Organizing Events for Ultima Online

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So you want to be part of the Events Committee., but do you really know what to do? This guide will show you how events are created, from conception to the actual presentation of the event. Read it carefully, as this is the process we intend to follow to ensure the planning of events is quick, efficient, and not labor-intensive.

Step One    - Development
Step Two    - Preparation
Step Three - Event Management
Step Four   - Event Aftermath
Tips For Event Planners
Reference Articles


Step One - Development

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Conception - this is the idea development stage of the event. The first step is to come up with an original idea for an event, one that isn't something that can be can be done on a regular basis, or provides too easy a challenge, such as dart throwing. Conceptualize the event from beginning to ending, visualize it so you can get a good idea:

• guild and/or outside participation.

More Development - some of us have already created, or plan to try our hand at creating, events for other players. This article is a checklist of sorts, collecting some information which might be as helpful for those of you who are just starting out, as those who are seasoned event creators. In fact, this is the first of a series of four articles: Development, Preparation, Management, and Aftermath.

By the way, when I mention event, I mean a whole variety of in-game activities, the type which require players to create, manage, and support. An event could be a contest, a tournament, a ceremony, a quest, or many other player-sponsored activities.

The idea: What kind of event do you want to have? Sometimes the hardest part of the creation process is deciding what you want to do. It’s often good to first consider your interests, your skills, the amount of resources, and the people who can help you. Here’s a list of some common event themes:

• Story-telling contest
• Archery contest
• Fireworks display
• Search contest (find a particular item within trap-filled building)
• Melee contest
• Board games
• Pub quizzes
• Elemental fights
• Cock fights
• Ladies morning tea
• Boat race
• Pub crawl (visit every player establishment on your shard in one night)
• Shrine pilgrimage
• Thievery contest
• Auction
• Lottery
• Debating contest
• Trivia contest
• Raffle
• Skinning contest
• Treasure hunt
• Merchant fair (merchant stalls and free services)
• Drunken relay race
• Horce race
• Roleplayed battles and events
• Singles night
• Speech contest
• Dungeon crawl
• Snooping contest (try snoop a running man’s backpack)
• Magery contest
• Skill conventions (seminars by grandmasters of particular skills)
• Markets
• Receptions for other major events
• Lumberjacking contest
• Poetry night
• Fishing net hunt
• Adventuring quest
• Large battles guild war
• Fight night
• Tournaments, and duels: one-on-one duels, two-on-two fights, massive last man standing brawl.
• Raceing on foot, with horse/mount, boat, or while drunk.
• Board games
• Trivia contests
• Riddle contests
• Gambling
• Raffles
• Lottery
• Auctions
• Scavenger hunt

If you’re still not sure what to do, there’s nothing wrong with asking others for ideas. Contact friends, guildmates, or even other players who have done previous events which you’ve admired, and ask for their input. As suggestions come in, don’t be opposed to revising your idea based on the comments of others. Your helpers may have some great suggestions to improve your event, or they might point out some concepts that may not work as you thought they might.

Determine your resources: As your event idea develops, keep in mind available resources. Make a list of everything you think you may need to have in-game at the time of the event, and make sure you have everything prepared far before the event is to happen. This list will probably change several times as you develop your event.

Gather wood, food supplies, ingots, weapons, reagents, communication crystals, and any props you might need. If there’s to be special prizes, like rare items, large amounts of gold, or special rewards, make sure to have them available at event time. Consider even setting a budget for your event.

Consider your audience: Not every event will be geared toward every player or character type. Will your event be invitation only, such as for your friends & guildmates, or will you have it open to everyone? Are murderer characters (Reds) allowed to participate? Will both combatants and non-combatants be able to participate? These details will be important to note in any announcements and rules statements.

Determine & document the details: Once you have your event’s concept set, write out everything you’d like to do. Write out all the rules for your contest or tournament, and try to state them as simply as possible. If you’re making a quest, make sure you have the entire plot planned out, especially the ending(s).

Try not to rely heavily on the event’s backstory in order to run your event. There may be a number of people who aren’t familiar with the event’s history, and may become frustrated at any amount of required knowledge.

Allow people to be either active participants or sideline bystanders. Some people may just want to watch, and others will not want to participate at all, so don’t try to force them. If you feel you won’t have enough active participants on your intended date, consider rescheduling the event for some later time.

Define the victory conditions for your event. A tournament might simply be to the death. A quest might need certain goals met in order to be completed. Quests could, and perhaps should, be developed with both positive and negative results in mind, and the respective rewards or penalties which might ensue. If you’re prepared to deal a variety of tangents, these event killers could become your event enhancers, and can lead into improvements for your next event. Consider what would happen if it never occurred to anyone that your imprisoned guildmaster could be rescued. What if the players in your quest actually killed your leader? It might not be what you had in mind, but they are certainly viable possibilities.

A given event might be one night only, lasting one hour. Or, it might be a series of 4 events, each one 2 or 3 hours in length. Consider sometimes splitting up your events, with each part of the event series having a clear ending all of its own. A tournament could have nightly winners, with a final grand champion at the end of the series. Each chapter of a quest could have a stand-alone feel, played out as a short story all their own, which is great for players who can’t attend all the related events in that series. You may need other people to read your notes, so try to make sure to keep them brief, readable and accessible. If possible, post them on a web site, or distribute them to your new helpers as a text (.txt) file.

What will the rules be? An informal ceremony might have simple rules: No fighting, stealing, or harassing. A quest might ask everyone to give fair warning before every fight (I’ll let you keep your head for 100 gold, or Halt or die!), helping to confirm one’s place in the event. A battle might restrict anyone who died to remain in deathrobes while they recovered their own loot, but did not allow them to return into the fight. A tournament in Felucca might have duelists go grey by targeting a mutually agreed upon player-target before starting any combat.

