Azheron's RP Rant

[Azheron]

Hello there, I felt like there are some things that need to be said now that it's summertime again and people are flowing on in. Let's see if I'll be of any use!

Improvising RP:
I regard RPing as acting. And acting is not just saying your lines, it's as much about reacting and keeping the story going. And a part of this is improvising, making something up, reacting in a split second (or a minute, 'cause it's in text) to what the other person says or does. You can not, in any regard, just disregard things that happen. That stops RP.

Also, there's a general rule, that if someone asks your character to do something or go somewhere, you should accept his idea, and not just go "No." I have noticed so much of this, where I go
Azheron cries in the woods, his back torn up and bloody, sweating like a pig.
MrPotatoHead joins Azheron's company, tapping him on the shoulder with comfort in his gaze, "What's wrong my love?" He asks.
Azheron wipes a tear off his cheek dramatically, "Nothing, absolutely nothing."
MrPotatoHead: Okay.

You can clearly see that I was trying to somewhat involve the trouble Azheron had been in to the RP, yet MPH here just disregards my initiative, wrecking the RP. If someone mentions something that he's obviously trying to get in the RP, don't just throw it away. Go with the flow.

Yes, even if you have an amazing idea for an RP later on, you should let the one that goes first get the idea done.

Improvising in character creation:
Often when I create a character, I can't make the history right away, because all I have is a general idea of what I want. That's when I go on to the server, log in, and start RPing. Then, during the three few somewhat meaningless RPs, I create my characters history. Here's an example.
Azheron and SUPERMAN are in an Inn, drinking, talking and all that. Suddenly, they run out of subjects. A man runs in, saying, "We need assistance, can anyone here fly a plane?". Seeing as how Azheron and SUPERMAN are very bored and out of topics, I will make up a history for Azheron where he had gone to pilot school when he was a young lad.

In my opinion, this is acceptable, because it doesn't ruin RP, but causes it. However, there's a wrong example of this as well.
Kretol attacks Azheron with all his might, trying to jab his spear into Azherons gut. Seeing as Azheron's just a random gnome mage that's old and sleeping, he should succeed.
Azheron blocks the attack with the iron stomach that was installed on him when he was in a car crash.

This here was the wrong type of example. Using this to save your character from certain death or a loss makes no sense, as it interrupts the RP more than helps it.

Oh and asking your RP mates before you do this is probably required.

But Azheron! There is never RP, or it's in the wrong places oh dear oh dear.
I remember reading something like what I'm about to say in Kretol's signature, a good RPer will rarely say "I can't come to RP because my character is A and B." He'll say, "I can come RP even though my character is A and B, because he has just done C." My point is, you can almost always find a reason for going somewhere to RP. (Except for cross race things like a human going to orgrimmar.)



Character versability
This is a short one. Just to say, every character does not have to be a fighter. I would like to meet another character that has absolutely no fighting skillset, as of yet I have not. ... Or at least in about a year.


TL;DR Accept other peoples' ideas, you can RP with an unfinished character (And make it during the RP, if changing this does not affect other peoples' RP except for making it better.) and you can't say that there is no RP. A character which can only stay at Stormwind is a terrible character in my opinion.

I will see if I add anything to this later on, but for now, that's about it.

[FlyingSquirrel]

Character versability
This is a short one. Just to say, every character does not have to be a fighter. I would like to meet another character that has absolutely no fighting skillset, as of yet I have not. ... Or at least in about a year.

Theraslyn. Regardless, I agree. All of my characters have a soft spot for someone crying and, if it's not crying, then come up with a BS reason for your character to care.

[PurgatoryDuck]

I like all of these ideas and agree with all of them excluding the,

"I can come RP even though my character is A and B, because he has just done C." My point is, you can almost always find a reason for going somewhere to RP.

I don't like that mostly for the fact of realism. You cannot say you took a boat from EK to Kali in five minutes. Now you can however get someone to teleport you, but in that case you need a mage or whip out the cash for a goblin. I think people in those cases could just roll a new guy and see if that can take him anywhere, you are not limited to just him/her. This to me is just where really the person's roleplaying style takes the reins but people should not just sit in GMI all day not even asking if they can join something.

[Azheron]

Well, I'd rather have people RPing than waiting three days to get from a city to another. I guess it's a question of opinion.

[Scout]

My name is Scout, and I approve of this message.

On the topic of taking five minutes to go from the Eastern Kingdoms to Kalimdor, I always say that characters travel at the speed of plot. If the plot demands that Siara arrives in Ratchet from Booty Bay right away, then they do so, no matter how they decided to get there. However, if Ylvandre is traveling to Booty Bay to help against the plague there and she's coming from Astranaar, while I could just have her show up in Booty Bay, it's also entirely possible that she could take days to show up there--by which point, the problem has already been solved.

TL;DR, if you want to arrive somewhere quickly, you do. If you don't, then you don't.

[Azheron]

if it's not crying, then come up with a BS reason for your character to care.

Exactly.

[Azheron]

I feel like this needs to be bumped.

[Aphetoros]

Character versability
This is a short one. Just to say, every character does not have to be a fighter. I would like to meet another character that has absolutely no fighting skillset, as of yet I have not. ... Or at least in about a year.

You should meet my troll Se'madi. He's an undertaker troll and can't fight for his life.

[Azheron]

I don't mean to say that "There are no characters like this", I mean to say that there are too little of them compared to the amount of other characters.

[Schorse]

I feel the same way, but I also understand why this may be. For the past month or so on the server, a large majority of the RP has taken place around Booty Bay and the Arena. This is by no means to say that other RP hasn't occurred elsewhere, of course.. but these areas are very friendly to brand-new characters and players to jump into role-play. If someone is thinking of creating a new character, it's more likely that they'll give them some combat experience just for the sake of being able to RP at the 'hot-spots' where more rugged things usually happen. This is just a guess, really, and has many exceptions .

[ghaskan]

Thanks a lot for bumping this, it was a very inspiring read.

The problem with non-fighter characters, is, I think, the loss of some versatility. A character who can fight can join a very wider range of RPs, as opposed to the other who can't.
That said, I do applaud those who RP characters who can't fight to save their lives, as I do understand it's harder to find RP for them, and travels themselves should also be harder, making the character super lucky, with a bodyguard or not much of a traveler. I totally wouldn't mind the first case, because otherwise there would be very little RP for those characters.