Monthly Make-A-Magus Contest

[pinetree]

And, to decide, just make a poll and let the people decide what kind of prompt system they prefer

Hmm, I think I wouldn't participate without a prompt. No reasoning really, just a feeling.

but I can see how that's probably going too far and would cause greater controversy lol.

You think so? I doubt people would care, the Servant contest is not endangered anyway.

[Kamera]

You think so? I doubt people would care, the Servant contest is not endangered anyway.

idk, the demand for MCaS is always consistently high, and that question should probably be first asked in its own thread.

[RoydGolden]

I think those "Shinto spellcaster working for Yggdmillenia" prompts sound overspecific. And I wouldn't want the MCaS round pushed ahead.

[zikari8]

I understand the hesitance and caution of those who fear that You's proposed format of prompts may lead to unsuitable prompts that would greatly lower participation rates, but I don't think it is what you might fear it is.

It's not like the prompts we are going to get come out of nowhere. Ultimately, the prompts are something that a person (the previous winner) chooses. And how good a prompt is will also ultimately come down to the chooser. It'll still be up to chooser how specific, how general, how complicated, and how simple a prompt might be.

Instead of focusing on given examples, let's scope out and look at what the format actually entails. All it does is give the chooser two categories from which they can make a prompt. Not even specific keywords, just categories of ideas. Besides that, they still have full creative control over what the prompt could be.

Yes, the prompt could in theory be something very specific like "Shinto spellcaster assassin working for Yggdmillennia".

Or it could also be something overly general like "Clock Tower during the 20th Century".

There is a wide range of possible prompts that could come from this format.

Heck, with the original MCAM format, there were no actual prompt restrictions at all. In theory, someone could've made the prompt something like "Shirou and Rin's daughter who uses Alchemy and joined the Demon Hunter Organization".

Stuff like that technically would've been a valid prompt given the rules. But no one did that. Why? Because people wanted to make good prompts that would foster good sheets. So why would we assume this format would be any different?

The only change is that this format gives some extra guidelines to make the prompts a little more complex and give more encouragement to tie the prompts to canon material.

So really, while I understand the caution, I don't think there is much need to worry about "over specific" or difficult prompts.

[Random]

This is also why I'm in favour of You's suggestion of a vetting period, at least in the earlier rounds. Not everyone will necessarily have the same idea of what's too much (or too little but I don't think that's so much of an issue). Pine brought up that it could reduce the quality of the prompts, but I think so long as we reserve it for times that they're genuinely and properly ridiculous, but it basically acts as insurance while we're getting a hang of things and working out what kind of prompts are easier or harder to write for.

[pinetree]

It won't reduce the quality of prompts, but people will vote against prompts they don't want to write for, regardless of the "quality".
My main point is still that choosing the next prompt is a fun and simple prize for the contest, and being able to veto it ruins it.

[You]

General Rules

• Submissions from the 1st of the month (1:00 AM PST) to the 22nd of each month (11:00 PM PST).
• Voting from the 23rd of the month to final day of the month (11:00 PM PST)
• Voting Points: 1st = 3 points, 2nd = 2 points, 3rd = 1 point.
• Each account can submit 2 sheets.
• Winner gets to decide the prompt for next contest.
• How are the prompts decided?

The prompt is composed of keywords from at least 2 categories. The categories are as follows:

Personage: Specific characters, lineages, position (Burial Agent, Enforcer, Freelancer), phrase describing a position, and more
Organization: Species (Elemental, Oni), Associations (Clock Tower, Atlas Academy), Religions (Kiara's cult)
Locations: Specific Geographical Regions (Australia, Africa), General topographic locations (the mountains, by a lake), Nasuverse locations (7th Labyrinth of Alcatraz, Avalon, Sea of Imaginary Numbers, etc)
Time Period: Includes time periods (15th century, 90's, Age of Gods), Events (Post-Fuyuki HGW5, True Ancestor hunt), or timelines as well as descriptors of timelines (Land of Steel, world with a Moon Cell, During Extella Link)
Abilities: Genre of magecraft (alteration, wish granting, etc), systems (alchemy, runes, etc), non-spellcasting (mystic code creation, potions, familiars), non-magecraft abilities (ESP, Principles, Mixed Blood)
Items: Specific items (Rhongomyniad, Walls of Troy), Class of item (Divine Organs, Catalysts, Seven weapons of Atlas), General items (a holy tree, haunted mansion, parallel world shifting cafe)


What is stated above is not exhaustive. Each keyword chosen should explicitly be from the Nasuverse; however, if the keyword is presumed to exist in the Nasuverse (certain artifacts, locations, personages) it will be acceptable.
The winner will choose the first category and the second category will be randomized. This randomized second category must be distinct from the first category, for example:

• If the winner chose Location, the second category will be Personage, Organization, Time Period, Abilities, or Items.

