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Hear ye, hear ye!

The Kingdom of Cystia wishes it to be known that a new service has appeared in the form of the most Noble and Admirable Order of The Reviewers. This Review Club will be a volunteer force providing reviews on request to all of Cystia’s fine citizens. The details are listed below and all are welcome and encouraged to use this group to request reviews for their stories – this will make feedback available within a reasonable timeframe to those who want it. Special thanks to those fearless scholars who join The Review Club!

THE REVIEW CLUB
 

OVERVIEW

The Review Club is a group of volunteer Reviewers who read and review story-games on request. Reviewers pledge to complete a requested review within 4 weeks of assignment to a decent standard and can have up to 3 active requests at a time. Each Writer can have 1 active review request at a time.

REVIEWERS

1: Anyone can join The Review Club.
2: Reviewers can leave and rejoin at any time, as long as they have no outstanding Reviews unfinished.
3: Reviewers who volunteer to join The Review Club pledge to read and review any assigned reviews within 28 days.
4: The reviews must be of “a reasonable standard” (no single word or single sentence reviews!).
5: Each Reviewer may have up to 3 active review requests at a time, though only one of these can be for a 6-8 length story.
6: Reviewers receive additional points for each review completed in this way:
Level 0: 0 Completed Reviews (Peasant)
Level 1: 1 Completed Review – 1 Extra Point per review (Serf)
Level 2: 2 Completed Reviews – 2 Extra Points per review (Farmer)
Level 3: 5 Completed Reviews – 3 Extra Points per review (Craftsman / Craftswoman)
Level 4: 10 Completed Reviews – 4 Extra Points per review (Merchant)
Level 5: 20 Completed Reviews – 5 Extra Points per review (Knight)
Level 6: 50 Completed Reviews – 6 Extra Points per review (Lady / Lord)
Level 7: 100 Completed Reviews – 7 Extra Points per review (Prince / Princess)
Level 8: 200 Completed Reviews – 8 Extra Points per review (King / Queen)
Level 9: 500 Completed Reviews – 9 Extra Points per review (Emperor / Empress)
Level 10: 1,000 Completed Reviews (basically all the stories on the site) – 10 Extra Points per review (God / Goddess)
7: Reviewers who fail to complete a review within 28 days without good reason will receive a strike. Three strikes lead to permanent expulsion from The Review Club. One Strike can be erased by completing 10 assigned Reviews.
8: If no Reviews are assigned to a Reviewer in a four-week period the Admins will assign them a review.
9: Reviews are assigned to a specific Reviewer by request or made available to any Reviewers.
10: Only one 6-8 length story can be assigned to a reviewer at a time.
 

WRITERS

1: Anyone can request a Review for one of their stories or another person's story, though they can only have one active request at a time. If they request a specific reviewer for someone else's story that Reviewer has the right to refuse.
2: Writers can ask for a specific Reviewer or any available reviewer.
3: Writers cannot ask for a specific Reviewer to keep reviewing the same story but they can ask for a specific Reviewer to review different stories.
4: Writers who request a Reviewer who already has three review requests can join that Reviewer’s Waiting List.
5: Writers cannot request reviews of deliberately impossible stories. Doing so will put them on a Banned list so they cannot request Reviews in the future.
6: If a Writer thinks a Review is especially poor (single words or sentence), they can appeal to an Admin and request a Strike for the Reviewer.
7: Obviously Writers can't request that they review their own stories!

ADMINS

1: Admins will monitor the Review Club, award bonus points and help to manage it generally.
2: Admins, at their discretion, can request reviews on behalf of other writers, which can be accepted by any reviewer who wishes to take them on.

MEMBERS OF THE REVIEW CLUB:

Anthraxus Joined: 19 Jan 26, Reviews Completed: 0, Level: 0 (Peasant), Strikes: 0.
Assigned Reviews: By the Light of Day by Fluxion (6/8 length, Deadline: 21 Feb 26)
Completed Reviews:
Waiting List:

Beefhotpot Joined: 19 Jan 26, Reviews Completed: 0, Level: 0 (Peasant), Strikes: 0.
Assigned Reviews: Blood in the King's Court by Orange (6/8 length, Deadline: 2 Mar 26)
Completed Reviews:
Waiting List:

Benholman44 Joined: 19 Jan 26, Reviews Completed: 0, Level: 0 (Peasant), Strikes: 0.
Assigned Reviews: These Shackled Souls by Mystic (7/8 length, Deadline: 19 Feb 26)
Completed Reviews:
Waiting List:

Cat2002116 Joined: 19 Jan 26, Reviews Completed: 0, Level: 0 (Peasant), Strikes: 0.
Assigned Reviews: The Lost Emperor by Crescentstar (6/8 length, Deadline: 21 Feb 26), One Day's Adventure by Gryphon (5/8 length, Deadline: 21 Feb 26), Error: Name Not Found (3/8 length, Deadline: 24 Feb 26)
Completed Reviews:
Waiting List:

CavusRex Joined: 19 Jan 26, Reviews Completed: 1, Level: 1 (Serf), Strikes: 0.
Assigned Reviews: Betarune by imadgalaxyx (6/8 length, Deadline: 2 Mar 26), The Laconia Incident by Fabrikant (6/8 length, Deadline: 6 Mar 26)
Completed Reviews: True Life (25 Jan 26)
Waiting List:

Clayfinger Joined: 19 Jan 26, Reviews Completed: 2, Level: 2 (Farmer), Strikes: 0.
Assigned Reviews: By the Light of Day (6/8 length, Deadline: 2 Mar 26)
Completed Reviews: Sir Osis  (22 Jan 26), Avarga (29 Jan 26)
Waiting List:

Fabrikant Joined: 19 Jan 26, Reviews Completed: 3, Level: 2 (Farmer), Strikes: 0.
Assigned Reviews: Polaris by MadHattersDaughter (6/8 length, Deadline: 11 Mar 26)
Completed Reviews: Fake It Till You Make It (25 Jan 26), Of dreams and deamons by Clayfinger (3 Feb 26), Yet Another World-Ending Scenario (11 Feb 26)
Waiting List:

Gryphon Joined: 19 Jan 26, Reviews Completed: 0, Level: 0 (Peasant), Strikes: 0.
Assigned Reviews: Rainbow-1 by Fabrikant (7/8 length, Deadline: 19 Feb 26)
Completed Reviews:
Waiting List:

Hetero_Malk Joined: 19 Jan 26, Reviews Completed: 0, Level: 0 (Peasant), Strikes: 0.
Assigned Reviews: Life In The Fast Lane by Chris113022 (3/8 length, Deadline: 21 Feb 26)
Completed Reviews:
Waiting List:

Liminal Joined: 19 Jan 26, Reviews Completed: 1, Level: 1 (Serf), Strikes: 0.
Assigned Reviews:
Completed Reviews: Ignis and Aero (29 Jan 26)
Waiting List:

MiltonManThing Joined: 19 Jan 26, Reviews Completed: 1, Level: 1 (Serf), Strikes: 0.
Assigned Reviews: Bestest Friend Jane by TheNewIAP (6/8 length, Deadline: 12 Mar 26)
Completed Reviews: Phoenix Whip (11 Feb 26)
Waiting List:

Mousecore Joined: 19 Jan 26, Reviews Completed: 2, Level: 2 (Farmer), Strikes: 0.
Assigned Reviews: A Bird in a Cage by MrAce321 (4/8 length, Deadline: 6 Mar 26), Bright Days by Chris113022 (3/8 length, Deadline: 7 Mar 26)
Completed Reviews: Lasso of Time (27 Jan 26), Altair-III: Search and Rescue (6 Feb 26)
Waiting List:

Mystic_Warrior Joined: 19 Jan 26, Reviews Completed: 1, Level: 1 (Serf), Strikes: 0.
Assigned Reviews: Before the Pattern Breaks (2/8 length, Deadline 12 Mar 26)
Completed Reviews: Climbing Beyond The Clouds (12 Feb 26)
Waiting List:

RKrallonor Joined: 19 Jan 26, Reviews Completed: 0, Level: 0 (Peasant), Strikes: 0.
Assigned Reviews: A night in Dark Chicago by Anthraxus (4/8 length, Deadline: 17 Feb 26), The Duke of Winslow by Darius_Conwright (7/8 length, Deadline: 21 Feb 26)
Completed Reviews:
Waiting List:

TechnoMage Joined: 5 Feb 26, Reviews Completed: 0, Level: 0 (Peasant), Strikes: 0.
Assigned Reviews: The Boy Who Would Be Duke - The Journey to Agincourt by MiltonManThing (6/8 length, Deadline: 6 Mar 26)
Completed Reviews:
Waiting List:

UnescapableDeath Joined: 19 Jan 26, Reviews Completed: 0, Level: 0 (Peasant), Strikes: 0.
Assigned Reviews: As Ink by Sherbet (7/8 length, Deadline: 23 Feb 26), Legend of the Folklore Fish by stories_unwritten (6/8 length, Deadline: 6 Mar 26)
Completed Reviews:
Waiting List:

Will11 Joined: 19 Jan 26, Reviews Completed: 4, Level: 2 (Farmer), Strikes: 0.
Assigned Reviews:
Completed Reviews: Gay and Depressed in Prison (22 Jan 26), When The Music's Over (23 Jan 26), Broken Bonds (5 Feb 26), Chivalry (12 Feb 26)
Waiting List:

And locked :)

If I were to join this club and someone were to request me to review a story whose contents I subjectively disliked, would I still be obligated to complete the review or would I have the option to decline?

I am afraid you would have to review it but you can enthusiastically record your dislike and explain your contemptuous but heartfelt disdain towards the author and all their work in your review :)

Hmm... a fair compromise I suppose. I'd like to join then. :]

Fantastic, welcome aboard! Don't forget, if the workload is overwhelming you can leave or pause at any time :D (just try not to leave any outstanding review requests).

And as the fourth he rode in on a pale horse, ready to fulfill his grim duty.

It's not that bad! But thanks and welcome :D

Well it was more in reference to being the 4th to arrive in the same way as a certain horsemen from that one obscure book nobody read does.

