The Book of Masks Homepage

New Poll for Next BoM Storyline!

I've reached the point in the novella where I'm more than slightly sick of it, and that's got me anticipating a return to BoM. I figured, though, that I'd let you guys help me figure out a where-and-what-to-do-next plan for that with a poll.

Which means we need to get started early.

If you go here -- [EDIT: Poll completed and deleted] -- you will find a poll setting out the choices I'm giving you. They are not chapters or even areas, but are characters or sets of characters to work with. They don't even pick out what kind of plot the characters will feature in. But I figure we can start narrowing down the possibilities by thinking about who you want to see featured in the next set of shenanigans.

At the same time I have created a series of posts (starting here: [Poll completed and deleted]) that will let you vote for the same choices via Gift Points. It's the same drill as last time: Go to the BoM chapter featuring the character(s) you prefer to see, and use the "Tip" form at the bottom to send me GPs.

You can vote in the poll, and you can send tips in any amount (the more you tip, the better the chance that your choice will win); or you can do one but not the other. It depends on how invested you want to be in a particular choice. If you want, you can even send GP tips for more than one choice. (But you can only vote once in the poll.)

For the purposes of vote counting, each vote in the free poll will be worth a yet-to-be-determined number of GPs while GPs tipped to me will be worth their face value. So, for example, if each vote winds up being worth 100 points; and "Chelsea Cooper" gets 12 votes; and I get chapter tips for her worth 2,576 GPs, then she would have (2,576 + 1200 =) 3,776 votes; and if "Plinko" gets 7 votes and 4,290 GPs, then "Plinko" would get (4,290 + 700 =) 4,990 votes. Plink would thus beat Chelsea as a choice.

How many points will each vote in the poll be worth? That will depend upon the GPs that are sent me. When the polling closes, I will give weigh each vote in the poll as equivalent to one-half of the average GP donation. So, if I receive 10K GPs collectively packaged in 20 donations from 8 people, then each poll vote will be worth 250 GPs (half of 10K GPs divided by 20; the number of people making the donations will not be relevant).

As when we did this sort of thing before, GPs for losing choices will be returned to the senders; GPs for the winning choice will be equally divided among those who voted for the losing choices and will be sent to them. So, if your choice wins, you will be out whatever GPs you sent me. If your choices loses, you will get your GPs back, plus a dividend. I myself will neither make nor lose GPs on the vote. People who only vote in the poll will get nothing, as they invested nothing beyond their free vote.

The poll and the GP contest will close in 7 days (on Tuesday, November 20). After that will come a second poll and contest offering a narrower set of choices within the broad choice chosen in the first poll.