Negrek
Lost but Seeking
Missing Mod Madness: A Reviewing Roleplay Game
Current Reviews: 179/60
Current Reviews: 179/60
In the daytime the Serebii Fanfic Library bustles with activity, readers combing the shelves for old favorites or checking out newly-added stories, retreating to armchairs and beanbags to read them. Writers fuss with their own work or hang out at one of the tables, talking in low tones. The library's full of hushed activity, pages turning, murmured conversation, the footsteps of people wandering the shelves.
But at night the library empties until there's only one light burning, high up in the moderators' office. As usual, time zones mean that bobandbill sits alone at his desk, feet up and reading something dense and technical-looking on his phone. Night shift is often boring, but every now and again someone thinks they might be able to slip in a story that doesn't belong when most of the mods are abed.
bobandbill looks up from the screen, not entirely sure what made him pause. Some kind of noise, probably. It's quiet, but every now and again you might hear pages rustling as a story slowly updates, or something inside grows restless. bobandbill's used to those noises, though. He sits still and listens until somewhere down in the stacks there's the gentle thump of a book falling to the floor.
There's more, maybe--a rustle that could be fabric rather than an unquiet page, a faint metallic clink. bobandbill can't identify the sounds as anything more than the sounds of something where it ought not be.
"I swear, if someone's trying to sneak in more arbok vore," he grumbles to himself as he rummages in his desk for his banhammer. "That always takes ages to clean up." Stepping out of the office and to the edge of the landing above the stacks, he calls into the dark, "Hello? The library's closed. If you want to submit something, you'll have to wait until tomorrow."
Down among the bookshelves, a shadow unfolds.
--
Almost two hours later, the library sits in total darkness. Psychic hurries up to the front doors with her meowstic trailing behind, carrying a large tray of cookies. "Sorry I'm late!" she calls out to Dragonfree, who's already waiting at the entrance. "I was just getting some cookies out of the oven. Did you get any details from bobandbill? The report I got was blank."
"Mine was the same. It might be a glitch. Let's see what we're dealing with."
Inside, all is still. Nothing seems out of place until Psychic nearly trips over a fallen copy of Pokémon Revelations: Omnipotence, which she picks up and returns to the shelf. "Everything looks fine to me. Just a little messy," she says. "bobandbill? Are you here?" Psychic's meowstic listens with ears and psychic senses both, turning her head slowly back and forth. After a couple of minutes she chirps an all-clear.
"I thought we'd find spambots all over the place," Dragonfree says. "I guess the script I was working on won't help much." She twists the glowing band of symbols circling her wrist, and the lacey-bracketed code goes dark.
"We need to find bobandbill, though. I don't like how quiet it is in here. It doesn't look like he's in the office." Indeed, the office light is out.
"Then he must be in the stacks somewhere. I'll take the angst," Dragonfree says. "How about you head around through the one-shots and we'll meet up in the middle? If there's anyone out there, we're bound to run into them."
"I like it," Psychic says, grinning. "And cookies afterwards, right?" She raises her banhammer, and Dragonfree brings hers up too, knocking it against Psychic's hammer with a clink that rings loud in the nighttime library.
"Right. Let's go," she says, and sets off between the stacks.
--
As opening time approaches, early readers arrive to find a crudely-penned note taped to the library's doors.
"No library 2day! mods out 4 reasons. No worry. Be back Soon.
p.s. thx 4 cookies"
Something seems off, and the waiting readers only grow more nervous as all attempts to reach the mods fail. Not content to wait for the super moderators to show up and investigate, one member of the growing crowd forces the door, and curious Serebii citizens flow into the empty library.
There are few signs of struggle: a few books toppled from their shelves, a crumb-laden tray alone on a table, a pikachu cookie with a bite out of its face lying under a chair. The moderators definitely aren't here. Did they really leave of their own accord? Were they kidnapped? Or--and this is what has the readers most worried--were they pulled into one of the stories lining the shelves?
They survey the task in front of them: hundreds of stories, and no way of knowing which the mods might have disappeared into. No way, that is, aside from opening them up and reading them...
What is Missing Mod Madness?
The Missing Mod Madness is a collaborative reviewing game running in the month of September. Players work together to read as many stories as possible and report their findings (review) in their quest to find the fanfic section's vanished moderators. Their characters and choices determine the course of the overarching story, which plays out in weekly updates as players get closer to reaching the final goal of 60 reviews posted in September. Along the way, there are plenty of opportunities to win prizes and take on special challenges!
How it Works
1. Sign up in this thread with a description of the character you want to use for this game. It can be a character from one of your fanfics, an OC you like to RP with, or one you came up with on the spot! Just fill out the following form with a brief description of your character, and you're good to go.
Sign-Up Form said:Name:
Species: (All species are welcome! Human, pokémon, or whatever you'd like)
Personality:
Other Notes: (Optional. Anything else you want to say about the character: notes about background, appearance, behavior, etc.)
