Filed under: All the World's a Stage (Roleplaying)

All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. In World of Warcraft, that player is you! Each week, Anne Stickney brings you All the World's a Stage with helpful hints, tips and tricks on the art of roleplay in WoW.

For most players, the initial thought upon roleplaying a Human character is that it ought to be pretty easy. After all, we're all humans out here in the real world, so it shouldn't be a stretch, right? Well ... yes and no. Humans in Azeroth aren't the only sentient race, and they aren't even the most populated -- Trolls win that title hands down. The Human race hasn't even been around that long from an evolutionary standpoint -- and it turns out the Human race itself was simply a mutation of Vrykul, caused by the Curse of the Flesh.

On top of that, the Humans of Azeroth are in a constant state of dealing with strife and war. Since year 0 in the timeline, when the Orcish race first crossed through the Dark Portal and began their lives on Azeroth, the Humans have been thrown into war after war after war. First the Orcs, then the Scourge, then the Burning Legion -- it never seems to end. In Cataclysm, the Humans still aren't getting a break, and that leaves them open to a lot of roleplay potential.

All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. In World of Warcraft, that player is you! Each week, Anne Stickney brings you All the World's a Stage with helpful hints, tips and tricks on the art of roleplay in WoW.

Orcs have always been an interesting race. Though the Orcs originally came from Draenor, they've been on Azeroth long enough to consider the planet home -- and they've made their fair share of enemies along the way. Even though the Orcs had little to do with the Scourge portion of the Third War, focusing instead on the Burning Legion's assault on Hyjal, the Orcs (and in turn, the Horde) had a large presence in Northrend during Wrath of the Lich King. With Cataclysm, their influence is larger than ever.

And then there's the simple fact that Orcs are the backbone of the Horde itself. When once-Warchief Thrall formed the Horde, it was simply the Orcs of the Eastern Kingdoms. But as soon, as Thrall decided to follow the advice of the mysterious Prophet and head west over the oceans, that all changed. First, he picked up the Darkspear along the way; then the Tauren were added after landing on Durotar. Somewhere between Warcraft 3 and World of Warcraft, the Forsaken were also added. These days, the Horde is a motley mix of races, united together under one banner -- but the Orcs were the ones who started it all.

So what does an Orc in today's Azeroth have to consider from a story standpoint?

All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. In World of Warcraft, that player is you! Each week, Anne Stickney brings you All the World's a Stage with helpful hints, tips and tricks on the art of roleplay in WoW.

Oh, Gnomes. Often the butt of any joke involving punting, Gnomes have the distinct displeasure of being awarded a bad reputation. Nobody takes a Gnome too terribly seriously, and nobody really considers Gnomes an awe-inspiring source of lore. Gnome roleplayers generally choose the tactic of embracing a Gnome's fun-loving and amicable nature without thinking too much about how to roleplay one in a serious context. Why bother? Gnomes are just kind of fun and silly, right?

Well, they can be. On the other hand, one of the best roleplayers I have ever had the pleasure of encountering played a Gnome that was by all rights typical, until you stopped for a moment and took a closer look. Serious to the point of being psychotic and downright twisted in her experiments and tinkering, this character was the antithesis of everything a Gnome ought to be. It was like having every horrible nightmare about childhood dolls going on a murderous rampage suddenly coming to life. And it was brilliantly done.

All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. In World of Warcraft, that player is you! Each week, Anne Stickney brings you All the World's a Stage with helpful hints, tips and tricks on the art of roleplay in WoW.

They're cunning, sneaky, greedy, and will stop at nothing to get whatever it is they happen to be after. The Goblins of the Bilgewater Cartel almost seem more like a cardboard cutout of a character than a true character. Introduced with Cataclysm, the Goblins are a striking contrast to the Worgen of the Alliance. While the Worgen have a long, grueling, and sometimes heartbreaking background that dates all the way back to the early days of Night Elf society, the Goblins are just sort of ... there.

In fact, the Goblins seem to be one of the most two-dimensional races Warcraft has to offer -- even more so than the Gnomes, otherwise known as the Alliance "comic relief" race. But don't let their two-dimensionality fool you. Goblins are much, much smarter than you'd expect, given their single-minded obsession with greed. After all, what better way to con someone than to lead him to believe you're only after one thing in the world? And for Goblins, it's not just about the profit -- it's about prestige, too.

All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. In World of Warcraft, that player is you! Each week, Anne Stickney brings you All the World's a Stage with helpful hints, tips and tricks on the art of roleplay in WoW.

Two races were equally shaken up with the Shattering. The first are the Tauren, who lost their beloved leader Cairne Bloodhoof when he challenged Garrosh Hellscream to a duel that he subsequently lost. The second are the Dwarves of Ironforge, who also lost a leader -- though it wasn't because of duels, political tensions, or anything of the sort. Instead, the Dwarves lost Magni Bronzebeard when he attempted to try and save the world.

