Thank you one and all who participated in the short story contest. We had all kinds of entries, from the funny to the fantastic, the dramatic to the silly. Each person gave their story an individual flare.
I had a hard time judging the contest with all the variations in the styles and themes. I looked for people who followed the theme well, but not just my theme, the game itself. Though it isn't deep yet, Heroes Rising does have a canon to follow. Some of the players used that canon with great skill, keeping faithful to the characters and setting of the game. Some strayed a little further away from the canon, but still produced a completely enjoyable fiction.
As for following my theme, "first encounter with Legion", there were all kinds of approaches. I appreciated each unique view of it. Some strayed a bit far from this theme, but it remained a good fiction.Length was a factor in judging, mostly making sure people didn't go way too far. (I only have so much time). However, what I would like to say for this contest and all future contests, length does not mean better grades. A short, well written story is just as good as a long story. In fact, some of my absolute favorite entries were hardly three paragraphs long. The long stories were fun as well, giving more detail and providing depth to their world. All did well!
The contest was structured to not have one "winner" but some entires were chosen for the "top tier" to gain one, or a few, Stop The Presses cards. If your story got a Stop The Presses card, congrats! I liked it a lot. If you got more than one, it ranked even higher. Ultimately the biggest difficulty I had was picking the top tier. Everyone did so well and seemed to enjoy telling their story so much that I had a hard time choosing.
Now for the list of top tier stories..........gotcha, I'm not going list them here. But, fear not fellow heroes, you will see them. We will soon begin a series of blog posts that will begin with the top entry in my judging and each day will proceed down the list. And, surprise, soon they will be featured on the game itself as special blog posts directly on the home page for all to see.
Do not feel that if your story isn't first, or is the last posted, that I felt it was the worst story in any way. Each story was great.
Now, if you've read all that...whew....go check your account on Heroes Rising. If you entered a story, you will have prizes waiting for you in your powers today. Remember, each prize card is worth morphons, so if you don't need them, feel free to sell them to spend on other stuff you might need. (But you'll probably want to keep at least one card, as a badge of honor)
About the future: This is the first of many story contests. Some will be longer than others, some will be stories while others may just be naming powers. Just keep in mind that you need to read the rules and follow them, pay attention to the theme of each contest and be respectful of the contest, the judges, and the other players.
Finally, and most important of all, have fun!
Thanks Heroes, this was great fun for me too!
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