StarMannRob's guide to DMing
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What this is

Quote:Greetings stranger. There are many of you out there that are budding DMs. People who want to run an event and give people an enjoyable time or help your poor friend who's had their request up for the past three weeks with nobody running it. This guide is here to give you some guidelines to follow. Now, a lot of these will boil down to my own personal preference. However, there will be some important key points threaded throughout. The aim of this guide is mainly to answer frequently asked questions and, hopefully, to bring in more budding DMs who were perhaps too scared of getting it wrong.

What is DMing?
Quote:DMs are Dungeon Masters, usually temp ones, who's job it is to run events for other players. Sounds self explanatory enough. It is your job to provide a fun and interesting scenario to promote RP. The person requesting the event will have a set goal in mind and it is your job to see that they have an entertaining time getting to that goal. Event requests are found here. As an DM you narrate the goings on and organise ECs (Event Characters) for the party to go up against though quite often in my experience you can have perfectly good events without any fighting at all.

Dungeon Masters run everything within the event. They are all the NPCs, they set traps and create puzzles. It is the DMs job to do practically everything. This, as you might imagine is quite daunting. However, this gives you as the DM an incredible amount of freedom. The world is your clay here and you can design practically everything. Of course, whatever you wish to add in needs to be cleared with a journal admin in an Event Plan.

As a DM you are entitled to a reward. You get given activity points depending on the size of the event. Short ones (usually one fight and done) are 750. Standard events are 1500 and big boy expeditions and other things of similar size are 2500. You can also request a mystery box if you're a gacha gambling addict.

The Event Plan

Quote:Before you can run an event you must send a plan outlining everything that will occur during the event to any of the Journal Admins (and maybe me, I've not worked all of it out yet). They will make sure of a few things. First, they will check the proceedings against current standing lore to make sure there aren't any major discrepancies. Sorry but no fallen gods here today. Next they will check the rewards you intend to hand out. Mainly the stats on gear and the amount of ores though some things you might deem as inconsequential fluff powers will often get reined in too.

"How do I write an event plan?" You might ask? Well here are a few example of my own from back in the day when I first got started. Now, I will say that a lot of these are massively over complicated and not every event needs to seem like a campaign. However it will give you a good idea of structure and layout. In these examples all stat suggestions for weapons have been removed due to me not remembering what exactly got approved in the end. And due to the fact that these were tuned for Eternia, which was an entirely different beast balance wise.

I would have liked to have linked to the event requests themselves but the old Eternia forums imploded.

The Baron's Bankroll - Event plan

Deep Dark Creepy Cave! - Event plan

Natsu's Wychwood Research Expedition - Event plan

The Fae kidnapping - Event plan

The Lost Crown - Event plan

The Event Characters

Quote:So, now that you have your plan done and approved you can send that Ahelp ticket in for your DM status and get going. When you have it you can press F1 to open up your list of verbs in the top left of the screen. The first thing you'll want to do is ask in OOC or on the Discord for a few people to play your ECs. These people can then log onto their alt keys and you can set them up to be ECs. There are a few general things to go over here when setting them up.

You will first want to use the Reward Spell verb to give the EC all the spells they need.

Next, use the Edit verb to open their stats. Now there's a lot going on here so I will try to be brief about it.

First, scroll to the bottom and set their stat points to 0 so that they don't muck anything up.

To start you will want to edit your ECs stamina, this is their vitality times 8. So, if you wish to give them, say 300 vitality you would multiply that by 8 which is 2400 and you would input that into the stamina.

For EC health it is usually best to do between 100k - 150k HP per attendee depending on their relative power level. (About 350 to 550 vit per person)

Next, willpower, this is the ECs Mana stat. This now also sorts out their Damage Resist and so you can't just give them 6000 of it to ignore their mana problems. You shall want to set this to about 150 for now. It gives a good DR amount for them, mana will be no issue as explained later.

At this point you will dress your EC in whatever cute outfit you have picked out for them. This will also update their health and mana to match their vit and willpower. From now on try not to have them equip or unequip anything.

Next, combat stats, the proper ones. These are going to be hard to judge and they scale wildly based on the build and the number of attendees.