The crux of the problem with the Tauren was that their leader was killed in a duel due to interference from the Grimtotem tribe. With the Dwarves, the crux of the problem began after Magni's death. After all, Cairne had Baine to step up and take charge after his father's death; but Magni Bronzebeard ... well. He had a daughter and a grandson, but both were sided with the "enemy" -- the Dark Iron Dwarves. What does all this mean to Dwarven roleplayers? Plenty.

All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. In World of Warcraft, that player is you! Each week, Anne Stickney brings you All the World's a Stage with helpful hints, tips and tricks on the art of roleplay in WoW.

Trolls are interesting characters to roleplay. There are a few major reasons why Trolls are at the top of my list for roleplay. First and foremost is the fact that for all the Trolls in Azeroth and all the story we've been given about all the various Troll tribes, there's not a lot of real information out there in terms of day-to-day Troll life. Traditions, ceremonies, tribal bonds -- it's all sort of a mystery. Yet the sheer amount of culture we've been given is just enough to play with, within the context of what little we know. Storytellers, practitioners of voodoo, the kaleidoscope of Loa and their relation to the Ancients -- it's all up in the air to fiddle around with.

The other reason Trolls are just so entertaining is that they've come so far from so little. In vanilla, the Trolls seemed like a vague addition to the Horde, with no capital city of their own and very little in the way of backstory. Troll reputation vendors were placed in Orgrimmar, where the Trolls had a tiny corner of the city to call their own. Vol'jin sat in Thrall's chambers and never really did much of anything. When Cataclysm was announced and events started coming out in preparation for the expansion, the Darkspear got a huge jolt of storyline, with elements that can and should affect every roleplayer.

All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. In World of Warcraft, that player is you! Each week, Anne Stickney brings you All the World's a Stage with helpful hints, tips and tricks on the art of roleplay in WoW.

The worgen are the newest race to hit Alliance side, and though they are humans affected by a curse, they aren't exactly the same as your run-of-the-mill humans we've been playing since vanilla. Worgen roleplayers have a ton of information thrown at them during the starting levels, but after the fight is over and everyone's moved on, it seems as though there's not much in the way of excitement or roleplay potential.

That isn't necessarily the case. The main issue I have with worgen -- and to a degree, their Horde counterparts the goblins -- lies in the fact that you are inundated with so much information in those first few levels. The story moves at a frenetic pace, and unless you're paying close attention, it can quickly become an overwhelming experience. Despite the relative lull after the starting experience is over, there is plenty for worgen roleplayers to use, even at level 85.

All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. In World of Warcraft, that player is you! Each week, Anne Stickney brings you All the World's a Stage with helpful hints, tips and tricks on the art of roleplay in WoW.

The Horde has experienced a number of dramatic changes in the Cataclysm expansion. In vanilla, the Horde was struggling, largely due to a lack of resources. In Cataclysm, largely due to Garrosh Hellscream's efforts, the Horde has expanded its borders. With the help of the goblins, Azshara is being mined for a wealth of resources, and land is being grabbed all over Kalimdor. Things are beginning to look up for the Horde -- well, if you're in Orgrimmar. Elsewhere, the land is riddled with turmoil and tragedy.

If you're roleplaying a tauren, the events of Cataclysm are a bitter pill to swallow. A leader has been lost, entire settlements have been wiped from the map, racial infighting between the Grimtotem and the tauren of Thunder Bluff continues to rage. Yet in between it all are moments of hope -- and it's up to roleplayers to decide whether to wallow in the sorrow, fight back in fury, or simply try and keep an optimistic amidst it all.

All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. In World of Warcraft, that player is you! Each week, Anne Stickney brings you All the World's a Stage with helpful hints, tips and tricks on the art of roleplay in WoW.

We're going to take a break (just a little one, I promise!) from the plot point series this week, because I've had something else on my mind that I wanted to chat about. Roleplaying isn't really a solo activity. You can roleplay by yourself, but that's hardly any fun at all, unless you're writing fan fiction or something along those lines. It's a social activity -- and generally speaking, the more people you have involved, the more fun it has the potential of creating.

Roleplay guilds are one way to guarantee you've got a group of like-minded roleplayers, whether your guild is a themed guild centered on a particular plot or simply a handy collection of players who would like to RP. But sometimes you don't want to join a guild for one reason or another, yet you'd still like the camaraderie that roleplay has to offer. What do you do at that point? How can you be social without the hassle of being in a guild? The answer is organized activity -- the sort that doesn't require a guild tag to participate.

All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. In World of Warcraft, that player is you! Each week, Anne Stickney brings you All the World's a Stage with helpful hints, tips and tricks on the art of roleplay in WoW.

