Comments on: Building A Backstory http://rpmadesimple.org/building-a-backstory/ RP Made Simple - Bringing the RP back in MMORPG. A Role-Playing Survival Guide and World of Warcraft fansite. Tue, 18 May 2010 12:49:52 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Ringo Flinthammer http://rpmadesimple.org/building-a-backstory/comment-page-1/#comment-26 Ringo Flinthammer Wed, 29 Oct 2008 00:19:08 +0000 http://rpmadesimple.org/?p=15#comment-26 There was an ad campaign for the horribly off-target Star Wars Galaxies MMORPG that would feature crowd scenes from the movies and point to one of the extras and say "what's THIS guy's story?" In SWG, it was kind of a bad idea, because quite often, his story was "He's a moisture farmer. He's a droid repairman. She's a cantina dancer." And that was the end of the story. In WoW, though, everyone's characters have been touched by war in the last few years -- indeed, it would be hard to find someone who has NOT lost a loved one in the three wars or in the flight from Argus -- and with all of the bad stuff thundering toward the survivors, everyone's story is going to be one of war, adventure, heroism and loss. You don't have to be Arthas' boyhood friend -- but you could be a former squire for the Knights of the Silver Hand who rode away from Stratholme at your master's side when Prince Arthas gave that unforgivable order. Today, you've grown to adulthood (or risen as a member of the Forsaken). You have been a witness to history, but weren't a prime mover. The Warcraft series is full of such moments -- every level of the RTS, in fact, offers a bunch of these -- and all those individual units are fair game as a WoW player character. Pick a favorite level, and look for a unit that has an interesting story, and you're off and running. (Ringo is one of the dwarven riflemen from the second level of the human campaign in Warcraft III, part of the party that was hunting the black dragon Searinox. His injuries after that battle are why he missed the rest of the Third War and set him up as a level 1 dwarven hunter in WoW.) There was an ad campaign for the horribly off-target Star Wars Galaxies MMORPG that would feature crowd scenes from the movies and point to one of the extras and say “what’s THIS guy’s story?” In SWG, it was kind of a bad idea, because quite often, his story was “He’s a moisture farmer. He’s a droid repairman. She’s a cantina dancer.” And that was the end of the story.

In WoW, though, everyone’s characters have been touched by war in the last few years — indeed, it would be hard to find someone who has NOT lost a loved one in the three wars or in the flight from Argus — and with all of the bad stuff thundering toward the survivors, everyone’s story is going to be one of war, adventure, heroism and loss.

You don’t have to be Arthas’ boyhood friend — but you could be a former squire for the Knights of the Silver Hand who rode away from Stratholme at your master’s side when Prince Arthas gave that unforgivable order. Today, you’ve grown to adulthood (or risen as a member of the Forsaken). You have been a witness to history, but weren’t a prime mover.

The Warcraft series is full of such moments — every level of the RTS, in fact, offers a bunch of these — and all those individual units are fair game as a WoW player character. Pick a favorite level, and look for a unit that has an interesting story, and you’re off and running.

(Ringo is one of the dwarven riflemen from the second level of the human campaign in Warcraft III, part of the party that was hunting the black dragon Searinox. His injuries after that battle are why he missed the rest of the Third War and set him up as a level 1 dwarven hunter in WoW.)

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