Game of Tomes
Thanks for the support, Janet & Dimitris!
Game of Tomes Season 2 Pre-Launch
The Conflict
Prelude
2020 was a disastrous year on the third planet in the Sol system. As if the widespread political and social turmoil and the vicissitudes of climate change weren't enough, a global pandemic known as COVID-19 forced most of the world into lockdown conditions. In response to the health risks of gathering in public spaces, NaNoWriMo headquarters informed their Municipal Liaisons, including Sable Aradia, that they would not be authorizing any in-person events for NaNoWriMo 2020. Fortunately, the ASC Wrimos had the benefit of the Anvilite community to gather with online. Inspired by the #NaNoHouseCup, which is masterminded and organized by Elayna Mae, a number of ASC writers who participate in NaNoWriMo agreed to pit their word counts against one another in a month-long winner-take-all battle for the Iron Tome. Sable Aradia of House Lapin laid the challenge, and six ASC Wrimos accepted her invitation.
Deployment
- Swear their undying loyalty to a single house, if and until their house falls
- Form or join a lesser house, which then gives its loyalty in turn to the banner of one of the great houses
- Give their loyalty to one house, then later change their mind; and this may be done repeatedly
- Function as a mercenary, either by joining and leaving houses at a whim, or by trying to win concessions from one of the other lesser or greater houses by offering their support
Mercenaries
It is contrary to the spirit of the competition to introduce any real stakes. Mercenaries may NOT sell their services for any real monetary value. However, mercenaries may ask for trade-in-kind, or for things with real value, such as bits and Twitch subscriptions, as long as their portion of the monetary value (ie. the portion of the subscription fee that isn't kept by Twitch) is going to a charity. Mercenaries may choose the charity they support or donate to NaNoWriMo or another charity supported by Game of Tomes streamers. If a House Leader is eliminated while having the support of a mercenary, they may "will" the services of that mercenary to another House of their choice.Lesser Houses
Participating streamers who do not lead a greater house may choose to form a lesser house instead. Lesser houses must REGISTER, using this form, prior to October 15th. That lesser house must "bend the knee" to one of the greater houses, on a temporary or extended basis. This must be done publicly on the Twitch stream of the house leader one is bending the knee to. A lesser house may change its allegiance at the beginning of each new elimination period -- and only at the beginning of each elimination period -- if desired. This must be indicated by a public bending of the knee, as above. A lesser house must consist of a minimum of three people: a leader and two bannerfolk. Upon declaring themselves a house, those people are thereby bound to the rules of lesser houses. They may not change their minds and act as individuals later in the competition.The Undead Horde
The Undead Horde begins with only the Night Monarch (leader of their "house"), and anyone else who has previously served as a Night Monarch, if that person chooses to represent the Undead rather than another house. They swell their ranks by taking a random third of each fallen house's strength, as described in Conditions. If a previous Night Monarch chooses to start as Undead, they must continue to write for the Undead Horde for the remainder of the competition, and may not change houses. No one else may start as Undead.Battlefield
Conditions
Attrition
At the end of every five days, as calculated in UTC, the overall scores of the houses are tallied. The great house with the smallest overall word count is officially eliminated from the competition. This result will be announced on stream.- November 5: 6th house eliminated
- November 10th: 5th house eliminated
- November 15th: 4th house eliminated
- November 20th: 3rd house eliminated
- November 25th: 2nd house eliminated
- November 30th: The Final Battle - last surviving house vs. the Undead Horde!
