By IceShard:
By WhenWizardsWar:-Do Not Run Constantly. This is an emersion thing, and a "I need time to set up or talk" thing. If you're running to quickly, I cant get things done or say something that is needed to proceed on.
-Share, and Take Turns. Dont try and make it a sea of conversation that I must wade through to find out what people want to do. Try to keep things orderly so things can be run more smoothly.
-Do Not Loot everything. If I see one player looting more than the other (unless organized that way) I will make sure that particular player recieves less rewards than the others, as to compensate for what the others didnt get during the event.
-Do Not Meta-Game. If I see this in any of my events, you will be warned first, and if you do it again, possibly ignored and given no rewards for the event.
-Have Fun. If your not having fun, Im not having fun. So please no OOC Insults, try to keep OOC stuff down to a minimum (or tells), follow my above rules, and just RP like crazy.
No Campfire For You!- One thing I dont want to see is the constant resting of PC's so they can regain their buffs and HP and what ever else.. It just gets annoying after a while and little bit harder to run an event for longevity. If your saving, thats understandable, press R, then quickly move as soon as you see the Character Saved message.
Whats with all the dice?!- Please do not roll anything unless I ask you to do so. With all kinds of rolls cluttering the screen its hard to see who is rolling what and why. So if I ask you to roll something Ill set the DC in my head, and send you a tell if you reveal anything with said Roll.
Pass the Cheetos!, Wheres the Mountain Dew?- Please keep all OOC chatter to Tells, but if you must say it in the normal chat log, say it with (( )) or // markings. This should be common knowledge but some people still dont use those. Please dont ruin everyone elses fun with stuff like this.
Journalism for the Win!- Please do not forget about your journal. It has a tab "Notes" that allows you to type quite a bit in your journal and it saves with your character so you can always refer back to it. Sometimes I may not be able to remember something so youll need to know it if it happens to be important.
Make Love, not War Man- Not every event, or every encounter requires you to toss Thy Holy Hand Grenade at it. Sometimes simple diplomacy (or threats) Can get you through the skirmish or even the entire event. So dont come into everything with swords drawn.
No Rest for the Dead- If you should die during my events, no worries, I will raise you and port you back to the area you died in. My main goal for events is to have fun, and if something is to hard or you get bad dice rolls.. Ill make sure you still come out with a smile and having fun.
And finally, some by me! Note some will repeat what others say, but sometimes saying something twice helps.If you enter an area and there are people present who are apparently role-playing, regardless of whether or not you see a DM present, I think its common courtesy if you ask to proceed ahead and slay all the spawns before them. Chances ARE, if they are role-playing, you could probably clear the spawns several times before they move on because of the fast respawn rate, but please be mindful and courteous.
Also, I have already seen it happen in the day and a half since I have been on the staff, but I am no rookie to seeing it. I've seen it hundreds of times. If you see monsters in an area and they are not hostile to you, and you KNOW a DM is present, do not attack said non-hostile monsters, because chances are they are not hostile for a REASON. I don't want to speak for the other DMs but I am kinda strict when I see this and it does not make me happy at all, and people don't want unhappy DMs. Heh.
Sometimes, we do have to make the entire area non-hostile during events. This is so random Joe Shmoe monster doesn't come up and smash a PC at the most inconvenient moment, so I whole-heartedly suggest this. If you see an area full of neutral (Non-red monsters) and you know there is an event going on in that area, either try and join the event, or simply move on instead of killing monsters who are pacified for mostly OOC considerations.
Thankfully the two people I saw do this were very understanding when I explained to them I had plans for them, and they thought it was left over monsters from another event. I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt once, but after that I take a no tolerance policy and I'm sure a lot of the other DMs do as well.
Also, if you see a monster actually talking to you, even if it's hostile don't just bash its brains out. Chances are it's a DM who's bored and wants to interact. Even if you are just on the server for killing and smashing, be considerate of others.
Most DMs I have worked with feel this way, but then some don't. I'm just giving food for thought and expressing my views on some things.
Thanks for reading! Now everyone go out and have a great time in all the events!I have a few suggestions for players:
1. Please walk. Granted, most players seem to do this now, but sometimes one will take off running and the others follow suit to keep up. Running will not only interrupt RP that the players are trying to do, but may also interfere if the DM is trying to set up something and needs time. I don't force people to walk - they can run if they want - but odds are there will be less to the event if they choose to do so.
2. Please don't rest anywhere, any time. Send me a tell asking if you wish to rest, or I'll give a clue that you can.
3. If you do random die rolls on me, often times I won't know exactly what you are trying to do. If you wish to try some special action or such, send me a tell with what you plan to do. DMs don't read minds (not always!).
4. If you want to split the party up and go different directions, keep in mind that a DM can only be in one place at one time. It's hard to keep track of people when they go every which direction. I don't mind this (it makes things more interesting than being in a pack) but please, again, let me know what you are doing. I try to work with players on this, though they obviously have to be patient with me since I'll have to hop around.
5. My events are not usually pre-planned in what will happen. What does occur often times is a direct result of the decisions the players make (That's right -- the players' actions can result in resounding success or abysmal failure). I expect the players to take initiative and decide on various courses of action. I don't like having to guide the players because I feel it's more like funneling everyone into only one possible course of action. Do something irregular. Surprise me and I may have a surprise in store for you in return.
6. Even if your character is not a talker, make some effort to at least show actions and such in emotes. It helps the DMs a lot when they can see some sort of response from the characters, even if it is passive and not active.
7. Have fun. This is not a suggestion - it is an order!
For those who are not in my event while it is going:
Please refrain from using party chat as it will clutter the DM's screen. Due to various reasons, putting party chat in a separate window is not a good option. Party chat is generally used for events and for when a player needs to get the DMs attention for something RP related. Using it for OOC chat is not a good idea. Thanks!