MP Game - Yarnspinners

[magnate]

Zapmeister said:
Magnate has kindly offered to take over the administration and judging of this game. If no-one objects, I'll hand over the reins at the weekend.

If no-one objects, I'll happily take them.

So, scoring is 2 for a decent report, 1 for a report that is too short or long (or dull?!), and 0 for no report. I'll try to be as consistent as possible and not piss anybody off.

I won't actually mark down for errors in grammar or syntax, though the temptation to do so is strong! You'll just have to bear with me on that, it's my favourite subject. (In my country they suddenly stopped teaching grammar in most schools about 12-15 years ago, then they forbade examiners to dock marks for poor grammar or spelling in all subjects other than English Language, then .... [/i][ramble, drone ....][/i])

AFAIU, you've had marks for turns 1 & 2. So I'll be dishing out marks for turn 3 and on .... can somebody tell me which days of the week the turns run? I guess I ought to allow a couple of days for people to write up, and then award the points just before the next turn.

Let me know if that sounds ok ...

CC

[Sheap]

Everyone is supposed to have their story for the current turn done by the time the turn hosts, currently set to twice a week (84 hours). Not sure exactly when the next generation is, I think it is tomorrow.

Currently we are on turn 3, and everyone should have their third chapter posted before the next turn generation.

R'lyeh - turn 2 (running late...)

...yet He shall rise and His kingdom shall cover the Earth.

You know, that human Lovecraft has a lot to answer for. "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn" indeed! The man couldn't come up with a working transliteration scheme to save his life. Not even when we gave him a second chance...

And while his publicity has attracted a larger number of cultists to Our cause, We do wonder about the type of people they are. When one of Our minions is sent to collect a Cultist who has inevitably meddled in Things he shouldn't have, and instead of running in gibbering fear according to tradition, he'll be found sitting at a desk frantically bashing away at a typewriter as his front door is smashed to flinders. When a tentacle grabs his foot and starts dragging him to certain doom, he will be holding onto the desk with one hand so that he can continue to type his account with the other. And as hungry jaws close about his body, the only vocalisation of the pain and horror he feels is to scrabble for the exclamation mark at the end of "arrrrrgh!" We can't help wondering about the effect on our minions when they are mostly eating the brains of terminally stupid people.

Anyway...

...the stars are right and Our time is here, but We find Our house poorly prepared. Atlantean slaves will not alone conquer the world that is Our right, and Our Starspawn cousins have grown weak and slothful as the aeons passed.

We call forth the power of the Spheres to bring down a flaming meteorite from the heavans. The impact is mighty, and many thousands of slaves die bringing back the molten star-stuff to the city. But what of them? In this We have the means to turn poor Atlantean slaves into invincibly armoured soldiers. We are certain to have need of them.

Meanwhile, leaders of the Illithid are called before Our presence. The strongest minds are selected for instruction. From their number we choose the first of those who will lead Our armies into battle and destroy the minds of Our enemies.

Having dreamed of blasphemous couplings between human and Illithid, We then demand an accounting of their actions while We slept. Hesitating and fearful - as is only right - one of them brings forward a small Illithid-child, strangely deformed-looking. Searching its guardian's memory, We find that the creature was indeed the issue of Illithid breeding with Man.

We are prepared to vent our wrath on the strange child and its perverted parent, but, well, its little tentacles are so cute!. Instead we send it out into the world; if it should prove its worth, the strange creature may be allowed to find its place as one of our minions.

[puffyn]

---- Arcoscephale, Turn 3 ----

Early summer, year 12 of my exile.

At Last, some good news. Three more hoplites came into town Last week, and I suspect more remnants of the broken taxis will continue to straggle in as they emerge from their winter shelters in a (futile) attempt to find civilization. This means that one-third of my foot soldiers are now non-barbarians, so I have decided that we are strong enough to take on a nearby nest of bandits that the villagers have been harping on us for weeks to attack. Reports indicate that there are almost as many bandit as I have troops under my command, but even my locals, I think, are worth more than these petty thugs, at least after the rigorous training I have put them through.

So there will be some honest fighting, a welcome change from the bizarre events of the Last few weeks, and also some money, because the citizens Skelde Henge have agreed to submit to the direction of the village leaders if we will rid them of the bandits. (Or at least so I have been told.) And there will be no one winking at me, or worse, bowing, no Balachandra or his brother Divakar to chant ridiculous rhymes about me and butter and who knows what else.

If I had known, when I left Pagasae for the Great Campaign so long ago, that one day I would be thousands of leagues from home, scratching battle plans in the mud, in breathless anticipation of a brawl with a bunch of ignorant peasants...

I should be back in a few months. I hope that Thymbre will have returned by then, and I may hear how her journey to learn of quaint local superstitions has fared.

---

[deccan]

Just my personal opinion, but I think this competition is being too "bland" if the judge(s) continue to refrain from judging the relative "quality" of the yarn. It's like you get 2 points automatically simply for handing in your homework, but there's no effort to differentiate those trying to be really entertaining and those just filling in something for every turn.

[Zapmeister]

deccan said:
Just my personal opinion, but I think this competition is being too "bland" if the judge(s) continue to refrain from judging the relative "quality" of the yarn. It's like you get 2 points automatically simply for handing in your homework, but there's no effort to differentiate those trying to be really entertaining and those just filling in something for every turn.

Yes, that's down to my laziness, really. I believe the new administrater, Magnate, plans to do a better job.

[magnate]

Zapmeister said:

Yes, that's down to my laziness, really. I believe the new administrater, Magnate, plans to do a better job.

Interesting - I was very careful in my first post, in case people really didn't want me to judge relative quality. I'm quite happy to be a bit discerning (only 1 point for just filling it in, 2 points if it's good, maybe a rare 3rd point for outstanding) - but please, everybody chip in if they don't like this idea ....

CC