Undead
The names of the members of the eliminated house, and their bannerfolk, will be entered into a random name selector. One third of them will be drawn randomly to be drafted into the ranks of the Undead Horde. If they are drafted, they must represent the Horde for the remainder of the Game of Tomes. "Mercenaries" who shift their allegiances will be counted as being part of the last house they joined before the end of the elimination period. Along with one third of the eliminated house members, the Undead Horde will also receive one third of their word count total at the point of elimination. Both totals will be adjusted accordingly. The members and bannerfolk of the eliminated house who survive the Undead Horde may then choose one of the surviving houses to represent instead.Dancing with Death
If a participating living Tome Knight submits word counts to the Undead Horde, either accidentally or intentionally, they are allowed ONE WARNING in which the mistake can be corrected, and the words returned to the house it is actually intended for. After that, the words they submitted disappear into the ether, and benefit neither a living house, nor the Horde. Further, that Tome Knight is automatically submitted to the Undead Horde draft, since clearly, they were getting a little too close to zombies. They are not guaranteed admission into the ranks of the Undead.Bending the Knee
If a house leader -- whether they lead a lesser or a greater house -- survives the Horde, they must then appear on the stream of the leader of the new house they wish to serve to "bend the knee." This can be done with a live appearance, a chat conversation, the use of emojis, or any other method as appropriate to the stream and streamer. It is assumed that their house members will change their allegiance to the new house, but they are under no obligation to do so. A house leader may send a representative to offer their house's fealty instead, if circumstances prevent them from doing it themself. However, the representative must be a recognized "house regular" with an "official" title in the house's leadership structure, and just like a house leader, is bound to represent their house until it falls -- they may not voluntarily change loyalties. Further, they will be expected to bend the knee to the new house that the house leader chooses. If a house leader's house falls, they must either:- stop displaying their house banner on stream, signifying that their house has been destroyed
- display the banner of the house they have bent the knee to in a more prominent, and usually larger, position than their own
Bodyguards
Tome Knights may volunteer to protect other Tome Knights from the Undead Horde. The Tome Knight so protected might be a House Leader or a mercenary (so that they can continue to make money for charity). A bodyguard must "volunteer as tribute" prior to the event, not at the moment of elimination, and this must be told to at least one of the Event Organizers. Any given Tome Knight may only have up to a total of 4 bodyguards in the course of an event. A house leader may only be protected by a loyal member of their own house. Note that this may have consequences later in the event -- if a leader of a fallen house bends the knee to another house leader, and the bodyguard does not also bend the knee to that house leader, the bodyguard is no longer considered a loyal house member and is no longer eligible to protect their charge. Mercenaries may be protected by anyone who chooses to do so. If a protected person is drafted into the Undead Horde, one of their bodyguards may choose to sacrifice themself to the Horde instead. The bodyguard choosing to do this is automatically drafted into the Horde -- it is assumed they threw themself in front of the killing blow intended for their charge. The current known list of protected Tome Knights and their bodyguards can be found in the sidebar.The Last Stand
There is a period between each official cutoff, and the subsequent elimination stream, lasting several hours, in which the fallen house does not yet know that it has fallen. However, the words of that house must go somewhere. Therefore, prior to each elimination, every major house leader must inform the Wizard of GoT which house they will bend the knee to in this elimination, should they fall and survive the Undead draft. Until their fallen status is announced, words that would have been credited to the fallen house are credited to their intended new house instead, in a last stand against the Undead Horde, bolstering their new liege's defenses. Once the fallen house is announced, those who are not either the fallen house leader, nor their sworn elite guards or emissaries, may change allegiance if they wish to.Responsibilities of House Leaders
The Major House leaders are part of the team of event organizers by default. They are expected to join the Discord, and to be consulted for rulings and decisions during the course of a Game of Tomes event. House leaders agree to tally the word count totals of their houses, and the Twitch names of the members of their house when eliminated, and report this information as detailed in The Engagement. The house leaders may not reveal the current totals at any time in public, on stream, Discord, or any form of social media, which allows "mercenary" play. The only time in which total word counts will be revealed is on the stream in which the next elimination is announced. Whether a house leader is the head of a major or minor house, the role of a house leader is to inspire and encourage their bannerfolk. This is all about fun and about helping each other to succeed. Lead by example, be there for your bannerfolk, and use positive reinforcement to make NaNoWriMo a success for them, and for you.The Engagement
Streamers
Any Twitch Affiliate writer may host the Game of Tomes on their streams, and participate in the competition themselves. Please REGISTER at this website prior to October 15th.The Game of Tomes Bot: First Tome Knight
Registering at the registration link authorizes the Game of Tomes bot, the First Tome Knight, to operate on your Twitch channel. You will be asked to authorize our bot by Twitch when you register. An administrator must approve your registration, so be aware that we may contact you through your channel or a Twitch whisper if we have questions. This site is also where you will go to redeem your word count totals after a stream. You will be asked to push a button on the site to opt in to each individual Game of Tomes event. You may opt in or opt out using this button at any time, though we'd appreciate it if you would see the event you signed up for through, unless there is an emergency. The bot installs a series of Channel Point Rewards on your Twitch channel. They will likely appear first, or near to first, in your list, since they are worth 1 Channel Point (if you're a house leader, this is your house,) 2 Channel Points (for a Major House,) or 3 Channel Points (for the Minor House reward.) These are how participants will report their word counts. The rewards will be deactivated when they appear, and without emotes to represent them. There is no need to activate them; they will be activated automatically when a Game of Tomes event starts, and deactivated automatically when the event ends. You will have to install the emotes to represent the rewards manually, however. You will find a series of graphics that are sized appropriately (and named accordingly) in the graphics resource GitHub. You will find the link to the GitHub on the Game of Tomes Image Resources page. The First Tome Knight also installs a series of chat commands, which are fully detailed on the registration and reporting site. They range from a description of what the Game of Tomes is with an accompanying link to this website, to descriptions of the participating houses and links to their leaders' Twitch channels, to a means by which participating Tome Knights can track their own current word count totals, and the total words accumulated in a stream. We suggest that you assign FirstTomeKnight moderator status, as there may be some problems with the chatbot functioning as intended if you have Follower Only chat settings, block URLs, etc. Last, live registered Game of Tomes streams display on the registration site landing page in embeds, to show participants where to go to report their words.Reporting Word Counts as a Game of Tomes Streamer
Tome Knights
Participating Tome Knights may find live Game of Tomes streams in one of two ways:- The Game of Tomes Event Calendar shows which streams are live and when in a calendar display.
