PROMPT: ROUND ONE

[hso_mods]

ROUND ONE: GAMBLING

they call you lady luck

Hey shippers!
We are so incredibly excited to announce the first main round prompt and the official start of the HSO!
This year, we’re loosely theming the prompts around patron trolls. We’re also trying to give you a little more creative space with this year’s prompts, so we’ll see how this works out!

For Round One, incorporate gambling--literal or metaphorical--in your submission. It doesn't need to be the central focus, but it should be a major theme.

And as always, if you are unsure whether something counts or not, just ask! You can reach us at homestuck.shipping@gmail.com

All submissions must be created/assembled new for this round by members of your team.
No fan-created content is allowed that has not been made by members of your team specifically in response to the prompt. Mainstream creative content is fine (e.g. popular music, well-known art pieces, the Homestuck soundtrack), but not fanart, fan music, etc. This is largely to ensure that the original content in your entry is clearly identifiable as distinct from the borrowed content.

This challenge will run until 11:59PM EDT June 23. If your Palhoncho sends it in after that time according to the gmail timestamp, your team’s submission will get posted--but we cannot guarantee that it will be posted in a timely manner.

Requirements (as stated in the Info Post)
Fic/meta must be between 800-3000 words.
Combination fic/art entries cannot have more than 4 images.
All other image-based media (including comics) cannot exceed 10 images/panels.
Cosplay must be at least 75% created or assembled new for the challenge.
The penalties for going over 3k words will be as follows:
3000-3050: no penalty (to allow for disparities in wordcount software)
3051-3150: -30 points
3151-3250: -60 points
etc.
PLEASE NOTE that gdocs is notoriously bad at generating an accurate wordcount, so you should probably check your submission at http://www.wordcounter.net/ just to make sure.
Also, this year we are requiring transcriptions of all text on images. These transcriptions count towards the wordcount.

Please remember not to post your HSO creations publicly until voting ends, whether or not they are chosen as part of the team submission. We would like to keep things as anonymous as possible!

Submission Format
We’re still working out the details, but this year we’re probably going to ask palhonchos to post their entries directly to the round comm! Stay tuned for more details.

Questions about this challenge should be emailed to homestuck.shipping@gmail.com; we will attempt to check the comments on this post, but we cannot guarantee that we will be able to see all of them.
Please remember to check the Info Post and FAQ to see if your question is answered there!

Comments

[chagrined]

Are there min/max limits on video or audio submissions?

[hso_mods]

http://hs-olympics.dreamwidth.org/1844.html#sc

"If we didn’t list it, there’s no hard and fast rule. Use the things we did list as a general yardstick against which to measure the amount of effort we expect to see in each submission. If you’re unsure about what that entails, feel free to contact us."

so no, there's not a limit, but if you really have no idea about the amount of effort that "approx 3k words" consists of, ask around or ask again here and the mods will get back to you.

[rex]

Godspeed, Vriska ships!

[person4]

*looks at this round and collab round's text colors*

Ohh, is the theme this year patron trolls? ;)

♥s to all y'all for the work you've put into this!

[cypher]

omg, this theme. No matter what team gets the points, I win this round, because everybody's answers to this prompt are so relevant to my interests. \o/

[execute]

yes my reaction on twitter when i saw this was 'I JUST WOKE UP TO THIS AAAAAAH OH MY GOD YES WOW FUQ I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE WHAT PEOPLE WRITE' because holy hell, this prompt

[djiinraidinnae]

Me too. I love this sort of thing! Literal gambling in sort of a fantasy casino environment is just wonderful, and metaphorical gambling through dilemma can be so fascinating!

It was bizarre how the same day I went to the casino IRL I got this update. I almost never go there, it was just for my cousin's birthday.

Anyway, I hope some sort of film noir sort of things can come of this too! Oh man, I'll be in Heaven.

[specialagentartemis]

Did somebody say film noir? TEAM SLICK <3< SNOWMAN REPRESENT!

Seriously, this is going to be great. I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with.

[djiinraidinnae]

Heck yes.
I was, like, this close *holds fingers really close together* to joining that team because I can't deny the noir love.

I guess I've always found such relationships to be so beautiful to see on screen... Black Romance has always been a thing, even before Homestuck. I think that's what makes Slick <3< Snowman so great!

[ruskabot]

So... this is where we start drawing or writing or whatever something that has anything to do with the theme?
Wich in this case is gambling?

Just checking

[slippy]

Not a mod, but I did this last year so - yep, this is when you start making your entry for the first round. And then it has to be in by June 23 according to the rules up there.

[hso_mods]

talk to the Palhoncho for your team about the approach you will be taking!

[mr2bonclay]

woah I totally just thought of an idea instantly
this is gonna be FUN!!! 38D