DM Guide
This doesn’t mean that there can’t be elements of those latter themes in your stories and events, it just means that the primary focus should not be on them - this is, after all, still a fantasy world. TDN is not intended to represent the classic Forgotten Realms. Instead the tone of it seeks to be more grounded, where alignment gets muddied by complicated situations and is measured far more by consistent behavior over singular actions.
To put it more plainly, events where cultists look to summon a demon are likely rare if ever to be seen on TDN. Similarly the undead and other elements of the supernatural need to be taken far more seriously and used far more sparingly.
So what does that mean? The server requires a lot of creativity and thought. It wants to challenge you to move away from things that are standard fare on most servers, and instead think about how you can take relatively mundane situations and make them complex and interesting: a corrupt guard extorting money from a poor and vulnerable family, a string of slayings in the slums that turn out to be a vigilante taking revenge in the name of their murdered sister, and so on.
It also wants you to try and think of events that can bring people together in situations that aren’t about violence or misery, such as faires, competitions, masquerades, religious days or other such things that allow players to explore a broader range of their characters emotions, opinions, desires and character traits.
If you don’t think you understand this by that brief overview or are in doubt regarding themes you want to incorporate into the server, please seek further clarification from the senior staff. If you have a few ideas and want to run them by senior staff to help you understand whether or not you align with the vision, please do so. It is vitally important above all else that you do align with this vision - for your own fun and enjoyment as a DM as much as the server integrity.
Quest Master (QM)
Quest Masters are players who have a limited role - occasionally they can be called upon to support DMs as a particular NPC, to keep players engaged when things are anticipated to get hectic and require attention to be divided between multiple places.
Mostly, however, Quest Masters exist to create small, engaging pieces of content that enrich the flavour of the server without making any large waves. They are not there to provide any substantial rewards to players or drive any particularly important storylines (unless coordinated with a DM).
While we accept people who only wish to be QMs, even those who want to be DMs have to start in this position, for a trial period that can last anywhere between 1 and 3 months. This is to ensure that you are concrete in your ability to represent the vision of the server. For prospective DMs, this role is meant to help you ease into DMing on TDN with less responsibility and less pressure on managing things, while ensuring you fully grasp the tone all DMs should aim for. It’s intended to help you establish yourself also with the player base, as well as get you used to NPCs, factions and players. More on this will be explained under the Structure section of the document.
Dungeon Master (DM)
DMs are considered trusted members of staff. They have proven themselves to understand and align with the vision of the server, and to be able to accurately portray it. DMs are likely to be assigned to a faction or multiple factions to take part in. Though they may not be leading the faction, especially if a player has that position, they will control NPCs within the faction that help drive plots. They will also be trusted to create events of their own off of the main story framework, as well as help in main story events or even run them.
To utilise these different roles to their best effectiveness, this section of the document will lay down the foundation of what you can do and what’s expected of you in your respective role, and also what to expect from those in other roles.
Responsibilities
Your responsibilities as a Quest Master are primarily to enrich the server without majorly impacting it. This means that you should not be creating characters of any great importance, nor of any lasting permanence in the setting.
A basic example of this might be a travelling wizard that’s not familiar with the culture and laws of Amn following The Longest Year, to disastrous effect. This kind of small storyline could end with the unfortunate demise or imprisonment of the wizard, to demonstrate and reflect to new players what they might expect if they don’t adjust to the setting themselves as a spellcaster.
While you don’t necessarily need to create such on-the-nose scenarios in all of your efforts, it is important that you don’t misrepresent any of the custom elements, such as people having a general flippancy towards supernatural forces, a disrespect towards authority or other threats with no repercussions, or similar things which might undermine a more grounded tone.
Furthermore, DMs may call upon you if you’re available to assist with a planned event. If you have that availability during the time of the event, it’s expected that you treat this with priority over your time as a player.
Limitations
Though it was touched on briefly, to be more clear: you should not be creating or possessing characters that are important nobles, archmages, overly powerful adventurers or anything that would exert a serious level of authority over other players. You should only create characters of minor importance and any quests you generate with such characters should similarly be minor in scope. You are not permitted to possess any existing named NPCs - any NPCs you possess must be created by yourself and must not have any permanence within the setting unless agreed upon with a DM or admin.
