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Storyboard: You ruined your own event
You're running a roleplaying event, and it's going well. It's lively, people are having fun, characters are playing off one another well, it's ideal. So you decide to push things a little further, to take things up a little more, and the next thing you see is people mumbling excuses and leaving until you're left with one or two people who remain less as a function of fun and more as a testament to bitter determination. What in the world happened? I'll tell you what happened: You ruined your own event. This has kind of been a week for me of people ruining good stuff, which makes this week's column unintentionally apropos. A lot of roleplaying events start out great, with everyone invested and happy to be present, but they quickly dissolve when a few well-intentioned but poor choices are made by the people running the event. And while I can't chronicle every possible pitfall, I can at least talk about the most common ones that I see again and again.
Storyboard: An event with a touch of plot
In tabletop games, the GM is sometimes referred to as the player who doesn't get to play. Running a plot-heavy event in an MMORPG is fairly similar -- you're still technically there in the form of a character, but the focus is on an adventure that you're presenting for your fellow players. That means a whole lot of extra work on your part because you suddenly lack the advantage of letting the game handle most of that pesky worldbuilding work. You probably don't need to be told that this can all go bad. No, what you really want to know is how to avoid going bad. And while some of the stuff that I've posted in the past about running in-game events is still entirely applicable, there are also some unique issues that you're going to have to deal with when your event is meant to be tightly scripted. Plan it right, and the whole thing can go off without a hitch. Plan it wrong, and... well, do I need to do another column on drama already?
The Daily Quest: Of orphans and officers
We here at WoW Insider are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. Our sister site Massively asks, "What's in a name?" You have a few days left to get your Children's Week achievements taken care of, and Herding Cats has a few tips for everyone's bane: School of Hard Knocks. Less QQ, More Pewpew has continued their Ulduar video series with their latest addition, Mimiron. You can watch it at the top of this post, or over on their site! World of Matticus's Lodur takes a very close look at the transition into becoming a raid leader. Click here to submit a link to TDQ
The Daily Quest: Of goodbyes and Ulduar progression
We here at WoW Insider are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. Another blogger is calling it quits. This time it's Hoof 'n Healz giving their goodbyes. Farewell, o Resto Shaman! Soap Bubble has been making some progress in Ulduar and has a few tips for Healers that are preparing to face Kologarn. Mirror Shield is feeling a little bit of raid fatigue after a flurry of raiding, but the boss kills just don't stop. Herding Cats found Flame Leviathan prep to be a little like... well, herding cats, and they've pieced together a basic strategy for Razorscale. Matticus has a strategy of his own for Razorscale. Healers, you'll probably want to check this one out. Tachyon gave Ignis a pass and moved on to Kologarn. They managed to bring the giant down, and you can watch the whole thing in the video above. Click here to submit a link to TDQ