Whatever rules you choose, try to take exceptional care that everyone participating in your event knows them. Pointing people to a Web page where the rules are listed is a great start, but think about also handing out in-game books with those same rules, and perhaps even having an event crier announcing those same rules between bouts or periodically during a hunt or quest.

Extra Tips:

• Choose your helpers: You may need to pick some other players to help you create your event, and it’s important to consider their schedule, personality, and their characters’ abilities.
• Schedule: Be flexible; adjust your schedule as necessary. Some of your helpers may not be able to assist you on certain days, and this detail may be critical later on if your event becomes a regular happening. In fact, many events find success in occurring on a regular basis - daily, weekly, bi-weekly, or even monthly. It helps your audience to know that they can count on showing up at your house, for instance, every Sunday night at 8pm Central Time and be involved in some form of entertainment.
• Personality: Your friends may be eager to help you out, and while some of them may be great people persons, others may have short fuses. The harsh fact is that events can be tough to develop & manage, and sometimes it might be in your best interests to suggest a certain friend might have more fun as a participant than as staff. ;)
• Character's Abilities: Find out how your helpers’ characters can contribute to the event. Can someone resurrect fallen duelists? Will someone be able to Gate people to your location? Do you have a great speaker to be an MC at a contest? Who is tough enough to be the adversary in your quest? You’ll need actors for quests, announcers for fight nights, ministers for weddings, dealers for gambling events, etc., and it’s important to pick the right people for the right jobs.
• Choose your location: The location(s) can be very important toward the success of your event. Details to consider here are guard zones, players’ houses, old world or lost lands of the Second Age, and which facet (Felucca, Trammel, or Ilshenar).

Is your location easily accessible, or will people need to Recall or Gate, use a boat, or will it require Third Dawn? Keep in mind the space you’ll need for your event. An afternoon tea party with four people might do well in a small house, but 20 people trying to duel each other in that same house will grow very frustrating, very fast.

If your house is the location of the event, it’s good to also have a vendor selling runes Marked to your front steps, and even books with your Web site’s address and some brief details about your event. It also doesn’t hurt your public image to give away some of those things as you travel.

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Step Two - Preparation

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Creating an Event: Preparation - I’m going to presume you already know what type of event you’re creating (contest, tournament, ceremony, or quest, etc.), that one or more people have volunteered to help (or have been drafted ;]), that your team has worked out when & where the event’s going to happen, and that some general rules for participants have been discussed.

Who does what? Even if you just have one other person helping you, it’s important to decide which of you will be assigned any related task before, during, or after the event. Consider the strengths of your helpers: someone who types fast & accurately may be a main quest character, someone who writes well may create your rules or announcements, and someone who is very skilled at PvP combat might do well as your tournament referee.

Consider also the characters that will be used: a house-owner might work well as the bouncer of a roof-ceremony, a mage or healer would be important toward resurrecting characters during fight nights, and a player who doesn’t mind getting murder counts may be useful as a quest adversary.

• Master of Ceremonies: Who will be announcing the rules of your contest or the winner of a tournament? Who will be the minister in your wedding ceremony?
• Quest characters: Who will be the curious figure who draws people into a mystery? Does your quest need a bad guy? Documenter: Your staff may share equal responsibility of taking screenshots, but who will write the announcements? Who will note the names of the survivors of your dungeon crawl on your Web site, or announce the victors of the latest bagball tournament?
• Writer: Someone may need to design contest rules, adapt a script, write wedding ceremony vows, or plan out quest elements to be plotted out in advance. Make sure to pass them along to the related event staff members. Make sure there are no questions about which person has which responsibility, including that most important question: who will people go to if there are questions or problems?

Who makes the call? However you distribute responsibilities, make sure that everyone knows who will be making the call in the face of any emergency. This person may have to make some important decisions in some sticky situations, such as: if you only accounted for one winner, but two characters come in first, this person will have to decide who gets the one prize and why. If a scavenger hunt asked for bolts, and one team brought in crossbow bolts and another collected bolts of cloth, the person in charge needs to decide what’s valid, typically on the spot.

Make sure that your staff, participants, and audience will know this person/character and their in charge role before, during, and after the event. You might even consider saying it straight out during an opening speech at the beginning of the event.

Prepare yourself outside and inside the game:

• Contact between event staff: Will you and your helpers maintain a behind-the-scenes chat? Make sure everyone has compatible chat software, and knows when and how to use it.
• Screenshots: If you’re going to be taking screenshots of the event, do you have the proper software?
• Rehearse: If you’re performing a play, wedding ceremony, or timing-critical quest scene, consider practicing some of the most important lines in a dress rehearsal.
• Pasting text into Ultima Online: Did you know you could set up a Paste macro in UO? Simply go into the macros section of your UO Options menu, create a new macro, and set it as Paste. I’ve conveniently set the keys Control+V to paste text into the game for me.
• Gather Resources: communication crystals, food, rewards, barkeeps
• Mark Runestones: Has anyone marked runes to any of the event-related locations? Handing out free marked runes during an event is a great way to get people to return. Some people even sell them on their vendors throughout the week for this purpose.
• Helper’s supplies: Consider giving your helpers a bag of event supplies (pre-Marked runes, reagents, books with contest rules to be handed out).

If there is one particular item that is key to the progress or success of the event, make sure you have more than one of them, with each held by separate people. If this item is stolen, lost, or the holding player/character can’t log into the game, your event won’t end up being a bust.

Promote your event: Someone should write up a short announcement for your event, and try to include the following bits of information:

• The name of the event
• The Web site or message board URL for the event
• The name & details of who to contact (e-mail address, ICQ, IRC nick, AIM nick, etc.)
• Time and date of the event (ex. 7:00pm PST, Friday, August 28th, 2001)
• The location (including shard, facet, location, directions on how to get there by foot, and even the Web address of a good map)
• Any special rules
• Any special gifts or considerations (ex. Prizes will be awarded to the winners, "Gates will be provided from Britain’s ‘Chamber of Virtue’ to the event location beginning 15 minutes prior to the event starting time" or "Please make sure to leave precious valuables at home, as we’ll be entering a dangerous area.")

