Challenge Corner discussion

Welcome to THE SHIRE!

Review: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
SS: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

Please check in here!

Grace - ✅
Jamie - ✅
Brittni - ✅
Felicia - ✅
Hannah -
BabyLunLun - ✅
Esther - ✅
Melissa - ✅
Moonlight - ✅
Ellen-Arwen - ✅
Justine -

Checking in! :)

Checking in!

Checking in :)

Checking in!

Got you all checked in!

Checking in

Checking in

Checking in

checking in!
YAY @Brittni and @Grace nice to see familiar people :)

for our strategy, will we be banking our books first before sorting them?

Hi @esther ♡

esther ⭐️ (in school) wrote: "for our strategy, will we be banking our books first before sorting them?"

Honestly not sure


@Saige will we receive all tasks/prompts beforehand so we can plan better? Some of these are a bit specific.

Grace wrote: "esther ⭐️ (in school) wrote: "for our strategy, will we be banking our books first before sorting them?"

Honestly not sure


@Saige will we receive all tasks/prompts beforehand so we can plan bett..."

Each week is a new random location, so you won't really be able to plan beyond the week. The new location's tasks will show up in your SS on Monday mornings. But we have designed each week so some of the tasks should be easier/less specific than others, and you don't need to complete every task for each week so if you miss one no worries

thanks Saige!
we'll brush up on all the rules as soon as we start

Hi esther! Sounds like this will be a fun one! I definitely think banking books will be the way to go, as we don't know the tasks ahead of time.

How does everyone feel about someone posting on your behalf? I'm thinking we'll end up with a decent amount of banked books and if someone takes a look at the banked and assigns them to a task, we can post on each other's behalf.

I'm personally fine with someone posting for me.

Any other thoughts on strategy? I'm also thinking it'll likely change as we get into it!

I'm okay with someone posting on my behalf too!

I can definitely help with the SS and organising, but I can't promise I can post and organise all of the time

Checking in!

(I'm more than willing to help with organizing, but this is my first challenge, so I'm still learning the ropes 😊)

I'm ok with someone posting on behalf

Welcome to the first week, adventurers! You begin your quest in the SHIRE, a peaceful and beautiful hobbit town where the grass is green, the neighbors are just a little nosy, and there's always enough second breakfast for everyone. As you walk about the town you encounter your first ALLY a young gardener named SAMWISE GAMGEE



The cost to join with this ally is 450 pages. If you read the pages to accept Sam's help you will earn a spin from the random wheel to win bonus points! There is no penalty if you choose not to read for this ally.

Ok, I banked the first book. I couldn't fill out the banked member name in B2. It's giving me an error and I'm not sure how to fix that.

Just fixed it. It was pulling the wrong data. It should be fine now.

And I added your name to the banked one you put in.

Thanks Brittni!! I need to get better at excel formulas lol

Ok, so it looks like we need to read the 8 tasks for The Shire. We can repeat the tasks. I don't see if we get a bonus for reading all of the tasks or not.

Now that I understand this more, I'll go ahead and post my book for prompt 7.

so how many books/tasks in total?

Do we have a villain? or just a hero?

8 tasks - It's on the first tab. From what it seems, we can read as many books as we want that fit these tasks, because they are repeatable. However, I don't know if we get any kind of bonus points if we read all 8 tasks. I'll try and reread again in a little bit to just make sure. I already read it three times but I still may have missed it lol

We only have hero this week. If we complete, we get random bonus points. The books we read for the weekly location don't count towards this.

If we get villain, we just have to read to avoid penalty points.

i’m okay with people posting on my behalf too!

Jamie wrote: "8 tasks - It's on the first tab. From what it seems, we can read as many books as we want that fit these tasks, because they are repeatable. However, I don't know if we get any kind of bonus points..."

There is no bonus for reading all 8 tasks! The only bonuses/penalties in this challenge come from the enemies and allies

I posted for the Ally in hopes we get some bonus!

Congratulations! Through a wonderful gift of fresh potatoes, you have won SAM GAMGEE's help at this location!



You receive 20 bonus points!

That's awesome!
Thank you Saige!

When will the bonus be added to the total points we have?

I'm keeping track of bonuses/penalties at the bottom of the score sheet on the review thread! They'll be added into team scores at the end of each month!

@Saige
I am certain you have a system in place and I don't want to mess it for you.

But, I feel that for us it would be better to have the updates (bonus or points taken away) immediately as they come:

1) we as a team will know where we are at

2) we will keep track of bonuses and penalties as soon as they happen and they're updated on the thread, so no one is lost of how the updates are happening

3) we will be able to see where the other teams are at, hence knowing how much we need to catch up to or how much advantage we have. - this will be particularly awkward and messy for the teams in the last month whereby this current method we will know only after all results are updated at the end of the challenge or by having to go in a track other teams' threads

Do you think it would be okay to update them as they happen then?

