The votes have been cast, and in some cases, lost but the results aren’t in yet although it looks as if SWAPO will retain their hold on power. The squabbling and whatnot has started.

The indelible ink used to mark voters is, according, to opposition parties water soluble.

According to RDP, Swanu and Republican party (RP) the same thing happened in the last elections (held in 2004) and they are demanding the resignation of the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) on grounds of incompetence.

SWAPO is suing the RDP (Rally for Democracy and Change for $N100 million, after the RDP accused SWAPO of rigging previous elections. Three EU election monitors are in hospital after some idiot crashed into their car in Windhoek on Saturday (with fatal consequences for the idiot). The National Society for Human Rights had their observer status canceled, then after appealing, had it restored, then following an ECN counter appeal, had it canceled again. The current President is under fire (if you will excuse the awful pun) for buying a bullet proof armoured Mercedes at the cost of $10 million. He’s saying that he didn’t order it.

A few Vox Pop quotes from The Namibian newspaper’s SMS page:

“Why do we vote with pencils? Is this the case everywhere?”

A point remade by another reader.

“Why do we vote with pencils?”

And another. (Who got to the (pencil) point)!

” On November 27, my wife and I voted at the Walvis Bay Municipal Social Club Hall. We had to use a pencil to make the cross on the ballot paper. My question is, is that legal? Because anybody can wipe it out and change it. Thanks.”

Ed Note: Perhaps they were indelible pencils.

Moving on. Or not. Comments on queues.

“Let Namibia be the light of the dark continent this election of 2009″. A voter in the queue.

“The ECN’s painstakingly slow queue shows that there were flaws in preparations. Queuing for five hours is unnecessary and unacceptable. It’s a sign of irresponsibility.” Another voter in the queue.

“It was the first time I voted and it was a terrible experience! I couldn’t understand why they were so slow.” Another voter in the queue.

“ECN, can you organise a party in a brewery? At 08h30 on Saturday morning, St. Paul’s polling station (Windhoek East) runs out of voting papers! Puleeze.” Juanita

“Congratulations to the Electoral Commision of Namibia, especially the director Mr Moses Ndjarakana. The first day of elections went smoothly without any inteference. Hope the Almighty will keep you longer to direct us again in 2014.”

Ed note: I suspect this one was written and submitted by his mother. The following was probably not!

“Yes to court we go, don’t take this lying down. We are behind you. ECN you can’t fool us all the time. Viva Phil ya Nangoloh and NSHR team.”

I’ll let you know who wins. Not just the elections, but the court cases, fist fights and escalating arguments!

Yesterday I entered the Trial of the Champion for the first time. As the crowd cheered my name I laid waste to the competition along side my fellow competitors.

First up, mounted combat. I’m hunter, not a paladin. I use guns, bows, crossbows, traps, and pets to get the job done. However, I had to use a lance and shield on horseback. Awkward at best, but I got through with a  lot of help and understanding from my group. So we kicked some Horde butt on horseback and got our loot.

Next we beat the light out of some guy named Eadric the Pure. He was cake and I was pumped with the crowd screaming my name. Once again the chest rose from the floor. Still nothing for me as a hunter. I do have specific needs and all loot is not for me.

I thought we were done, but then this goober called The Black Knight flew in saying he was going to stomp a mud hole in us. I let my Nesingwary 4000 do the talking for me. The Black Knight had almost as many lives as Hallowpoint and Viper. He just would not stay dead. He did get uglier and uglier each time we killed him.

Finally we offed The Black Knight after he came back to life one more time in a ghost like form. King Wyrnn and Fordring praised our victory. The crowd cheered our names and the treasure chest arose from the floor once more.

BOOYAH! A fine new gun. I received the True-aim Long Rifle. For so long my Nesingwary 4000 has been my weapon of choice. My trusted ally. It was and is Mr. Dependable. However, it was now time to retire it, for the True-aim Long Rifle was/is a serious upgrade. Remaining true to my craft some times requires hard decisions.

-poliisinauhaa-poliisinauhaa-poliisinauhaa-

tämän piti olla tavallinen päivä mutta minulla onkin treffit

-poliisinauhaa-poliisinauhaa-poliisinauhaa-

I spent the week of healing with my new hand relatively low key, spending a lot of time curled up in Master Vel’s house resting.  He had told me to go back there, and he had said that he would be back, and even promised flowers… but three days went by and no word from him, nothing.  It was a little disturbing, I have to admit I was beginning to think he’d changed his mind and was actually regretting coming back to his house if I were there.

