I am currently in the midst of designing a game called Rot on the Story Nexus (storynexus.com). It's only a personal project and will take much more time to make playable and polished. A major mechanic of the game engine, though, is storylets, which are short events or major quests players can undertake where they make decisions that affect the outcome and even long-term effects.

Challenge

My challenge to you is to design one storylet of your own that fits into the Rot universe. It can be anything from a short random encounter to an epic quest but must be aside from the main plot. The winners will have their storylets added to the final game with credit for their idea, if I have their permission. I'll describe the plot of Rot below, and that is the only restriction to your storylet. Other than that, have fun with it!

Note to Challengers

Winners will be chosen by the creator. This is so challengers can ask questions in their submissions and update them accordingly to have a finished product at the end of the contest period. Hopefully, this will avoid any confusion about the Rot universe and what is possible in a storylet. So, feel free to ask away in your submission. I will answer as soon as I possibly can.

Plot

Rot is a fantasy game driven almost entirely by story and RPG elements. You find yourself in the medieval world of Ysellv having just contracted the undead plague. There is little time to try to find an unknown cure while every action brings you closer and closer to death, and others are not keen to helping a plague-bearer. Your journey will be one of suffering and hardship, and only one thing can be certain: death is inescapable.

Either ask a strange, mind-bending question or perplex the reader with a cryptic message. Don't just go with gibberish or a riddle, though. Submissions should be open to interpretation in a way that both makes sense and doesn't at the same time. Give your favorite a like, and check out my example below!

Limit: Up to 3 sentences

Judging: Community Vote

Example: What would you do if someone offered to tell you your future, but it would be the future in which you heard the prediction?

This is for those who find themselves drawn toward the darker themes of literature and those who find the light in that side.

Describe the concept or process of death in any way you'd like. Write a poem, a metaphor, even a story or philosophical decomposition.

Try to lean to one side of how one can describe death. Most see it as either a comfort or a despair. Let one be your focus.

Hello to all active contest participants!

Here's a new contest to test your creative skills!

Foreshadowing is the literary technique of hinting to the reader what is to come. Apply this writing in a short work. However, you may use a red herring instead. A red herring is a misleading clue. The only requirement is that you focus to some extent on the foreshadowing or red herring in your work so that it actually has a place here.

The style, as usual, is yours to choose (poem, song, story, biography, etc.). There is no word limit. Enjoy and expect a comment of praise from me!

Hello, writers of Penana!

This is a simple challenge with no restrictions besides the rule that you must describe a metaphor you would use for your life. This can be anything from general concepts like nature or humanity to specific things like a river or a house.

There is no word limit, no required style (story, song, poem, etc.), and no other unmentioned restriction besides the rule above.

As always, have fun and be creative!

Sincerely,

Novellamagus

(I apologize for not accepting challengers for this challenge before. I was on hiatus for a week and forgot about it. I will be sure to actively check for interested challengers from now on. Thank you.)

Everyone has some place in the physical world or their imagination that they like to go to simply get away from the struggles of life. These places give us the fresh air we need to deal with our troubles, even if they aren't real.

I like to call my page The Sanctuary, but it is one of many, imaginary and real. So, I ask you to describe one of your sanctuaries, whether it is real or not. Use as many words as you'd like. I'll read even the longest entry, but be descriptive of how this place helped you when you needed it, though you don't need to be specific.

Now, because of the variety of entries that this topic can receive, the winner should be determined by how profoundly their sanctuary helped them and not how amazing the place is. To start, I will give mine below without much description, if you'd like an example. Good luck to all participants!

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When I can't take a stroll through a forest or simply don't feel like leaving my home, I visit a place in my mind with no particular name. It is a quaint cottage in a large meadow that changes with my wants and needs. I can be alone or with company here. I can do anything or nothing, which is what I usually choose. I can organize my thoughts or let them go with the wind that drifts through, rustling the surrounding trees. This place has helped me in times of stress, when I needed nothing more than to be with nature, when no one could understand my restless desire to just run into the woods and do nothing. Now, in college, I can find solace in the neighboring forests and rest by rivers without care for frivolous things. This is my sanctuary. What is yours?

So basically, what I'm asking here is for you to write a myth about a modern thing. Maybe a myth on what dark matter really is, or the Bermuda Triangle.

Explain one of the mysteries of the modern world with a myth.

This is a Sequel to the Create Your Own Writer's Quote Contest.

Writing Prompt for this contest:

Every aspiring writer should his or her own Writer's Quote. In this contest, create a writer's quote of your own and put your Pen Name next to it. I hope everyone can participate! You can participate again if you did one in the original contest because I am sure you have developed new philosophies as a writer:)

Please name your issue subtitle with the naming convention as "Quote #". E.g. Quote 1, Quote 2 etc.

We will feature the best quotes in our Penana Quote Book!

Inspired by World Events:

In Hong Kong, tens of thousands of citizens and students are currently fighting for their civil rights and democracy. However, the peaceful demonstration turned violent when the police used tear gas and pepper spray to disperse protestors. Full news here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/28/hong-kong-protests_n_5895746.html

The unreasonable and unnecessary violence by the police against unarmed and peaceful crowd is worrying, it is threatening people's rights to freedom of expression. We would like to invite you to join a writing challenge to write a story with these 4 elements:

Pepper Spray, Tear Gas, Guns, Freedom of Expression

*No word limit and your story doesn't have to be based on the event.

Writing is a form of revolution itself and we write because we have freedom of expression, A Universal Value.

Writing Challenge Prompt:

Create a writer's quote of your own and put your Pen Name next to it. Pure and simple:) I hope everyone can participate!

Please name your issue subtitle with the naming convention as "Quote #". E.g. Quote 1, Quote 2 etc.