Don't worry the duty won't be grim to me, quite the opposite actually ;-)

I'll join

Fantastic, welcome :D

Huh. I thought I was a member of the Review Club, but I am not on the list...?

You are now :D

Well, I suppose I'll join. Need to read more 

This looks awesome! I would like to join! ^^ 

I'll join. Why not?

I'd love to join! Sign me up!

Lol, just realized I'm already in! Sweet! In that case, ignore my earlier message, it was a bit superfluous. I'd also like to make a request for a story review. Any members here, could you review "The Book of Vanishing Tales" by Cameron, if you haven't already done so. It's an older story that I think is really cool, and I've been meaning to write a review for, so hopefully I'll get some accountability by reviewing it alongside another accomplished reviewer :)

I'm sure there will be other requests, so don't feel any pressure to accept this one! Also, sorry to Gryphon in advance, I know you already reviewed this one, but I'm sure there will be another request that will be just as cool.

Reviewer: Any(except Gryph since he already wrote a marvelous review for this story :) )

Hey RK, thanks for the request for the story review :D Unfortunately writers can only request reviews for their own stories (though it's typically generous of you to request someone else's story get reviewed!) otherwise site members can be sending reviewers all over the site to review the most difficult and challenging stories they can find. Of course people can respond to your request by reading The Book of Vanishing Tales if they want to privately. If you want someone to read your story (I know I've been meaning to read it for a while) feel free to request any or a specific reviewer to review it :D

Oh that’s a really good point. Honestly, that makes sense. In that case, I’ll be on the lookout for any requests. You should totally do a request for Tales of Erenel!

Thanks for letting me know!

I’ll request that you review my story, Gay and Depressed in Prison. You can do it any time, I’m interested to see what you think!

Don't worry, I'll update the Original Post to help people keep track of their review requests. Haha, I'm sure I'll request someone review Tales of Erenel in the future, just used up my current review request. Thanks, I'll get on that ASAP :)

I will probably regret this in the future, but I'd love to join this if possible!

That reminds me, Writers may also request reviews from the ever growing pool of Reviewers! As per the instructions, you may specify an individual or leave it open so one of the reviewers could take on the request.

I'll happily lend my services for this guild.

I would be honored to join this Club, if you will have me.

I would like to sign up.

I will also join.

I would love to join! Sounds fun!

Wow, a massive welcome and thanks to Malk, Beefhotpot, Ben, Unescapable Death, Mouse, Milton, Fabrikant, Anthraxus and Liminal! It’s really wonderful to see such a great turnout! :D Now that The Review Club has so many members, we need something for them to do: feel free to request reviews for one of your stories, whether you are a review club member or not, and you can request it from a specific member of the Review Club or from any (I’ll randomly assign it alphabetically to a free reviewer). There are a lot of great reviewers here who have kindly volunteered to provide feedback on request.

I’ll get the ball rolling (and provide an example) by asking that Mystic review my story Climbing Beyond The Clouds. So, I make this request on 19 Jan and she has 4 weeks to finish it so her deadline is 16 Feb. As a writer this is my one available review request and it fills up one of her three active review request slots until she completes it and she still has room for two more, including one 6/8+ length story (mine is only 3/8). If she completes it, she will go up 1 level to the honourable, if humble, rank of Serfdom and get 1 bonus point on top of the one she gets anyway for reviewing it.

Just a reminder, any site member can request a review from any member of the Review Club but only for one of their own stories and can only have one active review request at a time. Also, if you want to be nice requesting people review one of your stories that is also in MHD's Most Needy Storygames Contest will also help people in that competition progress there as well as here (for the record, Liminal, UnescapableDeath, Avo, Beefhotpot, MrAce, RK, Mystic, Will, Clay, Cavus, Cat, Mouse, TypedRooster, Swagdog, Ben, QoH and VeeR are all also in MHD's competition).

I will keep track of all review requests in the Original Post and update it every day or two so look there if you need up-to-date info on your or other club members reviews as well as other details.

Thanks for having me! Since this is the review club, I will go ahead and answer the question in your review on Fleeing the Forest, can rabbits kill owls?

Technically, yes. Anything can kill anything. If you've ever seen videos of a deer fucking up people with its legs, you'll know that herbivores can in fact be vicious as hell when they think they're being threatened. Rabbits will usually prefer to run and hide at all times, but between their sharp teeth and their strong legs and big feet, there is a reason why birds like to grab rabbits when they are out in the open: when you put a rabbit in a corner or threaten its' young, that rabbit will fight you with suicidal fury. Fight or flight applies to prey as well. 

There is footage I watched when I was doing research on rabbits where a golden eagle (again, a big, powerful EAGLE) swooping down on a kit only for a rabbit to come bursting out of the grass and ram into it like the kool aid man through a wall. Soon as that eagle hit dirt, it raised its head and began to get up (presumably to take flight) only to have its head kicked so hard it stayed down. 
(later examination of the eagle by the videotapers, which were apparently nature photographers, confirmed it was unconscious and called a park ranger). But yes, birds do get killed by rabbits. Aside from the chance of broken necks or head injuries, you have you ever been bitten by a rabbit? Sharp and painful, isn't it? Imagine that rabbit being half or two/thirds your size and attempting to bite your throat with teeth that are as big as your foreleg. That's how a bird feels. Now again, birds are not stupid. They know this. Which is why they absolutely will not corner a rabbit unless they are starving, and they will not go for a baby rabbit until they have checked to make sure the adult watching it is too far away to get to the kit in time. 