On the fourth day I received a comm message- he wanted me to meet him, we were going on a mission to Byss.  I can’t say no to something that sounds that exciting, so I suited up and took a shuttle to the meeting place.  Once I got there we proceeded to Byss.  We looked around a bit, there was a small hitch in the plan when we encountered the shields, but we got around them easily enough.   It was actually really quiet, I’d expected more from the Infamous Sith Planet.

There was a taxi speeder that we picked up, and I had to tease him just a bit because it was having problems running.  He admitted that perhaps Byss wasn’t the best place to take me for a date, after I mentioned that I wasn’t keen on getting dropped into the lava. We both had a good laugh about that… once it was clear I wasn’t going into the lava streams below.

We made it back to the Amaranth, and used the private time to relax and talk.  He throws me off because he’s quite formal, then relaxed, in turns, so I’m never quite sure what to expect.  I felt quite at home though, leaned against him, talking openly.   I’d almost forgiven him for leaving me alone for three days, which he only explained away by “meditation.”  I’m still not sure about that… I had my hand cut off and he forgot about me because he was meditating? I have to admit I was… and am, still rather hurt about it.

I thought it would be a good idea to take a non-stressful trip, so I decided that flower picking on Zenoma Sekot would be a nice time.  I invited Zack along, and was quite pleased when he agreed to go, even though I’m fairly sure he thought it was a waste of time.  I disagreed- I was promised flowers, I’d get them one way or another. 

We landed on Zenoma Sekot, and he let me lead the way.  He stopped though, once we arrived at a small silver tree.  It had a plaque at its base.  He explained to me that it’d been there for as long as he could remember… and he related to me, sort of, a bit of his past.  He talked a little about the Peacekeepers… and their actions.  I wanted to hear more, but I’m afraid of pushing him too much.   We wandered a bit after that, and I managed to lighten his mood, I think, by putting a flower into his hair.  I know it made me smile.  He took me to their library after i was done collecting flowers, and it was absolutely beautiful down there.  We stayed a little longer before he decided it was time to go.   We returned to Ruusan, one vase of flowers richer.  I don’t think he realizes it, but I’m still wondering why the disappearing act for those three days…

Sorry for the radio silence lately, getting into school is so much fun.

Today’s topic comes from banter I’ve had with friends and observed in the WoW Rp community. The heroes of Azeroth are a hearty bunch, having survived everything from the cataclysmic battle at Mount Hyjal nearly a decade ago until the impending invasion of Icecrown. The thing that people don’t seem to realize is that it’s the little things in a character that make them feel so human (or not human, whatever.) Some turn out as the heroes from fantasy legend, the ones that come back from the battlefield without any mental scars to show for it, because that’s what really happens.

Pictured: Something that never happens.

Which brings me to the point.

People who know me are very aware that I play a single character in Warcraft almost exclusively. It’s really not out of a hatred for the pansy mana users and the like, but because he is so much fun to portray, because he feels alive. In which I mean that he has both strong traits and weak traits, and they serve to balance each other out. Perfect people are boring, and trying to roleplay with a perfect character is no different. The balance comes from a variety of factors, how did your character grow up? How did they handle -or not handle- the events of the third war? Hyjal? Outland? What kind of support network do they have? etc. Tif’s world was torn apart after Hyjal, and the world moved on, leaving him without any direction, and it’s shaped how he’s dealt with problems in his life. He would retreat from his pain by fighting as often as he could, as well as learning to tinker in his spare time, more as a hobby at first. Fast forward to Wrath of the Lich King, and Tiforis is the technosoldier, a man dedicated to using technology to wage a new kind of warfare. Sounds pretty great, huh? Too bad Tif never properly dealt with the mental trauma he suffered at Hyjal, and instead threw himself into his work, at the expense of everything else. Now? He’s an elite soldier, but his personal life has withered from neglect. At thirty years of age, Tif has very few close friends, and his love life has amounted to a series of shallow love affairs, with nothing of substance to show for it.

The strong balances the weak.

Tif is mechanically brilliant, but put him in any social situation, and he’ll look at you and tell you that he doesn’t get it. In many ways, the big bad berserker is still the shy, scared little boy that he was in his childhood. And that’s why he feels so alive to me, because it’s a situation that I can relate to. And you don’t need terribly dramatic flaws in a character to get that effect, expand on the simple things, and you might just see your characters as people you could meet in the real world.

-Donski

I have been holding on to this beautiful outfit for quite a while, waiting for the perfect time to show it. Well, since we’re talking about winter….

Heather Rau has cast winter in a realm of fantasy with this beautiful outfit. With its mix of textures and fine prim work, this outfit can find itself very at home on RP sims but also on all the beautiful winter sims in SL. I feel like an adventure of snow-covered land might not be so bad when I wear this. In fact, I feel like kicking some polar bear butt.

