There are three different ways to participate in this contest, and one can participate in each way at the same time.

• Submit a contest entry

  Contest entries are essentially hall of fame stories with a twist: they have multiple endings. One is real and one is 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 still submit more than one per week, however. 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.

• Guess for the bonus guess

  Bonus points can be gained by guessing the HP for the specified race, class, level, and CON modifier given for the bonus guess. This is described further below.

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 guesses for each week is Monday night, as I will start calculating the point awards Tuesday morning. Submissions may potentially be accepted after Monday night depending on whether or not guesses have already been made or not.

All participants in this contest will receive a score. 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:

• 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.

• Points from spells:

  Participants can gain points and reduce the scores of others with different types of spells. Spell effects apply after points are earned from submissions and guesses. Spells cast by the lowest ranked participants occur first.

• Points from the bonus guess:

  Participants can gain up to 15 points by guessing the amount of HP for the given character for the bonus guess. 15 points are granted for guessing the number of HP exactly. 10 points minus 2 for every 5% of the range off the guess is are granted for other guesses. If off by 25% of the range or more, no bonus points are granted.

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 three 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 three points, so the potential reward for guessing outweighs the risk.

A new feature of the hall of fame contest is the availability of spells to cast. Spells require MP to cast, and contest participants gain 1 MP for each guess they make and 2 MP for each accepted entry they submit up to a maximum of 5. As many spells may be cast for each posted contest entry as the participants desires, provided the participant has enough MP, and every spell cast is for a particular contest entry that is still in play. A list of spells can be found here. More spells may be added at any time, and the costs and availability of existing spells may also change.

When there is more than one entry per week, all guesses and spells for one entry will be handled first, and then all guesses and spells for the other. The one that goes first will be selected randomly; you won't know until after I calculate scores.

For a single entry, points are earned from guesses before spells are cast. Spells are also classified by timing: before combat, during combat, and after combat. Before combat spells are handled just after points are awarded from the guesses, followed by combat, and then any after combat spells.

Winning is a matter of casting the Victory spell. The participant who does this successful will be added to the contest winners list and have their score reset to 0. If the participant is a reader and a resident of the US or Canada, they will also win a prize. (Those outside the US or Canada may still receive a prize, but it is not guaranteed due to the high shipping costs.)

The newest addition to the hall of fame is the bonus guess. In this, participants are given a unnamed character of a Dungeons and Dragons race, classes, and levels from the 3.5 Edition. The level and Constitution are generated randomly, and the character's HP will also be determined randomly by the 3.5 Edition rules for determining HP. You won't get to see the character's Constitution score, but it will be within the possible range for the specified race and may be boosted by one for every four levels. The CON modifier is equal to -5 plus 1 for every 2 points of Constitution, and Constitution itself will be determined by rolling 3d6 and adding in any racial modifiers to Constitution.

The rules for determining HP are relatively simple. On the character's first level in his first class, he automatically gets the maximum possible roll on his hit die plus his CON modifier. On every other level, the character rolls his hit die and adds his CON modifier. The character gains a minimum of 1 HP every level regardless of their CON modifier.

You will be given the hit die for each class and the racial modifier to Consitution so that no one having the handbook will gain a special advantage. In addition, the possible HP range from the minimum HP with the lowest possible CON to the maximum HP with the highest possible CON will be given. Participants can gain 15 points by guessing the exact amount of HP. If the guess is off, participants can still gain 10 points if they are less than 5% of the specified range off. 8 points will be granted for being less than 10% off, 6 points for less than 15%, and so on. Anyone 25% or more of the range off will not gain any bonus points.

The prize for the contest, earned by casting the Victory spell, is 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. I will contact the winner via email with further instructions. Depending on the timing of a victory, it may be a week or two before your prize is ordered.

Important note: Players living outside the United States or Canada will be awarded the prize at my discretion. Sorry, but international shipping is expensive, and I'll have to make a judgment call on whether I can afford it.

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 one fictional ending

  For a hall of fame submission to be acceptable for use in the contest and earn you points, the submission must contain two separate endings: the real one and a false one. 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 ending 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 two contest entries will be published in one week.

• To be fair, should there be more than two 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 two, they will be published in the order of acceptance. This means that I will choose the first two 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 two more acceptable entries before getting the correct ending from you, the two others will go first.

Shawn "Wishing you the best of luck" Bruckner