WaRP: Worldbuilding and Role Playing Game Master C

[Astaroth]

THE CHALLENGE?

Construct a compelling, worldbuilding-rich roleplay premise.

THE PRIZE?

Win your own subforum for your roleplay.

The WaRP: Worldbuilding and Role Playing GM Challenge is both a competition and an exciting opportunity for the Iwaku player base, which we hope will encourage GMs to step up and create brilliant content for the site. There will be up to six winners selected by a panel of judges (myself, @Diana, @Kitti, @Jorick, and @Sir Basil) at the end of the judging period. Up to three of these winning entries may be already existing roleplays that are fleshed out enough to warrant a mass RP forum. Up to three may be completely new (or at least, not currently in session) roleplays that excite and entice the judges with their potential.

We are looking for a premise/roleplay that provides:

• An expansive network of locations for players to interact with and explore.
• A wide range of possibilities for character creation, whether through race, cultural background, creed, or class system.
• A plot premise with staying power which cannot be wrapped up within a short time frame, a sandbox-style world where players can drive their own plots, and/or opportunities for multiple long-term plot arcs.
• Compelling world lore and evidence of real thought and care in creation of the setting.
• Something that makes us want to join.

Each RP subforum will automatically come with two built-in child forums, one for OOC and one for thread archival. The purpose of these two child forums may be changed at the GM's discretion, but no more may be added.

SUBMISSION RULES QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

• There are two categories for submissions: Existing Roleplays and New Roleplays.
  
  To submit a New Roleplay, post a mock-up OOC thread in the WaRP Contest forum to pitch your roleplay concept. This thread should include as much information as possible about the roleplay. Treat this like you're creating the official OOC and plot info thread.
  
  To submit an Existing Roleplay, fill out the following form and post it in the Existing RP Submissions thread stickied at the top of the WaRP Contest forum.
  
  
  Existing Roleplay Submission Form

  Name of Roleplay:
  Link to OOC/Plot Info Thread:
  Link to IC Thread:
  Links to other threads (if applicable):
  Co-GMs (List all, if applicable):
  Original or Fandom-Based?:
  Is this a Redstar/Bluestar RP?:
  Current number of players:
  Why do you think your RP deserves to win?:
  All entries must:
  
  
  • Have a single, clearly defined setting. This may be on any scale, from a specific school to an entire planet or star system.
  • Be intended for long-term play. Roleplays designed to wrap up within one or two months of play will not be accepted unless they are part of a larger, directly-related setting.
  • Be thread-based. Chat roleplays will not be accepted.
  
  Fandom, Redstar, Bluestar, and Staff-run roleplays are allowed as submissions. However:
  
  
  1. Only one fandom roleplay may be chosen per category.
  2. Only one Redstar/Bluestar roleplay (EITHER, not both) may be chosen per category.
  3. Only one entry submitted by a Staff member can be chosen as a winner out of the entire six.
  
  These limitations are stacking. This means that if a Staff member submits a Redstar fandom roleplay, it would count for all three limits if chosen as a winner.
  
  Note: This does not mean for certain that fandom, Staff-run, or redstar/bluestar RPs will number among the winners.
  
  If not enough entries meet the criteria, less than six winners will be selected.
  
  All participants in the contest must be a member of at least 4 months and must never have had their account banned or suspended. Warning points do not disqualify you for entry.
  
  One entry may be submitted per user.
  
  Entries must be submitted under a "main" GM. If there are two or more equal-footing co-GMs sharing a roleplay, they must pick one person among them to submit. Being a co-GM doesn't count toward your entry limit but we reserve the right to reject anyone we think is trying to abuse loopholes. All co-GMs must be listed in mock-up OOCs for New Roleplays or on the submission form for Existing Roleplays.
  
  The submission period will last until December 17th, at which point judging will begin and take place over a two-week period. Once winners are announced on January 1st, the contest forum will be closed and all threads moved or archived to the Graveyard.
• Is this a one-time opportunity?
  
  If all goes well, this will become a recurring contest and happen again at the end of 2017. In such a case, the number of winning spots open would depend on the number of winning RPs from 2016 still active. For example, if two roleplays have died but the rest are going strong, only two spots would open up for 2017's contest.
  
  HOWEVER, if all six are still running... a seventh spot would permanently be added. Therefore, the more RPs keep alive, the more opportunities arise for new contestants.
  
  More details will be released on this when and if a second run of WaRP is greenlighted.
  
  
  What happens to my threads if I win (with an Existing Roleplay)?
  
  Any and all existing threads will be moved to the winners' new private forums. From there it is up to GMs to restructure as they see fit.
  
  
  What am I allowed to do with my forum?
  
  The subforums for winners will be totally up to the GMs. The GM (and any necessary co-GMs) will get full mod powers over their own forum, and they have free reign from there. Staff will not be graveyarding threads from these forums and will only moderate if requested by the GM or if something gets reported. However, all Iwaku rules still apply. GMs may be punished if they knowingly allow or ignore rule violations.
  
  
  Will I be able to add my own moderators to my roleplay after the fact?
  
