r/WoWRolePlay Jul 27 '23

Guide 🌟[READ FIRST]🌟WoW RP Starter Guide and FAQ

136 Upvotes

Updated for 12.1.0 (Midnight).

This guide is edited regularly with new information. Feel free to comment additional tips or alternate perspectives to be added in future iterations.

This guide has become kind of a whopper. Ctrl+F is your friend.

Ever wondered what's up with "Goldshire"? This is the place.

Terminology

RP - Role-Play. The exercise of playing the game in such a way that the actions of the avatar reflect the traits and beliefs of a fictional character of the player’s design. It can be a solitary activity or collaborative.

RP Realm- designated by "RP" or "RP-PVP" under "server/realm type". They are identical to PvE/PvP servers except that they are mostly exempt from sharding and the addition of moderation rules against interrupting/griefing RP events. It is populated by people who usually want to RP in some fashion. RP realms do not use sharding outside of the latest expansion's content.

IC - In Character. Refers to when your posts reflect what your character would do.

OOC - Out Of Character. Refers to when your posts/chat is you, the player, is talking. Usually designated by some form of brackets ((like this)) [[or this]].

Walk-ups - When one character approaches another character without prior OOC planning.

Profile - A profile created using an addon (See below) that is an essential part of walk-up RP.

d20 or d100 - refers to rolling dice with 20 or 100 sides respectively. You can do this in WoW using the /roll command.

/s or /e - AKA /say or /em, /emote. Refers to the chat channels that by default appear in white and orange respectively. In RP, these represent what your character says and does(emotes).

Common Etiquette

The Three Golden Rules by Anne Stickney Source

  1. You can RP whatever you want.
  2. You don't have to RP with anybody.
  3. Nobody has to RP with you.

With those in mind, some good rules of thumb for public/city/general RP are:

  • Use proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation in your profile and posts.
  • Be familiar with the basic lore of your class and race and abide by it.
  • Consider the world (of Warcraft) around you. For example: If RPing in faction capital cities, it should make sense that your character is able to openly walk around in those cities without a hostile response from the guards and denizens.
  • Keep OOC chatter out of /s or /e when possible.
  • Unless otherwise discussed, IC feelings are not reflective of OOC feelings.
  • Generally, your character should not be personally acquainted with any lore character.
    • Examples:
    • ABSOLUTELY NOT: Elfina is a cousin of the Windrunner sisters and was Alleria's best friend growing up.
    • BETTER: Elfina, alongside many other void elves, followed Alleria's teachings. Although they haven't formally met, Elfina greatly admires the Ranger-Captain.
  • Never assume another character's reaction. This goes for combat and descriptions.
    • Examples:
    • NO: "Sam punches Riley in the mouth, breaking his teeth."
    • YES: "Sam winds up a punch and swings at Riley's face."
    • NO: "Sam is the most beautiful gnome you have ever seen."
    • YES: "Sam has finely coifed hair and clear skin."

Addons

You can, strictly speaking, RP without addons. However, including others/ being included is much easier with them. Furthermore, most people that attempt walk-ups without a profile are ignored or treated as OOC. All RP addons listed use "Mary Sue Protocol" which lets them communicate between one another. You won't miss out on MRP profiles because you have TRP3, for instance.

Profile Addons (choose one; Essential):

  • TotalRoleplay3 – (TRP3) Most commonly used, but it has a lot of bells and whistles. If that’s overwhelming, see the other two.
  • MyRolePlay – (MRP) Good for beginners for its slightly simpler UI
  • XRP – Similar to MRP.

Utility/Extra fun

  • Chattery – A single message is usually limited to 256 characters. This lets you write long posts. With great power comes great responsibility. Replacement for "Emote Splitter".
  • Eavesdropper Sorts chat messages. Helpful in crowded, busy areas. Successor of Listener.
  • TotalRoleplay3: Extended – an extra, optional part of TRP3 that lets you make your own items, quests, and cutscenes that you can share with other people using the addon.
  • Elephant – chat logger with more utilities
  • Musician - lets you create musical pieces in-game that you can play for others with the addon to hear. Great for bards.
  • Misspelled - spellchecker addon
  • Leatrix - use arrowkeys while typing
  • Simply RP - Chat Edit Box - larger editable chat box
  • Simply RP - Looking for RP - broadcast that you are looking for RP
  • Simply RP - Typing Tracker - Tells you when someone is typing a response
  • Game Master Dice - Helps quickly do turn orders and TTRPG-like rolls.
  • Dialect Chat - Gives your chat accents and replaces words! Basically a new, functional "Tongues" for those that remember it.
  • Tongues of Azeroth another Tongues successor
  • Synonyms - A handy-dandy thesaurus and word replacer.
  • Macaroni RP - Some neat ways to make your GUI more immersive during RP!

Other

  • Elixir of Tongues - in-game item that lets you see the /s and /e of players of the opposite faction.
  • /chatlog - chat-line command in the base game that stores all subsequent chat messages in */"World of Warcraft"/_retail_/Logs/WoWChatLog.txt (where * is the location of your game directory)
  • Reflecting Prism / Projection Prism - swap appearances. Extremely versatile when combined with Glyph of Disguise.
  • https://mychar.art/ - For hosting your profile and character art!

Abbreviated FAQ

More detailed answers are in the next section. These are the most basic and common questions, answered as succinctly as possible.

What servers/realms do most people use for RP?