Although some events might be invitation-only or for a limited group of people, most events are open to the entire community, which allows for much better interaction and fun! You’ll want to publicize events that are open to the entire community extensively, whilst keeping in mind the possible negative effects of massive publicity. Once you start announcing your event, make sure to actively spread the word:

• Submit your event to the official UO Event Calendar at http://town.uo.com.
• Submit your event to online news sites, such as UO Stratics at http://uo.stratics.com.
• Change the sign on your establishment to announce the forthcoming event.
• Post on in-game bulletin boards.
• Post your article on the front page of your own web site.
• Send your news article to fan news sites, our Event Calendar, and Ultima Online e-mail lists.
• Announce your event on message boards.
• Contact people with e-mail, IRC, ICQ, AIM, and whatever resources you feel appropriate.
• And let’s not forget good, old-fashioned legwork: walk around town and let people know about your event directly from you.
• After the event, consider publishing a "success and thanks" news release if your event went well.
• Offer large prizes, if you can they’re a huge incentive! Try for prize donations from guilds.

Plan to announce your event several days before it occurs perhaps even more than once, such as one full week before, two days before, and 12 hours before, for a large, one-time-only event. Smaller or weekly events may do well with only one announcement a day or two beforehand.

Barkeeps: Players now have the barkeep to assist them in their events. Players can program their barkeeps with up to four paragraphs of text, one which will be called out whenever someone drops any amount of gold on it, and the remaining three when anyone says the related keyword(s) nearby. They’ll also announce any recent official Scenario news if someone says news to them.

Every barkeep will respond to the word news, and to a tip; these can work in your favor. You can include some event-based facts in barkeep phrases, as well as hint to players about some of the barkeep’s other keywords. For example:

• Player: news
• Barkeep: [scenario message, and] Well, there’s also the TOURNAMENT this Sunday, the 4th at 7pm by the Eastern Sky.
• Player: (gives the barkeep a tip)
• Barkeep: Thank you very much! I’ll just add this to the PRIZE for the TOURNAMENT on the 4th.
• Player: tournament
• Barkeep: We hold a fight night every Sunday. There’s more NEWS at www.yourdomain.com
• Player: prize Barkeep: We’ll be giving away 10,000 gold to the winner of the TOURNAMENT

In the example above, note that each phrase includes at least one keyword hint for players who may be looking to learn more about the event.

Here are some other examples:

• rules: No magery will be allowed in the CONTEST, otherwise anything goes.
• event: You’re welcome to join our TOWN Meeting, the first Tuesday of every month.
• [the barkeeps name]: I can’t place your face, friend, but we get a lot of strangers here since the MURDER.
• [the name of the building]: Yup, that’s where you are. You looking for the OWNER, that lazy bum?
• Books: If you think participants may have not seen any announcements, or information beyond what the barkeep provides, consider locking down a book or books in your house.

Remember: players can’t write in locked down purple books, so they might be good for displaying a schedule, rules, or contact information. However, players can write in locked-down brown books, so they are great to use as guestbooks or as a place where people can post questions.

15 minutes before: Helpers should probably be available and ready at least 15 minutes before most events’ starting times. This may mean being in a related Internet chat, or their characters should be in certain in-game locations, or both. Some magery-based characters might need to begin casting magical Gates in key, well-known and high-trafficked locations, to help bring in a larger audience.

You could chat with players who show up early for your event. Don’t forget, it’s never too early to promote your next event. ;) Give out food to your guests. Start getting a headcount of participants, and consider if you need to make any last minute adjustments to the scale of your event based on how many people show up.

Avoid guarding your establishment or having any resident military force. This might be one of my more controversial suggestions, but I feel quite strongly that heavy security personnel who are instructed to be aggressive can cause more trouble than they can prevent. What almost inevitably happens is that a troublemaker comes by and does something relatively minor stealing a couple of tables for your party outside, or somesuch. Instead of just replacing the tables, the security force attacks the offender. The offender is killed.

The offender comes back with five friends, who are killed, and come back with another five friends each. I’ve seen many bloody battles take place under similar circumstances. Make sure that any security personnel you do have are instructed to be peaceful and not aggressive, and that they are equipped to deal with problems in every way except force (it can be as simple as having a few tables on hand to replace what is stolen).

Always develop contingency plans in case something goes awry. For example, make sure you can move patrons and equipment into a nearby building (preferably your establishment) which you have security control over. If you are attacked outside or at another event location, make sure staff are ready to get patrons quickly to safety (make sure they have runes to the safe location on them and are ready to make the announcement).

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Step Three - Event Management

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Each event will be a unique situation, and there can be numerous variations even in those that are similar, but here are a few thoughts about some circumstances that may be common to a great many of them.

So, let’s start by presuming your staff is all in place-they’re gating & leading people to the event location, and greeting those who show up on their own. Your helpers are clear on the rules, know how the event is going to proceed, and have all the resources they need. It’s time to start the show.

Screenshots: Don’t forget, right from the start, you or one of your helpers could be taking screenshots of the people beforehand, the crowds during, and, of course, of the big finale. Not only will it be nice for your personal scrapbook, but one or two of these images will help sweeten the look of your post-event news item. Some good pictures would be the moment a participant has won a contest, or any particularly dramatic moment that might have occurred.

Behind-the-scenes connections: You and your helpers may need a level of communication beyond normal in-game talking or party chatting. Consider having an IRC or ICQ chat up and running before the event begins, and possibly track each other’s whereabouts with UOAM.