Largely, your role as a Quest Master is to simply breathe more life into the setting and generate moments for people to react to and incorporate into their character and conversations going forward. You should not be handing out rewards to players of any shape and size except for, perhaps, a modest amount of silver (Always confer with a DM/admin before handing out rewards to ensure that there is a mitigated risk of economical impact with the rewards due to the ever-changing state of the economy) or some very basic healing potions and supplies.
Progression
A Quest Master can potentially move directly into a full Dungeon Master role if they have proven themselves and generated enough positive roleplay in accordance with the server vision to give the team full faith in their abilities. Any technical knowledge needed to DM beyond that could be trained by other DMs if required. If you have applied as a Quest Master, you will need to at least be consistent in performing your role for one month before we would consider you to automatically move up to any kind of DM role (providing you want to). If you wish to move into a DM role before that, we would require you to submit another application for it like anyone else.
Event Timeframe
As a Quest Master, the maximum length of any ongoing quest you can run is one week (without explicit approval). If you begin a quest and for some reason cannot conclude it within this timeframe, please reach out to a DM or admin.
Responsibilities
As a trusted member of the staff, Dungeon Masters have far more freedom than Trial DMs or QMs. However, as we want to avoid confusion and excessive book keeping, there is still a degree of structure to the role.
Your freedom allows you to do more as a story teller, in that the events that you create can potentially lead into longer storylines and you may both see and run events within the main storyline.
Furthermore, your responsibilities will involve keeping watch on and fostering roleplayers that are trying to make an impact on the server and have proven to some degree that they’re capable. An example of this would be a player that has already gathered others towards a particular cause or goal. Perhaps they want to set up a business or push towards a political career within the server. As a DM, you are able to support these kinds of ambitions and are expected to, to some degree.
Similarly, you will also be responsible for helping to guide and advise QMs. This will mostly involve helping them with any mechanical issues they might have or just being there to support them during events should they request it and you have availability.
Limitations
Each DM will be able to create multiple NPCs, and permanence can be achieved with approval from the HDM/admins. These NPCs can be important figures such as high-ranking faction members, nobles, important clergy members, etc.
These NPCs will also be the springboard for events.
Additionally, a full DM may be given a faction to look after, of which interest can be discussed beforehand. DMs that do not wish to have the responsibility of any of the factions will not be asked to unless there is a truly pressing need. This also may not necessarily entail running said faction, but rather just being a point of contact for high ranking PCs who may need the extra resources of a DM to make something happen which the DM deems acceptable.
Because there is no ownership of NPCs, if you intend to possess a named NPC that you have not created and have not played, check the internal chronicles and wiki for mentions of the NPC and details, and discuss with the team to ensure nothing is missed.
Finally, although you will have the freedom to create your own storylines that can stretch into multiple events, it must be noted that your primary responsibility is still to the main campaign and supporting it. Take care when creating your events not to stretch yourself too thin, mostly for your own enjoyment and to avoid burn out.
Progression
In order to progress to a Senior Dungeon Master, you will be expected to have been a full DM for a minimum of 7 months. You will also be expected to have proven yourself as a storyteller capable of both working with the main storyline as well as creating your own, and your interactions with the community need to be proven to consistently align with the server vision and tone.
At that point, you will need to inquire about becoming a Senior DM if you wish to progress. The current Senior DMs and the admin will then discuss to ensure there is agreement that you are suited to the task.
Event Timeframe
As a DM, the maximum length of any connected series of events you can run is six months. If you begin an event chain and for some reason cannot conclude it within this timeframe, please reach out to a Senior DM.
Responsibilities
Senior DMs enjoy the full trust of the admin and staff, and will be granted access to review the entirety of the server campaign along with any plans the staff may have for future plotlines and mechanical ideas that will tie into those themes. You will also have a voice in these matters, discussing with other Senior DMs alongside the admin as to the best direction moving forward.
As a Senior DM, your duties will include everything that a regular DM has, plus you will also be responsible for oversight of multiple aspects of the way the server runs. You will be expected to have an understanding and at least a cursory oversight of all the factions, so that you can assist with the running of them.
If you have moved up from a DM role while supporting a faction, you are also expected to continue supporting this until a regular DM can take your place. Similarly, any factions that do not currently have DM support will need to be supported by you.
You are expected to support regular DMs and Quest Masters with any queries. If they require any support in running or organising events, you will also be expected to help them if you have availability to do so.
