Fourth Anniversary Celebration

[Negrek]

Thousand Roads' Fourth Anniversary Celebration​

Thousand Roads officially opened to the public on April 23rd, 2019, and since that time we've grown a ton! This year marks us crossing the threshold of 10,000 posts in our fanfiction forum, as well as the posting of the coveted 666th thread in the section just a couple of weeks ago. Last year marked our first major art-themed event with our collaborative Tarot project, by far our biggest one-shot contest to date, and a new app for handling our annual Review Blitz (though it can do more than that--stay tuned for updates!). There's more great stuff in store as Thousand Roads enters its fifth year, and I hope you'll be there to share it with us! For now, a big thank you to everyone, new members and old, getting together to celebrate four years of Thousand Roads.

We've got lots of events going on for this year's anniversary, both on the forums and on Discord. See the list below to see what interests you and when it will be taking place! There's loads going on this year, fic-related and not, so I hope you're able to find an event or two that strikes your fancy.

Forum Events​

- Drabble bingo returns, and by popular demand is available from the start of the anniversary again! Stop by the thread to pick up your custom bingo card of prompts, then get writing!

- Our usual mini review blitz has launched as well! You have the whole anniversary period to leave a little feedback for some of your favorite authors--and new faces, too!

- @Flyg0n will be hosting an Art Corpse, where multiple people come together to make a mismatch creature with almost no knowledge of what other people are drawing. Art skills not required! Look out for more information in the next couple of days.

- @HelloYellow17 will be hosting a vanilla Mafia, with signups opening April 25th and gameplay beginning May 2nd! If you haven't played Mafia before, a vanilla game like this is a great way to get accustomed to the gameplay, and it's a great challenge for seasoned players who want to focus more on deduction than crazy powers.

- @unrepentantAuthor will host a game of RP truth or dare beginning the weekend of the 29th. Have your characters complete ridiculous challenges or give up their darkest secrets!

Discord Events​

- As usual, we'll be having casual voice chat hangouts to kick off and close out the anniversary! Look for the first at 7 PM EST/11 PM UTC April 24th and the second at 11 AM EST/3 PM UTC May 7th.

- We'll also be running a couple of Pokétwo incense drops, one on April 26th at 10 AM EST/2 PM UTC and one on May 3rd at 7 PM EST/11 PM UTC.

- Catnip speed dating will return the weekend of the 29th! Look for more information and signups to begin midway through the anniversary's first week.

- @IFBench will also be running two sessions of For the Queen, one at noon EST/4 PM UTC April 29th and one at 6 PM EST/10 PM UTC May 1st. This storytelling game has been quite popular during past anniversaries--find out more about it here!

- @unrepentantAuthor will be hosting a Discord instance of Truth or Dare the weekend of May 6th

- @MintyMimix will be hosting a Jackbox games session over Discord either May 5th or May 6th. Fill out this WhenIsGood to help pick a time!

 

[Negrek]

All right, it's been two weeks, and a lot has gone on--we've written some stories, read some stories, played some games, and had a few chats--but now at last it's time to roll on into year five! A huge thanks to everyone who hosted an event this year, to everyone who gave us new work to read and everybody who took the time to respond to others' writing! Now we get into the wrap-up stage of things. From here on out this thread will be used for two things: feedback and prize claims.

Do you have any advice about how to run the next anniversary better? Is there anything you for sure want to see again next year, or do not want to see return? Also, this will be Thousand Roads' fifth year--a big milestone! If there was anything you could make happen on Thousand Roads in the next year, what would it be? This can be anything: a new forum or Discord feature, a new event, more reviews, or even a change in the way moderation is done! I'm hoping to make it a big year, so it's helpful to know what people really want!

Additionally, prize claims! If you earned a companion from either the drabble bingo or review blitz events, post here with what pokémon you'd like for a companion. Some guidelines:

- If you'd like a canon pokémon sprite from generations I-VIII, just tell me the species name, and you're done!
- If you would like a Hisuian or Gen IX pokémon, you will need to provide the sprite for it! See requirements below.
- You may submit a custom sprite if you like! This should be a 68 px wide, 56 px tall transparent PNG. it does not need to be a pokémon! It can be anything fitting into that space. If you need help getting a sprite of the correct size/specifications, try asking around; we have a lot of people who know basic image editing around here.

