Round II of the Dark Crusade is complete and participation was outstanding. We had 109 fiction entries (Khar Delba 48, Rhelg 61) and 22 Run On Teams. Congratulations to all of the Houses and Clans for motivating their members to such high levels of activity. It was truly amazing.

We will release a large fiction update in the last week of April to set the tone for Round III in May. This fictional update will focus on our One Sith adversaries and will focus on several of the recent winners. Hopefully we are able to do your character's justice.

On to the news.

-> News <-

Polls and Constructive Feedback: I'd like to thank everyone for taking the time to participate in the Voice Polls via the DB website as well as our Google Docs polls. We take the feedback from your comments and suggestions and incorporate them into future events. Many of you have provided tremendous constructive feedback that will be reflected in the next round of the Dark Crusade.

Open Ended Competitions: The last three months have focused on very detailed fictional prompts, missions, and goals. Everyone has done a tremendous job on these competitions, but many of you have asked for a more open ended event. Wish granted. Round III's planets will both include fiction competitions that will allow you to go your own way.

Antagonist and Protagonist Design: We plan on adding a gaming mechanic to future fiction events where the authors have the freedom to build and design their own protagonists. The original KOTOR allowed players the opportunity to play Revan as a male or female character and we plan on allowing future protagonist and antagonist design to work in a similar manner. Authors will have the opportunity to design male, female, or even transgender characters based on their desire. A large amount of these events will award the winning author with the creation of the new canon antagonist/protagonist

Competition Results: Several members have contacted me and asked for feedback on their competition entries. I have a few ideas on how to provide more transparency on grading in Round III and I will cover them below in the "Vendetta Tips and Tricks" Section.

-> Awards <-

Wow....: First up is a member who did not win a Nova, but did impress every single member of the DC who had a chance to read her fiction. Guardian Atyiru Araave of Clan Arcona wrote a 50 page entry for her Rhelg fiction. 50 pages, normal font size, no fluff. Pure story. While she did not pick up a Nova, I'm going to assume something else is headed her way. Congrats and great effort!

Rhelg - Fiction: Congratulations to Shadow on his second consecutive fiction win. Shadow wrote an exceptional 32 page fiction that was very well done. He once again went off the beaten path and not only submitted a compelling story, but one that was original compared to the rest of the entries. Kudos to Trouty and Jac on their second and third place finishes.

Rhelg - Run On: Congratulations to team Old and Busted from Taldryan on their awesome run on. This was probably the best designed and executed run on that I have read in my 12 years within the Dark Brotherhood. The story flowed from one author to the next and it was apparent that the team worked out their plan in great detail. I highly recommend everyone take the chance to read this entry, especially if you are interested in seeing why some teams win and others do not.

Khar Delba - Fiction: Congrats to Naga Sadow on their sweep of Nova for the Khar Delba fiction event. Darth Vexatus on his fiction win for Khar Delba. Goat is no stranger to winning fiction events and provided another great entry.

Khar Delba - Run On: Congratulations to Team Alpha from Plagueis on their run on victory. Team Alpha did an exceptional job adding in different emotional aspects to their story line to include the return of old characters. Great work!

-> Tips and Tricks <-

Entry Feedback: Many members have contacted me and their Clan/House chain of command looking for additional feedback on their fiction entries. Members want to know why they did not place, what they can do to improve their writing, and what they can do to catch the grader's eye. I plan on providing specific feedback on future fiction entries along with notes of encouragement or corrections. I did this for a few members during Round II, but not everyone.

The Winner's Gallery: With the approval of our recent winners, I plan on creating an open google drive folder that will contain Round II's placing entries. This will allow members the opportunity to view winning entries as well as see my notes concerning why they were selected. My plan is to have this up no later than this weekend.

What are you looking for?!?!: I use the previously published grading rubric on all fiction entries (Rubric!!!). In addition to this document I focus on originality. Originality is a key aspect of two scored portions on the rubric, namely creativity and entertainment value. As previously stated, Round II of the DC had 109 fiction entries. By entry 50, I had read an enormous volume of purring sex kitten One Sith lady entries and an even greater amount of razor blade like snow ripping the skin of our members. It was uncanny how many people wrote similar stories and this was what truly separated the top three entries from the rest.

Shadow wrote a wholly original entry 32 page submission and it was an exceptional effort of Star Wars writing. In comparison, Malik wrote a few pages, but caught my attention with humor and originality. These entries were night and day apart in style and substance, but they both offered something that was unique. This caught my eye and it is the reason both of the placed.

The same can be said about Jac's first person narrative and the unique format and tempo of Goat's entry. They were original, unique, and written a clean style that was generally free of errors.

Random Tricks: I cannot write a poem to save my life, but I won 2 Gold Nova and a Silver Nova in the last vendetta I participated in. Why did I win? It surely was not substance, but I definitely caught the judges eye with style. I'm not suggesting everyone mimic the following entries because that would be annoying, but these might help you with a few ideas on how you could do something different going forward.

Click this link: Nova Entries!

-> Final Thoughts <-

Wow, long report. I forgot to talk about the awesome job that Mav, Shadow, and Jam3z are doing on the character sheets, but there will be more news on that in the near future. I'm confident to say that we are lucky to have those three senior members working on this project.

Closing out, I'd like to thank everyone for their hard work and attitude. Vendettas can bring about contentious situations that elevate anger and inspire major disagreements. For the most part, we have avoided that. I encourage everyone as we move forward to continue to work with one another and utilize normal human communication to solve differences. Utilizing a cup of internet coffee and a relaxed manner can avoid making mundane situations something they are not. Or you could get raving lunatic drunk and utilize G Hangouts.....but that is a bad idea :p

Lastly lastly...G Hangouts, Whatsapp, Facebook groups, and the DB twitter are all great and new (scary, new!) ways to keep in contact with one another. The G Hangouts are typically R Rated and do have a history of inducing vomiting (See Muz and Valhavoc). The positive is that they also allow you to see and interact with those scary magical internet people that you have spent the last decade with.

take care everyone and good luck in the IGs!