This guide is aimed at players who want to be part of a successful and fun RP guild. Some of the tips also apply for generic PvE/PvP guilds, but RP is the focus. Thanks to Serendipity of Moonglade for her advice and contributions.
1) Do you really need to start a new guild?
Most new guilds will fail within a few months, if not a few weeks. Creating a good guild is not easy, and you'll find a lot of your regular playing time being eaten up by guild admin work. If the idea you have for the guild is already being done by an existing guild, consider joining them instead. If you want a good RP guild, you are going to work very hard and the work never ends.
There are already some very good guilds out there who could probably benefit from your support, and you would in turn become part of something special.
2) What is the personality/theme of your guild?
Is it a guild of holy crusaders or deviant warlocks? Decide this early since if you start recruiting holy warriors, they will probably not be happy if you then bring in some nasty warlocks. A simple paragraph summing up your guild often helps.
For example:
"The guild Convoy Escorts are employed around Azeroth to guard Alliance supply convoys. They can often be seen wandering lonely roads seeking out bandits. It's a short life, but it pays well and you can drink on the job so long as you can hold that crossbow steady enough to land some bolts in the chest of an unlucky bandit. Although they bicker, men whose lives could end at any time forge a close bond of brotherhood."
This kind of introduction gives you a starting point for your guild and allows you to set your recruitment policy so that future members will fit the guild theme. If you don't have a theme, you can start a general RP guild but at least try to decide whether or not it's going to be a good or evil guild.
As well as RP, try to decide whether or not your guild has a specific content focus? For example, my guild is mainly PvE, but with occasional BG and arena trips. This doesn't have to be a set rule, but if you plan to just do light PvE and PvP, don't recruit people on the promise that you'll be hitting Kara every week.
3) Define some guild rules
You need to be fair if you want people to stay, so make some rules for the guild. Remember that it's not just you, it's also your officers that will be recruiting and managing your guild. Publish these rules on a web site. For example, is your guild chat in-character or OOC? This approach makes a big difference for some players. Who can take things from the bank? How will you handle promotions? Rank is a very common source of friction in guilds, so it's good to have a clearly defined progression path.
4) What kind of RP will you be doing?
Some guilds specialise in organising large events, while others just have spur of the moment RP, and some guilds are more a loose association of characters who rarely meet. Try to decide how your guild will behave. Don't promise regular RP events if you have no intention of organising them.
Terms such as heavy/medium/light RP are commonly thrown around but it's important to have a clear understanding of what they mean. Definitions vary, but in general it'll be something like this:
Heavy RP = players are in-character most of the time and RP conversation is the norm. Characters will often have stories that develop over time.
Medium RP = RP happens but is fairly casual. No real character development happens.
Light RP = Very little RP and it's done on a very casual basis.
If you recruit people for a heavy RP guild, be sure that's what you actually are. I've made this mistake myself and lost a good member because I set the wrong expectations during the recruiting. As well as your in-character interview, have an OOC chat in which you explain how the guild functions.
5) Find some good officers
No one person can run a good RP guild on their own. You will need to build your core membership, some of whom will become your officers. This core group is the backbone of the guild and will set an example for all new members. If you're serious about starting a new guild, you should already have some people in mind for these positions before you even buy the charter.
if you don't know many people then take it slowly. As you build contacts, you'll find the right people.
6) How do you recruit?
Do not ask in general "anyone want to join new heavy RP guild convoy escorts. have tabard and bank?" This is equivalent to walking in to a bar yelling "Looking for a woman who wants to come home with me tonight. I have a car."
Try to find a catchy recruitment message that is short but helps people understand the theme of your guild. For example:
"Convoy Escorts are a heavy RP guild who guard the convoys of Azeroth. Come to the Pig & Whistle or whisper me for details. The pay is bad, but you get to keep whatever falls off of the wagons."