Please claim your companion by May 26th! I will be doing fulfillment early on in this window but will be away for most of it, so my apologies if you end up needing to wait a little bit for your sprite. I'll get to it by June!

 

[Forestoak]

Can we have a legendary or just a normal pokemon for our prize?

 

[Phoenixsong]

I would like to claim this very expensive son, please!

 

[Inkedust]

Hi, hello, here to claim my companion for Drabble Bingo. I'd like this H-Zoroark sprite, please!


Also if it's not too much to ask, I would appreciate it if the Xerneas sprite I have as my current companion was switched out with the Active Mode but it's nbd if you don't.

 

[FauxFox]

Could I get a regular (unovan?) Zorua as my sprite reward?
And as for feedback, I haven't been here long but I really like this community. I honestly don't think I have felt more welcome in a community so quickly before, so this has been a great experience for me. I personally would love more drabble bingo events, this one was fun to participate in.

 

[Forestoak]

May I have Groudon? If not, I'd like a golden sudowoodo like these :

 

[RJR Basimilus]

I don't know what I would change for the big 5, if everything continues as is, then it's good in my book! Obviously not the most social person, but hoping that will change a bit when HA starts among other things.

In other news, for drabble bingo, I'd like to have a Haxorus please! Thanks again for everything!

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

May I get Dusknoir please?

 

[Sastrei]

Hi! I had so much fun for my first celebration. And thanks to everyone who made it possible! I really appreciate all the work that goes into this community, its very obviously loved and well-cared for. I would personally love more review exchanges. I'm all about those :3

I would love a dragonite please!

 

[K_S]

May i have a fearow please?

 

[HelloYellow17]

Hello! I’d like a Mew sprite, please! :D

As for feedback, I don’t have much! I thought this anniversary was fantastic and had a nice balance of many different kinds of events.

One idea I have for the 5 year anniversary: perhaps all the artists of TR can come together to collaborate on a TR banner? Maybe we can include references to one fic from each author somehow? I think that would be really cool!

 

[Railgun]

This was such a fun event. I had a lot of fun doing drabbles and reviews. I’m really happy that I joined TR, so many amazing people and fics I have found here. It also has made me more social, and I hope to enjoy it for the years to come!

As for the anniversary, I agree with Yellow… a banner would be amazing. I don’t have any feedback atm seeing that I am still new. But I’ll let you know if I come up with anything!

As for my companion… the one and only, Raichu. Figured it should be my first companion since it’s my favorite Pokémon! :D

 

[lisianthus]

I would love Altaria, please! It was my first time celebrating here, and I enjoyed it quite a bit! Thank you to everyone who helped and took part!!

 

[seatherny]

Could I get Ho-oh, please? Thanks to all the staff and hosts for these events! :>

 

[Cresselia92]

This was a fun event! I got a lot of nice ideas that got me through my writer’s block, so I gotta really thank @Torchic W. Pip for the lovely bingo card! I enjoyed the prompts!

I wouldn’t mind seeing the same events next year, but if you accept some proposals… I was thinking of some fanzine/anthology of sorts containing drabbles and oneshot collections. Basically some kind of collaborative project where we can show the great skills of all artists and authors of this community.

We could pick themes as well, like a whump session, a WAFF session, Trainerverse and PMDverse tales, and so on.

As for the forum companion, a shiny Celebi is my choice.

That’s all for now! Thanks in advance for everything! ❤️

 

[lichhen]

hiiii this was such a cool collection of events im so happy i discovered TR just in time for the anniversary.

my favorite events were all the roleplaying games including FTQ, catnip speed dating, review blitz, and drabble bingo! more roleplay game sessions and speed catnip sessions would be fun.

i also adore Yellows idea for a banner collab
including fanfic characters! If I could add, any event that celebrates our characters would be exciting. events that encourage art and writing involving each other's characters. art exchange, drabble exchange.

negrek, thank you for your awesome pokemon website and forum. thanks to all the mods and volunteers, to name a few Jackie, Yellow, Bench, Minty, thank you for making this such a fun cool thing to have in my life!

as for my pokemon partner...

shiny metapod?

 

[windskull]

I think it's time to start adding villains to my companions. I'll take a purugly this time!

 

[Venia Silente]

Defo a good call participating of the Drabble Bingo. Was fun, and in general enjoyable seeing the larger anniversary event.

As for the forum companion I get for totally inventing new stories, how about a Blaziken?

 

[Flyg0n]

I'd like a Salandit please!