Get ready for the defining Worldbuilding challenge of the year!
Finish 2018 with a bang that will drive you through 2019!
Prize Categories
Some awards win only badges, and some win prizes too. Check below to see what you could win!
Badges:
WorldEmber Winner : write 10,000 words!
The Novella Award : write 25,000 words - a small novel’s worth!
The Novel Achievement Award : write 50,000 words - that’s the same as NaNoWriMo!
The Sequel Award : write 100,000 words - that’s twice as much as NaNoWriMo
Trilogy Award : write 150,000 words - that’s three times NaNoWriMo!
The Kitashi : write 200,000 words - WARNING: only go for this if you’re a fast typer, very productive and have a lot of time on your hands. It’s INSANE!
Prizes and Badges:
Community’s Favourite Article: chosen based on community likes
Community’s Favourite Body of Work: chosen based on community likes over all of their WorldEmber-eligible articles
Most words: chosen based on the most WorldEmber-eligible words written
Human of the Match: for a good spirit who has ranked high in many categories and has really captured the community spirit of WorldEmber. Given at the World Anvil Team’s discretion.
Special Categories:
The special prize categories exist for most of the templates (excluding the generic template, prose template and the RPG Report template).
To take part, simply write an article using one of the specified templates from the list below. A shortlist of the top fifteen articles (by number of likes) will be submitted to the judge, which is in almost all cases the sponsor of that special category. The judge will choose the winner at their own discretion, by their own methods and criteria.
Some of the special categories have prizes attached to them, at the sponsor’s discretion. All of the special category winners will receive a unique and shiny badge!
SPONSORS
(Item) The Best Item Award, sponsored by Drawlabs
(Spell) The Best Spell Award, sponsored by Cantrip Candles
(Species) The Best Species Award, sponsored by Brian Colin: the Creature Curator
(Plot) The Best Plot Award, sponsored by Guy Sclanders, The Great GM
(Myth/Legend) The Best Myth/Legend Award, sponsored by Ironrise Games
(Building) The Best Building/Landmark Award, sponsored by DungeonFog
(Character) The Best Character Award, sponsored by Guy Sclanders, The Great GM
(Vehicle) - The Best Vehicle Award, sponsored by TableTop Loot
Our Esteemed DEITY level patrons of World Anvil
(Settlement) - The Best Settlement Award bestowed by Nevermore
(Technology) - The Best Technology Award bestowed by Vertixico
(Organisation) - The Best Organization Award bestowed by Tarkol
(Material) - The Best Material Award bestowed by Kyo
(Ethnicity) - The Best Ethnicity Award bestowed by Basic Dragon
(Condition) - The Best Condition Award bestowed by Ademal
(Geography) - The Best Geography Award bestowed by Sap and Stars
(Tradition) - The Best Tradition Award bestowed by Barron
(Document) - The Best Document Award bestowed by Laughing Prophet
(Law) - The Best Law Award bestowed by Eeon
(Military Formation) - The Best Military Organization Award bestowed by Sir Elghinn
(Profession) - The Best Profession Award bestowed by Avantgeek
(Rank/Title) - The Best Rank/Title Award bestowed by World Anvil
(Language) - The Best Language Award bestowed by Janet
(Military Conflict) - The Best Military Conflict Award bestowed by Dimitris
Prizes
Over WorldEmber you can win over $1000 USD of prizes, including goodies from our Sponsors!
Prize Winner’s Raffle
All WorldEmber participants who achieve a wordcount of 10,000 words or more will be automatically entered into the WorldEmber Prize Winner’s raffle, with a chance to win some awesome prizes!
The Main World Ember Prizes
These prizes are awarded by World Anvil, and will be tailored to suit the individual winners of the categories.
The categories include:
Community Favourite: Best Article
Community Favourite: Best Body of Work
Most Words Written
Human of the Match
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Staff Category Community Favourite: Best Article
Staff Category Community Favourite: Best Body of Work
The Prize Draw
All participants who write 10,000 words or more will have their names entered into the Prize Draw Raffle for a chance to win:
-Up To Four Players / Crystal Heart : Crystal Heart bundle including comic books and a foldable neoprene dice tray - x2 available!
-One standard 6oz candles, winner to pick the scent from Cantrip Candles - x7 available!
Revilo: Creature Collection Volume 1 book - x1 available!
Cardography: Enter the Fiery Pits - x1 available!
Cardography: Break Through the Icy Divide - x1 available!
$25 Table Top Loot voucher - x3 available!
$20 Table Top Loot voucher - x1 available!
$15 Table Top Loot voucher - x3 available!
DUNGEONFOG 6 month membership - x3 available!
DUNGEONFOG 3 month membership - x5 available!
