Eara Meraia

Entry #2 by (anonymous) - now revealed to be Aia
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A Murmas to Remember 

On a Murmas Eve so clear 
Betwixt a yellow user-bar 
And a eyeglass that doth slide above the entry to the Store 
I stumbled on a elf-man 
Overworked in over demand 
'Neath the Murmas greenery that riseth from Gazebo's floor 
And afore the Murmas dawning 
He explained to me a warning 
That the Curse of Murmas Past and Murmas future doth endure 
And within the realm's proceeding 
Lay a chaos slowly breeding 
For Santa were for sale, it seems, within the MD store 
Single credit, nothing more
So I purchased but a single 
And although I owned Kris Kringle 
And the Murmas preparations lay beneath the Archive's floor 
He then left for northern weather 
With a sleigh in Reindrach tether 
To prepare his handiwork that bringeth merriment galore 
But as his sleigh took flight 
Into the dark of Murmas night 
I saw another rise in synchrony upon a distant shore 
Then many wizened Santa Clauses
Well-prepared for gifting causes
Took to the night in red and white to add to the encore 
And the elf-man cried, no more!
And between the Loreroot treetops 
Came a thumping on the rooftops 
Of the weight of twenty Santas come to bring me new decor 
But there came more, never-ending 
Every one of them intending
To leave a gift and eat mine cookies left for them before 
But mine roof were not built stronger 
And it did not hold much longer 
As around me crashed the Santas and mine roof unto the floor 
And the treetops shook like thunder 
As the realm began to wonder 
Whence had arrived the presents - now that terrible downpour;
Gifts aplenty - an eyesore?
So we rounded up Father Murmases
With help from the MR's services
And a Boss Heads Master attacked 'til their vitality were naught 
Then lined them at the Fenth's Press
Sacrificed the Santa excess 
And the Fenths were all collected quickly from the grassy floor 
Then we called in the alt-army 
Poised on a gift collect-spree 
And slowly presents cleared from atop the forest floor 
But the realm were filled to burst 
As the alt-army did their worst 
That it sloweth to a trickle all the actions of alt-corps 
MagicDuel showed: 404.
Merry Murmas, nothing more.

Any entry that is submitted to me will be posted within this thread, anonymously. I shall reveal the writer of't after judgment were made.
Entries remain open until the end of New Year's Day. If thou didst find mirth in reading the entry beneath, please "like" this post.
 
Entry #1 by (anonymous) - now revealed to be Ungod
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There once was an incompetent necromancer who went by the name of Spencer
His head was thick like a brick and he spoke like a regular of a meth centre.
One day, around Murmas, while he was taking a shower,
He thought of awing the entire world with his great power-
With a spell that would forever change the tides of this age:
He'd bring the kings of old tales back on the stage.
So he bought a life-sized doll and stuck in it a magical core:
'Alakhazam, Alakhatum, Alakhabar, rise and live, oh king, once more!'
And a thunder struck and behold! on the beach stood proudly Yrthilian
Whose is of mixed ancestry - part irish, part reptilian
A drach to his left, yrth on the throne, another drach to his right!
(Spencer was fighting his bladder - and he was losing that fight).
First thing Yrthilain did was saddle his reindrachs and fly!
Higher and higher and higher 'till it was just too high,
Too close to Kelle'tha's fire - and you know how that story goes...
All that was left of him were his teeth and his toes,
Which fell into the sea and then were washed ashore.
(I blame the faulty wings - you just can't trust Amazon's anymore).
But Spencer didn't yield - he took the forest path, meeting Robin Hood
Who clearly didn't care about his plans and robbed 'im good.
To get revenge, Spencer pulled out his sould and bound it to a tree
Thus scaring the resident dryad, who found herself with a goatee.
But Spencer's wicked plan did not stop there - alas!
He cast a testosterone spell on the dryad, who became Firsanthalas.
Who can describe in mere words what happened in the forest next?
It was a mix of gore, and tenderness, and  vile and grotesque - 
An identity crisis is really bad when you're a nymph
The hair-rising scene was almost like Pan's labyrinth...
You'd think one would stop and maybe learn a new trick
But failures meant nothing to Spencer the hick.
From the foam - or maybe it was something else - from the angien lake
On a clam, a most beautiful form he did awake..
Oh, Lifeline! King of hearts with a line that's divine
Desire on two feet that makes gigolos resign!
With a honey coated tongue he made Spencer lose his will:
'See ya, pops, got a date with some girls at Golems'Mill'...
Spencer screamed, with one hand on a dark grimoire and one on a cup of coffee:
'Oh, Necrovion, help me! Shades, give this worthless servant The Body!'
Then the bell at the house of tainted times rang twelve times
And forth came Khalazdad, missing some dozin enzymes.
'You bloody moron, how dare you ressurect me in a such sorry state!
I'm taking back your necro skill, but first - your bones I'll break!'
You want to know the end of Spencer the ex necromancer?
He took up alchemy and brought it down to lower standards...
But how it happened, what he did, is for another story
Next Murmas, maybe, we'll find out the alchemy of shame and glory!
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Hello, musicians and wanna-be stars!
We have a contest with guaranteed wins (if you're not terrible, that is).
Play a rl instrument and the TKs are going to make sure you get your instrument as an in-game item! Just post you vids here - or the link to where you posted it - and make sure we can see your playername and MD in the video.
If you also combine it with an MD themed text, you could get a WP (if you're not terrible, that is).
So get your harmonica, trumpet, guitar, cello, ukulele, drum, harp or WHATEVER and play it so we can all see...I mean, hear...Deadline : end of this month
Good luck!

