I don't seem to understand people who do this

[Mentaldemise]

People who "RP" Characters that already exist, isn't the entire point of role playing(in WoW) to fit into the universe and become part of it? How exactly does Tyrion Lannister or Dr Who fit into warcraft....

[Val the Moofia Boss]

When we talk about RPing a character, we usually mean role-playing characters that we made up; it's not like were pretending to Saurfang or Varian Wrynn, it's roleplaying a player character (one made up and controlled by it's player). NPCs (non-player-characters) would either be already established lore characters or other made-up characters.

[Flutterguy]

Some people like to cross-reference in RP. I see it just as much in pen and paper as I do in WoW. In Pen and Paper though, you wouldn't necessarily call yourself Tyrion Lannister, but your half-ling rogue(for social skills) from a proud noble heritage that is a witty alcoholic and womanizer is not fooling anyone.

[Xarkan]

People who "RP" Characters that already exist, isn't the entire point of role playing(in WoW) to fit into the universe and become part of it? How exactly does Tyrion Lannister or Dr Who fit into warcraft....

I used to find [something similar to] that annoying, people role-playing dnd style dwarves in Ultima Online for example. I would think proper roleplaying would be playing a character from a world in the world and not grasping at straws to ignore the world. However in mmo's roleplaying has seemingly become about ignoring the world you play in.

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Some people like to cross-reference in RP. I see it just as much in pen and paper as I do in WoW. In Pen and Paper though, you wouldn't necessarily call yourself Tyrion Lannister, but your half-ling rogue(for social skills) from a proud noble heritage that is a witty alcoholic and womanizer is not fooling anyone.

Taking inspiration from literature to make a personality for your character is fine. In fact it used to be encouraged (as long as not all paladins become a Lancelot) But playing the actual character less so. You can play a rogue that acts like Tyrion but if you play Tyrion number 3 in a group of mostly rogues something has gone horribly wrong :P [edit: by which i did not mean the number of rogues but i guess that too could be an issue]

[Deramyr]

I see this a lot, both in WoW and other online games as well. I think the thing that ticks me off most is when characters claim to have relation to a very prominent lore figure. For example I was in Orgrimmar and saw a Blood Elf Death Knight who said she was Sylvanas' daughter. /laugh

[Caerule]

Heh, you do see this a lot. I've seen a lot of elves related to Kael'thas in my time. People tend to cling to what they like, and find interesting. And people also tend to want to be special. Lots of Blood Elves walking around pretending to be High Elves, even if they'd lorewise be executed. At any rate, it seems oftentimes people believe that in order for them to be appreciated, they need to be as special as possible, for people to enjoy interacting with them. The opposite is true: RP is all about the interaction. About what the character is currently doing. A character's most interesting stories and appeal should never be in the past, or other works of fiction. Roleplay is all about the experiences you are sharing together with others.

[leggomydairy]

I never was a fan of character played like that. You can't insert yourself into the family of a major NPC. You just can't.

[Lynneiah]

Lots of Blood Elves walking around pretending to be High Elves, even if they'd lorewise be executed.

Over here, there's quite a few human characters who RP as High Elves.
Which makes a modicum of sense, I guess. More than Horde High Elves do, anyway.

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I once saw a Pandaren RPing as a Decepticon. I shit ye not.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Pandaren RPing as Furbolgs is believeable, because the two are related. Pandaren as alien robots isn"t, because it violates the inmersion and is lore breaking.

And no, you just cant pretend to be apart of an already lore established primary family. No one goes around saying their the nephew of Carine Bloodhoof, but I do see a lote Ragetotems or Brokenhoofs going around. Thats because either they selected a minor family with little lore ties (Ragetotems) or a bunch of Tauren RPers with the same interests in drama decided to put together their own RP guild (Brokenhoofs).

[ChaosWolf]

I once saw a Pandaren RPing as a Decepticon. I shit ye not.

The Beast Wars have begun...

[Lynneiah]

Pandaren RPing as Furbolgs is believeable, because the two are related.

Are they? Furbolg seem to be descendant from the bear Ancients in Northrend (much like the Quillboar are related to Agamaggan), while Pandaren were most likely Mogu creations.

[Al Gorefiend]

Some people like to cross-reference in RP. I see it just as much in pen and paper as I do in WoW. In Pen and Paper though, you wouldn't necessarily call yourself Tyrion Lannister, but your half-ling rogue(for social skills) from a proud noble heritage that is a witty alcoholic and womanizer is not fooling anyone.

Its not the traits of being a witty alcoholic and womanizer are trademarked. I've known people to create characters entirely in the likeness of a novel or movie, and when I ask if they drew from that media for inspiration, they never read/saw it.

If I'm a stubborn, drunken Dwarf with a boastful pride and resentment for Elves, am I suddenly Gimli?

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Are they? Furbolg seem to be descendant from the bear Ancients in Northrend (much like the Quillboar are related to Agamaggan), while Pandaren were most likely Mogu creations.

theres a missing link.. somewhere.

Also Pandaren Mogu creations? They only created Saurok. Did I miss something? Thought they were just normal bears one day blessed by the waters of the Vale.

[Lynneiah]

Its not the traits of being a witty alcoholic and womanizer are trademarked. I've known people to create characters entirely in the likeness of a novel or movie, and when I ask if they drew from that media for inspiration, they never read/saw it.

If I'm a stubborn, drunken Dwarf with a boastful pride and resentment for Elves, am I suddenly Gimli?

There's a difference to playing a character who is almost identical to Gimli, and playing Gimli. The first is okay. The second is not.

theres a missing link.. somewhere.

