Yet another chance to impress everyone with roles starting now.
However, this time, you're guaranteed twice the judging for
all your hard work! As has become our standard contest system,
your role must have been completed before the timestamp of this
announcement to be considered.

While you can add to your role after this point, only the parts
already written will be judged.

To take part in the contest, submit to your dual judges, Dalteric
and Kastellyn, a note that has a subject of: Role Contest Entrant.

The note should be sent from the character whose role you are
submitting and does not need to include your role in the note.

All entry notes must be sent by 8:00a.m. system time, Monday
November 14th, 2005. All entries received after this point
will not be considered for this contest.


If you took part in the last role contest, and were not a winner,
you may resubmit your role for this contest. Only prior winners
are excluded.

Good Luck!

Roles are a hard thing to judge. Occasionally one seems too long, then another the same length too short. I was looking for unique concepts that showed a lot of thought, that would lead to some interesting rp. I then looked for how well written--not grammar, but how did it flow, evoke imagery, and finally consistency.

I'm going to provide comments on each of the semi-finalists/finalists. These are in alphabetical, and not in their ranking. These are rough comments, just to give an idea of my thoughts and to help me break close ties. Enjoy, and have fun.


Belruseh: The little details really make this one enjoyable, keep it up!

Brakaath: This is fun stuff, the only real drawback is a lack of updating, you had such a fun premise but little updating.

Chakru: There's something special about a man who hacks his own head, good work

Clorihn: I wish you'd have had time for another vision. The first went well, and was most interesting, good job

Feleniel: The story you provide is short, but it does say a lot. It is, however, the additional entries that really make this a useful role, I feel like I learned a lot about you by reading it.

Khobedi: There are some very good descriptions, well laid out images in your role, good job.

Mizzarah: A good improvement over the last contest, your additional entries were fun to read, though I'd have liked to see even more named

Oqoko: A little confusing at points, but really very interesting, and hopefully something that can be rped well.

Platious: Solid effort, small regular updates, very much in the running

Rushakal: Promising start, do update a bit more when you can

Salvator: Really provides a very nice explanation with a lot of well done thought

Thakhad: A nice creation and description, I do really enjoy the little intricacies.

Congratulations to the Winners. We gave out five awards, each with a title as usual. Comments on the finalists & semi-finalists will follow:

#1 Brakath, Human Druid (51): Best Overall Role: Hunter of Female Prey
#2 Khobedi, Arial Assassin (44): Best Darkly Traditional
#3 Thakhad, Human Shapeshifter (25): Best Safety Tip: Why Pregnant women shouldn't Fly
#4 Belruseh, Gnome Invoker (11): Best Newbie Short
#5 Mizzarah, Dark-Elf Assassin (46): Most Heretical

Congratulations to all the winners! They will be contacted in-game to learn about prizes.

Is the role itself the sole item judged, or the players ability to RP said-same role (and a corollary, the roles influence on the players RP)?

I guess what I'm saying is would you read an incredibly fantastic role, give them #1 and then sit back and scratch your head wishing some of that role actually came through in the character, or is it more an amalgam of role and role-playing that wins the day?

In judging the role contest, I go purely on the role. While I am more apt to watch someone who has an interesting role (because I want to see the rp in action), it really isn't feasible to do more than that.

By that I mean, I try and run a very tight schedule in terms of the contest. Ideally, I open/announce for one week, and then within three day of closing want to have it decided, and awards given out (so that you wacky kids don't have time to start deleting). If I placed a requirement to supervise all the semi-finalists, I'd probably not be able to sleep/go to work, and in many cases would penalize those who aren't on 6 hours a day since I might not find them before I need my decisions.

That being said, I firmly believe that most people who put effort into a unique and well-written role intend to rp it. So, long story short, just on the role, excluding anything else.

I was just wondering..

How do you decide when to hold a competition? Is it every month, every other month? Or just when an imm has some free time to judge. I've missed every competition so far, but creative writing is part of the appeal to rolling a new character for me. Just wondering if there's any set mechanism in place to work towards.

There isn't too much of a simple answer to your question. In terms fo role contests, I like to keep a general schedule of every couple months (plus or minus a week or two). I don't have a specific date because of the way I run the contest, basically using the time stamp to judge only roles entered prior to announcing--if my schedule was published that wouldn't work.

There is also the aspect of getting others involved. In the last role contest, Kastellyn was kind enough to take part, which meant finding a start date & closing date that fit both our schedules.

In short, I'd say look for the next one 2-3months after the last, though if you regularly write and update the roles on your mortal, you will hopefully not miss all of them.

This role contest is closed.  We had a pretty fair turnout,
with 28 seeking to take part.  Three were excluded due to the
time stamp (though some just barely), with another excluded by
deletion [a semi-finalist in fact].

Now for the breakdowns:
Class:
assassin	2
bard		1
conjurer	1
druid		3
healer		2
invoker	       3
necromancer	2
paladin		3
ranger		2
shifter		1
transmuter	1
warrior		7

Race:
arial		2
cloud		3
d-elf		3
dwarf		2
felar		1
gnome		1
h-drw		1
h-elf		3
human		6
minotaur	1
storm		1
svirf		1
w-elf		3

Level (at time of submission/first reading):
1-10		3
11-20		6
21-30		5
31-40		5
40-50		3
51		6


Most Common Spheres (More than 1 Participant)
Passion	       3
Time/Fate	3
Dedication	2
Justice		2
Magic		2
War		2