Back to Middle-earth Month 2010: The Final Battle
March is Back to Middle-earth Month, and we are currently accepting registrations for this year's event!
This year's event is a writing/art challenge and quest game. When I tell people this, I usually get a puzzled look and, "A wha--?" In a nutshell, the event consists of two components:
The writing/art challenge. Like last year, the heart of the event is creating stories, poems, and artwork in response to challenges. There will be five challenges--one per week--across the course of the game. These will be a lot like last year's challenges in that they will be very open-ended and able to generate responses in any form and about any race and time period in Tolkien's legendarium.
The quest game. This year, the writing challenge will correspond a quest game. It is the Final Battle, and the people of Arda are organizing against Melkor. As you complete your writing challenges, you will earn items to aid in this battle. You will journey throughout Arda from week to week (where you stop depends on the challenge you will complete) as you try to earn the items that you need to defeat Melkor.
A more detailed description and the full rules of the game are available here.
A few additional important points to make ...
"Five challenges in one month? Wow, that's a lot! I don't know if I'll be able to keep up." If you'd like to participate but aren't sure whether you can complete five challenges in one month (which is, indeed, a lot), please note that teams of up to four people are perfectly acceptable. You are welcome to participate on your own, of course, but if you want to bring along a few friends to share responsibilities, please do!
"I write slash/het/adult-rated/fluff/comic strips/darkfic/MPREG/AU/crossover--is my work eligible?" At SWG, we have always had the policy of accepting all Silmarillion-based writing and do not make quality judgments based on genre, subject, rating, or interpretation. During Back to Middle-earth Month, we open that further to all Tolkien-based writing as well as artwork. Our Site Etiquette and Terms of Service have more information on the few items that we cannot or will not accept.
So, yes, again all Tolkien-based writing will be welcome for B2MeM on the B2MeM site. (We continue to allow Silm only on our archive and LiveJournal community.) So no matter what your tastes, we welcome your contributions!
"Is this an RPG?" We have nothing against role-playing games (RPGs) but this certainly is not one. There is a forum (the Tavern) for sharing information with other players, but you do not need to role-play in order to use it or to participate in the event. (Those of you who want to role-play in the Tavern are welcome to do so, but it is not required.)
If you are interested in participating, please check out our site and the game rules. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email us at b2mem@silmarillionwritersguild.org or leave a comment on this post. If you're interested in participating, you may register here.
You may register at any time during the month of February.
We will be posting stories periodically throughout the next few weeks that set the stage for the Final Battle--we hope to see many of you there! :)
(Please do share this post with any individuals or groups that might be interested in participating in this year's B2MeM! You do not need to be an SWG member or a Silmarillion writer to participate! :)
This year's event is a writing/art challenge and quest game. When I tell people this, I usually get a puzzled look and, "A wha--?" In a nutshell, the event consists of two components:
The writing/art challenge. Like last year, the heart of the event is creating stories, poems, and artwork in response to challenges. There will be five challenges--one per week--across the course of the game. These will be a lot like last year's challenges in that they will be very open-ended and able to generate responses in any form and about any race and time period in Tolkien's legendarium.
The quest game. This year, the writing challenge will correspond a quest game. It is the Final Battle, and the people of Arda are organizing against Melkor. As you complete your writing challenges, you will earn items to aid in this battle. You will journey throughout Arda from week to week (where you stop depends on the challenge you will complete) as you try to earn the items that you need to defeat Melkor.
A more detailed description and the full rules of the game are available here.
A few additional important points to make ...
"Five challenges in one month? Wow, that's a lot! I don't know if I'll be able to keep up." If you'd like to participate but aren't sure whether you can complete five challenges in one month (which is, indeed, a lot), please note that teams of up to four people are perfectly acceptable. You are welcome to participate on your own, of course, but if you want to bring along a few friends to share responsibilities, please do!
"I write slash/het/adult-rated/fluff/comic strips/darkfic/MPREG/AU/crossover--is my work eligible?" At SWG, we have always had the policy of accepting all Silmarillion-based writing and do not make quality judgments based on genre, subject, rating, or interpretation. During Back to Middle-earth Month, we open that further to all Tolkien-based writing as well as artwork. Our Site Etiquette and Terms of Service have more information on the few items that we cannot or will not accept.
So, yes, again all Tolkien-based writing will be welcome for B2MeM on the B2MeM site. (We continue to allow Silm only on our archive and LiveJournal community.) So no matter what your tastes, we welcome your contributions!
"Is this an RPG?" We have nothing against role-playing games (RPGs) but this certainly is not one. There is a forum (the Tavern) for sharing information with other players, but you do not need to role-play in order to use it or to participate in the event. (Those of you who want to role-play in the Tavern are welcome to do so, but it is not required.)
If you are interested in participating, please check out our site and the game rules. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email us at b2mem@silmarillionwritersguild.org or leave a comment on this post. If you're interested in participating, you may register here.
You may register at any time during the month of February.
We will be posting stories periodically throughout the next few weeks that set the stage for the Final Battle--we hope to see many of you there! :)
(Please do share this post with any individuals or groups that might be interested in participating in this year's B2MeM! You do not need to be an SWG member or a Silmarillion writer to participate! :)