The ghost of Murmas arrived just in time to see how life is going in the Lands of Magic Duel.
From now on and until the end of the year (31. January) make sure you behave well! What do you need to do? Simple: do something nice to somebody you know or you don’t know in MD. It can be anything – a present or a journey or a nice surprise, conversation, help in distress...pretty much anything that is not your direct duty, anything that makes other person happy. Be original, be creative, be attentive, check on people's needs, find out what they really wish for and how can you help them. After it happened report it yourself or let the person you showed your kindness to report it to me via forum pm.

In your letter describe what you did (or what somebody did for you), why you (or they) did it and what were the consequences of this act. The ghost of Murmas will judge your acts of kindness on the matter of sincerity, originality and selflessness. The most outstanding act of kindness will be rewarded with a WP, second and third place will be covered with gold and silver straight from the treasury! After the event is over, acts of kindness will be posted in this thread. Anonymity can be negotiated, but I believe not necessary.

Be kind to each other! The ghost of Murmas is looking forward to hearing from you!

PS: if you report somebody who did something nice to you expect that person (not yourself) to get a reward

The ghost of Murmas arrived just in time to see how life is going in the Lands of Magic Duel.
From now on and until the end of the year (31. January) make sure you behave well! What do you need to do? Simple: do something nice to somebody you know or you don’t know in MD. It can be anything – a present or a journey or a nice surprise, conversation, help in distress...pretty much anything that is not your direct duty, anything that makes other person happy. Be original, be creative, be attentive, check on people's needs, find out what they really wish for and how can you help them. After it happened report it yourself or let the person you showed your kindness to report it to me via forum pm.

In your letter describe what you did (or what somebody did for you), why you (or they) did it and what were the consequences of this act. The ghost of Murmas will judge your acts of kindness on the matter of sincerity, originality and selflessness. The most outstanding act of kindness will be rewarded with a WP, second and third place will be covered with gold and silver straight from the treasury! After the event is over, acts of kindness will be posted in this thread. Anonymity can be negotiated, but I believe not necessary.

Be kind to each other! The ghost of Murmas is looking forward to hearing from you!

PS: if you report somebody who did something nice to you expect that person (not yourself) to get a reward

treasury will sponsor 3gc for a winner, 2 for the one who comes second and 1 gc for the third place.

Officially I am a Tool guardian of Necrovion. If that changed in my absence please let me know!
Otherwise, I keep doing the job, since I plan to be more active now. If anyone has wishes, suggestions or questions about Necrovion tools - contact me via pm.

one gold? Is it the sum required for the item to work now? Well you will have to add up this to the usual killing/revival charge of people who are owning those items. (I know some of them did it for free as well, but not all).
 
As for the announcement. I do hope there is more with it, otherwise I don't see any real changes of the situation coming with it.
 
 
Sacrifising something for killing in general has a lot of symbolism in it and I like that to kill somebody or revive one has to accomplish more than just to press a button.
 
Paying a few coins does not fully fulfil the sacrifice idea in my oppinion, because not many of us (correct me if I am wrong) are too much spiritually bound to our coins, so it doesn't really hurt to lose them. It also doesn't influence balance between killing/revival in the realm, since both actions require gold from now on. It does not require any direct activity from the killer or reviver, which I think is pity. Also this idea interferes a bit with Eons role as an paid assassin (or maybe it is meant to be a compensation, since Eon seems to be inactive aka gone?). To sum up - I like the idea to make killing/revival more complicated, but I do not think that only adding a gold price to it will make any sufficiant difference.
 
Global notification in chat is a truly brilliant idea.

@Granos> there are many (of not most of) other exisiting alliances that have no real purpose or specifically coded function (like Fusioneers heat fusioning fuction or TK with their treasury function). But still those alliances are there, some of them lacking members, not even mentioning RP. I don't understand why this cannot get a chance then.

Even though I have been relatively inactive recently, people manage to find me and donate stuff. Respect! Our 2 new heroes are AmberRune and Aethon:
21) Amberrune donated:
- 12 gold, 65 silver coins, 8 various spellstones and 12 common items.
22) Aethon donated: 32 gold coins, 5 silver coins from an auction and 4 black and white eculubrations
May generous deeds never be forgotten!

