(Note: Lonnnng chapter name we know LOL but otherwise this chapter would be so short and that's boring so here we are bubs).
INTERPRETING DREAMS!
(This is a very important part of a medicine cat's life. Every medicine cat has a different way of analyzing their dream, so do it in a way that helps you more easily.)
1. Record your dreams.
Take notes, and tell your apprentice, leader, deputy, or a trusted cat about them.
2. Identify feelings.
Ask yourself "was I nervous, angry, confused, etc? do I still feel those feelings the morning after? how comfortable am I feeling these emotions?" Few connect us to StarClan directly, but the dreamscape is the best one.
3. The Setting.
If you dream about a newly made apprentice catching a very specific piece of prey (e.g. a magpie with no tail) and if in your waking life, you see a newly made apprentice come back from their hunt with a magpie without a tail, then this is something that must be thought out. Keep a close eye on that cat and do your best to remember every inch of your dreams afterward. any small hint could add to a new lead.
4. Reoccuring Thoughts.
Let's say that you are having recurring thoughts such as: "They are going to outcast me," or "I can't do this." Next you need to ask yourself if you were having these thoughts constantly in the dream. And if so, in what situations did you have these thoughts? Look in every which way that could possibly connect it to reality.
ROLEPLAYING TIPS!
(These are tips that we've found useful, and we completely understand that maybe not everyone wants tips and such. As WCUE roleplayers who started playing in it's early 2020 beta we have a lot of experience and want to offer what we've learned. Use them or don't, we just wanted to put them out there!)
1. Exp (experience).
ah, exp or experience, the very thing that causes so much indirect and direct harassment and pain for people. To be exp, hyper-exp, etc. is to, by 'exp WCUE roleplayers' definition have read the books and have, from what I've gleaned, at least more than three months of roleplay experience.
Kindly, get over yourselves if you hold this ideal. Yes, by definition there are experienced roleplayers. I mean, my co-author and I have three almost four years of roleplay experience and have read twenty to forty of the Warriors series. Yippee, we're experienced by the bare minimum definition! Honestly, no thanks, we don't want or need that label.
I have found, that 'next' (inexperienced) players are incredibly more kind and open versus. an exp (experienced) player who holds themself above others just because they read a few of the graphic novels. I apologize if you believe/know this is harsh and rude, but we're sick of people discriminating against kids who just started playing.
Be proud if you have experience, but do not throw it in a child, teenager, or even adult's face because they haven't read the books or because they just got into the game.
2. Be Inclusive.
even if they don't have 'experience' or a nice-looking morph, they are here to have fun and play! If you're stressed, then politely ask them to give you a minute, but please remember you chose to be this main role, it comes with the job.
They're people and if they're good people they'll understand! They want to have fun, but any roleplayer worth their skill knows that a roleplay (if not private) excels when everyone's enjoying and putting effort in.
This doesn't mean you're responsible for everyone's roleplay, or that you have to include someone rude, mean, said something, etc.
3. Be Polite.
not only do you not who people are on the other side of the screen, but threatening and yelling at someone to get off the leader's rock can be extremely rude, especially on a children's game. Be mindful and aware.
You don't want someone assuming online that you're, for instance, a heater, getting others to say so, then possibly getting a mod (moderator) in your server? Different when it's turned on you but you don't blink twice if you're doing it.
Even if someone's being rude, be polite. If they're not breaking the WCUE rules but rather annoying you, breaking the 'unspoken rules' of the WCUE players, then there's not much reason for you to threaten and yell at them. If they are breaking the rules, please take screenshots or just contact a moderator.
It's a mod's job to be impartial and take care of players, not yours.
4. Don't Powerplay.
yes, medicine cats' have ALL the knowledge on all the fun places to hurt, and yes there will be roleplays where they might be needed. That does not mean that you can hijack a roleplay and powerplay it so YOU have fun, but others won't. You're writing your ocs story, they are trying to write theirs. Don't steal their drink just because you want more to drink.