Now, could an owl be killed by rabbits? That would be a lot more difficult, as rabbits have difficulty seeing in the dark (dawn and dusk is where their eyes excel), whereas owls are nighttime predators and move silently. So could a rabbit by itself kill a owl? Likely not. Could a group of them gang up on one if it was desperate enough to attack a group (owls prefer lone prey unless they're starving)? Yes, they could, although they'd be much more likely to make a break for the nearest burrow if possible. Which would lead to most of them surviving whereas one would likely get grabbed.

In short, yes that scene was within the realm of possibility, but the scene where the owl actually gets Hops is what would be the most likely outcome in a real life nature scene. Luckily it's a fictional story :)

Wow, you really did your research for Fleeing the Forest :D We don't tend to imagine rabbits as natural-born killers (except the one in Monty Python and the Holy Grail) but I suppose they can be as tough as any wild animal. I've never been bitten by a rabbit but I know someone who has and he confirmed that rabbits can be surprisingly savage :) I can envisage a scenario where a gang of vicious blood-thirsty rabbits, all coked up on mutated lettuce and nerves on edge from living in a burrow filled with a continually screaming horde of one hundred hungry babies, could go to town and really f*ck up an owl if they got lucky.

I found your story was surprisingly enjoyable for a bunny tale (though longer than an actual bunny tail :) ), which are not usually my thing, and does make me want to read Watership Down when I have time. It was fun exploring the different options and you should request someone to review it :D

Run awaaaaayyy!!!!

Yes but could a hundred unarmed men defeat a gorilla?

Oh good. For a moment I thought you were stealing reviewers from me ;~)

No, dw, these 2 things should compliment each other and also help get reviews for submissions to End's writing competition once people start publishing their stories :)

If anyone would like to request reviews on their storygames, please do so here! We got 14 reviewers waiting in the wings!

Open call to first taker to review my first storygame A night in Dark Chicago.

I’ll take this one. You’re a fantastic writer and I really need to read more of your stuff

Thanks RK. Deadline should be 2/17

Awesome, I'll record it on the OP :)

I'd like to contract Liminal to read Ignis and Aero. He mentioned that he was going to review my story games before, so a little extra motivation shouldn't hurt, right? XD

No problem :) I read that one last week actually, it's very good :D

Thanks! I'm looking to expand the Lumina universe with more story games but that's currently on hold because of the Prompt Contest.

You should definitely write more adventures involving Ignis and Aero, I thought the relationship between the two brothers was really well-written :D

Oh, thank goodness someone finally put a punishment on not doing this review, that's the only way I get things done. It's just sitting half unfinished in my google docs waiting for completion.

Done. :]

Awesome!

If not enough members submit requests, I'm threatening to force someone to read a 100k storygame in 4 weeks :)

Which one are you thinking?

If you're offering, whichever one you want to read works. I mainly didn't want to scare off new recruits with novel length stories in the first week lol. 

Edit: if you want to kill two birds with one stone, These Shackled Souls and Constellaris Court would count towards MHD's Reading Contest.

I’m actually already working on Constellaris Court.

On one hand I see that as barely a challenge myself, but then I remember 100k words is most people's yearly reading capacity so could be fun to see that.

Dare we to dream that we are not most people?

I did read and review Rogues in 48 hours, and yes I got all the main endings.

There is hope in this world.

With that reminder, time for me to review one of End's stories again.

I mean, I've read the entire harry potter series in about a week, and I think that's close to 400k(?), so I'm not too worried about that threat.

Who the heck takes 4 weeks to read a 100k game?

Well yeah a review can take for EVER. FOREVER.

Tbf the real challenge is writing a 100k game in 4 weeks.

I request for you to assign me a 100k storygame I have not yet read and reviewed appropriately. And by appropriately, I mean a review that is longer and more detailed than the contents of this reply.

I'll assign you These Shackled Souls, so the deadline should be 19th February.  

Thank you!

Kudos Ben for taking on a longer story :) That one is a really great read!

So we haven't been able to keep up with who all's involved in Mod-Sponsored Productivity Event #56, but Endmaster noticed some of you have been hard at work:



Thanks guys for all that you do!

LOL thanks for saving these for posterity.

Yeah, it's a choice :D Either we have things like this review club and MHD's competition encouraging quality reviews or we get stuff like this. People get out what they put in and you need to be the change you want to see. Or something like that :)

Ok, so I have reviewed RK's story Gay and Depressed in Prison (it's hilarious btw - check it out!) and this 1 review has transformed by social status in a positive way, elevating me from the common Peasantry to the heady social heights of Serfdom (i.e. Level 1). I also get a bonus point for that. Please do request another story or stories for me to read and request more reviews generally to get more quality feedback for everyone. This is a great chance to get people reading and reviewing the writing you have poured time, energy and creativity into.

