquaintance or and old friend, there will always be something that makes them different from the last person you met. Maybe their hair is unnaturally contrasting to their skin colour, or maybe they carry something that wouldn’t normally be carried by them? Focus on the details! Express interest and tell them about similarities in your own equipment if there are any.
Additionally, perhaps there is something in the surrounding area that might catch your attention. Is it raining heavily? Thundering? What makes this person be outside in weather like this, or what makes this person stay inside when the weather is nice and sunny? What is a [race] doing in this [location]?
Some of these observations might come off as rude, of course. That’s where common sense comes into the picture. If you think hard enough, it’s easy to guess what’s appropriate and what isn’t.
Listening - “Mhm? Oh? Really? I agree completely.”
Your character is not the main role or protagonist of your roleplay. It can never be that way, unless you have arranged with everyone involved that your character is the primary center of attention - but that will never happen. Each character is as important as the other.
It doesn’t matter if the difference between them is five ranks in the military or fifty years of age - all characters involved in roleplay are of equal importance.
This is why listening is important. You won’t get anywhere in a conversation if you don’t listen - and listening isn’t only looking attentive. Remember what the other character says, and make conversation based on that. That way, you might find very curious quirks in the other character that your character might feel startled, disturbed, encouraged or even excited by!
There are lots of sides to a personality, and know that no matter how hard you try, it’s nearly impossible to see them all.
Be an active listener. Make eye contact, voice your opinions and offer advice if advice is what’s needed.
Depending on how your character reacts to what the other part of the conversation is saying, there is always a way to further enhance the chit-chat through responding; if someone tells a story, don’t just sit there like a speechless cow and remain silent even after the story, and if someone says something that interests your character, react on it and you could potentially create an entirely new branch of talking on that sole piece of interest!
Questions - “So, how did you end up here?”
Questions are actually far more important than many people think. They’re not too creepy, most of the time, unless they are very personal, and they will in fact often lead to the better path of the conversation.
I have always played very inquisitive characters myself, but that’s majorly because I’m a genuinely curious guy. Some people might not be of the same curiousity, but questions are of great importance and practicing interest is never a bad thing.
You can always find something to ask about. For introductions, we have:
- What’s your name? (Everyone seems so uninterested in other people’s names. Why is that?)
- What are you doing here?
- Are you from around these parts?
- What do you like to do?
- What do you do?
They are simple, short, and often don’t require a lot of effort to answer, but they can be magnificent icebreakers. There’s not much more to this section; people who have already met once, twice or more often find it easy to keep talking and the questions come automatically.
Interests - “Fishing? I love fishing! When I was a young boy, my pa’ used to…”
This was mentioned above, but I will bring it up again here because of its importance. The very foundation of this section is the interests of your own character; things that you should never ever miss when creating a character. If he has no interests or hobbies, then people will quickly find him uninteresting and bland. This is what often creates silence; lack of interest.
In fact, I will flick in a little additional, somewhat related sub-section of this one. When you make a character, what’s important is not knowing his/her history or his/her profession. There are millions and millions of people in the real world who loathe their jobs and would rather not talk about it on their free time.
This is what interests are for. Everyone has interests. I will make a little list of things to fill out here before creating your character - things that will help you loads in social roleplay:
Your character…
Likes:
Dislikes:
Loves:
Hates:It’s very simple, takes next to no time to fill in if you know your character right, and will make things far more clear to you in the future.
A unique character isn’t unique through her unnaturally green eyes or half-elven heritage; characters are made unique through the art of individual interests and the way with which they wield them in a conversation - and practice, of course.
Backgrounds - “You’re from Duskwood, eh? Haven’t heard from that place for months.”
Backgrounds are the history of your character. They are the events that have formed your character and they are full of the little incidents that make your character just a little bit less in favour of certain things.
You might not need to know what happened with your or someone else’s character twenty years ago. A month ago, however, is very sufficient. Try to find out things about your partner in conversation, but do not be overly inquisitive; that might come off as nosey or creepy.
Let’s just take Orcs as an example. You are an orc warrior speaking to an Orcish hunter, or perhaps an Orcish female that you are interested in. Some things you may want to know are:
- What clan do they belong to?
- Did they always belong to that clan?
- What experiences they have had with other clans?
- How their clan used to do things in comparison to recent years and other clans before that?
These are just examples, of course. They can also be used for Tauren, but that might take some knowledge beforehand as Tauren tribes usually have specific traits and qualities.