Even though I have been relatively inactive recently, people manage to find me and donate stuff. Respect! Our 2 new heroes are AmberRune and Aethon:
21) Amberrune donated:
- 12 gold, 65 silver coins, 8 various spellstones and 12 common items.
22) Aethon donated: 32 gold coins, 5 silver coins from an auction and 4 black and white eculubrations
May generous deeds never be forgotten!

Even though I have been relatively inactive recently, people manage to find me and donate stuff. Respect! Our 2 new heroes are AmberRune and Aethon:
21) Amberrune donated:
- 12 gold, 65 silver coins, 8 various spellstones and 12 common items.
22) Aethon donated: 32 gold coins, 5 silver coins from an auction and 4 black and white eculubrations
May generous deeds never be forgotten!

Even though I have been relatively inactive recently, people manage to find me and donate stuff. Respect! Our 2 new heroes are AmberRune and Aethon:
21) Amberrune donated:
- 12 gold, 65 silver coins, 8 various spellstones and 12 common items.
22) Aethon donated: 32 gold coins, 5 silver coins from an auction and 4 black and white eculubrations
May generous deeds never be forgotten!

Inspirations: J.L. Borges "Manual de zoologia fantàstica"; H.P. Lovecraft's "Dagon" and "The Whisperer in the Darkness", Hayao Miyazaki "Spirited Away".
 
The extreme diversity of dogs and hounds known to mankind is mirrored in Hell by a vast carousel of hobbling aberrations.
With very few exceptions, Hell Hounds are the result of the wildest experiments on animal remains, sometimes pushed even further by the incorporation of mechanical devices.
It's not always a question of insanity, or evilness... sometimes it's just necessity. 
Being Hell so chaotic, it's incredibly hard to find a complete carcass to re-animate.
Although paradoxical, Demons follow Zen's precept "work with what you have": the lack of resources counterbalanced only by the most vivid imagination.
 
Rufus - the wheeled squid-hound
 
A good example of what can be found down below, Rufus is a horned skeletal hound whose anterior paws have been grafted with squid-like tentacles.
Furthermore, its posterior comprehends wheels and a horrid scorpion tail.
Although confusing, it is usually referred to as a front-wheel drive beast.
 
Trudy - the basset tank
 
Trudy is very cute, but extremely deadly in narrow spaces.
The head of a basset hound has been provided with a unicorn horn and mounted on caterpillar's tracks, in order for him to chase on any ground.
 
Poldo - the flying chiwawa
 
Don't underestimate this one! Because of his small size, the butterfly wings can take him anywhere, unnoticed, and he really loves to scare the crap out of people. Usually you realize it's there only when he is 2 inches far from your face. 
He has a rat tail and a very high-pitched voice.

Greetings MD-ers,
Since Necrovion closed itself for the outside world many things changed. The land is said to be filled with mysteries, rare resources and secret treasures. Many of you were trying to get there and were mercilessly slayed by Death Patrols.
From now on things change for those of you who are interested in Necrovion trips for harvesting, research, sightseeing or other purposes. Regular trips to Necrovion are available for all MD citizens disregarding their gender, age or land affiliation.
Of course, as every valuable thing, this trip has a price. Price for entering Necrovion is a sacrifice… a creature, your heat, even your own blood. 
Those who will fulfill 1 of the 3 requirements will be granted an access to Necrovion for 1 week, with the right to use 1 Necrovion shared tool of their choice (either a bone shovel, an unbreakable trowel or a sand melter). The use of the shared item won’t be granted if already in possess of an identical independent one.
During said week you will be movebound to a Death Patrol and kept under strict surveillance. Any deviation from their rules will get you killed.
Since there is only a limited amount of tools in Necrovion, we can only let up to 3 people a week. So eventually there will be a waiting list. If you are willing to enter more than once, you will be put on the bottom of the waiting list after your first trip.
Sacrifice.
As said before you have to sacrifice something dear to you to enter. 
1)     Sacrifice heat. You have to infuse enough heat into the Fountain of Dark Vibrations to fulfill this requirement. The exact amount depends on your MP. This feature is not functional yet.
2)     Sacrifice a creature. You have to sacrifice a creature once you are in Necrovion. The age or amount of stored heat won’t matter as long as your sacrifice produces 3 fenths. If you produce more than 3 fenths - you can pick up the rest, leaving 3 required ones at the altar. Leaving more than 3 fenths will not give you the right for another entry in the future. For that you will have to sacrifice another creature. So, if you dont want to waste fenths - make sure you are sufficiently prepared.
3)     Sacrifice a personal item. This can be anyone of the following items – drop of blood, bottled emotions, engraved ring or autograph. Items are to be passed to me (Eara Meraia) before you enter Necrovion. (your personal items will go to the MD treasury but won’t be counted as a donation. Eventually you will be able to buy them back from an auction).
Contact me via forum pm or ingame pm for details, time-frames, tool rentals etc.
The waiting list and those who entered will be published on this thread.
Requirements to enter might be changed or adjusted from time to time, but this is to be considered a permanent way to get inside Necrovion.
First date for a tour is 9. August 2016. Every next tour will start on Tuesday. Please write down your name, player ID and date you wish to start and a type of payment in a REPLY to this topic.
Good luck!
(I am on vacation till 5 August, so if you have any questions till then, please contact lashtal or samon).
 