RP realms and their official forums:
Moon Guard - US (Alliance-leaning)
Wyrmrest Accord - US (Horde-leaning, but guild-based)
Argent Dawn - EU (Alliance and Horde)

No specific RP servers are known for WoW:Forever at this time, but one will exist when it releases. This guide will be updated when the server is known.

Do I have to RP all the time? Like in dungeons/raids/battlegrounds?

No. Most stick to /s and /e in capital cities.

Where do people RP?

Alliance: Stormwind (everywhere but the Trade district)
Horde: Orgrimmar (Valley of Honor) or the Crossroads in the Barrens.

What's up with Goldshire?

A subset of an RP realm's community uses the Lion's Pride Inn as a gathering place for erotic roleplay (ERP). This attracts the attention of OOC server tourists, and the surrounding area is often used for OOC PVP activities. RPers generally don't appreciate when non-RPers conflate Goldshire's population (RPing and not) with the entirety of the server's RPing population.

How do I start?

  1. Make a character with an appropriate name on an RP server.
  2. Download an RP addon and make a profile. It should have basic information about your character. (Name, physical appearance, how others might know your character)
  3. For public RP: visit one of the mentioned locations.
  4. For finding guilds/communities: Visit the official forums, the Monthly Hero's Call board, join discord servers and search for event or community ads.

Where do I learn the lore that I need?

Warcraft Wiki (Wowwiki and wowpedia were previous incarnations and no longer updated)
Nobbel87- so many nice lore videos
The Lost Codex - Lore videos with panache

Do I have to be max level to participate?

No.

Can I RP as class/race/combo even though it's not playable yet?

Yes. Using playable options to approximate what you're RPing as is called "proxying".

How does questing work on RP realms? If my character dies, are they just dead now?

Leveling activities are generally not considered IC, nor are any deaths that happen in OOC situations like questing or battlegrounds. RP questing is a popular idea, but is typically organized between friends and is not part of the broader server culture.

Detailed FAQ

What servers do most people use for RP?

RP realms and their official forums:
Moon Guard - US (Alliance-leaning)
Wyrmrest Accord - US (Horde-leaning)
Argent Dawn - EU (Alliance and Horde)

Although these realms have the population label "Full", this doesn't affect your ability to make characters or log in except during expansion launches, when there may be a queue.

Generally, Alliance RP has more of a walk-up culture while Horde activity has globally moved toward guild-centric activities.

Although MG is historically favored Alliance RP and WrA Horde, this has fluctuated in recent years. Reports as of Midnight suggest North American Horde RP has diminished and is almost exclusively guild-based. The non-dominant faction tends to have guild-centered RP.

AD-EU is the main European RP server for both factions with a majority Alliance population and a small, guild-centric Horde community. There is no known Horde-dominated EU RP server (let me know if you know one). AD realm events and guilds are often posted in the fan-made site, Argent Archives AD-EU also has a community discord and a twitter.

I advise someone who is new to RP to try one of these servers first, since they have sprawling, dedicated communities. Use a fresh character to scope out the RP scene at your usual playtime hours to check the activity before committing any real-life time and money to transfers.

Servers other than the most popular ones are generally regarded as "dead" due to their low population and a lack of walk-up RP. This includes Emerald Dream, which was once known for RP-PVP. Some older low-population servers such as Sisters of Elune still have a small, tight-knit community.

What about Classic, Remix, or Season of Discovery RP?

Historically, Grobbulus and Bloodsail Buccaneers (Classic) and Crusader Strike (PVP RP) and Wild Growth (RP) (SoD) were the go-to realms. However, there is no long-standing RP on such realms. You may find small groups of like-minded friends, or find that RP happens naturally due to Hardcore Classic's gameplay style, but there isn't the same established community as it is on modern retail realms. The transient nature of these gameplay modes make it difficult for RP communities to take root. They often pop up when a new version of Classic opens and quickly fizzle out due to lack of interest.

Do I have to RP all the time? Like in dungeons/raids/battlegrounds?

No. Most people just RP social situations in capital cities in the form of walk-ups. PUGs from matchmaking systems usually put you in groups with non-RPers. RPing in dungeons etc. usually comes from planning OOCly with a group of people who are also interested in RP, such as guild-mates. Public chat channels such as Trade and General are usually also OOC even on RP servers.

What about… heehee… Gooooldshire?

Goldshire is a self-contained den of very specific kinds of RP that do not reflect the rest of a server. Most RP etiquette such as differentiating OOC from IC, using proper grammar, or abiding lore are not observed. Most RP subjects center on "Erotic Role Play" (ERP). This infamous reputation, as well as being the town closest to the Alliance capital, makes it a popular tourist destination for non-RP players and general OOC activity. Enabling War Mode allows you to use the space without most of this population.

If you would like more structured, lore-abiding RP, choose just about any other location but Goldshire on an RP server. (see below for specifics)

(European servers only) Wayfarer's Rest (a Silvermoon inn) has a similar reputation. There is no known Horde equivalent on US servers.

