More actions
Welcome to Being a Game Master
Congratulations on being selected through deliberation or welcome back from your break.
You probably have a lot of ideas, storylines, and characters you want to play out or tell to players and friends. But what now? You have your role, your access, your tools, but where does one even begin preparing a game, let alone run one?
Well, this guide is for new GMs starting to run a game; the concept, pacing, philosophy, and steps involved. For an extensive look into the tools necessary to achieve this, check out GM and Admin Tools.
This guide has sections partly inspired from BlackDragon's Mission Theory as well as a compile of guides and steps existing and scattered on Discord.
TGS Guide to Starting the Server
Before you can begin the preparations, you need to know how to start the server. Generally speaking, when you're in training the Trainer GM will handle it for you, but this is an important aspect nonetheless.
Servers are handled by TGS Webpanel, which is a web-based connection to the server box. There are 4 servers available as of July 2025 for PvE: Red, Green, Blue, and Halo. Each servers contain a list of Test Merges or TMs which are modification of the base code that are not officially part of the game. This can range from bug fixes, to maps, to features.
Choosing Your Server and Test Merges
To start the server or access maps and features not yet in the game, as well as bug fixes taken from from the GitHub Pull Request List, you must have the Game Master role on your CM forum's account to log into the TGS.
Navigating to the TGS WebPanel will show you an OpenID Connect Login page where you can sign in using your forum account. Afterwards you'll be greeted with this page.
From here, you can select and then access a server by clicking on Accesss. You should always check if they are currently being used in the Server tab first by the Online/Offline status before doing anything else.
Test Merge list by navigating to the Repository tab on the left-hand side. Each servers retain the list of the last Pull Requests that have been Test-Merged. If the list of the PRs are satisfactory, then you can move onto starting the server proper.
The Quick Short List for Starting and Closing the Server
- Log into TGS Webpanel.
- Choose the relevant server and press Access.
- At Repository, review, remove, or add PR TMs as needed. Click compile and check for errors.
- At Deployment, Compile and Deploy Repository of the compiled TM List.
- At Server, press Start
- Once the server is ready to be closed, at Server, use Graceful Action dropdown, select Shutdown.
- Use restart server verb in-game.
Making Your Own Test Merge List
But if none of the servers have the PRs you want Test-merged, or has something you want to take out, then you'll have to compile the list of the PRs you want instead. Generally speaking, there are some rules to be considered.
- Unless told otherwise by the PR author, do not TM draft PRs.
- Check all the PRs for conflicts with the base code before Test-Merging.
- Do not TM PRs with [DNTM] or "Do Not Test Merge" in the title and label.
- Do not TM PRs that changes anything with character preference such as new flavortext system, character creation option, loadout option, etc.
- If two PRs change the same files, such as 2 PRs balancing the same gun. There will likely be conflicts that disallow both PRs to be Test-merged at the same time.
- If you're not sure, ask, if there's no clear answer; simply don't Test Merge it.
To add the PRs you want into the TM list, scroll down towards the Test Merges list.
- To add a new PR, use the green plus button.
- To remove a PR, use the red minus button.
- To change a PR's commit version that is already in TM list, use the blue refresh button, rare use case since the PRs are automatically updated by the TGS.
A new pop up will appear with the dropdown list of selectable commit versions. Generally you will always want to use the latest commit version which is selected by default.
- Pressing save will confirm the PR's TM status, where you can find it in the list above.
Once everything you want has been put into a list, the second last step is to compile the Test Merges, this is to ensure that there are no code conflicts between the base game code and the PRs, as well as the PRs between themselves.
You can manually add a PR which has been closed to the TM list by inputing it's PR hash number into the "Manual Test Merge Entry" entry, then hit the blue "Add Test Merge" button. It's inadvisable to do this with any PRs that weren't passing all their checks and closed by the github stalebot however.
Compiling Failed
Although last lists of TMs are discouraged, a frequent side effect of having multiple PRs that touches the same files in the TM list is a compile error caused by conflicts between the PRs and the base code or between themselves.
In short, the two touches the same code and are not compatible with each other and the PR causing the conflict must be removed.
