Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

A plague has past through Novel Kingdom, on the edge of Lake Lexicon. The heroes who were previously keeping the kingdom safe from monsters have been particularly badly hit and Queen Skye has put out a call for new heroes to come and maintain the safety of the kingdom.

In recognition of the fact that the kingdom is in a perilous state with all the new monsters, she is planning to pair experienced adventurers with the newcomers to help them find their way around the kingdom while they settle in.

How to take part
Post below saying whether you are a newcomer to the kingdom or an experienced hero. We will pair you up to complete the tasks together. Both of you will receive the same rewards from completions.

Tasks
1. Say hello in the buddy thread set up for you
2. Introduce yourself in the Tavern (the experienced player does not need to do this again!)
3. Newcomer reaches level 2 experience
4. Newcomer levels up a weapon
5. Newcomer levels up both weapons
6. Newcomer defeats their first monster
7. Together spell out one of NOVEL, ROLE, PLAY, GAME using standard spell out rules
8. Visit the melting pot and suggest a quest idea that you have worked on together
9. The experienced player gives a gift to the newcomer to help with a quest (e.g. potion/egg/magic item)
10. Both partners read a book that involves a teacher or student, or that has a link to a video game (i.e. Ready Player One or The Last Wish). It does not have to be the same book. The mentor can also read a book with the letters AS in the title.

Rewards
These are additive (i.e when you complete hard, in total you will have 23 XP, 10 gold and a major heal potion).

Tutorial: Complete 2 tasks for 2XP
Easy: Complete 4 tasks for 4XP
Intermediate: Complete 7 tasks for 7XP and 10 gold
Hard: Complete 10 tasks for 10 XP and a major heal potion

Hello hello, Lady Natasha! :)

I'm Lady Cat and so happy to be your mentee!

[So, have been in the game awhile and have definitely completed Task #3 (not sure if I have also completed #2, haha, need to check.)]

Hello Lady Cat! It's lovely to meet you!

For task #7, do you have a preference for which word to use?

It's so lovely to meet you, too :))

Nope, no preference at all, feel free to choose whichever you prefer :)

Tasks
✓ 1. Say hello in the buddy thread set up for you
✓ 2. Introduce yourself in the Tavern (the experienced player does not need to do this again!)
✓ 3. Newcomer reaches level 2 experience
✓ 4. Newcomer levels up a weapon
✓ 5. Newcomer levels up both weapons
✓ 6. Newcomer defeats their first monster
✓ 7. Together spell out one of NOVEL, ROLE, PLAY, GAME using standard spell out rules
G - Guilty Admissions: The Bribes, Favors, and Phonies behind the College Cheating Scandal
A - American War
M - Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta
E - The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
✓ 8. Visit the melting pot and suggest a quest idea that you have worked on together
✓ 9. The experienced player gives a gift to the newcomer to help with a quest (e.g. potion/egg/magic item)
✓ 10. Both partners read a book that involves a teacher or student, or that has a link to a video game (i.e. Ready Player One or The Last Wish). It does not have to be the same book. The mentor can also read a book with the letters AS in the title.
Cat - Real Friends - takes place predominantly in a school
Natasha - A Blade So Black - main character is a high school student

I copied and pasted the tasks so we can keep track of what's completed.

I'd say let's spell out GAME.

Looks like you've completed 4, 5, and 6 already.

I read Guilty Admissions: The Bribes, Favors, and Phonies behind the College Cheating Scandal for G for the spell out.

Thank you so much for your time and so sorry for being so afk these days. It has been hectic, pfft.

Sooo, I've completed Tasks 4, 5 and 6, indeed.
And, I'm working on getting back to my reading, so that we can complete the spell-out, too.

No worries. I've been super busy too (working so much) so take as much time as you need.

I finished Medicine & Society in Later Medieval England for M.

Phew, I finally managed to finish a book amidst all the chaos *cheers*.
However, not sure if author names count for the spell-out.
If yes, I finished Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta (for M?)

Otherwise, if it doesn’t count for the spell-out, it could count for task 10, because the protagonist is a student.

Author names count I believe. I'll change the M to that book.

I'm reading American War which will count for A. So that just leaves E.

Finished American War for A.

Hey there, so so sorry for the long absence! Just checking in to say I’m alive and reading, just in a terribly slow pace due to life being all over the place right now.
I don’t know for how long we can run this apprenticeship, and I’m making some progress now that I’ve picked a lighter (and shorter) read, but I also hope I’m not slowing down your progress as well :/

Take all the time you need Cat!

And don't worry about my progress. I've been a mentor to apprentices before so I've already gotten xp and items previously.

Thank you very much! :)

I will soon have one more book down, and we can complete the rest of the tasks in the meantime, as well!

For task 9, I give you 30 gold and 1 Major Heal Potion.

Thank you so much for the gifts, deeply appreciated (and needed)! :)

I also finished a book for E of the GAME spell-out (however, again, I could only find an author name starting with E, and not a title, hope that’s alright): The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

Author names count.