20) Donation: 4 pimped grasans
Received from: Ledah
Reason: spamspamspam...

Helix Island
Spirula Isle

Greetings MD-ers,
Since Necrovion closed itself for the outside world many things changed. The land is said to be filled with mysteries, rare resources and secret treasures. Many of you were trying to get there and were mercilessly slayed by Death Patrols.
From now on things change for those of you who are interested in Necrovion trips for harvesting, research, sightseeing or other purposes. Regular trips to Necrovion are available for all MD citizens disregarding their gender, age or land affiliation.
Of course, as every valuable thing, this trip has a price. Price for entering Necrovion is a sacrifice… a creature, your heat, even your own blood. 
Those who will fulfill 1 of the 3 requirements will be granted an access to Necrovion for 1 week, with the right to use 1 Necrovion shared tool of their choice (either a bone shovel, an unbreakable trowel or a sand melter). The use of the shared item won’t be granted if already in possess of an identical independent one.
During said week you will be movebound to a Death Patrol and kept under strict surveillance. Any deviation from their rules will get you killed.
Since there is only a limited amount of tools in Necrovion, we can only let up to 3 people a week. So eventually there will be a waiting list. If you are willing to enter more than once, you will be put on the bottom of the waiting list after your first trip.
Sacrifice.
As said before you have to sacrifice something dear to you to enter. 
1)     Sacrifice heat. You have to infuse enough heat into the Fountain of Dark Vibrations to fulfill this requirement. The exact amount depends on your MP. This feature is not functional yet.
2)     Sacrifice a creature. You have to sacrifice a creature once you are in Necrovion. The age or amount of stored heat won’t matter as long as your sacrifice produces 3 fenths. If you produce more than 3 fenths - you can pick up the rest, leaving 3 required ones at the altar. Leaving more than 3 fenths will not give you the right for another entry in the future. For that you will have to sacrifice another creature. So, if you dont want to waste fenths - make sure you are sufficiently prepared.
3)     Sacrifice a personal item. This can be anyone of the following items – drop of blood, bottled emotions, engraved ring or autograph. Items are to be passed to me (Eara Meraia) before you enter Necrovion. (your personal items will go to the MD treasury but won’t be counted as a donation. Eventually you will be able to buy them back from an auction).
Contact me via forum pm or ingame pm for details, time-frames, tool rentals etc.
The waiting list and those who entered will be published on this thread.
Requirements to enter might be changed or adjusted from time to time, but this is to be considered a permanent way to get inside Necrovion.
First date for a tour is 9. August 2016. Every next tour will start on Tuesday. Please write down your name, player ID and date you wish to start and a type of payment in a REPLY to this topic.
Good luck!
(I am on vacation till 5 August, so if you have any questions till then, please contact lashtal or samon).
 

Greetings MD-ers,
Since Necrovion closed itself for the outside world many things changed. The land is said to be filled with mysteries, rare resources and secret treasures. Many of you were trying to get there and were mercilessly slayed by Death Patrols.
From now on things change for those of you who are interested in Necrovion trips for harvesting, research, sightseeing or other purposes. Regular trips to Necrovion are available for all MD citizens disregarding their gender, age or land affiliation.
Of course, as every valuable thing, this trip has a price. Price for entering Necrovion is a sacrifice… a creature, your heat, even your own blood. 
Those who will fulfill 1 of the 3 requirements will be granted an access to Necrovion for 1 week, with the right to use 1 Necrovion shared tool of their choice (either a bone shovel, an unbreakable trowel or a sand melter). The use of the shared item won’t be granted if already in possess of an identical independent one.
During said week you will be movebound to a Death Patrol and kept under strict surveillance. Any deviation from their rules will get you killed.
Since there is only a limited amount of tools in Necrovion, we can only let up to 3 people a week. So eventually there will be a waiting list. If you are willing to enter more than once, you will be put on the bottom of the waiting list after your first trip.
Sacrifice.
As said before you have to sacrifice something dear to you to enter. 
1)     Sacrifice heat. You have to infuse enough heat into the Fountain of Dark Vibrations to fulfill this requirement. The exact amount depends on your MP. This feature is not functional yet.
2)     Sacrifice a creature. You have to sacrifice a creature once you are in Necrovion. The age or amount of stored heat won’t matter as long as your sacrifice produces 3 fenths. If you produce more than 3 fenths - you can pick up the rest, leaving 3 required ones at the altar. Leaving more than 3 fenths will not give you the right for another entry in the future. For that you will have to sacrifice another creature. So, if you dont want to waste fenths - make sure you are sufficiently prepared.
3)     Sacrifice a personal item. This can be anyone of the following items – drop of blood, bottled emotions, engraved ring or autograph. Items are to be passed to me (Eara Meraia) before you enter Necrovion. (your personal items will go to the MD treasury but won’t be counted as a donation. Eventually you will be able to buy them back from an auction).
Contact me via forum pm or ingame pm for details, time-frames, tool rentals etc.
The waiting list and those who entered will be published on this thread.
Requirements to enter might be changed or adjusted from time to time, but this is to be considered a permanent way to get inside Necrovion.
First date for a tour is 9. August 2016. Every next tour will start on Tuesday. Please write down your name, player ID and date you wish to start and a type of payment in a REPLY to this topic.
Good luck!
(I am on vacation till 5 August, so if you have any questions till then, please contact lashtal or samon).
 