I would love to say that the snowshoes are the coolest part of this outfit, but it’s a tough contest. You have the fur cape, the sexy turtleneck sweater (frayed at the bottom), the sexy winter white pants, the chunky, rope-lashed fur boots, the rope belt with the knife and pouch, and oh yeah.. breath.

I am wearing a lovely skin from Monicuzza Babenco that was given out to the group members of YS&YS at the opening of their new sim, Feel Beautiful. With its lined eyes but sublime smile, it’s a perfect accompaniment to this outfit.

Check out the gorgeous, fantastic hair from Mirja Mills, whose store is a one-stop shop for wild hair, kilts, and other fantastic items. Watch out polar bears!

Hair: penelope hair + by Mirja Mills for EMO-tions

Skin: *YS&YS* Sharon Special Opening Groupgift by Monicuzza Babenco for YS&YS

Outfit including Snowshoes: [BO] Hammersgaard Winter Outfit -Light (Boxed) by Heather Rau for Black Orchid

Listening to Cuando Vuelva a Tu Lado by Claudia Acuña with Branford Marsalis on saxophone. *sigh*

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And finally, a shout out to my friend PeterX, departed from SL but not my memories. Have a wonderful holiday and best of luck in the new year, Peter

“He was just here a minute ago.” ~ George Carlin

–Gallagher

This week on RP and You, we’ll be looking at some info from my old RP guide that’s really still quite valid. From the last several posts, you ought to have by now a character, a good name, a good back story for that character, and a basic understanding of the mechanics of RP. So you should be ready to go, right? Well…almost. What do you do when you can’t seem to find anyone to RP with? How do you find the ever-elusive roleplayer in their natural habitat? And what do you do if you find yourself, for want of a better word, snubbed by the general roleplaying population? I’ll be addressing these issues and more today!

How do I find a roleplayer to roleplay with?

Tricky question. Are you on a roleplaying server? If not, you may want to go make sure you’ve rolled on one – most people on PvP or PvE servers don’t bother with roleplaying, they’ve got other things in the game that they’d rather do. RP servers not only have the people who are focused on PvE and PvP, but they’ve also got a good chunk of the population that’s usually focused on RP. The best places to find roleplayers vary from server to server, although I’ve found that across the board, Stormwind appears to be popular on Alliance, and Silvermoon always seems to be a hot spot for Horde. The best way to find out is to just ask – on my server, we often have people ask on the realm forums where the good places to RP are located. Check the link here and scroll down to the realm forums section, and then choose the server you wish to play on. Remember to be polite – demanding answers is never a very good first impression.

The other indicator is pretty easy to spot. The roleplay addons mentioned the last post aren’t just for reading what other people look like – they’re also a gigantic ‘LOOK AT ME I ROLE PLAY’ sign. People that use these addons on roleplay servers are more often than not roleplayers themselves, especially if they have a description set up.

How do I know if they’re busy?

Check out their description. There is usually an indicator for whether or not they are IC – that’s ‘in character’, or OOC – that’s ‘out of character’. If they’re out of character, it means they aren’t roleplaying just now. If they’re in character, there’s a good chance that they are roleplaying, or will roleplay in character if approached.

How do I roleplay with them?

Well…you walk up and say hello, of course. Start up a conversation. Check out their description, or what they are wearing, or where they are at, and ask a question. Come up with a reason to approach them. If you’re a new character, maybe you’re lost and can’t find something in town – ask them if they could help you find it. You know…talk to them. They’ll talk back, I promise.

If you are nervous about walking up to people and just jumping into roleplaying, don’t be – it’s just…acting, only written out. If this intimidates you, I encourage you to go find someplace that is fairly active from an RP standpoint. Have a seat, and watch the show! See how people interact with each other, what is said, how emotes and /say are used, get a feel for the people who are roleplaying. If someone is particularly interesting, maybe you could get away with nonchalantly following them around a bit, see where they go, what they do. Observation is an excellent idea.

Nobody wants to RP with my character!

This is a common complaint, and one that will require some frank and honest self-exploration. So people are avoiding you, or don’t appear to want to roleplay with you. There could be a few differing reasons for this.

A. You aren’t really in a highly trafficked roleplaying area. Check around in various parts of town, find someplace that looks like it’s got a fairly large gathering of people, and watch.

B. You’ve run across a group of people who are in the middle of their own storyline, and don’t wish to be bothered. You may want to try politely whispering one of them – use your OOC brackets, and ask if you can join in. If they say no, then head off and find someone else – it isn’t personal, nine times out of ten. If you’re in the middle of a heated argument with your best friend, you’re not likely to notice that stranger watching you from across the room, and if they interrupt the argument for no reason, you’re apt to be angry with them. It’s a normal, IC reaction.

