Macstorm earns the bragging rights for being the overall winner of the contest, but being staff, he couldn't win the prize. He managed to pull ahead of Carabbit this week, but she still holds second place. XeroZohar claims third, meaning that staff holds the upper three positions. Bainick, in fourth place, claims the prize as the highest scoring reader, though this was an extremely close contest.

Congratulations to everyone. The next contest will probably be in a week or two; I'm thinking about doing something a little different with the rules this time around. You should see more on that soon.

This week went very well for some of you. Bainick manages to earn 33 points this week with perfect guessing, almost putting him ahead of all the other reader participants, but Karlinn barely manages to hold onto his lead, despite a bad week. XeroZohar gets 30 points thanks to his story and a good guess, and Macstorm gets 27 for the same reasons. Shannan manages to earn 22 points this week with two good guesses, and most of you not mentioned still came away with a pretty good increase in points. Wonderslime, unfortunately, hasn't seen any luck yet, as he and Karlinn both get only consolation points.

Well, they say truth is stranger than fiction. Those guessing on Macstorm's story forgot that axiom this week, as no one guessed the correct answer to his story. A couple were able to get Carabbit's right, but it wasn't enough to change the rankings much. Xanalith, formerly listed as John, manages to jump up to sixth place with a correct guess on Carabbit's story. But those in the top five remain where they are. Macstorm manages to shave five points from Carabbit's lead, but she still holds a twenty point advantage over him. Karlinn remains in the lead among readers, though his lead is not insurmountable; it might only take one bad week to cost him his lead.

Writing in and getting correct guesses became worth more beginning this week. Carabbit pulls way ahead this week with a great performance, fooling five people on her story and guessing correctly on Roku's. Roku also enters with a strong performance, but didn't make any guesses. Among readers, Karlinn maintains his lead, but Leaper is only five points behind, so this could change quickly. Newcomer Shannan manages to make it into seventh place with a correct guess on Carabbit's story. At the bottom, John, Bainick, and Wonderslime just haven't been able to catch a break. Keep trying, guys; this spell of bad luck has to break some time.

Well, I'm afraid the only good thing that can be said for the contest this week is that it was easy to score. I honestly had no idea this one would be so difficult; I was quite surprised that no one guessed the correct ending to this story. The tradition of guessing an incorrect ending when first entering the contest continues as well, as our latest participant, John, receives only a consolation point. Here's hoping next week will be more interesting.

Carabbit comes within a hair of pulling into the lead this week with a total shutout; not a single participant guessed correctly on her story. Had she also guessed correctly on Macstorm's, she would have been two points ahead, but she never submitted a guess. A strategic move, perhaps? It's true that she'd be three points behind if she'd guessed wrong. At any rate, neither of them can win, so onto the readers: Karlinn manages to hang onto third place this week with a correct guess on Macstorm's story and still remains the leading contender for the prize. Leaper manages to fall no further behind, though, matching Karlinn's performance for this week. Bainick, unfortunately, shares in what seems to be becoming a tradition among new reader participants and guesses wrong for both stories. May you have better luck next week, Bainick.

Scores surge this week with new participants, two entries, and a lot of incorrect guesses. Macstorm thunders ahead this week with the correct guess on my story and the incorrect guesses on his story. Carabbit pulls ahead to second place through correctly guessing on both stories. Unfortunately, this was a win-all or lose-all week; everyone either guessed both correct or both incorrectly. Among readers, Karlinn remains in the lead, but only by three points, meaning newcomer Leaper still has an excellent chance of pulling ahead.

Well, the contest has started off slow, maybe due to the extra-long entry of mine. Two staff and one reader (actually, former staff) made a guess on the story. Only XeroZohar, our content head, was fooled, though I think the other two just made lucky guesses. At any rate, Karlinn and Macstorm each earn three points, while XeroZohar earns 1 consolation point. As host, I can't earn any points, but this story would have been worth five points to me if I could. By the way, staff participants are listed in blue on the sidebar, as they are not eligible to win the prize.

There are two different ways to participate in this contest, and one can participate in both ways at the same time.

• Submit a contest entry

  Contest entries are essentially hall of fame stories with a twist: they have multiple endings. Only one is real, and two are false. Submitting entries is a good way to earn points rapidly, as described below, though only one contest entry per author will be published each week. Authors can submit more than one per week, though it is obviously pointless to submit more than the number of weeks in the contest. Make sure to read the guidelines below.