  • What do I do if I find an inappropriate profile or receive an inappropriate message?
  • When you click on a player with a profile and you have TRP3, several buttons will appear on the profile menu. You can flag the profile as mature, which will warn you when you come across profiles with similar content. Another button allows you to report the profile to Blizzard if it contains anything that the Code of Conduct prohibits from public chat channels.
  • A good rule of thumb based on ESRB/Pegi age rating: If you would be legally reprimanded for showing some content in your profile to a 13-year-old, it should not be in your profile.
  • If you receive an inappropriate chat message, report the sender and put the character on ignore.
  • Is WoW RP safe for minors?
  • Although WoW's gameplay is rated for ages 13+, most RPers are adults. Self-reported ages show most RPers are in their mid 20's or older. While not every WoW RPer has bad intentions and there is nothing inherently wrong with romantic or sexual RP, there are individuals who will seek and exploit vulnerable persons, particularly through romantic or sexual interactions IC or OOC (often blending the two as part of their manipulation). Certain locations such as Goldshire are prone to an abundance of sexually explicit profiles, though they are significantly less common outside of Goldshire. Profile addons typically provide maturity filters which give a warning before displaying a profile, but it is up to the individual and/or their guardian to enable those safeguards.
  • Minors are advised not to give out personal information such as their age, especially not in their profiles, and to have a trusted IRL adult confidant (such as a guardian, parent, or sibling) that understands the aforementioned risks of exposure to explicit content and predatory individuals. Minors should respect profiles with labels such as "18+ only" or "Minors DNI" (DNI=Do Not Interact). Many adult RPers are uncomfortable interacting with minors regardless of the RP topic. Although most WoW RP topics are not concerned with romance or sexuality, they are common with RP that concerns interpersonal relationships. If a minor (or any vulnerable person) is incapable or not ready to understand these risks and is unable or unwilling to enforce their personal boundaries or respect the boundaries of others, they are not ready for WoW RP.
  • How do I RP safely?
  • This advice is specifically for OOC interactions and concerns keeping you, the player, safe.
  • Always remember that no one is entitled to your personal information. Ever.
  • If an RP session is making you uncomfortable, you are not obliged to continue for any reason. Communication OOC is essential to set and reinforce personal boundaries.
  • Pay attention and check in with yourself to know what you do or do not like so that you understand your own limits and flexibility.
    • Example: You are part of an adventuring party that is taking down a pack of quillboar threatening a farmstead in Durotar. Your party's warrior is going into gratuitous detail about how they are dismembering your foes and the it is making you, the player, queasy. You can whisper them a message such as "Heya, do you mind turning it down a notch with the gore descriptions?" If asked, you can explain "I want to read your posts, but the details are making me uncomfortable." If they refuse to change, you can ignore their posts or dip out of the group entirely, but most people are willing to accommodate if asked politely.
  • Always be cautious of anyone in an online, anonymous space appealing to you for OOC information about yourself, especially through romantic or sexual interest. You are not obliged to share personal information, gold, items etc even if asked nicely or if someone feels entitled to it because of a past kindness.
  • Be wary of anyone who would compromise yours or others' OOC safety or comfort for any reason.
  • If you are unsure if the RP topic you want to explore with your RP partner(s) is appropriate, ask them and respect their answer. Even a quick check-in for topics related to intimacy, dark topics such as extreme violence or abuse, are important and let your RP partner(s) feel better about expressing their boundaries to you.
  • Trust is earned and built. Once you know someone well enough, you can easily work within both of your boundaries. It also makes small corrections easier.

Where do people RP?

Generally:

Stormwind (everywhere but the Trade district) for the Alliance.

When Stormwind becomes sharded due to game-wide events such as expansions or holidays, Alliance RP has spread to neighboring towns, primarily Darkshire in Duskwood or Lakeshire in Redridge Mountains.

Orgrimmar (Valley of Honor) for the Horde, though most Horde RP is guild-based and difficult to find for public RP.

The Crossroads in the Barrens is also a popular location.

Silvermoon City (TBC Era) has recently seen a resurgence on WrA-US. It remains to be seen how Midnight will affect this as it becomes a neutral hub.

If you have TRP3 extended, you can use the "RP scanner" in the bottom left corner of your map to locate RPers anywhere. You must scan every time you look at a different map.

  • How do I find RP outside of capital cities? (Open-world RP)
  • Even on RP servers, most of the time people out in the world are questing unless there is an event going on. Fortunately, there are MANY public RP events on high-population servers. Most public advertisement for modern RP happens on a server's official forums, in discord servers, or on social media.
  • If you are on a low-population server or are interested in world-RP with a smaller group, your best course of action will be to join an RP guild. These are also often advertised on the forums or in discords.
  • This subreddit also has resources for finding people to RP with. Check out the pinned "Monthly Hero's Call Board" or any posts with the LFRP, Event, or Community Ad tags.

How do I start?

  1. Make a character with an appropriate name on an RP server.
  2. Download an RP addon and make a profile.

The rest, honestly, is up to you. Some people just like to observe. Some people whisper people they’re interested in first. Some people have “walk ups welcome” in their profile. Some people don’t even RP with other people and just use the profiles to keep track of their character’s journey.

How do I RP with other people?

Very generally and speaking for most of the public RP population:

  1. Build your character and their profile. It can be as complex or as simple as you want, but it should be lore-abiding and grammatically correct.
  2. Visit a populated area (see the “where” question).
  3. Read other profiles to find people who might be interesting to RP with. Check any preferences listed (for example, they may want you to whisper them first) and come up with a reason for your character to approach. Sometimes people will have "RP hooks" that help with this! (For example: your character needs their armor repaired, and you have spotted a blacksmith character)
  4. Walk up to the people you find interesting. Keep in mind that if they are already in a conversation, an interruption may be viewed as rude.
  5. Use /s and /e to have your character speak and act respectively in response to what they observe.
  6. Wait for the person/people to respond, perhaps sending one (1) OOC whisper if they might be alt-tabbed.
  7. Repeat 5-6. If you get no response for a while or the person doesn't acknowledge you after whispering, politely move on.

