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From WikiWatch

originally written by Nabren for Everwatch Library

Introduction

So you enlisted in a role-playing guild. You thought you'd get lets of raiding and the proverbial l33t gear and all that and now your stuck with this lord-and-aye mumbo jumbo. Boy, are you knee deep in dren now  :*) Not to worry though. Your friendly neighbourhood Keeper of the Heart has provided a handy guide to role-playing.

The Basics

Let us start with the basics. The term 'role playing' implies, not completely surprising, that a role is played. Note, that a role is, to my knowledge, not a musical instrument, although as a tinker I can assure you that any type of role can easily be fashioned into a wind or string instrument. No, a role in this instance refers to the personage.

As such you, as a role-player, have to adopt for the purposes of the roleplaying a personae suitable for the environment it is placed in. In this case the world of Norrath where high magicks and blissfully ignorant orcs are plenty and where teknology (the psyens of all thing teknekkal, apparently) doesn't exist. The aforementioned role, as such, quickly evolves into a character, as these things so often do. Now, this character is the key element of all role-playing as it does not only provide the framework for later developments, but also gives all the other role-players something to laugh at (all in good spirits of course).

Naming

Let us examine this character a little closer, or in case of ogres and trolls from a respectable distance, preferably down wind. The first thing about the character, you'll notice, is the anthropomorphic personification. Or in other words, the rotting corpse you leave at the feet of that cordial city guard. Now, in normal circumstances, this corpse, then in the operational and often upright position will have a name. This is where it all starts. A proper role-playing name fits the character and not necessarily the person doing the playing. As such, names like Superlooter or Ineedkei are not the way to go. Names like Gandalf, or Milamber, while perfectly suitable for a high magick environment are also highly dubious for the simple reason that names like that a) show a complete lack of role playing ability and b) show a stunning lack of imagination. Imagination being the second important element.

Imagination is the process by which the character comes alive. It creates in the mind of the player the framework upon which the role and the character are based. Starting with the name, it creates a history behind the name. For every name you pick, you have to imagine two loving parents (dark elves love their children too) ( not to sure about iksar though, how much can you love an egg) with their newborn in their arms. No parent in their right mind is going to name their child Bashalot or Orcslayer. The role-player will have to put his imagination to work to come up with a name that suits both the race and the occupation of the character. While speeddemon fits the bard class, it does not fit the race as no bard is of an evil race and as such cannot be a demon, not to mention the fact that no parent would name their child Speeddemon. Ambitious role-players might venture out into the realms of predicting the future (a trick not regarded as very difficult. Most people can predict their death long before the actual fight is over) in choosing a first name that fits the later last name. The easy way of doing it is using words that don't actually mean anything. Trelmar Deet for instance doesn't mean anything and as such can be used for almost all classes and races. It is worth mentioning here that some races lend themselves very well for phonetic naming. Most Ogre parents cannot even pronounce lizardbane, but can manage Ugh or something monosyllabic (although the word monosyllabic would probably be a stretch for any of the other races too, with the possible exception of Erudites). Which brings us to the third element. History

Character History

History is the grounding of your character. Nine out of ten characters within the world of Norrath begin and end with a name. Nothing more, no role, no history. Of those names, seven out of ten follow the template “Illusion of power, Lie of accomplishment“ (The Dragonslayer family is large and widespread). Following logic in this case would mean that the dragon and orc races would long since be extinct, given all the surnames that involve less favourable actions being thrust upon them. This is obviously not the case, which means that all the Orchackers and Dragonsmiters are either grossly misinformed or just lying. In another feat of prediction I think it’s fairly safe to assume the latter.

In order to play your character’s role properly, it is vital your character has history. Who are it's parents, what did they do, why did your character become a certain class and what events brought you where you are today? It is from this history you can further develop your character.

In resume, role-playing starts with the understanding that you play a certain role. That role begins with the naming of our character and the history that goes behind this name. In order to accomplish this, players will have to dust off their imaginations.

