RP Tips by Dwoozle, posted again (again) by Tardon
The beautiful WoW environment and the excellent RPing on AD are what keeps me coming back for more. While the world Blizz designed is 99.99% static it can still be used to add flavour and depth to RP. Here’s another series of tips by yours truely about how I use the world around Dwoozle for inspiration.
The first two wise monkeys
Looking at and hearing what’s going on is easy. The graphics and ambiant sound effects give a superb feel for Blizz’s vision of Azeroth. It’s easy to forget how beautiful a place is when you spend a lot of time there, familiarity breeds comtempt. A lot of the time Stormwind just washes over me and I don’t realise how special the place is. It only hits me how beautiful the world is when I go somehwere I haven’t been for a while. Take a look around now and then when it’s quiet, with a fresh eye, and feel inspired.
Instead of just “pointing yonder” with the built in emote, try pointing at something and add a little something, “Dwoozle points down the street towards the towering entrance gate”.
Dwoozle kicks some snow off his boots.
Dwoozle looks bored and tries to lift one of the heavy cannonballs.
Dwoozle warms his hands by the roaring hearth.
Dwoozle brushes some burning embers from his armour.
Something Dwoozle does almost every hour when he’s in a town is check his pocket watch.
It’s a bit of a wake up for some people. I’ve had people comment that they didn’t even realise that there was a town bell. It might be to do with the music, I wouldn’t know myself though, I rarely play games with the in game music on. I prefer the amibiant sounds effects in games to inspire me.
Dwoozle covers his ears to block out the loud chirping from the marsh.
Dwoozle starts to shout over the roaring waterfall.
Dwoozle looks nervous as the howling of the wolves gets closer.
The monkey that got left out
Smells are going to be introduced in the eight generation MMORPGs … Or are they!?
Here’s something that needs inspiration from the player. It’s not something that Blizz are able to provide. Again though the environment can give you a helping hand. What does that Murloc camp smell like? I often complain when I’m standing waiting for a boat in Menethil that the wind off the mountain blows the smell of the Murloc camps right over the bay.
It’s a tricky one but I imagine they simply smell fishy. We know what the vast majority of things in Azeroth smell like though; Freshly cut tress, cooking meat, salty sea air, sulphurous fumes and wet wool. I could go on for ever. The trick is though to take a few seconds and remember that smell. When the moods takes you, make a comment about it or emote something about the smell of where you are.
Dwoozle gags at the rotten smell of the ghoul.
Dwoozle stands still for a few seconds and takes in the earthy scent of the piles of herbs.
“Yee smells reeeeeeal nice t’day, sweetness”
“Bleedin’ ‘ell cookin’ boar meat dunne 'alf make me 'ungry eh!”
A character experiment
On day one Dwoozle wasn’t the complicated of characters. The only concept I had was that he was street thug. I grabbed him and starting running from there.
It was when I suddenly dropped in his ungnomish way of speaking that he started to come alive. He’s become quite a complicated little thing now though but I started to wonder what it would be like if he couldn’t use his distinctive accent and what people would make of him.
While I was in Winterspring I thought to myself. What if he caught a bad cold and lost his voice?
Step one - How to let people know
The first thing that happened was being approached by Hamfist. After some clumby attempts to communicate by pointing at his throat and shaking his head, Dwooz and Hamfist headed to the inn to find a piece of paper so he could write things down.
I realised that if I used this idea as a logical way to communicate then I might as well not bother. I’d just be writing down everything I wanted to say in emote form. I came up with one macro where I point to the piece of paper to tell people I’ve lost my voice. That’s the hook and interaction can move on from there.
Step two - What -is- wrong with Dwoozle
The next thing that happens is everyone wants to start pokeing around in your throat to find the problem.
The solution seems to be to find a priest. It’s always tricky to fight your way out of instant solutions to problems. When near fatal wounds can be instantly healed by a priest, why should a sore throat be a problem. I wanted to keep this up for a few days so thankfully the priest solution wasn’t brought up.
How would I have handled it? I think the simplest thing would be thank the priest for easing the pain and look a bit more cheerful but still have the problem.
Step three - The solution
After pokeing around in Dwooz’s throat and an unorthadox solution by Carale of bashing Dwooz on the head to remove anything that might be stuck in his throat, it was clear that Dwooz’s tonsils had become infected.
If it doesn’t clear up by Sunday then what better way to use an epic sword that for Carale to remove Dwooz’s tonsils with it.
All in all a very enjoyable little episode in Dwooz’s life. It goes to show that sometimes it’s worth stripping the core of your character away just to see if they’re as much fun to play in a different light. I’ve learned that Dwoozle -is- a lot of fun in more ways than one.
Just thought I’d jot down some notes about emotes and how I think they can be used to greater effect. Some of you might find some of these tips useful. I sure hope so.
Emotes, adjectives and emphasis
Try to spice up emotes with adjectives and emphesis. Aiding another players imagination is important. If your character just “pick up a barrel” there’s no indication of how much of a struggle it might be. “Dwoozle struggles to to lift the enormous barrel” sends out a signal to other players and provides a hook for interaction. Could Dwoozle do with a hand?
Keep the situation alive
Don’t just stand there and assume that everyone’s remembered what happened five minutes ago. Dwoozle still hasn’t managed to put the barrel where he wanted yet. “Dwoozle struggles to hold onto the barrel and groans under the weight”.
Sigmote!
Something I mentioned in a thread I wrote a while ago. Write a macro that’s a “signature” emote. Dwoozle used to chew Silverleaf. Things came to a head with that though when he collasped and passed out. His bad teeth are no longer a problem. Now he checks his pocket watch everytime the town bell chimes. I don’t think it’s quite as memorable though. Dwoozle got a certain amount of fame for his previous sigmote! Maybe it’s time to think of something else.
Mindreaders of Azeroth … Dispurse!
Try not to put your character’s thoughts into emotes. Let people know they’ve got something on their mind and they might enquire about it. “Dwoozle narrows his eyes at CharacterX and strokes his chin, nodding slowly”. Again, more hooks for interaction.
Booooring
Don’t just stand there like a lemon. If there’s nothing happening then do something. Adjust clothing, blow your nose, run your fingers through your hair, kick a stone, stroke your pet, pick paint off the lamppost, sniff, clean your nails …
Spice up mechanics
If there’s time make a song and dance about something your character does alot. Dwoozle will sometimes take a great deal of time to open a lockbox. He takes pride in what he does and likes to let other people know how good he is at it. Break down the process into a series of tasks and remember not everything goes right all the time.