Hello folks! It's time for another contest. Awhile back several folks posted requesting this, and with P5 chasing us steadily I feel that this is the perfect time to do this.

What we're looking for are shrine submissions for the P5 area. There are more stringent guidelines for this particular contest due to the more focused nature of the province. The following are guidelines for the submissions themselves:

1) Each submission will need a minimum of two, with a maximum of three room descriptions -- one "outside" your shrine and one or two "inside". All room descriptions must be 500 characters or less. (Yes, count them!) Entries with more than three rooms will be disqualified. (Also note, by "inside" I mean the shrine itself -- it doesn't have to be an indoor shrine or building. The "outside" room is basically what will connect it to the surrounding area.)

2) Your shrine must mesh with P5's general theme -- that is a very rough land -- lots of wilderness, lots of high mountains, etc. For example -- Due to the nature of P5, a richly-decorated marble palace with gossamer silken tapestries that is dedicated to Albreda wouldn't be proper. A forest shrine dedicated to Albreda could work though, if done to mesh with P5's theme.

3) You must have a minimum of 5 random "atmosphere" messages. You may have up to a maximum of 20. This is for the whole shrine, not per room! You can designate a message to be only for one room if you want, though. Entries with more than 20 messages will be disqualified.

4) You must have a minimum of 3 fixed items in your shrine. You may have a maximum of up to 9 items if you wish. (Three per room max) This may include an altar, the door/path/whatever leading into your shrine, and anything else that you feel is appropriate. Please be sure to include 'look' (and 'read' if applicable) descriptions for ALL items that you submit. Item look/read descriptions cannot go over 500 characters (again, count them!). These items cannot have special "verbs" or magical properties aside from the normal look/read descriptions. Entries with more than 9 items will be disqualified.

5) [VERY IMPORTANT] Please save your entry in a plain text file (.txt) with a program like Notepad that does not format text. Save the file as yourcharactername.txt -- skralthaen.txt, for example. Then attatch it to an email and send it to me at dr-skralthaen@play.net with "P5 shrine submission" as the title.

Each submission MUST have at least the minimums of all the above items -- please be sure to number them and make sure that your entry is clear and concise as this is quite a bit of information to digest. Now, there are also several guidelines regarding who may submit a shrine, and they are as follows:

Eligibility and Boring Legal Stuff:
1. Entry is open to Clerics only. You must be a Cleric of 20th circle or greater at the time of entry and at the time the prize is awarded or you will be disqualified.
2. Only ONE entry per account is allowed, more will result in disqualification of all entries. Please specify whether your account is platinum or prime so we know which character we're awarding to if you win!
3. Be sure to put your Simu account name and a persona name on your entry. Submissions without this information will be disqualified.
4. Be sure you followed the guidelines in the section above specifically. Entries will be disqualified if you go over room, messaging, or item limits.
5. Contestant must email entry to DR-Skralthaen@play.net
6. Contestant agrees that his/her entry becomes the property of Simutronics and DragonRealms. Parts of entries or ideas may be used in the future without compensation. Portions of winning entries may be changed or altered without notice to reflect Quality Control specifications.
7. Entries will be judged by Cleric Team staff of DragonRealms, whose decisions are final.
8. Entries must be received by July 31st 2000, midnight Eastern time.
9. Winners will be announced sometime in September.
10. Prizes will be awarded once P5 opens. For in-game prizes, an appointment will be made between the winning player and the GM awarding the prize. To make the appointment, we'll need to contact you, so please be sure your email address on the billing page is correct (you can send yourself email at your ACCOUNT NAME@play.net to check it.) All email will be sent to your ACCOUNTNAME@play.net, so MAKE SURE it is correct!

The prizes: So what do you get for all this?
Elligible winners will see their submissions become live shrines in Province 5 which is currently in development. Those Clerics that win will receive a gift in fitting with their submission -- but no claims are made on what it will be, as we'd like to make it a more personal surprise. This gift will be bonded to the winner and will only work for the person who won it, so don't enter if you're just going to sell it! ;)

If there are any questions, feel free to post on the "Responses to Guild Guru Announcements" and I will answer them as best I can. Good luck everyone!

-GM Skralthaen

PS: The following are some "hints" at area design that will make your shrine more likely to be picked as one of the winners:

1) Don't use "you" or "your" too much in room or item descriptions. In certain instances it is fine, but keep away from making people do or feel things. Not all people will be scared by that big nasty spider, and not everyone will beam with joy when they see that altar to Glythtide. Also refrain from telling the person where they are standing, but rather describe the area itself.
2) Follow the standard merchant guidelines of taste. Glowing, pulsating, and blood-dripping items/rooms aren't going to happen. When in doubt, be conservative! ;)
3) Have a friend who is not entering the contest proof-read your entry to see if they can catch any inadvertant breaking of the rules stated above.
4) Have fun with it, and make sure YOU like it before you send it in!


PPS: The parchment contest is in the final phases of judging, and winners should be announced shortly.