Low turnout: Don’t worry if only a few people show up to your event. There’s nothing wrong with playing out a small plot for four people, or having a tournament for a handful of combatants. Sometimes, this can work in your favor, as low turnouts can often allow you to focus more on the event and your small group, as opposed to crowd control and making sure several dozen (or several hundred!) people are happy. Having 10 people happy to show up to all your events is better than having 30 people who never care to return.

Pre-event mingling: You or your helpers could start by meandering through the crowd just prior to the event, setting the tone on a one-on-one level with your growing audience. If your event is to be reoccurring, consider giving out free runes to your location to those who showed up early. Have some food available, especially if the event may involve combat and health level is of importance.

Make pre-event announcements: Give people around 5 minutes or so to show up late and get settled, and then ask for everyone’s attention. This is your opportunity to introduce yourself and your event team, briefly describe what’s about to happen, and-perhaps most importantly-to go over the rules and goals of the event.

You can also take the opportunity to introduce your helpers. If you have a small handful, you could introduce them by name. If they will be wearing special clothing, try to describe what they will look like. If they are all part of a guild, let he audience know which guild and abbreviation. If you’re offering free food, repairs, resurrections, or any other collateral service, make sure to mention that as well.

• Example #1: If you’re introducing a role-played quest, you might begin by stumbling into town, describe (in-character) only the most crucial background elements, and then be very obvious as to what would make the quest a "success" or "failure" before leading the adventurers into danger.
  "I called for help and so many of you brave heroes have come! I am Fitzhue the merchant, and my daughter, Eloise, has been kidnapped by my rival, Naedion! I can offer gold to anyone who rescues Eloise! Be careful: Naedion’s minions wear yellow wizard hats and yellow cloaks, and will be trying to kill us before we rescue Eloise!"
• Example #2: Perhaps you’re refereeing a PvP Tournament, in which case you’ll most likely take down all the names of the characters registering for the fight, and then step into the "ring" where you can announce the rules to both fighters and audience alike.
  "Ladieees and Gentlemen! We have 15 fighters signed up tonight, so we will have 3 fights, and each fight will have 5 fighters. All 3 fights will be to the death! The 3 winners will fight each other in a fourth winner-take-all melee with a grand prize of 100,000 gold! The fights are ‘anything goes,’ including magic armor, poisoned weapons, and *looting* at the end. No one is allowed to assist the fighters in any way during the fights, and we have someone from [Res] standing by to resurrect the dead."
• Example #3: If you’re having some kind of ceremony or community meeting, especially involving a large crowd, it may be beneficial to also set some ground rules for who can talk and when.
  "Thank you everyone for coming to our town meeting. If you have a question during the meeting, please emote *question*, *!*, *raises hand* or something of that nature. We ask everyone to emote unless called upon because the communication crystals broadcast the speech but don’t ‘hear’ emotes. Each speaker will have 2 minutes to speak. Please understand that anyone who disrupts the meeting, such as by fighting, stealing, or spamming, will be removed from the building (for tonight only). Thank you again for coming, and let’s begin."

Proceeding with the event: Begin the event while the details of the initial announcement are still fresh in everyone’s minds. If you delay too long, your audience & participants may disperse or become sidetracked with making their own entertainment.

Keep things simple, organized, and moving. Long pauses can lead to distraction. Excessively complicated rules or plot twists can leave participants confused and frustrated.

Where is the event going? Some results are "event-driven," and the event will play out according to the occurrences of specific circumstances that have been planned by the creator of the event. Wedding ceremonies, theatrical plays, and some quests are created this way.

Some results are "player-driven," which means the results were not pre-determined by the creator of the event. Tournaments, contests, and some quests are created in this way.

You won’t be able to plan all the directions in which an event can turn, but try to be aware of possible variations, and try also to maintain some flexibility when the event takes a turn you didn’t expect. Keep track of the things around which you had to adapt; they may even help to make your event more full and enjoyable by the end.

Dealing with trouble: The pace and style of each event will vary and ultimately be up to you, your helpers, your audience and the often-inevitable troublemakers.

No matter how confident you might be that those who show up have seen the announcement, Web site, or notes, make sure to summarize the event at the start of it, and reassert the rules as necessary (throughout the event). This can avert problems of miscommunication, such as someone showing up late to a tournament with a "no interference" rule, but begins healing a contestant. No ill-will may have been meant, and it may be easily averted with periodic announcements of the rules.

Some people will come to your event with the sole purpose of stalling or stopping it. They’ll spam, kill mounts that remain outside, steal your pivotal quest item, fight your helpers, steal from your audience, and do whatever they can to make everyone miserable. You will not be able to account for all the ways your event can be ground to a halt, but here’s some quick suggestions that will hopefully keep any damage to a minimum.

If the event centers around one particular item, especially if it is to some degree rare, try to have more than one of that item available. It’s not only a good way to thwart a problematic thief, but it’s also a potential lifesaver if the item-bearer is unable to log into or start in the game for whatever reason.

Try to not have the event outside of a protected area. If you have a house, you have the opportunity to lock the house or rooms within the house, or even call out "I ban thee" against any miscreants who try to enter & ruin your activities. If your event can occur in a guard zone, you have the special protection of the guards in case any fighting breaks out.

Hire guards to patrol areas outside a guard zone. These could be player guards (specializing in melee, magic, taming, etc.), or even NPC mercenaries. (On a personal note, some of the best guards I’ve ever known were actually highly skilled in Stealing, and thus able to disarm troublemakers of their precious reagents & weapons even in the middle of battle.)

If your only way out will be to "insta-log" within your house, do not fight back. At the moment you fight, you activate a timer that will keep you from insta-logging, even if someone else started the fight.

If your event’s in a house and area-effect spells are being cast against your participants, but your audience doesn’t have the capability of insta-logging, ask everyone to stand in the center of whatever room they are in. Area-effect spells can’t reach in far enough to attack someone who is standing in the center of a room in a player’s house.

