6 Week Challenge: April 30th to June 11th

[Loren Wade]

Race? Please help us noobs out. Here's my interpretation of each race and I'm sure they mean something else in RPG

Human - Well that's me but seems boring compared to having other choices

Elf - Little, which I'm not. I'm 5'10"

Pixie - little and cutsie, again, not me

Troll - Ugly and kind of creepy, not how I'd like to think of myself

Ogre - Again ugly and living in solitude, not how I'd like to identify myself

Dwarf - Again little and maybe a little cute, but not me

Gnome - cute little garden creature, so not me

Orc - not even sure what this is but it makes me think of an Orca Whale

Please understand I am not saying this is how I judge any of you that pick these particular races, I'm just saying it's how I see each one and why I'm getting stalled before I even get started on the challenge.

You can choose human. You don't have to be any of those either, you can always pick a race from another lore.

[Morrigainz]

Also: a sample/template character sheet would be so awesome.

[Loren Wade]

Also: a sample/template character sheet would be so awesome.

Right now, I think this would be the most helpful thing. Agreed. In the mean time, people are already posting challenges and people can go see those.

[joeyb]

Race? Please help us noobs out. Here's my interpretation of each race and I'm sure they mean something else in RPG

Human - Well that's me but seems boring compared to having other choices

Elf - Little, which I'm not. I'm 5'10"

Pixie - little and cutsie, again, not me

Troll - Ugly and kind of creepy, not how I'd like to think of myself

Ogre - Again ugly and living in solitude, not how I'd like to identify myself

Dwarf - Again little and maybe a little cute, but not me

Gnome - cute little garden creature, so not me

Orc - not even sure what this is but it makes me think of an Orca Whale

Please understand I am not saying this is how I judge any of you that pick these particular races, I'm just saying it's how I see each one and why I'm getting stalled before I even get started on the challenge.

Don't think of how they look, but more the body build. It doesn't affect the challenge at all, it just gives everyone an idea of what type of body build you are.

Human means you are average in all ways.

Elves are tall and skinny.

Pixies are very short and petite.

Trolls/Ogres/Orcs are all going to be big and strong for the most part. Trolls are bigger than ogres. Orcs are closer to human size but much stronger.

Dwarves are short, fat, and like beer.

Gnomes are going to be short and pretty average sized.

If one fits you, other than the height, then throw "half-" in front of it. That means that you are half human, half whatever and you share characteristics with both. When I started I was round(er), I have a beard, and I love beer. The only thing that didn't fit with dwarves was my height, so I went with half-dwarf.

[Morrigainz]

But...but...*I'm* a half dwarf!

[Bumblebee4]

But...but...*I'm* a half dwarf!

And what's your other half? Shouldn't y'all have 2 halves?

[Loren Wade]

And what's your other half? Shouldn't y'all have 2 halves?

When said half-elf or half-dwarf, unless specified it's assumed as half-human.

[joeyb]

And what's your other half? Shouldn't y'all have 2 halves?

The other half is assumed to be human unless otherwise specified.

But...but...*I'm* a half dwarf!

You can't have two people be the same race? That's racist. In all seriousness, I think that half-dwarf females take after their human side in terms of facial hair if that was your concern. BTW, it won't let me respond to your PM because your message box is full.

[Bumblebee4]

When said half-elf or half-dwarf, unless specified it's assumed as half-human.

Ahhh I see! Learn something new everyday.

[Elastigirl]

Looks kind of confusing. But I do like how Spezzy laid it out 1 step at a time. I already know my goals. I just have to plug it all in. And remember it's to make it more fun, and not get stressed about making sure the numbers are perfect.

[mandy75]

One thing is I can't figure out how to incorporate my workouts, in to goals. Last challenge it was easy, I was going to the gym 3 days week, had a goal of 4 and surpassed it by going 6. I do classes(that's the only option at my gym) but every class is different, we rarely do the same thing twice, so I can't set a goal. If I make it through a class and don't die, goal met. As far as diet, everyday I don't eat a grain of some kind, goal met. Life goal, next week, I'm getting on an airplane, that is my biggest fear in life, if I don't die, goal met. I can't think of a thing that tops that for me. On the character, I guess I would have to pick human. I am trying to figure out who and what I am, not what character I would want to be or what I'm most like.

I have no idea to to assign any of that points and grades and what ever. But aside from all that, this is taking what should be simple, in to something way over complicated. I am not, and don't ever want to be an RPG player, so maybe that's why this is just is not interesting me.

