Prompt Contest 5 Results

So this prompt contest probably had the best turn out since the first prompt contest, in fact it probably was better since despite less participants turning in stuff, just about ALL of the submissions were worthy additions to the site. 

One thing that stood out with a lot of the entries which is there was a lot of overlapping of prompt ideas. Seriously on more than one occasion I had to recheck what you lot even actually picked because I thought you'd picked "x prompt" when you actually picked "y prompt".

Like Eric's was about an airship adventure, but it could've easily been seeking out a valuable resource prompt. Meanwhile Petros had the seeking a valuable resource, but it could've fallen into the ghost protagonist prompt. Etc.

Here’s the ratings and I didn’t even bother putting them in “winning” order like I normally do since a lot of them really were neck and neck as far as quality. Some succeeded in places where others didn’t and vice versa so I'm just listing them with the ratings next to them for the usual transparency.

Legend of the Folklore Fish by stories_unwritten 6
Ever Been Chased By A Dinosaur by stories_unwritten 6
A Perfect Circle by Chris113022 7
APEPROPHECY by hetero_malk 7
Tale of Grond by corgi213 6
Little Blackwood by MadHattersDaughter 7
Monster II: Hurt People by Sherbet 8
And Another by Liminal 5
Live me not by Clayfinger 6
Joybringer by Darius_Conwright 5
The Fearless Games by TharaApples 8
Drops of Jupiter by Shadowdrake27 8
Blood is Thicker Than Tea by Orange 8
The Magical Escape by SpecialOlympic 4
Yael by Wildblue 4
Wintertorn by Fabrikant 8
The Boy Who Would Be Duke (Part II) - The Road Home by MiltonManThing 7
The Passenger by Cat2002116 5
Carcosa by Petros 6
The End of the Horizon by ericyopy 8
- A Hill To Die On - by SpecialOlympic 5
The Worldkeepers by TechnoMage 7
Death By A Designer Handbag by stories_unwritten 6
By the Light of Day: The Account of Brother Cepheus Faucius by Fluxion 5

Should be noted that most of the stories that got a 4 or 5 really only did so due to being a bit shorter or feeling unfinished. Otherwise they usually were still good. Darius and Flux's stories for example probably could've been 7s or even 8s if they'd actually finished them.

Most of the stuff falling into the 6 and 7 category were things that might've done better if they had a different judge lol.

SU wrote perfectly fine stories, but something just never grabbed me enough. In some cases, they really did everything right except for one major thing. Technomage's for example was probably 8 level, but it got a bit too much into the "memorize this" part for me which falls into that puzzle category so it got marked down a bit. Milton on the other hand wrote a whole bunch of words, but I don't even think I got to most of them since I was more entertained by all the early death sequences. Good thing he wrote those since it got him the extra point in the first place.

But while they won't win the contest, they're definitely good enough that they might get featured or at least highly rated by others.

And finally we get to the 8s where they pretty much got everything right, but as always there can be only one.

So what determines this ultimate winner, well if you're the cynical type, you'd probably just assume Sherb or Thara would win because favoritism. "The admins are corrupt!"

And while Thara tends to get a lot of flack for such things she actually hasn't won any contest yet despite turning in fairly good entries in the past so such accusations of mass corruption are entirely unfounded I assure you.

She sort of wrote a Hunger Games/Battle Royale knock off, which I don't have any issue with but I have to take originality into some consideration.

As for Sherb, well he wrote a sequel. Which is fine, but again need to look at something doing something different.

So that brings me to Fab and Orange. Now this is a case where it was probably thought playing directly to "the judge" was the best path to winning and under different circumstances it might've very well worked.

Now I should point out, Orange's prompt was always a bit of a rib at the usual CoG shit that all seem to love their weird "Be a royal and romance some other faggot and do gay shit with them." And then for whatever reason the Cogites would get all up in arms whenever someone suggested an incest option.

Sure get your asshole reamed out deeper than an ant farm by the new "countess" on your wedding night like a true degenerate, but god forbid you innocently hold hands with your sister.

Honestly I've been waiting for someone to do the damn prompt justice and Orange's story is probably the closest serious attempt I'm going to see it done. Hell, she even went the extra mile by making it "weeby" with the isekai "Oh I'm a different world" thing and in this case a visual novel video game. Very meta!