Segmenting the event: Some events may involve a lot of dialogue or attention to a large number of individuals and go on for a long time. It’s often a good idea to give people a chance to take a break-to grab a drink or snack, use the restroom, or even fill in their late-coming buddy on what’s already gone on.

Here are a few suggestions for keeping things running smoothly while the event is in progress:

• Make frequent announcements. There is nothing event-attenders like less than hanging around a location not knowing what is happening. Even a shout of "Welcome! The event will start in five minutes," is helpful.
• Have a behind-the-scenes ICQ or IRC chat open in the background for staff and contributors. You can discuss issues and concerns with those that are helping to run the event effectively and hand out instructions and recommendations.
• Remember that everyone has other in-game and out-of-game responsibilities and probably won’t want to spend longer than two to three hours at your event. If you announce your event several weeks in advance, however, and they think it sounds exciting, they might set aside an entire day to attend it.
• Make sure that there is something going on constantly, even if its something minor like a dart contest. A major attraction should take place at least once an hour.
• Have more than enough seating. I’m confident that there is a psychological relaxing effect to be seated in-game.

It might be a good idea to factor in some periodic, short pauses into your schedule-questors may need to wait 5 minutes while a secret potion is brewed, duelists may be asked to take 2 minutes to prepare for the next fighting match, and other events may simply take a break "on the half-hour mark".

Many people aren’t able or inclined to spend 3 hours participating in a single event. If your event needs to be that long, consider breaking it up into 2 or 3 segments, or even2 or 3 nights. Try to somehow clearly announce the end of the event, or the end of one phase of the event, whenever possible.

Closing speech: Thank everyone at the end of the event. Besides being polite, many events often need obvious closure to their proceedings, and a short notation when the event’s over often fits that bill. If there’s to be a Web page with a write-up, screenshots, tournament results, etc., mention that URL.

Promote your "next time"-if there will be a follow-up event, or if the event will be re-occurring, announce the details (or URL) of what people will need to know for next time.

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Step Four - Event Aftermath

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And so your event’s over. The audience has dispersed, and your participants have begun splitting off into small groups to share their war stories. It’s time to kick off your sandals and relax.

Well, not just yet.

Advertise: Immediately after the event is actually a great time to promote your next event. Those people lingering around after today’s event? It’s a pretty good bet they’ll like your next event as much or more than today’s. Take the opportunity, especially if your house was the location of the event, to invite whoever lingers to stick around for just a bit longer.

Talk about your next event. Mention the time and day, especially if the event isn’t reoccurring on the same day every week or month. If today’s event was a quest, consider dropping hints for next week’s storyline. If you just finished running a contest, auction, or tournament, talk about what the prizes or big ticket items will be next time.

Don’t bash the competition: This may seem like a small thing, but it’s always classy and admirable to not talk down about other events and event staff. It’s much better to recognize the strengths of the competition instead of their flaws, but if you really don’t have anything nice to say about them try not to say anything at all.

Give away leftovers: You might even have prepared some food & drink to share with everyone at this time. If you have any promotional gifts remaining, consider giving one or two away for free to some of these devoted stragglers they’ll be more inclined to show up for your next event, thanks to your kindness. If your event will reoccur in the same place with any frequency, one of the best things you can do is to give away runestones thatare pre-marked with your event location.

Fish for a critique: One of the best ways to learn how to improve from your successes and mistakes is by simply asking the people who were involved, be they staff, participants, or even audience. While chatting with those who stuck around, find out what worked well with your event and what maybe weren’t such good ideas.

When you’re asking questions, try not to ask ones like "Did you like the event?" You want "essay" responses, not yes or no. If you instead ask questions like "What did you think of the villain?" or "How do you think we could have made the tournament progress faster?" you might get better, more helpful answers.

Don’t feel insulted if someone talks about what they didn’t like or even complains. These people could end up giving you some of the most important tips on how to improve your event, so try to grin & bear it, take good notes, and try to interpret what they were complaining about as productive suggestions.

Reward your helpers: They may not have asked for any special compensation, but doing something special for your helpers is always a nice gesture, nonetheless.

Rewards don’t necessarily have to be gold or gifts. The simplest and, perhaps, most important reward is praise, and you should dole that out with heaping tablespoons. Even if you think you might not have needed as many helpers as you had, always keep in mind that you shouldn’t take for granted any time and resources your assistants were able to give.

You can also consider throwing a little staff-only shindig, something to help your assistants maintain close relationships that can serve double-duty by also introducing any new helpers or new rules/guidelines.

If your event staff is large enough, you might think about "promoting" one or more of them. If you have ten people helping you, for example, consider asking one of them to be your second-in-command; and if they accept, announce this change at a staff gathering and at the start of each of the next few events.

Keep an eye out for new helpers: Some of the stragglers may be receptive to helping out with future events. You may find that one or two would enjoy being recruited to help with whatever you have planned for next time.

Maybe these potential assistants are looking to help with something small like marking runestones or scribing books, or if they’ve been a part of something like this before maybe they could role-play a part in your plot or help with crowd control. Perhaps they have a house that can host the whole event or part of it, or even the offer of customizing their barkeep’s dialogue can be a valuable asset to your future events.

Write up the post-event news article: When everyone has truly gone from the event scene (or you’ve kicked them out of your house ;) you can write up the post-event article. Sure, others may wait until the next day, but not you! You know how much everyone likes to read about such things right after they happen, and you might have even prepared the article beforehand to speed things up, and just need to fill in the blanks.

Try to name the pivotal characters of the event in such an article, such as the bride & groom of a wedding, the slayer of the arch-villain, the winner of a race, the assassin of the town leader, or the one who ate the most pies. Everyone loves to have their names in lights.

Hopefully you, or one of your helpers, were prepared and took a few screenshots during the event. Sort through them to find some particularly dramatic or picturesque images, and include one or two with your article. People like seeing their pictures attached to enjoyable events as much or more than seeing their name attached to them.

