Hello guys. Thanks to the collaboration of the role-playing teacher Idril Whisper Alba We continue to introduce ourselves into the world of role-playing this time to explain what Metarrole and Powerrole are and why it is important to role-play our characters.
Metarrole and Powerrol
In this guide the role-playing teacher Idril Whisper Alba It introduces us a little more into the world of role-playing and explains in detail what Metarrole and Powerrole are and their importance to effectively role-play our characters.
Common mistakes in the role
In the guide “How to role-play (interpret) a character” we have qualified certain guidelines to help you improve your acting quality. But in this, although it also has to do with your interpretation, we will point out common mistakes or traps that we must avoid so that our role is as honest as possible while respecting the limitations of our characters. Therefore, in this installment we are going to know what Metarrole (also known as metagaming) and Powerrol are. With that said, let's get down to business, let's get started!
What is Metarrole?
«Metarrole is when you (yes, you. The one behind the screen! Ò.ó) have knowledge of things that you see in the game, such as the names of other online players among other things (of which we will talk later) and you take them for granted by your character so that he gains certain advantages that he could not have since he has not lived them, or advantages are added with objects that your character could not carry on him »
The most basic thing you have to know This very common mistake is that you and your character are two different people. Similarly, character by role is not the same as character by gameplay. That is, have backpacks with a gazillion spaces, carry 400 mounts, or have a huge variety of weapons and armor, toys or pets, As long as your character can use all the powers of all the class specialties, it is not something that your character will have by role. We are going to explain this, but we are going to be ordered.
Let's give examples of common mistakes that are usually made in these situations:
Your character cannot know the name of those who are on the street per se. Isn't it true that you can't know the names of the people you meet on the street either? Well, your character is the same. You must completely ignore that whoever plays with you has the name on their head. Let him show up when the occasion requires it or if not, he will surely find a way to find out;).
Your character cannot know everything you read from TRP3. There is an addon called Total RP3 Extended (available on curse.com or on Twitch), in which you can see the character sheets. Everyone who is in a role-playing community or those who role-play carries this very useful add-on. There are tabs where you can put a detailed description of your character (we will already do a guide corresponding to the addon ^^):
Character, psychology, description, physiognomy, alignment, character history, etc. You have a lot of things to fill in the card.
This information is so that whoever is behind the screen knows more or less what type of character is in front of yours / his / before him / before him. Focus only on the description that your character can see with the naked eye, (physical description, some visible object, some semblance that reflects).
There are people who misuse the addon despite the fact that it explains what each section is for. For example in Current addon information they put the history of their character and descriptions and a long etc, when they already have their corresponding place inside the addon, which could not help much to those who roll with them, because it makes them know things impossible to know by role or descriptions that do not you can see, for example: scars that the clothing covers, some weapon hidden in the boot or in the thigh garter -in the case of dangerous women- etc.
Avoid putting it when it is time to create your file to also help those who start like you not to make this mistake. You have to be in solidarity, because as I said in the previous guide, role-playing in a social setting.
Character equipment: If you have a character that usually has hidden weapons or a concise but useful inventory for certain situations that the character is used to, do not make it so achievable in sight. The addon provides features so that you can give it a suitable inventory by role or profile of the character. I consider it appropriate to wear what you could carry so there are no misunderstandings or add things to depending on what situation to get away with it for free. The important thing is honesty with the character, especially when he is role-playing casual.
What do I advise to use this addon? This is personal. Obviously, the addon is there so that, if you want, you can fill in all the character data, but I do not recommend it at all. Reading the stories of other people's characters is as if you were making a spoiler of a movie, that even if it is off-role you already lose interest, perhaps there are things that you read that you do not like, or things that, if you role-play it, you would no longer instill the appropriate surprise your character by knowing something of the past life of your interlocutor. On the other hand, there will be people who use that information to cheat and take things for granted to their character that in those circumstances, they should not know. Therefore, I prefer not to look at the internal tabs. But please, you decide what better use to give the addon regardless of what I may advise you in this paragraph. 😉
You may meet more role-players and, in turn, have friends with whom to share adventures within the role. However, your colleague has an idea for a plot and tells you what idea he has. Guideline that you should not do: don't take your character for granted. He tells you, the one behind the screen. Your character does not know your partner's or your partner's intentions, nor does he know what plans he has, nor does he know what dark things occur to him. So I advise that you never take these things for granted to anyone.. It would break something that we really like about the role: live the moment!, but if it happens, try to know how to distinguish. 🙂
There are whispers that are impossible for your character to hear, especially at a distance. When someone murmurs or whispers, "unfortunately" the chat ranges allow you to read it but keep it real. If someone is not around you and is whispering, don't take it for granted. He is not talking to you, he is talking to the person next to him and too far away for you to hear them, even if they are talking about your character! You might suspect something they are saying if they are looking at you and putting it into action.
VERY IMPORTANT FOR WHISPERERS: Use the / wo / s tool to role-play the whisper if you don't want other people to find out, especially if they are close to you. For the record, a whisper is not deaf and therefore can be perfectly heard if you pay attention to what your character says, do not think that whispers create immunity if they are next to your character. It wouldn't be metarole for the short distance. Even if it is a character who can read lips, it is necessary to put the action as they are doing it.
If your character does not see it, but you have read an action that is not in front of him, do not assume that your character has seen it. This is again a problem with chat ranges, but you have to be realistic. If you are on the first floor of a tavern and the actions or dialogues are not in front of your character, do not take them for granted. You may hear noises above, stick with what your character could actually hear, or what he may have actually seen. Otherwise you would cheat.
