Furtive Father Winter Event – Lights-Camera-Action!

What could be a more special gift to come across the morning of Christmas Eve then my Furtive Father Winter guest blogger gift from Bravetank!  I lol’d in my chair as I read her account of her first traipse into Roleplaying!

Enjoy! I know I did!  😀

~ Effy

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Hello. Bravetank here. This is my special Furtive Father Winter gift for Effraeti and her blog and since her blog covers, amongst many other great things, roleplaying I thought that was what I should write about. Which is good actually because I am interested in roleplaying and in fact play on a roleplaying server. But – so far – I have not actually taken part in it – not properly anyway.

Part of the reason for this is that I’m scared. Now my own blog is called Bravetank and is all about my fear of tanking. So the fact I’m scared won’t come as a surprise to many people. I am someone who is scared of plugging in her computer in case a spider runs over my hand. And to decide to conquer my roleplaying fear as well as my tanking fear all at once just seemed a step too far (and my therapist advised against it – she told me I should just focus on the plug thing first because life without electricity is hard). But the temptation is there….

I used to play the mud Realms of Despair and there is a special role playing area there (National Visions I think it’s called). I used to sometimes hesitantly go along and see who was around and listen in on the conversations. Very occasionally I’d emote something uninteresting just to be a part of the background roleplaying scenery in an unthreatening way (eg Luxmi picked up a stone and gazed at it). I’ll never forget my excitement when someone picked up on what I’d done and responded to it IC (Draccus looked at Luxmi. The little elf seemed curiously fixated on a stone.) I think I did something back (Luxmi dropped the stone and picked up a stick.) Hey presto! I was roleplaying – albeit with, as it turned out, a rather rude young man with a fetish for elves, stones and sticks.

After that there was only one other attempt at roleplaying – I tried out a roleplaying hardcore game with perma death. I lasted an hour before I was bludgeoned to death in the desert. Never got to say a word. Didn’t even see my attacker. There was something quite dark and bleak about that particular role.

So when creating Bravetank in WoW I chose an RPPvP server because secretly I still hankered after the RP experience and in some deluded way thought true roleplaying needed the PvP experience (i.e. I could have some clever RP sessions with a Horde that would end up with a real PvP type death – exciting stuff in my head).

But my experiences so far on the Defias Brotherhood EU server indicate PvP and RP are two very separate activities. PvP happens out in the busy areas of the Azeroth world (sometimes- not seen a lot of it on the server I have to say & that which I have seen has not lasted long – for me anyway) & RP takes place in the major cities. So the chances of mixing the two are very slim indeed. (But I will perhaps try this next time I’m ganked – is there a universal physical gesture for “Don’t kill me right away let’s do a bit of acting first” – if not there should be.)

Anyway recently I decided to try a bit of roleplaying but in a safe environment – to ease me into it. So I suggested a trial run with my husband who has a Paladin healer Anadin on the same server. We both logged on and found a quiet place in the Mage Quarter of Stormwind to try it. Probably worth pointing out that my husband was doing this under extreme duress – he is not a fan of the whole roleplaying thing. Basically unless you can make money on the auction house he’s not interested. But I did my usual series of tricks to get him to do what I wanted – hurt look and puppy dog eyes first, then ramped it up with a petulant stomp around the house, then escalated it with a list of all the wrongs he has done me over the years (e.g. broken my pretty blue vase, hurt my toe in bed one night by rolling into me etc.), then I topped it all off with a suggestive come-hither look which quite frankly was the only thing that works or ever works so I don’t know why I bother with anything else.

So there we were – both logged in and standing around in the Mage Quarter. “Take me by surprise,” I said to my husband. His eyes lit up. “Great,” he said, standing up, “I thought we were going to do this bloody roleplay.” “Ha Ha,” I responded drily, “Sit back down, and start typing, but don’t tell me what direction you’re taking this. I want to see what my role playing reactions are like.” “Ok,” he said, reluctantly, “Here goes.”

(From now on anything under ANADIN & BRAVETANK is on screen and anything under HIM & ME is verbal – the latter in increasingly tense tones with gritted teeth!)

ANADIN
Anadin looks over to Bravetank and can see that she is very impressed with him.