This can be done relatively easily by checking the Error Detail below, where a pop up will appear.
- One of the relevant PRs causing the conflict can then be referred to via the PR Hash # Number as well as conflicting files.
- You may need to open the other PRs on your testmerge list to find which ones are conflicting with the one provided error details.
- The PR itself may be conflicting with the base code, in that case, the author of the PR will need to update it.
Successful Compile and Deploying the List
Amazing, now that you've cleared up the conflict, gotten your PR list, and is ready to start the server, the last step before doing so is to deploy the selected TMs onto the server itself. (Optionally, you can toggle on Compile & Deploy after changes to automatically deploy the list after a successful compile.)
- Simply navigate to the Deployment tab and press Compile & Deploy Repository
The code will then change on the next restart/reboot of the server, which means that you can compile and deploy the TM list you want while the server is running without interrupting it.
And that's it! Wait for it to finish deploying and you're ready to start your very first server.
Starting and Closing the Server
To start a server, navigate to the Server tab under Deployment. Here you can see the status of the server, numbers of connected client, etc.
Scroll down to Actions section, which should look like this.
- To start the server, press Start
- To shut down the server, use the dropdown menu for Graceful Action and select Shutdown. From there you can use the restart server verb in-game where the server will not reboot once it is restarted.
- Do not force the server to stop or restart from the TGS menu unless absolutely necessary such as in the case that no GMs are able to connect to the server.
Setting Up a Game
Before You Announce
You have everything set up? The server's online and active? That's wonderful, now you'll have to do some pre-game preparations. These things can take a lot of time and we don't want to let players wait in the lobby or on the ship itself, so we'll start our work before announcement starts.
You will be met with this screen, it may be intimidating at first with all the tools at your disposals, but this section will guide you through the minimum needed to get everything going. Check this page for the full list of frequently used tools.
Choosing the Factions and the Maps
The first thing to do is to decide your faction and map, this must be your first course of action since it involves restarting the server.
Factions are tied directly to the ship map selected, for example: USS Golden Arrow for USCM.
- Go to the Server tab.
- Use M: Change Ship Map to change the faction's ship.
- Use M: Change Ground Map to change the ground map.
- M: Override Next Map can be used to change the ground map to a .DMM map file on your device.
- After the ship and ground map has been selected use Restart Server to apply changes on the next restart. From there, you can continue your preparations.
The Factions We Have
Relatively speaking, you're the GM of your own game. The sky is a limit on what faction you'd like to run; be it USCM, W-Y, or even factions we do not have ship map for like CMB, UA Army, or even Borgia Industries.
However, only the following factions are prepared with adequate content for standard play. The following shipmaps corresponds to the following factions.
| Faction | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| United States Colonial Marines | [PLACEHOLDER TEXT] | ||
| USCM FORECON | [PLACEHOLDER TEXT] | ||
| UPP Naval Infantry | [PLACEHOLDER TEXT] | ||
| Weyland-Yutani PMC | [PLACEHOLDER TEXT] | ||
| Royal Marine Commandos | [PLACEHOLDER TEXT] |
* No shipside overwatch officer
The following are factions in the game with adequate content, presets, but no ship map preset. These may be used freely as combat-ready props without requiring a lot of set up.
| Faction | ||
|---|---|---|
| United Americas Army | [PLACEHOLDER TEXT] | |
| United Americas Colonial Guard | [PLACEHOLDER TEXT] | |
| United States AeroSpace Force | [PLACEHOLDER TEXT] | |
| United States Aerospace Force | [PLACEHOLDER TEXT] |
Jobs and Adjusting Job Slots
The standard player count for most factions are 11 players total. This generally includes a Platoon Commander, a Section Sergeant, 2 Squad Leaders, a Corpsman, as well as 2 Gunner and 4 Riflemans. Beware that the exception to this rule are FORECON and RMC.
Sometimes, you may want extra players that are rolled as part of the squad instead of using player props. In this case you can manually adjust the job slot before the game starts. Opening slots after the game start will allow players in the lobby to join empty slots.
- Navigate to Server tab.
- Use Adjust Job Slot under Round category.
- Select the job you want to change the number of.
- Change the number and hit confirm.