• Guess the correct endings

  Points can also be earned by guessing the correct ending to a hall of fame story. Be warned, though, that incorrect guesses will give points to the author of the story and participants who do guess correctly. That said, by guessing correctly, everyone who guesses incorrectly for that story ends up giving you points. The way this works is described below. To guess, make sure you list the titles of all stories you are guessing for and the letter of each choice; also be sure to include your name or alias each time.

When each week is finished, the correct ending for each story will be identified, and guessing will no longer be permitted for that story. The deadline for submissions and guesses for each week is Monday night, as I will start calculating the point awards Tuesday morning.

All participants in this contest will receive a score. Higher scores are better in this contest, and the participant with the highest score at the end wins. Participants do not have to submit to earn points, though submitting will allow one to earn points more rapidly that week. The points awarded for each week are determined as follows.

For Weeks 5 through 8:

• Points for all participants who make guesses for the week:

  Participants earn 3 points for every correct guess. Additionally, for every story where a participant has guessed the correct ending, they earn 2 additional points for every participant who guessed incorrectly for that story. You earn 2 consolation points for each incorrect guess.

• Points for authors whose story is published that week:

  Authors earn 4 points when their story is published. Additionally, they earn 3 points for all participants who guess an incorrect ending for their story. They can also make guesses on the other stories.

For Weeks 1 through 4:

• Points for all participants who make guesses for the week:

  Participants earn 2 points for every correct guess. Additionally, for every story where a participant has guessed the correct ending, they earn 1 additional point for every participant who guessed incorrectly for that story. You earn 1 consolation point for each incorrect guess.

• Points for authors whose story is published that week:

  Authors earn 3 points when their story is published. Additionally, they earn 2 points for all participants who guess an incorrect ending for their story. They can also make guesses on the other stories.

Note that making guesses is a slight risk, since your incorrect guesses can award one point each to other players. The biggest risk is the two points you may award the author; the exception is for my stories, as I will earn no points no matter what happens. That said, your correct guesses are very likely to earn more than two or three points, so the potential rewards for guessing outweigh the risks.

Well, we were trying to arrange better prizes, but it looked like it was going to take too long to arrange what I was hoping for. Thus, instead, I'll be offering the reader with the highest score on August 30 up to $10 of dice or dice pouches from DO or DICE Game Supplies. (The $10 limit is before shipping and handling; I will cover that as well, so it's entirely free for the winner.) RPGamer Staff may participate in the contest, but only readers can win the prize. On or about August 30, I will contact the winner via email with further instructions.

Contest entries are also hall of fame submissions, and as a result, it is a good idea to consult the submission guidelines for hall of fame entries first. Don't use the hall of fame templates for the contest, please. Contest entries are also placed in their own category; you don't have to select one. Additionally, for contest entries, the following guideline must be followed:

• Write the real ending and two fictional ones

  For a hall of fame submission to be acceptable for use in the contest and earn you points, the submission must contain three separate endings: the real one and two false ones. Also, while the real ending won't be identified when it is published, you must identify the correct ending to me. It is to your benefit to make the other endings as believable as possible (ideally, more believable than the real ending) as it will earn you more points.

Please submit contest entries using this link: Submit a Contest Entry.

Accepted contest entries will be selected for publication according to the following rules:

• No more than one contest entry per author will be published in one week.

• No more than three contest entries will be published in one week.

• To be fair, should there be more than three accepted contest entries in one week, those from authors with fewer published entries in this contest have priority over those from authors with more published entries. This is to give every participant the best chance to have an equal number of entries published (or as close as possible).

• In the case that selecting entries from authors with fewest published submissions isn't enough to limit the selection to three, they will be published in the order of acceptance. This means that I will choose the first three entries I received in acceptable form.

  In other words, if you submit an contest entry, but, as an example, forget to identify the correct ending for me, the submission isn't considered acceptable until I am informed of the correct ending. The time I receive the correct ending will be the time I consider when it comes to choosing submissions for publication. Thus, if I received yours first, but received three more acceptable entries before getting the correct ending from you, the three others will go first.

Shawn "Wishing you the best of luck" Bruckner