Limitations
As a Senior DM, your main priority will be on forwarding the main storyline of the server and also ensuring that it has a healthy pace. You will not be able to run these storylines whenever you please, but will adhere to a plan agreed upon with the other Senior DMs and especially the admin.
Although you are able to possess any NPC you wish that hasn’t been created or claimed by other DMs, you must also inform other staff of your intention to ensure all other DMs know that NPC is now yours.
Important NPCs are available to you as long as they are not claimed, and you are also able to make important NPCs of your own. However, as with everything else, you will be regularly discussing these matters with other Senior DMs to ensure there is no overlap or mistake with your intent.
Although you may be overseeing multiple factions at certain times, you are expected to hand those factions over wholly to a capable DM or a capable player that has earned their place. Primarily, a Senior DM is intended to be a supervisor or overseer for everything story related and someone who is ready to fill in any role necessary at a given time.
Lastly, as you will come to learn the entirety of a campaign and possibly the next, you may be in a situation where you are unable to participate in the current campaign at all, or the next depending on how well that following campaign has been fleshed out. Similarly, you will be unable to participate in any ongoing quest lines that were active during your time as a Senior DM.
Event Timeframe
As a Senior DM, the maximum length of any connected series of events you can run is nine months. If you begin an event chain and for some reason cannot conclude it within this timeframe, please reach out to another Senior DM.
Below is a list of rules and points that all DMs need to adhere to, regardless of station. Failure to adhere to these rules can lead to anything from being stripped permanently of a DM role to being permanently banned from the server. Be sure to read these rules carefully before proceeding.
Overview
This document is intended to explain what expectations are from a Dungeon Master (DM) on The Dragon’s Neck (TDN) server. It will also outline the role framework that we intend to work within. The reason we’ve opted to try organising things this way is to eliminate some of the messiness that can come with several creative people collaborating to tell a story. It also is an attempt to try and make easing into the role of a DM less daunting, which will hopefully become clear as you read through the document.Vision
We classify the vision as the overall philosophy that TDN has been built around; from lore to mechanics and everything in between. The vision affects all aspects of what you do. The setting is low magic and intends to concentrate far more on themes like philosophy, politics, interpersonal conflicts and grey morality over the usual heroism, good vs evil, whims of gods or cults, etc.This doesn’t mean that there can’t be elements of those latter themes in your stories and events, it just means that the primary focus should not be on them - this is, after all, still a fantasy world. TDN is not intended to represent the classic Forgotten Realms. Instead the tone of it seeks to be more grounded, where alignment gets muddied by complicated situations and is measured far more by consistent behavior over singular actions.
To put it more plainly, events where cultists look to summon a demon are likely rare if ever to be seen on TDN. Similarly the undead and other elements of the supernatural need to be taken far more seriously and used far more sparingly.
So what does that mean? The server requires a lot of creativity and thought. It wants to challenge you to move away from things that are standard fare on most servers, and instead think about how you can take relatively mundane situations and make them complex and interesting: a corrupt guard extorting money from a poor and vulnerable family, a string of slayings in the slums that turn out to be a vigilante taking revenge in the name of their murdered sister, and so on.
It also wants you to try and think of events that can bring people together in situations that aren’t about violence or misery, such as faires, competitions, masquerades, religious days or other such things that allow players to explore a broader range of their characters emotions, opinions, desires and character traits.
If you don’t think you understand this by that brief overview or are in doubt regarding themes you want to incorporate into the server, please seek further clarification from the senior staff. If you have a few ideas and want to run them by senior staff to help you understand whether or not you align with the vision, please do so. It is vitally important above all else that you do align with this vision - for your own fun and enjoyment as a DM as much as the server integrity.
Roles
Quest Master (QM)
Quest Masters are players who have a limited role - occasionally they can be called upon to support DMs as a particular NPC, to keep players engaged when things are anticipated to get hectic and require attention to be divided between multiple places.
Mostly, however, Quest Masters exist to create small, engaging pieces of content that enrich the flavour of the server without making any large waves. They are not there to provide any substantial rewards to players or drive any particularly important storylines (unless coordinated with a DM).
While we accept people who only wish to be QMs, even those who want to be DMs have to start in this position, for a trial period that can last anywhere between 1 and 3 months. This is to ensure that you are concrete in your ability to represent the vision of the server. For prospective DMs, this role is meant to help you ease into DMing on TDN with less responsibility and less pressure on managing things, while ensuring you fully grasp the tone all DMs should aim for. It’s intended to help you establish yourself also with the player base, as well as get you used to NPCs, factions and players. More on this will be explained under the Structure section of the document.