ME
What? Hang on. You can’t do that. I might not be impressed with you at all. I might be disgusted for all you know. Plus you don’t know my name yet.

HIM
Disgusted? At Anadin. You have got to be kidding. Bravetank should count herself lucky he’s giving her the time a day. Or sorry – not Bravetank – that female paladin with the miserable face.

ME
Do it again – and don’t assume my reaction.

ANADIN
Anadin looks over to the female paladin. He doesn’t like the look of her.

BRAVETANK
Bravetank notices the paladin approaching and looks away – very uninterested.

ANADIN
What is your name female?

BRAVETANK
Don’t call me female.

HIM
What’s wrong with that now?

ME
Bravetank doesn’t like it.

HIM
Do you want me to start again?

ME
Noooooo! This is part of the scene.

HIM
Ok so Bravetank doesn’t like it but you do?

ME
Honestly- I don’t care for it either. I think there are far more interesting ways of starting a scene. You went straight on the attack.

HIM
Attack!? I just asked your name!

ME
But in an aggressive tone.

HIM
How can you tell my tone?

ME
The word female – it has all sorts of connotations. Anyway just carry on!

ANADIN
I meant female respectfully, madam, since you are clearly the epitome of all that is good, beautiful and wondrous in the female race.

BRAVETANK
Thank you for your kind words although I wonder if there is not a hint of sarcasm in your tone. Anyway my name is Bravetank. What is yours?

ANADIN
My name is Anadin, named by the wolves who raised me when I was found an orphaned child in Burning Steppes.

ME
Whoa! Wolves? Named you? Orphaned? Burning Steppes? What are you on about?

HIM
Just making my character exciting that’s all. What’s your history?

ME
Well it’s not a rip off from Jungle Book that’s for sure. My history is going to be rather boring in fact.

HIM
You do surprise me.

ME
Aaarghh. Just type.

HIM
It’s your turn.

BRAVETANK
You have led an interesting life Anadin for one who looks so plain and ordinary.

ANADIN
Looks can be deceiving. I thought you looked friendly when I first approached.

BRAVETANK
Ha ha, sir, your wit has almost split my sides. Thank heavens for my heavy plate armor. Anyway what are you doing here in the Mage Quarter?

ANADIN
Why do you want to know?

BRAVETANK
Just asking, god you’re grumpy today.

ANADIN
What do you mean today? We’ve only just met.

ME
This isn’t working. Why are you being so annoying?

HIM
I’m not – I’m just sticking to the rules. Why should I tell you why I’m in Mage Quarter?

ME
Because I’m a tough looking Paladin who will slit your bloody throat if you don’t.

HIM
You’d be dead before you knew it.

BRAVETANK
Bravetank unleashes her sword. She has had enough of Anadin’s cheek.

ANADIN
Before Bravetank’s sword is fully unleashed Anadin stabs her in the chest making her quite dead.

BRAVETANK
Bravetank is not dead. Anadin missed.

ANADIN
Bravetank is so dead even the Spirit Healer can’t help her.

BRAVETANK
Bravetank walks around happily proving she is not dead.

ANADIN
Anadin sees only Bravetank’s dead corpse on the floor. He sees NOTHING else.

ME
I give up. This is pointless.

HIM
Good, glad you realise it. Right how about…

ME
You have got to be kidding me. You just bloody killed me.

HIM
It was a crime of passion because secretly I was in love with you.

ME
Aww, really? That’s so sweet. Come here!

And that was that. The end of our attempt at WoW roleplay (and don’t think I haven’t noticed he managed to wrap me around his little finger again- I’m a sucker for some sweet talk it seems!). So dare I try roleplaying for real? That experience suggests no. I’d be better off tanking which is a scary enough thought. I will gracefully leave the roleplaying to the experts like Effraeti and the whole of the WoW roleplaying community can breathe a sigh of relief!

Merry Winterveil, all! 🙂

• Posted in: Blog Azeroth ♦ Blog Challenges ♦ Guest Blogger ♦ Holidays ♦ Paladin ♦ Role Playing ♦ WoW Stuff
• Tagged: Furtive Father Winter