Cthulhu Fic and casualties.

[Pixelmage]

I suppose I might as well ask... Were the casualties an actual must-have requirement?
You probably noticed me stating in the chatroom a number of times something to the value of:
"The GMs won't change the rules now. The big selling point of all fics so far was narrative weight. The characters expect casualties, but we are the authors. If we somehow write the best story where no one dies, then no one dies and we have a very surprised Gurt in our hands."

So, was I right or did you guys really made the death a must have? Because I certainly didn't believe it was the case.
As a note, I love Scarab's story and I'm very satisfied it was picked (Though I still don't like that Angel died. ). She shared an early fragment with me and I did comment it was amazing, so I'm not complaining about the choice, I just want to know if I did extrapolate the rules correctly.

[Rick Healey]

Well, each puppet master certainly had their own judging criteria, so I can only really comment as to how I approached the question. And I use the past tense because we did, in fact, get at least one 'fic where everyone lived.

First off, in order to easily have the power to defeat Cthulhu, you're quickly approaching Mary Sue levels, and I certainly didn't want to see that. That's why I liked the "fully expect casualties" line - I had enough faith in folks that they knew that we weren't going to simply accept such a thing.

That said, I knew folks were going to try. I had a small checklist of things that were absolutely essential for any 'fic that I would vote for. If literally every single one (including making me cry - and again, I only did that *once* during all the 'fics I read) had been pulled off in the most brilliant way possible, I would have pushed for that 'fic with all my might even if all five lived. I also probably would have started doing research to find that person a publisher.

So yes, if someone had written an incredible 'fic that completely blew me away while having all five survive, I would have voted for it. And if it makes you feel better, Angel was perhaps my favorite Metaguard, and I was quite sad to see her go.

[Pixelmage]

Well, each puppet master certainly had their own judging criteria, so I can only really comment as to how I approached the question. And I use the past tense because we did, in fact, get at least one 'fic where everyone lived.

That would be mine. At least from all the ones the players talked about openly, I was the only one who actually declared to have sent a fic where no one dies. Though admittedly I don't know if anyone else did it and decided not to mention. So, one of these was mine.

So yes, if someone had written an incredible 'fic that completely blew me away while having all five survive, I would have voted for it. And if it makes you feel better, Angel was perhaps my favorite Metaguard, and I was quite sad to see her go.

I'm really happy to hear that. I realize my writing was subpar. I did explain the gigantic volumes of fridge logic I invoked to make it happen in the wall emergency thread, but like I said, Fridge Logic does not compensate for poor narrative. And mine was rushed and poorly explored. I did portray Chulhu as more of a big stone than as a real threat, and that was awful writing. So I'm not surprised that it didn't warrant a win. But knowing that it was within the realms of possibility that we could pull it off somehow is enough peace of mind for me. Just means I have to step up and do better next time.

[Dana]

"The GMs won't change the rules now. The big selling point of all fics so far was narrative weight. The characters expect casualties, but we are the authors. If we somehow write the best story where no one dies, then no one dies and we have a very surprised Gurt in our hands."

This.

We couldn't think of a way for the story to be As Impactful As Possible without at least one of the characters becoming a martyr, but if one of you could, then we would have picked it. We would have just been very surprised XD

[Rick Healey]

Well, each puppet master certainly had their own judging criteria, so I can only really comment as to how I approached the question. And I use the past tense because we did, in fact, get at least one 'fic where everyone lived.

That would be mine. At least from all the ones the players talked about openly, I was the only one who actually declared to have sent a fic where no one dies. Though admittedly I don't know if anyone else did it and decided not to mention. So, one of these was mine.

I will note that there was one bit of Loophole Abuse that I'm surprised nobody thought of. We did say "fully expect casualties." We never said that the casualties had to be one of the five Metaguards.

[Pixelmage]

I had considered that. Actually.
Making a Tsunami of instantiations (with Gurt surfing it, no less) to shove Cthulhu back. The amount of instantiation bodies would make it a bloodbath. But honestly? I didn't want to go that path.

It was a Five Man Band fight. I just didn't feel right to abuse the infinite instantiations for gratuitous drama. And I already explained why I didn't kill Cthulhu in the Fridge Logic post... Besides, milking instantiations for the death count would be no different, to me, from killing the Metaguards for it.

[Rick Healey]

I had considered that. Actually.
Making a Tstunami of instantiations (with Gurt surfing it, no less) to shove Cthulhu back. The amount of instantiation bodies would make it a bloodbath. But honestly? I didn't want to go that path.

Well, treating instantations as a Red Shirt Army would have been an unfortunate use of a trope in my eyes, so I'm glad you didn't go that route. Though I was imagining if Cthulhu had taken a break by stomping through some other canon. It would have needed to be public domain, of course, but just imagine Cthulhu rampaging through Wuthering Heights. Or Macbeth. Or Dangerous Liaisons. That could have been interesting.

[Dryunya]

First off, in order to easily have the power to defeat Cthulhu, you're quickly approaching Mary Sue levels, and I certainly didn't want to see that.

My major problem (just like with the Metaguard fics) was that I found the easy approach with no casualties (I pretty much killed Gnar off just for the hell of it), and couldn't unsee it afterwards. With Psi present, Cthulhu is a cakewalk. Our Five-Man Band is just that badass.

[Tom]

I realize my writing was subpar. ... Just means I have to step up and do better next time.

You had a fic elevated to Canon once! Don't leap to conclusions about why your fic wasn't picked. I hope you've signed up in the notes thread, because you're basically begging for em.

I'd be happy to give you some, but I think that's best done in private.

[Pixelmage]

Oh I did sign up. I was the second one to do so in that thread! I really look forward to finding out what you guys thought about it.

But what I said perhaps should be said like this: I believe I could have done better than I did, devoted more time to it and reworked the parts that started bugging me the day after I sent it. Instead of sending outright, just letting it rest for one day and tweaking it would have been a wiser call.

And about having my DQ refic being canon? Oh god that was AWESOME. And unexpected. Really unexpected. I didn't think for a moment that would actually be picked until I saw the link to the blog and it was there... Even then I couldn't believe it.