Curtain Call: Anna's Friday Five - RP Style

Though you may not know it*, I'm a serious sucker for a bit of Roleplaying. Despite all its well-advertised faults and foibles in the WoW community, it is a great way to add interest and depth to the smallest aspects of the game. Have you ever composed a little diddy while cooking Brilliant Smallfish in Bloodhoof Village? Juggled rings over fire totems for coppers in Stormwind's Trade District? Have you ever toured the Barrens on your brand new, completely runaway lizard mount, screaming curses and pleas to stop the whole way?

I have. No joke. I have screenshots (somewhere). That kind of little foolery and fun makes the 40 points' worth of cooking skillups, practice with new totem hotkeys, and the long run from Ratchet to Thousand Needles an order of magnitude more enjoyable than they could have been. As an added bonus, you never know who'll bite and start playing along, whether you're on a roleplay server or not!

That's why I was so thrilled to read Anna of Too Many Annas' most recent Friday Five post. She's borrowed the famous Friday Five meme** and put a fun, roleplayer's twist on it: she's asking her Friday Five questions to our toon(s) instead of us. Starting out light, it seems like she's going to use it as a way to ease the newcomers into the concept of developing a character for roleplaying. If you ask me, it's also a great way for the non-newcomers to explore their character a bit more, perhaps even flesh out some details they hadn't encountered for themselves, yet.

All I know for sure is that I'm stoked, and the toons in my head are all clamoring for attention. Here's my Friday Five - RP Style. Let's see yours!

1. What is your character’s name?
   

   My name is Rhoelyn. In the lands outside of Teldrassil, I am sometimes given the surname of Silverwing, though I rarely use it for fear that the Sentinels to whom it truly belongs would object. I believe my friend, Axus, chose it in reference to my hair. I would never presume to call him unimaginative, but ... well...
   

2. Why did he/she pick his/her class?
   

   One does not choose to become a priestess of Elune; the Goddess does the choosing, and we who are so blessed answer Her call. I believe I knew this was my path from a very young age. Suffice to say, I cannot remember a time before I knew that I was a healer and lightbringer. Certainly, I would not know how to be anything but a priest. It is my role in the deepest, most intrinsic sense.
   

3. What’s the worst trouble he/she ever got into as a child?
   

   Somehow, though I have ever been the last child to cause trouble, I found myself in it quite often when I was young. I suppose that has something to do with my brother, Rhese, and his unerring ability to convince me to join in whatever adventure he had found for the day. No matter how clearly I saw the danger, I never had the heart to tell him 'no' when he turned that excited smile my way. Not then, and certainly not now.
   
   The worst punishment we ever received, though, was when we decided to follow a friendly furbolg we encountered outside Starfall Village. He told the most amusing stories, and before we realized it, we were standing on the outskirts of Astranaar, waving goodbye as he flew off on a hippogryph. When our keepers finally found us, they were so upset that they refused to let us out of their sight for a solid fortnight. It was very ... stifling.

4. What is his/her favorite thing to eat?
   

   My favorite food? Hm. I do not really have a favorite. I just eat what I need to be well fed. Does the flavor really matter?
   
   ... then again, I did really enjoy that Box of Chocolates from my friend, Rastelli. Do candies count?
   

5. What does he/she have in his/her pockets?
   

   Oh, dear. Are you sure you really want to explore that potentially hazardous topic? I carry so much in my packs that they are near to being classified as disaster areas. Truly.
   
   Imagine a dank, cluttered space bursting with a dozen different types of herbs, potions, cloth, odd dusts, dirt, keepsakes, and even a few pieces of equipment. Now, add quest items - most of them grisly and rotting - a few dormant pets, a pretty dress or two, and one very small purse of Gold.
   
   I pity poor Murky for having to put up with it, but he seems to be quite content to spend his days swimming amongst the detritus.
   

* Or does the comic silliness give it away? :o
** Gasp. Yes, another one! They are rather... viral. ;)

Titans and Demiurges 05: The WoW Sketch Meme

I've made a decision.

No, it's not the one that you're expecting. Despite my long silence and my relative blogging youth, I am not interested in announcing that I'm done blogging or that life's too busy or whatever. The fact is, I love this blog (despite all its rough edges). I have decided that it's time to stop waiting for life to slow down before I "get back to the blog" and start making time and energy for writing a higher priority.

So, here I am to tell you that I'm still here and still committed despite the long, inexcusable silence. I've been saving up all kinds of good ideas and information while I was gone, and I'm eager to share the wonder. I'm also digging away at converting to a new, self-hosted blogging platform, a new URL, and a more mature (less girly *cough*) look for PoC. If that's not NOT giving up, then I dunno what is.

I didn't have the heart to apologize with empty excuses during the long silence, so I hope that the sketch comics were enjoyable enough to be some fraction of the apology you're owed. I will continue the little mini-tale that I've started, and maybe when Rhoelyn finds her way back to the surface, my own life will ease up. (One can hope, right?)

Now, with all that said... Let's do something fun. :)

Anyone who's spent any time running around in the lighter journaling world (like Livejournal, for example), has probably run into a meme or three.

A meme (pronounced /miːm/)[1] is any thought or behavior that can be passed from one person to another by means of imitation. Examples include thoughts, ideas, theories, gestures, practices, fashions, habits, songs and dances. Memes propagate themselves and can move through the cultural sociosphere in a manner similar to the contagious behavior of a virus.

From a more practical perspective, blogging memes are short little quizzes that ask you to give your take on a set of questions, then pass the quiz along by 'tagging' your friends to see their answers. The fun comes from trying to be creative, honest, funny, or just downright weird in your answers so that readers and friends can enjoy your input and give you their own to enjoy. It's a way to slowly and openly get to know yourself and other writers.

The art community has taken this concept and (of course) adapted it to what they love most, and the perfect example of this for those of us who love both WoW and art would be the WoW Sketch Meme, provided by Crimson Viper of DeviantArt. He has written a set of questions to be answered in whatever way you please, either with a sketch, a scribble, some writing, or even a pasted picture or screenshot.

I'm not going to post a thousand links, but if you look at the comments of the Meme's gallery page, you can go visit an easy two dozen examples of how other artists have completed the meme. There are some great and really funny answers in there!

And, of course, I'm not allowed to even tell you about this Meme without having my own entry ready to present as the fee for spreading the madness. If you click the little image below, consider yourself tagged! Go, enjoy, and toss together your own answers to share with the community. I'd love to see how WoW inspires you. :)