WorldEmber 2022
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Thu Dec 1st - Sat Dec 31st
WorldEmber 2022
10,000 words, 31 Days, $1000+ in Prizes!
Number of Entries
49068
Number of Competitors
8978
Do you want to get your worldbuilding skills up to scratch? Join the fun!
CREATE YOUR FREE ACCOUNT
Click here to get your WorldEmber Winner's Certificate and show off your amazing work!
Get ready for THE ULTIMATE WORLDBUILDING CHALLENGE!
Finish 2022 with an achievement! Start 2023 with a bang!
We challenge you to write 10,000 words of new worldbuilding content this December! Check out the prizes and rules below!
All you need is a free World Anvil account, grab your hammer, and GO WORLDBUILD!
WorldEmber 2022 is proudly sponsored by:
DungeonFog
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A THOUSAND DOLLARS worth of licences for DungeonFog Mapmaking Software!
Norse Foundry
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A THOUSAND DOLLARS dollars of shiny dice & coins
Kobold Press
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A THOUSAND DOLLARS worth of that sweet worldbuilding and RPG book goodness
Prize Categories
THE BIG RAFFLE
Over WorldEmber we'll raffle over $5000 USD of prizes, including some amazing goodies from our Sponsors! All WorldEmber participants who achieve a word count of 10,000 words or more will be automatically entered into the WorldEmber Prize Winners' raffle, for a chance to win some awesome prizes!
Wordcount Badges
Going the extra mile with your wordcount? There are extra badges if you do!Award of Eloquence : write 10,000 words! Achieve this, and you've won WorldEmber!
The Award of Verbosity : write 25,000 words—a small novel’s worth!
The Award of Loquacity : write 50,000 words—just like NaNoWriMo, but for worldbuilding!
Please note that higher wordcounts will be vigorously checked for copypasting, plagiarism, and rule breaking.
Don't risk disqualification over a badge!
Badges With Prizes
The following achievements get a bonus prize AND a rare badge!Community’s Favourite Article : chosen by a community vote based on the top most liked 10 articles with a unique author*
Community’s Favourite Body of Work : chosen by a community vote based on the top 10 authors with the most likes*
Most Words : chosen based on the most WorldEmber-eligible words written
Human of the Match : for a good spirit who has ranked high in many categories and has really captured the community spirit of WorldEmber. Given at the World Anvil Team’s discretion.
* At the end of WorldEmber, there will be a community poll to vote for these. They will be drawn from the most liked articles. Only the most liked article per author will go forward, so don't despair if one person in particular is dominating the leaderboards!
Special Categories
Special categories are an opportunity to win an exclusive badge! To be eligible, submit an article that is at least 300 words long using the button on the right side of the editing page for that article. You can submit articles to as many different special categories as you like (there's one for each article template), but you can only submit a single article per category!You can see all special categories at the bottom of this page!
WorldEmber ends in...
Rules
The goal of WorldEmber is to achieve 10,000 words of original worldbuilding content on World Anvil during the month of December. The platform will automatically track the words you write.
Words which count towards WorldEmber are:
- Words written in articles only. Any words written in timelines, RPG blocks, maps, notes, secrets or historical events DO NOT count towards your total wordcount
- Words written in articles that are PUBLIC (i.e. not private) and PUBLISHED (i.e. not drafts)!
- Articles will only add to your wordcount if they have over 50 words.
- Open the article that has a wordcount of under 50 words.
- Click on Avanced Tools & Options on the right hand side.
- Click the SPECIAL ACTIONS tab on the right hand side.
- Click the Reset Date button. This process will update the creation date of the article to the current date.
Special Provision: Stubs created before WorldEmber
If you have a stub (article under 50 words) created before the beginning of December and want to expand it for WorldEmber, follow these instructions carefully:
When does it run?
WorldEmber happens throughout December:- UK Time/Anvil Time (look at the footer of the website to know what time is it)
- Eastern Time
- START: 19:00 on December 1st
- END: 19:00 on December 31st
- START: 13:00 on December 1st
- END: 13:00 on December 31st
Disclaimers
If you are eligible for a prize — be it community favorite, prize draw winner, special category or most words — your work will be checked for cheating.The following acts count as cheating:
- Like boosting via secondary “alt” accounts.
- Word count boosting (for example, using Lorem Ipsum / placeholder text or copy & pasting other author’s work or reference material).
- Plagiarism.
- Creating non-worldbuilding content with the intention of winning a particular badge, prize, or special category. This includes blog posts as articles, dev/project updates, and other meta posts. WorldEmber is about worldbuilding!
- For Special Categories in particular, all artwork used MUST BE CREDITED. Art theft isn't cool, and using it to win prizes could get you disqualified.
Sharing your work
Since many of the prize categories of WorldEmber involve community likes, it’s a good idea to share your work on social media, with your friends and family, and with the wider worldbuilding community.Mention World Anvil (@WorldAnvil) and use the hashtag #WorldEmber on social media, and the official World Anvil social media accounts may share your work for more exposure!
You can also stream your World Anvil worldbuilding sessions over WorldEmber! To get access to the official community streaming pack, download it from our streaming page here!.