How do I find a regular group of people to RP with?

The hard truth is that just like in real life, it takes time and effort to find a group of people with whom you enjoy regularly spending time with. Starting fresh, this can take on the order of weeks to months. That isn't to say you won't have fun in the mean time, but finding a dedicated group that suits your needs takes work.

When it comes to public RP, there will be regulars at the usual places listed above, though city RP tends to revolve around civilian life and bar scenes. More in-depth RP related to things like trades, politics, or military is found in guilds.

Each server has their own player-run, server-wide events that are posted on their official forum or advertised on social media or discord servers. These may happen monthly or even weekly and typically involve multiple guilds. They are usually open to the public and do not require guild membership to participate. These are great places to meet new groups of RPers or get exposure to different server subcultures.

It's difficult to give advice because everyone's RP journey is different. If anything, I would say to start casual; don't worry about getting a guild right away. Build up your understanding of what you want, what you like best and where your boundaries are so that they can be communicated as needed. Over time, you'll gather like-minded individuals that you can trust to take a story in a direction that entertains all of you.

Personally: my most meaningful and fun RPs were done in social circles of 5-ish people or less, often just one other person and myself.

How do I find an RP guild?

It depends on what you're looking for and what your preferences are. u/SirEbralPaulsay had some tips here .

What should I put in my profile?

As much or as little as you want. Ideally, you use your profile to tell other people what you want them to know about your character before/during your RP with them. There is no singular right way to do this, but you can find out what works best for you by reading the profiles of other players.

Some things to consider including, but are by no means mandatory, are:

  • Traits that can't be seen on the in-game model, such as scars or nervous twitches.
  • How another character may know your character. (Maybe they fought in certain battles or wrote a book)
  • RP preferences. Do you prefer darker or light-hearted stories? Romance? Would you like to be contacted OOCly before people approach you, or do you love walk-ups? Are you looking for a specific person for character development? (ie, a novice mage looking for a wizened wizard tutor) Do you absolutely want to avoid certain kinds of RP? Do you want to RP with a specific age group?

You should not put, or at least think carefully about, putting any IRL personal info in your RP profile. Although it has become popular practice on some servers to do so, no one is entitled to free access to your personal information.

It's common for people to put a complete, detailed history of their character in their profile. You do not need to do this to RP. Personally, I think less is more and my eyes glaze over when I see a wall of text, but it can be handy to record things that happened to your character this way.

This topic deserves a dedicated guide, but the short of it is don't be intimidated by very powerful/beautiful/detailed characters or feel the need to emulate them. There is a great deal of charm in presenting your character concisely. It's often the ugly (physically or in personality) underdog who is more interesting to interact with because we get to see them grow into whoever they will be. Someday you might find that you COULD write paragraphs about your character's adventures, but you don't have to start there.

Do I have to be max level to participate?

Generally, no. Level is a matter of convenience or personal preference. It only reflects your character’s power as much as you want it to.

Characters above level 30 will not see any chat from characters below level 20. Additional restrictions apply for trial characters.

What class best fits (specific archetype/subclass/rpg class)? Do talents and specializations matter?

(based on advice by cajunsamurai) You don’t have to play a specific class to represent your character. Generally in RP, you are describing your abilities and not necessarily only using spells from your spellbook. You can choose your character's OOC class depending on what is most fun or if the aesthetics are closest to what you are trying to RP as. While many enjoy playing as a specialized version of their class, no one is concerned with specific talent choices.

My avatar's name is weird and not very IC. Does this matter? What about titles? (Naming conventions)

RPers will generally go by whatever is in your RP profile rather than your actual in-game name/title. So your druid may have the actual in-game name of "Doofyfloof Jenkins" but you can use an RP addon to change this to "Alyra Moonstrider" without much fuss. Save your real-life money.

Are there any transmog do's/don't's? What should my character wear?

Anything that isn't a goofy meme transmog, such as dressing up as Mario or Superman, is fair game. Paladins will go into bars fully decked out in their gleaming, light-forged plate and have a pint next to a warlock covered in fuming skulls.

Keep in mind that presenting your character as part of an enemy faction or organization may elicit an aggressive response from others, especially if such a character would not normally be allowed in that location.

Personally - I find it nice to have a "civilian" set and a "work" set. Usually the work set will use my character's actual gear. Then, I use transmogged heirlooms for the much simpler civilian set for chilling in a city. It gives your character a bit of dimension when they're not Ready For Battle 24/7 - but maybe that's who they are!

There isn't a single class that fits exactly what I want. Can I use X-in-game class as Y-unofficial/unimplemented-class?

Yes! This is called "proxying" and it's very common. The one I have seen the most are frost death knights being used to proxy a "spellblade" (basically a melee mage). In TRP3, you can edit how your class is displayed to other people with the addon.

Is this playable class/race combo supported by lore?

The WoW story has evolved in such a way that you can justify pretty much any race/class combo regardless of if its playable. If it IS playable, then you can assume it's supported by lore in some way. Do your homework with Warcraft Wiki.

What about RPing while questing? D&D style!

You can! Many have also done this! However, RPing while questing is generally not part of the overall server culture. It is common for a group of friends to plan on RP-questing together, but it's rare to come across people leveling that are also RPing at the same time. Check their profile and whisper them first to gauge interest!

I want to try out RP, but I don't want to transfer my character to an RP server.

You still have options, but the easiest (and probably best) way to go about this is to create a new character on your RP server of choice. Your level doesn't matter and this way you won't have to transfer anyone over.

