Learn about how some of the game’s veteran players create their own unique experiences as we delve into roleplaying in The Elder Scrolls Online!
To break down how roleplaying in ESO works, we reached out to two community favorites: Tea the Khajiit and Rykoth!
Introduce yourselves! How long have you been playing and roleplaying in The Elder Scrolls Online?
Rykoth: Hello! I’ve been roleplaying in ESO as long as I’ve been playing it … since the very beginning! I’m a long-time Elder Scrolls fan as a whole too, so for me it wasn’t just finding a new MMORPG to play. The Elder Scrolls pretty much defined my trajectory both as a gamer and as someone who went from being a predominantly science fiction guy to being all in on the fantasy genre.
Tea: Hello! Some might know me as Tea the Khajiit on Twitch, but long before I started streaming, I was known as Ki’tea in ESO roleplaying circles. I spent many a beta testing weekend recreating my character until I was able to get her to look the way I wanted. I finally started roleplaying about a month after launch, once everyone got settled in and leveled.
Do you have a favorite character you enjoy RPing with? Tell us about them!
Rykoth: Picking a favorite RP character is like trying to pick a favorite pet or child. Right now, though, I’m enjoying my current main (a stam DK.) He’s an Orsimer Berserker and former mercenary turned chieftain named Gorthal Blackforge. His whole story is based around the fact that he was born in the Druadach Mountains, but left his home stronghold because his older brother became chief. He became a mercenary until eventually assisting a Wrothgar-based Orc Clan and then rising to become chief of that same clan.
Tea: I’ve put my energy into one character which is near and dear to my heart, Ki’tea. She is a former slave who, after earning her freedom, started as a volunteer servant in a Tribunal Temple, cleaning and serving drinks to guests. She then achieved her dream of joining a Dunmeri Great House by taking the Telvanni Oath. Tea is not very close to her Khajiiti roots, though she’s moved into Southern Elsweyr chasing leads on her magic research.
What kind of in-game systems or tools do you use to RP in ESO?
Rykoth: That’s a tricky question. Quests and things like class mechanics aren’t really recognized a whole lot in RP. I might go through and quest as the Vestige, but my character may be a simple farmer that hangs out in Ivarstead. We’ll roleplay in the open world, use our /emote and /say commands as well as the actual physical emotes. We’ll also create really cool outfits to go with our characters’ personas, and when it comes to a really important adventure, we’ll take one of the many player houses and transform it into something really cool and special.
Tea: The biggest tool we use is the chat box. The default chat mode is /say, which we use for character dialog. If we want to color text, we use /emote for action descriptions. During a roleplay session, we use both of those strictly in character. If you need to tell other players something, you can use parentheses to denote that you are making an out-of-character statement. Guild Chat and Group Chat are usually out of character chat modes as well. Houses have come to serve as roleplaying hubs, as they are fantastic for creating custom areas for events.
With add-ons, you can do some elaborate set pieces with moving parts. Another in-game system we use is the chat bubbles feature. It used to be difficult to keep track of what was going on in larger roleplaying events, but chat bubbles serve as an easy way to spot when the person you were talking to has replied. It’s also very customizable.