Nicely done, Will! I hope it made you laugh, and yeah, I know it's not the best! But, I do have future plans for storygames that will hopefully be of a higher quality than G&D, and I can't wait to assign them to the fantastic reviewers here!

Just add more to Erenel and make the new horde of minions read it before they wander off and get distracted.

I am working on the third tale currently :D It should be out next month.

I don't remember that. It must not have happened :) And request noted.

Hm. In fairness I did say the story was "excellent", I didn't say I had read it :D I will this week though, probably tomorrow :)

I really loved Bright Days!

You guys should read Sir Osis.

If the author of Sir Osis requests a review someone can :)

Welp, I ended up reading it anyway since it seemed fun and I had no pending requests.

You know what, I'll just pretend you've been assigned the story and update the leaderboard accordingly. 

Thank you. I am glad you enjoyed it. :)

I'd like to request someone review Ninja's True Life, which hasn't had any new reviews but RK's for awhile now. It's one of his lesser read stories and not all that long, but it's one I really thought had a fascinatingly fucked up central character. (Edit: technically not the POV character though, brain blip)

It's been a while since I read anything like those so I wouldn't mind checking it out, but no idea if this counts as an official request due to not coming from the author and all. Special mod priviledge to give people actual work maybe?

Alright, I think we can accept that. Mods can make review requests on behalf of other writers because surely no mod would abuse their powers and find the 3 most difficult stories on the site and request that a particular member they do not like review them all, would they? :) The Review Club will have to have some flexibility or it's probably not going to work. If you want this one you can have it Cavus, I'll update the OP.

Maybe they can pick out stories, but can't choose who's supposed to review them? That would do as a safeguard from possible mod abuse.

Not that our kind, generous and very benevolent mods would ever even think about something so beneath them as user abuse.

I think that is an excellent idea :D

I'd also like Cavus to read everyrhing written by Mara and WIBN please...oh. Well never mind then.

I mean nothing stops me from taking a recommendation outside the review club, but I won't be going through entire libraries because someone finds my suffering entertaining.

Task complete, and I do agree the main character was a highlight of the story. Quite a well done depiction of a psychopath.

Looks like things are going swimmingly here. We're slowly getting more reviews going.

Writers, there is still an untapped pool of talented reviewers that you can forcibly and involuntarily draft!

If you have a story you want to see more reviews on, assign them to any one of these fine CYStians:

Reviewers:

Milton
Anthraxus
BeefHotPot
Cat
Fabrikant
Gryphon
Malk
Mousecore
UD

I would like Milton to read one of Mara's stories.

Mara's stories are fun! I only read one so far, but I really liked "Elvis at the Beauty Contest"! It was cool!

Done. I’ll review “Elvis at the Beauty Contest” "Phoenix Whip."

Ugh, no, not that one. I did a line by line rewrite of that one and it's also a children's story, it's not remotely the authentic experience.

@Will11

Finished my review of Phoenix Whip.

Cool, thanks for that :D

I would like to request @Gryphon to review Rainbow-1

Thanks RK! I'm keeping the OP updated and keeping an eye out generally but please post on this thread when you finish a review as well so I can update things and give you your bonus points quicker. :)

I notice that there are still several reviewers in need of something to review. I would like to request reviews for the following stories for anyone who would like to read them:

By the Light of Day by Fluxion.

One Day's Adventure by Gryphon.

Lasso of Time by Orange.

The Duke of Winslow by Darius_Conwright.

The Lost Emperor by Crescentstar.

All five have received good player ratings but have found themselves in the Top 5 Storygames in Need section on the homepage (all of them except The Lost Emperor are also in MHD's review competition). Please feel free to help out your fellow writers by reading and reviewing one of these well-written stories - any that are still unclaimed by the end of the weekend I'll read and review next week.

Please post here which one or ones you'd like to read (remember, each reviewer can only review one 6/8 or more length story at a time - otherwise you might be taking on too much - but choose up to 3 stories to review altogether) and I'll update the OP. :)

I'm willing to read The Lost Emperor. I've read two out of these five :)

I'm happy to take One Day's Adventure as well.

 

Updated this and Chris' request for Malk :D

I'll take Lasso of Time! I've been meaning to give it a read for a while :)

Well done :D Bonus point awarded, level and social status raised and feel free to try another review whenever you want :D

I'll take Winslow. With Anthraxus's story that I still have yet to read, I'll be at 2 requests. I think that's decently manageable.

Excellent, all sounds good. :) That leaves By The Light of Day available

I'll take By the Light of Day

Great that's all of them covered :) For those who still don't have review requests I'll post a few more on Monday if others don't request some beforehand.

I'd like to request anyone that wants to to review Ryboi's "Fake it 'till you make it" story in the fantasy section.

Sounds good. Happy to take it.

I have completed my first assignment and reviewed "Fake it till you make it."