The winner then creates a prompt with a keyword from each category. This prompt can take any form of a phrase, a question, a statement, etc.
The keywords are entirely up to the winner. The prompt does not need to be limited to these two keywords; however it must include them.

The prompt will first be dm'd (any platform) to me. I will make sure the conditions have been met (this is not an indicator of the quality of the prompt, only it fulfills the requirements) and post it in the thread. For the first 6 contests there will be a vetting period of 1 week. It is assumed that after 6 contests, the winners will have a backlog of acceptable prompts to look back on and will create their prompt in way that does not damage the future of the contest.

The prompt will be posted with a glossary of terms and background information that may be useful. This glossary is not exhaustive and only serves to help those who might not be familiar with the topics in the prompt.

Let me know if there is anything that you want added or clarified. I hoped I've been able to address most of the technical suggestions.
Logistics for which months the contest will be held are still being worked out.

*********************************

Bugs asked for a concrete prompt. When the contest starts, the prompt will be:

A head of the Clock Tower Zoology Department who the Barthomeloi forced into exile.

I chose Personage: A head of the Clock Tower Zoology Department (phrase describing a position).
The

Limited Frame Works

Dolorous Destiny Decider

chose Location: exile (a general location).

Spoiler:

Considerations for this prompt (this will not be in the winner's prompts, just this one used to give a concrete example):

A head of a Clock Tower department - Does not necessarily mean the Lord, it could have also been a Proxy Lord, it could have been a Dean tasked with taking care of the Department
who the Barthomeloi forced into exile - Does not necessarily mean the Barthomeloi disproved of their actions, but had no choice but to exile them
There is no time component in the prompt, it could be any head during any time period since the Clock Tower's founding, it does not have to a Gaiuslink

Glossary:

“For example, if the Barthomelois at the top of the Aristocratic Faction decide to make a move, the Gaiuslinks in charge of the Department of Zoology (Chimera) will have to follow, as they are essentially the Barthomeloi’s puppets. In that case, the Archelots of the Department of Botany (Yumina) will also follow,” my mentor said, listing out a few names that didn’t come up very often.
Gaiuslink, and Archelot.

"At the Clock Tower, transformation is essentially a zoological genre. In other words, he had been taught technique of this magecraft through Sir Davenant of this department."

"An advanced transformation technique. Even his clothes were transformed. Originally it's the Zoology Department's domain, but the former dean [of Modern Magecraft] was involved with quite an array of magecraft"

The Department takes the name of the creator, however, the creator of the Zoology department is unknown so it is called Chimera

Vetting for the prompt
https://strawpoll.com/polls/DwyoD6AOYnA

There were 21 responses for the survey. 14 objections triggers a no confidence.

Feedback on this example prompt will be helpful.

[DelRey]

a) I am a proponent of the extra rule that if there are a certain amount of entries, the amount of points voters can give should rise too. Not more than 5 points for the 1st place. Lets say 25 as a threshold
b) am i dumb or how does the poll work when there is only one option to vote on and that is "I object"

I think the "specific character" keyword is still a hot topic, but i think discussing it over and over leads nowhere, and we just have to wait until someone actually chooses a prompt like that. We will see depending on the amount of entries how well received a prompt was. the MCaS had pretty hard ones before and participations was still really solid.
Big fan of the Glossary. In this case, a noob like me would need to know when someone would actually be exiled. If someone goes the extra mile, some examples of mages that fit the magecraft genre would be lovely too, canon and OC alike.

I started my contest with no prompt at all. a free for all. Many need a prompt somewhat, so perhaps starting out with just one keyword might be a suggestion to get people's toes wet, test the structure, and then get going with the next contest.

