The Twelve Labours: General Discussion

[Terminal]

The Twelve Labours

Nothing is more treacherous than idle chatter.

Andrew Ryan, Bioshock

Wait a minute, I never said that!

Andrew Ryan, Bioshock

I hereby dedicate this thread to discussion of all contests associated with The Twelve Labours in general. If you're looking to submit a contest entry, do /not/ post it here! PM it to @Terminal, and remember to include whether or not you want your work to remain anonymous (all submissions will only include their author if I am given explicit permission to do so).

Now, if you've already checked out the Rules for TTL, then you'll know that we insist on all submissions being freshly written for each contest, and that no plagiarism of any kind is involved. However, the entire point of The Twelve Labours is to see that writers both challenge and improve themselves. If you want to discuss your submission while you're writing it, look for help and/or troubleshooting, or otherwise talk about the contest or the submissions in general? Do it here.

Please note, this is not the place to post commentary or suggestions on policy for The Twelve Labours. Head to our feedback thread for that. However, feel perfectly free to ask questions of any nature here.

As a general notice: The Twelve Labours is currently looking for judges! As anybody who was aware of the numerous, lengthy entries for the first RPGC will know, reading, reviewing, and judging each entry takes a lot of time and effort. Even moreso here in The Twelve Labours, since we only have a judging period of three days! Yikes! So for the moment, I am looking for a small group of three to four individuals to join The Twelve Labours staff as official judges, to help read through and review submissions in a timely fashion. Please note, these openings are not for the faint-hearted, or those with already busy schedules. We will be expected to review anywhere up to several dozen lengthy submissions, fully and thoroughly, and then to pen reviews on each of them, all within three days. The process is extremely time and effort intensive, so do not apply for the positions unless you have time and effort to give. If you are still interested, contact @Terminal with your interest.

As a final reminder, please adhere to all forum rules.

[Ellri]

you list "Jaffar's (left) thumb" as a rule... But what is that?

[mdk]

you list "Jaffar's (left) thumb" as a rule... But what is that?

@Ellri

it's number one on every list?

edit: I'm pretty sure this is the reference

[Ellri]

still doesn't make sense to us...

oh, and another, more theoretical question: Say a person has no favorite character, how can they kill their favorite character?

[Terminal]

oh, and another, more theoretical question: Say a person has no favorite character, how can they kill their favorite character?

@Ellri

Even if you don't have a pre-ordained 'favorite' per-se, it's inevitable that you are going to like one character and dislike another more than the others, all relative to each other of course. Take a moment to sit back and think about which one you like the most.

If you come up with a complete tie, see the Clarifications section on having more than one favorite character, since the situations are equivalent.

[Psyga315]

I have a question regarding this rule:

If your character is specific to a fandom

What does that mean? Like, specific to a fandom as in it's a fanmade character or is fandom the term used to denote what media the character came from?

[Terminal]

I have a question regarding this rule:

<Snipped quote>

What does that mean? Like, specific to a fandom as in it's a fanmade character or is fandom the term used to denote what media the character came from?

@Psyga315

When I say 'specific to a fandom,' I refer to a character you might have which exists either predominantly or exclusively within a particular franchise setting, I.E. Homestuck, Fallout, that sort of thing. Such a character may have been made specifically for roleplaying within the purview of such a setting.

If the character is used in a context outside of that particular fandom, then you don't need to credit anybody or anything. If the setting being used within the framework of the story is the universe of a story franchise though, make sure to credit the original creator.

I'll go ahead and edit the clarification to make this point a bit more obvious. In retrospect it wasn't the best choice of words.

[Psyga315]

<Snipped quote by Psyga315>

When I say 'specific to a fandom,' I refer to a character you might have which exists either predominantly or exclusively within a particular franchise setting, I.E. Homestuck, Fallout, that sort of thing. Such a character may have been made specifically for roleplaying within the purview of such a setting.

If the character is used in a context outside of that particular fandom, then you don't need to credit anybody or anything. If the setting being used within the framework of the story is the universe of a story franchise though, make sure to credit the original creator.

I'll go ahead and edit the clarification to make this point a bit more obvious. In retrospect it wasn't the best choice of words.

@Terminal

Wait a minute. I think I read this whole thing wrong. Now I gotta ask...

When you mean "Your character", does that mean your personal favorite character from a show or your favorite character you played as.