You can sign up at any time during September, so don't feel like you have to sit this one out if you can't jump right in at the beginning of the month.
2. Review! Show your old standbys some love or find new favorites in the section. There are no particular requirements for reviews, other than that they should follow the usual fanfic forum rules.
3. Post a link in this thread or the Review Leaderboard thread. Any review you make that counts for the leaderboard also counts for this game, and if you post in the leaderboard your points will automatically be added in both places. Please note, however, that for the purposes of this game, any review you make is only ever worth one point, regardless of how many chapters it covers. Special leaderboard bonuses also do not apply. For the purposes of this game, one review always counts for one point.
If your review fulfills the requirements for the weekly challenge (see below), you should post a link to the qualifying review in this thread with a note that the review fulfills the challenge's requirements, as well as choose your character's in-story reward for completing the challenge, e.g. choosing a weapon for the "Choose Your Weapon" challenge. For any review you make, challenge-related or not, you can also suggest an action for your character to take in the next story update.
4. Claim your prizes! When you earn enough points to be eligible for a prize, first post in the thread as usual to claim your points, then send Negrek a PM with information on what prize you'd like and who you'd like to fulfill your request. See below for a description of the available prizes and how many points you need to earn them.
Interested in offering prizes but don't see your name on the list below? Feel free to PM Negrek to volunteer! All help is appreciated.
5. See your character in the weekly story update! The more points you earn, the bigger your character's role in tracking down the missing mods. Note that updates will be posted Tuesdays starting September 12th, and only reviews claimed before midnight (EST) the preceding Sunday will be counted towards an update. The final story update will come on Tuesday, October 2nd.
I totally forgot to post the new weekly challenge yesterday! But yes, Week 2 is over; on to Week 3! This week's challenge probably won't make a great deal of sense until the next story update is posted, but this will at least give you the chance to plan out or even make your reviews, and you can choose your challenge reward once you actually understand what's going on.
The story update is expected to be done tomorrow and will be posted either tomorrow or Thursday, if I finish too late on Wednesday to want to go find wi-fi. (Still don't have internet in my apartment, pray for me.)
Also, if you write a review that qualifies for a previous week's challenge, I'm going to say that you can choose to take that challenge's reward even though the week is over. For example, if you review a fanfic by an author you haven't reviewed before sometime this week, you can have your character pick up a weapon if you haven't already. Just note that a particular review can only be counted towards one challenge, even if it would fulfill more than one, and you can't retroactively count a review towards a challenge. E.g. if you reviewed "But..." earlier this month, you can't cite that review for this week's challenge--you'll need to review a different qualifying fanfic this week to claim this week's prize.
Without further ado, the Week 4 reviewing challenge!
Week Four Challenge: Make Your Final Stand!
It's the final week, our final opportunity to rescue the mods, and the final battle against their enigmatic kidnappers! It's on your character to stop this alien menace and restore order to the fanfic section. How are they going to do it? This is your character's chance to make a badass final stand! Or perhaps they'd be more likely to run away screaming? You decide! For our final week, let's give some love to the fanfic sections that have seen the least action during our reviewing spree thus far. To qualify for this challenge, review a fic in the Non-Pokémon or Completed Fics sections.
Anime Remix Special: The Remix of Darkrai
But... [One-Shot]
The Defense Of Rainbow Rocket HQ (A Story Without Mods In It) [One-Shot]
The Deprogramming
Destiny
Digimon Epics- A series of one-shots or dabbles
Digimon: Idylls
Evening in Bareahard (Trails of Cold Steel, One-Shot)
Hunter, Haunted
Ills (one-shot; PG/K+)
Operation GEAR: The Gardener of Gratitude
Past of the future, future of the past...
Pletora's Story
Pokemon Adventures Super - RGBY
Pokemon Bookcraft Collection: Mightyena from Bhreatain Bheag.
Pokemon:Life
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Hands of Creation
The Skull that Bears Seeds (Ch. 2)
Some Average Days In A Pokemon Daycare
But... [One-Shot]
The Defense Of Rainbow Rocket HQ (A Story Without Mods In It) [One-Shot]
The Deprogramming
Destiny
Digimon Epics- A series of one-shots or dabbles
Digimon: Idylls
Evening in Bareahard (Trails of Cold Steel, One-Shot)
Hunter, Haunted
Ills (one-shot; PG/K+)
Operation GEAR: The Gardener of Gratitude
Past of the future, future of the past...
Pletora's Story
Pokemon Adventures Super - RGBY
Pokemon Bookcraft Collection: Mightyena from Bhreatain Bheag.
Pokemon:Life
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Hands of Creation
The Skull that Bears Seeds (Ch. 2)
Some Average Days In A Pokemon Daycare
Prizes
1 Point - Review
That's right! Posting a single review will not only get your character in the weekly story update, also qualify you to receive a review.