Do not add things to your character just because at that moment it is convenient for you to have them. Let's put ourselves in a situation so that we understand this point: Imagine that your character wakes up from some place where they have been kidnapped. He is unarmed. You have been searched, and indeed you are. But when he is in a dangerous situation, suddenly and miraculously, your character has a dagger stuck in his boot. Or being disoriented somewhere in the Stranglethorn jungle and suddenly your character has all the maps of Azeroth in his pocket. Live difficult situations. Your character does not have to succeed in everything or always have the easy methods. Lose the magic of role-playing and no one ever said that role-playing a character's life was easy.
Let's not reflect our curiosity off in our characters. In the TRP we have the advantage that we can know where they are in a city or anywhere in Azeroth. But let's focus on one city, how about Stormwind? Well. It is possible that we find a meeting of a brotherhood in some house or hidden place and yet we want to find out what they do. Do we remember that we said to be realistic? Well, this also reflects on the chat ranges. Your character could not know what they are saying inside a house unless they are yelling or yelling. Let's be honest, let's not take the character for granted everything that is cooked or happens. Your character would surely not even know that those people were there, simply what reasons would your character have and why to do so? Let's not take advantage of looking for a role by cheating, it would be very annoying and create conflict.
We respect the character if he is participating in a plot that has taken him to the other side of the world. Very common. Imagine that your character is not in a casual role focus and is participating in a plot anywhere in the world. The plots are role-playing sessions in which everyone must be at the same point if not all, almost all participants. Let's take the case that you are alone and the other participants of the plot are not present, you have a tremendous desire to role-play and it happens that in X city there is an event or there is an interesting role-playing focus. Going with the character who is participating in an event on the other side of the planet would not be the most appropriate, it would be metarole. Your character is not in that city, there is no reason why you should go visit it, we would break our character development.
Your character cannot be omniscient. Many times it has been mentioned that Lore is important to support us with our characters, but we must be very cautious and consistent when giving certain knowledge to our characters. Be it history, magic, cosmology, whatever is to come and that your character has not yet lived. Humility is basic and there are things that it would be impossible for your character to know under certain circumstances. This could be very annoying and could cause discomfort to * the people you role-play with.
So far, I think we more or less have the idea of what “metarole” or “metagaming” means, surely there are lots of ideas that come to mind (especially those that have started in the role) of situations outside the game. Try to avoid them, it could become really annoying, and as we said then, the role is something social. You role-play with other people. Let's see the following modality to avoid:
What is Power-role?
Powerrol is when we invade or impose an action on another character. What does it mean? Let's look at some examples:
You cannot take actions against someone who is roping with you if they do not have any opportunity to refute you.. You cannot take his life, rob him, and even make it clear how he would react. Example:
/ e takes the life of little Timmy with a dagger and scatters the entrails on the ground. You can see how his dying body spasms and blood stains the cobblestones of the street.
It would be more suitable if you tried. Example:
/ and tries to stab little Timmy.
This attempt gives that opportunity we mentioned and quite possibly you will have to use / dice for such action. We will talk about this in other tips.
Don't force others to see your character the way you would like them to see it.. That is to say: Do not say that your character is so, but so attractive and beautiful that anyone who sees it would stare dumbfounded or has a look that they would fall in love with. Or that the look of your character is so intimidating that anyone who sees it would instill fear. That is decided by the people who role-play with you. If your character is attractive, let others judge him and if looking at you is scary, too. We cannot be the grandparents of our characters believing that they are the best of the best because, possibly, whoever plays with us does not see it that way.
Avoid putting on super powers. Do not grant yourself powers or abilities that exceed the average or even more than the heroes of Warcraft themselves; or be immune to attacks that others can do to you, or be able to create an elemental so big and enormous to devastate an entire city as Jaina tried to do, (that this could only do such a thing with the Focus Iris and not by itself ). It completely takes away the gameplay, it doesn't make your character more interesting. The feeling it produces to a person who is role-playing with you is as if you are cheating in a game. Be humble. We have mentioned this in the previous tip.
Avoid playing unique and unrepeatable frames. Unique mounts have a history. They may be visibly beautiful, but you have not killed Arthas, nor have you obtained Invincible, nor have you obtained the head of Mimiron or dragons like Onyxia. Your character's name is not written in the Lore. It is true that some will advise you to invent a story that is different even if the skin is exact to such mounts, but a mount like Invincible, for example, thinking a bit about the setting, would never allow the guards to enter the city with such mount and intimidate the population. Directly, they would not allow you entry and forcing the situation is considered power-role.
Avoid playing legendary weapons. Like mounts. You cannot get weapon parts that have their history. Doesn't even Blizzard prevent being able to make a replica in the legendary weapon transmogrification? Well, try not to interpret them. In Legion we have been given the opportunity to carry the legendary characters of various Warcraft heroes for playability and we have been called 'Champion', but all this has been for playability, nothing more. Lore will always end up telling us who has really carried that weapon or who has killed a certain enemy and no, it has not been our character, because we do not appear in the story.
There will be situations that you live that sound like the advice given here. If you see this behavior, be polite. Think that perhaps that person is also learning to role-play and has not had the opportunity to read these necessary "guidelines" in a role of social environment so that there is respect and comfort. If that person responds with disappointment and disrespect, do not argue. My advice would be to ignore the situation, but don't be indignant like him.
I hope I have clarified this part that some may wonder, after mentioning situations that you may not have thought that these modalities could be to take into account and to avoid.
Any questions or queries or debate that you wanted to ask, both in this guide and in the other, I will be happy to chat with you :).
These two guides have been humbly made and consulted with both role-players and non-role-players to reach out to everyone. Have a great role!
Source: Idril Whisper Alba.
Below I leave you a link to the previous guide and another link in case you want to download the addon that is talked about in this guide. See you for Azeroth;)