Game of Tomes
Thanks for the support, Janet & Dimitris!
Game of Tomes 2020 Video
The Conflict
Prelude
2020 was a disastrous year on the third planet in the Sol system. As if the widespread political and social turmoil, and the vicissitudes of climate change weren't enough, a global pandemic known as Covid-19, a Coronavirus infection, forced most of the world into lockdown conditions. In response to the health risks of gathering in public spaces, NaNoWriMo headquarters informed their Municipal Liaisons, including Sable Aradia, that they would not be authorizing any in-person events for NaNoWriMo 2020. Fortunately, the ASC Wrimos had the benefit of the Anvilite community to gather with online. Inspired by the #NaNoHouseCup, which is masterminded and organized by Elayna Mae, a number of ASC writers who participate in NaNoWriMo agreed to pit their word counts against one another in a month-long winner-take-all battle for the Iron Tome. Sable Aradia of House Lapin laid the challenge, and six ASC Wrimos accepted her invitation.
Deployment
- Swear their undying loyalty to a single house, if and until their house falls
- Form or join a lesser house, which then gives its loyalty in turn to the banner of one of the great houses
- Give their loyalty to one house, then later change their mind; and this may be done repeatedly
- Function as a mercenary, either by joining and leaving houses at a whim, or by trying to win concessions from one of the other lesser or greater houses by offering their support
Mercenaries
It is contrary to the spirit of the competition to introduce any real stakes. Mercenaries may NOT sell their services for any real monetary value. However, mercenaries may ask for trade-in-kind, or for things with real value, such as bits and Twitch subscriptions, as long as their portion of the monetary value (ie. the portion of the subscription fee that isn't kept by Twitch) is going to a charity. Mercenaries may choose the charity they support or donate to NaNoWriMo or another charity supported by Game of Tomes streamers.Lesser Houses
Participating Wrimos who do not lead a greater house may choose to form a lesser house instead. This includes both streamers and non-streamers. Lesser houses must REGISTER, using this form, prior to October 15th. That lesser house must "bend the knee" to one of the greater houses, on a temporary or extended basis. This must be done publicly on the Twitch stream of the house leader one is bending the knee to. A lesser house may change its allegiance at the beginning of each new elimination period -- and only at the beginning of each elimination period -- if desired. This must be indicated by a public bending of the knee, as above. A lesser house may only consist of one person. However, that one person, upon declaring themselves a house, is thereby bound to the rules of lesser houses. They may not change their minds and act as individuals later in the competition.The Undead Horde
The Undead Horde begins with only the Night Monarch (leader of their "house"), but swells their ranks by taking a random third of each fallen house's strength, as described in Conditions. No one else may start as Undead.Battlefield
Conditions
Attrition
At the end of every five days, as calculated in UTC, the overall scores of the houses are tallied. The great house with the smallest overall word count is officially eliminated from the competition. This result will be announced on stream.- November 5: 6th house eliminated
- November 10th: 5th house eliminated
- November 15th: 4th house eliminated
- November 20th: 3rd house eliminated
- November 25th: 2nd house eliminated
- November 30th: The Final Battle - last surviving house vs. the Undead Horde!
Undead
The names of the members of the eliminated house, and their bannermen, will be entered into a random name selector. One third of them will be drawn randomly to be drafted into the ranks of the Undead Horde. If they are drafted, they must represent the Horde for the remainder of the Game of Tomes. "Mercenaries" who shift their allegiances will be counted as being part of the last house they joined before the end of the elimination period. The members and bannermen of the eliminated house who survive the Undead Horde may then choose one of the surviving houses to represent instead.Dancing with Death
If a participating living Wrimo submits word counts to the Undead Horde, either accidentally or intentionally, the words they submitted disappear into the ether, and benefit neither a living house, nor the Horde. Further, that Wrimo is automatically submitted to the Undead Horde draft, since clearly, they were getting a little too close to zombies. They are not guaranteed admission into the ranks of the Undead.Bending the Knee
If a house leader -- whether they lead a lesser or a greater house -- survives the Horde, they must then appear on the stream of the leader of the new house they wish to serve to "bend the knee." This can be done with a live appearance, a chat conversation, the use of emojis, or any other method as appropriate to the stream and streamer. It is assumed that their house members will change their allegiance to the new house, but they are under no obligation to do so. A leader of a great house whose house falls may no longer display their original house banner on their streams, as their house is considered to have been destroyed. The leaders of lesser houses are not bound by this restriction. However, if the leader of a lesser house becomes part of the Undead Horde, their house is considered to be destroyed, and they must also take down their banner, and not display it on stream again for the duration of the Game. Alternatively, lesser and greater houses whose leaders are drafted into the Undead Horde may feature a corrupted version of their banner instead, displaying their allegiance to the Undead.Responsibilities of House Leaders
House leaders agree to tally the word count totals of their houses, and the Twitch names of the members of their house when eliminated, and report this information as detailed in The Engagement. The house leaders may not reveal the current totals at any time in public, on stream, Discord, or any form of social media, which allows "mercenary" play. The only time in which total word counts will be revealed is on the stream in which the next elimination is announced. Whether a house leader is the head of a major or minor house, the role of a house leader is to inspire and encourage their bannermen. This is all about fun and about helping each other to succeed. Lead by example, be there for your bannermen, and use positive reinforcement to make NaNoWriMo a success for them, and for you.The Engagement
- Great house leaders should report the total word counts accumulated in their streams using this form.
