In April, participants in the yearlong Apocalypse Lucky 13s Campaign in North Texas earned a participation stamp by writing stories centering on a key character they expected to participate in goings-on as the year progressed; now, they will be able to earn another stamp by leaping directly into the action, with the next Campaign Event: the Lucky 13s Adventure Storywriting Contest!
Rules for this event will be similar to the previous storywriting activity--save that the emphasis this time is on action: participants should feature an adrenaline-pumping adventure in the 40K universe in the tale they tell, this time around. The word limit will remain 1500 maximum, so the scope of the adventure attempted should reflect that: while a massive starship battle well might be something one could convey, focusing on a specific ship's maneuver which affected that overall battle would be likelier to be doable. The same applies to battlefield action--since mega-battles of thousands of points have been the thrust of the campaign, writing an adventure story about such a battle could be tempting...but success is likelier to be had in the word-count available if the emphasis is placed on one key action or conflict set against that broader canvas. And, of course, 'battles' are not the only 'adventures' in which forty-first millennium characters involved in the campaign might find themselves, and participants should feel free to explore their options, so long as they tell a cracking story.
The only other requirement is that the story, this time, MUST involve the Mordant 13th Imperial Guard 'Lucky 13s' in some way. Again, the writer's creativity is free to fully-explore what that requirement might mean: if they wish to feature a psychic struggle between their Eldar farseer and an opposing Inquisitor on the Immaterial plane, perhaps the individual combat is merely placed with the Thirteenth waging a larger war in the background, for example. However, this requirement is absolute--because this IS the Lucky 13s' destiny-defining campaign. Entries which attempt to skirt this requirement in some sort of arch or clever way will only undermine their chances to compete for Event prizes.
There will be the awarding of physical prizes of GW product, as in prior Campaign events...but a particularly exciting bonus this time around is the prospect of having winning stories 'published' in a manner of speaking by Games Workshop, in the form of presentation on their website. Having seen the quality of storytelling the local community is capable of producing, I am confident some North Texas entries would be among those worthy of such presentation!
Deadline for submission (following the guidelines below), is Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008; that gives participants all the way through the Labor Day holiday to polish their entry (but should not be regarded as encouragement to WAIT until the Labor Day holiday to start!). Good Luck, Lucky 13s!
Lucky 13s Adventure Storywriting Contest Requirements:
- Story must not exceed 1500 words.
- Story must focus on adventure: a battle, confrontation, conflict or other action-based sequence should be introduced, played out in as exciting a manner as possible, and resolved within the tale.
- The Imperial Guard Mordant 13th 'Lucky 13s' Regiment must be somehow convincingly involved.
- Story must be turned in in printed form to the submission folder at HobbytownUSA Dallas by Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 or earlier; this printed form should be typeset, double-spaced, with the story's title and the author/participant's name at the top of the first page; multiple-page entries should be secured together via paperclip, staple or some similar, reliable method. Participants are encouraged to retain an electronic document copy of the submitted story as well, in the event their story is chosen to be sent on to Games Workshop, but the physical copy of the story will constitute their entry, at this stage.
- Participants may submit more than one story but each story must be submitted separately according to the above physical guidelines.
- Story is considered by the act of submission to be a hobby-related activity and in no way a challenge to the Intellectual Property of Games Workshop; writer/participant confers by the act of submission all rights to the story to Games Workshop to modify and/or reuse and/or not use as Games Workshop sees fit; all submissions become the property of Games Workshop.
