With the release of Cataclysm (hopefully) nearing, it’s time for us to take a solid look at the two new races to be revealed: goblin and worgen. I expect a great many role-players will be creating new characters with these races, and so will I. In fact, I know some fellow role-players who have already secured appropriate goblin and worgen names to beat the rush when Cataclysm starts selling.

In case you’re wondering about rolling one or both of these races yourself, but are somewhat lost as to some RP ideas for them, let’s get you pointed in a quality direction. Thankfully, you don’t have to look far or wide for the info online. WoW Insider has done an excellent job in gathering all the pertinent lore facts together, but above that, some of their crack writers have even posted some very good ideas regarding role-playing.

First, though, let’s start with the official info pages for goblins and worgen over at the World of Warcraft Cataclysm website. Their history sections are short while still covering important details, and yet leave open a couple of items for role-players to speculate and build on.

World of Warcraft – Cataclysm: Goblins

World of Warcraft – Cataclysm: Worgen

Now, for the best look at the upcoming races, and everything else Cataclysm, we go to WoW Insider’s Guide to World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. This superb guide has so far been able to lead me to all the information I’ve been seeking about Cataclysm, including some potent RP material.

If you haven’t been keeping up with all things Cataclysm, go ahead and start with the Basic Facts and General Information sections to get caught up. For role-playing purposes, the sections on Lore and Races will be the focus.

Under the Lore heading, three of the Know Your Lore articles (Gilneas, Worgen, and Goblin) should be primary reading for role-players. I also suggest the excellent All the World’s a Stage article here. The Races heading also leads to some of these same articles, so instead just click into the Goblin backstory and zone info section. Read these articles thoroughly, my friends, as they possibly hold the imaginative spark that will be your role-playing idea.

Lastly, take a gander at the Cataclysm race-class combo matrix. This tells what classes will be available to goblins and worgens, and is a handy aid for role-players to get their race & class RP personalities in motion early.

So, role-players, there’s your homework for this week. Read or re-read these sections of the Guide, and contemplate on your own goblin and worgen role-playing. Next week’s RoleCraft will pull out some tidbits gleaned from these pages and show how they may be worked in game. For more discussion on this article through the week, follow RoleCraft on Twitter (@RoleCraft), or on the official RoleCraft Facebook group. Until next Monday, role on!