For balance's sake, set crit to 0. If you want to reasonably pace your spells you can set agi to 500. However it is usually better to use a piece of gear with -weight (called cooldown in edit). -10 weight is 1% CDR.

The only real problem is with power. This will be something you come to judge with your gut. However, most ECs will be AoE mages (only real way to fight big groups) and so give them roughly 350 pow. If you're using a few more single target spells you'll want to up the pow to 450.

Finally you will want to toggle the EC value for the character so that they have no mana costs, removes the GCD and they cannot be CCed (they can still be knocked back/dragged).

After this is done, your EC will be ready, have them log off for now and then when it's time, use the "Summon Player" verb to bring them to you.

Do note that rematches with ECs are obnoxious and draining. if the party is wiped due to balance complications, just skip or alter the rolls of that round and use it as flavour for the event, correcting the EC's power in the next round (this is why you always want to go with multiple rounds over a single one, too).


"Advanced Techniques"

So, here's a couple of things I tend to do on my events for ECs. Don't do these if you're rather new, but these tend to give better results if you play correctly. These will only really work if you play your own ECs.

The shadow spell "Abyss Pool" makes you immune to knockbacks. This combined with the EC status will make you an unmovable monster. Be aware of its relatively high ticking damage so do not spam this and stack a load of the tiles.


You can also replicate the above with using a piece of gear with juggernaut on it though this will also disable your ability to dash.

To remove cooldowns, instead of simply giving yourself 1000 agi, make a piece of equipment with -10000 weight on it. This will give you zero cooldowns without messing you up if someone is using the agi reducing tempest aoe.

Rewards

Quote:Now, this small section is about a personal pet peeve of mine. Most DMs (and players for that matter) have it in their heads that "if the attendees don't get new weapons/armour/shiny loot then the event was terrible". This is very much not the case. New gear is great, yes. Everyone loves to show up in their new Unique and slap it about the place. But don't think that that is all people will ever need. Remember, you are the designer here and you have more freedom than you think you do.

As shown in some of the event plans above, you can go ahead and add interesting new materials in for rewards on your events. Things to bring beyond them and things that characters can actually use in their RPs. Now, of course you can't be handing out "Unobtainium that is even stronger than Arcanium" willy nilly, but as long as you get it approved even wacky dev items can get through.

If you want to hand out custom materials, it can be done best this way. In the spawn item menu choose the item Blank. Edit it. Here you can give it a name, description, icon and above all else Unique tag. Always give items you intend to hand out unique tags to avoid a few issues. It's mainly to avoid accidental duping through stacking and to track where the item came from. The generally accepted method is to use the Event's name as the Unique tag.

There are fancy things you can do in regards to HTML to give things multicoloured names and more even beyond that. Have a bit of fun testing that out when you're making the items.

Penalties

Quote:Now, there can't be events without risk. Even the smallest solo events have at least some risk of at least failure. A good balance of risk is key to an event. Having traps is all well and fine. Having things that lop off someone's head for simply touching it, is not. You want to make sure the risks are well known going in. Now this isn't like the good old days when people died regularly on events. Even "Chance of Death" usually only translates to "Bigger Perms". But, so long as you mark things obviously and give people the proper feedback on whatever they do, they can't really complain when one of their legs falls off in a HCoD.

This also ties in with the rewards but make sure the risk ties into what they get. Don't give someone a sword with +100 everything for helping an old lady bake a cake. The risk and reward need to be properly balanced. This is also the case in the other end of the spectrum. Don't have four people die just so the survivor can grab an Arcanium toothpick.

My usual method for injuries is to start with only 1 day temps and ramp the duration up rather than the injury amount on subsequent injuries. This means that it will start with nerfing them for the event alone to nerfing them beyond it. Eventually you can even "upgrade" a temp into a perm if someone has a cursed dice.

Promoting fun RP

Quote:Now then. While you are basically instigating a heavy PvE environment for the players to RP in. Do not forget that they still likely have personalities to bounce off of one another. Of course, I'm not expecting you to know the intricacies of all of their relationships. But, never be afraid to go off course of the plan (only a little, you don't want your hunting expedition to end with fighting Kraus). Have some random mini events. If something comes up between people then play to that.