Then there is the magic of locations. Locations could mean everything or absolutely nothing. Find out where your conversational partner comes from and decide how much your own character knows about that zone.
Is this exotic, brown-skinned, curvy woman hailing from the South Seas? Your character might have heard stories of piracy, crime, scoundrels and prostitution from there - or he might have heard that it is a sunny paradise where everyone regard eachother as equals.
More obvious locations are kingdoms, especially when we’re talking humans. I know for a fact that the majority of roleplayed humans come from Lordaeron, and while it’s such a generic decision, it’s a fantastic thing to talk about.
The Kingdom of Lordaeron was huge; massive, gigantic, enormous, titanic. It was larger than any other kingdom in its prime, which was shortly before its fall. Ask a bit about the culture of the kingdom the character comes from!
For example, Stromgardians are known to be fierce warriors in battle and can on some occasions be regarded as barbarians. This hints at that they follow a strict and blunt way of life. Think Spartans, but without the whole “mandatory military” aspect.
Then we have Lordaeron. It was obviously a very sophisticated kingdom, with lots of knights, glorious cities and a fair, just ruler. Additionally, there are many references to the drinking of wine in the Arthas: Rise of the Lich King book.
Kul Tiras is a nation heavily based on the naval life, fishing and everything that has to do with the sea. Stormwind is a kingdom with noble houses full of corruption, but with a land so diverse and changing you can hardly tell it’s the same kingdom. Dalaran is a magocracy - it speaks for itself.
The list goes on. You can include many other different nations, clans, tribes and areas in this as well. You’d be surprised at how much talk you can get out of a simple matter as cultural habits and food. Remember: imagination is the key element.
Other people - “What his right name is I’ve never heard, but he’s known around here as Strider.”
The reason why some people simply log in and sit down being silent, doing nothing and not even emoting anything is usually because they feel largely unmotivated to interact with someone socially. Sometimes they just don’t feel up to much, and sometimes they just don’t know what to say. It’s a common problem.
You, the reader of this guide, might be that other person across the room holding a conversation with a friend or a strange. It’s your responsibility as a roleplayer to include others, so why not invite the silent guy to join the conversation?
Ask him of his name, what he’s doing where you are and if he likes [something]. Again, these are just examples. As much as people are different from character to character, remember that roleplay is all about giving and taking in equal amounts. You’re there to entertain as much as others are there to entertain you.
If the person is one of those moody stereotypes who refuse to even say their name, it’s not even worth the effort, in my personal opinion. These characters are usually the ones to start an argument where an argument isn’t needed, and might break the mood rather than lightening it.
The bottom line is that if there is someone in the same room as you are who doesn’t seem to do much, it might prove both entertaining and beneficial for you and others to invite them over to talk with you.
We, the roleplayers, are automatically a community just by playing with eachother on the same server. Everyone is in the same boat, so make them feel welcome. You don’t help anyone or make anyone’s roleplaying experience better by shutting people out just because you haven’t seen them before. Welcoming and invitation. Those are two very important words.
Final brief words
Pieces of advice:
- Don’t be too argumentative. Arguments can make a conversation run fluently, but they are usually massive mood-destroyers.
- Try not to be too flirtatious, even if you’ve got a libido of infernal proportion - at least not from the start.
- Avoid OOC communication as much as possible during roleplay. If you feel the absolute need to bring up something, take it to whisper.
- Always remember that IC is IC, and OOC is OOC. IC actions do not necessarily reflect one’s OOC opinions, and vice versa.
Hopefully this will help people in their way towards reaching a good social ability when playing their characters. This is all written purely off the top of my head, so please, please add whatever additions you might have. Posting them here will do. It’s only better that things of importance are added so that players are more prepared to hold a conversation in all its forms.
Finally, here is a little quote that carries much more value than anything I could come up with:
“It’s much easier to become interested in others than it is to convince them to be interested in you.” - Dale Carnegie.
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This one required minor edits due to a dead link, but should be servicable now!
Sue Me? Avoiding Mary Sue Tendencies in RP by Danellos
Hello all,
Welcome to the new and improved version of my guide to avoiding Mary Sue tendencies in roleplay!
First of all, it goes without say that everyone has a different opinion of this subject. As such, you are more than welcome to disagree with some of the information that I have put here, as long as you remain constructive and back your arguments up as well as you can. Everyone’s style of roleplay is different, and this is part of what makes playing on roleplaying realms quite thrilling!
