The coming Changes
To the Guilds of the Sanctuary


Okay, many of these changes are already in effect, the guilds themselves have been changed though not all of the features we dreamed of have yet been put into effect- though we haven't given up on them yet. A few things have interposed themselves between us and the instant completion of guilds, especially because the guild quests themselves are extremely labor intensive. But, I wander.


Top o' the page.
The Proposed idea.
The Product.
Yet to come.


To those of you unfamiliar with Midnight Sanctuary, the guild were not so very long ago, much like those of any other Smaug mud. One guild per class, set up more or less like a clan or order, except that there was no choice in which you joined if you chose to join a guild. Fairly unrecognizable as different, in fact. When we realized that remort was soon to be a reality, rather than just a distant dream, it became apparent that those guilds would no longer do. With people changing class more or less at will, the guilds would become extremely unstable, frequently stuck with poor leaders or no leader at all. Besides that, there were six more classes coming. Our player base isn't, at this time, large enough to support 15 guilds, especially not with people changing class more or less at will. So we decided to change them.

How, you should now be thinking, did we think to change them? First by cutting down on the number, with the thought that the fewer we had the more likely that they would be active. Secondly by cutting them further away from other player groups, breaking the similarities between guilds and orders. So, what follows is exactly what we decided to do, cut from a previous page.

The Proposed Idea:


1.) Separation from Orders What I'd like to do is pretty drastically separate guilds from orders, because I think they're pretty different things. I want guilds to be jobs, and methods of making money, and orders to be groups of people with the same basic beliefs. Orders will more or less remain the same, guilds will change as I'm attempting to describe on this page. With these changes, I'd think it would be fairly possible to join both a guild and an order, because they would mean entirely different things. A guild being a job, an order being a group of folks you hang out with. I'd also see deadlies being able to join both a clan and a guild, for the same reasons.:)

Changed!2.) Leadership and Rankings. Because of the reformatting of the guilds and the fact that many leaders would be remorting, and so there would likely be a great deal of turnover, my first thought was to just abolish all leadership positions. What we're going to do instead, though, is to keep track of the top ten members, and shuffle them appropriately. It will be done thru successful guild-quests, which you also will be paid for. Paid more for, depending on your rank, in some cases. More successful quests, and more likelihood of moving up thru the ranks. You would gain your position thru getting jobs. With the ranks would ocme higher guild badges, as well as higher pay.

3.) Turnover. Now what would be nice about this method of leaderships is that a leader would HAVE to be active. If anybody else reaches their level, and passes them, they automatically demoted one level. The position would be primarily ego and rp based, and have no real advantages except that they'd be earning more money for jobs, and they'd have the better gear. But knowing people, I would not expect too many to let their positions go easily. And if they do, they shouldn't have it in the first place. The top stations would also have level restrictions, so that a level 15 person couldn't end up ruling the guild. This method of turnover would encourage people to actively work in their guilds, to earn their positions.

4.) The Guilds Themselves. Sil and I were also thinking that it might not be a bad idea to lessen the number of guilds, which would both make it unnecessary to make a new one for every new remort class, and even out the populations of them a bit. What we were thinking was four basic guilds: Magic users, healers, warriors, rogues. The classes would each be assigned to the most appropriate.

5.) Automation. Also thinking that all chars would automatically be tossed into the appropriate guild upon reaching level 15. If they didn't choose to do any jobs it owuld have no ill effect, and wince leaders would be changing as jobs were completed, it would allow everyone a chance to get in, no matter what the hours of the leader.

More specific stuff



Quests/Jobs/Etc Just been working on some ideas here, and if you have any more, please, send 'em to me with that link- the one right .... there!.
  • Warriorish guild Guide a merchant to the place where he's going (example: Ofcol) He continually runs low on movement points, slowing the trip down, and there's a random chance of invoking bandits, which then attack you. If he gets killed, you don't get paid, and you get a failed quest on your record. If he gets hurt, you get paid half price. If he makes it there, whole and successful, you get paid in full.
  • Magicish guild Finding and collecting the ingredients necessary for a wizard's spell for him. All items would be flagged hidden so that they would have to be searched for, thereby killing the opportunity to just cast locate to find them.

    Which guilds including what? There's been a deal of discussion on what these guilds ought to be, and what they ought to be named. We're thinking 3-5 guilds, which will contain in one fashion or another every class and remort class. (various naming ideas cut for space)
    Tarot suits:

    • Top o' the page.
    The Proposed idea.
    The Product.
    Yet to come.


    The Product:


    So, that was the idea. Personally, I still like it, but a few things changed in execution, and a few more simply haven't been finished yet. We do, indeed have four guilds, arranged as stated above. There are, within each guild, ten ranks, plus regular members, divided up as follows:

    SwordsWandsPentaclesCups
    Top Rank
    One Member    		GuildmasterGuildmasterGuildmasterGuildmaster
    Second Rank
    One Member    		BattlemasterOathbinderDemonmasterHierophant
    Third Rank
    One Member    		WarlordLorekeeperShadowlordTheurgist
    Fourth Rank
    Three Members    		MarshallSpellweaverNightbringerDisciple
    Fifth Rank
    Four Members    		KnightHexbreakerShadowstalkerDevout


    With these ranks you get equipment, status, etc, etc, etc. Unfortunately, at this time, you don't get paid, more, but I'll get into that in the yet to come portion, not in the what we have now bit. We do have autoinduct at level 15, but, just right at the moment its glitching, so we're hoping to get it cleared up pretty soon. We have beautifully designed and constructed guild halls on Justice St, built by Ember, Natrina, Silrathi, and myself (Alestra). And we have a system by which leaders are given guild points which they then bestow on deserving underlings so as to raise them up through the ranks. A leader, in turn, can be overturned by popular (unpopularity?) oppinion. They vote, the vote results are turned over to the imms, and we switch the folks around. At this time, that is the height of immortal involvement. Guilds are run by players, and we will do nothing to change how a given player runs their own guild unless the other members vote them out.


    Top o' the page.
    The Proposed idea.
    The Product.
    Yet to come.


    Yet to come:

    Now, as you can see the idea varied slightly from the product, but some of it we're still planning to put into effect. Eventually. That especially includes the jobs, as that was really the base for the whole thing. Making it more into a profession than just a group of players who can do similar types of things. Unfortunately, the quests turned out to be a trifle more difficult to create than originally planned, especially to build enough of them to get the ball rolling, and then to keep adding in enough to keep the whole thing interesting. We are still planning to do all of this, it simply got put onto the back burner for a little while as we take care of some other things.

    Anyway...


    That's where things stand just at the moment. If you have any ideas, on absolutely anything, or if I need to clarify something, write me with this link or, if you'd rather do the whole guestbook thing...

    Read responses to this page!
    Write a response to this page!     		Dreambook