Excellent, you and Cavus are both Serfing :D

It's nice to see one week in we've got several completed reviews, several pending ones and a few people moving up the levels to get point bonuses :) For those still in need of reviews I'm going to request reviews for the stories on MHD's Most Needy Storygames contest - I think I will request reviews every Monday and alphabetically so those who want to read something decent and write about it can. The reviews I'm requesting this week are:

Altair-III by JohnX (taken)

As Ink by Sherbet (taken)

Avarga by Enterpride (taken)

Please do feel free to request reviews for your own stories if you haven't already, it's always nice to get feedback :D

Edit: We also have requests for the following:

Of dreams and daemons by Clayfinger (taken)

Error: Name Not Found by Unescapable Death (taken)

I'll take Avarga. :D

I'd also like to make an open request for a review on Of Dreams and Daemons which is also part of MHD's contest. I didn't want to force anyone to read it since it's the longest thing I've written so far. XD

If I can take on two at once...

I thought Will specified the max was 3. Unless I'm stupid and remember wrong :P

No, you're right. People can have up to 3 active review requests but only 1 for a story 6/8 or more in length (so people don't boldly take on more than they can easily do :) ).

That's what she said.

Review complete :]

Nice work :D

I've already rated As Ink, but it would be nice to finally write a proper review for it! I'll take it

Might as well submit an open request for Name Not Found while I'm here

Can't you review your own story to advance in the ranks?

I feel that would be cheating :) Also everyone would just say their own story was great.

Altair definitely needs more attention, but JohnX's other game is worth a look too.

I can take "Of Dreams and Daemons."

@beefhopot, @CavusRex, either of you want to take on Altair-III or Error: Name Not Found?

Any not taken by Thurs, I'll review :)

I tried to review Altair during the summer contest, but the minigame part of it didn't work for me and it still doesn't so I won't be able to review it for that reason. Most likely this is on me and my setup and not the game's fault.

I'll take Error: Name Not Found too.

Assigned :) And now you've got a full set of pending reviews (3/3) :D

I can snag Altair-III if Cavus is passing on it.

Ok, all yours :) That's all stories assigned for this week, I'll request reviews for a load of story games next Monday :D If anyone wants to request reviews for Beef or Cavus in the meantime, feel free. Oh, and please let me know when you finish reviews so I can award people their bonus points and move them up levels so they can get more bonuses :D

I'll take Name Not Found

Sorry Liminal, Cat took that one (I forgot to update the post)! Feel free to review it anyway and on Monday I'm going to request reviews for a whole bunch of stories so they'll be fresh requested reviews then :D

Hey Reviewers, I hope you're all doing well and having a great week :D The Review Club is making great progress producing some outstanding reviews! If anyone is in need of more here is a list of Requested Reviews taken from MHD's Most Needy Storygames (B) - there are plenty there so feel free to grab one that appeals:

The Backup by Anthraxus

Before the Pattern Breaks by roseyanover

Betarune by imadgalaxyx (taken)

A Bird in a Cage by MrAce321

Blood in the King's Court by Orange (taken)

The Boy Who Would Be Duke - The Journey to Agincourt by MiltonManThing

Bright Days by Chris113022

Broken Bonds by Cat2002116 (taken)

By the Light of Day by Fluxion (taken)

You can pick any you haven't reviewed already (up to a max of 3 assigned reviews) and any that are still unclaimed by Thursday I'll nab :) Don't forget you can request reviews for your own stories and also anyone can join The Review Club whenever they want - 16 people joined on Day 1 and then 0 joined after that :D The door's not shut, anyone can sign up (and leave) at any time. Please let me know when you finish writing reviews so I can move people up levels and award point bonuses :D

I shall use this opportinity to cross Betarune off my bucket list.

I'll pray for you.

Honestly stuff like that is something I'd read anyway out of sheer curiosity. There is one author on the site who's work I previously read and I'd actually dread reviewing, but for pretty much the opposite reasons.

It's okay man, we know it's Endmaster, you can just say it.

I'd rather read End's games than that person's.

I will take "By the Light of Day." I've been wanting to read that one for a while now.

Crap, now I need to hurry to finish it.

Haha, no worries. It's not a race.

Just mentioning too there's a brand new children's sci fi thingy that's got a length of 27k.

All updated and yeah, Artemis Starfighter Adventures right? It does look pretty fun :D

I've been meaning to read Blood in the King's Court so I'll take that one! ^^

Sadly I have reviewed those already (I also started MHD's challenge from the top)

Ah, you're doing it alphabetically? :D I'm doing it by word count (smallest to biggest)! Ok, well people will request reviews for their stories (hopefully) and those might be the ones to pick up. I'll also put in requests for my stories after Mystic reviews Climbing Beyond The Clouds and I'll throw in a few others as well.

Ok, I'll pick up all the untaken ones I haven't reviewed already which is Broken Bonds. All the rest I've already reviewed (I didn't review By the Light of Day or Blood in the King's Court yet but both of those have already been taken). Any requested reviews that haven't been picked up yet I'll just carry over to next week but surely out of 16 potential reviewers someone can pick up some of these remaining five? :)

Won't be me. I've already reviewed the ones that are left. :[

Yes, I do see the problem :) But only half of the Review Club have also signed up for MHD's competition as well and of those who have, not all will have completed all the reviews I'm recommending - some will have though. I'll keep recommending the stories from MHD's list but people can also request reviews for their own stories as well. People have plenty of reviews to complete so I guess they'll be busy working on those for the next few days as well :)

Yup, there's definitely no lack of stories to review that's for sure.