- The First Tome Knight website displays which Game of Tomes streams are currently live in embeds, which you can then join by clicking on them.
Reporting Your Word Counts in a Stream
Underage Tome Knights
Twitch's Terms of Service forbid children under a certain age from having their own Twitch accounts. However, it is not unusual for the Game of Tomes to have underage participants with parental supervision. Children may support the parent's house, or another house entirely. A parent or guardian may report words for their children in the following format: Sable Aradia is reporting words for herself (House Lapin) and two of her grandchildren (Colin and Elizabeth):Remember, this is a Game
Although this event is designed to get the competitive juices flowing to inspire greater word counts, it is meant to be a friendly competition. There are no real stakes involved. There are no prizes or punishments for success or failure. Our hope is that participants will encourage and support one another, and any rivalries will be all in good fun.We are all in this together to achieve our writing goals and if you wish, a bit of roleplay. Our task as members of the GoTverse is to make sure EVERYONE has fun.
Put simply, anyone being a jerk may be banned from participating in the event by a consensus of the event organizers.
Outcome
- November 6: 1st Elimination - Write with Erin (and Sometimes Diane): 2 pm Pacific/ 5 pm Eastern/ 9 pm UTC/ 10 pm UK/ 7 am Nov. 7 AEST
- November 11th: 2nd Elimination - Diane Actually Writes: 12 pm Pacific / 3 pm Eastern/ 8 pm UTC/ 8 pm UK/ 4 am Nov. 12 AEST
- November 16th: 3rd Elimination - Ask an Old GM: 2 pm Pacific/ 5 pm Eastern/ 10 pm UTC/ 10 pm UK/ 7 am Nov. 17 AEST
- November 21st: 4th Elimination - Sable's Worldforge: 12 pm Pacific / 3 pm Eastern/ 8 pm UTC/ 8 pm UTC/ 4 am Nov. 22 AEST
- November 26th: 5th Elimination - Ask an Old GM: 2 pm Pacific/ 5 pm Eastern/ 10 pm UTC/ 10 pm UK/ 7 am Nov. 27 AEST
- December 1st: The Final Battle -Diane Writes: 12 pm Pacific / 3 pm Eastern/ 8 pm UTC/ 8 pm UTC/ 4 am Dec. 2 AEST
Aftermath
Historical Significance
Legacy
The Dead
The following article details the Undead Horde and the final members of its ranks in 2020 (there will be a new article created for 2021):Current List of Bodyguards and Their Charges
Launch Stream
- What is NaNoWriMo? (8:25)
- Why people do it and NaNo success tips (11:10)
- Pantsers, Plotters, and Plantsers (32:28)
- Video: The Houses (35:27)
- Acknowledgements, shout-outs, intros to house leaders (41.01)
- Basic rules (45:04)
- Channel point system setup & reporting (51:53)
- How to participate (56:00)
- ASC NaNoWriMo event calendar (56:55)
- How to get involved as a streamer (58:45
- How to represent your house on any participating stream (1:00:38)
- Changing loyalties (1:01:07)
- More on getting involved as a streamer (1:02:06)
- Lesser houses (1:04:15)
- More on adding your word count (1:09:00)
- Banners for lesser houses (1:11:43)
Leaders of the Great Houses
- Coffee Quills (House Mollusca, Japan)
- Darth Nikolas of The Closet Forge (House Meles, United States)
- Kahuna the Elder (House Tiki, United States)
- RPG DinosaurBob (House Sauropoda, United States)
- Sable Aradia (House Lapin, Canada)
- Siobhan the Writer (House Chiroptera, Canada)


ASC NaNoWriMo Event Calendar
You might be a House Lord, or a minor house leader, but sooner or later, you dance with the Reaper.
Choose your right words, pick your houses bright, build your nice worlds - I'll be waiting in the nite.
All the Twitch will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies, and whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you, Writer, Reader, Word walker, prince with the swift Emote. Be cunning and full of tricks and your people shall never be destroyed.
malAIse An evil AI is running amok, trying to destroy the world! Play this word count game as part of Kahuna the Elder's stream during Game of Tomes, or all year long!