Dungeon Master (DM)
DMs are considered trusted members of staff. They have proven themselves to understand and align with the vision of the server, and to be able to accurately portray it. DMs are likely to be assigned to a faction or multiple factions to take part in. Though they may not be leading the faction, especially if a player has that position, they will control NPCs within the faction that help drive plots. They will also be trusted to create events of their own off of the main story framework, as well as help in main story events or even run them.
Structure
To utilise these different roles to their best effectiveness, this section of the document will lay down the foundation of what you can do and what’s expected of you in your respective role, and also what to expect from those in other roles.
Quest Master
Responsibilities
Your responsibilities as a Quest Master are primarily to enrich the server without majorly impacting it. This means that you should not be creating characters of any great importance, nor of any lasting permanence in the setting.
A basic example of this might be a travelling wizard that’s not familiar with the culture and laws of Amn following The Longest Year, to disastrous effect. This kind of small storyline could end with the unfortunate demise or imprisonment of the wizard, to demonstrate and reflect to new players what they might expect if they don’t adjust to the setting themselves as a spellcaster.
While you don’t necessarily need to create such on-the-nose scenarios in all of your efforts, it is important that you don’t misrepresent any of the custom elements, such as people having a general flippancy towards supernatural forces, a disrespect towards authority or other threats with no repercussions, or similar things which might undermine a more grounded tone.
Furthermore, DMs may call upon you if you’re available to assist with a planned event. If you have that availability during the time of the event, it’s expected that you treat this with priority over your time as a player.
Limitations
Though it was touched on briefly, to be more clear: you should not be creating or possessing characters that are important nobles, archmages, overly powerful adventurers or anything that would exert a serious level of authority over other players. You should only create characters of minor importance and any quests you generate with such characters should similarly be minor in scope. You are not permitted to possess any existing named NPCs - any NPCs you possess must be created by yourself and must not have any permanence within the setting unless agreed upon with a DM or admin.
Largely, your role as a Quest Master is to simply breathe more life into the setting and generate moments for people to react to and incorporate into their character and conversations going forward. You should not be handing out rewards to players of any shape and size except for, perhaps, a modest amount of silver (Always confer with a DM/admin before handing out rewards to ensure that there is a mitigated risk of economical impact with the rewards due to the ever-changing state of the economy) or some very basic healing potions and supplies.
Progression
A Quest Master can potentially move directly into a full Dungeon Master role if they have proven themselves and generated enough positive roleplay in accordance with the server vision to give the team full faith in their abilities. Any technical knowledge needed to DM beyond that could be trained by other DMs if required. If you have applied as a Quest Master, you will need to at least be consistent in performing your role for one month before we would consider you to automatically move up to any kind of DM role (providing you want to). If you wish to move into a DM role before that, we would require you to submit another application for it like anyone else.
Event Timeframe
As a Quest Master, the maximum length of any ongoing quest you can run is one week (without explicit approval). If you begin a quest and for some reason cannot conclude it within this timeframe, please reach out to a DM or admin.
Dungeon Master
Responsibilities
As a trusted member of the staff, Dungeon Masters have far more freedom than Trial DMs or QMs. However, as we want to avoid confusion and excessive book keeping, there is still a degree of structure to the role.
Your freedom allows you to do more as a story teller, in that the events that you create can potentially lead into longer storylines and you may both see and run events within the main storyline.
Furthermore, your responsibilities will involve keeping watch on and fostering roleplayers that are trying to make an impact on the server and have proven to some degree that they’re capable. An example of this would be a player that has already gathered others towards a particular cause or goal. Perhaps they want to set up a business or push towards a political career within the server. As a DM, you are able to support these kinds of ambitions and are expected to, to some degree.
Similarly, you will also be responsible for helping to guide and advise QMs. This will mostly involve helping them with any mechanical issues they might have or just being there to support them during events should they request it and you have availability.
Limitations
Each DM will be able to create multiple NPCs, and permanence can be achieved with approval from the HDM/admins. These NPCs can be important figures such as high-ranking faction members, nobles, important clergy members, etc.
These NPCs will also be the springboard for events.
