RPGC #1 -- Inspired By A Song

[mdk]

The conversation thread is live!

The voting thread is live!

artwork contributed by @Lillian Thorne

It's finally here!

Thanks to a lot of work by a lot of people, we're proud to revive the Guild's long tradition of writing competition by bringing you the first ever Roleplayer Guild Contest. Before we start, the crew of RPGC #1 would like to take a minute to recognize the teams that came before us. Many have moved on; many helped us either directly or indirectly (or even without knowing it) as we set up the groundwork for RPGC. Wherever they are, each of us are sincerely thankful for the many (MANY) months of hard work they put in for the community.

Now if you weren't here for the classic Writer of the Month contests, you may be a bit lost. Essentially, each month, the staff would supply a writing prompt, and anybody who wanted could submit a story, poem, script, or whatever they liked, based on that prompt. Then the entries get posted, and everyone votes for their favorite to pick the winner. We've preserved that backbone in RPGC, and on top of it we've added special prize categories on an optional basis. These winners will be picked by the staff running each contest. You can read more here, and as always, if you have any questions at all, feel free to ask -- we're here to help!

Prompt:

Choose any song you want and write a story or poem based on or inspired by that song.

Awards:

• 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

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!

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?

• Story Bonuses:
  
  • Inside Baseball - Most liberal use of obscure musical terms.
  • Idlest Delilah - You deviated the least from the original story of the song.
• Poem Bonuses:
  
  • George Co-stanza - Awarded for the shortest, angriest verse. *drops mic*
  • Poetic Justice - Use the same rhyme scheme or cadence as the song.

Entry Rules:

• Follow all general contest rules.
• Send your entry to @mdk with an appropriate title (RPGC #1 Entry would work) by March 15th MARCH 18th EXTENDED DEADLINE!
• In the entry submission PM you must include the title and artist name of the song you used, along with a Youtube (or similar) link to that song. They will be posted with your entry.
• 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 March 16th, after which everyone can read, discuss, and of course vote for a winner!

brought to you by

This contest represents work from over a dozen contributors. @Lady Squee,
@slade, @Drakel, @AkiBlue, @Jorick, and @Gwazi Magnum all helped with designing the overall foundations of RPGC -- the rules, the priorities, the process, and most of everything else that goes on behind the scenes. They also helped set up the inaugural #1 contest thread.

@Darcs, @Mr_pink, @RoflsMazoy, @clark, and @Lovleand are the current 'Contest Crew,' running the show backstage. They took this from an idea to a full-blown contest, and right now they're working on reviews, staff picks, and all sorts of other vital administrative jobs. These guys make it all happen!

Next, a special thank-you to the site mods and admins for helping get us all the space we need, and cooking up all sorts of new features for us to use in the future.

Last and certainly not least, copious thanks to @Lillian Thorne for rescuing our thread with beautiful themed artwork when we needed it most. If any more Guild artists would be interested in contributing in the future, we'd love to enlist your services -- get in touch here.

Remember:

send entries to @mdk by March 15th! MARCH 18th EXTENDED DEADLINE!

[Inuyasha]

Oh, I am SO entering this! I know I will not win but there are just too many songs I could do for me to pass this up.

[mdk]

Winning is just part of the fun. I think I entered WOTM over 20 times, and only ever won it on a collaborative contest with Panda illustrating a children's book. The real reason we do this is because writers should write, and be read, as often as possible in as many ways as possible. Contests are a way to help make that happen. Still -- winning is fun, and we're trying our best to spread around lots of winning in sensible ways. Anyone with ideas should totally check out our suggestion threads, and/or join the staff for a round and help us put on a show!

[Meth Quokka]

I'll fire up writing fingers over the next week or two, hinging on finding the right song of course!

[bittersweetsymphonia]

*cracks knuckles* My time has come.

[Keyguyperson]

The prompt is to write a story inspired by a song? Okay, who was the one who read my mind? Who did that?

[Allel]

I was hoping for the return of these comps! When I used RPG previously, I was far too shy to enter any pieces. ~ Not this time!

[RomanAria]

Oh my gosh... I'm SO in. Don't know which song I'm doing yet, but I've got a couple in mind.

[ayzrules]

just making sure-is it limited to one entry per person?

[Light the Dark]

Oh, this sounds like fun. I'll have to see if I can come up with anything. ^^ Is there any length limit or requirement?

[XxFellsingxX]

I think I might enter this. Always looking for writing contests.

[mdk]

The prompt is to write a story inspired by a song? Okay, who was the one who read my mind? Who did that?

@Keyguyperson

I believe it was @Jorick, actually, a ways back. Or at least he put together the early draft of the song theme.

I was hoping for the return of these comps! When I used RPG previously, I was far too shy to enter any pieces. ~ Not this time!

@Allel

Shyness is forbidden! Write!

just making sure-is it limited to one entry per person?

@ayzrules

Unless otherwise noted, it's always one-per-person, yes. I should probably write that down somewhere. In the future we may try a contest or two with multiple submissions, but not just yet.

Oh, this sounds like fun. I'll have to see if I can come up with anything. ^^ Is there any length limit or requirement?

@Light the Dark

No limits of any kind. It's really up to the voters to decide how long of an entry they like; from experience, they do tend to vote more around the 2000-3500 word range, I think. But you don't have to stretch it or compress it at all -- write what you like, we'll take it.

[Kurai Assassin]

so can you write a script for a play or something based off the piece

[JELDare]

Get ready 'cause I'm coming.

[Holmishire]

Are there any formatting restrictions we should be aware of?

[Jorick]

<Snipped quote by Keyguyperson> I believe it was @Jorick, actually, a ways back. Or at least he put together the early draft of the song theme.

@mdk

Indeed it was, 8 months ago in fact. Looks like a few other things survived from that draft, like phrasing for some of the rules, but you guys changed a lot. The bonus categories are far more clever than what I originally threw out there.

[mdk]

so can you write a script for a play or something based off the piece

@Kurai Assassin

The answer to any "Can I write" question is a fervent "YES!" Scripts are more than welcome.

Are there any formatting restrictions we should be aware of?

@Holmishire

Just try to make it look good. "restriction" is sort of a four-letter word around here -- you can do whatever you like. It's up to the voters to reward good formatting. Far as the staff is concerned, we'll post your entry more or less as-is (I might double-space for you, if you forget, because double-spacing is easy to clean up and looks a lot better).

[Inuyasha]

Question about the length -- how long does it have to be? For instance if I write a story can it be like a paragraph long?

[Keyguyperson]

Question about the length -- how long does it have to be? For instance if I write a story can it be like a paragraph long?

@Inuyasha

No limits of any kind. It's really up to the voters to decide how long of an entry they like; from experience, they do tend to vote more around the 2000-3500 word range, I think. But you don't have to stretch it or compress it at all -- write what you like, we'll take it.

@mdk

[Rare]

Yeah, you never did say how long it needs to be...