C. There’s something wrong with your character, and it may need to be tweaked.

Point C is the one that people don’t really want to look at or consider, but if your character is being flat-out ignored, then it’s the point where you need to ask yourself some important questions:

1. Is your character too overbearing/odd/unusual/strange? If your character is constantly interrupting conversations between other roleplayers to shout gleefully about socks and earwarmers, it is likely your reputation is not going to be good. If you’re content with this, and more than willing to play a psychopath, by all means carry on – but don’t get angry when people ask you to go away, because buddy, you brought that one on yourself.

2. Are you roleplaying something really outlandish? Chances are if you are roleplaying something completely out of the box, people are going to ignore you. World of Warcraft has many different characters and factions in it, but the following don’t really exist: Fairies, Vampires, Catboys/Catgirls, or pretty much any species of furry (excluding tauren but personally I don’t think they really count). If you are playing someone who is a vampire(half), then you should probably realize that most serious rpers are going to look at this, laugh, and walk away. They don’t exist in this world, and creating a character who is one of these things generally puts a big old red flag over your head that says ‘I am an amateur roleplayer who is not capable of working within the limits and boundaries of the world I am given to play in. Please ignore me.’

Please note, the above was written before the introduction of the Darkfallen in WotLK. Vampires do, indeed, exist in-game now – but they aren’t friendly, they aren’t nice, and it is highly unlikely that a character with any kind of sanity is going to want to hang around with one.

3. Are you godmodding?

Godmodding is one of the worst symptoms of an inexperienced roleplayer, and most people who godmod will be, as a rule, ignored. What’s godmodding, you ask? Godmodding is taking control of someone else’s character, and acting things out for them.

An example: “(Charactername) angrily stabs you in the heart with his [Steel Dagger of the Monkey], piercing deep into your flesh and wounding you terribly and making you fall over.”

Or: “(Charactername) has had enough of your foolishness, and throws a handful of sleep dust at you. You collapse into a deep sleep.”

Or: “(Charactername) sneaks up behind you, burying his sword into your back and killing you instantly.”

Or: “(Charactername) is invincible, your blade tries to pierce his flesh but snaps in two, broken forever.”

In all four of these examples, you are essentially telling the other player what they are supposed to be doing and saying that their character does it, or ‘playing god’, in other words. In the world of roleplaying – no matter what the game or genre – it is handy to keep a simple rule in mind: The only character you have any control or power over is your own. This is…an interesting puzzle to figure out in a game where you cannot fight with those of your own faction, and requires some dancing around. To re-write the descriptions above:

“(Charactername) angrily pulls out a dagger, rushing at you with a yell, clearly intent on stabbing you.”

“(Charactername) has had enough of your foolishness, and pulls out some sleep dust, throwing it at you in the hopes that it will silence you.”

“(Charactername) pops out from the shadows, lifting his sword with a snarl.”

“(Charactername) dodges the attack, ducking into a roll and calling for the city guards.”

All of these leave the person you are interacting with several options to play with. If you deliberately try to goad someone into one course of action, they will not want to play with you. Be nice, and be aware of this.

4. Your character simply isn’t interesting. This is, without a doubt, the hardest question to ask yourself and look at.

Take a good look at your character, and I mean a REALLY good look. A character is much like a story, an ongoing story – it should have an interesting premise, some sort of conflict, and some sort of feasible resolution. If your character has poured out their entire life’s story to anyone and everyone that will sit still, there is nothing more that your character has to say. If your character is constantly happy and never has a care in the world, nothing ever makes them unhappy or phases them in the least, then what exactly makes that character interesting to other people? On the other end of the spectrum – if your character is constantly miserable, constantly getting into fights or brawls, insulting people and generally behaving as if they don’t like ANYBODY, nobody is going to want to interact with you.

Another thing to look at is your character’s back story. Have you made them the son/daughter/long lost sibling of someone very prominent in the World of Warcraft lore? Have you taken liberties with the lore as it was written to make your character ‘important’? Let’s look back at the example description from last week:

(Character) is the long-lost son of Arthas and Jaina Proudmoore, disowned at birth by his mother and possessing part of the spirit of the Lich King. He grew up in Nagrand because that’s where they left him at and likes horses and chocolate. He’s killed over 12,000 people in his lifetime.

