Immunity Challenge 13 ~ Storytime

[Sam]

This is a NO google/internet challenge. The only resource you may use is Microsoft Word.


Welcome to lucky Immunity Challenge #13. It's a fun one. The concept is simple and clear. However, there are some additional rules designed to streamline the process and execute the challenge cleanly. Please read all the rules carefully.



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The Concept: You have selected a fairy tale. You will be telling the story of that fairy tale. Every several minutes, you must post a section of the story longer than 300 characters, without spaces. The person who is the last remaining wins the game for their tribe.


But how hard is it not to write a few sentence of a story in several minutes?


Why, I am so glad you asked.


Each time a person succesfully posts a part of their story, they receive 1 point. You use points to purchase attacks on the other tribe's story.


But what exactly do you attack, you ask?


I'll tell you later.

[Sam]

How the Game Works (The Procedure):


The game takes place in two rounds... story writing and the in-between of story checking. Each round takes a few minutes.


Each round requires Microsoft Word.


You need to use the "Word Count" feature which can be found under "tools." You should make sure that the only text in your document is the text you want to count characters for. Or you can highlight the whole text and hit word count.


You also need to use the "Find" feature which can be found under "edit" or by pressing Control+F. Make sure the only text on the screen is the text you are searching through. Additionally, you may need to place the cursor at the beginning of the text so it searches the entire text.



1 - The story writing round.

• All stories must be at least 300 characters (without spaces) long. Characters are letters and punctuation. For every 25 characters less than that, you receive a strike.
  
  
  
• You will be writing a fairy tale, part by part. Selection of fairy tales will come around the time the challenge begins.. It can be pretty much anything you like as long as it follows the rules for writing (see Rules for Writing).
  
  
• You should use Word to check your own story for character length. Time is included for each round to do this.
  
  
• Failure to post a time by the time limit announced at the beginning of the round results in instant loss. You may post your story before it is complete, and then edit it later. However, if any edit time is after the deadline, that counts as an instant loss as well.
  
  
• Your story will be checked. Characters may be removed from your total for infractions (see Exceptions), so you are encouraged to write slightly more than 300 characters to be on the safe side.
  

[Sam]

Let's get back to those attacks.



But what exactly do you attack, you ask?


A letter in the English alphabet.


Once a letter has been purchased, the other tribe may not use that letter in their stories for the remainder of the challenge. That letter becomes a Forbidden Letter for the other tribe. This is the main thing of this challenge.


Example:

Let's say a tribe is given the option to spend 1 point to attack L, 3 points to attack C, or 5 points to attack R. They choose the letter R. The other may not use the letter R for the rest of the game.


From that point on, the other tribes can't use the letter R in their story.


Oops, that above sentence used the symbol "r". :-) Let me attempt it once again. (to write that last sentence "Let me attempt it once again," without the letter r, I went through: "let me try..." "let me attempt to write..." "let me attempt once more..." "let me attempt it once again")


Let me attempt it once again:

A symbol has been attacked. Post-attack, it may not be used by any collection of individuals when they attempt to complete a section of the game.


Wow, that was hard, lol. I want my letter R back.

[Sam]

You are forbidden from using the letters that the other tribe has attacked in your story.. To remind yourself which letters are forbidden, at the top of every post, you should write: "can't use: ...". These do not count towards your post. Each time you use a forbidden letter in your text it counts as one strike against you.



2 - The In-between round.


Each of you will be assigned to someone on the other tribe. In between rounds (shouldn't take more than 3-4 minutes), you will be checking their work and posting in their thread.

This will be the busiest time for me. I have to check 12 stories in under 4 minutes. Please be patient with me during this time.

• First, copy their text into word. Then use Word Count to count the characters (without spaces) and type that number into a reply.
  
  
• Then check their text for any forbbiden letters, one at a time. Copy any word containing a forbidden letter into your reply. If there are no forbidden letters please indicate this.
  