[Elastigirl]

One thing is I can't figure out how to incorporate my workouts, in to goals. Last challenge it was easy, I was going to the gym 3 days week, had a goal of 4 and surpassed it by going 6. I do classes(that's the only option at my gym) but every class is different, we rarely do the same thing twice, so I can't set a goal. If I make it through a class and don't die, goal met. As far as diet, everyday I don't eat a grain of some kind, goal met. Life goal, next week, I'm getting on an airplane, that is my biggest fear in life, if I don't die, goal met. I can't think of a thing that tops that for me. On the character, I guess I would have to pick human. I am trying to figure out who and what I am, not what character I would want to be or what I'm most like.

I have no idea to to assign any of that points and grades and what ever. But aside from all that, this is taking what should be simple, in to something way over complicated. I am not, and don't ever want to be an RPG player, so maybe that's why this is just is not interesting me.

Mandy, if you don't want to do the challenge, that is fine. No requirement. That said, I will never be an RPG'er either. And I was a little overwhelmed, and I don't like change. So my first thought was what the? But, then i thougt, why not, maybe it'll be fun. You never know until you try. For goals, I picked how many times a week I was going to do something (my challenge link is in my signature) You could do the same ie Go to gym 4 x week. For Bread say something like 99% of the time grain free. And your life goal is getting on an airplane. The points I just sort of randomly distributed trying a little to match them to my goals, really having no idea what I was doing. Oh well, its just a game. You should give yourself major points for the airplane thing though-great way of confronting your fears!

[Anivair]

Super psyched. I will be spending a lot of time in the next few days pulling this together. I'm thinking that my challenge will be MovNat flavored, so expect to see me returning to my ranger roots.

[spezzy]

Do we get points for participating in challenges from other guilds? For example, my long-term goals are assassin related, but my short-term goal is to lose weight, so I've been doing a lot of running. It would be beneficial to me to participate in the challenges for both the assassin and scout guilds. I'm going to do it no matter what, I'm just wondering if we get rewarded for it.

Nope - unfortunately it's only from your main guild.

Apparently I am not nerd-enough. That was all way too much information, overwhelming, confusing, generally made no sense, and just seemed over the top complicated to bother keeping up with for 6weeks.. Role playing just isn't my thing I guess. I'll be sitting out this challenge. Good look to everyone else though.

Mandy - I've attempted to move around the information a bit to make it easier to understand and added in a "don't want to do the nerdpart" checklist/option You will still need to pick a class though.

The only things that have really changed is how we're organizing (by class) and I came up with a way to grade ourselves to make it so that everyone is grading the same way. The 6 weeks will be no different - it's just work on your goals and update about them - there's no RPG aspect in that. You're not updating attributes or anything throughout the challenge.

Race? Please help us noobs out. Here's my interpretation of each race and I'm sure they mean something else in RPG

I've moved the races to be 100% optional as they were just for fun anyways and where most people seem to be getting stuck. They don't mean anything.

*rolls dice* You are crushed by a falling Wall of Information. You take 71 points of damage, and must re-start your quest.

Does the checklist help?

One thing is I can't figure out how to incorporate my workouts, in to goals. Last challenge it was easy, I was going to the gym 3 days week, had a goal of 4 and surpassed it by going 6. I do classes(that's the only option at my gym) but every class is different, we rarely do the same thing twice, so I can't set a goal. If I make it through a class and don't die, goal met. As far as diet, everyday I don't eat a grain of some kind, goal met. Life goal, next week, I'm getting on an airplane, that is my biggest fear in life, if I don't die, goal met. I can't think of a thing that tops that for me. On the character, I guess I would have to pick human. I am trying to figure out who and what I am, not what character I would want to be or what I'm most like.

I have no idea to to assign any of that points and grades and what ever. But aside from all that, this is taking what should be simple, in to something way over complicated. I am not, and don't ever want to be an RPG player, so maybe that's why this is just is not interesting me.

Mandy, if your goal is to attend classes, what kind of classes are they? Say they're 1 hour long and is like zumba or something, right?

I'd say that means they increase your stamina and dexterity, and going increases your wisdom, so STA +2, DEX +2, WIS +1

...I just made that up, because it doesn't really matter The attribute points are just for fun, and don't really matter.

You could assign all points for each goal to wisdom, it doesn't matter

[Strawberry Squatcake]

Don't think of how they look, but more the body build. It doesn't affect the challenge at all, it just gives everyone an idea of what type of body build you are.