5 Points - Fanart
Manage five reviews to receive the gift of a thousand words... in the form of a picture. Of a character from your fanfic! The fanfic section is fortunate to have great writers who are also great artists, and some of them have generously agreed to provide prizes to participants.
Not so into the fanart thing? That's okay! You can choose to take a second review for this tier instead.
10 Points - Review and Fanart
Do you like reviews? Do you like fanart? Do you like... both? If you manage to post ten reviews in September, you'll be eligible to receive a second piece of fanart as well as a review on one of your fics. If you happen to only like one out of fic or fanart, though, you can choose instead to opt for two reviews or two pieces of fanart as your prize for this tier.
15 Points - Full-Color Banner
If you manage to put together a whopping fifteen reviews in one month, you'll be eligible to receive a full-color banner customized just for your fanfic! (Or anything else you'd like to advertise/a cool banner with your name on it, etc.) See below for the banner artists to choose from and examples of their work!
If you'd rather have reviews than art, you can request three of them for this tier instead.
Prize Request Guidelines
If you're eligible for a prize, please PM Negrek with who you'd like to do your review/fanart/etc., choosing from among the volunteers on the appropriate list. Note that you may not get your preferred choice of reviewer or artist; requests will be spread around reviewers/artists to ensure that none of them get swamped, and a volunteer may choose to pass on a request for any reason. If your first choice isn't going to work out, I'll look over who's available and ask if you're okay with them fulfilling your request instead, and we'll work things out from there. If you're worried about not getting your first choice reviewer/fanartist, you can request a backup choice in your PM. If you have no preference, just let me know and I'll pair you with someone who doesn't have any other requests to attend to, so you'll be first in line.
You can request a review on any fanfic you've posted on Serebii. For chapterfics, you can choose any one chapter to have the reviewer look at. The reviewer may choose to review more than that single chapter, but this is not at all an expectation. Reviewers may turn down a request if they aren't interested in your specific fic, in which case you'll be matched with a different reviewer.
For fanart, see the examples of each artist's work to get an idea of what you'll get. Note that each piece of fanart will be for a single character only. An artist may turn down your request if they aren't interesting in drawing it, in which case you'll be matched with a different artist.
Prize Volunteers
Reviews
- Ambyssin
- Bay
- Cutlerine
- lucarioknight56
- Marika_CZ
- Negrek
- RocketKnight66
- Starlight Aurate
- The Great Butler
- TickTock13
- unrepentantAuthor
- Bay
- Cutlerine
- lucarioknight56
- Marika_CZ
- Negrek
- RocketKnight66
- Starlight Aurate
- The Great Butler
- TickTock13
- unrepentantAuthor
Fanart
Banners
Current Players
Ambyssin - Silvally - 28
AmericanPi - Pyotr - 3
canisaries - Arcanine - 10
Chibi Pika - Palkia - 16
DeliriousAbsol - Delirious - 10
diamondpearl876 - Sai - 8
Dragonfree - Mia - 4
lucarioknight56 - Matheus - 1
Namohysip - Owen - 20
Phoenixsong - Tolgo - 5
Psychic - PikachuFan - 3
RocketKnight66 - Takato - 15
Sike Saner - Four O'Clock - 15
Starlight Aurate - Saoirse - 10
The Teller - Octillery - 6
The Walrein - Farfetch'd - 7
Umbramatic - Polly - 17
Virgil134 - Cabot - 1
AmericanPi - Pyotr - 3
canisaries - Arcanine - 10
Chibi Pika - Palkia - 16
DeliriousAbsol - Delirious - 10
diamondpearl876 - Sai - 8
Dragonfree - Mia - 4
lucarioknight56 - Matheus - 1
Namohysip - Owen - 20
Phoenixsong - Tolgo - 5
Psychic - PikachuFan - 3
RocketKnight66 - Takato - 15
Sike Saner - Four O'Clock - 15
Starlight Aurate - Saoirse - 10
The Teller - Octillery - 6
The Walrein - Farfetch'd - 7
Umbramatic - Polly - 17
Virgil134 - Cabot - 1
Story Updates
Update 1
Update 2 (Part 2)
Update 3
Update 4 (Part 2)
Side-Stories
Post-Missing Mod Madness: Ship Repairs by DeliriousAbsol
Missing Polly Madness by Umbramatic
The Defense Of Rainbow Rocket HQ (A Story Without Mods In It) by The Walrein
The Most Terrible, Cliché-Ridden, Forum-Rules-Violating Story Farfetch'd Is Capable Of by The Walrein
Update 2 (Part 2)
Update 3
Update 4 (Part 2)
Side-Stories
Post-Missing Mod Madness: Ship Repairs by DeliriousAbsol
Missing Polly Madness by Umbramatic
The Defense Of Rainbow Rocket HQ (A Story Without Mods In It) by The Walrein
The Most Terrible, Cliché-Ridden, Forum-Rules-Violating Story Farfetch'd Is Capable Of by The Walrein
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