The first annual running of the trolls

Every year the… ahem- good people of WoW host an event in October known as the running of the gnomes.


The running is a server wide event in which players from all over flood the Scarlet Crusade North American server with pink haired gnomes. The event raises funds for various breast cancer funds/charities, (Last year was the Tuohy Vaccine) as well as help raise awareness for breast cancer among the WoW community. Each year people are encouraged to help by pledging small change amounts per gnome that shows up. Last year alone we had a grand total of 1,330 gnomes (not counting trial accounts unfortunately) that’s a  lot of cash!


Okay but what about the trolls? You called this thread the running of the trolls!

I’m glad you asked hypothetical slightly sarcastic voice, y’see the awesome team of players behind the running of the gnome has decided to add a new and improved event to their roster. This year on June the 27th the Feathermoon North American Server will host the very first annual running of the trolls! Instead of Breast Cancer for this month’s event the running of the trolls will go to benefit The Trevor Project a suicide hotline/resource for LGBT+ youth. 

That’s great… why are you telling us this?
 
Well I (Lolaf) have decided to pledge small change for this year’s event and thought it might be possible to bring some of the ala community in for this event. 

I’m interested in participating what do I do? 

Again glad you asked! There are two main ways in which you can directly participate in this event:

•  Roll a low level troll on the feathermoon server on June the 27th 9pm EST, active subscriptions will be added to a guild that will help us all keep track of how many trolls actually showed up. That’s it, simple as that. 
  
• If you have a higher level hoard toon on Feathermoon already and don’t really want to roll a new troll you are always welcome to act as honor guard for the newbie runners. Your job will be to move ahead of the pack and kill/aggro any mobs that may prove too strong for the level one toons. We’d like to avoid as much death and respawning as possible. You may also choose to run along side the group in the event mob respawns begin to attack the main horde. (Recommended level for honor guards are 80-100 since we’ll only be running through Vanilla or Cata zones and the use of a mount will allow for easier travel.) You will not be counted towards the final count if you do this! 
  

I don't have an active wow subscription though... 

You may still participate in the running by opening up a free trial account! Unfortunately due to the nature of the trial accounts you cannot chat/enter a group/join a guild which means in the long run you will not be counted when it comes to the final numbers.

However since I’m donating this year as long as you let me know you’re participating I’ll add you to my final count. 

People who go this route are recommended to download the wow client asap as much downloading and patching will be required to play. On average it will take at least 24 hours if not more. 

The gnomes have pink hair, do the trolls have a color scheme? 

Nope! Trolls as a horde race were picked because of their often vibrant hair colors (the brighter colors are recommended) but you are free to design your troll however you please. 
It is encouraged you pick a pride flag to model your toon after (either your own or that of a friend or family member) but it's all up to you! (The running of the trolls official blog has posted an image of several pride flag colors here) 

I myself have chosen the family flag route: 

Side note: I could theoretically have picked my own flag but just look at this ain't no way that's gonna translate to a troll.

I’m not big on WoW can I still help? 

You definitely can!

• You are free to pledge donation amounts as well, lemme know and I’ll make sure to give you the final count. 
  
• Or you can just straight up donate to the Trevor Project. 
  
• Lastly you can help by spreading the word in your other circles, talk to people you know who play the game and encourage them to join the run. 
  

Anything else I aught to know? 

I'm planning on hosting a skype group call for friends that wanna chat during the event, if you want to run and be part of the group call let me know. 

Also feel free to post here, I'll try to answer any questions I can.