So now we just need to come up with a quest idea together and each read a book about a video game or involving a teacher or a student.

Author names count.

So now we just need to come up with a quest idea together and each read a book about a video game or involving a teacher or a student.

Awesome! How do we go about the quest idea? (I have zero imagination most days 😅)

Hmm, I’m reading The Demigod Files right now, and Percy is a student, so not sure if that counts towards the goal or I should pick the main book of a series 🤔

So, I finished The Demigod Files! If it doesn’t count for the task, I’m happy to read something else, though 😊

As long as he's a student during each of the individual short stories in the book, that's fine.

How are you doing Cat? Sorry I haven't posted in this thread for so long. Had a quite tumultuous end of the year. I haven't read a book yet that involves a student or a teacher. I'll try to do that soon.

Have any ideas for a quest?

Hi Natasha, no worries, it was very tumultuous for me, as well. I've barely even read during the past couple months.
It's better now for me, though. Hope it is for you, too!

I read a different book for the student/teacher prompt, which fits better to it. Real Friends takes place predominantly in a school, so it's perfect (I think, haha).

I have zero ideas for a quest, haha. Could it include a monster perhaps? Is that a possibility?

It's gotten better thankfully.

I'll try to come up with a monster quest idea in the next few days and you can give me your thoughts.

Glad to hear it :)

Naww, don't come up with it on your own, I really want to help! I just have no idea how we should go about it, haha!

What kind of quests do you like: defeating monsters, spelling out/find items in books, and/or completing a series of tasks?

I quite like spelling out quests.

But I would also like it to include some kind of monster perhaps? Like, not really defeating it (as in the monster battles), but like to use the spell out to defeat it?

Maybe you're trying to drive the monster away and need to spell out a certain word or phrase.

Yes, exactly! And there could be perhaps 2 words that could be used?
For example, at first we say that the monster came out of the woods and attacked and we D-O-D-G-E ?
And then we use the second word to fight back? Or to battle? And could the second word be M-A-G-I-C ? Or even B-A-T-T-L-E ?

Very basic quest description: You're walking through the woods and a monster starts rushing towards you. You dodge (spell out dodge here) and the monster rushes towards you again. You dodge again and tell the monster they are in for a fierce battle (spell out battle here) if they don't stop trying to rush you. The monster immediately stops and pulls out something from behind their back. It's the very important item you dropped (we can figure out something). Tell the monster thank you (maybe spell out thank you or thanks).

Hellow Lady Natasha, thanks so much for your patience with me and for this awesome quest description! I'll just add the touches I had in mind and can't wait to see your thoughts. (I hope the rewards are not too many, haha. I chose them because there are a lot of words to spell out.)


You're walking through the woods when a monster suddenly rushes towards you. You D-O-D-G-E but the monster keeps rushing towards you. You dodge again and tell the monster they are in for a fierce B-A-T-T-L-E if they don't stop trying to rush you. The monster immediately stops and pulls out something from behind their back. It's the very important bundle of potions you have been looking into the woods for so long. T-H-A-N-K the monster and continue on your way satisfied with the outcome.

Rules: The words need to be spelled out in the same order they appear in text. Basic spell out rules for DODGE, BATTLE and THANK.

Receive 1 XP after completing DODGE spell out and 1 XP after completing BATTLE.
After completing THANK spell out, receive 1 XP, 1 Minor Heal Potion, 1 Heal Potion, 1 Major Heal Potion.

No worries at all. I actually had some pretty terrible life events recently that have kept me busy and off of Goodreads to some extent.

I like the quest though I think the xp after completing each word could be more, perhaps 2 or 3 xp.

Oh no, I'm so sorry that you have had a difficult time. Sending all the well wishes for things to get better soon. Please don't think about it for a minute. Life comes first!!

As for the quest, how about:
-After DODGE, 2xp and 1 Minor Heal Potion
-After BATTLE, 2xp and 1 Heal Potion
-After THANK, 3xp and 1 Major Heal Potion ?

That looks good.

Awesome, should I post it to the Melting Pot, or should you be the one to do it?

You're welcome to post it.

Hi Natasha, I hope things are better on your end.

Just stopping by to let you know I posted on the Melting Pot.
Here is the link: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Take your time, and I hope everything gets better soon!

Thanks!

So all that is left is task 10. I'll try to read a book soon for that.

Amazing, I had also finished Real Friends, which takes place predominantly in a school. I hope it counts, even though it's a graphic novel, hehe.

From what I could tell, the book only has to be 100+ pages. There's no restriction on genre.

Awesome, thanks! :)

So I finally read a book where the main character is a high school student. A Blade So Black. Sorry this took so long. My life has been a bit crazy.

So we are officially done!

No worries at all!! I also had so many things going on that I barely even read anything. I hope everything is getting better.

Thank you so much for all your time and support in this!

Thankfully it is!

I'm so glad to hear this!