Thread: [Guide]The Ultimate GM compendium of Knowledge

Running a smooth event

Events are simply that: events. As a player, you will love events! it offers something new and different, as a GM you will dread events as they rarely go according to plan. These tips will teach you how to set up events, and run them smoothly.

First of all, players are antsy to say the least. They do not want to sit and wait for others to arrive, they will not stay seated in seats until a duel is over, or something has to happen, they will want to constantly move and attack something.

It's understandable, and here is one way to beat it: You dont. Do not, EVER try to control where players can move or not. They will first get annoyed, then start to find the event boring, and hearth out. Always have every player do something, An objective. if they dont, they will generally become a thorn at your side. Some of the wise guys do sit and wait, but keep in mind, most will not. So format your event to minimize the time they have to wait

Second, Make sure you build you event first. set everything up before you even summon one guy. Set up your .go's if you planned them to be there, set up the Player zones, and NPC should they be there =P. Make sure that when you will start to summon, everything is set up. Also, be sure to have macros set up, such as the useful ".debug root" and the ".debug unroot" Other macros might be needed, it depends on your event =P

Third, make sure to eliminate hackers as quickly and as quietly as possible. Several times an event may be foiled because one hacker made too much noise, and in response the GM that banned him threatened everyone else that could hack with the possibility of a ban. The excited player, (Eating popcorn as they watch their favorite in-game drama) Are too rambunctious about the banning and finding out what the hacker messed up, that the goal of the event might get forgotten, and the event cancelled since not enough people are actually doing the event.

If you eliminate hackers without a sound other then "<blank> was kicked by You. Reason: (1 day ban for hacking)" You will be sure that there might be a few questions, but most people will remain focused.

Fourth, If you are doing a race, make sure to have a lootable object at the end. This is because usually there is a bit of lag, and every player sees himself ahead of everyone else. So with this one shot lootable object, whoever loots it first wins.



Lastly, make sure you have a friend to help with summons, If you are on a populated server, you will be swamped with "SUMMON PLEASE PLESE PLZ!" And to make things worse, a lot of people dont know that they are not the only ones saying that, so they will whisper you again and again. Here are some more tips to dealing with this

-Split the player group into smaller chunks so that you can summon them all. get your friend to summon only alliance, while you summon horde.
- Ask for class only summons. For example, Say "All right im summoning priests now! whisper me for a summon ONLY IF YOU ARE A PRIEST, any other class you will be kicked in the balls, tea bagged, and killed. then kicked from the server on top of that."
-Type in ".summon" and highlight the whole thing, Ctrl+c it, then when someone whispers you, type ctrl+v and shift click their name. The name will appear as it is right after the .summon allowing you to summon people with the most complex names as fast as one second.

Here are some ideas for quick events

-Gyrochoppter race. this one is an easy, and fun one, not only that, you yourself can join in. First create macros that you will use on each player, ".mod displayID 8011" And ".mod scale 0.3" and ".mod speed 30" Create a second macro, ".mod speed 7" for the end of the race.
Go to stranglethorn vale add a lootable game object at the Booty bay entrance. Mod it's scale to 2 so that everyone sees it, then head to entrance to stranglethorn from duskwood. Once there, summon your players. Use macro 1, and line them up. Explain to them that the first person to loot the giant crate/crystal/chest wins the race and gets a reward. Start a countdown and as soon as you reach the last number start running. Everyone will go quickly, and the race is overall fun. Often players will use their class skills to slow down others. this is a good addition to the race, so long as you make sure to tell them that killing another player is forbidden, But anything else goes.

-Greatest junk finder contest
A generic event that you can do while doing ticket. Announce This "Heya all, we are going to have a special treasure hunt! Find the funniest In-game object that you can get. There are plenty of objects out there that make fun of Real world events, or are just there to make you smile. Find me the best one, and i shall give you a prize!" Count down 1 hour on your clock, and keep working on your tickets/watever you were doing. At the end of 1 hour announce this: "all right, times up! If you collected something good, wisper me for a summon, we shall have a vote-off!" Summon any who ask for a summon. Once everyone is there, Find out what they got. then say this: "all right here is a list of the items found: <give list> Every one of you, vote for one object that is not your own! winner will be the one with the most votes!" This is a rather fun event acctualy, i have had a lot of things that made me laugh, from a steamy romance novel, to an empty wallet, to a pet rock.

-Ultimate duel tournament
Everyone will have +3000 health, and +3000 mana. .cheat fly is active. Let the fun times begin.

