What is Longshanks?

Longshanks allows organizers to easily publicize events and automatically manage player pairings.

It allows players to easily find and participate in local events and see what other events are happening around the world.

Since 2017, Longshanks has been the de facto online home of competitive Guild Ball, a tabletop miniatures game by Steamforged Games. In 2020, a sister site was created for another Steamforged game, Godtear.

The two systems were combined in 2021 and support was added for additional game systems. If your favorite game isn't supported yet, contact us to see if it can be added.

Longshanks is owned and operated by Windy City Game Lab, LLC. Names, images, logos, and other game-specific trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Acknowledgements

Ben Redmond

Ben created the first Guild Ball ranking system and was a significant inspiration for Longshanks.

Kevin Stewart

Kevin has been instrumental in providing feedback on the functionality of the Longshanks system. He has also provided a number of ideas and suggestions that have been crucial to the site's success.

Special contributors

Players marked with the red star badge contribute to Longshanks in a variety of ways, including testing and troubleshooting new features. Their help is greatly appreciated!

Before contacting us, please read through the Help pages. You may find the answer to your question here.

If you can't find what you need or require additional assistance, there are several ways to cantact us. Please choose one of the options here for any questions or requests.

Email

• Longshanks administration
• Windy City Game Lab

Social media

Discord

• Longshanks channel of WCGL server

Facebook

• Longshanks
• Windy City Game Lab

Twitter

• Windy City Game Lab

RPI

Player rating on Longshanks is based on the rating percentage index (RPI).

R	=	win/loss record
OR	=	average R of all opponents
OOR	=	average OR of all opponents

Game threshold

Each game system has a threshold set by that game's administrator. This threshold represents approximately half the number of games played by a typical competitive player per year.

Rating

To account for new and untested players, RPI is modified to favor more games being played. A Q-factor is calculated for each player based on the number of games played and the game system's threshold.

The Q-factor is very large when a player has played few games and disappears as a player approaches the game threshold.

e	=	Euler's number
T	=	game threshold
n	=	number of games played

The rating of a player who has played fewer games than the game threshold is calculated by dividing that player's RPI by their Q-factor. Once a player has reached the game threshold, their rating is equal to their RPI.

Access an existing profile

If you have ever attended an organized play event for one of the supported game systems, you may already have a player profile. If you find a profile in the player list that matches you, follow the instructions on that profile page to claim it.

An unclaimed player profile can be registered for events by an event organizer, but you must claim your profile to register for events yourself, host events, or change your player information.

Create a new profile

If you do not have a player profile and want to set one up, you can create a new player profile.

Editing your information

Once you have claimed your profile and logged in, you may update your name, home region, password, and other profile information using your Dashboard.

ID number

Each player in the system has an ID number that is unique and cannot be changed. A player can always be identified by their ID number even if that player changes their name or other profile information.

Display name

Your display name is used by event organizers and other players to find you. To avoid confusion and ensure that games are linked to the correct profile, you should be easily identified by your display name both online and in real life.

• While not required, it is highly recommended that you use your real name.
• Your display name may not contain special characters.
• Your display name may not contain profanity.

Nicknames

Subscribers may choose to use a nickname. These appear as a higlighted section within your display name.

• Your nickname may not contain special characters except #, @, $, €, £, ¥, and µ.
• Your nickname may not contain profanity.

Direct messages

Players and event organizers may send direct messages (DMs) to one another. Direct messaging is disabled by default and must be enabled on your Dashboard. If you enable direct messaging, any player may send you a DM at any time by visiting your player profile.

• Your email address is never shown to a DM recipient. Recipients must follow a link in the message to reply.
• If you send a DM, the recipient will be able to reply even if you have DMs disabled.
• All DMs are visible to administrators for diagnostic and security purposes.

Event announcements

Event organizers may send announcements to event attendees to share information about the event or give updates. Players may send messages to event organizers to ask questions or request registration to a closed event.

• Event announcements are sent to all registered players, even players with DMs disabled.
• Any player may send a message to any event organizer, even if that organizer has DMs disabled.

Normal

Users without one of the elevated or restricted permission levels shown below are in good standing and have access to all normal Longshanks features.

Subscribers

Subscribers have access to additional features, including more detailed data analytics, the ability to add a nickname, and the ability to host team tournaments.

Elevated

Administrator

Administrators can modify player profiles, games, and events created by other users.

Special contributor

These users test out and offer feedback on new features of the site before they become public.

Restricted

Warning

Users may receive warnings for certain unacceptable behaviors. These users retain all standard permissions but are flagged so that administrators can monitor their activity.

Locked

The profiles of users that receive multiple warnings or exhibit extreme unacceptable behavior will be locked. These users can attend events as normal, but cannot host events, enter casual games, or modify their own profiles.