Language

Let us now proceed to the finer points of role-playing. First off, language. The world of Norrath is a far cry from the world most players reside in. As such, many words and verbalisms do not have any bearing on the world of Norrath. No one has ever heard a computer. And brb or afk are not words you wish to use in polite company (get a troll dictionary). Furthermore, the language of your chosen race developed within the history of that race. Therefore, it pays to investigate your family's past in order to learn how a dwarf or woodelf behaves. Once again, imagination is the key. For some reason elves of all types are portrayed as rather long winded and articulate thespians. This may well work for the high elves at the courts of Felwithe, but Wood Elf|woodelves on the whole benefit from not talking much at all as it tends to scare away the game they so avidly try to stick full of arrows. There is also an unwritten law that states that elves of all kinds are always polite and well mannered. Elves apparently do not curse or swear. This, from own experience, is far from the truth. Dark elves for instance, used to shout and curse at my forebears for many generations. In fact many of the more amusing examples of bad language are derived from the dark elf ineptitude to pronounce gnomish language. The gnomish language in turn was highly influenced by the generations of slavery under dark elf rule. Dwarfish language is characterised by short, explosive words that you can pant between hammer strikes and human language…well just look at the cities they live in, the less said about them the better really.

Another linguistic convention without any real bases is what Erudine librarians have dubbed Shakespeare syndrome, although I personally fail to see how shaking a spear would influence language in any way. Unless the shaking is done in the direction of vital organs with the intent to skewer. Shakespeare syndrome is diagnosed as the chronic and compulsive use of words ending with 'eth' and addressing folks by terms of Lord and Lady, Thy or Ye. This linguistic pattern is otherwise known as ‘ye ole English’. Now, while this is a perfectly acceptably way of role-playing, it does not as such display a great imagination. It is not at all necessary to use ‘ye ole English’. In fact it is considered, the easy way out. It is also a highly skilled art form to get right. As per the old saying : It is often better to say nothing and be taken for a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.

Actions

Now that we have a firm grasp of language (let us pretend this is the case), we can proceed to the actions of our character (or the lack thereof). There are predefined ways of how certain races and classes should act. If you for instance play an evil race or class, you are expected to be a nasty piece of work and a right bastard at that. If you play an Ogre you are expected to play dumb. This is where it gets difficult, because playing an evil role while the player is innately a good person is very difficult. This goes even more for playing dumb. As with language, if you’re not to good at it, try not to over do it. It goes to far to dictate here the ways all classes and races should act. Most of it can easily be derived from the lore already present. Now, the truly gifted role-players often disregard these conventions. It is easy to be evil and it is hard to be evil right, but it’s insanely difficult to be good while being evil. This makes rogues, for instance, a very challenging class to role-play right.

Putting it into Practice

Now that we know what to say and how to act, we are ready to venture out into the world. I’ll leave you with a few handy tips to help you play your role.

1. Read up on the lore surrounding your race and class. It helps tremendously to know why dwarves are short (there is a reason) and why barbarians insist on wearing kilts while it’s obviously freezing (this also explains their less than sunny demeanour, given the fact that they’re freezing their **** off).
2. Write that family history down (preferably at the therefore assigned place at the guild boards). It may be a chore, but you’ll thank you later.
3. Same goes for your character history. It pays to know why you act the way you act in case you forget.
4. You’re in no way bound to the chosen path. If you decide that the sunny and rosy disposition you adopted for your druid is driving you up the wall, there is nothing stopping your from playing him as a bitter and vindictive malcontent. It would be a great role player who can pull of a druid or ranger (or woodelf) that hates the bloody forest.
5. Gods are a good source to base your character on. Agnostic does not have to mean you do not believe in the gods. It can also mean you believe in them just fine, you just don’t worship any.
6. Ascribe things with personality (my precious). It helps tremendously to speak of boats and doors as persons, not to mention ascribing personality to the enemies your fight (stick that where the sun don’t shine, you shiny piece of crystalline chicken shit)
7. Get a drink and then read this whole thing again, but this time apply it to your character.
8. Repeat step 6 but mean it this time.

In Conclusion

For further questions and additions, please don’t contact me or any of my associates. We honestly couldn’t care less. You have a better change winning the lottery, which in Norrath is a dismal chance to begin with.

In case you’re wondering what happened to the entertaining bit, mentioned in the title, the author would like to stipulate that entertaining is a relative term. The author for one, had oodles of fun writing this piece. The fact that you didn’t find it in the slightest bit entertaining says more about you than about the entertainment value of the piece.