[Terminal]

Your favorite character, who is yours, whom you write for. Not a character belonging to anybody else. You may write for characters of your own who are present in story franchise settings, but you may /not/ write as characters who are a part of that setting's actual canon cast, since those would not be your characters. The very first clarifying point in the contest thread even specifically states you can only use your own characters.

This is an ancillary point to the entire topic - the whole point is to use one of your own characters, in any given setting of your choice. Because of [Legal issues] and [Contingencies] I am merely including rules to ensure that if you mention franchise settings or otherwise make use of them, you credit the original creator of that setting. You are under no compulsion whatsoever to specifically use fandom characters or settings.

If any part of the main contest description has led you to believe otherwise, please immediately point it out. Use ANY character you want, as long as it is your own.

[Psyga315]

Your favorite character, who is yours, whom you write for. Not a character belonging to anybody else. You may write for characters of your own who are present in story franchise settings, but you may /not/ write as characters who are a part of that setting's actual canon cast, since those would not be your characters. The very first clarifying point in the contest thread even specifically states you can only use your own characters.

This is an ancillary point to the entire topic - the whole point is to use one of your own characters, in any given setting of your choice. Because of [Legal issues] and [Contingencies] I am merely including rules to ensure that if you mention franchise settings or otherwise make use of them, you credit the original creator of that setting. You are under no compulsion whatsoever to specifically use fandom characters or settings.

If any part of the main contest description has led you to believe otherwise, please immediately point it out. Use ANY character you want, as long as it is your own.

@Terminal

Oooookay, that changes a lot. Alright. Perfect. I have someone in mind. One last question though.

The character I have in mind is an OC in a crossover RPG. Is that allowed?

[Terminal]

<Snipped quote by Terminal>

Oooookay, that changes a lot. Alright. Perfect. I have someone in mind. One last question though.

The character I have in mind is an OC in a crossover RPG. Is that allowed?

@Psyga315

It is perfectly ok. You do not even need to use the setting of that RPG if you do not want to. If you do though, make sure to credit the creators of the different franchises being crossed.

[Psyga315]

<Snipped quote by Psyga315>

It is perfectly ok. You do not even need to use the setting of that RPG if you do not want to. If you do though, make sure to credit the creators of the different franchises being crossed.

@Terminal

Alright, perfect. Thank you for answering all my questions.

[Blitz]

Has the submission period already started? Or will there be a specific date for that? (If this was already addressed then I apologize my eyes must've slipped over it.)

Also... I'm all good about picking a favorite character here, but, I mean, you all have no real way of knowing that it's been our favorite. In other words, I could create a character just for this contest, claim they're my "favorite", and kill them horribly. Does this character have to be one posted somewhere on the RPG already? Or do you guys just not care and function on the honor code?

[Terminal]

As mdk said in the previous discussion thread: The submission period started the very instant they made their post.

It ends at Midnight, April 30th.

Get cracking.

Also: We are technically operating on an honor code here. We only have your word that it's your favorite character. We aren't mind readers.

It does go against the spirit of the competition. The task is meant to challenge you, present you with something you've never had to do before. Broaden your horizons. If you can't play honestly, perhaps you aren't ready for the challenge.

[Psyga315]

Just thought of a funny loop hole.

"It's my favorite character... to kill off!"

[RomanAria]

Well, lucky me, I'm always cruel to my favorites. As in, I've had quite a lot of practice torturing them all for the WIP novellas they feature in. I just have to take it a step further.
*cracks knuckles*
This is going to be exciting.

[Blitz]

@Terminal Gotcha, thanks for the quick reply. :D

[mdk]

I know exactly who I have to kill. And I know I'm right, because I've been trying to find an excuse to kill someone else for hours..... it has to be her. This is going to hurt.

[RomanAria]

Oh, gosh. I know your pain, @mdk Even though I'm used to hurting them, just... WAAAAAAAH.
And for me it's got to be a "them." One cannot be mentioned without mentioning the other, and they are both equally flesh-and-blood real people in my mind.
Crud.

[Terminal]

Oh, gosh. I know your pain, @mdk Even though I'm used to hurting them, just... WAAAAAAAH.
And for me it's got to be a "them." One cannot be mentioned without mentioning the other, and they are both equally flesh-and-blood real people in my mind.
Crud.

@RomanAria

A double feature. Goody.