How to roleplay a dragon.

85 Undead Warlock
3860
Um, just because like two black dragons ever had slightly darker skintones doesn't mean that black guy=black dagron lolz. I mean, look at Katrianna Prestor, Sinestra, Nalice, whatshisbutt in Blade's Edge... all pretty much lily-white. So if you're saying skin color is an indicator of whether or not one is SEKRIT DAGRON LOLZ you have some serious racefail going on.

The whole thing's ridiculous.
Edited by Roslynne on 11/19/2010 1:42 AM PST
89 Blood Elf Paladin
0
You bring up some extremely good points that are hard to poke holes into.

Remember that if you must roleplay as being a member of a species which you clearly are not that no one is obliged to agree with you or believe your story.


This is, of course, true, but note that just because you make a race at the character screen doesn't mean you have to be that race. Having sifted through 50 blood elves and their stories, I would get bored with being an ordinary, fel-addicted blood elf who has nothing better to do than get drunk.

"Oh, a powerless wretch in starting clothing is telling me he is a dragon, demanding respect and attention? Well, why would he lie about that? Oh, for respect and attention? Hm."


Everyone knows that if you're roleplaying a dragon, you should tell no one unless it would either one, advance your own plans with little recoil (That's up for debate though, I have no proof to back that one up), or...if you have a trusted sworn with no one else in earshot. After all, dragons are low population, and sworn are slightly higher and are pawns in the draconic game of chess.

Try this next time you are out in public. Tell someone you meet, who does not know you, that you are a dragon. This is exactly as likely to a person on Earth as it is to a person on Azeroth. So expect the same treatment: you are a liar or deluded, but in either case it is not worth speaking with you.


This is actually ironic. Back before WoW existed, when I was ten years old or so, I had an extremely trusted best friend. We operated practically as twins. And, he was possibly the most gullible person on earth to boot. I convinced him from everything that I was an alien from another planet, then that I was a powerful sorcerer, then that I was a pokemon in disguise...the list goes on and on.

But yes, this is true. However, considering dragons actually -exist- in world of warcraft, there is a slight difference.

And before you get all Alchemy and start pretending that the ability to look like something is the same as being something, I can turn into a gnome, a draenei, a night elf, or a dwarf, not to mention an ogre, a chicken, or a trogg. None of these means that I am actually a member of that race.

I agree with you here. However, this is where creativity comes in. So, I went to Blackrock Depths before the patch where they eliminated Dire Brew (I'm disappointed.), I got some of it and went to the inn, and began roleplaying a dark iron dwarf for fun. Now, obviously, everybody in the inn OOCly knows that I'm not a dark iron dwarf because I can't make one at the character creation screen. However, ICly, they wouldn't know that. So your point is moot.

If you roleplay that you are something which you are demonstrably not, expect people to roleplay that they think you are lying. Please do not, as so many have done before you, weep and call people RP Elitists because they, in character, disbelieve your false and entirely unprovable claims.


This is obvious. The entire point of my post was to teach aspiring or just bad dragon roleplayers that you can't expect everyone to believe you.

The only time I would believe someone was a dragon was if they never ever told another single soul that they were one.


Alright, here's an example I've directly seen.

"Zaldormi walks into a bar."
Guy OOCly thinks, aww snap, another dragon roleplayer.
Guy ICly thinks, hey, someone walked into a bar.

You can easily roleplay a dragon without ever telling anyone, and, OOCly, them still knowing.



83 Worgen Hunter
3170
What about a Troll who wanted to prove he was a better shapeshifter than Tauren or Night Elves and thought he could transform into a dragon? He was eventually able to turn into a Sandstone Drake and said "...it be close enough." Although the RP is completly eliminating the Vial of the Sands, he is still a Troll.

Or perhaps not, he might have crafted a Vial and lied about turning into a dragon through druidic skill alone, even though he lied, it makes him an incredibly potent alchemist.
89 Blood Elf Paladin
0
Even better post, yourself.

I think the line has to be drawn somewhere before you get to RPing your character as being a race which is inherently more powerful than humanoids, lives forever, and has abilities and powers to which the character itself will have no claim.


...touché, you got me.
Obviously, one roleplaying such would have to be limiting. Going back to my Zaldormi argument, would a logical dragon...

A. Attempt to defuse an argument and settle it peacefully, as using any type of powerful magic would be a dead giveaway.
B. Summon incredible temporal magic and kill everyone in the inn.

Obviously, A is the correct answer, as B is a total metagame/godmod, and your name would be shunned all around the entire roleplaying community.

Plus, I was under the impression that most to all races excluding humans live for incredibly long amounts of time, and I could hardly see anyone ending their roleplay by death of old age. That being said, I would have thought that being a dragon hardly made any difference. But if WoW was traveling at, say, one day in real life equals one World of Warcraft year, then, yes, that would make extreme differences.
We kill dragons daily. They may be immortal, but they are not omnipotent.