Pardon, I don't remember being your citizen,if not, are you trying to fake it till you make it? If so, that's a cool move!
 And I'm also fine of having Nimmy as a Protector.

Ok, judging time is over, time to draw the conclusions!
Despite the low number of entries (3) I was very happy with the submissions I received, because they all matched perfectly what I was looking for.
For this reason I'm going to share them publicly (see attached pdf); I hope you will enjoy this small, yet new bestiary as much as I did.
Submission n°0 is mine, it was not an entry to rate but an example for the judges of what I had in mind.
The judges (3) were unaware of the authors and were asked to rate the submissions considering:
the choice and originality of materials/ingredients (0 to 3 pts) the accuracy of the procedure/recipe (0 to 3 points) the quality of the artwork (0 to 4 points) Here are the judges verdicts:
Sub n° Author Judge 1 - Zleiphneir Judge 2 - Junior Judge 3 - Neno Veliki TOTAL 0 lashtal x x x   1 Aeoshattr 7 4 9 20 2 dst 7 8 7 22 3 Eara Meraia 5 4 8 17 And here are the rewards!
1st place: dst - headless skeleton + tormented soul
2nd place: Aeoshattr - tormented soul
3rd place: Eara Meraia - tormented soul
 
Congratulations to all!
 
note: partial scores can be provided upon request.
countless faces for a headless skeleton.pdf

Hey, TK owes you a gold coin, you can't be just leaving like this
 

Meet Slotsh, the village idiot. Or genius. Whichever he is, the villagers describe him thus: "Oh, him... Yeah, that boy always runs around, collecting scraps and junk to make...things that nobody could care less about. Why doesn't he get a nice girl and settle somewhere? Although, I don't know who would marry such a good for nothing air-head."
    Slotsh has recently acquired a secret wish - to visit the Angien island. He has been told not to try to swim across, because many people lost their lives so. He can't use the boat, because he can't get at the magic of the Seekers, so he decided to take the matter into his own hands. So he built this:

The plan is to enter a barrel, catapult it into the lake and then swim with an oar until he reaches the island. But Slotsh wouldn't risk his life without a test -so he took a barrel from Maple Road at night and rolled it to the 'catapult'. Success! The barrel floats! Thinking that next night he will steal another barrel, Slotsh wanted to go get some sleep, when he discovered a red sock in the grass...
       Slotsh has an uncle, Ted. Ted is an alcoholic. Slotsh immediately understood what happened - his uncle must have entered the barrel to drink the bushie wine and fell asleep inside. Damn the darkness!

Can we help Slotsh get the barrel with his uncle back, somehow? Actually, Sloths will be doing the work, you only need to provide the idea. Magic is not his forte, so it needs to be a machine or something a villager with a knack for mechanics can build (but you must also show us a sketch of it, if it's a machine). There are rewards in stock - a WP for the best idea, a Nutcracker for the second best, and a Kids IQ test common item for third best.
#saveUncleTed
Final note: since I don't want to take people's chance at getting a WP, I will be judging it  (I'd rather not have complaints after, but whatever). I would be grateful if someone would assist me in judging, but know that you cannot participate if you decide to help me thus.

Some funny looking guys asked for your help. They had a party last night and in the morning they saw that one of them is missing. He was last seen entering this room. Can you find clues as to what happened to him?

Rewards: 1st place gets to choose from 1 Imp, 1 root warrior, 1 gold, 1 sharptear, 1 root warrior, 1 gold; 2nd place from what is left etc 
How it works: start a forum conversation with me, stating actions (example: "I examine the books", "I open the sack") and I will answer with the result of your actions. This is a race, and because of the time issues (delays on my part, delays on your part), the rewards aren't great. However, I will try to measure the time spent as accurately as possible.