Drawlab Legendary Metal Coin sets - x6 available!
Drawlab boardgame: Witless Wizards - x1 available!
Drawlab boardgame: Mystic ScROLLs -x1 available!
Drawlab boardgame: Say Whaaat!? - x1 available
Kobold Press Kobold Guide to Worldbuilding PDF x1 available
Kobold Press Kobold Guide to Plots & Campaigns PDF x1 available
Kobold Press Kobold Guide to Combat PDF x1 available
Kobold Press Kobold Guide to Magic PDF x1 available
BOOK: Ravenscrest Chronicles Omnibus 1 hardcover, by B.K. Bass - x2 available!
World Anvil Merchandise, including notebooks, mugs, posters and other goodies from a range of designs - x5 available!
One free set of beautifully themed cover images for your World Anvil articles. Choose from either the preexisting covers, or from any which are released in the upcoming year until November 2019 from Vertixico’s Patreon - x10 available!
One free set of beautifully themed cover images for your World Anvil articles. Choose from either the preexisting covers, or from any which are released in the upcoming year until November 2019 from Vertixico’s Patreon - x10 available!
Special Category prizes
The Best Item Award, sponsored by Drawlabs: 2 boardgames - Witless Wizards
and Mystic ScROLLs and a Legendary Metal Coin set of your choice
The Best Spell Award, sponsored by Cantrip Candles: A bundle of goodies from Cantrip Candles: 16oz double-wick glass candle with included sunken metal dice, a 6oz standard sized candle tin, and two of our custom matchboxes, scents chosen by the winner.
The Best Species Award, sponsored by Brian Colin: the Creature Curator : One-of-a-kind, painted art sculpture of a fantastical creature head, around 25cm of the artist’s original creatures
The Best Plot Award, sponsored by Guy Sclanders, The Great GM: a hardcover copy of The Ultimate Guide to Campaign Creation, by Guy Sclanders
The Best Myth/Legend Award, sponsored by IronRise Games: A bespoke Art commission for your world from one of IronRise’s own artists
The Best Building/Landmark Award, sponsored by DUNGEONFOG: 1 annual membership for the Dungeon Fog map building platform
The Best Character Award, sponsored by Guy Sclanders, The Great GM: a hardcover copy of The Ultimate Guide to Campaign Creation, by Guy Sclanders
The Best Vehicle Award, sponsored by TableTop Loot: $60 e-voucher for the online TableTop Loot store
The Best Language Award, bestowed by Janet: a glorious World Anvil notebook with an inspiring design, perfect for worldbuilding notes on the go!
The Best Military Conflict Award, bestowed by Dimitris: a glorious World Anvil notebook with an inspiring design, perfect for worldbuilding notes on the go!
The Best Rank/Title Award, bestowed by World Anvil: a glorious World Anvil notebook with an inspiring design, perfect for worldbuilding notes on the go!
The Best Material Award, bestowed by Kyo: A key for the amazing Wonderdraft mapping software (or a game code, if winner already has Wonderdraft)
The Best Geography Award, bestowed by Sap and Stars: The awesome Dark Souls games trilogy for PC
The Best Tradition Award, bestowed by Barron: A one year World Anvil membership, or a one year DNGFOG membership if winner already is a guild member of WA.
The Best Settlement Award, bestowed by Nevermore: One beautifully created commissioned map of the winning settlement.
Some special category prizes bestowed by Deities will also have prizes attached to them. This is at the Deity’s discretion. More information will be posted here as and when it is decided.
Rules
The goal of WorldEmber is to achieve 10,000 words of original worldbuilding content on World Anvil during the month of December. The platform will automatically track the words you write.
Words which count towards WorldEmber are:
Words written in articles only. Any words written in timelines, RPG blocks, maps, notes, secrets or historical events DO NOT count towards your total word count.
Words written in PUBLIC articles and not drafts
Words written in articles created after the start of World Ember (1st December 2018)
Articles will only add to your words count if they have over 50 words.
Special Provision: Stubs
If you have a stub (article under 50 words) written/started before the beginning of December you can enter it into WorldEmber. In order to do that, follow these instructions carefully: a) Open the article b) mark the article as NOT draft, c) Save the article without adding any additional words. This process will update the creation date of the article to the current date.
When does it run?
WorldEmber happens throughout December:
GMT (Greenwich Mean)
START: 00:01 on December 1st
END: 23:59 on December 31st
PST (Pacific USA)
START: 17:01 on November 30th
END: 16:59 on December 31st
EST (Eastern USA)
START: 20:01 on November 30th
END: 19:59 on December 31st
ACST (Australian Central)
START: 10:31 on December 1st
END:10:29 on January 1st
Disclaimer
If you’re eligible for a prize we will contact you for your postal address and for your permission to pass it on to a third party (the sponsor of the prize). This will allow the sponsor in question to send out the prize(s) to you. We can also give you the sponsor/company’s contact details so you can address any further questions to them directly.