As with your initial event announcement article, make sure you include where and when the event happened, as well as all relevant contact information. In addition, don’t forget to mention any details you might already have about your next event.

Do it all again: If you like, it can be exactly the same. If you had 10 people show up for your poetry reading and realized that this is the perfect number, don’t feel compelled to try to grow the event beyond perfection. Maybe you’ll let word-of-mouth be your only advertising, and only post notes about your event on your guild message board, and that’s perfectly fine. Your performance, contest, or ceremony doesn’t need to have half the shard in attendance for it to be considered a complete success.

But, it doesn’t have to be exactly the same. You can take the suggestions or critiques/complaints that your participants shared and use them to your advantage. Perhaps you had 300 people show up for your first monthly "field day" sporting contests, but found it a little taxing and almost unmanageable, and there’s nothing wrong with adjusting your plans to inspire 100 or less people to participate next time.

It’s a pretty good bet that you’ll want to make at least some changes, and you’ve probably been taking mental notes during your whole event creation process. You could put those into effect for the next creation cycle, but if things didn’t go the way you would have hoped this time, don’t give up. Maybe you inadvertently invited the wrong audience and need to consider how you’re promoting your event, or the rules & scheduling may have been two vague or confusing and you just need to tweak some wording or timing.

Whatever the audience/participant reaction, your event was important if only because you brought people together and tried your best to entertain them. And they will appreciate it, and you’ll know they do by their actions or their praise.

To be fair, some players will complain or gripe the whole time, but keep an eye on them most of them may say one thing, but they will stick around and try their best to participate appropriately throughout the whole event. "They’ll say things like this tournament sucks!" or "Things are moving too slow!" but they’ll stay with your group to slay every monster, congratulate the newlyweds, or defend the kidnapped princess, and their actions will speak to you much louder than their words.

Other players will be more insightful and recognize all that you’re trying to do, and they’ll appreciate it more openly. You and your helpers may be toasted in front of a crowd of dozens, or someone may e-mail or quietly come up to you after everyone else has gone and share with you some of the greatest words of praise that ever existed: "Thanks for everything. I had fun."

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Tips For Event Planners

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Running Quests

Quests differ from events in that they have a specific plot and usually involve several significant characters as opposed to events, in which everyone is equally involved and take part in a wider variety of contests and actions. Perhaps the most enjoyable events are those that are tied together with a storyline a combination of events and quests. However, at the moment, in the player-establishment sphere at least, quests are essentially a plot drawn up by a couple of players which is published step-by-step on news sites and which involves several "incidents" that usually occur once every couple of weeks and involve a group of about twenty players. There are resources elsewhere that deal with running quests. I would just like to offer a few suggestions based on my personal experience, if you plan to run quests around your establishment:

• Quests should not be a series of staged events at which characters read from a script and which run strictly according to a plan that has a set end. Rather, quests should be open-ended and the conclusion should always be a result of the actions of players, not the action of a mastermind’s pen on paper.
• If you’re running a quest, make sure that every player participating has an active role. They shouldn’t simply stand aside as the pre-planned events occur one after another they should be able to interact with the main characters and each play important parts.
• Quest characters should be just that characters whole people with their own beliefs, lives and personality. They should react to other characters appropriately and not according to a set plan. They should be actively changing and developing and should change their values and ideologies according to what they have seen and heard.
• Not all quest plots need have dire consequences that will result in the "end of Britannia" or massive repercussions for all.
• Running a quest that is based around your establishment is an excellent way of increasing popularity and putting yourself in the sponsorship notebook. They are also fun for all involved, and will allow you to offer additional excitement and enjoyment for the people of Britannia.

Managing Funds and Resources

If your establishment is non-profit, you’re likely to have trouble with finding enough money to do what you’d like to do for the community. You probably want to run events, which need to be prepared and which need expensive prizes. You may have to feed your patrons for free, in which case you’re going to need a steady supply of gold or a very generous cook. In any event, most establishments need to raise funds one way or another hopefully this section will be able to make life easier for you.

Donations

There are two reasons why people might want to donate to your establishment either they want recognition or special benefits, or they want to make a sincere donation to the community. In reality, the reason for most donations is probably somewhere in the middle. Hence, you should try cater for both ends of the spectrum.

Make sure that you are regularly providing non-profit services to the community. Help newbies in your local area with free newbie packs, or run free and fun events. Don’t attach ‘conditions’ such as entrance fees to anything or prospective donors might turn their backs.

Offer recognition and exposure for donors. If a guild makes a significant donation which will allow you to run events and feed the hungry for many months, giving them some deserved credit could go a long way. Some forms of recognition and exposure for guilds or individuals include:

• Guildstones named after the donor, such as "Celebrating the generosity of ABC" could be placed in your establishment.
• An event could be named after the donor, such as "The XYZ Conference".
• A future building or a building that was donated could be named after the donor, such as "The EFG Bakery".
• A permanent or temporary notice on the main section of your webpage.
• A monthly press release to news sites which contains announcements on donations received.
• If your establishment offers any pay services, offer the services to the donor and the donor’s guild or friends for free.

This extract from the Gathered Spirits’ Policy Database shows how the GS has offered incentives to donors:

• If donations are in excess of 100,000 gold (or equivalent in items), the tavern will erect a guildstone in recognition for that person’s efforts towards contributing to the establishment.
• The organization or person that contributes will be recognized as a ‘tavern founder’ and receive significant recognition on the tavern website.
• If the individual or organization wishes its funds to go towards a particular effort perhaps hosting one or two events or purchasing a building nearby the tavern for tavern use, then the effort will be associated by name with the individual or organization.

For example, if a guild ‘ABC’ contributes towards the tavern, a building may be known as the ‘ABC Gathered Spirits Tavern Extension’ or an event called the ‘ABC Magery Convention’. This gives the guild or individual a huge amount of exposure and allows them to contribute to their community.