- Other streamers, whether they lead a lesser house or not, should report total word counts from their streams using this form. (Note that the form will not be accessible until the start of the Game.)
- When reporting results for a minor house, add the total to BOTH the field for the minor house AND the field for the major house.
Reporting for Lesser Houses Lead by Streamers
- Ideally, it would be easiest if a lesser house decides to directly report their results as if they were part of the great house they have bent the knee to. Since the text field in which word counts are submitted during the stream can contain any text, they may also keep track of their lesser house totals separately by typing the name of the lesser house in the text field, long with their word counts for the sprint (ie. "301 Sauropoda," "205 Kitsune.")
- If, however, a lesser house leader wishes to create a channel point reward for their own house on their own channel, they agree to keep track of which of the greater houses those points will be counted towards, and to indicate this on the screenshot reporting graphic. They also agree to keep track of, and communicate to the great house leaders, which participants are part of their house. If mistakes are made, unattached word counts will simply not be counted, and unattached names are automatically submitted to the random name picker for possible draft into the Undead Horde.
Remember, this is a Game
Although this event is designed to get the competitive juices flowing to inspire greater word counts, it is meant to be a friendly competition. There are no real stakes involved. There are no prizes or punishments for success or failure. Our hope is that participants will encourage and support one another, and any rivalries will be all in good fun. Put simply, anyone being a jerk may be banned from participating in the event by a consensus of the leaders of the great houses, who are also the event organizers.Outcome
Aftermath
Historical Significance
Legacy
The Dead
The following article details the Undead Horde and the final members of its ranks in 2020 (there will be a new article created for 2021):Maps
-
ASC Members Through Out the World
Our community is truly international. Use this to find out more about the streamers, to catch streamers in or near your time zone, to team up with other streamers in similar time zones, or help plan shared streams for broadcasters in different parts of the world.
Launch Stream
- What is NaNoWriMo? (8:25)
- Why people do it and NaNo success tips (11:10)
- Pantsers, Plotters, and Plantsers (32:28)
- Video: The Houses (35:27)
- Acknowledgements, shout-outs, intros to house leaders (41.01)
- Basic rules (45:04)
- Channel point system setup & reporting (51:53)
- How to participate (56:00)
- ASC NaNoWriMo event calendar (56:55)
- How to get involved as a streamer (58:45
- How to represent your house on any participating stream (1:00:38)
- Changing loyalties (1:01:07)
- More on getting involved as a streamer (1:02:06)
- Lesser houses (1:04:15)
- More on adding your word count (1:09:00)
- Banners for lesser houses (1:11:43)
Leaders of the Great Houses
- Coffee Quills (House Mollusca, Japan)
- Cryssalia (House Avis, Malaysia)
- DaniAdventures (House Apis, United States)
- Darth Nikolas (House Meles, United States)
- Sable Aradia (House Lapin, Canada)
- Siobhan the Writer (House Chiroptera, Canada)
ASC NaNoWriMo Event Calendar
You might be a House Lord, or a minor house leader, but sooner or later, you dance with the Reaper.
All the Twitch will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies, and whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you, Writer, Reader, Word walker, prince with the swift Emote. Be cunning and full of tricks and your people shall never be destroyed.
Comments