The problem? Well come on man, I can't in good conscience declare something so weeby a contest winner. This is CYS after all. Still, Orange has been killing it every contest she's joined for a couple years now so she'll be getting some bonus points in any case.

So that brings us to Fab who under normal circumstances probably would've won since he went the complete grimdark route, just nasty, gritty and all that shit I'm typically into.

But then he went and used the "items" thing in his story and I've never been a fan of that option. I dunno, it's just always taken me out of a story and it's clunky at times, even to the point of fucking things up and you end up having to restart because you can't simply back click an error.

Fortunately that didn't seem to happen with his story. Hell, he didn't even lose a point like Technomage did for doing something I don't care for, but it dropped him out of the winner circle thing.

So that leave two very long shot dark horses who probably NOBODY expected to be one of the winners Shadow and Eric. Hell they probably didn't even expect it.

Probably at first glance one would think these might be "6" stories, but there was something about the both of them that just kind of drew me in way more than I expected. I think Shadow's probably had the more amusing dialog, probably had a bit more branching as well. There's also one ending where everyone gets brainwashed via ANAL PROBE. Certainly wasn't expecting that either, but I imagine neither were the inhabitants of earth.

However, Eric's story in general felt almost like one of those 80s fantasy movies where they spent a shitload of money on the best effects for their time, but it still bombed at the box office because people are retarded.

It's basically just a grand adventure from beginning to end. Even the last battle encounter is pretty appropriately cinematic. It's oddly "family friendly" without actually being specifically family friendly. It also manages to feel a bit "epic" without actually being excessively long.

And for whatever reason while reading it, this specific music track from Civ2 kept coming to mind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFsP9_w1Qww

Given that the story actually made me think of a damn soundtrack while reading it, pretty much cements it as the winner.

TL;DR: Eric won.

And so ends a really successful prompt contest.

(Everyone who deserves them will be getting their points and trophies and shit soon.)

Summer Review Contest: The Order Wars

Long ago, when commendations came into existence, spurring a competitive bloodlust, four factions were formed.

The Magnificent Marauders were self-appointed leaders of the wasteland, securing commendation as swiftly as death claims souls.

The Ambitious Architects built fortresses that towered over their competition, constructing their territory on historical ruins.

The Sagacious Sages were a wise and strategic order, and according to the rumors, they conspired with elves and dragons.

The Warring Wardens were… um, just there. A tribe too preoccupied with infighting to coordinate any meaningful attacks.

But their fates were about to change as a new contest began…

The Contest

Welcome back to the Summer Review Contest! This year, there will be four teams, inspired by the Orders on the site.

Here’s how it works:

⚬ Sign up and be randomly assigned to an order*
⚬ Write as many featured reviews as you can
⚬ Win incredible prizes!

*The Orders here are different from your site-assigned order. That means, for instance, a Warden may get the chance to experience what it'd be like as a Marauder!

Every Friday, we will host a mini-challenge which will give you the opportunity to sabotage another Order or strengthen your own! More about this will be explained in due course but you can expect to see the cards from last year.

This time, we are adding a new feature: Order Captains! Do you want to influence the fate of your team and make important decisions? Volunteer yourself as captain! Captains also get bonus points: the captain of the winning team will earn 50, of the second team 30, of the third team 10 and of the fourth 1 (for effort).

Contest Duration: 1st June 2026 - 5th August 2026. As usual, failing to write a single featured review will get you thrown into the Pit of Shame.

Note for the productive: Want to get a head start over your competition? Any reviews written for EndMaster's latest prompt contest entries would count towards this contest, even if you write them before the contest officially starts. However, you will be responsible for tracking these.

Scoring System:

⚬ 1-4 length story: 1 point
⚬ 5 length story: 2 points
⚬ 6 length story: 5 points
⚬ 7 length story: 7 points
⚬ 8 length story: 10 points

The Prizes

Individual Prizes:

⚬ 1st Place: Will’s Trophy & 300 points
⚬ 2nd Place: 200 points
⚬ 3rd Place: 150 points

Team Prizes:
(They only apply to members who have written at least 5 featured reviews over the course of the contest).

⚬ 1st Place: 50 points each
⚬ 2nd Place: 30 points each
⚬ 3rd Place: 10 points each

The winning order would also get to pull a member of their choosing one level out the Pit of Shame!

Without further ado, let the Order Wars begin!

Tracking Reviews: please keep track your featured reviews in the google sheet I sent to you. Each participant would be responsible for their own.