Second Anniversary Celebration

[Negrek]

Thousand Roads Two-Year Anniversary Celebration​

The Thousand Roads community opened its doors on April 23rd, 2019, and it's been a wild ride ever since! I don't think I'm alone in feeling as though it's been closer to five years than two since then, even just with everything that's gone on in the community here. We have nearly 200 members, over 300 published stories, and nearly 30,000 posts on the forums. (And who knows how many more on the Discord server! It's wild!) The community's come a long way in two years, and I'm excited for where we'll go in the future. Thanks to all of you for making Thousand Roads what it is today.

I hope you find something to enjoy out of our slate of anniversary events. Whether you've been here for two years already or only joined last week, we're glad to have you here and hope you'll stick with us through many anniversaries to come! Here's to two great years!

Forum Events​

The forums host small reviewing and writing events to celebrate all the authors who've gathered here on Thousand Roads, as well as our yearly fanfic-themed mafia game. This is one of your chances at earning a Pokémon companion to accompany you on the forums, so don't miss out! Check out one the links below for further information about these events.

- If you're looking for new inspiration or a way to shake the rust off your writing or art, check out the Anniversary Mini Prompt Bingo! You'll receive a customized set of writing or art prompts to inspire you over the course of the anniversary. If you manage to rack up a bingo, a Pokémon companion could be yours!

- It's been a few months since our big Review Blitz event, and while the Anniversary Mini Review Blitz is a much tamer affair, it's a great chance to ease back into reviewing and catch up with some of your favorite stories! Rotating themes throughout the event will give you a nudge towards reviewing particular kinds of stories. If you're able to put together just a few reviews over the course of the anniversary celebrations, you'll earn your very own Pokémon companion!

- Fanfic Mafia returns for another year! Grab a character from one of your stories, or borrow someone else's, and throw them into a cloak-and-dagger game of danger and deception. Fanfic mafia is a play-by-post game that combines strategy, roleplay, and a healthy dose of chaos. No prior experience is necessary! Check out the game thread for more info and to sign up.

Discord Events​

In addition to our forum-based events, we'll also be running a number of real-time activities over on the Discord Server. Not all of them have been fully scheduled yet, so keep an eye on this thread and the #announcements channel on Discord for more information as we firm up dates and times. For now, here's an overview of what you can expect to happen over the next couple of weeks:

Pokémon Generations Marathon - 2 AM Saturday, April 24th UTC/10 PM Friday, April 23rd EST: @kintsugi will be streaming Pokémon Generations, a series of short animations spanning the first six generations of mainline Pokémon games. Come check them out if you haven't seen them already, or if you have, revisit them with some of your friends from Thousand Roads!

Pokémon: Twilight Wings Marathon - Saturday, April 24th at 3 PM UTC/11 AM EST: @kintsugi will host another stream, this time of Pokémon: Twilight Wings, a series of shorts set in the Galar region. Come watch and discuss together with your fellow Thousand Roads members!

Anniversary Voice Chat I - Sunday, Apr 25 at 10 PM UTC/6 PM EST: Come hang out with other members of Thousand Roads in a free-wheeling voice chat!

Pokétwo Incense Frenzy - Friday, April 30, at 6 AM UTC/2 AM EST and 6 PM UTC/2 PM EST: Incense causes Pokémon from the Pokétwo bot to spawn every twenty seconds for a full hour! If you haven't played with the bot before, these incense events are the perfect time to try it out, and if you're a veteran, they're an excellent opportunity to fill up your dex. Head on over to the #poketwo channel during one of the incense hours for a chance to score big. Special thanks to @kintsugi for providing an incense for this event!

For the Queen - Sunday, May 2nd at 5PM UTC/1 PM EST: Join @WildBoots for a game of For the Queen! This collaborative storytelling game will having you creating a world, characters, and narrative out of thin air. This is a self-contained game, and no previous experience or preparation (character creation etc.) is necessary!

Among Us - Sunday, May 2nd at 7 PM UTC/3 PM EST: @HelloYellow17 is organizing a game of Among Us to be held during the second anniversary weekend. Try to outwit your friends and root out the imposters in this popular online game. Let's find out who on Thousand Roads is the most sus!

Anniversary Voice Chat II - Saturday, May 1st at Saturday, May 1 at 10 AM UTC/6 AM EST: Come hang out with other members of Thousand Roads in a casual voice chat! We're catching the morning (EST) crowd this time--hope some of you who weren't able to make the first chat can join this one!

Story-Reading Voice Chat - Date and time TBD; further details will be available once I've contacted authors who expressed interest.

 

[Rainfall]

I don't think I'm alone in feeling as though it's been closer to five years than two since then, even just with everything that's gone on in the community here. We have nearly 200 members, over 300 published stories, and nearly 30,000 posts on the forums. (And who knows how many more on the Discord server! It's wild!) The community's come a long way in two years, and I'm excited for where we'll go in the future. Thanks to all of you for making Thousand Roads what it is today.

Huzzah!

Thank you for setting this up, Negrek! Thanks in advance to anyone hosting events or helping out!

(sorry for commenting first : p )

Also, from post #3 in the Planning thread:

Second Anniversary Event Planning

Thousand Roads' second anniversary is coming up in a couple weeks, so I'm starting to get together plans for our celebration. I have some ideas for events, but I'm always interested in hearing what other things people might be interested in. Here's what I've come up with so far: - We'll be...

forums.thousandroads.net

Edit: For scheduling I realized it might help to actually say when the anniversary celebration will take place! It begins April 23rd and runs for two weeks, until May 7th. So events can take place anywhere within that window.

Requesting explicit update in (this? and) the Mini Review Blitz thread (and perhaps an hour-marker or going with the flow/local time)!


