Setting Up An Official Guild
The purpose of guilds in the game is to offer increased
opportunity for roleplay, interaction and diplomacy
to players. In general, official guilds are only set-up
in the main game (module 5) of DungeonWorld. While there
are some possibilities for a guild to expand into another
module (like Frontier), they must begin in the main
module. It is not the purpose of a guild to provide
avenues of power for individual characters, nor to assist
in character progression. (This means... people should
join for the fun... not for the items! If you don't
think the aims and ideals of a guild suit your character,
don't sign up simply because you can get an extra point
of vision or similar...! Guild leaders should promote
this as the basis of the guild.)
Starting Membership
Guilds must gain a starting Membership of 30 characters,
controlled by at least 10 real players, to be considered
for official status. Potential guild leaders who want
to set up a new guild must do so by promoting the guild
on its aims and roleplay alone. The starting members
must consist of a fair proportion of players who are
not currently in the 'mainstream' of the game. By which
we mean that its no good if every starting guild has
the same ten players. You will be expected to show that
you have recruited people who have not previously or
recently been very active in guilds.
Madhouse will absolutely not discuss possible
guild items or abilities with you before you have a
starting membership, nor should you gain that starting
membership based on items you might or might not have
when the guild goes active. If you cannot fill your
guild with interested parties on its theme alone, the
guild will not be accepted as an official one.
New Ideas
A new guild should, ideally, offer something new to
the game. Guilds would be far less likely to be considered
if they are similar to a guild already active in the
game. Potential guild leaders should look over the other
guilds available thoroughly before going too far with
their design ideas, to avoid wasting time on something
which is simply a rehash of something the game already
has.
General Appeal
A new guild should appeal to a wide range of players.
It would be no good trying to set up an official guild
for a limited character class of which only ten existed
in the game, for instance.
Evil Guilds
It is extremely difficult to set up an evil guild as
an official guild. Such nefarious organisations are
usually better run as an unofficial guild. This is because
all guilds are assumed, in-game, to be sanctioned by
the Crown. The royal leader of the kingdom would not
sanction an obviously evil guild. It is possible to
set up "shadowy" guilds, which are plainly
known to be dark horses out-of-character, but who have
good in-game rationales to defend them against claims
of wicked deeds. You should bear in mind, though, that
an evil guild often becomes the target of a huge amount
of interest from the many 'good' guilds and that it
can be both strenuous and nerve-wracking to deal with
this. Players of tough skin and good humour only should
consider this difficult path.
Leadership
All guilds must have three leaders. The full guild leader
(who is responsible for all communication with the GMs),
and two deputy leaders. All three of these must have
in-game personas, characters who are assumed to be the
actual leaders in the world of Bereny, controlled by
the real players who are the actual leaders for out-of-game
purposes. ONLY the full guild leader may ever contact
the GM on guild matters. All three of the guild leaders
have certain restrictions as follows:-
The Player who is the Full Leader may not be; the leader
of any other guild in the game, the deputy leader of
any other guild in the game, a player who controls a
Lord Crusader, a player who controls a character with
the rank of Duke or higher, a player who has been active
in the game for less than a full real-time year.
The players who are the deputy leaders may not be; the
leader of any other guild in the game, the deputy leader
of any other guild in the game.
Deputy leaders do not have any 'official' tasks for
dealing with the GM, but they should still make sure
they meet all the requirements a leader would consider
before agreeing to deputy, since they could be asked
to take over if, for some reason, the leader were to
leave the game.
Duration Of Command
For control purposes, the guild leader is responsible
for all guild matters. Guild leaders are expected to
run their guild for at least two years after setting
it up. A guild leader who wishes to stop running a guild
should give SIX MONTHS notice of this. A guild leader
who retires from running a guild will normally not be
allowed to set up another guild at any time, except
by special agreement with the GMs. When a guild leader
retires the GMs will normally choose one of the two
deputy leaders to take over, although final decision
on this is up to the GMs and does not rule out the chance
that leadership will pass to somebody else entirely,
depending on the situation. Madhouse decision in all
official guild matters is final and absolute.