After all, you are the mediator of fun. If two people hate each other? Trap them in a small room. Two lovers who can't stand to be apart? Separate them forcefully for a bit with a tearful goodbye. Be dynamic. That's the best advice I can give. Don't be rigid and do an on the rails event. If something isn't working how you liked, change it up. Remember, you are here to bring these people fun, but you are also here to have fun. If you aren't enjoying "pls give dev" event #87 then shake it up a bit.

Puzzles are usually good to go however you may find that some people just don't respond well to them, this is fine, if you find that this is the case mid event then you can improvise, give them more clues, streamline it a bit and turn future puzzles into set pieces instead. Things previously challenging can be instead used to deepen the lore on the event and maybe give a character an insight on whatever thing they might hope to app for in the future.

Props


Quote:Everyone likes to see a cool set piece background however they're not the easiest thing to deal with. Thankfully it's gotten a lot more support over the years and is now much more accepted than it was earlier. Back in E1 you just had to drop an item, resprite it and hope for the best. Now we have dedicated Prop icons, access to layering and event pixel offsets to adjust things accordingly. It's so much better.

Now I don't have all the rules figured out yet for what sprites you can use for backgrounds and what you can't. Generally they should be in either PNG or DMI formats and less than 400kb is good to aim for. Sometimes large dimensions work, sometimes they don't. If a sprite is too big, cut it up and make multiple props for it. We currently don't have too many open places to use background sprites and Kott has a habit of hoarding the ones that do exist. Generally in my experience I prefer to use smaller set pieces and change them out frequently rather than having one big map. (Mainly because then I don't have to mess with multiple props.)

To set up a prop, use the Spawn Object menu to spawn the Prop item. Edit it, change the icon to whatever you want. Set to layer to around 2.50, this will allow spell effects and items to show above it. You'll also want to toggle the "Cant_pickup" variable so that people don't accidentally steal your prop during a fight. You can use pixel_x and pixel_y to move it about with precision to get people's feet to line up with the floor.

A good prop can go a long way to setting a scene but they are completely non-mandatory. I only just started using them myself and I use them infrequently even still. 


The Dos and Don'ts

Quote:This section is all about everything, from the plan to running the actual event these tidbits bring it all together. Try to follow these as best you can.
  • Stick to using /dice
    Using multiple different /rnd type rolls is just annoying and confusing. Stick to /dice, everyone can use it and everyone knows what the numbers mean in a vacuum. (it's not rigged no matter how many times you roll low)
  • Never, ever make people reroll
    If you lose track of someone's roll, have them restate it. If someone rolls high and you ask them to reroll... they are not going to enjoy that and especially so if they roll low the next time
  • Never make the attendees queue for anything, always give them something to do
    For example, if you have something the group needs to do single file always give those at the back something to do otherwise you will end up leaving people out of the rp. Try to have the RP flow as much as possible.
  • Don't have too many rolls, let the players own decisions immediately have an effect.
    For example, if the players come across a trap, don't have them roll for every single stage of it. As a caveat, don't have too many unavoidable rolls. Always give the players a way to think around things.
  • This is obvious but keep track of the logs
    /logs is your friend
  • Give feedback on whatever the players do
    For example, if a player throws something into your obvious pit of death, just acknowledge that it happened in a narration, let the players know you are paying attention and that their actions have consequences
  • Do not hand out loot based on rolls in the group, let the party fight and squabble
    The attendees are there to RP together, let them decide who gets what. infighting is good rp.
  • Tell the players when you are narrating
    Either LOOC it or, better yet, dot at them
  • Respond to what the players do in small narrations along the way
    If small things happen, let there be small replies, for example if a player tries to break through a wall. A short narration confirming or denying it would be great.
  • Reward creativity
    This is the big one, if someone does something ingenious that circumnavigates your plans, let them do it. Design around them on the fly. I know people like to have finely crafted stories, but your players will break them eventually and it's best if you let them know they did a good job.
  • EC balance should be thoroughly done during down time.
  • Pacing
    The event should flow and avoid bottlenecks. (I've had them before, mainly on puzzles). Try to avoid single puzzles or traps that take up about a half to two thirds of the entire event. The best way around it is to dip into the creativity bit and let the players solve it for you. Often the best solutions to puzzles are just the first good idea you hear.
  • Let your ECs know they aren't meant to win.
    The ECs are there to play characters, cause drama and try to take as many people down with them as they can. They aren't there to win and if your ECs give you lip, you can always drop them and grab new ones.
  • Ask what the event goers want out of the event far in advance and cater it to their needs.
    Obviously there will be restrictions, you generally can't give out abilities during events but dev moments and journal filler is always appreciated.
  • Try to avoid using NPCs for combat.
    No matter what level you make them they will be underwhelming and simply a waste of time to use. It is generally better to make an EC to represent NPCs.
  • Be aware that the worst part of events is scheduling.
    3ternia is an international community and with that comes timezones. Expect really awkward and stupid scheduling and try to work around it.
  • The warper for the event portal hub is currently a mob called "-Dungeon Hub".
    You can use the teleport mob command to get to it, just slap - a few times until you rotate to it.
  • Don't overload ECs with hiddens.
    I know that everyone wants to see what these bad boys look and play like but you should stick to one theme for an EC and stick to widely available spells. Most ECs will likely not have the background to be able to wield multiple hidden abilities anyway.
  • Try to not be too self conscious.
    Not everyone is capable of running big world changing events, writing for events and writing RP are two very different beasts but just like RP, you can improve your event running skills over time with feedback and effort. Don't be afraid of a flop or two, they'll just help you get better for the future.
  • Get help from other DMs
    Feel free to join Rob's Event Box discord to grab sprites, maps and generally just get some advice. 
  • And most most most importantly. Be creative.
    Events should never just be box tickers for the attendees, it should never just be "where they got the dev item from". You are here to give these people some good, fun RP that will help shape their characters so go at it.

