mdk

RPGC #3 -- THE COSMOS

<Snipped quote by mdk>

That sounds like a challenge.

@Ellri

RPGC theme ideas

(this is also a test-thread -- some of our contest discussion threads aren't functioning properly, and I wanna see if the new one allows replies)

RPGC is once again looking for community inputs. We're interested in your ideas for future themes -- but more than that, we're interested in which ideas are super-popular, so we can give those some preference. Thanks to some forum tools, I think we can gather useful information using a very simple voting technique.

So here's how it works. If you have an idea for a theme, post it here. Any bonuses you'd like to see -- and also, any alternative methods for doing bonuses. We don't have to rely on staff picks -- there's any number of ways to pick winners, and we're open to all of them. ANYWAY -- post your ideas here.

THEN -- when you're reading the thread, and you come across someone's idea, you can 'Rate' it using the 'Thank,' 'Thumbs-up,' and 'laugh' buttons.

• Use the 'THANK' button to say "Wow, that's awesome, I wanna do that theme immediately right away, you're cool."
• Use 'THUMBS-UP' to say "Sure, that's a good idea, I could go along with that."
• Use the 'LAUGH' button to say, "Eh..... I'm not that into it."

everybody's vote counts. If there's something you're not crazy about -- BE HONEST, you're probably not alone! If you really like something, say so! The staff will take all these ideas and opinions into account, and we'll do our best to put something on that appeals to everyone.

SIMILARLY -- if you'd like to talk about someone's idea, that's cool too. It will eventually get a little hectic, trying to sort through all the comments on each idea, and it might be hard to track down your thoughts. So, idea-posters, consider editing your posts to reflect any inputs from others, just so we can look at things more readily.

If we do use your idea, you'll of course receive credit, and if you like, we can make room for you on the volunteer staff so you can see it through from start to finish. If not, no worries.

RPGC #3 -- THE COSMOS

Fair warning -- publishers don't like it when a certain amount of the material has been put online already (I think the magic number is 10%? It varies probably). It's probably fine if there's heavy editing in your future, but it's something to be aware of when you're putting up huge portions like @Keyguyperson does. Might wind up closing some doors if you're not careful.

That said..... I totally selfishly wanna read it! Do as you like. You're incapable of producing something bad.

RPGC #3 -- THE COSMOS

True. It can be played around with. The North Star one in particular. The feeling we got was just that the options offered far fewer possibilities than bonus categories could have.

@Ellri

I'll work on that next time around. For this instance though, be as imaginative as you like with the bonuses -- Pluto for instance, I was really meaning to include like all sorts of edge-of-the-universe, mysteries of life and death, etc. It's hard to put all that concisely.

We do consider everybody for every bonus. If there's one you're interested in -- maybe you stretched the concept a little, or used it as a jumping-off point for something -- you can leave us a note on how you interpreted things, and we'll take it into account and do our best. Also if you're reading an entry and you think, "Wow, that would be perfect for such-and-such bonus category!" feel free to share those thoughts too.

The Twelve Labours: General Discussion

review time for MDK! In the interest of getting to everyone these are going to look really cursory at a glance -- I'm trying to get straight to the meat and leave everything else off, but assume I have more to say, and if you want to talk more in depth, I can do that (here and/or in PM, both work for me)

reviews

ultimate power

@RomanAriaFlashbacks are bad and you should feel bad! Okay, got that out of the way. It's not so much the flashing back, but just in general, the story skips around an awful lot. For a short story (especially for a SHORT short story), a more solid structure works better. The conflict is believable -- Chinese emperors especially had to deal with this bullcrap. But it feels a little contrived possibly because of the way it comes up -- imagine this same story playing out over a single scene, with no flashbacks or post-mortem notes. A friend comes in and says "What up homegirl" and Olivia has to decide whether she's politically able to save him/her. Instead of reading "This is a thing that happens in this empire," I'd rather watch it actually happen, you know? Might've hit on the theme a little more that way, hard to say.

Too Much Power

@Psyga315Very interesting developments in the story. Certain things are a little underwhelming though -- when Zack is lamenting a dozen people dead in Turkey, I don't feel any connection to that incident -- like I would if, say, it was some warlord he's already tangled with? Or maybe the people killed were people he's already tried to save, or failed somehow? His attachments to the world aren't all that engaging to me as a reader (I might be alone in that -- that's how I feel though). But his interactions with his brother are great, and their relationship is growing very very interesting after this installment. That part is the focus and it's strong. I'd like to see what happens if you were to focus on one specific, meaningful civilian/crisis/issue and like really get me invested in that, for a chapter or two.