Would it be possible to allow club members to just review stories without a request and submit that they made a review here? We could make this something reviewers can do if they DON'T already have any pending requested reviews.

Isn't people just reviewing stories without a request what people do anyway? :) I don't think people should get extra points for that :D

Hmm, I suppose you are right. Still, if you intend to issue special requests for all the Most Needy Storygames, point hungry participants of that contest would probably find it more effective to wait for the request to appear here, rather than review it on their own. I personally don't care one way or another. I'm just saying the current approach might slow review speed down rather than speed it up.

Hm, you do make some good points that require a bit of thought. First, I plan to request reviews for the stories alphabetically so in six months I will request reviews for all of the storygames on MHD's list anyway and I think it is unlikely that many members will finish her competition in much less time anyway so I don't think I'll slow people down there anyway. Also, waiting weeks or months for a story they are waiting for to come up just to earn an extra point or two seems like extreme behavior and there's a good chance they'd miss the request anyway if they aren't online at the right time so I don't think many members will take this approach. I'll admit it's a possibility.

I just want to get people reviewing more generally and reviewing the stories in need specifically. I think the approach as a whole increases the number of reviews rather than decreases it except in the very specific circumstances you mentioned. The alternative is to not request reviews for the needy storygames (which I don't want to do) or request reviews for all of them at once, which will be overwhelming (especially as we have 5 unclaimed requests still waiting) and probably an impossibility.

The best thing would be if people request more reviews for their stories but until that happens I think encouraging people to read the most needy storygames is a good compliment to MHD's competition and also good for the authors of those stories themselves, who are many of the most active and talented writers on the site whose work does deserve more attention (many of them are members of the Review Club too). We'll see how things go for a while but you make some good points :D

Fair enough, I do think having a place where people can request reviews of their stories is really valuable. Maybe once the idea of making requests here becomes more normalized among site users, we won't have to worry about reviews being slowed down.

I think the main two things affecting the lack of requests so far is that with the current system people can only request reviews of their own stories (which is fine since the main idea is to help people get reliable feedback on their stuff), and that people probably don't see a need/are too shy to request someone read one of their old stories. Making a request for their freshly released story will probably feel less awkward and happen more often, but for that people first need to publish some stories.

And yeah nothing stopped people from either asking for or giving recommendations before and shouldn't now. Extra points are cool, but getting to read an interesting story you might've otherwise missed is cooler.

Yeah, tbh I thought one of the main motivations of writing was to get feedback for what you wrote from your respected and scholarly literary peers so I thought people would be keen to do that. I've not noticed many shy people on here but then again, if they are shy they might be hard to spot :D Making requests for other writer's stories is a two-edged sword as there is nothing to stop some chaotic-minded member requesting reviews for all the most terrible stories they could find.

I don't see much wrong with requesting reviews for a high-quality or cool story instead of their own though - that way each site member still only gets one request and if they want to use it for someone else's story instead of one of their own that is very nice of them and if they have evil intent it limits the trouble they can cause (people can always ignore them or give the crappy story a scathing review). Let me sit on this over the weekend but perhaps requesting a review for ANY story, not just your own might work. I'd rather only mods can make multiple review requests though to prevent chaos (unless a mod goes mental and does strange stuff. It has happened before :) ).

Yeah no problem, and ultimately I don't consider it that big a deal since if people don't feel inclined to make recommendations for reviews outside the club they probably won't start now. The final few reviews of mine last year was basically just RK throwing stuff my way since nobody else had anything.

Sounds like you should make some requests. :D

I'm sure there will be more once more of the contest stories hit. New stories are what you spam refresh on to check for ratings and comments every 15 minutes, old stories are cringe.

Yeah, I expect so :)

I’ll join this. I get pretty busy with work and life, so writing an occasional review would be a fun way to do a focused read here and there. Feel free to randomly assign me one that’s available.

Hey, welcome aboard :D Here are the stories currently in need of reviews if you want to pick one that appeals:

The Backup by Anthraxus (withdrawn)

Before the Pattern Breaks by roseyanover

A Bird in a Cage by MrAce321 (taken)

The Boy Who Would Be Duke - The Journey to Agincourt by MiltonManThing (taken)

Bright Days by Chris113022 (taken)

If you want me to randomly assign you one though I can roll a dice :)

I would request people not review The Backup. I'm working on rewriting it.

Thanks for the welcome! Dice roll would be great here since I’m fine with reading anything sent my way.

1. Locked
2. Damn, this is a busy noob. Good luck with everything, hope you succeed, and please don't do anything dumb; You're showing promise.

Am I not busier?

Most likely, yes; However, keep in mind that this is only their third post, they've only existed for two days, and they're already entered into two major things.

Great, glad to hear it. :D I used a random number generator and it came up with The Boy Who Would Be Duke by MiltonManThing (which is a great read btw). I'll update the OP.

Sounds good! I’ll be focusing on my first story this weekend, but I plan to review it sometime next week or the weekend, as time allows. Looks like a fun read.

Awesome, I'll add it to your requested reviews.

Could I also check out Bright Days since I'm not working on a 6/8 right now? No worries if you wanna give another reviewer a shot though.