Additionally, a full DM may be given a faction to look after, of which interest can be discussed beforehand. DMs that do not wish to have the responsibility of any of the factions will not be asked to unless there is a truly pressing need. This also may not necessarily entail running said faction, but rather just being a point of contact for high ranking PCs who may need the extra resources of a DM to make something happen which the DM deems acceptable.
Because there is no ownership of NPCs, if you intend to possess a named NPC that you have not created and have not played, check the internal chronicles and wiki for mentions of the NPC and details, and discuss with the team to ensure nothing is missed.
Finally, although you will have the freedom to create your own storylines that can stretch into multiple events, it must be noted that your primary responsibility is still to the main campaign and supporting it. Take care when creating your events not to stretch yourself too thin, mostly for your own enjoyment and to avoid burn out.
Progression
In order to progress to a Senior Dungeon Master, you will be expected to have been a full DM for a minimum of 7 months. You will also be expected to have proven yourself as a storyteller capable of both working with the main storyline as well as creating your own, and your interactions with the community need to be proven to consistently align with the server vision and tone.
At that point, you will need to inquire about becoming a Senior DM if you wish to progress. The current Senior DMs and the admin will then discuss to ensure there is agreement that you are suited to the task.
Event Timeframe
As a DM, the maximum length of any connected series of events you can run is six months. If you begin an event chain and for some reason cannot conclude it within this timeframe, please reach out to a Senior DM.
Senior Dungeon Master
Responsibilities
Senior DMs enjoy the full trust of the admin and staff, and will be granted access to review the entirety of the server campaign along with any plans the staff may have for future plotlines and mechanical ideas that will tie into those themes. You will also have a voice in these matters, discussing with other Senior DMs alongside the admin as to the best direction moving forward.
As a Senior DM, your duties will include everything that a regular DM has, plus you will also be responsible for oversight of multiple aspects of the way the server runs. You will be expected to have an understanding and at least a cursory oversight of all the factions, so that you can assist with the running of them.
If you have moved up from a DM role while supporting a faction, you are also expected to continue supporting this until a regular DM can take your place. Similarly, any factions that do not currently have DM support will need to be supported by you.
You are expected to support regular DMs and Quest Masters with any queries. If they require any support in running or organising events, you will also be expected to help them if you have availability to do so.
Limitations
As a Senior DM, your main priority will be on forwarding the main storyline of the server and also ensuring that it has a healthy pace. You will not be able to run these storylines whenever you please, but will adhere to a plan agreed upon with the other Senior DMs and especially the admin.
Although you are able to possess any NPC you wish that hasn’t been created or claimed by other DMs, you must also inform other staff of your intention to ensure all other DMs know that NPC is now yours.
Important NPCs are available to you as long as they are not claimed, and you are also able to make important NPCs of your own. However, as with everything else, you will be regularly discussing these matters with other Senior DMs to ensure there is no overlap or mistake with your intent.
Although you may be overseeing multiple factions at certain times, you are expected to hand those factions over wholly to a capable DM or a capable player that has earned their place. Primarily, a Senior DM is intended to be a supervisor or overseer for everything story related and someone who is ready to fill in any role necessary at a given time.
Lastly, as you will come to learn the entirety of a campaign and possibly the next, you may be in a situation where you are unable to participate in the current campaign at all, or the next depending on how well that following campaign has been fleshed out. Similarly, you will be unable to participate in any ongoing quest lines that were active during your time as a Senior DM.
Event Timeframe
As a Senior DM, the maximum length of any connected series of events you can run is nine months. If you begin an event chain and for some reason cannot conclude it within this timeframe, please reach out to another Senior DM.
Other Rules
Below is a list of rules and points that all DMs need to adhere to, regardless of station. Failure to adhere to these rules can lead to anything from being stripped permanently of a DM role to being permanently banned from the server. Be sure to read these rules carefully before proceeding.
- If you have a PC of your own, you may not use any knowledge you have that isn’t also privy to other players to your advantage as a PC, even if you step down from your DM role.
- If you have a PC of your own and knowledge of a particular storyline piece, you may not participate in anything linked to that storyline as a PC, even if you step down from your DM role.
- You may not create custom items without express consent from the admin or Head DM.
- You may not offer excessive amounts of reward to any particular player, no matter their contributions. If you are unsure what constitutes excessive, seek clarification with Senior DMs or the admin.
