Tagged News: rolecraft

Jim Moreno looks at the biggest question for the modern MMO roleplayer: how do you keep in character in an instance? They're here to stay, so it's time to learn how to deal with them.

Hear me now and believe me later, there is no reason why roleplayers cannot and should not engage in the same high quality RP within an instance as without. Personally, I'm not at all knowledgeable as to where the notion started from, but I absolutely aim to crush it here and henceforth. More than that, I want to share with fellow roleplayers why I think instances are the best places for RP, and provide some tips on how to take on these adventures with RP in mind. I hope they help!

Read more after the leap.

Jim Moreno's RoleCraft is back. This bi-weekly column moves to Tuesdays and this week he calls it "Role-ing Solo" as he looks at roleplaying all by yourself, which sounds a lot worse than it is.

I was telling my RP friend Wendy a couple days ago about The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and how I easily roleplay my characters therein. Oblivion is the best and most current game I can use as an example, even though the game was released in 2006. Oblivion is a huge game, with an incredibly large and open world, and is a great game for RP. Simply remove the massively-multiplayer and online aspects from an MMORPG, and you could have Oblivion. The game, that is. Aside from speech, if you ever want to give yourself a test to find out how much of a roleplayer you (think) you are, make Oblivion your testing ground. I think you'll be surprised at what you find out about yourself and your RP style.

Read more after the jump.

In his latest column, Jim Moreno celebrates the life of the man himself: Gary Gygax. The pen-and-paper legend and Dungeons and Dragons co-creator passed away last week.

The spark that fired my imagination for RP gaming was D&D;, where Gygax shared with me adventures in lands from his own imagination. To depart a bit from the usual RP conversation here, I want to tell you what else I learned from D&D;, things about the real world that were taught to me through a fantasy game, and how they have and are coming full circle.

Read more after the jump.

Jim Moreno's column returns today with "What Level Is Your RP?", his latest in a reoccuring column that looks at the plight of sometimes lost section of the MMORPG community: role-players.

Roleplaying guilds, kinships, and clans very often label themselves as being either light, medium, or heavy RP, but what exactly does that mean? What are the differences between these three level of RP? Well, I am here to make an attempt at answering, or at least providing some helpful insight into, that very question.

Read it after the jump.

Jim Moreno gets back into the groove in 2008 with his latest column: Roleplayers Set S.A.I.L.! This is an acronym for "speech, actions, interactions and look", which are to him four main traits roleplayers focus on. Every other Monday, Moreno brings us a new column where he focuses in on issues that are important to roleplayers.

Taking a good look at my fellow roleplayers in the four MMORPGs I play, and across many other RPGs I've played, I see a vast number of ways we display our RP talents, way too many to count. Yet, I think these methods may all be categorized under four main traits that we focus on - speech, actions, interactions, and look - and are very easily remembered with the acronym SAIL.

Read more after the leap.

Jim Moreno's bi-weekly column "RoleCraft" examines role-playing related issues every other Monday here on WarCry. Over the last year, it has examined a lot of issues and began initially as a World of Warcraft column. Moreno does a year in review article here for those who want to catch up.

Last February, I began a little blog aimed at helping my fellow World of Warcraft roleplayers with their roleplaying. Since then, it has went through a few changes, and more than a few topics have been looked at. As the final word on RP here at WarCry this year, let's go back and review the path this RoleCraft article has taken in 2007!

Read more after the leap.

In his latest Monday column, Jim Moreno gives us a snapshot of the state of roleplaying in two new MMOs and two older ones. For more of his thoughts on World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online, Ultima Online and Anarchy Online, click below.

World of Warcraft
Wijon'bu Zentao (Earthen Ring), known as Wichdocta, or just 'Wichy' by his friends, is a troll priest of the voodoo discipline. He shuns being called a healer, and his skills go beyond merely using the powers of shadow. He calls no place home, and can be seen walking through Shattrath City or Thunder Bluff one moment, to throwing the voodoo around Shadowmoon Valley or Silithus the next. He meditates often, either in quiet contemplation inside the Pools of Vision, walking amongst the huge mushrooms of Zangarmarsh, fishing around Nagrand, or by mixing and bottling up the mojo at the Undercity Apothecarium. He is always open to helping fight alongside his Horde brethren, especially when it comes to correcting the ways of the tribes of wayward trolls. Don't hesitate to ask this old troll for help, and may the spirits be with you.

Role on!

In the latest edition of "RoleCraft" - Jim Moreno's bi-weekly column on all things roleplaying - he delves into the idea of rolling a character and how people come to create them.

WHO is this character?
Name your character! Sometimes I do this first, sometimes I make it the final step. Depends on how deeply I have their personality set in my mind. Make use of the random name generator, it can be a great tool. You certainly don't have to use the name given, but maybe it can flash into your head a name you like and that fits.

Read more after the click.

Jim Moreno's bi-weekly role-playing column "RoleCraft" gets going again today on a new day. Every other Monday, Moreno brings you his thoughts on role-playing and MMORPGs. This week, he looks at permanent death - specifically among NPCs - and how it is explained away by role-players in MMOGs like World of Warcraft.

How many times has Onyxia been slain? Has anyone seen and/or heard of any major Alliance or Horde leader being killed? And what do you know, a few minutes later, they return! Perhaps what our characters see of them is merely their avatar, and that their true selves in fact exist on another plane? Heck, stranger things have happened in WoW, right? Didn't we just have a spaceship crash not too long ago? With that, I reserve the right to RP any wild & crazy idea that my rampant imagination can create!

Read more after the leap.

Jim Moreno's bi-weekly column returns today with his look into his own imagination. Every other Friday, Moreno provides us with a column that looks at the plight of the RPG and all that goes along with it.

Imagination is one of the greatest elements the mind is capable of. While the amount of knowledge that the brain can hold may be finite, it is imagination that completely removes any limit to what the human mind can ponder and believe. Merriam-Webster Online calls it a "creative ability", and it is an ability that everyone possesses, albeit some seem to have a much greater grasp on how to use it.

Roleplayers are such people, I believe. I think (the use of) imagination is the key factor that separates roleplayers from non-roleplayers, and also helps to tell the difference between roleplayers and hard core roleplayers. RP in our beloved MMORPG's begins not in the game, but in the mind, the imagination, of the player playing the game. The game simply helps (or should) with the ability to physically see what our imagination can project.

Read more after the jump.