What All Role Contestants Should Know:

It’s very important to keep in mind that a role contest is very subjective. That’s one reason we think it’s a good idea to have a variety of immortals run them. I guarantee you that if you gave 5 different immortals the same role pool you’d get 5 different sets of winners. So, if you didn’t win or you didn’t get especially high “marks” from me, don’t sweat it. Similarly, if you did win, don’t let your ego get out of control, since many of the immortals were shocked at the winners I did (and didn’t) pick. What I do think is wonderful and worth noting is how many people have good, solid roles and that that has become the norm. Regardless of my opinions, I hope you’re all enjoying your roles. On the note of my opinions, don’t think anything too seriously. Many of the comments (especially on the PBFs) are to be taken as me teasing you (which I know can get lost in text.) There were a ton of roles, and a lot of them were VERY long, so if I didn’t understand your role on the first read-through I didn’t have time to go over and over again and try to make it make sense to me.

General Tips, Trends I Noticed, etc:

First of all, don’t take ‘good or OK basic role’ as a slam. I absolutely love seeing so many good and basic roles. Just because it wasn’t eye-catching enough to win here doesn’t mean having it isn’t very beneficial to your character. On that note, there were a lot of higher ranking characters that had done a great job of adding to their roles as they went along. While the summation of all of these entries wasn’t very earth-shattering, what it did do is create a wonderful guide to know your character. This is very beneficial to you, since it allows any immortal to understand who you are and where you’re coming from even without interacting with you previously.

I think a lot of roles I read (and then didn’t fully understand) were probably very creative and I’m sure they seemed ingenious to their owner. However, we’re not in your brain. So if you have a “non traditional” role idea, that’s great, but I would strongly recommend you write something to let the reader know where you’re going on your non-traditional role and how, exactly, it pertains to your character. Don’t assume we’re making the jump from this neat story blip to where your character fits in. Be safe and spell it out. Remember too, most of us have lots of followers and lots of roles to read, if we don’t understand it on the first pass don’t assume we have the time to read it over and over again and puzzle it out. Consider that your responsibility. Also on that note, there were a few roles that I think were very in character, and still absolutely awful to read. Remember to consider how your role is going to work out in practice (not just theory.) Keep in mind that your reader is a guy reading a computer screen with a limited amount of time. If your role is very difficult to read for whatever reason, it’s probably not going to get the attention it deserves.

Finally, I saw a lot of wonderful introduction roles, and then no additions. If your character doesn't change/grow it may not need any additional role entries. However, over hours of play, it seems that you might have some growth to document.