Hi all. Since I produced quite a stupendous amount of text, this will come in parts (since I do need time to study and other things too). Please feel free to move, I was not sure if it was appropriate to post this in the "Quests and Contests" subforum.
Feedback is more than welcome, please try to stay constructive. If you feel that I missed something, point out where and what you think should be added.
Pardon fancy language. I may or may not have been under the influence of beverages at the time of production. Without further ado, here is the first part, about quest design and sponsorships. The part about judging & rewarding is still a work in progress. Text Wall ahead.
 
Questmaker’s Etiquette Guide
With various fantabulous tips, tricks, do’s and don’t’s
Glorious Introduction
Here we shall look at 3 major topics regarding making, holding and rewarding a quest, particularly for the realm of MagicDuel, as follows:
 
Quest Design
What is good design? What is bad design?
Accessibility. Types of quests. Target audience. Tips for a few types of frequently-held quests.
How and when to announce quests. Miscellaneous.
Sponsorships
Short tips about who and how to approach for sponsorships.
List of rough values of certain items and creatures (maybe).
Quest Judging and Rewarding
Single blinding, Double blinding and other judging paraphernalia.
Rewarding: do’s and don’t’s, who and how to approach for help.
"How to". Quick guide to help you jumpstart your quest. (This will be a skeleton only! To help you guide your own creativity, not to be used as given!)
Case studies (maybe).
I shall point to a few quests (mine, unless someone else volunteers their own quests and experience with them) and try to dissect out the good and the bad.
 
One thing to keep in mind is that throughout this guide I shall ask questions. These are to provoke thought rather than to demand an answer. There is no correct or incorrect answer in general (with a few exceptions), but there will be a correct answer for your quest. You just have to think how that question relates to your quest (think about how your quest would answer that question, not about what answer I want to hear, if that helps).
Quest Design
Briefly put, in MagicDuel there are a few things to keep in mind as a questmaker. Some are obvious, some are not, some are counterintuitive. I will also look at a few specific structures of quests that pop up frequently and suggest tips for them, if they are to be used as templates. I shall also attempt to discuss how to tailor your quest to a target audience while keeping in mind the idea of accessibility, and a few suggestions about how to make announcements regarding quests.
What is good design? What is bad design?
In a nutshell, a quest that is well designed will run smoothly. It will not need adjustments on the way, it will not need the direct intervention of the questmaker to resolve issues, it cannot be cheated, and there is no unintended interaction between participants (spoiling or sabotaging).
It’s vague, unfortunately, and it will vary for each quest types. But here are a few things you can do, or questions you should try to have an answer to:
 
Try and test whatever can be tested.
Do your clickables function, if any?
Is the quest goal achievable?
Does it require very personal information (i.e. specific relations of your character in-game)? Could others effectively know and solve it?
Is the amount of heat/resources/whatever obtainable in the time you give?
Could you do it? Could someone help you test it?
Is the time window feasible?
Will the quest take too long or too little time?
Does the quest heavily depend on everybody showing up, or on a specific number of participants? Can that become an issue? Can it be avoided?
Try and anticipate flaws or issues in your quest.
Are there ways to cheat/cheese it?
Can it be easily disrupted by a third party (movelock, attacklock, teleporting)? Do you want to change the design to avoid this, or rely on external help?
Are there any unintended progress-stoppers?
Is there a risk of participants spoiling eachother, or sabotaging eachother? Is it indended? Is it an issue?
How could you prevent these issues?
Is your quest transparent? Is your judging and rewarding transparent? Can people obtain details about judging and rewarding after the quest? The answers here should be yes!
Can you manage the quest by yourself? Do you need assistance with:
Scripting clickables?
Try the scripting section on the forums
Try contacting known scripters for help (please let me know if you want to be named here)
Preventing disruptions?
Do you know who might potentially disrupt your quest? Diplomacy works (most of the time).
Request help from friends, or protection under neutrality (Can MDA offer such help?)
Request help from your land leader (if any)?
Alter your quest design to avoid or reduce the risk of disruptions (hold it in a nojump location, for instance).
Effectively holding the quest?
Need a shady character that participants need to chase? Ask around.
Need another helping hand with distributing things to players during the quest (information, items)?
Need someone to supervise what participants do?
Is the quest engaging? Does it feel like an adventure, a continuous process or are there breaks and holes in it? Is it just a series of unrelated trials? Does it relate to MagicDuel at all? You could run a ‘good’ quest without this, but a good quest design will also make the quest enjoyable and fun, not just ‘doable’. One of the best things to do is to try and integrate it with the world of MagicDuel. Try and make it part of the game, rather than just a ‘task’.
Accessibility, Target Audience and Types of Quests
Though this may be subjective, one fundamental principle of quests is their accessibility. This doesn’t necessarily mean that everybody should be able to complete it, but as many people as possible should be able to begin it. This may refer to restrictions or requirements on:
 