The purpose of this guide is to help those who are new to roleplay strike a balance between the good qualities and bad qualities of their characters in their character concepts.
When one starts roleplaying a character and attempts to make it stand out from the rest, it is quite easy to deviate towards themes that may otherwise make the character seem rather unbelievable, like a “special snowflake”, or too heroic. In fanfiction writing, characters such as these are commonly referred to as Mary Sues , and the concepts that apply to this word in fanfiction writing could very well apply to roleplaying as well.
What is a Mary-Sue Character?
Taken from Engadget , here is the definition in terms of roleplaying:
A Mary Sue is a character who essentially is an idealized projection of the author’s self, serving as a sort of fictional wish fulfillment. Mary Sues run rampant in roleplay and are nearly universally hated. They’re not great characters, and they tend to disrupt other people’s fun.
So in essence, these are the “too-good-to-be-true” type characters that more often than not causes one’s eyes to roll during roleplay. In some cases, if you have a Mary Sue, then you may even be flat out ignored by other roleplayers. I’ve seen this happen, and its not fun for either side.
Below I have outlined some guidelines taken from the old version of my guide, and also newer parts added in from the helpful feedback of the players who commented there. I have also done some additional reading, and found some more pointers that could be added in.
Please note: Not all of the below-mentioned parts may apply to your character. Remember, an anti-Sue is just as bad as a Mary Sue. The whole idea is that you need to strike a balance between the good and the bad in your character… to make him/her seem more believable, more interesting, and fun to roleplay with from the perspective of other roleplayers!
It is also important to remember that character development is essential in roleplay. Over time, your character should improve on its bad qualities or even regress on some of its good.
Outlined below are various tips you can follow in order to make sure that your character does not deviate towards Sue tendencies. Some of this was copied from the old thread (maybe rephrased a little), and others come from the helpful pointers provided by fellow roleplayers in that thread.
1. Give your character flaws. Balance it with his/her strengths.
As has been proven many times in the designing of character concepts in a universe that is not your own, this is the most problematic part.
I know it is sometimes tempting when you are, for example, playing a paladin of the holy light who is to set an example for the rest of the world to follow, but don’t go over the top with this.
Give your character some flaws which makes them imperfect, and make sure that those flaws are as obvious (if not more obvious) than his/her good traits. This way, your character would seem more believable, and your fellow RP’ers (or audience if you are writing a fanfic) can relate with them in some way or another.
It’s okay for your character to be good at something, or to be a hero for that matter (as being a hero is exactly what Blizzard’s quests call you), but do your best to balance out the strengths of your character with the flaws.
It is very easy for a heroic character to deviate towards Sue tendencies, but if done tastefully, I am sure there’ll be many who’ll be pleased to roleplay with you.
Do not over-describe your character either, especially in an overly-poetic manner.
Examples of very real flaws are: impatience, impetuousness, unfriendliness, phobia, etc. This DOES NOT include stereotypical flaws such as a sin’dorei being addicted to magic. Those don’t count!
2. Avoid making your character related to a canon character in WoW Lore.
This is best explained with an example. If I create a blood elf mage, and I call him “Fandore Sunstrider” (fictional) and make it so that he is some long-lost brother of Kael’thas Sunstrider, then I am basically saying that my beloved character is related to one of the main characters in this game’s lore.
What makes me so special that I can relate myself to a core character within the Warcraft universe? Do you get my drift?
I don’t see this very often myself, but I have seen it before. This is definitely something to avoid.
3. Avoid creating pity-beggar characters.
The pity-beggar Mary Sue is a common one, often leading a painful life with hateful parents, perfect siblings/friends or no friends at all, no lover, no man or woman taking a fancy to them, and the list could go on. The worst part of this is that the character who has suffered these injustices would have little or no reaction towards these experiences.
Pity-begging characters tend to spend a great deal of time talking about their awful pasts as well, and this is not something that people really always enjoy in roleplay. Don’t dwell too much on these things.
I am not saying that giving your character a horrible past is necessarily a bad thing, but I am saying that basing your entire character concept around it would be dangerous.
In real life, we’ve all suffered some degree of injustices. Its just the reality of life. Over-emphasizing it on your character is more often than not going to cause eye-rolling.