Shoppe of the Tome
Would you like to have your Game of Tomes character enjoy the benefits of life in the Game of Tomes universe? Just for fun, you may purchase virtual roleplay (read: imaginary) items with the currency of your words! Check out this shopping form to "purchase" medieval tourney items, or add your own! Thank you to Moonflower for creating this fun RP element for the event!The Lemon Company
The Lemon Company is recruiting! These hardy mercenaries, led by WriterGreg, are selling their words for charity! Bits buy the Company's words for your House, and those bits go to Kids Need to Read, a children's literacy charity. Visit WriterGreg on his Discord or his Twitch channel to sign up!Belligerents
House Chiroptera
Led by
Strength
Twitch Channel
Lesser Houses in Service to the Chiroptera Banner:
Felis (until November 6, 2021)Caepaire (November 11-21, 2021)
Kitsune (November 16 - 21, 2021)
Fallen Houses in Service to the Chiroptera Banner:
Tiki (November 11 - 21, 2021)Sauropoda (November 11 - 21, 2021) When House Tiki fell on November 11, most of the survivors, including most of their bannermen and fallen House Sauropoda, fled to House Chiroptera.
Casualties
Objectives
House Lapin
Led by
Strength
Twitch Channel
Lesser Houses in Service to the Lapin Banner:
VarangiaFelis (as of November 6, 2021)
Incendium (as of November 16, 2021)
Kitsune (as of November 21, 2021) Caepaire (as of November 26, 2021)
Fallen Houses in Service to the Lapin Banner:
Chiroptera (as of November 21, 2021)Meles (as of November 21, 2021)
Sauropoda (as of November 21, 2021)
Mollusca (as of November 26, 2021) Having discharged a debt of honour to the Queen of Bats, House Felis returned to the Warren following the opening salvos of the 2021 War. The fickle Flames, having toured many of the Major Houses in the course of the 2021 Winter War, returned to the Warren when they discovered that the Molluscans lived underwater. Having put aside their differences, House Chiroptera and most of their bannermen fled to House Lapin when they fell on November 21. While Kahuna the Elder, leader of House Tiki, was claimed by the Undead Horde at Chiroptera's fall, Satrium, the Wizard of GoT, the last surviving Tiki member, followed Queen Siobhan as well. House Kitsune joined Lapin in return for self-care promises from the Mother of Bunnies. House Meles also switched their allegiance from Mollusca to Lapin on the 21st, which was a surprise to everyone but them. With that, House Lapin somehow found itself heading the greatest alliance of the Houses that the Realm had ever seen, and desperately trying to crowd as many types of people as possible into the Warren. Recognizing that House Mollusca was the weaker foe as they eyed the Grand Alliance, the Undead Horde took the Zafforza Trench on November 26, 2021. The Cosmic Kraken and the Sliced Bread of House Caepaire survived to reluctantly bend tentacle and crust to House Lapin, and were welcomed into the Warren. With a harvest of ten Molluscans to bolster their ranks, the battle of the Grand Alliance of the Houses vs. the Undead Horde promises to be an epic conflict for the ages.
Casualties
Objectives
House Meles
Led by
Strength
Twitch Channel
Lesser Houses in Service to the Meles Banner:
Incendium (November 6 - 11, 2021) House Incendium abandoned House Tiki and rallied to the Meles banner following the opening salvos of the 2021 War, seeing that Tiki had no need of their support with all the Major and Minor Houses joining them for mai tais. They subsequently wandered off to join House Mollusca at about the time that House Tiki fell. Surprising everyone, House Meles switched their allegiance to House Lapin when House Chiroptera fell on November 21st, 2021, joining the Grand Alliance.Casualties
Objectives
House Mollusca
Led by
Strength
Twitch Channel
Lesser Houses in Service to the Mollusca Banner:
Ceapaire (November 1 - 6, and again as of November 21, 2021)Incendium (November 11 - 16, 2021)
Kitsune (November 11 - 16, 2021)
Fallen Houses in Service to the Mollusca Banner:
House Meles (November 16 - 21, 2021) Houses Incendium and Kitsune independently joined Mollusca about the time of House Tiki's fall. Both later left the House at the fall of House Meles on the 16th of November. Kitsune blackmailed the Queen of Bats of House Chiroptera into self-care promises, and Incendium wandered back to House Lapin, where they were centered through both of the 2021 Tourneys of Tales . When House Meles fell on November 16, 2021, the survivors fled to House Mollusca and bent the knee there. Surprising everyone, however, House Meles abandoned House Mollusca to pledge to House Lapin when House Chiroptera fell. House Ceapaire, however, returned to the Molluscan fold at the same time, repeating their actions in the first Word War.Casualties
Objectives
House Sauropoda
Led by
Strength
Twitch Channel
Lesser Houses in Service to the Sauropoda Banner:
Kitsune (until November 6, 2021)Casualties
Objectives
House Tiki
Led by
Strength
Twitch Channel
Lesser Houses in Service to the Tiki Banner:
Incendium (until November 6, 2021)Caepaire (November 6 - 11, 2021)
Kitsune (November 6 - 11, 2021)
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