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Testing thread

The Mystery of the Missing Moderators: A Reviewing Roleplay Game
Current Reviews: 0/60

In the daytime the Serebii Fanfic Library bustles with activity, readers combing the shelves for old favorites or checking out newly-added stories, retreating to armchairs and beanbags to read them. Writers are fussing with their own work or hanging out at one of the tables, talking in low tones. The library's full of hushed activity, low voices, pages turning, the footsteps of people wandering the shelves.

But at night it empties, until there's only one light burning, high up in the moderators' office. As usual, time zones mean that bobandbill sits alone at his desk, feet up and reading something dense and technical-looking on his tablet. Night shift is often boring, but every now and again someone thinks they might be able to slip something into the library that doesn't belong, in the dark when they might pass unseen.

bobandbill looks up from his tablet, not entirely sure what pulled him from his reading. Some kind of noise, probably. It's quiet, but every now and again you might hear pages rustling as a story slowly updates, or as something inside, grows restless. bobandbill's used to those noises, though. He sits still and listens until somewhere down in the stacks there's the gentle thump of a book falling to the floor.

There's more, maybe--a rustle that might be fabric rather than an unquiet page, a faint metallic clink. bobandbill can't identify what exactly the sounds might be, besides the sounds of something where it shouldn't be.

"It had better not be someone trying to sneak in more arbok vore," he grumbles to himself as he rummages in his desk for his banhammer. "That always takes ages to clean up." Stepping out of the office and to the edge of the landing overlooking the stacks, he calls into the dark, "Hello? The library's closed. If you want to submit something, you'll need to wait until tomorrow."

Down among the bookshelves, a shadow unfolds.

--​

Almost two hours later, the library is still dark save for the single light still burning in the now-empty mod office. Psychic hurries up to the front doors with her meowstic trailing behind, carrying a large tray of cookies. "Sorry I'm late!" she calls out to Dragonfree, who's already waiting at the entrance. "I was just getting some cookies out of the oven. Did you get any details from bobandbill? The report I got was blank."

"It was the same for me. Some kind of glitch, maybe. Let's see what we're dealing with."

Inside, all is still. Nothing seems out of place until Psychic nearly trips over a fallen copy of Pokémon Revelations: Omnipotence, which she picks up and returns to the shelf. "Everything looks fine to me, aside from a little cleanup," she says. "bobandbill? Are you here?" Her meowstic's listening with ears and psychic senses both, turning her head slowly back and forth, but after a couple of minutes chirps an all-clear as well.

"Honestly, I figured we were going to find the place crawling with spambots," Dragonfree said. "I guess this script I was working on isn't going to help much." She twists the glowing band of symbols circling her wrist, and the lacey-bracketed code goes dark.

"We need to find bobandbill, though. I don't like how quiet it is in here. It doesn't look like he's in the office."

"Then he's got to be in the stacks somewhere. I'll take the angst," Dragonfree says. "How about you head around through the one-shots and we'll meet up in the middle? If there's anyone out there, we're bound to run into them."

"I like it," Psychic says, grinning. "And cookies for afters, am I right?" She raises her banhammer, and Dragonfree brings hers up too, knocking it against Psychic's hammer with a clink that sounds loud in the nighttime library.

"Right. Let's go," she says, and sets off between the stacks.

--​

Later that morning, as opening time approaches, early readers find a crudely-penned note taped to the library's doors.

"No library 2day! mods out 4 reasons. No worry. Be back Soon.

p.s. thx 4 cookies"

Something seems off, all the more so when all attempts to reach the mods themselves fail. Not content to wait for the super moderators to show up and investigate, one member of the growing crowd forces the door, and curious Serebii citizens flow into the empty library.

There isn't much sign of a struggle: a few books toppled from their shelves, and a crumb-laden tray alone on a table, a pikachu cookie with a bite taken out of its face that fell under a chair. And where are the moderators? Carried off somewhere by forces unknown? Or--and this is what has the readers most worried--pulled into one of the stories lining the shelves?

They survey the task in front of them: hundreds of stories, and no way of knowing which the moderators might have disappeared into. No way, that is, aside from opening them up and reading them...

What is The Mystery of the Missing Moderators?

The mystery of the missing moderators is a collaborative reviewing game running in the month of September. Players work together with the goal of reading as many stories as possible and reporting their findings (reviewing) in their quest to find the missing mods. Their characters and choices determine the course of the overarching story, which plays out in weekly updates as players get closer to reaching the final goal of 60 reviews posted in September. Along the way, there are plenty of opportunities to win prizes and try reviewing challenges!

How it Works

1. Sign up in this thread with a description of your character. You can use a character from one of your fanfics, an OC you like to RP with, or cook one up just for this game! Just fill out the following form with a brief description of your character, and you're good to go.

Sign-Up Form said:
Name:
Species: (All species are welcome! Human, pokémon, or whatever you'd like)
Personality:
Other Notes: (Optional; anything else you want to say about the character; notes about background, appearance, behavior, etc.)

