Guide: Roleplaying in WoW

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Introduction

Welcome to an in-depth guide to roleplaying in World of Warcraft. This guide was created to be a comprehensive resource to bolster your confidence and understanding of both casual and serious roleplay within the game. By design, this guide is extensive—possibly the most detailed RP guide available. This is because many roleplay tropes and expectations are typically learned through experience or word of mouth, which can make it challenging for newcomers to grasp the nuances of roleplay. While Moon Guard is known as one of the friendliest communities in WoW, it can still be daunting to navigate the “what, why, and how” of roleplaying. This guide covers everything you need to know, so you can not only learn how to roleplay but also excel at it.

Guide Created By The Guild < Dawnbound > [ Moon Guard - US ]
  • Our guild is open to all RP’ers, M+s and casual collectors. [ See More On Our About ]
  • Our Discord is also open to non-members for questions and help about roleplay and TRP3.

This guide is a draft and we’re open to feedback, join our Discord or send mail to “Cephomet” in-game. Thanks!

Requirements

  1. Have Curseforge [ Install Guide Here ] 

  2. Have Total Roleplay 3 [ Install/Setup Guide Here ] 

Chapter 1: Crafting Your Character

1.1 Character Creation

Background and Lore:

  • Develop a detailed backstory for your character. Consider their origins, motivations, and relationships.
  • Align your backstory with the game’s lore to ensure consistency and believability.

Personality and Traits:

  • Define key personality traits. Is your character brave, cunning, or perhaps conflicted?
  • Determine quirks and habits that make your character unique.

Hooks & Weaknesses

  • Consider traits that people can “see at a glance”. Putting these in your TRP3 can allow people to reply to you in character with greater ease.
  • Your character should have vulnerabilities. Like what your character fears and what weaknesses/injuries they might have. Something as simple as an allergy for example is a good starting point.
  • Write out a “hooks” section, so other players can roleplay your character in a context you’re prepared for. As simple as “Heavily calloused hands, clearly hard working but what kind of work?”

Appearance and Gear:

  • Describe your character’s physical appearance, including height, build, and distinguishing features. Try
  • Choose attire and gear that reflect your character’s history and personality.
  • Try your best to fit your in-game model to these standards. Don’t forget various toys exist too!

1.2 Motivations and Goals

What does your character want to achieve? These could be personal or external goals. Consider & define your character’s ambitions. These should align with their background and drive their actions. Your character should have vulnerabilities. Consider what your character fears and what weaknesses they might have and communicate these.

Chapter 2: Writing Perspectives

2.1 First-Person Perspective

Use the first-person perspective to delve into your character’s internal monologue. This helps convey emotions and thoughts directly. Often using phrases like “I " here are some examples…

  • This door is far too heavy to open.. There must be a way in. I lean in for a moment and feel a breeze escaping from a gap in the door… I might be able to pry on it to open it.
  • The door appears stuck… I can fix this gives the door a strong kick to open it

2.2 Third-Person Perspective

In third-person perspective, describe your character’s actions as if you’re describing it to others. This can be useful for conveying a broader view of the scene where conveying specific details would be immersion breaking, like the appearance of things. 

  • Cephomet considers his options, the door seems impassable. He leans in and tries to open it with a kick and it fails to budge it at all. He stumbles back to regain his footing. 
  • This door is far too heavy to open.. There must be a way in. he leans in for a moment and listens, signaling for others to be quiet

3.3 Switching Perspective

In some situations switching first person and third person in your roleplay can help add to scenes and move the plot along. It’s important to distinguish between the first/third person by keeping them separate within the same breath.

2.3 Limited/Meta/Omni Perspectives

Limited
  • When in doubt, limited perspective is the safest perspective to use when approaching others.
  • Stick to what your character knows and perceives in the world. Do not read someone’s TRP3 and comment on random history, unless you have IC reasons to know part of their history.
  • Ask questions to develop your relationship with the character and learn about their back story by their words and actions.
  • “At A Glance” or “Currently Status” in TRP3 are exceptions, these you can comment on without any context given, as that’s the intent.
  • Refer to the “Hooks” of others, that your character has reason to perceive. Such as the background of who you’re talking with. Are you both paladins? Perhaps you met each other in training if you’re the same age.. Some may even write out a list of potential hooks that they want you to approach them with.
Meta
  • You have read their TRP3 and know them well, consider doing a “setup” and inquire about limits in OOC first though if unsure!
  • Meta perspective allows you to dive into a rich existing story/character.
Omniscient
  • Your character knows everything, as such it speaks for everyone and their actions by that design. As a general rule this is not great roleplaying, and needs to be used strategically and with purpose/consent.
  • Outside of planned themes/events, this type of perspective is not one you should develop characters for.

Chapter 3: Emoting

3.1 Character Emoting

Describe your character’s physical actions in detail so others can understand you actions. 

  • It’s a courtesy to respond with similar length and quality of reply when roleplaying. When you provide minimal emotes it can be difficult to understand your characters current emotions and goals. 
  • Instead of a basic reply like “He thought about it.” try to help others visualize your character better e.g “he inclined his head slightly, eyes narrowing in thought.”
  • Use body language, facial expressions, and other non-verbal cues to add depth. For example, a character might cross their arms when defensive or fidget when nervous.
  • For instance, “Her hands trembled as she reached for the letter, her eyes wide with anticipation.” Command Emoting - You can type “/em presses the button” to signify an action. This chat is colored and stands out to players.
  • Warning! These are public to people outside your party, use this in non-populated areas or in instanced content like the Garrison or Dungeons. Chat Emoting - Is when RP’er places an action encloses part of their message like: presses the button. This is used to signify an action mid-paragraph with your character to progress. Plain Text: Implies what your character is speaking out loud.

