First up, I want to apologise for two things. First, how late this update is; second, that there are no new fics in this update. But wait! Don't close your browser just yet! I've got something interesting lined up.

Before that, though, I'd like to explain about the things I'm apologising for. I've spent this past week in computer hell. First, the power supply for my own desktop computer blew out while I was playing FFXI, which meant I had to buy a new one. After doing so I discovered that the PSU failure had damaged either my motherboard or my processor (or both). Instead of buying a new mobo/chip, I moved the video card, sound card, and assorted hard disks over to the family desktop, which means I no longer have a desktop of my own. Instead I'm not using my laptop for everything I do, including FFXI... which means certain sacrifices in terms of computing power. Also, I have to sort out about 200gb of files that were on my hard disks. Then on Friday I discovered that my Linux router's hard disk went bust, necessitating swapping in a working one and reinstalling Linux and setting up the routing and firewall scripts and whatnot.

Not fun.

As for why I have no fics for this update... well, look at the checklist yourself. Technically I do have 2 fics I could put up, but 2 fics hardly makes for an update, does it?

Instead, here's what I have for you: a writing challenge! Write a short story based on the characters of any RPG covered by this site. Here are some simple rules:

1. Prose, not poetry. Not that I have anything against poetry, but this is a prose challenge. Maybe I'll do a poetry one next time.
2. No more than 300 words long. I'll check it, too.
3. No original characters or places. Stick to the universe described by the game. No Mary-Sues. NPCs are fair game, though.
4. You cannot refer to any characters specifically by name. The reader must be left to guess or infer who you're referring to, but don't make it too obscure that by the end of the fic we still have no idea who you're referring to.
5. The game must be covered by RPGamer, and must have been already released as of today (1 August 2004). No non-RPGs, and if in doubt, look at RPGamer's games list. No upcoming games either, and for those really recent games, try to avoid spoilers if you can.
6. The deadline for this is 24 August 2004. That gives you about 3 weeks to plan and write your short fic.
7. Send your submissions to fanfic@rpgamer.com with the subject header: "[SUBMISSION] FANFIC CHALLENGE - <TITLE> (<GAME>)". Any submissions with subject headers not following this format will probably be thrown out by our junk filters as spam.
8. There is no limitation to the number of stories you can submit. Feel free to send in as many short fics as you want.

Well, that's it! Get those thinking caps on, and crank out those stories! I'm looking forward to updating at the end of the month with all the great short stories I know you guys will write.

And finally, I just need to add this: we've opened up a new IRC channel dedicated to RPG fanfics. Head over to irc.esper.net and join #rpgamerfanfic now!

Joel Pan

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