The race you choose at character selection is your race. There's no more clear way to choose your race than the act of choosing your race. To work within your metaphor, if having an ordinary fel-addicted blood elf bores you, why not choose another race? Or play your character as something other than an ordinary fel-addicted blood elf. You can create variety in a character's backstory without resorting to making them an all powerful immortal. An all powerful level one immortal, to be clear.


I had thought that dragons were not all powerful, and that was not my intention to transpose upon the audience either. (Spell check, and I'm not sure if 'transpose' is the correct word.)
Once again, dragons should not use their incredible all powerfulness either as they would probably get in severe trouble with their elders, and, of course, as it would be difficult to convince everyone that "Hey, I'm an innocent human" when you just blasted a giant hole in the Stormwind Canals. I turn once again to the limits of godmode and significant changes to the environment.

You are correct, however, that different races are a good thing. I've roleplayed orcs that work as peons (Because peons are the most adorable thing in the world, of course.), insane undead, tauren seers, sandfury trolls, and blood elves. I've also turned to moon guard to roleplay the other races over there, also. I suppose being limited to ten races gets boring eventually, though there always are new ideas.

What, to you, is the difference between a blood elf who claims to be a dragon and one who claims to be the host of a Goa'uld symbiote which grants them immortality? How about one who claims to be a Priestess of Lolth, emissary of House Do'Urden? Or one who claims to be a cylon? Maybe one who claims to be a Science Officer of Starfleet from the planet Vulcan? How about a Blood Elf Death Knight who tells you, in mid duel, that he is your father and if you join him you can rule the galaxy side by side? Because Goa'ulds, Drow, Cylons, Vulcans, and Darth Vader are all exactly as possible for your character to be as dragons are.


I laughed at the various references, and I'll give you credit for that. However, the only flaw in this otherwise perfect argument is that Star Trek and Star Wars don't relate to World of Warcraft, and dragons do. However, I've seen various pop culture references like this roleplayed (I've seen a Varth Dader) and found them hysterical. Perhaps the only difference is that dragons relate well to Warcraft lore.

I will subject myself to the same scrutiny I offer, by inviting you to look at how my tauren hunter avoids Tauren stereotypes. I'm on wowwiki.com/User:Palehoof and I have a good bit of backstory written down there. I offer this to show that I welcome critique of my own backstory (I'm not the arbiter of what is RP, just a loudmouth about my opinions), but also to show that it doesn't take much to step outside the box of your selected race's accepted norms.


I read your background just now, and it is ingenious. I see absolutely no flaw in your backstory.

(Continued)




Edited by Tavelian on 11/19/2010 11:17 AM PST
89 Blood Elf Paladin
0
b) I will make my tauren and tell everyone he is actually C'thun
.

Thats as absurd as making a character called "Lolnefarian" and telling everyone that I'm Nefarian. Wouldn't work, especially since Nefarian has already been killed in lore, and raised from the dead in Cata.


I just think it shows an appalling lack of imagination to pretend your character is something it demonstrably is not.


Thank you. The rest of this post is not only completely true, but also goes to show that bad dragon RPers will be bad dragon RPers.

I would ask you to clear up, however, why you find it shows an "appalling lack of imagination to pretend your character is something it demonstrably is not.". Rather, I found it just the opposite to attempt to go beyond what your race is.

Sorry for the double post, but my former post exceeded the 5000 character limit : /
89 Blood Elf Paladin
0
What about a Troll who wanted to prove he was a better shapeshifter than Tauren or Night Elves and thought he could transform into a dragon? He was eventually able to turn into a Sandstone Drake and said "...it be close enough." Although the RP is completly eliminating the Vial of the Sands, he is still a Troll.

Or perhaps not, he might have crafted a Vial and lied about turning into a dragon through druidic skill alone, even though he lied, it makes him an incredibly potent alchemist.


You actually stole my future plans for Tavvy's story, in a way.

He claims he's developing a potion that has "incredible powers" that he figures would turn the user into a black dragon. However, he eventually settles for a sandstone drake. He attempts to delusion his friends into thinking that he's really a dragon, but he's just creating the illusion of it.
83 Worgen Hunter
3170
I didn't know Tav's story was similar to that, but I thought that it would be a good plot line for my Troll Druid.
89 Blood Elf Paladin
0
I didn't know Tav's story was similar to that, but I thought that it would be a good plot line for my Troll Druid.


I didn't think you stole it, literally. I found it ironic. And it does sound like a decent storyline for your troll druid.
89 Blood Elf Paladin
0
I would ask you to clear up, however, why you find it shows an "appalling lack of imagination to pretend your character is something it demonstrably is not.". Rather, I found it just the opposite to attempt to go beyond what your race is.