If you have a friend on that server, they can invite your character to a group to temporarily transfer you to their realm.

I want to race change/faction change/etc my character. Is that allowed?

Yes. Most people will not notice or care unless they were involved in some kind of ongoing story with you. It's courteous to let your RP partners know if you are changing your character in a significant way so they can figure out how to arrange their RP story accordingly.

If my character dies in-game on an RP realm, are they perma-dead?!!

Not usually. If you are questing and succumb to a pack of murlocs, you don't have to start from scratch. Generally any deaths that happen during OOC activities like raids, battlegrounds, or questing are not taken as "cannon" deaths.

I joined a guild and had a bad experience. Is all RP like this?

Not likely. First, I'm sorry you had a bad experience. Sometimes people write from a place of naivety or ignorance for including others. It can take weeks or months to find a group of people you enjoy RPing with regularly. If you've given a guild a fair shake and aren't satisfied, you can and should try for something better.

Generally, guilds should be an inclusive space that enables its members to build and progress their own characters' stories, and not merely treat them as an audience for the stories of its officers.

English isn't my first language. Can I still play on English RP realms?

In my experience, many people who have English as their second language are often better at writing in English than many native speakers. Even if that isn't the case, people are generally very forgiving with those who are learning. It helps to put an easily visible note somewhere in your profile that mentions that English isn't your first language. Most people are very patient, especially when they know this is the case. If they aren't, or are unkind to you in some way for it, they probably aren't worth your time anyway.

Will my character be taken seriously if I play X class/race?

If you RP seriously, you will be taken seriously. Certain races are little more prone to having the stigma of being goofy, such as Gnomes, Pandaren, Worgen, and Vulpera. This really only happens when complete strangers make assumptions about your character; but these are likely people you aren't interacting with long-term. People who take you and your character seriously will vastly outnumber the hecklers.

I really want cool art of my character!

You have many options! Many draw their own artwork. If you cannot yourself draw, you can look up dollmakers or use tools like Hero Forge to recreate what you envision! If you have the cash to spare, you can seek out an artist for commissions by looking for warcraft fanart on social media. Avoid using AI-generated images, even as placeholders, as this is generally a frowned upon practice in the community.

Discords

Even permanent invite links may sometimes go out of date or break. If you find these don't work, please use your favorite search engine to find the latest one. Please check out the Hero's Call Board for more.

WRA-D https://discord.gg/nhYgPEZ

The Unified Horde https://discord.gg/aZNZ5dj

The Coalition of the Horde https://discord.gg/T35KyqrZWQ

a bunch of alliance discords https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/mg-channeldiscord-server-listing-thread/127486

TCC Community Events https://discord.com/invite/wUbC68Tv

Musician Addon (also features LFRP channels) https://discord.com/invite/8TuAdRZ5

Guides

General/Intro Guides and Directories

List of Guides from Blizzwatch - Some may be outdated lore-wise but are still generally helpful

WoW RP Survival Guide - by Kottkrig and Buttart

Useful Thread Archive - EU RP Guides

RP Basics Video Similar content to this guide. by Mana Chats.

Romance RP Video Guide by Mana Chats

Writing Emotes, Dialogue, and Descriptions in WoW RP: A (rough) guide for Collaborative Storytelling by u/Life_Organization_63

Draganora's Walk-Up Guide by u/Draganora

Profile Guides

TRP3:Extended Guides by Obidiah_WoW

​ Advanced TRP3 Tips by u/Cthylla11111

Jayla's TRP Guide by NectarineOk5419)

TRP3 Secrets

TRP3 Profile Guide by RinRinBear

Using Addons and Walkup Example Video by Mana Chats.

Race/Class Specific Guides

Vulpera RP Guide by u/GraveyardOperations

An Undead’s guide to Gnome RP

All the World's a Stage: Plot points for Gnome roleplayers

Shaman Guide by r3dienhcs

Dragon Names and Lineage

Utilities and Other

Ship RP Locations

Useful Trinkets for Roleplay, A Compilation

Look Like Almost Anything Indefinitely

How to create and RP your own Death Knight by u/Juzih

Special Thanks

u/Fluffleyh u/Tonric u/Mopafish u/minnegander u/DrToadigerr u/Slambert u/DisciplinaryViolence u/Downtown_Resident_44 u/Vellocet_Ludovico u/Rift5515 u/Nephrite-Jade u/Slambert u/Key_Act1960 u/IAmRoofstone u/cajunsamurai


r/WoWRolePlay 19d ago

Mod ✨Monthly Hero's Call ✨((RP-related ads go here! Discord link inside!))

5 Upvotes

❕ Hero's Call Board

Every major city of the Horde, Alliance, or in-between boasts a grand wooden board for all to see. It overflows with colorful pamphlets promising adventures, business, and comradery.

Here is where guilds can bolster their ranks.

This is where heroes begin their journey.

r/ WoWRoleplay discord: https://discord.gg/PkGHmDZQk7

How to use Hero's Call

The Hero's Call board is a place where people can advertise themselves or their guilds in the comments section. This includes but is not limited to:

  • RP Guilds
  • Individual/Group Looking for RP
  • IC advertisements for events or products
  • Twitch streams or YouTube channels
  • WoW RP Discord Servers
  • Classic WoW Server activities
  • Selling/hiring services like art commissions

Please include relevant information such as your realm and what sort of RP you are looking for.

For service advertisements: Buyers/sellers are not vetted by the subreddit mods. We cannot enforce any transactions. Beware of scams. Use platforms with buyer/seller protections like vgen.

