[Xanth]

Welcome to Summer Camp 2009! =D

This year's Camp is all about developing your awareness of the world and peoples around your character. It's about getting you to think about the people they might pass on a daily basis, or the creatures they might see flitting to and fro on their way to work, and the way your character feels about the world they live in.

There's no art challenge this year, and Summer Camp 2009 lends itself more to short stories than roleplaying threads, so consider it more of a writing contest than previous years. However, if you do decide to enter with threads instead of short stories, you may earn more points (especially if you complete those threads), so don't rule them out altogether.

Prizes

I mentioned points, but we're not organising prizes on a points-based system like we did last year. Instead, I'll be judging challenges based on a few different factors (spelling, grammar and punctuation, effort, quality of writing, awareness of setting and people) and awarding prizes accordingly.

The prizes for each challenge this year are pure cash. The total amount you get depends on the factors above, but all entries will be awarded ζ100 just for entering! And, at the end, members who have participated in all of the challenges will be awarded our Summer Camp trophy, as well as an extra cash prize!

Challenges

Like last year, there'll be a challenge each week throughout July, totalling in four challenges. If you're entering a short story, your deadline will be one week after the challenge starts. However, if you're entering a roleplay thread, you will have the entire month of July to complete it (threads can naturally take much longer), but you will still need to post a link to your entry before that challenge's deadline (so you can't start a thread for Challenge One once that challenge's deadline has passed).

There's no limit to how many times you can enter a challenge, nor how many characters you can enter for. If you have the time and inspiration to enter Challenge Two three times, you'll receive prizes for all three. :)

Short story entries should be posted in the appropriate character's journal. Roleplay entries (which should be started specially for the challenge) should be posted in the relevant board. Either way, you'll need to post a direct link to the thread/story here in order to enter the challenge. (Note: ONPC is not available for Summer Camp threads.)

Deadlines for each challenge will be included in the challenge information.

Coming Soon!

Are you ready for this? :D


Piper's Boutique ~ Dafont ~ Paper Sweets ~ Aethereality

[Xanth]

Challenge #1

favourite place

The first challenge of Summer Camp 2009 is to explore your character's favourite place in the Realms (which can include Elysia, Dardanos and even Zanarya or Nirim, but not Acantha or Earth).

For this challenge, you can either use an existing place, or you can make up your own little parcel of the Known Realms. (If the latter, please make sure it fits into the framework of the setting. I'm always here to answer questions if you need me. ^^)

Either way, I want you to explore that place through your character's eyes. Describe the way it looks to them, how it makes them feel. What makes it their favourite place (maybe a friend got married there, or they met their best friend there, or it's where they go to think)? What flora and fauna can your character see or hear there? What about other people - is it a busy place, or quiet and secluded?

Remember, the emphasis of this year's Camp is on developing your awareness of the world and setting your character exists in and interacts with, but it's also a chance for you to develop aspects of your character you might not normally think about, so have fun with it. ;)

To enter, post your short story in your journal, or a thread in the appropriate forum, and then post a direct link to that post/thread in a reply here.

The deadline for this challenge is July 7th. :)

Piper's Boutique ~ Dafont ~ Paper Sweets ~ Aethereality

[Lani]

http://faroah.com/in...st=0#entry25067

[Elias]

Behold! Link

[Lucas]

http://faroah.com/in...6...ost&p=25110

Be nice to Lucas!!

[Naava]

Naava will be entering Via Thread

[Xanth]

Thank you for entering! :D And now, onto the next challenge!

Challenge #2

meet the denizens

The second challenge of Summer Camp 2009 is fairly basic at its core: Interact with an NPC. It could be a person or it could be a creature; it's entirely up to you, and what happens in your story/thread from there is also entirely up to you. Your character could witness a monster attack, encounter an elusive creature, bump into a legendary figure or befriend a plain old shopkeeper. They could even simply be listening to a story about an NPC!

The idea behind this challenge is to get you thinking more about the people and creatures that make up the majority of Elysia's inhabitants. The people your character passes every day on their way to work, the birds that sing your character awake every morning, and the creatures they feared as children. Think about how your character views these people, how they feel about the plants they pass and the animals they see or hear about. ;)

You can either use the NPCs available in the NPC Database or you can make up your own especially. However, you may only use creatures listed in the bestiary, and all characters should fit Elysia's setting. ;)

To enter, post your short story in your journal, or a thread in the appropriate forum, and then post a direct link to that post/thread in a reply here.

The deadline for this challenge is July 14th. :)

Piper's Boutique ~ Dafont ~ Paper Sweets ~ Aethereality

[Ruairi]

*sneaks in to drop this* My story

[Lucas]

Linky

[Elias]

It is done

[Erasmus]

Here you go.

