HeroScape Fiction Contest: VOTING THREAD

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THE RESULTS ARE IN
Thanks to all who participated by writing and/or voting in this contest!

Here's a listing of who wrote each piece:

Murfee's War - InfinityMax
The Dead Queen's Curse - kenjib
Soulborg Ridge - Hahma
Some Gave All - skyknight
Just Another Day in the Corp - John_Doe
Maternal Legacy - Finrod
A Routine Patrol - Kahrma
Life on the Line - mutantpoo
McCreech's March - Brotharon
Utgar's Might - Taelord


The winner of the popular vote is: mutantpoo

The winner of the random prize is: John_Doe


In addition to the two prize winners listed above. I'm giving out one more. Yes, that means I'm giving out three master sets. That's my perogative as the contest runner. So here we go:
The winner of the Good Sportsmanship Award is: Taelord
By graciously and silently bowing out of the contest, Taelord has gained the respect of his fellow contestants, and of me. He could have pitched a fit and started flinging insults, but instead he took the high road and acted with honor. Such good sportsmanship will NOT go without reward in any contest that I run.


CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THREE PRIZE WINNERS!
Please PM your full street addresses to me. I'm going out of town tomorrow morning, but I'll try to get them in the mail before then. It may not happen though, in which case I'll mail them on Monday when I get back.





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This is the voting thread for the HeroScape fiction contest I've been running. It's an AWESOME selection of stories, so this should be a tight competition. Again, please read all of the stories before making a decision. The authors worked very hard on these submissions, and we owe it to them to make an informed vote!

AUTHORS: Please, please do not be discouraged if your entry doesn't score high on this voting thread. Regardless of your final score, it's awesome that you took the time to share your enthusiasm of this game with your fellow gamers. I've read each of these stories multiple times, and I'm proud to have each of them in this contest. I'm not just saying that either. You guys did a wonderful job! Feel proud that you made something to share with your fellow gamers, and keep up the writing! The more you write, the more you enjoy it, and the better you get! Thanks again for your participation. I wish I had enough master sets to send to you all for your entries!


-[ THE RULES ]-

1) READ ALL ENTRIES before voting. The stories are listed in random order, so feel free to read the bottom one first, or the middle ones, or whichever one strikes your fancy at the time. I encourage everyone to read them out of the listed order. There's a lot of reading to do here, so I also encourage you to take breaks between stories, rather than grind through them all in one sitting.

2) Do not disclose which stories belong to which authors. This also means I don't want to see any guesses or hints either. This is not a popularity contest for the authors. It's about the stories. If you see that someone has accidentally given some author information, please don't call attention to it by pointing it out. Send me a PM about it, and I'll get an admin to clean it up.

3) Be nice. You are free to express your opinions of the stories, but let's focus on the positive, ok? If you don't like a story, don't post about it.


-[ THE DEADLINE AND PRIZES ]-

I want at least one full week for voting, since most entries are near the upper range of the word count, rather than the lower. There's an option on the poll to automatically close it after a certain number of days, so I chose 8 to make sure there was enough time. I'm not sure what exact hour that means the poll will close, because I don't know if it counts from the time when the poll is posted, or whether it always counts midnight as one day. Either way, it means that the voting will end early next week -- sometime on Tuesday. So make sure you get your vote in on time.

When the poll closes, I'll randomly pick an additional author and send them both a Master Set. I'll announce both winners on this post.


-[ THE STORIES ]-

CLICK ON THE TITLES TO GO TO THE DOWNLOAD PAGES

I chose a teaser snippet for each story. This will motivate people to read them, and serve as a reminder to differentiate the stories when a person is about to vote. I made sure that the snippets don't contain spoiler or plot twist information. If you don't like the teaser snippet I chose for your story, too bad.



Murfee's War
Usually, when the Venocs showed up, they brought their warlord, a hulking snake-man in steel armor. For a moment, as Murfee peered over the wall, he dared to hope. Then the fog gave way, and the warlord's massive form emerged at the opposite end of the field. Murfee's heart dropped. This was not going to be a good day.

The Dead Queen's Curse
The apparition floated in the air, a statue in front of it superimposed on its form. The cloak whipped wildly in every direction and swept upward, revealing a body underneath, every inch covered tightly with wrappings that clung to its feminine form.

Soulborg Ridge
Sergeant Drake Alexander smiled at the gladiator’s defiance as he approached to stand before the Thracian, with their faces mere inches apart. His smile was quickly replaced by a hardened look of power. Through clenched teeth, Drake icily whispered, "You may be a tough bastard here in your world son, but I’ve sent bigger and badder men and creature alike to the pyre. So it would behoove you to listen up, for this offer expires shortly."

Some Gave All
"You smell blood do you big guy?" The beast points to a corner of the room. There on the floor dried on the stone is a black smear, to the left and right are more. "Well at least it’s not human but this doesn’t look good. That there is Marro blood. Look here you can see the laser marks on the walls. Looks like my boys put up a fight here. God I hope they are okay."

Just Another Day in the Corp
I reached the edge of the trees and dove in without turning around. My mind was racing for tactics. With any luck, only these hounds had seen me so I had to keep quiet if I had any chance of staying alive. I also had to kill the hounds quickly.

Maternal Legacy
In that moment, I felt the full measure of rage and fear that my young body was capable of holding. As the two archers at my side unleashed their own frenzy of anger at the devourer, I raised my own acolyte’s staff and screamed my first Banishment at the foul beast who had destroyed all I held dear.

A Routine Patrol
With such focused attention, the opening shot seemed three times as deafening as it probably was. Arless spiraled to the ground as a red mist erupted from his left shoulder. A ghastly specter burst into view over the nearby ridge. All took cover but Envar - too paralyzed with fear to dive, much less to draw his bow.

Life on the Line
The terrors before him seemed too horrible to be real. On the right flank he saw the clock work men of Utgar form up with one much larger. From their arms an awful onslaught came. Striking down many of the 4th, with return fire simply bouncing off their metal hides.

McCreech's March
Then there was that familiar crack and not but a second passed before the ground next to Guilty exploded sending up a cloud of dust. Knowing that there was nothing big enough to hide behind in the immediate area, Guilty drew both of his revolvers and ran full speed toward his assailant.

Utgar's Might
The next morning dawned dull and raining, with the smell of fear. The followers of Jandar knew they were going to die and they feared death. Suddenly the sound of a horn broke the silence and several people jumped. The enemy was approching.