I worded that poorly. I should have said it shows a lack of imagination to have to color in such broad strokes. Not to brag on Lightninghoof (I am bragging on Lightninghoof) I've never once met a blood elf who mentioned a fel addiction, though I've known a few who emoted things which indicated they were kind of jonesing. But the stereotypical boring elf you described above? Never met him. I think you can pick a race without living into that race's most broadly written stereotypes. It's the need to paint one's character so broadly that I find disappointing.


That's true. Lightninghoof is good and all, but I never figured out why you never migrated to a busier server.
89 Blood Elf Death Knight
4880
You don't RP dragons, you just don't.

Main Reasons:
Dragons do not meddle in the affairs of mortals unless it is pertinent to themselves, therefore you wouldn't be inside a mortal city, talking to mortals about mortal things. A dragon wouldn't be studying a race that they have observed for thousands of years. -facedesk-

A black dragon would not be friendly to anyone- see, the former advisor of stormwind, the black dragon ambasador at Wyrmrest, the guy who you help at the Dragon shrine.

A green dragon would be etheral most if not all of the time, and would have their eyes closed during said times. WOuldn't it be odd if a person who was half invisable, and had their eyes closed yet they can see everything, be odd?

Those two are definite no-no's.

Dragons are usualy 2x times the size of normal mortals when in their mortal form.

Dragons are thousands of years old, so people would find it odd if this person never changed over the years yes?

I would add more, but you won't listen anyways.

89 Blood Elf Death Knight
4880
Umm, posted twice o.o
Edited by Vartei on 11/19/2010 2:19 PM PST
89 Blood Elf Paladin
0
You don't RP dragons, you just don't.

Main Reasons:
Dragons do not meddle in the affairs of mortals unless it is pertinent to themselves, therefore you wouldn't be inside a mortal city, talking to mortals about mortal things. A dragon wouldn't be studying a race that they have observed for thousands of years. -facedesk-

A black dragon would not be friendly to anyone- see, the former advisor of stormwind, the black dragon ambasador at Wyrmrest, the guy who you help at the Dragon shrine.

A green dragon would be etheral most if not all of the time, and would have their eyes closed during said times. WOuldn't it be odd if a person who was half invisable, and had their eyes closed yet they can see everything, be odd?

Those two are definite no-no's.

Dragons are usualy 2x times the size of normal mortals when in their mortal form.

Dragons are thousands of years old, so people would find it odd if this person never changed over the years yes?

I would add more, but you won't listen anyways.



I'm somewhat infuriated at you accusing me of "not listening". However often I read such, and doubt that one is well informed...I still read the posts. And I have two arguments.

One, you say they wouldn't study races they've studied for thousands of years. Well, things change about such races. And perhaps a dragon would want to experience such for themselves.

And of course people would find it odd if a person didn't change for thousands of years. However, said person probably wouldn't be alive and we've only been playing the game for six years.

85 Night Elf Warrior
5880
I think you're all taking the thread the wrong way. He's not saying "Everyone go out and RP a Dragon now!" He even warns the newbies away from doing so, because it takes a level of finesse(That I could say I don't have, but I try anyway damnit!). You have to know your lore, you have to be willing to play to your strengths and your rather obvious weaknesses.

What he's trying to provide is an information source for those who do wish to play one but might need a helping hand to point them in the right direction. If they do it wrong, ignore them, because they're bad. Or, you could try to help them, show them to be better, like he's trying to do. Instead of going "Dargonrplol /ignore" whisper the person and try to help them out. "Maybe you should rethink being a dragon."

And remember, the best ones, no one knows who they are.
85 Human Warrior
2640
FACHISTS!!!!!!!

I WILL TAKE MY DRAGON RP AND HANG OUT WITH THE GOD OF CATS, A WORGEN ANGEL PALADIN GUY, AND A BLOODY DREADLORD BY MYSELF THEN!


P.S. Forgot flesh golem.
89 Blood Elf Paladin
0
I think you're all taking the thread the wrong way. He's not saying "Everyone go out and RP a Dragon now!" He even warns the newbies away from doing so, because it takes a level of finesse(That I could say I don't have, but I try anyway damnit!). You have to know your lore, you have to be willing to play to your strengths and your rather obvious weaknesses.

What he's trying to provide is an information source for those who do wish to play one but might need a helping hand to point them in the right direction. If they do it wrong, ignore them, because they're bad. Or, you could try to help them, show them to be better, like he's trying to do. Instead of going "Dargonrplol /ignore" whisper the person and try to help them out. "Maybe you should rethink being a dragon."

And remember, the best ones, no one knows who they are.


Exactly.

Thanks for clarification, Slaye.
90 Blood Elf Hunter
12110
You know what would be cooler than playing a character who's a dragon, is sophisticated and seems to have a lot of mystery behind them?

Playing said character, except they're not a dragon. Making them a dragon kind of takes away from their awesome characteristics. I find the most awesome RPers to be ones who can play the race they rolled, and play them well.
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