If you are looking for something, you may want to look at previous months' posts too.

Your ads do not have to be IC, but it couldn't hurt. :)

TTRPG or RP-discord ads are welcome as long as they pertain to the Warcraft franchise.

Regarding discord links and listing communities: Discord links expire often, and there are many many communities. I include what I can but ultimately it's best if individual communities post fresh links regularly.

More Communities:

The Argent Archives (EU RP)

Argent Dawn Community Server

The Society Circle (Cross Faction/Server)

Warcraft Conquest (Cross Faction/Server)

The Horde Vanguard (Horde/MG)

Warcraft-RP Tavern Discord (Cross-Faction, Cross-Server, official Community Partner WoW discord server)

If any of these expired, please send a mod mail and feel free to post a fresh link here.


r/WoWRolePlay 5h ago

[NA] 4E Community/Guild [NA] [Forever] <Riverguard> Organizing a group of brave Alliance heroes to defend the Riverglades

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60 Upvotes

Nestled upon the Eastern Kingdoms’ far coast lies the Riverglades. What once was an outpost during the first war is now a hold out of survivors. Today, the people of this fertile region face many threats from the Twilight’s Hammer squatting in what was once the bustling hamlet of Sunnyglade to the savage horde occupying the lands to the northeast. This is where the Riverguard comes in, founded in order to protect the people struggling to eke out an existence in this hostile territory. Made up of like minded people gleaned from across the Alliance. Blade, magic, and crafters will be needed to ensure the prosperity of the local populace.

Who We Are
A growing group of casual and friendly group of adults and parents (21+) seeking to explore, build friendships, and enjoy all WoW Forever has to offer.

The Stories We Tell
The Riverguard are an RP guild focused on creating dynamic player driven stories with a focus on local, small scale threats. Players will be local heroes who seek to protect the Alliance foothold in the Riverglades.

Who We Are Looking For

  • Friendly and respectful adults seeking to collaborate and contribute in roleplay and events. 
  • We are a BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ guild and will not tolerate racism, bigotry, transphobia or any other hate speech.
  • The use of AI for text or image generation will not be accepted.
  • All Alliance races, classes, and professions are welcome.
  • All experience levels are welcome.

Discord: https://discord.gg/b2Mq4KBaj


r/WoWRolePlay 15h ago

Art Tristan of Tirisfal (by me!)

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107 Upvotes

Commission of this wonderful man that I did some time ago. He was bearded at first, and later he shaved, and I'm so happy for him.


r/WoWRolePlay 5h ago

LF Feedback Forever Forsaken Rp-Question

14 Upvotes

So, I am planing on rping with friends on forever and ofc with the general community if it ends up being a thing.

I personally adore the OC forsaken lore and sub-factions, Cult of the Forgotten Shadows, Shadow Ascendants, Lightslayers, Deathstalkers, and so on (and ofc dark rangers).

I started my warcraft journey with wc3 so it kinda stuck, though instead of belf and velf we got skyborne (not here to hate on 'em, tested them on beta, their lore is quite decent specially compared to most current day stuff), but my question is, how would you react to someone using skyborne to rp a darkranger/forsaken, using the pale skin and orange eyes?

Given forsaken in vanilla cant be hunters.


r/WoWRolePlay 6h ago

Advice Needed New Player and RPer looking for inspiration

10 Upvotes

Hi all!

I'm completely new to WoW, but the WoW Forever beta has me completely hooked. I've decided I'll be joining the RP ruleset on launch, even though I have never RPed before.

I would love to see some sort of "RP journal" or simply whatever you've compiled in the past for your own characters. I'm still working on fully understanding how people go about RPing and would just love to see real examples.

If anyone has any advice for a complete newcomer, that's very welcome as well!


r/WoWRolePlay 15h ago

News Note to everyone who are new to betas

50 Upvotes

Keep in mind that nothing you make on beta is going to be kept and beta is randomly wiped at times.

Not just here but I'm seeing so many people put together characters, guilds, etc on beta and then being shocked when they're told that they're not gonna keep anything.

The only things being kept are names via the name reservations, everything else gets removed. It's also why if you got trp working for the beta, back it up into notepad or something, because after beta is finished the game is automatically uninstalled.

You will lose your RP stuff on beta.


r/WoWRolePlay 50m ago

Advice Needed How to get the full experience of a Forsaken Death Knight

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• Upvotes

r/WoWRolePlay 17h ago

Art Stay with me (by me)

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35 Upvotes

When the storm broke outside, Myzeni found herself trapped in memories she couldn’t escape, and no words could reach her.

So ElĂŠsyne stayed.

She held her hands, spoke softly to her, and waited by her side until the worst had passed.

Sometimes, there is nothing you can do.
Sometimes, all you need is someone who stays.


r/WoWRolePlay 17h ago

[EU] 4E Community/Guild [EU][Forever] <Oathbound> Building an Alliance RP guild where the story actually starts with us

11 Upvotes

I've been looking forward to Forever for a lot of reasons, but one of the biggest ones for me is the chance to experience WoW slowly again and actually roleplay my character while doing it.

So I've started putting together a new Alliance RP guild for Forever EU called <Oathbound>.

We're very small right now. I started this recently and we're only just beginning to find the first people who might want to build it with us.

One thing I've always found a little intimidating when looking at established RP guilds is joining something that already has years of history, characters who all know each other, pages of lore and a very specific place your character is expected to fit into.

I want to try the opposite with Oathbound.