5. Don't Complain Constantly.
this is a hard pill to swallow and I admit I had to swallow it many times. If you're a medicine cat, a leader, or a deputy then you most likely agreed, chose, or even auditioned to BE it. If you can't handle the fact you're a centerpiece to everyone else's roleplays, then retire and don't be them.
You'll be less stressed and everyone else won't feel mad or guilty. If you're really that stressed, then take an afk or request everyone give you a minute. Don't keep taking them on just so you can say 'Wow stressing me out when I have all this to do'.
6. Be Aware of Drama.
whether it's your own the clans' or the servers or OOC (out of character) drama. Don't start something that will affect others without their permission (we've had experience with clans starting wars, then new players showing up and being annoyed that 'perms' weren't asked for, they would harass and insult the players who had planned it.)
Keeping an eye on the team chat or the public chat will keep you up to date on things that might involve you and is just in general a good thing to do.
7. OOC Manners.
we've already touched on this a bit in the other parts, but I want this emphasized. You can hurt someone without meaning to, or maybe you do mean to because they're fighting your friend. The WCUE game is a roleplaying experience with fun additives for fans of cats or the Warriors series!
Fighting someone because they're a bear in camp isn't going to be fun for both of you or the people trying to PLAY the game. I admit, having a fight in roleplay with a bear, tiger, mountain lion, etc. is naturally placing the odds against the others. If so, politely tell them you won't fight them.
8. Non-Cats.
when my co-author and I see people complaining about the "unrealistic," "not-canon," and "just stupid" non-cat roleplayers it annoys us to no end. Unrealistic? They're most likely animals that are quite real in real life! Not-canon? So what, the canon that is IRL (in real life) is that there aren't exactly four to five different cat cults in a forest ripping their kin's throats out for walking too far into their land. Stupid?
What's stupid is you feel the need to complain about them having fun as they want just because you, most likely, are following the crowd's opinion.
There was a future-knowing badger, a time-traveling blind cat, a hairless ghost cat who also knows the future, cat gangs in cities, cats getting visions, prophecies, multiple lives, and omens, the books are set in England for goodness' sake! 'Canon' is as wacky as a tiger in a clan. Unless someone from the Erin Hunter group shows up and says it's not allowed, get over yourself, please.
9. The Warriors Book Series.
ah, the core thing that inspired all of this. You most likely know them or of them, through the game, having read some or all of them, or just heard of them IRL. In roleplay, if you've read them, using a tidbit of information from them can make someone smile! However, the other side of the coin is that someone might not understand it. This is THE source, and even if you don't want to read the over 60 books, knowing some stuff from it heightens the experience of WCUE.
And I assure you, if you have a question and don't want to look it up, asking around on the game will bring out someone willing to talk about it. Being able to defend a kittypet in roleplay with 'well, FireStar was once Rusty!' or 'TallStar knew a kittypet and he didn't kill that one first thought!' truly makes it interesting for everyone. And if you don't know the books? Who cares! It's not hard to learn the basics of clan life and anyone worth their roleplaying skills won't discriminate.
10. Roleplaying Skills.
You're not going to be a skilled roleplayer in a day. Mind you, you can hone it even when you are a skilled roleplayer. My co-author and I, for instance, have been roleplaying roughly the same amount of time since WCUE was in beta, way before what the map and all that is like now! We remember the lobby and the pregnant belly, even, yet we're still working on how we roleplay.
She roleplays in a somewhat common but still different way, and I like to go for how an actual book format is. Please learn from the other people in the server roleplaying format or even from books. Roleplay how you want to, what makes a roleplayer a good one is how they interact with others without making themself the true 'main character,' in my opinion.
11. Fun.
having fun in a roleplay is what makes it just the best thing; it's what makes you want to get back on and roleplay again, most of the time at least. Yes, there are going to be serious moments in your roleplay, sometimes that's a death other times a betrayal; despite this remember you're writing a story in your roleplay, and it's okay to enjoy it, especially when you feel it's one of your best ones yet or you're roleplaying well! (just don't say that 'I'm enjoying this' if someone's dying in a bad context LOL).