First off, in the Warcraft lore, Jaina and Arthas never had a son. This has already been written, so it is impossible that such a thing would occur. Secondly, even if they had had a son, there is no way that son would end up in Nagrand, as neither Jaina nor Arthas has set foot in Outland, according to Warcraft lore. Third, when Arthas and Jaina WERE an ‘item’, as it were, it was waaaay before Arthas had found Frostmourne, or had any contact with the Lich King. This character premise is impossible within the constructs given by the story already written, making your character highly unlikely. In this case, those familiar with Warcraft lore are going to look at you REALLY funny, and most will just choose to ignore you entirely. In Warcraft lore, you cannot possibly exist – and so, to them, you don’t.

Any of these are more than enough reason for people to ignore you.

5. Is your character a ‘Good Guy’, or a ‘Bad Guy’? Stop right there! You’ve got a black and white character!

Okay what the heck does that mean Spook?

A black and white character is a character that’s got no definition to them. They serve one purpose in their life, and that’s it. They have their own set of beliefs and morals, and those beliefs can never, ever be changed, regardless of what’s happening around them. Getting into a conversation with a black and white character is kind of like listening to a pre-recorded message – the information they give you never changes, and their life never changes, regardless of what happens around them. Events and stories in-game make no difference to them, and they don’t develop any differing opinions or beliefs as a result. The world has no effect on who they are. In a word, boring.

I Wanna Be A Superhero!
That’s great! Everyone wants to be the good guy – but there’s a problem inherent with being a hero, and that’s being too MUCH of a hero. Everyone’s got some sort of master plan for the greater good they’re working on. Everyone would like to have amazing superpowers and be the best at everything they put their hand to. Master every lesson they’re taught, be the knight in shining armor or the badass damsel that would never dream of being caught in distress. They want to be the person everyone is falling all over themselves to meet, and they want…well, perfection.

There’s a down side to this, though. If you’re perfect, eternally and absolutely perfect, then what is there in the world to interest you, motivate you, or make you more than just a do-gooder with a brilliant smile? Most people just don’t want to play with this type of character, because there’s no conflict there to make it interesting. Remember, a character is like a story – if there’s no conflict in the story you’ve written, then what’s the point of reading the book?

A character that is good is all well and good, but if they’ve got a few vices thrown in there, or something they’ve done that they’re ashamed of, or some opinion they have that could be considered ‘bad’, then wouldn’t that make them all the more interesting? Quirks are essential. Give your character something they believe that is contrary to popular opinion. Give them a disgusting personal habit. Give them something particularly repugnant in their past that they aren’t particularly fond of. Give them some really embarrassing moment in their life that would mortify them were anyone to find out about it.

Sure, you want a character that is ‘good’, but being nothing but advantages is kind of dull, don’t you think? Toss some disadvantages in there to shake things up a bit.

I Wanna Be A Bad Guy!

Awesome. There are very few people who want to be bad guys in this game. A good villain is probably one of the hardest characters to portray, for several reasons:

a. Nobody is really going to like you. Villains are awesome characters, but at their heart, they are evil. Not really likeable by people. Keep this in mind when you take up the role of a villain – I’ve seen way too many really, really good villain characters quit the game or reroll a good guy because they simply couldn’t stand the fact that everyone hated them. If you are playing a villain, keep in mind that most people, IC, are not going to like you, and run with it! Take joy in it.

b. In the end, you more than likely are not going to ‘win’. Pretty much every story out there tends to end with a happy ending. Most people playing this game would like a happy ending for their characters. This involves thwarting the villain’s evil scheme and keeping them from taking over the world/getting the girl/having a quiet and tasty lunch. Keep in mind, when you are rolling a villain, that it is highly unlikely that your character will ever get the resolution they are happy with.

And that is the main difference between a good guy and a bad guy – with a good guy, you’re happy with your character overcoming conflicts, gaining a good reputation, and learning from their experiences, making friends along the way. With a bad guy, it’s the opposite – what should be making you happy as a roleplayer is that people are interacting with your villain and shutting down his evil schemes, time and time again. The interesting part of a good guy is how they deal with adversity – the interesting part of a bad guy is how they deal with people ruining their plans all the time. Do they go insane? Do they come up with another plan? Do they try and recruit more people to their mad schemes?

Most people, when they realize this, back down and stop playing the bad guy, because this kind of thing doesn’t really make them happy as a roleplayer. If you enjoy messing with people and enjoy presenting frustrating challenges, being a bad guy might just be for you.

It is worth noting that being a bad guy is much easier when you aren’t the only one. Find some other bad guys and team up, form alliances, work together, and take joy in the fact that you’re providing so many people with conflict for their characters to overcome.

Okay Spook, I think I’ve got a good back story. Now what?

