SEPTEMBER CHALLENGE: Alliance Crossover #1

[Ishmayl]

If you do choose the Glass Ocean, keep in mind that drawing the area between the Ocean and Lemis Keep is also part of the map, so that provides a bit more material. Woot! I can't wait to see more entries!

[KeshFerrar]

Can't wait to pay CBG and plotstorming in kind when we kick off the next idea

C'mon! I had to figure out how to integrate a compass rose into a prompt for this month's contest! I'm upset I had to cop out and use a compass, but it was the best I could do. Its a work of art, true, but it just doesn't lend itself to fiction.

I agree, the Rushon in the winning entry would be tough to draw a map from. Either that or amazingly easy since you have no restrictions. Any city could be Rushon! When I wrote my entry I tried to add land marks -- but I didn't win, and its tough to give exacting detail in 3K words.

And speaking of next month's contest, the powers that be should start considering that now....

[Amonite]

Well, it seems like next months contests might be based off the winning entries of this month. Although, since ours are based off last months, then you could get a wierd cyclic thing going that might be hard to end.

Although it looks liek they only have to be vaguely connected in some ways. Like, Rushon and the Compass were both the general contest, every entry of their respective contests featured them...but the glass ocean looked like it was a specific entry? Or something, so it was more unique.

While I like the idea of one contest leading to another, I think it should be more specific to the winner's entry, not the generic, and yet vague in defined scope to get the widest range of entries possible within limits.

IE the winning compass was a 'modern' twist on the compass rose. It was even overlaid on an older map...so instead of a random compass case featured in the contest, there could have been something about finding something modern or high tech in a low tech environment. I like the compass case concept as well, but that would have been the same no matter who won - it would be nice to make the winners entry tie in.

The same thing with Rushon. The contest *was* Rushon - so basing our contest off Rushon too just repeats that. Instead, the winning entry featured a city whose gates only opened so often (Very Brigadoon-ish), and people who fed off the dreams of others. So instead of mapping 'Rushon' which already was a contest, the contest could have been to map some sort of mystical city which can only be seen/sentered/found every so often, and take into acount how that would affect surrounding lands, etc.

The Glass Ocean worked beause it was a specific thing....but then the next contest would have to be pulled from something in the winning entry besides the location. Of the entries so far, we have things like perspective, a journal, a very undefined region, etc. So future contests could be something like a land with markings that can only be seen from the air (perspective), a dimension shifting region where the land itself moves (undefined), or a world that exists inside a book (journal).

Anyways, there are probably a lot of different ways next month's contest can go ^.^ But, I think it would be cooler if they were not based on last month's theme, but the winning entries themselves.

[Luminous Crayon]

Hi, everyone.

Just wanted to say that I've looked over the entries, and they are fascinating. I'm impressed by (and a little jealous of) the skills being showcased here.

As a disclaimer to those who are working on maps of the Glass Ocean... I had no idea it was going to be used for this contest. If I had known you'd be making maps based on it, I wouldn't have tried so hard to make it difficult to map.

It is seriously exciting to watch these projects take shape!

[Amonite]

But its so uber awesome!~ Although yes, fiendishly difficult to map....but that is part of its appeal

[RPMiller]

Hi, everyone.

Just wanted to say that I've looked over the entries, and they are fascinating. I'm impressed by (and a little jealous of) the skills being showcased here.

As a disclaimer to those who are working on maps of the Glass Ocean... I had no idea it was going to be used for this contest. If I had known you'd be making maps based on it, I wouldn't have tried so hard to make it difficult to map.

It is seriously exciting to watch these projects take shape!

That is a very good point. Arcana, we may want to make sure that the admins of the other Alliance sites are telling the contestants that their stuff is eventually going to get mapped when we do Alliance wide contests. That might make it a bit easier on us.

[Robbie]

True...I made sure to mention in the September Challenge writeup that the map will probably be utilized by the alliance sites....Ishmayl? Thoughts?

[KeshFerrar]

True...I made sure to mention in the September Challenge writeup that the map will probably be utilized by the alliance sites....Ishmayl? Thoughts?

I agree, that would have definitely helped. Foresight! We'll get it right next time around.

Personally, I believe using the Glass Ocean or Rushon again next month might be overkill.

[Luminous Crayon]

True...I made sure to mention in the September Challenge writeup that the map will probably be utilized by the alliance sites....Ishmayl? Thoughts?

It's entirely possible that it was mentioned, and I managed to overlook it.

No worries. It really made my day yesterday when I found out all this was going on.

[Ishmayl]

Well, it was mentioned once on my site, but only in "the Tavern," which means a lot of people probably didn't ever see the message. We'll make sure things are prepared a bit more next time, we're all still kinda new to this "alliance" thing