FAQ
How do I enter?-
Make your free account on World Anvil, create a world, and get writing! The website will automatically track your word count progress.
The leaderboard is delayed with wordcount/likes, why is this?
-
The leaderboard information refreshes periodically to prevent it from creating lag on the website. Check back in an hour or so and it will have updated! In the meantime, why don't you grab your hammer and GO WORLDBUILD?!
Can I copy in my old work or stuff I did in NaNoWriMo?
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Verbatim copying of previously done work (even your own!) is not in the spirit of the competition, but expanding on previous work — for example, creating a book bible extrapolated from the first draft of a novel — is just fine.
Do I have to pick a single world to work on for my wordcount?
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Nope! Wordcount is per author, so you can write across as many worlds as you like!
What about co-authors?
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Multiple co-authors can write in a single world; their word counts are accumulated based on individual user, not the world they write in.
When will the winners be announced?
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The winners will be announced at the WorldEmber 2022 Awards Ceremony stream, a special live-streamed Awards Ceremony on our Twitch (twitch.tv/worldanvil) on January 28th. If you can't tune in live, we'll release a post in our blog with the winners, as well as in our social channels (@WorldAnvil everywhere!). Stay tuned on our social media for updates!
When will the badges be given out?
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Once the Awards Ceremony has taken place and all the winners have been announced, we will start the process of giving out the badges. World Anvil has around 2,000,000 users, though, so this might take a minute! Please be patient!
Why do my articles have to be public?
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Articles need to be public in order for the word count to be updated, and also for our team to be able to check for any cheating.
Can I make my articles private, or delete or edit things after the event?
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After the Awards Ceremony, yes! If you make your articles private or delete them before the ceremony has taken place, you may forfeit your digital badge or your prize, as our team will be unable to check your work for cheating.
Edit: This restriction applies to articles submitted to a special category only. You're free to edit your articles if they are not submitted to a special category.
How do I enter an article for a Special Category?
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To take part, simply write an article using the specified template. The judge of that category will choose the winner at their own discretion, by their own means. We recommend to keep special category articles below 5,000 words!
Worldember Special Categories
Click on a prompt to write your response.
Let the games begin!
Organization
Organization special category
Sponsored by Norse Foundry.
Prize: $50 USD Norse Foundry gift card
Species
Species special category
Rank
Title special category
Sponsored by Tlcassis Polgara | Arrhynsia
Prize: 1 year Grandmaster Gift Subscription to WA or gift card for $96 (equivalent)
Prize: 1 year Grandmaster Gift Subscription to WA or gift card for $96 (equivalent)
Document
Document special category
Sponsored by Deleyna Marr
Prize: $100 gift certificate to Lawson Writers' Academy
Settlement
Settlement special category
Sponsored by Sapha Burnell
Prize: The full digital collection of Vraeyda Literary's current catalogue (90$ Value): Girl of Light by Elana Gomel, Vostok by Łukasz Drobnik, My Heart is The Tempest by Sacha Rosel, Aegis by RL Arenz III, The Saga of Adis Raudfeldr by Siobhan Clark, The Drake Equation by Dr. Brad Hoge, Warning Light Calling by Peter Graarup Westergaard, Neon Lieben, Char & Ash, Son of Abel, Usurper Kings by Sapha Burnell
Language
Language special category
Sponsored by cedes
Prize: personalized cup or tumblr with something written on it in the winning language!
Condition
Condition special category
Sponsored by Polina "Line" Arteev
Prize: Custom illustration inspired by the winning article (OR: $110USD commission credit)
Material
Material special category
Sponsored by
Prize: A full-color illustration of the winning article's subject.
Militaryconflict
Conflict special category
Sponsored by Andrew Belenkiy aka Teyvill Dost
Prize: Foundry VTT license
Location
Geography special category
Sponsored by Michael Chandra
Prize: $50 for winner's choice of the World Anvil Shop, DogMight, HeroForge, Modiphius, DriveThruRPG, FrogGodGames, or TheSpeechlessBard. (And two runner-ups at $25 worth.)
Ethnicity
Ethnicity special category
Sponsored by KajetanWrites
Prize: A short story commission for the winner's World Anvil world
Item
Item special category
Sponsored by Dwarfinator1
Prize: A Steam key for Sid Meier's Civilization VI
Profession
Profession special category
Sponsored by Jaime Buckley
Prize: A custom color drawing for their world—of a character working a profession ($300)— and a Boundless Worldbuilding Journal
Myth
Myth/legend special categories
Sponsored by Buzzard
Prize: $50 Gift Certificate usable at DriveThruRPG, DriveThruComics, DMs Guild, or Wargame Vault
Formation
Military unit special category
Sponsored by Dragon
Prize: A mystery worldbuilding/writing book box
Person
Character special category
Spell
Spell special category
Sponsored by Denver White
Prize: Any course from dndskills.com or a $30 gift card of their choosing.
Plot
Plot special category
Sponsored by Tillerz
Prize: 3x $50 for one of: World Anvil Shop, DogMight, HeroForge, Modiphius, DriveThruRPG, FrogGodGames, or The Speechless Bard
Join the Race!
Do you want to get your worldbuilding skills up to scratch? Join the fun!
CREATE YOUR FREE ACCOUNT