"Getting Involved with GM Roleplaying Events - Part I"
by Mercy Dellica Sorrowflight, Empath

The subject of GM generated roleplaying events could fill a book. This is an attempt to provide some basic information about how they come about in DR and the opportunities available for player involvement. There isn't any one model or goal in GM led events so the following information just represents a norm rather than rules or a compulsory framework.

It is important to understand that there are many more players who wish to become involved with a GM led character than there are GMs to go around. No matter how much effort you put into getting involved in events the odds are against your receiving even a minor task to perform or direct interaction with a GM played character.

The grand majority of player involvement in RP events is independent participation. It can be researching puzzles presented through RP events, fighting in an invasion, planning defenses, manning triage centers or anything your character is prompted to do as a reaction to events in the realms.

Events come in all sizes. They can be very small, a sole GM who enters the game for a short time just to fool around with any characters that happen to be about. No plan, just improvisation based on whatever happens in the moment. A single GM may also have a plan of some sort. The other extreme is the mega-events that may never come to a final conclusion. These are akin to sagas. Their roots may lie buried in history books and their future be mapped out for months or years to come. When the first seeds are being sown there is no way of knowing that it is anything more than an isolated incident. It is only as the story unfolds that some players realize it is part of a larger event.

Sometimes we know an event is GM generated because they have characters in game that are unknown and more powerful than any player characters, but other times they are not endowed with special powers or they don't show them right away. Slowly we become aware they are GM characters because of the way they roleplay, or because they are connected in some way to unusual occurrences in the realms.

Visions to all or limited to a select few are a means GMs will communicate. During some events GMs have taken on critter bodies, or alfars, even a bird which didn't speak. A major event which is as yet incomplete centers around a Mirror Wraith which delivered a long prophecy in riddle form long ago. Some current events may or may not be connected to this prophecy. GMs will sometimes take on the persona of a Guild Leader, or sometimes just a run of the mill adventurer. One famous GM character entered the realms as a novice Bard by the name of Wren.

Only the GMs know their own motivations for a particular event. Generally speaking the aim is to provide a framework for those players who are committed to roleplaying to build activities around and to generate interest in roleplaying as an enjoyable part of playing DR. Beyond that the GMs may have specific goals in mind when designing an event large or small.

They may want to involve as many adventurers as possible, or they may want to RP the introduction of a new ability, or they may want to seed the realms with information that will be a clue of some sort in an event that will be unfolding over time. A GM may just feel like hacking around with us for a bit. There are as many possible goals to a GM IC appearance in the realms as there are GMs.

The most complex events take place over months and even years involving numerous GM characters. They begin like the whisper of a breeze on a steaming summer day, so faint you wonder if you really felt it. In the moment, barely perceptible, but unbeknownst to you heralding a massive storm system days away.

The biggest events are complex mysteries, puzzles. Often times they have elements which are better understood or even require a knowledge of realms history which is available in game in the libraries, or of realms geography or a combination of the two.

The big events don't happen all at once but are made up of separate individual events as various GM run characters enter the realms separately or together to plant a seed or play out an incident. As these individual events play out over time players realize that they aren't separate events at all, but interconnected in some maddening web of intrigue.

Slowly the story or stories unfold. As it does interested players try to figure out what is going on and what might happen next. They try to figure out who the bad guys are and who the good guys are. Various theories abound because like any good mystery there are hints of possible hidden agendas, broken love affairs, quests for power. Characters contradict one another pointing fingers first at one and then at another. Which is telling the truth?

To further complicate matters no one player or group of players gets all the information first hand. Theories can be based on the impression a player got on meeting one of the characters, or knowing one bad thing they did. As the event grows over months and even years the web of information grows larger and more complex. Individual incidences may or may not be connected to a main event. Some information may have been a deliberate attempt to mislead, some may simply be immaterial. Like any good mystery the smallest detail could be an important clue, or a red herring.

If you are lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time you must be in character and open to roleplaying without knowing that the character who is present is actually a GM. They just come into the realms and start roleplaying attempting to engage other players. They may wander into a hunting area and ask if they can hunt with you. They may try to engage anyone in a room in an IC discussion. They may behave as though they need help of some sort, or be IC belligerent. Those who interact with them IC may get drawn into the story line. It could be an isolated RP event, or part of a larger event.

If a GM alerts others to the fact that they are a GM doing an event large or small, they are descended upon by hoards of players wanting to RP with a GM and doing everything they can to call attention to their character. The event is then ruined. You just can't rp with 25 to 50 people in a room all vying for attention.

As GMs can't RP personally with every adventurer in the realms there has to be some selection process and it can't be based on favoritism. Even though it is based primarily on luck, being in the right place at the right time, by doing it this way the players who are consistently IC and open to roleplaying with other players are the ones who have the best odds of participating directly.

Even if you manage to involve yourself in a seed incident it takes consistent effort to stay involved and you may never get to meet the GM character again. The events are designed in such a way that no particular player is needed for the story to continue unfolding. The goal is for information concerning the latest incident to get out to as many players as possible so that it can be added to the growing pile of who said or did what to whom and why. For large events the same seeds of information will be planted several times to ensure it gets gossiped about.

Players who are consistently IC and open to roleplaying tend to form friendships with one another. Basic human nature. Birds of a feather fly together. They will IM each other if they are lucky enough to get involved in something either in the moment or afterwards will tell their friends what happened. This isn't an attempt at secrecy its just natural that when something unusual happens to you telling your friends about it follows. Many of these players are regulars of the Wren's Nest and report happenings there for further discussion. Some of the various player run orders also try to keep up to date on the goings on in the realms.

During the mega events players who have been following the story line as best they can try to find the GM character and ask questions that might elicit further clues. Even if you manage to be present in the same room as a GM led character it is unlikely you will be alone or get to interact with them directly.

Which of the players will get to them first, or at all, is dependent on luck and planning. Being on line, having the GM character's name highlighted so you see them sign on, staying in the right area of the realms, and having friends that can help you track them down. Once you find them assuming you do the pressure is intense.

The GMs are generally playing out some scenario so your character must ad lib. Even if you have done your homework and have specific questions you want to ask depending on what is going on you might not be able to get your question out. Even if you do the GM character may answer you cryptically leaving you no wiser than before.

To get involved at the core level is very difficult. Far more difficult than circling and requires preparation. Knowledge of realms history is useful, and paying attention to events in the realms as they are unfolding. Once an event is in full swing it is difficult to keep up never mind catch up. It is virtually impossible for another player to give you anything but the barest synopsis of what is going on as nothing is certain and much is disconnected rumor and theory.

All that exists is a disorganized collection of the clues the GM characters have dropped here and there during independent incidents. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the GM participants are unaware of the big picture. All each GM character really needs to know is their own part. What their character's motivation and background is and what they are supposed to achieve if anything.

The largest events are designed to allow as many players as possible a chance to participate. Participating doesn't mean getting to interact with a GM led character. The majority of the time it means trying to figure out what the heck is going on, deciding what your character's reactions are and what if anything they would do about it.

This gives you a chance of reacting appropriately if you do stumble upon a GM incident in game, and also allows you to involve yourself in casual conversation it the realms. Someone mentions a badies name, you shudder and exclaim how awful he is, or say he should be pitied because you heard X happened to him.

(Next Issue - Finding Event Info on the World Wide Web)