  Yes, absolutely. Just send in a Contact Us request or PM any of the judges asking them to give the helpers forum permissions.
  
  
  Will there be a public vote?
  
  No, not for this contest. Winners will be entirely up to the judging panel. However, we encourage everyone to go check out the entrants and use the discussion thread stickied at the top of the forum.
  
  
  Will submissions get reviews by the judges?
  
  No. The focus of the contest is promoting roleplays and rewarding GMs rather than on improving writing, so we will only be focusing on choosing winners.
  
  
  Can I edit my entry after I submit it?
  
  Submissions can be edited without restriction up until the 17th of December, when submissions close and judging begins.
  
  
  Can I advertise my submission?
  
  Ads for these RPs shouldn't be posted in the Roleplay Advertisements forum unless they are existing RPs, as this would be confusing. GMs may create Interest Checks if they wish for the New RP submissions.
  
  
  Are alternate versions of existing RPs allowed? What about reboots of past RPs?
  
  Yes. Submit them as "new" roleplays with a mock-up OOC.
  
  
  Why aren't Chat RPs allowed?
  
  GMs of chat roleplays can already create private chat rooms for their roleplays, and a roleplay that isn't thread-based has far less need for a forum.
  
  
  Do I need to save my stuff so it won't get lost when the contest ends?
  
  Nothing will be deleted. Any entries that don't win will simply be moved to the Graveyard.

[btn]PROCEED TO WaRP[/btn]​

 

[Sir Basil]

Though, could we know on what basis these roleplay won? Like a review of why this roleplay did not pass your criteria a and these ones did? :) just so we could know what to work on :D

But I'm kinda confused now that we've been told those that didn't win didn't meet qualifications (for either contest rules or entertainment/enjoyability purposes?) XD I'd like to know what to fix, in that case. No big deal tho... I'm gonna run it either way - Just curiosity, I suppose.

Just to chime in here!

In addition to judging on the categories that @Jorick emphasized, I personally judged submissions based upon whether or not the world described had a distinct "feel". I looked over the material and voted on the RPs that seemed to have a strong sense of self, and which ones had the most depth both in terms of the world-building that the GM put into their entry, and in terms of how I could see players interacting with it. We also made some judgements based upon the writing styles and conventions of the entries, the tone of the GM's rules and posting requirements, and our general comprehension.

That being said; it was an incredibly tough choice. As I believe @Diana said, we argued for about three days about each of the entires. We all have our own subjective feelings on the RPs, which we tried to temper with the categories/qualifications as our objective lens. Picking the winners was by no means an obvious task, so please don't feel like we overlooked any entry ! Chances are, there's four pages of us debating over each one.

Also, as @Jorick said; while I personally would love to give each of you an indepth review, those four pages of us debating means that many of us had varied impressions and feelings about each one of the RPs. It would be unfortunately really impractical for us to try to boil down our impressions in any way that is at all cohesive, or readable -- the debates were long and fierce. I threatened @Astaroth with an axe at one point.

Anyway! We truthfully enjoyed reading all of the entires, and picking just the winners we did was difficult. And of course; this is not likely to be anyone's only opportunity. We've already started thinking about where we want this project to go in the future. Stay tuned!

 

[Effervescent]

I do have a few questions. Since I am a winner with existing active threads within the Ascender Chronicles, will those IC threads be moved to the subforum? If so, will there be any downtime as they are moved? Also, I have a third active IC thread within the Ascender Chronicles that launched after the contest ended. If you are to move the IC threads to the subforum, will I need to supply you with the new IC thread so that it too may be moved?

 

[Jorick]

I do have a few questions. Since I am a winner with existing active threads within the Ascender Chronicles, will those IC threads be moved to the subforum? If so, will there be any downtime as they are moved? Also, I have a third active IC thread within the Ascender Chronicles that launched after the contest ended. If you are to move the IC threads to the subforum, will I need to supply you with the new IC thread so that it too may be moved?

There shouldn't be any downtime at all unless we screw something up, but any screw ups should be short lived. The forum will be set up, the threads will be moved in, and they'll be immediately available for posting and such.

And yeah, ideally getting all the relevant threads moved in would be a good idea, so links would be good. :D

 

[Diana]

I called jorick lots of names while we discussed the rps. 8D

 

[Nue]

*looks at thread*
*screams like a weenie*
Awww.....Thanks guys...I-I don't know what to say!!! X3

I guess I can say...

I HAVE TO GO TO WORK NOW!

. . .

But no, seriously, I could not be any more surprised at these results. I will say congrats not to the winners, nor the not-so-winners, but to everyone who participated in WaRP in general. I think that WaRP was a very successful plan at large, and the masterminds behind it and those who chose to enter in it deserve a pat on the back! I also hope it continues to be a successful and integral part of Iwaku's blossoming community, and that WaRP continues to become an exiting opportunity to all residents of Iwakuroleplay!
​

 

[Elle Joyner]

SOooooo >_> When will we see these magical forums cropping up? <3

 

[Astaroth]

SOooooo >_> When will we see these magical forums cropping up? <3

Lol. I actually put them up last night! Sorry for the delay. ;D