Sorry, oops, forgot to check in! I'll get my head round this one asap; it seems veeeery complicated!

ETA: and I'm okay with anyone posting on my behalf :)

Grace wrote: "@Saige
I am certain you have a system in place and I don't want to mess it for you.

But, I feel that for us it would be better to have the updates (bonus or points taken away) immediately as they ..."

Sure, if you'd rather keep close track on the points that way then I am happy to add the bonuses into the regular score updates!

Thank you so much Saige for accommodating that ♡

Grace wrote: "Thank you so much Saige for accommodating that ♡"

Anytime! Thanks for the feedback - these challenges are for us all to have fun, so I'm always open to making adjustments that will improve things for the players :)

Ellen-Arwen wrote: "Sorry, oops, forgot to check in! I'll get my head round this one asap; it seems veeeery complicated!

ETA: and I'm okay with anyone posting on my behalf :)"

Welcome! It's actually not as hard as it seems.

We just read for the 8 tasks on the location tab. This week it is The Shire. We don't have to read all the tasks and they are repeatable. If we read something that doesn't fit these tasks, we can bank the books to use for future weeks.

We will be assigned an ally or enemy each week. This just means we have to read a book(s) to get to the number of pages.

Congratulations adventurers! You have successfully navigated your way out of the SHIRE and begun your journey to MOUNT DOOM. As you travel along the wide roads, fearful of the dreaded Nazgul, you have a terrible premonition. There in your mind's eye is the BLACK GATE, a looming, imposing structure that you must traverse here and now if you are to succeed in your quest.



As you prepare to cross through the gate you encounter your first ENEMY, a spine-chilling figure in a pointed helmet, the WITCH KING OF ANGMAR



The cost to defeat this enemy is 300 pages. If you do not read for this enemy, you will cause a spin on the wheel to determine penalty points and will lose that many points. There is no bonus for completing this enemy.

Woop, whoop! We did well guys! And only 300 pages for the Witch King of Angmar is easy, we'll just do any book that doesn't fit into the Black Gate category (shame there's no bonus).

So, Black Gate's challenges are...

1. Features a negotiation
2. Black cover
3. "Retreat" in text (pg/% and quote)
4. Read a book that has been on your TBR for a long time
5. Letters S,A,U,R,O,N in MC's full name (any order)
6. Features a brave character
7. Eye on cover
8. 0 in page count

Let's go! :D

If I finish a book and review it, but it still doesn't fit the tasks for the week, should I also wait to post it on the reviews thread? I have it in the banked books tab for now but wanted to check :)

Hannah does it fit for page count for the enemy?

You also have 2 optios:
keep it banked for tasks that might come later in other locations
or
post it for page points

considering how many of us are reading and that we don’t have to complete all the tasks every week, I would personally say go ahead and post it instead of banking it as we are bound to cover some/most the tasks for each location

Congratulations adventurers! You are no man! You have vanquished the WITCH KING OF ANGMAR and kept your allies safe.



You successfully avoided a penalty roll.

Congratulations adventurers! You escaped the evil eye and its armies at the BLACK GATE. You wish to consult the wisdom of the wise elves at RIVENDELL. Here you can eat and make merry and learn the good ways of some of Middle-earths oldest folk.



As stride sedately along the arching walkways of Rivendell you encounter a shocking ENEMY, a monster from ancient times, the dread spider SHELOB.



The cost to defeat this enemy is 400 pages. Completion of this enemy will avoid a penalty spin but will not grant bonus points.

Woah, we're walking a long way back from the Black Gate! Hope we have some eagles to ride on :) Shelob must've hitched a lift! :O

Loooooving these illustrations and this challenge; thanks so much Saige!

Ellen-Arwen wrote: "Woah, we're walking a long way back from the Black Gate! Hope we have some eagles to ride on :) Shelob must've hitched a lift! :O

Loooooving these illustrations and this challenge; thanks so much ..."

Thank you!! I'm having a lot of fun writing them (and "justifying" the movement between random locations, lol)

Is anyone going to finish a 400 page book by Sunday? Just wondering what happens if we don't beat Shelob... (I'm not going to - apologies!)

oh wait absolutely forgot about that
Thanks for catching Ellen-Arwen !!!
Ill change my book to fit this task

I didn't catch this either! My book last night would've covered this as well, lol.

Thanks Grace!

I can post a book for it as well. I’ll finish the Women this morning and can post it either today or tomorrow at the latest.