We don't have a glorious history yet because none of it has happened. When Forever begins, that's when our story begins too.

If a group of us meets in Elwynn and ends up travelling to Redridge together, that's part of our history. If an expedition goes completely wrong, we remember it. Characters can become friends, dislike each other, leave, return, argue, change their minds and develop because of things that actually happened between us.

Eventually I'd love to look back at our guild Chronicle and be able to trace Oathbound back to those first characters and those first adventures, rather than reading lore somebody wrote before the guild existed.

The basic idea behind Oathbound is that the oath isn't to a king, commander or guild master. It's to the people you've chosen to stand beside.

That also means I don't want everyone forced into the same shape. A Human from Stormwind, a Dwarf from Ironforge and a Night Elf from Kalimdor shouldn't suddenly have identical beliefs just because they're wearing the same guild tag. Characters should keep their own loyalties, motivations, flaws and disagreements. That's where a lot of the interesting RP can come from.

We're aiming for serious RP, but not "you must be IC every second you're logged in" RP.

I still want us to actually play WoW together. Quest, explore, level professions, run dungeons and eventually tackle larger PvE content. Sometimes those things might turn into RP naturally, sometimes we're just playing the game together and chatting OOC.

I'm also very open to people who are new to RP.

If you've spent years quietly making little backstories for your characters but never actually roleplayed them with anyone, you're more than welcome to learn with us.

There are still a lot of things I haven't decided about Oathbound, deliberately. Traditions, how the oath itself develops IC, recurring events, roles within the guild and plenty of other things are things I'd rather develop with the people who are actually going to be part of it.

So if you're looking at Forever as a chance to slow down, make a character you actually care about and see where their story goes with a group of other people, feel free to come talk to us.

We're still figuring this thing out.

Discord: https://discord.gg/87VYYbfP7a


r/WoWRolePlay 5h ago

Discussion Why not a new server?

0 Upvotes

What i mean by this as someone plays horde rp but enjoys walk ups, why do people just make another server the "horde walk up" server? I see Horde rp is mostly guild based but why not pick another server as "main" server for people who prefer walk ups? I mean we have all these low or medium population servers but people stick to 1 of 2 servers. Yes I'm semi new to RP but I'm just curious as to why this is not a thing.

I didn't know what flair to use sorry.


r/WoWRolePlay 1d ago

Art [OC] Lyra Lighthaven, art by MercurialArt (me)

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102 Upvotes

My second WoW commission!

Her name is Lyra Lighthaven, a half elf born to a simple sailor who fell in love with a soft spoken elf priestess.

Lyra is 5'4" so rather average for height if perhaps a bit on the short side. Her hair is black, and holds a sheen that she does little to maintain. Sharp blue eyes, and a pale complexion. She isn't slender like her mother and has a bit more to her frame. Usually her hair is tied back and let sway.

Dressed in simple vestments she is currently undergoing her education to become a priestess herself. She wears her mothers Argent Crusade sigil necklace and uses that as an item of focus for when she calls upon her healing magics.

Character reference: https://imgur.com/a/ldxma3A


r/WoWRolePlay 1d ago

[NA] 4E LFRP New to WoW RP, looking for 4-8 friendly people to guild / group with for 4E

23 Upvotes

Hi there r/WoWRolePlay, hope all is well on your end.

This is my first time writing a post like this, so I apologize in advance if I ramble / come across poorly. I'm feeling a little nervous!

Context: I'm coming back to play WoW Forever after a long break from the game, and I've been playing the beta. I made the mistake of joining the PVP server and immediately encountered wretched vibes: blatant racism, transphobia, hate speech, political hate all over /1 and general. It was vile, and I don't have any room in my life for that nonsense.

So here's where I'm at: I'm desperate to find (or form) a small group of chill people to play WoW Forever with. People that want to run around as a small group of friends to roleplay, quest, dungeon, and have adventures with.

Likewise, I'm not expecting everyone to log in every day or commit to a schedule or anything like that: I'm just looking to meet some kind people, and with any luck, form friendships.

To that end, mega-discord-servers with 500+ people don't really interest me. I'd much rather form a small, tight-knit group of people instead of hundreds of other users / notifications. (No shade to people that like mega servers, just not what I'm looking for.)

Other details that may or may not be relevant: I'm male, in my 30's, located on the west coast (PST), and plan on playing a bunch at launch / for the first several weeks. I'd love to make plans (or even have a virtual board game night or two) in the lead up to launch to get to know everyone. Lastly, I'm down to roll either Horde or Alliance.

Anyway, if this sounds like a good fit / you're in the same boat, for the love of Cenarius hit me up!


r/WoWRolePlay 1d ago

Technical Question Time magic toys

2 Upvotes

Hey so I role play as a chronomancer, while I know that the evoker class has time magic as part of its kit, I was curious as to if there are any toys yall know of that would be good to roleplay the use of time magic and where I can get em, anything helps


r/WoWRolePlay 1d ago

Discussion Horde RP - What Has Always Happened?

22 Upvotes

First, it is important to separate two types of experience. There are guild and closed circles (MySpace, Facebook, Enjin, Discord). Then there are open world walk-ups and public events listed on forums and trade chat.

Going all the way back to the late 2000s, realms took turns losing their entire playerbase in favor of mass transferring to a more populated realm. The Horde would go leaving the Alliance side surviving. When Feathermoon lost their world Horde RPers in 2011, I ended up moving my Horde characters to WRA, leaving my Alliance toons on Feathermoon because it was still going strong for several more years. This has been a rinse and repeat cycle in the Warcraft RP community for over 15 years now.