Curiosity Killed the Cat

@Wisedragongirl Oscar is (understandably) a little one-dimensional, because this is a story about that specific aspect of who he is, and what did I really expect was gonna happen? But I'd like to see another side of him. There's maybe a little too much exposition at the beginning, which clears up nicely when the sprites/nymphs/creatures show up -- that part is gold, and part of the reason is, you know, their role hasn't been spelled out -- they're just unfolding before my eyes. I like that, especially in an exploration story. Is there a way to do more of that more often? Maybe instead of saying "No one ever comes out," you could write about Oscar happening across a few bodies and figuring out who they were, what happened, etc.

Forbidden Knowledge Grace

@FlaggOK so I said it before -- I love this writing. It's..... possibly a complete and total miss on the theme, but I don't care, I love it. There's layers and layers of story, and sometimes I'm not getting enough to really follow what's happening (and that's fine by me) -- particularly Part Two, I think, was a glimpse of something that I don't understand yet. And again, I like that in a story (though I assume it gets a little more relevance at some point). I dig pretty much everything here, but especially the kids, god, that was terrifying.

Otherworld

@Dark WindFantastic. I love the decaying sentences. I love the decaying. I love. I mean.... the coolest thing here was that it felt like we were sharing the delusion. Would've been much easier to write about snorting coke and shooting up, but written this way, I'm very much in Mark/Merkel's shoes for the whole journey. I think the ending might've been a little abrupt -- Mark looking at Merkel's shadow, I mean, that's gold, and it feels like a real turning point -- but it's just a line or two before the story's over. Which is hopeful I suppose.... it ended before I wanted it to end, and that's pretty great really. Nice work.

I think therefore I am

Yiiiiiiiiiiiikes that's creepy. Theme homerun, for sure. Other than spelling (heh) I'm not sure what sort of improvements I could even suggest.... Maybe a scream at the end, where they both just start shrieking in unison, that would drive it home. Nah -- it's perfect the way it is. EXCELLENT.

Swordmaster

@PlatinumSkink Right? It's good. We're dealing obviously with a very action-heavy story, and the action is solid. Since it is a battle, I'm not going to stress out much about 'OH THERE WASN'T ENOUGH BACKGROUND FOR XYZ," I mean, this is a fight not a bible story. The scene with the kid isn't super -- the points are getting across, this is a badass swordmaster with a specific attitude, he's issuing a challenge, he's scary and he killed his dad.... it's not super though, and it almost could be. If we focused a little more on character development, in like an active way, during that scene, it would carry the action a little better later on.

I think you are abusing the ellipsis a little bit, and that's something I do myself, so I'm really not trying to offend. There's a lot of ellipses in here. I mean a whole lot. I'm not saying EVERY SINGLE ONE needs to be replaced with sentences, but most of them probably should be. As an exercise, try writing out a few connective sentences/fragments/whatever, especially on the trailing ellipses, and see what comes out. It might be better (it might not, too, but still). Whenever there's that much of something in a story -- be it ellipsis, comma, or 'he said,' it's time to swear off that element for a while just for the sake of growth. Even if it worked perfectly every time, you wouldn't gain much by doing it again.

response to Thirteen Flat reviews

Glad people like it! I was trying my hardest to write something completely different and I just couldn't make it go, so I tried some drag racing.

@Terminal -- Yeah I could've played up the personal benefits a bit more. It was tricky, since I was mostly in John's head for the whole story but it was really a story about Michael. And Michael's got good things going on -- courage, overcoming adversity, the best cars money can buy. These things make him feel alive and it's supposed to come across from, like, the crowd reacting, or 'that spark in his eye' or whatever. He's addicted to the rush though, and that nearly kills him again. Or does get him killed. Schroedinger's Michael, I guess. BUT YEAH -- from the outside perspective it's hard to tell what exactly he's getting out of these races. I could've given him trophies or prize money or a hot wife or something to make that clearer. I think I was counting on the accolades at the end, where everyone decides "Sure, that was 13.0, why not?" to sort of convey the kind of recognition Michael's after. And he got it, sort of, for a price.

@PlatinumSkink -- well "FLAWLESS" is probably overstating it, but thanks! I think lately though "We already know how this is going to end" has been a theme in some of my writing, and I need to build in some more tension/uncertainty. Watching people go through the motions can be fun and all but no one's exactly on the edge of their seat, wondering what's going to happen. I'm gonna work on that.

RPGC #3 -- THE COSMOS

Space. We're in space.

One minor note. Inconsistency in bonus categories:
<Snipped quote>
The latter attributes to the relevant pantheon, while the former claims to be the sole god of war. Rectify?

