The ins and outs of the Shroud Loot System
Both Blessing of Kings and Unbearably HoT have posts up talking about the Shroud Loot System, a looting system designed to serve as an alternative to the standard DKP setups. The main point of SLS is that unlike DKP, it rewards points not just for downing content, but for just attending content, so that the focus is more on attendance and participation rather than progress (which, you'd assume, would eventually come if people are constantly showing up). Instead of kills, points are awarded at the beginning and the end of raids (no matter how much progress is made), and then when an item drops, players can bid points either by "Shrouding," spending half of their DKP (whoever spends the most gets the item), or by bidding a low fixed cost (and then they roll off for the item, with whoever wins paying the low fixed cost). BoK has a great example of how it works: either you spend half your points (if you have the most overall DKP, you're guaranteed to win) or you take your chances against a dice roll.
One of the big keys to the system is that there is no real delineation between gear -- if you want the gear, you shroud, or if you wait on the roll, then you have no excuses. The half-points mechanic also keeps people from stockpiling points, because the longer they wait, the more they'll spend. The roll bidding also allows, though, for even players who don't shroud to have a fair chance at picking up a nice item. BoK says the big drawback is complexity (you have to ask first if players will shroud, and then go through point totals for everyone more often than DKP), but DKP is already pretty complex, and a little bit of time up front will save you lots more time on drama later.
It seems like an excellent system, and as HoT also says, you can customize it for your guild as much as you like -- her guild gives points for other things, and puts a minimum on the number of points you can shroud with. Loot drama is way near the top of the list for reasons why guilds fall apart, and having a good solid system like this running is an easy way to help prevent that.