Looking forward to participating in some fun events with everyone in the next few weeks!

 

[Negrek]

Ah, sorry, not sure quite what you're asking for here... a countdown timer to the end of the event?

 

[Rainfall]

Mm, yeah! Sorry for not being clear! A timer would be helpful, too. Mainly requesting a particular explicit date in the Blitz thread! Time zone + hour, too, in case you want a clear cut-off time.

Did one for funsies

TR Second Anniversary Mini-Blitz Conclusion

Countdown to May 8, 2021. Showing days, hours, minutes and seconds ticking down to 0

www.timeanddate.com

 

[Negrek]

Our second anniversary celebration is now over! I hope everyone had fun, whether you wrote a drabble or two, joined in a voice chat, or participated in some other way. We had dozens of new stories and reviews posted over the course of the event, and put together our largest voice chat yet--I had a great time, and I hope you did, too!

If you'd like to claim a pokémon companion for your work in either the bingo or blitz, you've come to the right place! Simply state what pokémon you'd like as a companion, and I'll get you hooked up. You may request a custom sprite if you'd like, but you must provide it and it must be a transparent PNG of 68x56 pixels. For best results, the pokémon should be sitting in the bottom-center of the frame.

Also, if you have any outstanding companions from other events, please claim them now. If you come to me a year after an event wanting to claim from a prize from it, I'm not going to honor it. This is your last chance for any events up to this one, and please claim your companion for this event within the next week.

Note that if you completed both the bingo and the blitz challenge events, you still get only one companion!

Finally, and unrelated to sprite companions, if you have any feedback about the event, I'd love to hear it! Were there any particular events you liked, or some you'd prefer not to see again? Did you find the number of things going on overwhelming, or would you like to see more--any comments you might have are welcome! One thing I'm planning to work on for next year is providing more clear information about event deadlines... To me they're loose and not very important, but I imagine some people would find it easier to work with more concrete information up front!

 

[Homestar!]

I did two reviews and a terrible misinterpretation of a bingo prompt. Can I get a really half-assed companion? Like, "sweet bro and hella jeff" levels of terribad?

Jk jk, I know I didn't earn one. Congrats, y'all!

 

[Sinderella]

Hello!! I had a great time with this event!! May I please humbly request a Gothitelle as a new companion?

As for feedback, I really enjoyed both the review blitz and bingo. However, if we do a bingo again, I might suggest maybe a small committee focused on coming up with prompts and giving them out to people. I know people were allowed to suggest prompts and whatnot, but as for constructing the full card, that seemed to fall all on you, Negrek! 🥺 There was a high demand for cards too, so some people didn’t get theirs until much later into the event. I just feel like multiple people putting together the bingo cards would A.) Lessen your workload, and B.) Allow them to go out faster when a lot of people are requesting them.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Time felt really tight on me but that's partially because irl. Will probably say more when it's not past midnight.

Can I get a Mega-Absol?

 

[Inkedust]

Thanks for the event! I had a great time with the Bingo (and am currently having one with Mafia). For my companion, could I have a Ninetales (the standard form, not the Alolan)?

 

[Seren]

I'm not sure where these sprites come from, but I'm hoping for a sableye doing it's best zombie impression (IE similar to this pose). But if that's not the one you have on hand, that's fine, any sableye will do (because I have no idea how to make/edit custom sprites). <3

And on that note: Thank you for hosting all of this! It must be a ton of work keeping track of everything, and it was a blast! (I fully intend to eventually complete everything on my bingo card, too, but for now, there's a lot on my plate.) Here's to another year and some more good stuff next year!

I'm thinking, though... maybe space things out a little more? I mean, you'd think having as much time as was given for bingo, reviewing, and mafia would be enough, but I wonder if there'd be merit to like... giving a week for the bingo, then the following week hold the review party, etc. It might stretch out the celebration (not a bad thing, but I know it could also be stressful having to manage all of this for even longer) and also give some time for people to get in what they wanna do. Either way, I loved the bingo prompts and I very much hope that returns next year, if nothing else! (Tbh still undecided on mafia yet... I think once I get over the beginner-failure that I'm feeling right now I'll probably be interested again if anyone's willing to let me, but regardless I suspect there will be a game next year whether I hope for one or not.)

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

Could I get a land Shaymin in a sun hat?

 

[HelloYellow17]

Hello! I would like an Umbreon sprite! Just a regular one.

This event was TONS of fun!! I’m not sure that I have much feedback, though I do second Sin’s suggestion to delegate the bingo prompts to someone else—this was a LOT of work on your shoulders, and I think there are people who would be more than happy to help with that in the future!

 

[RJR Basimilus]

Fun! : ) If at all possible, can I get Arceus-fighting? Friend

 

[AbraPunk]

Loved this event. Got to read a bunch of great stories.

May I have a Luxio?

 

[IFBench]

This was a lot of fun! I accomplished a lot with it, and I'm excited for the VC reading when that happens!

I'd like to request an Oshawott wearing a reunion cape, if that's ok.

 

[Equitial]

Yay, this anniversery has been so much fun! I think I want a woobat for my third partner :D

 

[thenatureking]

Thanks for all the hard work! Looking forward to the next event! Could I get a lopunny?

 

[The Walrein]

Thanks to Negrek for coming up with all those prompts and coordinating the rest of the events, as well as all the other mods who helped. I'd be willing to volunteer to contribute prompts if we ever run another bingo event again.

For my partner, could I get Kricketot, please?

 

[Cresselia92]

This was a very fun event! Many kudos for organizing it — the random prompts were [insert ok here]!

So! For my partner Pokémon, I’d like to claim (Spectrum) Ho-Oh. :3

 

[Adamhuarts]

Will this work?