Third Anniversary Celebration

[Negrek]

Thousand Roads' Third Anniversary Celebration​

It's been three years since Thousand Roads first opened, and it's amazing how much we've grown! We're now sitting at nearly 300 members across the forums and Discord, over 500 stories, and more than 50,000 forum posts. We've hosted one-shot contests, written hundreds of blitz reviews, played all kinds of games together, and published millions of words. That's a lot for three years--imagine what's still to come! Whether you've been with the community from the beginning or only joined up yesterday, thanks for being here and for enjoying the anniversary with us.

This year we'll be celebrating with a number of different events, some new and some returning, across both the Discord and the forums. Some focus on the reading and writing that's at the heart of the community, and some of it's completely unrelated fun! The full schedule is below, and I'll update this thread to announce some of the forum events that will kick off over the coming days. I'll also be adding official events to the Discord server so you can receive an easy reminder ping when any of those you're interested in are taking place.

Forum Events​

- The anniversary review challenge is now live! Catch up on that fic you've fallen behind on or take a bite out of one you've been meaning to check out--this is one of your chances to earn a forum companion this anniversary!

- The anniversary writing challenge will begin about halfway into the event. Stay tuned for more details once the event goes live!

- Namohysip will be conducting author interviews throughout the anniversary period--look out for a link when these become available! Learn more about your fellow members and get a sneak peek into their processes!

- Tetra will be running a trainerverse RP focuse on mystery-solving in the second half of the anniversary. More details will be available as we get closer to the sign-up period!

- Sign-ups for Anniversary Fanfic Mafia are now closed, but you'll be able to spectate all anniversary long. The colorful cast of this year's game is sure to keep things interesting!

Discord Events​

- We'll be hosting two anniversary voice chats this year: one on Sunday, April 24th at 10:00 AM EST, and one on Saturday, May 7th at 3:00 PM EST. Come enjoy a casual hang-out with your fellow members!

- We'll also be holding two Pokétwo incense drops: one on Saturday, April 30th at 1:00 PM EST and another on Friday, May 6th at 7:00 PM EST. Incense spawns pokémon every sixty seconds for a full hour, in addition to natural spawns--it's an all-out catching spree!

- Wildboots will host a game of For the Queen on Monday, April 25th at 7 PM. This is a collaborative roleplaying game that requires no preparation and no prior experience! Come take part in a spontaneous story and decide how you'll save the powerful queen--or betray her.

- Bench will host two games of Gartic Phone, one on Friday, April 29th at 6 PM EST and one on Sunday, May 1st at noon EST. Draw pictures based on wacky prompts, then guess what other people's images are supposed to be!

- Catnip speed dating will bring the randomized fun of Catnip Circle to the Discord server, condensed into a lightning-fast hour-long session. Sample a bunch of new fics and get fresh eyes on yours! This event will be held during the weekend of the 30th; look out for a concrete time and further event details in the upcoming week.

Third Anniversary Feedback Survey​

With everyone reflecting on the past three years during the anniversary, the staff thought this would be a great time to gather some feedback about the community to give us some direction for the future. Please take a minute and fill out our third anniversary feedback survey--we'd love to hear what you think of Thousand Roads and how it could be better in the future. This survey is completely anonymous, and your feedback will be used by the moderators to make improvements to our community. Thanks for taking the time to give us your thoughts!

Whatever your interests, I hope you can find at least one event on our schedule to enjoy. Here's to three years of Thousand Roads, and many more to come!

 

[Negrek]

We have a couple additional Discord events to add to the schedule! Bench will be hosting two sessions of Gartic Phone, one on Friday, April 29th at 6 PM EST and one on Sunday, May 1st at noon.

 

[Negrek]

We're now about halfway through our anniversary celebration--I hope you've been enjoying the events thus far! And now that we've had a bit of time for reviewing, I'm pleased to announce this year's writing event: Drabble Bingo!

Drabble bingo just baaaarely edged out some kind of pokédex-themed writing challenge, but there was a lot of interest in that idea, too--I expect we'll be seeing it come to life sometime in the future!

I'd also like to remind everyone about our community feedback survey. If you have any thoughts on how Thousand Roads is run, the staff team would really love to hear them! We've already gotten some excellent comments that will help us improve the community going forward--and we'd love to hear what you have to think, too. Huge thanks to those of you who've already participated in the survey; we'll be following up with a discussion of what we took away from your feedback once the anniversary comes to a close.

 

[Negrek]

Sign-ups are now open for Tetra's trainer RP! They'll be open until May 14th. More info on the event here!

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Claiming a sprite companion for my drabble fill! I'll find or make a sprite when I have the time...

 

[The Walrein]

I'll take a Bulbasaur as my third forum companion, please!

 

[Inkedust]

Claiming a companion for my drabble fills. I'll take a Xerneas.

 

[Negrek]

The third anniversary celebration is now officially over! A couple of our events remain ongoing--remember that sign-ups are still open for Tetra's trainer RP!--but for the most part, our third-year bash is behind us. I hope that you enjoyed!

If you completed either the reviewing challenge or the drabble bingo challenge, feel free to post here with what sprite companion you'd like to claim! Even if you completed both challenges, you get one companion. You must tell me what pokémon you'd like or provide me with a custom sprite within the next two weeks in order to claim your prize.

How did you like the anniversary this year? I'm always looking for ways to make the event better and more enjoyable for everyone! Were there events you particularly liked or thought could be improved? We experimented with staggering events rather than having them all available at once this year--how did that go? Any feedback you have would be welcome!

And, on that note, if you haven't filled out the feedback survey yet, please do so! I'll be discussing it with the mods this week. Any input you can provide on how the community and mod team are doing would be helpful--a big thanks again to those of you who've already shared your feedback with us.

 

[RJR Basimilus]

I'd like to claim on a friend too please in relation to bingo. I'd like an Arceus-poison, lol!

As far as the event proper goes, I can't say I was too much of a participant, but it was fun seeing everyone as usual!

 

[Hanafuda]

I could ask for a Rowlet companion, but judging by my avatar pic, wouldn’t it be redundant? Either way, if not that, I’d like to see if it’s possible to get a custom anthro Pidgey. It would also be awesome to see it evolve with Zack (that’s the name of my anthro Pidgey).

 

[seatherny]

Thanks for the fun, all! Could I get an Alolan Marowak companion, please? <3

 

[Ambyssin]

Going to take a dreepy companion.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

the doctor has diagnosed me with need Nebby so I’d like to request a Cosmog companion.

 

[windskull]

I'll be taking another bidoof, thanks!

 

[Virgil134]

I’d like a Mothim as my next companion!

 

[NebulaDreams]

I'd like to claim a Hypno companion, please.

 

[bluesidra]

Hello! I think I misunderstood how the bingo thingy works, but eh. If you squint hard enough, you get a bingo out of the prompts I used. I would love to add a third weed to my collection, a blue one this time.

(Also, while you're at it, there's something with my purple one not showing correctly scaled on mobile. It should be the same size as the pink one, the same how it looks on desktop)

 

[silurica]

Hey, hey, I'd like to have a normal type Arceus to go with my beta Arceus, please! Thank ye!

 

[Sinderella]

Claiming a Chandelure for my new sprite buddy!

 

[Spiteful Murkrow]

I'd like a Swellow companion for my new sprite buddy.