4. Make it difficult for your character sometimes.
It is very easy for players to make their characters out to be this individual that “just seems to get everything right the first time". Like a druid mastering his flight form on the first try, for example.
Fighting skills, special talents, strong relationships, and any special powers of some sort should not have come easily to your character in the beginning.
For example, this current character I am posting with struggles endlessly understanding the branch of druidism related to curing land corruption. In fact, he may never fully grasp the concept at all, and this may in turn prove to be a disadvantage to him!
5. Bad Habits.
Give your character some weird habits, like nail-biting or drinking.
6. Avoid God-mode
The God-Mode Mary Sue is rarely found alone. Oftentimes they can be located within the mind of a “perfect” Mary Sue or a Plot-Stealer Mary Sue.
These creations are usually ultra-powerful, often not even knowing they have the powers that they use up until the first time. The powers themselves are generally numerous, or strong enough to chase away the worst of the villains out there.
7. Avoid Plot-Stealing
You are not a canon character, no matter how much you may want to be. Plot-stealing Mary Sues tend to come about when the player or writer is unhappy with how a specific character in lore is being portrayed. And as such, they’ll put their own characters in that place.
For example, I may be unhappy with Maieve Shadowsong’s lack of appearance in the game since TBC. So as such, I will create a night elf rogue called Máieve and add Shadowsong to the end with an RP addon plus a normal “a” letter. Then I’d get some gear that looks somewhat similar, and roleplay as her.
Please don’t do this! You’ll very quickly find yourself being ignored.
8. Avoid unexplained abilities (thanks to Revuu from the previous thread)
Could in fact be summarised as ‘Avoid special abilities’ full stop. If you must have them, at least explain them. Special abilities would be sensing auras around other players (not including sensing undeath as a druid / shaman / paladin or sensing demons as a druid / shaman / paladin / warlock), or being instinctively able to sense if someone is lying or not.
In fact, such ‘senses’ are often used to make metagaming legit. “Yeah, I can sense you’re a warlock” or, “Yeah, I can sense you’re a warrior” (to a warrior wearing day-to-day cloth clothes in a bar). Don’t ever say anything about being able to read minds!
9. Avoid Auras (thanks to Revuu from the previous thread)
It should be noted that this does not always apply to characters adept in the arts of magic, as someone has quite rightly pointed out in this thread.
However, similar to avoid unexplained abilities, avoid giving off ‘auras’. For example, “Sephirof gives off an aura of power”. What, can you smell it like you can smell when someone hasn’t washed? Can my half brainded forsaken rogue sense it?
Auras can be pulled off pretty well if done tastefully, but generally, it should be avoided.
10. Avoid Special Looks (thanks to Revuu from the previous thread)
Avoid being unusual for your species. This means anything other than fel-green eyes [now also golden] on a Blood Elf, silver/amber eyes [now also black] on a Night Elf, white eyes on a Draenei, or natural human eye shades on a human, etcetera.
(Just a note regarding the example with the eye colours - this does not apply to all races. Dogs can have heterochromatic eyes, and so can humans at times. If done tastefully, a worgen or human roleplayer can pull this off pretty well. Maybe even other races!)
11. Special class (thanks to Joilie from the previous thread)
This is a classic. Demon hunters, Death knights (before WotLK), Apothecaries, etc. Classes that you cannot choose when you create your character.
It can be done and it can be done well, but it takes practice and a lot of reading. It is not to recommend. Give your rogue demon hunter some pretty heavy flaws and you might get away with it if you are friendly enough to ask for advice.
12. Feedback (thanks to Joilie from the previous thread)
Always be open for feedback. If someone tells you that your character is questionable, it probably is and you should be ready to listen closely to tips and tricks from other people, it can help you a lot. And if you are unsure, don’t be afraid to ask someone for directions.
A character flaw is only a real flaw when it has lasting consequences and isn’t conveniently contrived or brushed aside as if it never happened when and where it is convenient.
Roleplay is teamwork!
Always remember that.
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The Three Great I’s in Shaping a Great Community - by Tazkram
Interact, include and integrate.
To be a great community, it must feel inclusive. While not something an officer or leader should aggressively attempt to achieve, keeping it in mind will help establish a community that will create friendships. When the three great I’s go without saying, the community has ascended from a group of friends to just what you seek, a community.
The first step on the road is interaction. When a new member approaches your community, they will be an outsider. Isolation is a barrier one must overcome, but not all people are extremely extrovert, and even those who are, may struggle to initially step through the door.
