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  #16  
Old Jan 12th, 2025, 03:17 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mitsubachi View Post
I would also suggest a bit more guidance on how the judging works. It looks a little… opaque to me. Remember RPing is not fanfiction. Many of the things considered “good writing” in fiction are not possible in an RP post of any length, unless the GM gives free rein to the poster to control other characters and/or the situation. (Further explanation of this opinion is available upon request!)

So what are we really looking for in a PotM?
That would also help me with my second point. It's a lot easier to understand why who won won when you know the rubric. Though I suppose it might just be whose line is it anyway rules and then maybe we don't want to know what's going one behind the curtains XD



Also, I've made my nomination for January!
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  #17  
Old Jan 12th, 2025, 05:39 PM
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I opine that writing is art, and there are no objective rules in judging art, only subjective.

We can argue all day on that too.

So, partly what judging a POTM comes down to is each judge, and what they like. The best we can hope for is to get a wide variety of nominations (opinions) and a wide variety of judges (opinions) and try to come to an agreement.

all that said... I would certainly be willing to see a set of objective rules developed. Perhaps we can do that here, or at least, toss some things out.

What's the word count of a perfect post? Minimum? Maximum?
What elements should a great post contain?
What essential things can be found in a great post?
What does a great post DO in a game thread?
Does spelling, grammar and sentence structure play a role, and if so, how much?
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  #18  
Old Jan 12th, 2025, 05:43 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mitsubachi View Post
I think it’s just a matter of a bit of promotion.

I wasn’t even aware there was a PotM thing until someone nominated me. Now I know.
Question: Did you see announcements when you come to boards, talking about the winners of the Post of the Month?


Perhaps this is a blind spot for us... we make announcements, we occasionally mention it in special announcements (very occasionally, perhaps). It's been mentioned in Explosive Runes, however, that missive has also gone away, due to lack of interest, so that's not an avenue anymore. It gets mentioned on our facebook feed, I believe.

What methods DO work best for promotion? How could we reach you via a promotion medium, for example? (given that our current methods don't work).
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  #19  
Old Jan 13th, 2025, 06:57 AM
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OK, the first question I'll address is how to promote PotM.

Now that you ask it, I realise that is a good question. I don't really check the main announcements board, nor do I socialise outside my games really. I suspect there are plenty of people like me in that way. So how to reach people like me? It is hard. I know people don't like spam messages in their PMs. So I have three suggestions;

1. The solo game thing you run for new players (which is an absolutely brilliant way to welcome new players and get them bedded in, by the way), seems like a good time to personally highlight it to newcomers, so at least they are aware of it.
2. The advert banner at the top of any screen a user goes to, you could perhaps add a second banner beneath it, with just a current forum news headline and link? That means coding, I know. But it will be just one more line before people scroll down to the posts/forums they are looking for. And if they are already CS they will only see it as a single headline at the top of the screen.
3. For me, the most visited forum is Games Seeking Players (outside of private game forums). You could perhaps do a moderator post there at the beginning of the month as a bit of a reminder that PotM is open again for new nominations. Don't make it a sticky. No-one reads the stickies lol. Just let it naturally fall away as new games are posted.


The second question I will talk about is an idea of criterion.

Again, it is a really good question. And the point that it will always be subjective is correct.

Here is what I think. It is just my own (subjective!) opinion, so everyone should feel free to just ignore it.

A RP post has a different function to, say, writing some fiction. You are not trying to publish anything, you are just making a move and controlling a character in a game. The post is meant to move the game on and only be read by the GM and other players.

So you are restricted in that you can only describe the actions and words of your own character. You cannot really move into new locations or extend beyond the current "turn" timescale due to the general rules of a RP game.

So it seems to me that getting beyond more than a couple of paragraphs is going to force a player to either repeat stuff from other posts, embellish with additional fluff, or go into rambling internal monologues. I am guilty of all these things, because I know my posts are RP posts.

But all of these things might in fact be considered "bad writing" by some people. It violates the principles of show-don't-tell, infodumping, and Stephen King's powerful concept of Word Economy.

It is interesting (to me at least, might not be interesting to anyone else haha) that all my nominations for PotM came from occasions when a GM set me free from the usual RP restraints and said "narrate this how you want", giving me free rein to add in other characters, locations, and actions. It lets me write a mini-story with a beginning, the set-up, and a satisfying payoff. But these occasions rarely occur in a single post otherwise.

So, what does make a really good RP post? For me it is about really neatly and beautifully capturing a moment without wasting too many words. It shows a reader how the character feels (through words, deeds, facial expressions) and gives an intense close-up of the action involved. A single great metaphor or simile to make the narration work on a physical, thematic and allegorical level is the gold standard, for me.

I would also say it is a kind of art to interpret unexpected dice rolls. I love it when a player uses these as a prompt to try and keep to narration continuity. A fluffed roll, for example, sometimes leads players to suddenly make out their character to be temporarily an idiot. That's fine for slapstick games, and we all like a laugh. But I tend to play my characters and games seriously, so I appreciate when someone is creative in how they narrate a failed attempt to complete a task.