Donations between 25,000 gold and 100,000 gold (or equivalent in items) will allow the contributor to be listed on the tavern website as a ‘tavern contributor’. The person will receive recognition throughout the community and an event or building may be named after them (as discussed above).

Donations between 8,000 gold and 25,000 gold (or equivalent in items) will have the donor listed as a ‘tavern contributor’ on the tavern website. If applicable, an event or item may be named after the person.

The Gathered Spirits also allows guilds to contribute to the establishment in two unique ways, which might well be worth trying:

• Sponsoring an Event - The Gathered Spirits Tavern frequently runs events for the enjoyment of the Community. Eventually, we plan to have each event having a guild sponsor. Unfortunately, events are something of an expense to the Community, with over 200,000 gold being spent on event prizes, etc., over the past year. Guild sponsorship of an event involves:
  
  • Providing the Gathered Spirits Community with prizes for the event or funds to purchase prizes (most events have prizes of value about 10 000 gold).
  • Providing assistance with the staffing of the event - if there are any members of your guild that want to get involved with assisting the event.
  • Recognition for the Guild. The guild that sponsors the event will have the event named after them. For example, if a guild ABC sponsors a magery convention, it will be called 'The ABC Magery Convention'. This provides for huge recognition.
  • Additional Recognition. Many press releases are sent out with each event. The guild will be associated with each and every one of these. People will recognize your guild as one that participates in the shard and actively makes a better life for all Britannians. Expect excellent people wanting to apply to become a member of your guild. You'll also have a much easier time with alliances and wars! The total cost of sponsoring an event is around 15 000 gold. Relative to how much recognition and exposure your guild will get, and what a positive difference the guild will be making to the Community, this is the best-spent 15k of your life!
• Sponsoring a Building - The Gathered Spirits Community is in the process of buying up an island South East of Britain to open up as a player run town. We already have a number of buildings, and the project is on the road to success. We are looking for guilds to sponsor the opening of a building on the island. This would involve:
  • Purchasing a building with guild funds on the island. The guild retains control of the building, but runs it as a planned part of the Community (For example, guild DEF buys a small building, they can open up the 'DEF Community Smithy').
  • Recognition for the guild - everyone that visits the town, visits the webpage, clicks on the sign or otherwise will know about your guild!
  • The guild (obviously) gets preferential vendor placement in the building (and elsewhere in the Community) - so when the town becomes busy (which it inevitably will) your money will be made back in no time!
  • Another possibility is running a vendor with "donation booklets" regularly stocked. The booklets are regular, NPC bought books with a special code written in them. They are priced between 500 gold and 2000 gold, and patrons can donate to the establishment simply by buying a book! If they want recognition for their donation, they can contact the vendor/establishment owner, give them the special code inside the books they’ve bought, and be registered as a donor!

Fundraising

Fundraising is the second alternative for getting hold of enough gold to run your establishment successfully. It is important that fundraising is not confused with fee-charging. Fundraising does not simply mean charging entrance fees to events or increasing the prices of your food and drink. Instead, fundraising activities should be in addition to the services you normally offer (your aim as an establishment owner is to serve the community, so don’t alter your existing services to the detriment of the community) and you should make it clear that the proceeds from all funds go towards the future of the establishment. Some ideas for fundraising include running raffles and lotteries or holding a ‘resource gathering’ evening, at which staff and members of the public go on a hunt for hides or a chop for wood. Staff craft goods from the resulting materials and sell them to raise funds.

Getting Sponsorship

The question I have been asked most frequently during my career is along the lines of "How did you manage to get all this cool stuff?". The Gathered Spirits was blessed after a few months (very difficult months, in the age of no lockdowns) of operation, and since then inquiries have been pouring in about our decorations.

It is vitally important that you run your establishment from the beginning presuming that you will never receive sponsorship. Your policies and design should reflect this, and you should never go into the industry if all you want out of it is a blessed building (it is important to reflect at this time that once your establishment is blessed, you will not be able to use it for personal ends – you will not be able to sell it for personal profit and you will not be able to close it down at your whim). I am fortunate enough, however, to have years of experience in communicating with the gods and demi-gods, and there are certain things you can do to increase your chances of receiving sponsorship. These points in themselves are a good overall guide to establishment-owning if you use them as guidelines, you will unquestionably develop an excellent establishment which truly manages to make a difference in our world:

• Be consistently active. Avoid periods of inactivity.
• Make sure your establishment has the facilities, staff and attitude to continue operating well into the future.
• This is probably one of the seers’ biggest concerns they don’t want to bless an establishment that will wither and die soon. I know that just before the Gathered Spirits was sponsored, the Seer Adamantyr took me to a set of ruins and told me that even the most wonderful of places will be ruined if it is neglected for a time.
• Personally take part in all events and quests, and make sure you regularly visit events at other establishments. Quickly, people (including the gods!) will recognize you as someone that is actively involved in all player-run and roleplaying spheres.
• Maintain a standard of establishment service and reliability. That might sound obvious, but the demi-gods will probably come to your establishment disguised during hours which you claim your "regular" hours. If no-one is there to serve them, or they are served poorly, they will not find it easy to recommend a sponsorship.
• Take a genuine interest in every patron. They might be a seer! Also remember that near-perfect spelling and grammar, and excellent role-playing skills are things you should look out for. I doubt that demi-gods could manage to drop any of those characteristics, even if they are in disguise!
• Roleplay, and have your establishment take part in roleplayed quests and events. If your establishment is one of the busiest gathering spots on the shard, you’ll find that seers will choose to appear there to give their quest riddles and clues. It happened thrice to the Gathered Spirits in only our first few months of operation. As the owner of the chosen establishment, get together the patrons and form a group to go out trying to solve the riddles and progress in the quest.
• Choose a unique, roleplaying theme. The attention of the gods and demi-gods will most quickly be caught if you have a unique idea and, particularly, if it involves roleplaying. A group of players trying to play another race (orcs or elves, for example) is an excellent example of a unique roleplaying theme.
• In-game publicity is the most powerful. While you should have press releases on the main news sites at least once every couple of months, seers have their ears tuned to the ground in-game, too. If they’re on a quest, for example, and hear players talking about your establishment, you can be sure that they’ll visit it. They want to know that you are supported by a large player base, that your establishment is popular and that the community appreciates it three things that can only be determined from the words of other players.