Communication
DungeonWorld is a global game with players from many
different countries. A guild leader is expected to promote
the guild to the entire player base regularly and effectively.
The leader of a guild, and both the deputies, must be
able to and willing to communicate in a timely fashion
by email and postal mail. This can mean replying
to letters in the U.S.A, the U.K., or any other country
in the world. In means you must have a regular and reliable
email connection and address. It means you must have
the time to answer queries from existing members, or
interested parties, within a fair and reasonable time-frame.
You are also expected to respond to messages directed
to you or your guild on the player noticeboard of the
main DungeonWorld Game. At least one of the three leaders
must monitor the main discussion groups of the game
and answer queries, roleplay etc. there. (It is recommended
that ALL leaders do this, in fact.) All queries should
be answered within a week, in the same medium as they
were sent.
Ambassadors Of The Game
Guild Leaders should consider themselves representatives
of the game. They will be working closely with the GMs
and are expected to be absolutely exemplary when dealing
with other players or guild leaders. Exciting and vibrant
roleplay is welcomed (and encouraged). In-game feuds
and challenges are common. But you should always, always,
always remember that everything you take part in should
be in-character. When dealing personally, out of character,
guild leaders are expected to be the soul of friendliness
and fun. Not everybody has the same sense of humour
as you, particularly since people from many different
countries often have different outlooks. As long as
you keep this in mind, you won't go far wrong.
Roleplaying The Chain of Command
Guild leaders are expected to have a good understanding
of the background of the game. Proper respect to authority
is vital because it is simply not realistic to do otherwise.
It is fine for a guild to decide, for instance, to be
anti-royal and to quietly dispute the good will or decisions
of the Crown. However, open and obvious treason, directly
insulting the Crown or a leading noble, swearing at
the royal courts, or anything similar, would simply
close the guild and have all its members thrown into
jail. Guild leaders would know this, and would remember
that while roleplaying, respect for power (if not for
those who wield it) would be intrinsic to an official
guild that relied on the Crown's good will to function.
Updating Guild Information
Guild leaders are expected to keep their guild information
(shown on the Madcentral website) up to date at all
times. The GMs should be notified of changes in contact
details, deputy leaders, or any other aspect of the
guild immediately.
Members Report
All Guilds should produce a members report, detailing
the activities, new members, and general roleplay of
the guild once every two months, which should be sent
during the last two weeks of the two-month period..
This members report should be sent to Madhouse by email
as a Word Document, or plain text file, for publishing
on the website and in the Madhouse Surgery newsletter.
The members report should be a minimum or 500 words.
If you can't manage 500 words on your guild's activities
then you should see that as a sign that your guild isn't
active enough. It doesn't matter which of the three
leaders writes the report, as long as one of them does.
Communication With The GMs
Any and all communication with the GMs should be sent
with the guild name and player leader's name at the
top. You should not assume we will know exactly who
you are from a cryptic email address or similar, as
we deal with many hundreds of players.
New Members / Removed Members
Each turn, new members and removed members should be
sent as a single communication to the GMs. The new members
information must include their full real name, player
number, character name and character ID number. You
should make sure that the members who are joining do
actual qualify as per whatever guild restrictions you
have set up, and it is your responsibility to make sure
they know how many backpack slots must be empty to take
whatever starting equipment your guild provides, and
that they have the funds required if there is a setup
cost in gold pieces to join the guild. Any and all queries
about the guild from players are always handled by the
guild leader, who collates and sends them to the GM
where appropriate. Madhouse will never answer
guild queries directly from a member, but will always
simply refer them back to the guild leader.
In Conclusion
Hopefully, after reading all of this, you will see that
being a guild leader is a serious commitment. If you
have been put off by the volume of information and requirements,
all well and good, because we do not want anybody getting
into something they cannot handle. You would regret
it and so would your members. On the other hand, if
you are still keen to give a guild a try, have a great
idea for a new guild, and aren't put off in the slightest
then you are exactly what we are looking for! Go ahead
and begin trying to fill your guild with the initial
membership and then let us know when you're ready to
proceed. Running a guild may be a lot of work, but it
can also be great fun and very satisfying. We'll be
there to help you along every step of the way!
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