So, yeah, that's my idea of a good RP post.

DM posts, on the other hand, are slightly different. They do not suffer the same restraints and can indeed be judged on "normal" criterion for great writing, I think. Perhaps there should be a separate nomination for player and DM posts?

Sorry I rambled a bit there, and I know my ideas are not completely coherent. But I hope this gives a bit of feedback that may or may not be of use to someone...
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  #20  
Old Jan 13th, 2025, 06:48 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mitsubachi View Post
(bunch of great stuff)

Oh boy, this is good stuff. thank you! appreciate the time and thought you took to write it.
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  #21  
Old Jan 14th, 2025, 09:05 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Humble Athena View Post
Hard agree. I always felt it was extremely bad form. As for nominating others, I also fall into forgetful/ indecisive.
I feel the same.

I never float my own boat.

Maybe Admins/Staff should add PoTM to their sigs, as i'm sure you Reds get more eyes on your posts.
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Last edited by Drifter One; Jan 14th, 2025 at 09:12 AM.
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  #22  
Old Jan 14th, 2025, 12:48 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Drifter One View Post
Maybe Admins/Staff should add PoTM to their sigs, as i'm sure you Reds get more eyes on your posts.
I've seen a few of them do it already, but there's no reason to make them do all the work. We can help remind the people we game with to nominate as well!


As a note, I also saw the new post on the general tab if anyone was curious if that added visibility.
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  #23  
Old Jan 14th, 2025, 01:33 PM
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yeah agreed.

Is there still a limit on sig sizes?
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  #24  
Old Jan 14th, 2025, 04:13 PM
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Have guest judges such as winners of past PoTM's.

When adding RPXP add an additional option to expand into a template for a PoTM entry.

DM vs Player sounds good but if the nominations are already low its going to look like a win by default.

Ease of entry, UI. Do most people use mobile or smaller screens or laptops. I have multiple monitors so a spread of rpgx tabs is not a problem for me but constant flicking back and forth. Sounds petty but that can be enough of a hurdle for people when they are doing something for fun.

Rewards - nominate and get entered into a raffle for a year of CS for the nominator and nominee (which could be gifted)

End of year categories. Best SciFi/Fantasy/Player/DM/Weird (but also more work for the judges and we are here for fun so how to farm that out which also another type of work)



Please pass on my gratitude to all the Reds for the behind the scenes stuff that occurs here.
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  #25  
Old Jan 16th, 2025, 02:25 PM
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For me it's because my games have slowed down to a crawl, and most posts in those are "I put on my wizard hat and attack the goblin." Hardly POTM material
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  #26  
Old Jan 16th, 2025, 04:05 PM
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I noticed that one person won multiple posts of the month in short succession. I'm sure the posts were excellent and I appreciate you can only work with what gets nominated, but it still made me raise an eyebrow to see it happen...
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  #27  
Old Jan 16th, 2025, 04:44 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by creed View Post
"I put on my wizard hat and attack the goblin."

Booker Prize material right there!
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  #28  
Old Jan 16th, 2025, 06:57 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Alemar View Post
I noticed that one person won multiple posts of the month in short succession. I'm sure the posts were excellent and I appreciate you can only work with what gets nominated, but it still made me raise an eyebrow to see it happen...
But Rule 8 says otherwise "Site members are eligible to win only one Post of the Month contest per year"

I will have to admit I don't watch winners as closely as I used to.
Maybe perhaps did you see a PotM winner then saw that same winner win PotY? Only winners for post of the month are eligible for Post of the Year trophy.
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  #29  
Old Jan 16th, 2025, 08:34 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Alemar View Post
I noticed that one person won multiple posts of the month in short succession. I'm sure the posts were excellent and I appreciate you can only work with what gets nominated, but it still made me raise an eyebrow to see it happen...
Could you point out who that was? There's a list of every winner here... https://www.rpgcrossing.com/showthread.php?t=137174

Which person was it that won multiple posts in short succession?
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  #30  
Old Jan 17th, 2025, 12:48 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Admin Dirk View Post
Could you point out who that was? There's a list of every winner here... https://www.rpgcrossing.com/showthread.php?t=137174

Which person was it that won multiple posts in short succession?
No, actually I cant... Because looking at the list, I'm completely wrong.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GodRosen View Post
But Rule 8 says otherwise "Site members are eligible to win only one Post of the Month contest per year"

I will have to admit I don't watch winners as closely as I used to. Maybe perhaps did you see a PotM winner then saw that same winner win PotY? Only winners for post of the month are eligible for Post of the Year trophy.
That is possible, it could also be that I saw multiple nominations or honorable mentions month after month and mistook that as a winning post?

In my Memory, it had been The Rat Queen who I had seen being mentioned as winning PoTM/PoTY multiple times with maybe a month or two in between. But on the list, their wins are spread out with a year between them as per your rule...

I'm sorry, I don't know what I was thinking of?
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Last edited by Alemar; Jan 17th, 2025 at 01:00 AM. Reason: Corrections
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