  
• Finally, read through their text. If you discover any GLARING errors, please copy and paste them. This means any deliberate grammar errors to avoid letters. Only point out grave errors. I will also be doing this exact same thing and posting official rulings myself, but it would help if you could point things out so it goes faster.
  
  
• Make your post.
  
  
• If the person you are checking is eliminated, you may be assigned to a new person.
  
  
• Talk with your tribe to decide on a letter to Forbid for the other tribe.
  
  
• After all stories have been checked, I will announce a new round in chat with a new deadline. This round will begin when I announce the Forbidden Letters in chat.
  

[Sam]

Here is an idea of about how long 300 characters is. It is about 6-8 medium sized sentences.



This paragraph is approximately three hundred characters. This paragraph is approximately three hundred characters. This paragraph is approximately three hundred characters. This paragraph is approximately three hundred characters. This paragraph is approximately three hundred characters. This paragraph is approximately three hundred characters.

[Sam]

STRIKES

You receive a strike for every 25 characters you are below 300. If you are below 26 characters, that is two strikes, not one. Even if it is just one over.


Every time you use a Forbidden Letter in the body of your text, you get a strike.


If you deliberately misuse grammar or spelling to avoid a letter, you get a strike.


Six strikes and you are out. I will post the number of strikes at the end of each round.




POINTS:


Each player gains one point if they succesfully complete the round. The point immediately goes into the Tribe Bank.


Each round, new options for letters to attack will be given. These letters are only available at that point value for THAT round, and will change in the next round.


Each round, the tribe must select one and only one letter from the options given. Each letter will have a different point value. The highest point value is 6. For this reason, stockpiling a gigantic number of points is not recommended. However, you may want to save some points for a later round. (or maybe not).



THE END


If all players eliminate themselves in the final round, the player who got the farthest number of characters before getting six strikes wins.


Please remember to check chat for deadline and banned letter information.

[Sam]

You don't have to read this section if you don't want to. It's just to list a bunch of official rulings beforehand to try and prevent people from abusing the system.
Basically, just tell the story and don't try and sneak in characters by not playing fair. =) And you won't have any problems.


YES: Digressions in story
----Ex: The girl walked by the tree. "Look at that marvelous tree," she said. "It is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. The leaves are..."

YES: Renaming things to avoid letters.
----Ex: You call the main character "Gretel" in the first part. Then E is banned. So then you call her "girl." But then G is banned. Now you call her "lady." L is banned so now she is "woman."


NO: Misspelling words or incorrect grammar to avoid letters. Microsoft Word has a spell checker; you may want to use it.
----Ex: (when M is banned) "I be here" to avoid the m in "I am here"
----Ex: (when S is banned) "Look at those apple, they are vile."
----Ex: (when C is banned) "The new law supercedes the last." (the correct spelling is supersede)


NO: Repeating words
----Ex: Look at the very very big gnat on the really really really big dog by the tall tall tall tall tree!

NO: Excessive use of punctuation.
---Ex: "So..." rasped Johnathan. "You... killed... my... fa... ther?"
---Ex: "Oh?" she said. "Yeah." he said. "Really?" she said. "Yep, I'm sure." he said. "Oh." she said. "I didn't know." "You should have." he said.





EXCEPTIONS:


If there is a deliberate misuse of spelling/grammar to avoid a certain letter, that counts as 1 strike.

If there is an accidental misuse of spelling/grammar, which is not used to avoid letters, that does not count as a strike. Instead, I will delete what is necessary to make the sentence correct. (I may need to delete the whole sentence). This will LOWER the number of characters in your story. It may lower it below 300. If it does, you will receive a strike.


Horrible grammar abuses- I'm not going to be a grammar nazi and check every single possible infraction. Example:

WRONG: Today I gone to the store and pick up an apples to have eaten later.
OKAY: "How are you feeling? I'm good" (even though "I'm well" is strictly correct). "I finished fast." (even though "I finished quickly" is strictly correct).
WRONG: I finished fastly.