If you are eligible for a prize - be it community favorite, prize draw winner, special category or most words - your work will be checked for cheating.
The following acts count as cheating:
Like boosting via secondary “alt” accounts
Word count boosting (for example, using Lorem Ipsum / placeholder text or copy & pasting other author’s work or reference material).
Plagiarism
Whilst we recognise the need to share your work in order to accrue community likes, excessive campaigning or spamming on the Discord server will lead to Moderator action.
The words must be your own original worldbuilding content.
All judges decisions are final.
Sharing your work:
Since many of the prize categories of WorldEmber involve community likes, it’s a good idea to share your work on social media, with your friends and family and with the wider worldbuilding community.
Join us on our Discord server to get feedback from other worldbuilders! Excessive campaigning or spamming on the Discord server will lead to Moderator action.
Use the hashtag #WorldEmber2018 on social media and the official World Anvil social media accounts will share your work for more exposure!
You can also contact us about streaming your worldbuilding over WorldEmber, to get access to official fan overlays, and with a possibility of being hosted on the official World Anvil Twitch channel.
F.A.Q.s
Can I copy in my old work or stuff i did in NaNoWriMo?
Verbatim copying of previously done work is not in the spirit of the competition, but expanding on previous work - for example, creating a book bible extrapolated from the first draft of a novel - is just fine.
Do I have to pick a single world to work on for my wordcount?
Wordcount is per author, you can write across as many worlds as you like.
What about co-authors?
Multiple co-authors can write in a single world; their word counts are accumulated based on individual user, not the world they write in
How do I get people to like my article?
You can increase visibility of your articles by sharing them on Social Media - remember to hashtag #WorldEmber2018 and the official World Anvil Social Media will share your post! Remember that your fans will need World Anvil accounts in order to like your article and show their love! Please do not spam the Discord, but feel free to use the review channel to share critique and make your work even better! Like-boosting through alternate accounts will disqualify you from any prizes you might otherwise have won.
When will the winners be announced?
The winners will be announced in a special live-streamed Awards Ceremony on Twitch - www.twitch.tv/worldanvil. This will most probably be held on January 26th 2019, at 20h GMT.
When will the badges be given out?
Once the Awards Ceremony has taken place and all the winners have been announced, we will start the process of giving out the badges. World Anvil has over 100,000 users, though, so this might take a minute! Please be patient!
I won a prize. When is it coming?
Many of the WorldEmber prizes have been given by our amazing sponsors. Once we have your postal address, and your permission to pass it on to a third party, the sponsor in question will be sending out the prizes. We can you give you their contact details so you can address any further questions to them.
Why do my articles have to be public?
Articles need to be public in order for the word count to be updated, and also for our team to be able to check for any cheating.
Can I make my articles private, or delete or edit things after the event?
Yes! After the winners of WorldEmber have been announced during the Awards Ceremony it will be fine for you to make your articles private, or go and delete or edit things as you wish.
Can I sponsor a prize?
You’ve missed your slot for this challenge, but if you are interested in becoming a sponsor for one of our future events please register your interest by emailing [email protected]
How do I submit my article to WorldEmber?
All eligible words are automatically counted by the World Anvil platform. You don’t need to do anything except write them!
How do I enter an article for a Special Category?
To take part, simply write an article using the specified template. A shortlist of the top fifteen articles - as judged by community favourites - will be submitted to the judge of the competition, which is in almost all cases the sponsor of that special category. The judge will choose the winner at their own discretion, by their own means.
What is Human of the Match?
The Human of the Match is a competitor with good community spirit who has (usually) ranked high in several categories, and has really captured the community spirit of WorldEmber. They may be a prolific commenter, have a team spirit, and concentrate on lifting up other competitors and furthering the art of worldbuilding rather than their own private goals - basically, a great human. This award is given at the World Anvil Team’s discretion.
Staff Participation
Our World Anvil team and main volunteers - including Enchanters and Moderators - will have their own league for some of the categories to compete in this year. This is to prevent any familiarity bias in the community that may affect the number of likes on their articles. All other rules for them remain the same.
World Anvil Volunteers Prize Categories
Community’s Favourite Article - staff member category
Community’s Favourite Body of Work - staff member category
All World Anvil volunteers will be eligible for the Prize Winner’s draw. Since this is a blind draw, it cannot be affected by any familiarity bias. Similarly, all volunteers will be eligible for the “Most Words” prize, since that cannot be affected by popularity either.