Yeah no, that's fine :) That just leaves Before The Pattern Breaks.

I would like to request a review of Laconia by Cavus.

I'm down for it so a mod can update my waiting list. I'll do Betarune tomorrow probably and then Laconia next time I find the time.

EDIT: Didn't realize Betarune's 26k puts it at 6/8 length. Doesn't make a difference to me since that's still fairly short.

Ok doke. I need to read The Laconia Incident at some point too actually :)

:)

Someone here should give the first contest entry a good look over.

If this is an open request to review Legend of the Folklore Fish, I'll take it

Go for it :)

Thank you for the review ! I will put less text that would intimidate readers in the next story, sadly I cannot make it realistic because the premise is a bit absurd. I will endeavor to do more editing !

Somebody rated it a 3 :( I have only read a few pages, but I am pretty sure that it is worth more than a 3.

Weird. I can see who it is, I wish they'd at least said what they didn't care for.

Actually I'll just say it, it's @Aldreda. Girl, you liked Boppy's Messed up adventures of a 12 year old BETTER than this one? What exactly is your system?

The bobby mess was funny and the other one might have been a misclick though admittedly I haven't been in the best of moods this week (Sick bleh). I have weird taste for example I find "Fragrant Flower Blooms with Diginity" to be a boring slog but on the other hand I unironically enjoy "Rent a Girlfriend".

Oh, another warden. You have been here for five years yet I have more commendations ｼ

Ok doke, I hope everyone had a good weekend :D Here are some review requests for the coming week:

Before the Pattern Breaks by roseyanover (taken)

Chivalry by Fluxion (taken)

A City Lost by MrAce321

Constellaris Court by Mystic Warrior

The Cult by Ogre11

Polaris by MadHattersDaughter (taken)

Yet Another World-Ending Scenario by Fresh out of the oven (I know but it is on MHD's list - this is for Fabrikant, who is completing the list alphabetically, so I can request a review of a story that he hasn't already read). (taken)

I know people are very busy and the first set of deadlines are due next week so make sure not to take on too much but these are all excellent stories and please do review what you can (any left over that I haven't reviewed already I'll take on Thursday).

Also, following feedback we'll amend how The Review Club works a little. Site members can now request a review for ANY story - not just one they have written - but requests are still limited to one per site member. Most review requests seem to be for any reviewer but if you request a review of a specific story that is not your own from a specific reviewer that person has the right to refuse (that way you can't force them to troll through a 30,000 word tract on foot fungus written in Ancient Greek or something like that). If you request a specific reviewer to read one of your own stories though that reviewer should still do so.

If anyone has any problems or questions feel free to message or pm me, if there is any story you want to request reviews for, feel free and please do keep telling me when you finish reviews so I can keep awarding increasing amounts of points to dedicated readers and reviewers :D

Nix the Camp Massacre games, they were taken off MHD's list on suspicion of AI usage. (Allegations which the author never responded to, so they remain in limbo.)

Thanks, they are gone. Do you know about Reeseyb14's other game, Choices of the Heart?

I'm confused - is there another list for MHD's contest? Because on the one I'm using, two of the Camp Massacre storygames are still on it.

Same. My understanding is they are still waiting on a response from the author re suspected AI usage before MHD takes them off the list? But let's not review them in case they are AI because no one wants to spend their free time reading the computer-generated equivalent of Mad Libs :D

OK I guess then it will be YAWES for me :)

Assigned :)

I'm done with YAWES.

That was a good review! In my review, I had many of the same issues with the story that you talked about as well.

Haven't read the others yet, though I am sure you phrased it more positively :) It's really a bit of a shame. The idea could have made a fantastic game. Normally that would inspire me to try something like that myself, but I know I could not do that sort of humor.

Given the amendment in the rules, I'll request a review of "Bestest Frend Jane" from Milton. I'd love to see his thoughts on this one. It's a longer story, but I'm not recommending this one maliciously, I genuinely really liked it, and as Will said, you can decline it if doesn't look too interesting to you.

@MiltonManThing

To hear is to obey.

Assigned :D

Ok, as we're not overwhelmed this week by people taking and finishing reviews I'll take Fluxion's Chivalry, which is the only one I've not reviewed yet. There are still four reviews up for grabs and with the first set of reviews due next week don't forget to finish them to avoid flaking :)

Finally finished a review (better late than never, right?). I'll take Constellaris Court the first story because it's only 3k words and in MHD's contest too. 

I took Fresh's story off the Needy list. I recommend selecting another story by an amible author.

Polaris, please! At least give it a reading and rating so it can get ranked! Thank you!

If nobody else wants it, I am happy to take it. Looks interesting.

Assigned and thanks for your last great review :D

The Leaderboard

The Review Club seems to be slowing down a bit, so I hope this manages to motivate some of you! Congratulations to Will and Fabrikant for having the most reviews so far. I'll update the Leaderboard on a monthly-ish basis. 
 

I would like to join this as a reviewer. I always felt my review skills were subpar but this will be an excellent chance to work on them. :~)

Welcome to the club!

As requested, I shall request that Will review In Moonlit Waters.