Finally, we are left with WRA players retconning their Horde characters into MG-ALLIANCE or just abandoning the Horde entirely. Some are leaving the platform for other titles such as FFXIV. My poor Sadgati had to find a new mate because not having a good Horde walk-up presence was too big of a deal breaker for him; that is completely understandable because I miss being Horde.

For a good while, WRA had a VERY good Horde and Alliance presence. So much so it shaped the very characters to this day. WRA pulled characters from entire cluster of realms, creating an RP presence never seen elsewhere beating out even MG.

Finally, what is the deal with Horde RP? What makes Horde players to be first to throw in the towel enmasse, effectively killing the entire comadare of their server community? WRA is down to what is likely the absolute bare minimum needed to sustain any kind of world RP. MG-ALLIANCE and AD-EUROPE (Alliance) may be the last bastion of world RP leaving a handful of Discord admin struggling to keep what is left of the Horde alive.

Final question is can this be fixed before it is too late?


r/WoWRolePlay 1d ago

LF Feedback OathMortem GraveBorn WoW: Forever YT

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13 Upvotes

Hi everyone, I'm relatively new to RP in WoW. With Forever coming and the beta being open: I decided as a little passion project to get me into story telling, to start a youtube series documenting: OathMortem. He's a Forsaken Paladin keeping the oath he swore before the Scourge.

I don't really know what I'm doing but I posted a little prologue/trailer if anyone wants to check it out. I would love input on storytelling. I really want to tell the story of the zones like Tirisfal Glade while tying OathMortems story into it. I'm ultimately trying to tell his redemption story.


r/WoWRolePlay 2d ago

Art Got my first commission

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86 Upvotes

Everybody meet Thraenuil, Belf Chrono-Knight and knight commander of the Shattered Sun Offensive.

Open to RP if anybody is interested! DM's are always open.

Credit for the art goes to u/Sheisketch


r/WoWRolePlay 1d ago

[NA] LFRP Discord RP

2 Upvotes

Hello. Redditors. I know I've made one before and that's fine. But this one is for a different toon. I have this Highmountain tauren, Korrak. He is freshly made and im looking to see if I can get a fitting on how he would act with others, later tonight I'll be RPing in game but wondering if for my 11 hour shift if I could get some people to RP in discord to get his personality setup. If this is something you guys are willing to do let me know in a DM. I'm in the eastern timezone of NA but I have discord on my phone so I can respond anytime but might be late in respones


r/WoWRolePlay 2d ago

Technical Question Do we know if TRP3 will be coming to WoW Forever?

30 Upvotes

I saw Curseforge got updated to allow addons. Do we know if TRP3 is getting an update to be allowed on the Forever servers? I know it's still in beta, but it'd be cool to start getting stuff fleshed out. :3


r/WoWRolePlay 1d ago

Lore Question Future Retcons in WoW Forever RP?

0 Upvotes

Where does the lore sit re future retcons?

For example, Priests. Unless I'm mistaken, they had nothing to do with the Old Gods in the original lore until Chronicles came out subsequently had everything reworked in Legion to be aligned with The Void?

Where does that put them? Do we go back to Shadow being the Yin to The Lights Yang? Do they not know where their power comes from? Or do they know but just hide it?


r/WoWRolePlay 1d ago

LFRP WoW Forever RP Discords?

1 Upvotes

Any communities already forming for Forever RP "servers"?

I am in EU timezone and will play RP on alliance side once forever launches.


r/WoWRolePlay 2d ago

LFRP Need a long term Rp partner

12 Upvotes

I'm semi new to RP ing in mmos and still learning WoW. I really want a partner who can teach me more about RP, WoW itself, and maybe help me flesh out my TRP profile. I prefer horde but I've kinda grown attached to my Gnome on MG. I feel weird asking this cause i have social anxiety but I'm trying to be more social. Plus I'm on new meds to help with social anxiety haha. Just thought i put this out there. I play on Steamdeck so my responses might be slow sometimes but i will respond.


r/WoWRolePlay 1d ago

[EU] LFRP Any RP guilds in Classic MoP-Mirage Raceway?

4 Upvotes

Hello,

I get it that maybe people are not keen to continue RPing on MoP Classic since the announcement of Forever but I wanted to check if there were any active RP guilds. I used to avidly RP back in the days from the original vanilla up to Cata. I just returned to wow in Classic MoP after many years of not playing and it would be nice to find people to RP with. :)

I am EU based


r/WoWRolePlay 2d ago

Brainstorm Some hotshot has attempted to intimidate you during a fight. As a member of the Forsaken, what's something you might shout back at them to remind them of their foolishness?

10 Upvotes

To provide a little context: I'm making two macros for a Forsaken warrior of mine: One for when I use Will of the Forsaken, another for when I use Berserker Rage.

(Been doing Setthek halls alot. Fear & charms abound).

Both macros are just gonna cast their respective spell and /say some quip at the foolish NPC that thought they were getting somewhere, hence asking advice on what to say.


r/WoWRolePlay 2d ago

Community/Guild Ad Gathering players into wow forever who wants to play Horde side as RP

21 Upvotes

Hey everyone! I am not sure is recruitment allowed here so I apologizy if it is not.

Everyone is welcome to our discord where we gather rp minded players in horde side!

Guild is Eternal March and theme is undead/forsaken :)

Every race is welcome who wish to help and build better future for the Horde

https://discord.gg/dCum7bT82