Now? Now you play the game. Roleplaying is not the be-all and end-all of an RP server – there is leveling to do, goals to accomplish, a mount to obtain, Outlands to see. This game is HUGE – limiting yourself to a level 2 character in a city that never goes out and does anything would be kind of dull, don’t you think? Especially when there’s so much to do!

Read your quests. No, really, I’m totally serious here. Blizzard has planted all kinds of interesting stories within the game, and you can pick and choose how doing those quests and performing those tasks affects your character. Quests aren’t just leveling tools, they’re bits of stories that have been put in place for you to play with – and you can make some awfully good stories out of the adventures you’ve had.

Talk to people. This is important – there are often complaints about people who will only roleplay with people in their guild or group. Shake them up a bit! If they’ve got an RP description and they’re wandering around town, ask them a question, say hello! Don’t be afraid to talk to people, if you simply stand around waiting for the RP to happen to you, it’s not going to happen.

Keep in mind as you’re playing, how what you are doing would affect your character, and roleplay it!

So I Have This Amazing Storyline For My Character. How Do I Get People To Play It?

This is the interesting part of playing a Roleplaying game with so many players. In your more traditional tabletop roleplaying, you have one GM who is dictating what your group is seeing and where they are going. In World of Warcraft, you are your own GM – and this makes things tricky.

Sure, you want people to play your story. That’s all well and good. But keep in mind that they more than likely want you to play THEIR story, and run with it! My character Spook had her own storyline going, but she was also involved in several other stories with several other people – some of those people knew her story, most did not. You can pick and choose who the players are in your game – and you shouldn’t try to force anyone to play your story if they really don’t want to.

Plant a seed. Give them a hook to figure out what you are doing. If they follow it, cool! If they don’t, find someone else to do it! Half of the fun with Spook’s story was talking to a whole MESS of people, and then giving those that were interested something to go on, if they wanted – and in the meantime, I managed to meet a lot of different people and get involved in what THEY were doing.

The fun of RP on an RP server like this is that there are literally so MANY stories going on at once that you can pick and choose which to follow along with, and which to leave behind – and keep in mind that EVERYONE does this. Just because one character isn’t interested in why you’re angrily painting your toenails in the middle of Orgrimmar doesn’t mean there won’t be others that are. And if you happen to see someone doing something that you find interesting, go ask them why they’re doing it! Who knows, your character may be in for the story of a lifetime – or at the very least, make a new and entertaining friend.

Keep in mind when you are giving your character a conflict or something to overcome that there are game mechanics in place. You can’t make them the King of Stormwind because there is already a king. However, making a council of advisors TO the king is plausible enough. Or perhaps you are part of a group that is intent on finding out what’s up with Fandral Staghelm and his mysteriously large and ever-growing collection of Morrowgrain. That can work, too – and it involves existing lore within the game.

Speaking of mysteries, this game has tons. Dwarves should find Uldaman and Ulduar particularly interesting. Night Elves will find one particular quest in Winterspring really interesting, as well as all the back and forth between the Cenarion Circle, and Fandral Staghelm. What IS that guy’s deal, anyway? Forsaken – there is a questline that starts in Tarren Mill and raises some really interesting questions about Sylvanas. Gnomes – the entirety of the history of Gnomeregan should raise some puzzling questions for your characters, as well as the revelations on their origins that were brought up in WotLK. Blood Elves? Goodness, have you got loads to deal with when you get to Outland. Draenei? The fact that you’ve crash-landed on another planet, and what happened to bring you there, gives you all kinds of things to play with. Tauren? There is plenty involving the Grimtotem tribes and the centaur – more than enough to raise some questions. Trolls? Oh lord, don’t get me started. Just go…pretty much anywhere with trolls (which is to say almost every zone in the game) and you’ll have a field day.

The possibilities are literally endless – but you have to keep in mind that there are certain things that can happen in the game, and things that cannot. At present time, Alliance and Horde cannot speak to each other, something that is really annoying in-game. You can, however, have a perfectly satisfactory cross-faction RP experience on the forums if you wish. Just keep in mind that gnome you’re hanging around with on the forums would be KOS in the middle of Orgrimmar.

NPC’s! There are tons of them all over the game. Use them! You don’t have to make other people interact with them even, just…use them as necessary.

For yet another example – Spook was involved in a story I wrote that had her speaking to Umber, a very real NPC in Moonglade who is an Archivist. As a direct result of the story, she was, in-game, being blackmailed by the NPC, and had to go collect books and odds and ends of interesting magical items for him, whether she wanted to or not. Umber the NPC stayed up in Moonglade, handing out quests as per usual because he wasn’t required to move about.