12. Fluidity.
having a general outline of where you want your roleplay to end up can be helpful, but when you have a full-on SET plan? That can be hard on you and the other people on the server. If you have friends or a private server where you'll be holding a private roleplay, even one of those large long-term roleplays, that's where it can be helpful; in a public server where everyone is trying to have the roleplay go where they want can make it stressful on people, especially main roles or 'popular' people.
Sometimes you'll need to just take a pawstep back and let the main roleplay go where it goes, input where you can and step up where you must as your role, medicine cat or another. This can be boring, which makes it a little hard to balance. But getting skilled at being part of the attention and being the one giving/using the attention is very useful.
(Note: By no means do you need to take these as official roleplaying tips of the game or anything similar. We've personally found that being aware of these/doing them just heightens our roleplay and stops us from getting into endless online fights).
WC:UE/Warriors Slang.
(There's not a whole lot but I thought you all might enjoy some explanations on the abbreviations people might use on the game.)
WC:UE: First and foremost, of course! WC:UE is the abbreviation of Warrior Cats: Ultimate Edition, or the Roblox fan game!
EXP: Short for experienced, not exactly hard but we're here to be thorough.
HYPER-EXP: Saw this a few times– means someone who has immense experience.
INEXP/UNEXP: A rather rude term for someone who doesn't have experience, both in roleplaying and with little knowledge of the Warriors' books.
IC: In character– someone people use this to show they're going into character or asking if you are.
OOC: Out of character– the opposite of ic, used to refer to when you're out of character or asking if someone else is.
OC: Original content, though I've heard 'own character,' both terms work. Typically used for your morph and characters, etc.
MED: Abbreviation of 'medicine cat.'
DEP: Abbreviation of 'deputy.'
LEAD: Abbreviation of 'leader.'
APP: Abbreviation for 'apprentice.'
DEV: Abbreviation of 'developer,' for instance WC:UE's lead dev, Pavalineox or Pav! They are the ones who develop the game and sometimes you'll even be in a server with one of them.
MOD: Abbreviation of 'moderator,' they handle disputes and help to enforce the WC:UE guidelines and rules. Mind you, most of them are pretty polite, mature, and nice!
TC: Abbreviation for 'ThunderClan.'
RC: Abbreviation for 'RiverClan.'
SC: Abbreviation for 'ShadowClan.'
WC: Abbreviation for 'WindClan.'
STC: Abbreviation for 'StarClan.'
R/L's: Briefly heard it used as an abbreviation for 'Rogues and/or Loners.'
NON-CAT: Used to refer to, well, obviously an oc that is not a cat that someone may be roleplaying as.
FC: In the 2023 Christmas Event a new clan emerged in an event world, called FrostClan. This is their abbreviation.
SW: Much like FrostClan, I briefly heard this used as an abbreviation for the Stonewardens from the 2023 Event.
BYPASSING: I thought we should include this, as it's a quick term for getting past the game language filters, which is against WCUE terms. Be careful about these, as if you do this in a situation where you're already in trouble, good luck.
SEER: I can't remember the exact name, but I heard this term used for someone who's not a medicine cat but is strongly connected to StarClan (I don't think this is very nice to be since medicine cat's whole thing is to heal and interpret StarClan, but if you have fun and got perms go ahead.)
PERMS: Abbreviation for 'permissions/permission,' most often used in roleplaying fights so each person can know what the other person will allow. (example: 'battle perms?' "no blinding, death, or majorly affecting injuries" etc).
DIRT-PLACE: In the books 'dirt-place' refers to where the cats go to the bathroom, 'dirt' being, well, you know, urine and such.
(Obviously, as slang is made outside of the game people will begin to use it in the game. For instance, 'rizz,' 'cap,' and the much naughtier bypassing swears.)