-Group vs group
This one takes a little bit to set up, First spawn 3 NPC bosses, mod their health to that of a 3 man battle. Ask player to group themselves into groups of 3, and the first team that can down their NPC win. Add more NPCs if needed.

With all this you are now good to go for you events! good luck!

Epic Guilds, and managing them

By this point, you are ready to be one of the better GMs, and be part of the Elites.
So naturally, you will forge your own epic guild, run by a great GM, you.
Here are a few things you should know about this:

1) GM run Guilds will always be the highlight of the server, being naturally better then player run ones.
Just because a GM is the leader of a guild, will make your guild in equal standing with the best raiding guild.

2) this play of power might corrupt the balance of power on the server, and lead to extinction good raiding guilds. Be warned.

3) this Guild option allows players to have one more goal, thereby increasing the end game value. People have one more reason to get to the top now. And one more reason to stick around your server longer.

Keep in mind however, the server's eye will watch carefully at who you let in. If you let one fool in, it will lower the standing of your guild by a slight amount. Let too many fools in and everyone will think "Why join Skype's Army? anyone can join that crappy guild just by saying "Hi!"."
And believe it or not, but most fools get into your guild without you allowing them to. If players can invite other, you guild will fill up with morons faster then you can say "Oops?" Never allow the option of player invitation. they have to get past you first to get in the guild, not by their friend.

This are two main things to having player get in your guild by seeing you first, for a challenge of some sort

1) People inside the guild wont like this
2) people Outside the guild will find it uber that they have to prove themselves in front of you to get in.

Always have some difficult task to get inside.
If your a good PvPer, get yourself the best gear, and challenge people in a duel, if they beat you, they get in, if not, they can try again, after everyone has had a turn. I used to do this myself, and there are a few flaws to it:
1) It will consume a lot of time, especially the pally duels where they will heal over and over.
2) You will have either too big a guild, or too small one. I ended up with 20 player who each were Spartans. Big guild eh? If you have too big a guild, that means you suck at PvP =P

Another thing i recommend, is making a large obstacle course where you can see everything from a place (to avoid flyhckers) and whoever gets to the top first, along with the second, and third will get an invite. then the obstacle course closes.
here are the flaws to that:

1) Fly hackers. They will fly ramp by ramp when they think you are not looking. Even if one part of the course is not big, it is still an advantage and if they keep doing it, it will stack up. So there will be cheaters in your guild.
2) It will require as much time as the duels, due to the fact that you have to set this up =P

The last thing i tried as well, was inviting all the players that were at endgame, and well known. This worked nice, as a large rumor spread about how to join, that invitations were sent to people who were exceptionally leet, and people did great things to get noticed, from helping each other, to single-handedly defeating an army of players in an event.
Some flaws still exist, as in everything

1) Very small player base in your guild. Again you will be stuck with the 20 Spartans. =P
2) Causes rivalry, and there may be some low blows and people trying to expose each other.

Any other challenges you issue are up to you! Be creative, and dont issue something only the really leet can complete. Because once again, you will end up with 20 or so players. granted, they will be LEET, but 20 awesome players vs 150 noobs will result in death. Spartans were strong, but they did lose the battle =D

Raiding guild promise Powerful endgame content, your guild promises ledgendary events, guild base, and fun. The perfect harmony between the raiding guilds, and your own guild, is a tier based ascension. Players have to acquire awesome gear, and to do that they join a normal guild. then advance to the Uber raiding guilds of the server, then finally they can advance into your guild.

Keep in mind, a guild requires upkeep, and time. So only create a guild when you find you have extra time between tickets. While in your guild, Be active! thats is why people joined it. Run special events, and challenge other GM guild to a war, or player guilds! For my guild, we had several events, from Giant snowball fights, to end game bosses spawned right in winterspring for practice, and 5 on 5 matches. We had also challenged a rival guild led by another GM, for a few competions, from who can down a boss faster, to an all out war!

Always make sure that you are on the "That guild is so cool!" list and not the "That guild sucks!" list, because then people will lose confidence in you. Making a guild is a gamble. If you succeed in a well made guild, people will think of you a better GM, and have something more to work for, and aid your server. If you fail, and let too many fools into your guild, you will shame yourself, and people will think of you less as a good GM, and more like a bad one, and if you do not balance your guild with player run raiding guilds, you will break out havoc on your server.

If your going to make a guild, Make sure you claim a spot on the hall of fame, or else don't take the gamble!
Good luck!