The conflict instead involved Spook, and how she could get out of the blackmail situation without getting herself killed or worse, branded a traitor in the process. This went on for…gosh, months, before someone came up with a plausible solution that ended with a really fun scene in Moonglade in which we ‘knocked Umber out’ and set his archives on fire, then killed the few guards that discovered us on our way out of the zone.

How did we do it? We attacked the NPC, let him aggro his way upstairs from the inn, and then killed him. The NPC respawns, so he wasn’t really ‘dead’, just out cold on the floor so that we could set the place on fire – IE, set a few campfires up in the book stacks. When a guard aggro’d, we killed him so he couldn’t ‘tell anyone’ about what was going on.

It was fun, REALLY fun – and used NPC’s that already exist. Don’t be afraid to use whatever’s there at your disposal for your stories – just keep in mind that the world you are in is limited, and use those limits to your advantage, rather than being limited by them.

That’s it for the beginnings and basics of roleplaying. Go, tell stories, play the game, have fun! And keep reading, I’ll be moving on to more advanced roleplaying tips, tricks and hints as time goes on!

Es liegt an uns!

Dienstag, den 17.11.09.Es ist 11.30 Uhr. Etwa 1.500 Schüler und Schülerinnen haben sich am Willy Brandt Platz versammelt um für ein besseres Bildungssystem zu demonstrieren. Einige tragen Banner, andere rufen Parolen. Eine normale Demonstration im Rahmen des alljährlichen Bildungsstreiks, den alle Tageszeitungen und Medienanstalten der Umgebung für sich nutzen werden. Schon am nächsten Tag wird man in sämtlichen Lokalteilen der Zeitungen in Niederberg die Gesichter der Demonstranten gepaart mit stupiden, beschreibenden Überschriften („2000 Jugendliche auf der Straße“ / WAZ am 18.11) erkennen können. Die wenigsten Artikel werden über das Genre „Erlebnisbericht“ hinausragen. Andere sind eigens dafür verfasst, den Nerv der Zielgruppe zu treffen und befassen sich weniger mit den wahren Begebenheiten als mit der Aufrecherhaltung eines Weltbildes, das den Ansprüchen einer modernen Gesellschaft in keiner Weise gerecht wird. Hier ist von biertrinkenden Schülern die Rede, dort reduziert man die Mobilmachung von rund 1.500 Jugendlichen, die ihrem Unmut über das momentane Bildungssystem Ausdruck verleihen, auf die dabei entstandenen Reinigungskosten. Doch hinter einer derartigen Veranstaltung steckt mehr als zwei Stunden weniger Unterricht für die Beteiligten.

Doch von Anfang an:

Wir schreiben Mittwoch, den 04.11.09. Es ist 16.00 Uhr. Im Jugendraum an der Schlossstraße 2 trudeln die ersten Beteiligten ein. Das 25-köpfige Bildungsstreikkomitee der Velberter Jugendinitiative (JiV), steckt mitten in den Vorbereitungen für die Velberter Ausgabe des diesjährigen Bildungsstreiks. Während Flyer der Demo schon seit Wochen kursieren und Aufkleber das Stadtbild prägen, werden rechtliche Angelegenheiten geklärt und Formulierungen getroffen, die jedem Schüler und jeder Schülerin das Teilnehmen an der Demonstration während der Schulzeit, und somit das Verletzen der Schulpflicht, legitimieren sollen. Dabei geht es mehr um Balsam für das Gewissen als um rechtliche Grundlagen. Balsam für das Gewissen einer unrebellischen, meist gymnasialen Schülerschaft, die ihrer Frustration lieber Einhalt gebietet, als ihr ungebändigt, gar gesellschaftskonträr, Ausdruck zu verleihen. Doch dieses Verhalten ist nicht unbegründet. In einer Gesellschaft, die zunehmend hierarchisch aufgebaut ist, und in der Mitbestimmungsrecht zur realitätsfremden Formalität wird, vergessen viele, dass ein gewisser Grad an Mitgestaltung von Nöten ist um ein demokratisches System aufrecht zu erhalten.

So bekommt man stellenweise sogar den Eindruck, die so oft geforderte politische Jugend sei der Obrigkeit, jetzt wo sie da ist, zu politisch.

So zählt die Schulleitung eines Velberter Gymnasiums die Politisierung der Jugend anscheinend nicht zu ihren Aufgabenbereichen und tritt dieser sogar repressiv entgegen. Jeder Schüler des NEGs, der am 17.11 um 11.30 Uhr für ein besseres Bildungssystem demonstrieren wird, tut dies gegen heftigen Widerstand der Schulleitung und von Teilen der Lehrerschaft. Hier geht es nicht um zwei Stunden weniger Unterricht, sondern um den Einsatz für ein besseres Bildungssystem unter Inkaufnahme potentiell weitreichender Konsequenzen. Doch wo Regeln in großem Stil überschritten werden, muss man dies zur Not auch im Kleinen tun.