2. Review! Show your favorite stories some love or find new favorites in the section.

3. Post a link in this thread or the Review Leaderboard thread. Any review you make that counts for the leaderboard also counts for this game, and if you post in the leaderboard your points will automatically be added in both places. Please note, however, that for the purposes of this game, any review you make is only ever worth one point, regardless of how many chapters it covers. Special leaderboard bonuses also do not apply. For the purposes of this game, one review always counts for one point.

If your review fulfills the requirements for the weekly challenge (see below), you should post a link to the qualifying review in this thread with a note that the review fulfills the challenge's requirements, as well as choose your character's in-story reward for completing the challenge, e.g. choosing a weapon for the "Choose Your Weapon" challenge. For any review you make, challenge-related or not, you can also suggest an action for your character to take in the next story update.

4. Claim your prizes! When you earn enough points to be eligible for a prize, first post in the thread as usual to claim your points, then send Negrek a PM with information on what prize you'd like and who you'd like to fulfill your request. See below for a description of the available prizes and how many points you need to earn them.

5. See your character in the weekly story update! The more points you earn, the bigger your character's role in tracking down the missing mods. Note that updates will be posted Tuesdays starting September 12th, and only reviews claimed before midnight (EST) the preceding Sunday will be counted towards an update. The final story update will come on Tuesday, October 2nd.

Week One Challenge: Choose Your Weapon!

Whether it's a cool sword, a mighty pen, a keyboard, or even an angry haddock, every hero needs a heroic tool for getting things done! This week, review a fic by an author you've never reviewed before to arm yourself for the coming battle! To claim this reward, simply link the review like you normally would and include what kind of weapon you'd like in your post, and see how your character comes across it in the weekly story update!

Prizes

1 Point - Review

That's right! Just for posting one review, you'll not only get your character in the weekly story update, but also receive a review for your trouble.

5 Points - Fanart

Manage five reviews to receive the gift of a thousand words... in the form of a picture. Of a character from your fanfic! The fanfic section is fortunate to have great writers who are also great artists, and some of them have generously agreed to provide prizes to participants.

Not so into the fanart thing? That's okay! You can choose to take a second review for this tier instead.

10 Points - Review and Fanart

Do you like reviews? Do you like fanart? Do you like... both? If you manage to post ten reviews in September, you'll be eligible to receive a second piece of fanart as well as a review on one of your fics. If you happen to only like one out of fic or fanart, though, you can choose instead to opt for two reviews or two pieces of fanart as your prize for this tier.

15 Points - Full-Color Banner

If you manage to put together a whopping fifteen reviews in one month, you'll be eligible to receive a full-color banner customized just for your fanfic! (Or anything else you'd like to advertise/a cool banner with your name on it, etc.) See below for the banner artists to choose from and examples of their work!

If you'd rather have reviews than art, you can request three of them for this tier instead.

Prize Request Guidelines

If you're eligible for a prize, please PM Negrek with who you'd like to do your review/fanart/etc., choosing from among the volunteers on the appropriate list. Note that you may not get your preferred choice of reviewer or artist; requests will be spread around reviewers/artists to ensure that none of them get swamped, and a volunteer may choose to pass on a request for any reason. If your first choice isn't going to work out, I'll look over who's available and ask if you're okay with them fulfilling your request instead, and we'll work things out from there. If you're worried about not getting your first choice reviewer/fanartist, you can request a backup choice in your PM.

For fanfic reviews, you can choose any fanfic posted on Serebii to request a review on. For chapterfics, you can choose any one chapter to have the reviewer look at. The reviewer may choose to review more than that single chapter, but this is not at all an expectation. Reviewers may turn down a request if they aren't interested in your specific fic, in which case you'll be matched with a different reviewer.

For fanart, see the examples of each artists' work to get an idea of what you'll get. Sketches are simple, will be of one character only, and will not be colored. An artist may turn down your request if they aren't interesting in drawing it, in which case you'll be matched with a different artist.

Prize Volunteers

Reviews
- Ambyssin
- Bay
- canisaries
- Cutlerine
- diamondpearl876
- Marika_CZ
- Negrek

Fanart
- canisaries
- DeliriousAbsol
- Dragonfree
- NebulaDreams
- roule

Banners
- AmericanPi
- Chibi Pika
 
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[img=http://forums.dragonflycave.com/image.php?u=3517&dateline=1322323943&type=thumb]moof[/img]
 
If you make gifs with Picasion, they go sloooowwww....
Originally Posted by Rarity
If you make gifs with Picasion, they go sloooowwww....

CODE FOR THE SECOND ONE:

[quote]Originally Posted by [B]Rarity[/B] [url=http://forums.dragonflycave.com/showthread.php?p=566291#post566291][img]http://forums.dragonflycave.com/images/buttons/dialga/viewpost.gif[/img][/url]
[I]If you make gifs with Picasion, they go sloooowwww....[/I][/quote]
 
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