Mindpower
Is your quest for a specific Mindpower only, or does it bias for/against a specific Mindpower? How, why, and is it intended this way?
Active Days
Don’t think I’ve seen this one, but is there a restriction on active days? Why? Is it necessary? Why?
Land / Alliance
Can only people from certain lands/alliances participate? Why? Does your quest design bias against/for people from certain lands/alliances? Why? Is it necessary?
Specific people
Obviously, saying “X cannot participate” will immediately be bad. This does not mean you cannot exclude people from your quests, but it should not be baseless (for instance, that person is a judge or a sponsor, or that person has a repeated history of trolling your quests, etc). But excluding people should be considered bad practice, and making such a decision should be taken extremely seriously.
Number of participants
Does your quest have a restriction on how many questers can begin it? Why? Is it intended or necessary, and if so, why?
Talent & Skill
Naturally, drawing quests are going to be fundamentally different from tournament quests. Keep in mind though that you can easily put talent into the backseat by adjusting your judging/scoring parameters!
Stats
Does your quest bias against players with specific stat values? Is this intended / necessary? Does it need adjusting (such as tiering participants)?
 
Keep in mind, many quests will often encounter at least one of those restrictions. These are not to be considered as deadly sins (or things to not do under any circumstance), but rather things that you should be prepared to explain if asked, or changed if not intended.
 
Moving on to the target audience. MagicDuel has a very mottled player base. Some are artists, some are grinders, some are roleplayers, some are coders, some are good with numbers and ciphers, etc. It is very difficult to design a quest for absolutely everybody, so you should at least aim to have a specific audience (whether it is broad or narrow). It is perfectly fine to make a quest for artists or grinders only, but it is good practice to try and make it as broadly available as possible. Think “roleplayers” rather than “that specific type of roleplayer”, if that helps.
 
You could also include multiple, different types of players by introducing multiple stages (have a combat stage, an art stage, etc)! This should be designed very carefully however, or it might discourage people from participating. Maybe make the quest for teams, and thus give them the possibility to include different skill types in their team? Up to you.
Quest Types
The Arts & Crafts Quest
The Tournament Quest
The Roleplaying Scenario Quest
The Clickie Chase Quest
The Cipher / Puzzle Quest
Announcements. Miscellaneous
Tips about how to announce your quests, where to do so and how.
You should announce your quest preferably when you are certain you can hold it (this means you have found sponsorship for rewards, if necessary, or already designed and implemented the bulk of the quest). This is often done on the forums, here. Key elements you should mention in your quest release announcement should be:
Description of the quest requirements (registration - optional, only use if 100% necessary, or details you need for an application)
The task itself + deadlines
Rewards
Judging or scoring methods (do not name your judges. Just say if there will be any and give a few details on what you will be giving points for, if applicable).
Keep in mind that for some quests it is better to announce later rather than earlier (when you want to prevent people from finding loopholes in your quest, for instance).
Try and give a decent amount of time, but do not give a stupendously distant deadline. This means people will have to wait very long for their rewards! Give too short a notice and people won’t participate, as they will fear their effort will be wasted.
During the quest, keep in mind that you announcing details about any of the participants (who is participating, if they have any score so far, who is leading, etc) may lead to their sabotaging! Do not divulge information about participants that is not public by quest design, even if you think it’s harmless!
Be wary that information leaks. Try to tell as little as possible about the quest prior to its release. You might give details to third parties helping you set the quest up and while said third parties may not participate, they may pass the information further to potential participants.
Sponsorships and Rewards
Quest rewards can be varied, but can usually be broken down into 5 major categories:
Wishpoints. Arguably most valuable.
Coins (Gold or Silver). Arguably most versatile.
Creatures. Can vary from extremely valuable and rare, to very mundane.
Items or Resources. Some can be valuable and usable (spellstones), other are for RP purposes only. Some resources can be used to create other items or creatures.
Other rewards. This may include things such as nightmode, dreams, melodic charm, medals, group memberships or spelldocs. These can perhaps be some of the rarest rewards, but their value will vary wildly on the perception of the receiver.
 
For 1-4, you can approach the Treasure Keepers (namely Eara Meraia in-game). You can also ask for sponsorships from just about any player! However, by the time you ask you should already have:
A clear quest structure in mind
An idea of how difficult the quest would be
An idea of what sort of rewards would be suitable for it
For 5, you should approach the players responsible for those rewards (for instance, myself for nightmode - Aeoshattr in game)
 
Players who can give special rewards (in their own quests and/or as sponsoring):
Nightmode - Aeoshattr Dreams - Jubaris (?) Melodic Charm - Burns (debated currently, I believe) Spelldocs - lashtal, *Nimrodel*, Intrigue  
You can always award part of your own items or creatures. If you want to be able to award Wishpoints on your own, you will need to obtain Wishpoint Reward Codes, which you can get from the permanent Drachorn Quest, but are sometimes awarded to questmakers by admins for particularly good quests.
Keep in mind that rewards should scale with quest difficulty! There is no “here are some average rewards” guide. You should be able to assess the difficulty of your quest and have a rough idea of the type of rewards that should be given. You can always use past quests that you can find on the forums here as a reference.
 