Wo Bildung nicht mehr frei ist, wird das Prüfen rechtlicher Grundlagen eines Schulstreiks seitens der Schulleitung zur Lächerlichkeit.

Den Studenten und Schülern geht es dabei wie dem Frosch im Kochtopf, der erst aus dem kochenden Wasser springt wenn es schon fast zu spät ist.

Mit den Studiengebühren wurden finanzielle Mittel, die bisher das Land zu tragen hatte, auf den einzelnen Stundenten umgeleitet und diesem als Sanierungszuschuss für die Hochschulen verkauft. Das Bologna-System machte die europäische Hochschule zu einer transparenten Lernfabrik, in der über steigenden Leistungsdruck und zu kurze Studienzeiten geklagt wird. Ähnlich verhält es sich mit dem Turbo-Abi. Doch es liegt an uns, aus dem Wasser zu springen, bevor wir uns an die Hitze gewöhnen. Bildung, die Geld kostet, und somit die Schere zwischen der sozialen Unter- und Oberschicht vergrößert, würde über die Jahrzehnte zur Normalität werden (wie in den 70er Jahren der NC) und wäre für nächste Generationen unanfechtbar. Unsere Enkelkinder sollen uns schließlich nicht mit großen Augen anschauen, wenn wir ihnen von einer kostenlosen Grundschule erzählen, die es zu unserer Zeit noch gab.

LOL went to AFA XD was relatively fun lols.

yes kiddy lavi needs a bear =w= so cute lols

Gundam EXIA awesome stuff =w= wish i could build that well

Black Rock Shooter Miku, that prop be awesome =w=
Lauren if u be reading this, i still second saku’s vote to ask u to do this lols =w=

The next gen of singing idol? Ume XD from RP Comics IG lols =w=
(you guys prolly noticed her singing on stage)

On the side note for a picture not taken by me =w=? i got shot at AFA =w= and my photo is on dannychoo.com:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dannychoo/4122835435/

i wonder if u can spot me =P

heres the full article:

http://www.dannychoo.com/post/en/25271/AFA+Day+1.html

“Oooh”

“What?”

“Look at this.”

Aphel pushed his circular, wireframe reading glasses up his nose as he peered over his lifemate’s shoulder. He was sitting rigidly upright on the edge of the bed, while she lay sprawled beside him. Leafsong propped herself up on an elbow, holding up Miss Kaldorei East! He squinted inside the centrefold, then growled between clenched teeth.

“This is Florian. Why did you think I would be remotely interested in Florian?”

Leafsong shrugged a bony shoulder, tracing a finger reverently over the bulging magenta muscles of the Kaldorei pin-up as he posed beneath a Teldrassil waterfall. “ ‘Cause he’s hot, Shan’do. Look at that loincloth.” Aphel let out a derisive snort.

“As if I needed a reminder as to what a scantily-clad Florian looks like. Care to glance around?”

He waved his pen around the walls of their bedroom. Florian smouldered down at them from no less than three fraying wall scrolls, including one tacked precariously to the ceiling above their bed. Leafsong blew a kiss at the white-toothed hunk above, nestling happily down in the cushions beside her husband as she re-immersed herself in Miss. Although her reading was abysmal, this particular magazine was graced with an abundance of pictures. Aphel grunted to himself, adjusted his spectacles and continued to transcribe the minutes from the previous night’s Council meeting. For a few moments, the only noises in the long room were the faint scratches of pen on parchment, and the whispering of flicked-over glossy pages.

Leafsong stretched her skinny length out on top of the blanket, her grubby feet curling around on the wooden rail at the foot of the bed. She yawned, covering her mouth with splayed fingers, the magazine resting upside on her bare stomach. Brushing away a strand of hair, she gazed at her dirty toes; which were stained with earth and the remnants of messily-applied blue nail polish. Aphel reached out to place a hand on her head distractedly, narrowing his eyes down at the notes in his lap, his fingers running down the pale pink curve of her ear. She pursed her lips, rolling onto her stomach and gazing up at him, pale grey eyes partially hidden behind wisps of fern-green hair.

“I’m bored.”

The corner of his thin mouth curved up into a sly smile.

- Recond Risograph Machine Model RP Series

- A3 & B4 Size

- Fully Recond

- Low Counter Meter

- Prices are negotiable

Price RM 5000