That was an out-of-character advert, since it refers to whispering, so this should only be done in an OOC channel, such as guild recruitment or general. If you were advertising by yelling, just ensure that you remain in-character.
Nothing is more off-putting than someone claiming to be an RP guild, while breaking the most simple and important of the RP rules.
Good:
/yell Guards of Dun Morogh are looking for brave dwarfs to keep them trolls out. Come find Flintbeard at Bruuk's, and see if ye got what it takes!
Bad:
/yell Guards of Dun Morogh are looking for brave dwarfs to keep them trolls out! ((heavy rp, whisper for invite))
Okay, so prospective members have arrived and now what do you do? It's important that you try to be selective. Don't just recruit anyone with a pulse so you can make your guild grow quickly, as the guild will most likely collapse. If you can afford to, introduce a level limit so that you don't end up with a load of offline level 5s in the roster. There is no harm in keeping people waiting a little while, since it'll tell you how serious they are about joining. You can tell a lot about someone by how they react when they're asked to wait a little while. It might be 20 minutes, it might be 3 days, but it really can help if you're uncertain about a player.
Always interview candidates! Never invite someone just because they turned up or whispered you. In my previous guild, we wouldn't invite anyone until two officers have had an in-character conversation with the applicant. Also, if you have OOC rules for the guild then you should explain those and make sure that the person accepts them. You can't reasonably criticise someone for ignoring rules if they weren't made clear in the beginning.
Only allow trusted players to invite to the guild. My bank alt recently had to leave a guild because everyone was able to invite. Initially it was working since there were some good RPers in there, and then the naked bank alts with names like Bankzor began to appear. All it takes is a few bad recruits for a young guild to collapse.
7) Build contacts and your reputation
Small RP guilds will benefit a great deal from going out and meeting like-minded RP guilds. This'll bring you more RP and greater opportunities for instances and raids. It's difficult to fill all the spots for an instance or a raid with a guild of maybe 20 people, so these contacts will help. It's common for RP guilds to seek outsiders to help them run an RP event. Offer you help to others, and they will in-turn help you in the future. Most RP guilds are happy to see new like-minded guilds appearing, and will offer advice and encouragement.
One thing I've always found is that getting yourself noticed is important... That and reputation. They're very much linked, and people *will* remember bad stuff and your guild *will* get dragged through the mud - it's sad, but it's human nature. Don't be timid about throwing someone out if they're portraying your guild in a bad light, warn them first, then kick 'em if they don't clean up their act. Simply, you have to be brutal at times - you may like them as a person, but the guild's reputation is paramount.
If people like and respect your guild, you'll find strangers are more willing to group and RP with you since they've come to expect good behaviour from your guild. If you allow people to behave badly then be prepared share their bad reputation.
8 ) Don't ignore raiding and PvP
Even though RP is your main focus, don't understimate how much fun it can be to raid or PvP. Even if you just want to start a small RP guild, consider joining a community such as Zanadu (Alliance), MARP (Horde) or Slackers (Horde). That way players who want to RP and raid will be able to do so without having to leave your guild. I've not been part of MARP, but from personal experience I've found Zanadu and Slackers to be lovely people to play with and a great way to experience raid content for those who don't want to get tied in with a dedicated raiding guild. The RP/Raiding community names quoted are based on Moonglade, but there will be similar organisations on all RP servers.
Summary
Do you really need or want to start a guild? It's not easy.
Define your guild, and try to find your officers before you even purchase that charter.
Recruit wisely and slowly.
Develop contacts with existing RP guilds, and always manage the reputation of your guild.
Delegate work to your officers. Don't try to run everything yourself.
This is still a work in progress so comments are welcome. I've been a GM, and guild officer in some decent RP guilds on Moonglade, so it's based on my personal experiences. Feedback and suggestions are welcomed. Views in here are mine and not always the same as any guilds I mentioned.
Originally posted on Moonglade Unofficial Forums:
http://eumoonglade.co.uk/forum/index
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