Your game and World of Warcraft

[Psionicist]

Hey,

I know many of you here play the computer game World of Warcraft. I wonder how (if) this game has affected your D&D-game/campaign.

Although I havent gamed (as in D&D) for several months now I've become much less interested in the mechanics (combat, rules, classes, items etc) of D&D than before and more interested in plots and actual role-playing, which I think is a good thing.

How about you?

 

[Lord Morte]

Well, Ironforge and Stormwind are seriously inspiring in terms of city-design. They just look so COOL!

And I'm contemplating starting my next campaign with a fight with bandits set in a vinyard

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I think WoW does a very good job of showing how an individual character can get swept up in world-changing events without being the focus of said events. Heck, if "Heroes of Battle" is any good, the game does a good job of showing how that sort of game can work in practice.

It also does a reasonably good job of having relevance to every dungeon crawl and adventure. The Wailing Caverns dungeon isn't just there to be plundered -- what the players accomplish there can help terraform Kalimdor, and let the natural order return to a barren (literally!) land.

Plus, it's an ironically much less cartoonish portrayal of orcs (who are still quite chaotic, for all that) than we usually see in D&D.

 

[Wormwood]

Oh that's an easy one. World of Warcaft ate my game.

Three players have essentially sworn off pen-and-paper RPGs. The decline began with Neverwinter Nights, City of Heroes accelerated it, and World of Warcraft drove the stake through it's heart.

 

[D+1]

I know many of you here play the computer game World of Warcraft. I wonder how (if) this game has affected your D&D-game/campaign.

I think the limits of its influence on my game(s) is that I have a few more monster ideas, and although I'm still not overly enthused about them, I am somewhat LESS mystified by some gamers fascination with minotaur and undead PC's, and I've also got an idea to more closely approximate the "quest" system with my D&D adventure design/improvisation.

 

[Dark Jezter]

Plus, it's an ironically much less cartoonish portrayal of orcs (who are still quite chaotic, for all that) than we usually see in D&D.

Strange, my take on Warcraft orcs is quite the opposite: Considering how much they seem to care about personal honor and loyalty to the Horde, they strike me as a rather lawful bunch.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Strange, my take on Warcraft orcs is quite the opposite: Considering how much they seem to care about personal honor and loyalty to the Horde, they strike me as a rather lawful bunch.

On the other hand, their loyalty to the Warchief is based on him being the toughest SOB in the bunch. He basically browbeat the clan leaders into declaring their clans "disbanded" (although not everyone has really done it) through force of will. When Thrall dies, the Horde is going to splinter, and splinter badly. To me, that's still chaotic.

 

[Dark Jezter]

On the other hand, their loyalty to the Warchief is based on him being the toughest SOB in the bunch.

Bwah? May I ask where you're getting your information from, because what you're describing doesn't match any of the Warcraft games, novels, or RPG suppliments I've seen. Thrall was chosen to be the Warchief as the previous Warchief (Orgrim Doomhammer) lay dying, and he retains his position because he is highly admired and respected by orc, troll, and tauren. To quote a passage from the Alliance & Horde Compendium (which was worked on by Chris Metzen, the creator of the Warcraftverse):

"The orcs follow Thrall with an almost zealous dedication. Thrall led them from a bloodthirsty existance, battling the humans time and again, to a life of spiritual reawakening and (relative) peace. They certainly do not discount the roles of warriors in their society; indeed, they consider warriors as important as ever, as their new homeland is rife with centaurs, harpies, and even stray Alliance soldiers bent on stirring up trouble. Orc warriors are no longer as blinded by bloodlust or conquest; they understand what they are fighting for and why, and accept the reasons."​

He basically browbeat the clan leaders into declaring their clans "disbanded" (although not everyone has really done it) through force of will.

Can I get a source on that? Because I seem to recall that Grom Hellscream still led his own Warsong clan after Thrall assumed the mantle of Warchief. Most of the old clan chieftains are dead, however, so they've just accepted Thrall's leadership.

When Thrall dies, the Horde is going to splinter, and splinter badly. To me, that's still chaotic.

That's another statement that contradicts the Warcraft material I've seen. In fact, the Alliance & Horde Compendium comments about how the Alliance is rotting from the inside out due to distrust and internal tension between the various races, while the Horde is made up of races that respect and admire each other (although the Forsaken seem to be the exception to this rule). So it seems to me that the Alliance would splinter badly long before the Horde would.

If Thrall were to die, it's likely that the leadership of the Horde would change hands to either Cairne Bloodhoof or Drek'thar.

Anyways, that's enough threadjacking from me for now. My apologies to the thread starter.

 

[Wombat]

Other than one of my players making a couple jokes about giant mechanical chickens, Warcraft has made zero impact on our game.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I won't disagree with Metzen, but War3 gives a different impression of things than the RPG books, as does talking to enough NPCs when playing the Horde in WoW. The Horde isn't even close to unified, and you can find a lot of people even in Orgrimmar who find Thrall's decisions to be pretty shaky. And let's not forget there are two clans that told Thrall to go blow and are no longer part of the Horde: The remains of the Dragonmaw and the fairly healthy Blackrock clans.