Our initial thought on bonus categories is that they don't really inspire. You've got the entire universe to play with, and two of the four bonus categories are planets in our own solar system? Where's the thoughts on hard/soft Sci-fi? Deep space? Dark matter? wormholes/spatial folding? FTL travel? Aliens? Etcetera etcetera...

@Ellri

The backstory is, we're merging a few different theme ideas. Space is one aspect -- wormholes, blackholes, airlocks and all that business. But also, mythology -- notably greek/roman mythology, but really lots of things, from Aztecs to Zoroastrianism, have ties to the sky and the stars. It so happens that the local solar system is most closely associated with those pantheons, and thus, that's where we ended up with bonuses. They're meant to represent both the planets and the gods/myths/stories -- and that's not to say "You have to write a story about the planet Mars, or the god Mars, and only those things." Pluto can be a lot of things -- exoplanets, disgraced bodies, the last stop before lightyears of nuthin'.... Options abound.

OF COURSE AS ALWAYS -- if the bonus categories aren't doing it for you, skip them entirely! I'll keep these points in mind on the next planning phase, and see if we can't get more variety in the mix.

game of thrones spoilery thread

Honestly, I was pretty disappointed with the finale.

This has been the worst season yet.

@Awson

it really was, but then again it was (albeit loosely) based on the worst books of the series too, so really we should be thankful that the show combined those.

RPGC #3 -- THE COSMOS

Okay, just a quick question because this immediately popped in my head.

Are fanfics allowed? Like, stories set in a universe based upon a work?

@Psyga315

absolutely.

RPGC #3 -- THE COSMOS

eh, screw it, who needs proofreading anyway? Because I forgot to document them as I went along, all images are credited to Google with only minor tweaks (mostly just letters and borders and resizing). This theme is very open-ended -- I know some people are going to wonder, "Does this idea count?" The answer is always "Sure, why not?"

While you're thinking about what to write, make sure to stop by the Second Labor and leave some thoughts for the authors there. @Terminal put in a lot of personal effort on reviews and judging -- and all writers benefit from having lots of eyes on their work, so don't forget to give those pieces a look.

Thanks, and enjoy!

RPGC #3 -- THE COSMOS

Prompt:

Space – The Final Frontier. But not only a frontier; throughout the history of mankind, we have looked up at the stars. For guidance; for divine favor; for inspiration; for discovery. The heavens are full of gods and science, of light and darkness, of stories – and of nothing. This month’s theme is the Cosmos – the night sky, and all it is, and all it has meant to human beings.

• People's Choice - The main prize goes to the winner of the popular vote. Depending on participation, runners-up may get prizes as well.
• Staff Picks - RPGC staff each select winners from the bonus categories

These optional categories will be tied to special staff pick awards (of the same name) handed out for this month, so take on one (or more!) of the challenges if you want a chance to win another prize!

For this theme, we want each bonus category to be approachable in more ways than one. Each is based on a celestial body with ties to mythology or historical significance. We hope that either the body itself, the figure it represents, or the stories associated with it will inspire your piece -- whether that means journeying through space or simply looking up at the night sky.

What Are Bonus Categories?

Bonus Categories are optional endeavors that add another level of challenge to the contest. You may tackle as many (or as few) as you like in your entry. At the end of the contest, the judges will select winners in each category, separately from the popular vote. Bonus Challenges are not required to be eligible for the main prize.

Why Bonus Categories? Because they're fun, challenging, and who doesn't like more prizes?

• MARS -- The Red Planet, named after the God of War. Earth's closest neighbor.
• PLUTO -- A small and distant world at the edge of oblivion. Named after the Roman god of the underworld.
• NORTH STAR -- The unmoving point of the heavens, which guided sailors to the new world, and guided slaves to freedom.
• THE CONSTELLATIONS -- Select any constellation -- or any other celestial body with a story -- as your inspiration.

• Follow all general contest rules.
• Send your entry to @rpgc entry with the title of your entry in the subject line by July 5th
• Be sure to mention any bonus categories you're hoping to win -- we'll consider everyone for everything, but it can't hurt to remind us!
• All entries will be posted (anonymously?) on July 5th, after which everyone can read, discuss, and of course vote for a winner!

brought to you by

Joining the staff this month is @Kurai Assassin! @Darcs, @mdk, @RomanAria, @RoflsMazoy round out the volunteer staff. Would you like to get involved? Our Get Involved thread is malfunctioning, but you can volunteer by sending a pm to @mdk

Remember:

send entries to @rpgc entry by July 5th