Of all the Alliance races you could theoretically play, the draenei have to be the least developed in terms of lore. This is a constant point of contention amongst those who love the draenei as a race and wish to see them further developed (like me!). However, the lack of draenei lore at this point shouldn't be looked at in a negative light. Most of the time, when something is left deliberately vague, it's because it will be expanded upon later in some fashion or another -- so hopefully, we'll see more about the draenei soon. Like, say ... in the next expansion or two.

In the meantime, there's still a lot out there for draenei to think about. I know, I know -- how exactly do you come up with plot points for a race that doesn't have much at all in the way of lore, a race that hasn't really been developed since it was first introduced? What can you possibly make out of all of that? How do you tie that into anything that's going on currently and have it be at all meaningful?

All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. In World of Warcraft, that player is you! Each week, Anne Stickney brings you All the World's a Stage with helpful hints, tips and tricks on the art of roleplay in WoW. Have questions about roleplaying or roleplaying issues? Email me -- I'm always open to suggestions!

As a race that wasn't introduced until The Burning Crusade expansion, blood elves and their position in the Horde have always been a thorn in the side of roleplayers. On the one hand, you've got those who couldn't care less about the fact that the Horde was given a "pretty" race; on the other, you have a group of people vehemently opposed to their inclusion. Despite the opposition, the blood elves movement from Alliance to Horde is perfectly supported by lore, even if the naysayers would have you believe otherwise.

As for the current state of the blood elves ... well, it's slightly less chaotic than the times of The Burning Crusade, but there are still interesting points for blood elf roleplayers to play with. Even though Silvermoon and the surrounding areas weren't really affected by the Cataclysm revamp, what you find upon leaving the starting areas certainly has been. Information left behind in the wake of TBC gives blood elf roleplayers a lot to think about when considering current news for character development.

All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. In World of Warcraft, that player is you! Each week, Anne Stickney brings you All the World's a Stage with helpful hints, tips and tricks on the art of roleplay in WoW. Have questions about roleplaying, or roleplaying issues? Email me -- I'm always open to suggestions!

Last week, we covered a few of the major plot points currently surrounding the Forsaken and what they've been up to so far in Cataclysm. This week, we're going to head over to the Alliance side of things to take a look at the night elves and what they've been doing in the wake of all the cataclysmic chaos and destruction. With the launch of patch 4.2, the night elves have been launched back to the focus of the story as they deal with crippling losses in Hyjal and the final showdown between the mortal races of Azeroth and the elemental lord Ragnaros.

Of course, that's the obvious road to take when dealing with a character that has been active in Azeroth since World of Warcraft's launch. However, Ragnaros and his attacks, the fight for Nordrassil, and the reclamation of Hyjal shouldn't be the only focus for night elf players. Since Cataclysm, night elf society has taken several unexpected turns that are of interest to night elf roleplayers, new and experienced alike.

Sometimes (especially for new roleplayers), finding a reason for your character to be wandering around Azeroth can be a challenge. It's not just a matter of what has happened in that character's personal lifetime; it's also a matter of how he relates to the current events of the day, how he reacts to those big developments in his racial history. With the launch of Cataclysm, there is suddenly a lot more story to deal with, and for new players, or even returning players rolling a new character, it's a lot to take in.

While timelines are all well and good for getting your character caught up to what has gone before, there's also a lot of current material that can be used to further a character's progress. In between all that new Cataclysm material, there are all kinds of opportunities for storylines and plot points that can help spark roleplay. To that end, we're going to start a new miniseries tackling each race in turn until we've got everyone caught up to speed. Today's topic: the Forsaken -- a relatively new race on Azeroth that has a ton of new story and lore going on in the wake of Cataclysm's devastation.

All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. In World of Warcraft, that player is you! Each week, Anne Stickney brings you All the World's a Stage with helpful hints, tips and tricks on the art of roleplay in WoW. Have questions about roleplaying, or roleplaying issues? Email me -- I'm always open to suggestions!

Over the last several weeks we've been going over character timelines as presented in the Warcraft RPG source books. While the life spans listed in the RPG books may or may not be canon -- it hasn't been given a definite yes or no from the story department over at Blizzard -- they still provide a good reference point for players looking to fit their characters into the Warcraft timeline.

More importantly, it serves as a good leaping off point for new players that aren't quite sure where to start -- how old to make their character, what that character would have lived through, or just how the timelines themselves line up. While there are discrepancies here and there within the timeline, hopefully this series helped new players with an overview of what happened when as far as the lore is concerned. Today we're going to answer a few of the questions generated by all this timeline review; some lore related, some timeline related, and some related to character development.

Amaxe asks:

Might I suggest a timeline showing more or less where the books etc fit into the Blizz timeline?