3.3 Interaction with Others

React to other characters’ actions and emotions. This makes interactions feel more dynamic and realistic. Develop interactions that show growth or change in relationships over time. This adds depth to both your character and the RP experience.

Chapter 5: Etiquette

5.1 Wait For Replies

  • Take time and wait for people to respond first, if you frequently reply first in groups.
  • If you’re a fast typer you can overwhelm the story, denying people the opportunity to reply and develop their characters and the story.
  • Replying within 3 minutes is a good rule for short replies. For longer mult-para replies this may vary up to 3-7 minutes on average depending on the writer.
  • In general you should not wait longer than 7 minutes for one liner replies, this may indicate the person is not involved.

5.2 Don’t Speak For Others

  • Do not force change on others through your roleplay actions.
  • Don’t speak of how you “think” the character would react. For example…
  • I grab you and throw you down to the ground. You pull your blade from your boot and you swing it at me as I dodge it.
  • This is terrible roleplay, as the person had no opportunity to speak for their character and would respond to you. Now you established they drew their blade, when they possibly wanted to knock you over instead of using deadly force as per their character’s background. Don’t be that person!
  • Consider wording your replies as open ended attempts. For example…
  • Cephomet pulls his blade and tries to stab the air around you, trying to find an opening. This allows the person to respond without committing to anything.
  • Emoting on behalf of others in your group may be done if you’re quite familiar with their characters. It should have little to no impact on their character’s story, instead be used to set the scene in a specific way e.g they have fallen to the ground to help move scenes along.

Chapter 6: Crafting Scenes

6.1 Setting the Scene

Provide detailed descriptions of the setting. Include sensory details such as sights, sounds, and smells. Establish the mood and context of the scene. Is it a tense negotiation or a relaxed gathering?

6.2 Scene Progression

Control the pace of the scene by balancing action, dialogue, and introspection. Avoid rushing through important moments. Introduce conflicts and ensure they have meaningful resolutions. This drives the story forward and keeps it engaging.

6.3 Collaborative Scenes

Work with other players to create cohesive scenes. Discuss plans and ensure everyone’s contributions fit together. Be mindful of other players’ comfort zones and RP preferences. Establish clear boundaries and fill out TRPs to provide necessary information to everyone.

Chapter 7: Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

7.1 Metagaming

Metagaming involves using out-of-character knowledge to influence in-character decisions. Stick to what your character knows within the context of the game world and your character’s perspective. Resist the urge to act on knowledge your character wouldn’t realistically have.

7.2 Powergaming

Powergaming involves making your character excessively powerful. Ensure your character’s abilities and outcomes are balanced. Avoid being a god or figure who controls others’ characters which could harm the RP experience for others. 

7.3 Lack of Engagement

Failing to interact meaningfully with others can make your RP experience, and theirs, less enjoyable. Actively engage and contribute to the shared narrative so everyone benefits. A hallmark of a good roleplayer is being a good listener who incorporates others into their story or contributes to the stories of others.

7.4 Overemphasis on Personal Goals

Focusing on your own character’s goals, can detract from the group experience. Balance your ambitions/desires with the group dynamic. Ensure your character’s actions contribute to and enrich the overall storyline, and be careful not to overshadow the goals/stories of others.

7.5 Inconsistent Characterization

Inconsistencies in how your character behaves or reacts can break immersion. Keep track of your character’s development and adhere to established traits and motivations. Review past interactions to maintain consistency, use notes in TRP3 if needed.

7.5 Read The Room

If you’re seeking semi-serious or serious roleplaying, it can be difficult to find roleplay if your TRP3 profile is unrelatable if not hostile in lore to others you’re trying to interact with. If you’re a demon trying to join in on church serum… it may be an event you want to pass on. Other times people are comfortable with this and will try to include you, just read the room!

  • Take in consideration of darker themes like crime, demons, necromancy and religion. These can exclude you from groups or make it outright uncomfortable for people to try to include in their groups. Therefore be respectful and write your roleplays for the rooms you intend to participate in. Inquire via OOC whispers if unsure!

Chapter 8: Gameplay Issues

8.1 Phasing

  • Phasing occurs when players have a quest, zone changes or warmode is enabled. This prevents you from seeing the player in the world. To be part of the same phase you can (sometimes) use party-sync in your quest log. If this fail you may need to complete/leave quests to match others in your party.
  • Some zones have a “speech bubble”, talking to them will transform the world and put you in a different phase. This is common in older zones.
  • Sometimes phasing can’t be fixed, or might be specific to a localized area. Try moving further away and see if that is fixed.

8.2 Shards

  • Is the method Blizzard uses to prevent lag and is forced upon you, during times of high population zones may become sharded. This will prevent you from seeing others, sharding is disabled in cities for RP realms (which make them different to all servers in WoW) and is frequently not a problem outside of large events with dozens-hundreds of people or major patch launch events.
  • If you expect to see dozens or hundreds of people, you may need to look in Raid Finder for “anchor” groups to join the shard where the roleplay is happening. All players within a party or raid of a shard will be set to that shard.

8.3 Backup Your TRP3!

  • People frequently lose their TRP3, or other addon data. When you uninstall WoW, you uninstall all your addons! Don’t be that person!
  • To backup your addons/data, open Battle.net and next the “Play” button for WoW, press the COG and “Show In Explorer”. From there click “_Retail” and copy the folders “Addons, WTF and Screenshots”. It’s important to understand “Addons” is NOT your TRP3 data, your addons like TRP3 save your profiles to the “WTF” folder. Regularly back these up before logging into new WoW updates, like expansion launches to limit issues.
  • WoW does have potential to wipe all your TRP3 Data by force in some cases, as such consider monthly back-ups of your WTF folder to be ensure you retain your profiles.