If you are unsure of the value of a specific item or creature, you can consult past prices by searching the forum here. Make sure you look at the time and date of the transaction! Prices change in time! If still in doubt, you can always ask veteran players in-game or post on the forums.
 

Quest Judging and Rewarding
While I cannot provide direct instructions as to how to judge each and every quest, I can provide some principles that are good to follow when thinking about how you select your judges, how you send the quest information to those judges, and subsequently how to distribute rewards. Luckily, some IRL principles can be applied here very successfully! Without further ado…
Judging Principles
Single Blinding. This means that your questers do not know who your judges are. This is extraordinarily simple to implement and I dare say it is something that you must do in all of your quests. How?
Ask for judges publicly, but ask for applications to be sent to you privately.
Go directly to someone you know does judging and ask privately. Make sure you ask them not to divulge their judge status.
Do not accept judge applications that are made publicly.
Why is this good practice? Think about questers potentially influencing judges. Telling them “look for a submission like this one, see if you can give it extra points”, etc. If your questers are unaware of who judges your quest, then that is much more difficult to achieve. Always try and go for reliable, reputable players, whenever possible.
 
Double Blinding. This means, like single blinding, that your questers do not know who their judges are, but it also means that the judges do not know whose quest entry they are judging! This may sound a bit trickier, and it is, but nevertheless it is not very difficult to achieve. What this means is that you need to take these steps, in order:
You apply all the principles above when selecting your judges
Ask for quest entries to be sent to you privately (forum PMs?)
Make sure you keep a record of which entry belongs to whom (privately). Microsoft Excel (or Google Spreadsheets) is great for this.
Anonymise each entry (remove player names or revealing details, such as titles, ID, etc). Replace them with “Participant X”, where X is a number you assign so you can undo the anonymisation later.
Send each anonymised entry to your judges.
Therefore, the questers will not know who judges them and the judges won’t know whose entry they are judging. This is one of the fairest things you can do. This also ensures that the only one who knows whose entry belongs to who is you. Obviously, this can be cheated, but it is much more difficult than if you don’t do it at all.
 
For the more visually inclined, here is an example of what you would receive by forum PMs and what you should send to your judges (using real player names, for the sake of it):
 
 
Other bits and details, in no particular order.
Google Spreadsheets is a great tool to be used for judging. Here are a few things that it can do (automatically) to make your life easier:
Maths. It can calculate averages and just about any other formulas you might need just from values you input.
Easy Sharing. Just send a link to your judges. Make sure you set the document to request permission to view from you by e-mail, don’t let everybody with the link see it!
Hiding. You can hide certain parts of a sheet, or certain sheets from your judges, so they don’t see either your own scores (if you give any) or they don’t see the totals and rankings so far, so that it will not influence their judging!
Think of it this way, if one judge sees that he can make the difference between 1st and 2nd place by his choice, it might influence him in the scores he will give in order to put one participant in front of the other.
Selective Editing. Google Spreadsheets can be set-up to allow each user to edit only a specific portion of the entire spreadsheet. This means you can have a single sheet for everybody, and each judge can edit only his own little section. No changes in the formulas you put in or in the layout, etc.
This works very well for quests where specific score break-downs are needed (such as an arts & crafts quest, where the total score is composed of many little scores awarded for different criteria).
You should post your score break-downs, where there are any. This is for transparency. You may or may not want to reveal the judges at the end, and if you do not want to reveal their names (also ask them if they want their names out or not), then simply use Judge X, Y, Z, 1, 2, 3, etc.
You should double check your scores and calculations. I know it’s very tempting to just take what Google Spreadsheets gives you, but at least look over it once to make sure there are no blatant errors.
You should aim for two judges for most quests. If you apply double blinding by default you cannot be a judge, unless someone else does the anonymisation for you (which I don’t recommend, I would prefer depending on myself only for this kind of thing).
Each judge should have an equal weighting in the final score. This means you can’t have 3 judges, but in total their opinion is worth 10% and yours is worth 90%. Each judge should have an equal weighting.
Make sure your ranking criteria are defined at the beginning. This means if your quest isn’t a simple hierarchy of scores but has some sort of tiers or thresholds, you define those clearly from the very beginning and maintain them at the end of the quest, regardless of how many people ranked in each tier (or didn’t). You should always consult your sponsors, if you think there is a problem with how many people ranked (or didn’t) in a certain position.
Make sure you provide the judges with your marking scheme. This means be sure that you send them the entries you get from the questers, but also exactly what they should be giving points for, how many and how! If the quest is a puzzle, you might need to send them the puzzle solution. If it’s an arts & crafts quest, you might need to send them the criteria (such as creativity, originality, design, relevance to quest, etc). Always send marking schemes after the quest is finished and when no further entries can be submitted. Just to be extra-safe so your answer doesn’t get leaked before judging starts.