The End bit

Quote:Remember remember remember; everyone is on an event to have fun. You included. So go wild, be free, do something fun and innovative. If you feel too shackled by regular RP, then perhaps this is your calling. Now, while this guide does hold some important information, a lot of it is still opinion really. Some people just don't enjoy events outright, others prefer a lot of combat, others want there to be a lot of chances for them to use their brain. Remember to talk with the person you are running the event for, too. You are catering to them as well as making sure it's reasonable. So get them in on some of the planning (try to avoid spoilers).

I hope this guide will have informed the existing DMs and given some of you who thought about picking it up the inspiration to do so. I will say that I do enjoy it... most of the time. Otherwise I would have never have done it in the first place. It is a good way to let yourself get creative and to share it with others. Heck you don't need to be a particularly strong writer to run these things. You can have good ideas even if you're not the best at describing them.

But, as I've said and as I shall repeat. Events are there for everyone to have fun, the DM included. So get out there and run some events.

Enjoy~
Rob

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#2
A few additional tutorials for the back end of things.

EC SPRITES

For those of you attempting to make big EC sprites and keep running in to a brick wall due to file size. There are only 4 states you need on the sprite to have everything work correctly.

A no name state
cast_dir
charge_dir
charge_omni

These are all the states you need to use 90% of the spells in the game.

If you play around with your bar you can even get away with just two states
no name
charge_dir

The latter will allow you to use all spells on a bar like this with no issues
[Image: g0F4MYB.png]




Backgrounds/Props

You'll want to spawn the Prop item in the spawn object menu to use as your backgrounds. Use edit to set can't pickup and change its layer to 1.5. Also give it a unique name so that you can isolate it in edit if you need to use multiple props. Be aware that players are unable to use Click Teleport if your arena uses a prop as the background.

The best I've found for backgrounds is to have a 1800x1800 canvas with the background centred in it and a mono coloured border around it. This will allow for you to have the players occupy a map space anywhere without having the games default grass/sand/rock textures to distract them.

Do note that if a background's palette is too broad and it is not saved as a PNG you may have difficulties using the 1800x1800 as one piece. In these situations you can split it into as many pieces as necessary and spawn them in as separate props. Either picking them up to arrange them or if your resolution isn't high enough to support picking up large props you can use the pixel_x and pixel_y edit stats to move them across the screen as needed.

Here's an example 1500x1500 background and how it looks with player characters on it
[Image: KOrDl5Y.png]
[Image: RLpWsUz.png]
Rob

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