Zerver expressed the ideas behind sponsorship very well in his Sage Wisdom on Tavern Ownership and Sponsors:

• "Don't for a minute think that just because you are "Willing" to run a tavern means that you are entitled to special attention from OSI. There are hundreds of wannabee shop owners out there and until you prove that you have the will to keep at it for a good while, you really don't deserve to have your place "Sponsored".
• Don't keep sending GM help messages, pestering councilors and seers, or complaining on the public boards. That usually does not help.
• Instead, participate heavily in the major quests, offer to host meetings, hold contests, lead dungeon crawls starting at and ending at your place. In other words, become an integral part of your shard by sheer force of will and action.
• Be Involved, Persistent, Respectful, and especially be around."

The Seer Letter described the process of sponsorship briefly:

• Green-robed Seers often visit such establishments in order to get a feel for the sense of community there. They then advise IGMs as to whether there is enough public interest and support to warrant special attention in the form of extra decoration and lockdowns.
• An excellent guide to receiving sponsorships is written by Kazola of Kazola’s Treetop Keg and Winery.
• Once you’ve managed to get the attention of the seers, continue to maintain excellent service.
• A couple of them will probably pay you more visits, often in disguise, over a few weeks.
• Eventually, they might appear to you green-robed, this time, and discuss the possibility of a sponsorship.
• Don’t be demanding. They know perfectly well that one of the dreams of every establishment-owner is to receive a sponsorship you don’t need to tell them that.
• Maintain that a sponsorship would be able to allow you to offer additional services to the community. Furthermore, do not approach RPCs (characters roleplayed by seers, often as part of a quest) about sponsorships.
• Mentioning your establishment casually while in conversation with an RPC can’t do any harm, though!

At this stage, you will need to decide what you would like done. At our blessing, the Seer Adamantyr asked us to put our ideas in a book and leave it on the vendor for him to look over. However, we didn’t feel we could put our ideas across very well in paper. We headed into a UOX world and designed the establishment from scratch there, adding the decorations and extra facilities we wanted. We uploaded the images and had the book direct the seer to their location. I would highly recommend doing the same - designing your establishment in an emulated world.

On the day of the blessing (the seer will have organized a time and date with you), it is likely that the IGM, the seer, you and your partners will be present. The seer will probably advise that you do not invite anyone else or make the date and time public, as it is easier to get the work done in a deserted establishment.

If you have been running your establishment for a while and have not yet received a sponsorship, it shouldn’t be too much concern for you. With the options you have nowadays, you can run a stunningly decorated establishment with a plethora of facilities it’s sometimes the establishments that haven’t been sponsored that are the most popular on the shard! Just look at what you might be doing wrong, what you can improve on, and continue the good work!

Ensuring Longevity and Avoiding Burnout

After a few months of running your establishment, you could quite easily find it difficult to keep going. It’s been hard work and you’ve spent your time trying to overcome the adversities that have been thrown in your path. You’re probably satisfied that you’ve managed to improve player interaction through your establishment and feel you’ve made many Britannians happy. But you’re not sure if you have the time and the dedication to continue. At this stage, most establishments crumble. Make sure that yours is one of the few that battles nobly onwards into the future.

Don’t let everything rely on you. Make sure that there are other people who can help you with your job. Take a week’s break. Speak to your friends and staff and organize for them to take over your job for an entire week. In that week, do not visit your establishment or answer any communication about your establishment.

Use a ‘pyramid’ staff structure. The use of a council and a second arch-coordinator will reduce the pressure on you. Don’t spend entire days or weekends running your establishment. You should try not to put more than five hours into running your establishment on any day of the week. If you spend an entire Saturday and Saturday evening organizing staff, events and everything else in your establishment (something I’ve done far too frequently), you will probably be disillusioned by the end. Do things in shorter blocks every day, with breaks for real-life (or dungeoning!) in-between.

Look for a partner. Constantly be on the lookout for someone with similar ideas who could become your partner (or, in the pyramid structure, your co-arch-coordinator). Particularly keep an eye on staff that excel themselves and would be willing to take up the extra responsibility. Try getting support from your friends or guild. If you have a guild with 25 members, they might be able to roster the shift you normally have to do at your bar every Friday. It means one free evening for you every week, while most of them have to take the shift only twice a year!

Cooperation with Other Groups

Perhaps one of the biggest disappointments in the roleplaying sphere for me was the lack of cooperation between different groups and establishments. During the last couple of years, many efforts have been made to combine the skills and resources of all the different groups to improve Britannia. This short section includes a few ideas on how you can strike up cooperation with different members of your online community.

Form a council that meets regularly. On Pacific, it’s the Great Council, which includes representatives from major establishments and player governments. The council can discuss how best to assist each other and perhaps even launch a project on which every representative works (for example, a combined player run town).

Encourage travel between establishments. The Gathered Spirits is in the process of trying to set aside a day of the week for all the establishments to open gates to other establishments (a ‘chain’ of establishments is set up, where establishment A gates to B, B gates to C and C gates to A).

Work on one large event in cooperation with other establishments as opposed to several small events. It’s amazing what can be accomplished when the resources and skills of two or more groups is combined!

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Reference Articles

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Stratics Article on Tavernkeeper
Event Ideas from Sannio (UO.com) Part I
Thoughts on Event Preparation from Sannio (UO.com) Part II
Event Management from Sannio (UO.com) Part III
Event Aftermath from Sannio (UO.com) Part IV