Also Pandaren Mogu creations? They only created Saurok. Did I miss something? Thought they were just normal bears one day blessed by the waters of the Vale.

Not sure if there's confirmation either way, but it is, to my knowledge, rather heavily hinted that all sentient races on Pandaria, with the exception of Mogu themselves, Yuangol, Mantid, and Jinyu, are Mogu creations.

[Deleted]

And no, you just cant pretend to be apart of an already lore established primary family. No one goes around saying their the nephew of Carine Bloodhoof, but I do see a lote Ragetotems or Brokenhoofs going around. Thats because either they selected a minor family with little lore ties (Ragetotems) or a bunch of Tauren RPers with the same interests in drama decided to put together their own RP guild (Brokenhoofs).

The Ragetotem make some sense, since they are also a tribe.

[Lynneiah]

The Ragetotem make some sense, since they are also a tribe.

Aren't all Tauren 'families' also tribes? I know Bloodhoof and Grimtotem are tribes, though not all members of those tribes are named Bloodhoof or Grimtotem.

[Deleted]

Aren't all Tauren 'families' also tribes? I know Bloodhoof and Grimtotem are tribes, though not all members of those tribes are named Bloodhoof or Grimtotem.

Pretty much, yes. There seem to be a couple of exceptions, where one bloodline uses a non-tribal title, but they're relatively rare.

Fun fact: in orcish 'clans', only the chieftain's line seems to hold onto the clan name, if at all (see Kilrogg Deadeye, the Blackhands...), while at least the tauren 'tribes' (and possibly trolls as well) apply the tribal title to all members. This would mean that Blizzard messes up - their 'clans' are in fact tribes and their 'tribes' are in fact clans. Heh.

[Lynneiah]

Pretty much, yes. There seem to be a couple of exceptions, where one bloodline uses a non-tribal title, but they're relatively rare.

Fun fact: in orcish 'clans', only the chieftain's line seems to hold onto the clan name, if at all (see Kilrogg Deadeye, the Blackhands...), while at least the tauren 'tribes' (and possibly trolls as well) apply the tribal title to all members. This would mean that Blizzard messes up - their 'clans' are in fact tribes and their 'tribes' are in fact clans. Heh.

I can't think of a single orc clan where the leader's family has the same name as the clan, really.
Blackrock - Blackhand/Doomhammer
Bleeding Hollow - Deadeye
Warsong - Hellscream
Frostwolf - ?
And so on...

[Deleted]

I can't think of a single orc clan where the leader's family has the same name as the clan, really.
Blackrock - Blackhand/Doomhammer
Bleeding Hollow - Deadeye
Warsong - Hellscream
Frostwolf - ?
And so on...

Durotan is sometimes refered to as Durotan Frostwolf, but the other leaders in the Old Horde? Not so much.

At best you get off-hand references to clan titles being used to point out the specific orc, like Orgrim being refered to as 'the Doomhammer Blackrock'. These occurences are rare though and generally the clan title isn't actually ever used as part of an orc's name. So yeah... not really a clan then, is it?

[Lynneiah]

Not really, no. :P

[Karnak]

My characters are on Cenarion Circle and I do see some of the kind of stuff the OP mentions. It is annoying.

Another annoying thing that some do in RP sessions is declare that their character does something to another character:

This is wrong:
Bob: "Valkash grabs Edinya and throws her to the floor."
It is wrong because Edinya's player is taken out of the flow and is having decisions made for her.

This is right:
Bob: "Valkash tries to grab Edinya and throw her to the floor."
Because Edinya's player now has choice to reply with:
Sarah: "Edinya ducks back and evades Valkash's attack."
Or
Sarah: "Edinya dodges back, but Valkash catches hold of her arm, but she manages to maintain her feet when Valkash tries to spin her down."
Or
Sarah: "Edinya is surprised by Valkash's sudden attack and struggles to catch her breath after having it knocked out when she was thrown to the floor."

Wording your RP so that you have a back and forth without taking control out of the other player's hands by forcing them to follow your script or contradict what you said is the way to do diceless, GMless RP like we have in MMOs. Of course, in my example, if Sarah always has Edinya be perfect and untouchable, infallible and so on she won't be fun to RP with either.

I think I avoid the OP's objections, and other raised objects with my characters. My frameworks:

The closest I get to saying I am attached to a major family is that my main, a Draenei Shaman, is old enough to have called herself an Eredar, remember Argus and to have chosen to flee with Valen. She is not Valen's niece, cousin or any other such thing, just one of the few surviving Draenei who fled Argus.

My Gnome DK is a Gnome Supremest who greatly regrets the one time she was heroic and saved a human refugee caravan fleeing out of the Plaguelands, and as a result dying and being raised as a Death Knight.

My Hunter is a crude, sexist, womanizing Dwarf who thinks he is far more charming than he is, when he is mostly just creepy.

My Paladin is a Draenei who is well intentioned, but dumb as a box of rocks. He is currently in my bank guild "Ly Cheet and Steele LLC" and he is completely unaware that he is working for an exploitative brokerage run by a semi-evil Gnome Warlock.

My Mage grew up as a minor noble's daughter in Netherstorm and was sent to Dalaran to study when it became clear that she had arcane potential. At Dalaran she studied esoteric applications of the arcane, constructive magics. She also met and married another Mage. When she fell pregnant she returned to Nethergarde to be with her mother, and he husband was supposed to join her there but instead was at Dalaran when Achimonde attacked and destroyed Dalaran, presumably being killed. She then decided that destructive magic was the only way to protect her loved ones and turned from creative Arcane magic to destructive Fire and Frost magic.


I think all of those frameworks are viable.