Registration

Players may register for Open events directly. Event organizers can register players for their events using player ID numbers.

The registration section on each event allows you to manage your registration for that event before it begins and drop from the event after it has begun.

To register for a locked event or team tournament, contact the event organizer.

Once you are registered for an event, you will appear on the event page. You can also see and enter the results of your current game on your Dashboard.

Friends

You may add up to five other players as friends. Event organizers may choose to avoid matches between mutual friends during a tournament.

Modify your friends list from your Dashboard.

Player capacity

Players may not register for an event once it reaches its player capacity (if one is set). An event organizer can always add or remove players, even after the event reaches capacity.

Game pairings are set automatically using one of the methods shown here.

Byes

If an event has an odd number of players, one player will need to sit out each round.

Swiss

Each player is paired at random against another player with the same number of tournament points. In some cases, players may be paired up or down to a player with a different number of wins if necessary.

A bye is assigned randomly to a players with the least number of tournament points if necessary.

Random

Each player is paired at random against another player.

A bye is assigned randomly if necessary.

Monrad

Players are ranked by tournament points, then the tie-breaker chosen for the event (if any). The player in first place is paired against the player in second place and so on.

A bye is given to the player in last place if necessary.

Round Robin

Each player plays against each other player over the course of a Round Robin tournament. The order of matchups is determined at random. A bye is assigned randomly if necessary.

Coming soon!

Players may play in all rounds of most events, but some events use player elimination. Longshanks supports the following elimination methods.

Single elimination

Players are eliminated if they lose a game.

Single elimination is only recommended for highly competitive events.

Double elimination

Players are eliminated once they lose two games.

Double elimination is only recommended for highly competitive events.

This method generally requires at least one extra round than a non-elimination event of the same size and may result in the final two players facing each other twice before a winner can be declared.

Strength of schedule (SOS)

SOS favors players that faced more difficult opponents during the event.

A bye game is recorded as an opponent with no wins when calculating SOS.

To reduce the impact of byes and players dropping from an event after losing early rounds, each player has a minimum win/loss record of 1/3 when calculating SOS.

OR	=	average win/loss record of all opponents
OOR	=	average OR of all opponents

Margin of victory (MOV)

MOV favors players that score more points compared to their opponents.

A bye game is not included when calculating MOV.

SP	=	player's score in each game
SO	=	opponent's score in each game
N	=	number of opponents

Victory points scored (VPS)

VPS favors players that score the most victory points per game.

A bye game is not included when calculating VPS.

SP	=	player's score in each game
N	=	number of opponents

Victory points allowed (VPA)

VPA favors players who allow their opponents to score the least victory points per game.

A bye game is not included when calculating VPA.

SO	=	opponent's score in each game
N	=	number of opponents

Pairing options

Before generating each new round, you must select from several options for that round. Once your options have been selected, the system will generate a set of player pairings for that round. You may adjust pairings manually if desired.

Rematches and pairings between mutual friends are highlighted when setting the pairings for a new round. It is recommended that you manually change a rematch if one appears. If you discover an error after posting a round, simply delete the round and redo the pairings.

Once selected, these options apply only to this round. They must be re-selected each round.

Pairing system

You may choose which pairing method (see above) will be used for this round. Swiss pairing is recommended for most events.

Player elimination

You may choose to use player elimination. Single elimination pairs only undefeated players. Double elimination also pairs players who have a single loss.

Avoid pairing friends

You may choose to automatically avoiding pairings between mutually-recognized friends. This is not recommended beyond the first round of a tournament.

Finished events

Once a single undefeated player has been found, adding additional game rounds is not recommended. You may ignore this warning if you wish to continue the event anyway.

When your event has ended, use the buttons provided to mark it as finished. Until an event is marked this way, it will continue to appear in the system as incomplete.

Practice & test events

When you create a new event, it will automatically be hidden. Keep events hidden to practice using the event management system and run test events. Change an event's status to Open or Locked to make it publicly visible.

Hidden events are not included in any rating or award calculations, so they will not affect the included players in any way.

Creating new player profiles

You can create a new profile for players who don't already have one. Please avoid duplicate entries by confirming that players don't already have profiles and by checking the spelling of names before creating new profiles.

Standard or team

Standard

Games are played between individual players.

Team

Teams of up to three players match up, then games are played between individual players from one team against players from the other team.

Coming soon! Support for five-player teams.

If a game system uses teams that always play as a cohesive unit and never individually, those should be Standard events.

Rated or unrated

Rated

Games in rated events are included when calculating player ratings.

Rated events should strictly follow current game rules and any official tournament procedures. It is recommended that rated events have at least 8 participants.

Unrated

Games in unrated events are not included in player rating calculations. They can be more casual, less competitive, and even use alternate forms of play.

Unrated events are great for escalation leagues, thematic games, and convention side events.