It is not uncommon, I am sure you’ve faced this issue yourself sometime in life. You start a new education, enter a sport’s team or start a new job. It is a daunting task to seek out new people. We do not know them or how and what they think.
Perhaps they think you look stupid, your opinions are wrong, your articulation annoying. They may hate us. You may feel lonesome until someone reaches a hand out to you.
Though the fewest practice hate toward those they have hardly greeted, it is not uncommon that we judge others, and they know this as well. To overcome this obstacle on the road, it is important to remind yourself and your peers to interact with newcomers. Even more so, if the community is already well-established and content.
Interact, but be weary not to become artificial. Tell them something so banal as “Hello” or “How are you today?”. Perhaps even compliment them. Interaction is the first step toward a great community.
The next step on the road is inclusion. Going from simple social remarks to actively including others, will not only be the seeds of friendship, but also let the newcomer let their guard down. Feel welcome, be happy to participate.
When you started education sometime in your life, you were forced to first interact with someone. You may have found a specific person, whose opinions coincided much with your own.
At one point, you began to care for their opinion on these topics. “What do you think of my new dress” or “How would you solve this math issue?”. You validated their opinion, and by extension, validated them.
Including others goes beyond small-talk, this is the step where you show your affection and interest. While this statement may sound like romantic dating advice, it will very much help you in your social community life as well. Care to ask, and care for what the newcomers say. This is the second step toward a great
community.The third and final step in this short guide is integration.
You may practice interaction as well as including, but sometimes something’s amiss still. While you sit in a specific social context, may it be your work, school or sport’s team, you may be approached by others. They ask your advice and validate you, perhaps they even greet you down the hallway, but that is it. When they leave, they don’t return.
The interaction or inclusion does not feel genuine and may even leave you with a hollow feeling of sadness. While the last step, it is also the hardest to achieve. How do you go from the previous scenario into a scenario, where you want to be part of a community? Anecdotally, I can say that I like to both give and receive appreciation beyond a simple ‘thanks’. Don’t you?
Integration is when the two first steps are achieved, but in a broader sense, it is also when it’s no longer up to you alone, but the group as a whole.
I was once part of a community, where I practiced these three steps as the community’s instigator. Yet to this day, despite my efforts, I cannot claim it was an inclusive and integrated community. While I spoke with all and grew friendships, not all in the community shared the integration. Several social groups sprung up within the community, and to this date, those two social groups stick, while the community suffered. Few tried to actively integrate, and when they did, it would more often fail than succeed.
Integration was never achieved, and why was that? Because integration is a mindset, that need be shared by all. It must become an explicit vision, that all want to take part in. It will be crucial to motivate yourself and other community members, and you may not always want to, but to create a truly great community, you must remember integration. When first you achieve integration, your community will grow from simply that to a group of friends, but with more. It will truly be a great community.
While you’ve read this small guide, I have refrained from giving examples as to how you practically can integrate, but you need not be more than aware. As I said, it is a mindset rather than a simple activity such as the first two steps.
In a coined phrase, it could sound something like “I want us to succeed together”.
So when making your community great remember the three great I’s, interact, include and integration.
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Leading Management and Managing Leadership - by Tazkram
Knowledge is the first step to success.
Have you ever wondered about the role of a guild leader and that of an officer? You’ve likely been in a plethora of guilds, each having their own way of dealing with leadership and management.
One of the first guilds you’ve likely set your foot in, not much unlike myself, was the guild where an officer role was granted those who showed loyalty. You were active, became a friend of the guild master and was promoted. If not, you may have seen this occur.
Or what about the guild that worked like a hierarchy? The guild leader and officers’ word being law. There are many ways to set up a guild, but in the end, but in the end many of these will suffer from a downfall, once the leadership vanishes. Understanding the role of leadership and management can be crucial, to see a guild succeed on the long run, and that understanding is what this text aims to further.
Leading and managing are qualities all can learn to possess. Plenty educations exist, which will attempt to better either of the two for real work purposes. Thus, it is important to emphasize, that while I will talk about each separately, the two are not exclusive for you nor me.
The role of leadership is to set a vision. Before someone made a guild, they had an idea of what they wanted. A military guild, an adventure guild or something different. Most go further than that and will also consider what makes their guild unique. You may even ask yourself, what will my guild do, and how will it differ from others? That is the vision.