[Elise]

Elise has thread!

This doesn't count for the challenges, but I still wanted to show off that I wrote something for the previous challenge. ^__^

[Xanth]

Challenge #3

exploring elysia

The third challenge of Summer Camp 2009 is to take your character to a place in Elysia that they've never visited before. This can include Elysia's mainland, Dardanos, and any of the other islands in the Elysian realm; it can also include Zanarya and Nirim if your character has access to them, but not Acantha or Earth.

Like with Challenge #1, you can either use an existing place, or you can make up your own little parcel of the Known Realms. If the latter, please make sure it fits into the framework of the setting. I'm always here to answer questions if you need me. ^^ It can't, however, be a new region or realm.

Either way, I want you to explore that place through your character's eyes. Describe the way it looks to them, how it makes them feel. What flora and fauna can your character see or hear there? What about other people - is it a busy place, or quiet and secluded? Do they like it, or want to get out as fast as they can?

Again, remember the emphasis of this year's Camp is on developing your awareness of the world and setting your character exists in and interacts with but, as I've said before, it's also a chance for you to develop aspects of your character you might not normally think about, so have fun with it. ;)

To enter, post your short story in your journal, or a thread in the appropriate forum, and then post a direct link to that post/thread in a reply here.

The deadline for this challenge is July 21st. :)

Some Questions I've Been Asked

I've been asked a couple of questions regarding what's acceptable, so I want to outline the answers here (for the ones that I can remember, at any rate).

• Can I mix challenges in my RP threads?
  Yes. Because RP naturally takes longer, I don't mind if you enter more than one challenge with the same thread, if the thread was started after the first challenge went up (that's the first challenge it's entered for, not the first overall challenge). I'll also have to judge your entry thread based on the factors for two separate challenges, so keep that in mind when you're RPing. ;)
  
  I want separate entries for each challenge, though, if you're writing short stories. I won't say they're easier but you don't have to wait on others like you would for an RP thread. :)
  
  
  
• Can I enter for retired characters?
  Yes. Initially, Camp was intended for active characters, but just because you can't play a character anymore (for whatever reason) doesn't mean they don't deserve some attention. The reward will go to the retired character, though, so the entry should be posted in their journal.
  
  
  
• Is the trophy member- or character-based?
  Initially, it was character-based (so you'd have to enter all four challenges on one character to get a trophy), but after seeing the struggle some of you have with getting certain characters to do certain things, I'm changing it to member-based. So, as long as you enter all four challenges, it doesn't matter on which character you do so. (Note, though, that whichever character has the most entries at the end of Camp will get the trophy; if it breaks even, you can choose for yourself.) :)

I can't remember the other questions I've been asked, though, so if anyone has anything in future, please post it to this thread. I don't mind answering them in the cbox, but I also need to answer them for the other participants and I can't do that when I don't remember. xD

Piper's Boutique ~ Dafont ~ Paper Sweets ~ Aethereality

[Elias]

Look upon the fruit of my labors!

[Lucas]

LOOKY HERE NOW!

[Lani]

Look! Its Stinky Man, Vamp-Boy, Damsel in Distress and Lani, awwwaaaayyyy!!!!

http://faroah.com/in...amp;#entry25230

[Xanth]

Challenge #4

meet the family

The fourth and final challenge of Summer Camp 2009 is to write about your character's family. It could be about a single member of the family, or a larger group. Maybe your character has gone home for the holidays (perfect timing for Xanth Day! ;)) or a sibling is staying with them for a bit. It could even be a flashback to their childhood, and it doesn't have to be about immediate family (a distant and disliked cousin, perhaps, or a long-lost uncle). What you write is up to you, as long as at least one member of your character's family plays a major role in it.

The idea behind this challenge is for you to explore your character's background and to see them as more than an isolated unit; to look at where they came from, what kind of childhood they had, and how their family life helped to shape them into the person they are today. If you haven't already, it's also a great opportunity for you to explore how well they get on with their family and what kind of influence those people still have on your character.

To enter, post your short story in your journal, or a thread in the appropriate forum, and then post a direct link to that post/thread in a reply here.

The deadline for this challenge is July 30th. :) (I started the challenge a little late, so you get a couple extra days to enter.)

Also remember that you should be trying to complete any entry threads by July 31st!

Piper's Boutique ~ Dafont ~ Paper Sweets ~ Aethereality

[Elias]

Behold! The final entry in the competition, and perhaps an explanation of our thief's sordid past!? Read on and find out!

[Lucas]

Looky here!

[Lani]

http://faroah.com/in...amp;#entry25292