I get the argument of Kamera that this might be restrictive. But perhaps this depends on how people approach a contest. I personally have a list of things I wanna explore. Concept first, character second. If this was the prompt, i would feel like the whole exile thing is attached on just to have something.
Others get into it without preconceived motives and start with the prompt alone and are fine with it.
But I think people here are already trained to stretch the concept of all kinds of things from CaS to even play around specific-appearing prompts.
Those are my random showerthoughts on the matter. Do with them as you please

[You]

If you don't object you don't click it.

[Random]

This is really solid. The glossary is a really nice touch that I think will help a lot.

[Kamera]

#AbolishMandatoryRandomizedSecondCategories

[RoydGolden]

Pheidi Elwood:

Appearance:

Source

Gender: Male

Age: 34

Epithet: "Demon Boar Factory"

Affiliation: Clock Tower Zoology Department (former)

Nationality: American (Greek ancestry)


Magical Attributes:
Origin: Proliferation
Element: Earth
Circuit Quality: C
Circuit Quantity: C
Circuit Composition: Normal


Reason For Exile: A sounder of the Demon Boars he was breeding escaped into a city, causing havoc until several Church Executors were secretly sent to cull them. While no one was killed or even seriously hurt, the incident was widely circulated online (resulting in numerous internet memes) and nearly jeopardized the concealment of mystery.


Personality: A friendly person, but he's obsessed with Demon Boars and the chaos they can cause. Pheidi shows an almost euphoric degree of glee for the rampages his "adorable piglets" wreak across the landscape. However this doesn't extend to actually enjoying hurting others but more an abstract fascination, akin to a scientist designing a bomb who only appreciates its scientific merits rather than the harm it causes. Pheidi's wish and apogee of his family Magecraft is to recreate the Hus Kalydonios, the greatest Demon Boar of the Grecian World that challenged countless heroes before finally being brought down.

Incidentally, Pheidi has a quirk of naming his boars after modern philosophers, such as Nietzche, Hobbes, Sartre and Hegel.

Likes: his Demon Boars, books on natural selection, disaster-movies
Dislikes: people who can't appreciate a little chaos, vegetarianism
Talents: breeding, barbecue
Natural Enemy: heroes famed for killing monstrous boars


Magecraft:

Demon Boar Breeding:
Descended from the witch Phaea who mastered the Crommyonian Sow, Pheidi's bloodline bears the accumulated experience and acumen to breed and raise Demon Boars. To compensate for their dwindling mystery, he bolsters them with the modern concept of Natural Selection to

regress

evolve

new Phantasmal traits in response to threat, such as resisting modern weaponry and burrowing underground to evade capture.

After generations of subliming the art, it can be said Pheidi's Demon Boars can't be killed by any method that was used against them prior. Furthermore this experience though diluted is collective, resulting in other pigs from a sounder obtaining a degree of defense against attacks used on their peers. Eradicating a sounder all in one go is the only surefire strategy.

Incidentally, the meat of these beasts is said to only grow tastier in proportion to the traits they acquire, making strengthening them for the purpose of hunting a reckless but appetizing gamble.

---

A kind of goofy concept that I got reading about "Super Pigs" and wild boar outbreaks recently. Occurred to me it fit the prompt and then got the inspiration to write it up quickly. As usual comments and critique would be welcome. Thanks for reading y'all!

[You]

Jumping the gun but okay

[RoydGolden]

Jumping the gun but okay

Oh, I thought the contest actually started. This was just an example of a prompt that could be given then?

[You]

Oh, I thought the contest actually started. This was just an example of a prompt that could be given then?

It will be the prompt if it gets through the vetting period and when the contest starts.
But yes, just an example for now.

[Random]

That's okay, Elwood is an example entry

[You]

Trial poll is over. Only 3 people didn't like the prompt. So that means the first contest will be using that prompt.

I've talked with Asterism and Delrey. No Servants Contest (workshopping names) will be held concurrently with the the Rework a Servant contest.
So that means May will be the first contest. More info, including a new thread and a finalized OP will released closer to the start date.

[RoydGolden]

Just to be clear, so the Monthly Servant contest still resumes and this one will be May after that?

[Random]

Unfathomably psyched

[You]

Just to be clear, so the Monthly Servant contest still resumes and this one will be May after that?

For what Asterism has told me, yes.
I'm not related with Monthly Servant in any way.