You’ll think of different ways to achieve your goal, set up guild systems, like a D&D-esque rolling system, or a rank and progression system for which members pass through. When the guild is established, you will continue to introduce your unique systems to the guild members that join. You communicate, align and direct them. In other words, you make them understand the systems. This both through talking to them and experimenting with the systems.
The last important thing a leader does is inspire and motivate. For anything to work, it requires that someone does it. In a guild, you’re all there together as a hobby, nobody is paying you, and so motivation can be a key factor for a lasting guild. You may be able to motivate yourself to create complex RPG systems, but if you cannot motivate anyone else to do it, that system will likely end up failing, dramatically. Leadership in its essence is about establishing a vision, communicating it and motivating others to achieve it.
Management on the other hand, is what makes the wheels turn correctly. It is when you add an event in the calendar, when you lay out the rules of your /roll-system and when you speak with a member, who seem not to follow the procedures set in place.
The management role is the bread-and-butter of any guild and will ensure that it stays true to the goals and vision set by the leadership. It creates routines for everyone, predictability in how things are handled. Take a moment to think about that, as it is usually very much in the background of guild management.
What does the guild you are part of do, that you simply have come to expect from it? Does it have certain days with activities in a specific timeframe, or is it loose form where you simply join in at any time? Perhaps raid markers are used for DMing, or you have players who control NPCs of the story? Simple things like this is part of management, but this also includes OOC management.
If someone does or says something inappropriate, what do you expect the officers to do about it? Something, nothing?
Now, back to the meat of the question. The role of guild leaders and officers. Quite simply the role is as those mentioned above. The guild leader often takes the role of leadership, as they are most often the person who made the guild. Officers end up in managing roles, where they help the leader in achieving the vision of the guild. This either through OOC management or IC management (which can be DMing an event).
All this may appear self-evident to you, but I’ll press on and challenge this setup. If you want your guild to succeed, you will have to pick people who possess both leading and managing capabilities. Why? Should either the leadership or management vanish for one reason or another, the guild will end up collapsing. All my former guilds have collapsed, as I have always been a key factor in it.
Had I been successful in finding good officers, who both possessed leadership and management abilities, and been able to cultivate that, it would have turned out differently. Other guilds have succeeded in this aspect, where some have had a dozen different leaders, and that was because, they cultivated an atmosphere where both the guild leader and officer staff had the necessary capabilities. A well-run guild should strive for this or expect not to be well-run in the long-term. As key members drop out, so will the activity of the guild, until it is dormant and gone.
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Le bump of le thread!
Awesome and helpful thread with more helpful threads in it! What’s not to like!
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Thanks to Rogmasha for adding my meager guide to this great thread. Here is to many more!
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Added Seryddol’s updated tauren RP guide (2016 but at least it’s not nearly 10 years old!!) to the list above.
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Added Manata’s “Shamanism, communing with the dead and Elements” to the list of essays and discussions.
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Will report for stickeh.
Sorry if this is frowned upon but I noticed that a few races are without guides. Before writing them myself I decided to search for them quickly and surprisingly found two guides that might be worth adding to this thread!
Void Elves by Morrowburn: The Void's Vainglorious Vagary - A Void Elf RP Guide
Nightborne by Korlith: https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/nightborne-rp-guide/102515
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Not at all; the more guides the better!
Edit: They’ve now been added.
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This right here is one of the most valuable threads we’ve got on these forums. Not gonna let it get locked 2 weeks from now.
Thanks Rogmasha for maintaining it!
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Added Acrona (and now Mythundis’) thread on Night Elf roleplay here:
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I figured this collection of quotes from the Illidan novel / quests regarding demon hunters might be more accessible in a thread like this instead of only our guild thread. Though not exactly a guide, I think it might be pretty practical for DH RPers. Feel free to add it.
`https://docs.google.com/document/d/1M_YbW7GivX85LACOz16xJtR9pS0RglfZK20PioXrhM0/edit´
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I’ll have to transcribe it into a different format some time (Google docs have a tendency to disappear eventually) - but the link has been added, thanks a bunch!
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Added Watrus’ Darkspear guide here:
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Say if you’d like a hand in transcribing these guides onto a more permanent platform, Rogmasha. Would be happy to contribute my time.
E: Some are due for an update, I gathered? While I’m not much of a lore buff, I can help improve formatting, phrasing and grammar where needed.
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