Human means you are average in all ways.

Elves are tall and skinny.

Pixies are very short and petite.

Trolls/Ogres/Orcs are all going to be big and strong for the most part. Trolls are bigger than ogres. Orcs are closer to human size but much stronger.

Dwarves are short, fat, and like beer.

Gnomes are going to be short and pretty average sized.

So can I be half-dwarf (fat+beer), half-ginger (human+awesome)? ;-)

Seriously, though, this is very helpful. I googled some of the terms and was leaning toward gnome because I couldn't find a description that fit me, and didn't want to be a boring human, and the gnome I have in my garden has a pot belly (plus gnome was described as introverted). Am I wrong that race is more of a creative way to describe yourself than something that impacts the challenge?

I'm torn on guilds. I think I'm letting the way the forums were setup before impact me, but want to make sure I'm going the right direction. I don't do Crossfit - I try to do heavy lifting but don't want to leave cardio/endurance fitness out. I don't want to drop into the undecided group only because this is my second challenge and being specific/focused works well for me. That said, my primary goal is strength. However, focusing only on strength last challenge I lost a lot of my cardiovascular endurance (-10). So based on this info where should I be? Go Warrior and do cardio on the side/separate from challenge? Or go Ranger (or whatever the Crossfit group is) even though I don't do Crossfit.

I realize I CAN do either, just looking for a little guidance from a professional to get the most out of the challenge!

I also know I'm over-complicating things, but am excited to give this a try. I've never done anything like this before!

PS- Thanks spezzy for taking the time to set this up. I follow you on Twitter and saw you working endless hours on this. Props! (Do people still say "props?")

[Oklibrarian]

*thinks a moment*

Yeah, I'm a hobbit, if you'll grant me having a bit of Belladonna Took Wayyy back there in the family tree (I get itchy without an adventure/goal). But yeah...Shortish, roundish, brown wavy hair, friendly, historically sedentary/scholarly (though I can and do defend my turf in a pinch) and I eat too much. All I lack is the feet. This could be fun, I'm a little worried that the mechanics will get in the way of the game, but that's why the good Lord invented Playtesting.

[spezzy]

Also: a sample/template character sheet would be so awesome.

Like this?

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AnL943o3CTUvdE9KMk1pRVJITFFmd04wT3BpR043c1E

Sorry guys, I guess I didn't think this was involved enough to have character sheets...

[Artinum]

Apparently I am not nerd-enough. That was all way too much information, overwhelming, confusing, generally made no sense, and just seemed over the top complicated to bother keeping up with for 6weeks.. Role playing just isn't my thing I guess. I'll be sitting out this challenge. Good look to everyone else though.

It was a big WHAM of information on me at first. The checklist helped. I don't want to pointlessly repeat information already given, so I'll just say that if you're still unclear you're welcome to drop me a message and I'll do what I can to clear it up. The only part of the challenge you especially need to follow is the profession (warrior, ranger, etc) so you can be slotted into the right group - the stuff with attributes is largely optional and the race is just a bit of fun.

[Strawberry Squatcake]

Sorry guys, I guess I didn't think this was involved enough to have character sheets...

Spezzy you're the best! Thanks for all the time/thought you've put into this to make the challenges more fun, engaging, organized and fair. I think this whole thing is awesome! I think the race thing was a little confusing for those of us who have never done RPG, and beyond that some of us newer members are struggling to find our "home." But NF is so dang welcoming, helpful, we'll all find our place and a solid plan for world peace by Monday!

[Oklibrarian]

Kelly, I don't think ranger neccessarily =crossfit, at least I hope it doesn't. (I consider myself a ranger and it's gonna take me another good 6 months of stamina building before I'm brave enough to try crossfit). I see it as more of a crosstraining/ multi-interest thing. I want to be a "jack of all trades" who can run (or at least slowly jog) 5k, lift semi-heavy things, get into reasonably challenging yoga poses, think quickly in a crisis, and not trip over thin air. To go to the LOTR well again, think Aragorn. Gimli was brawnier, Legolas was better with an arrow (and had that whole "Oliphant Parkour" thing going in the movies), while Aragorn had a grounding in everything and the brain and leadership skills needed to build a team and lead them to victory.

[Loren Wade]

Nope, Ranger does not = CrossFit. CrossFit = Ranger though. Ranger is simply the mix of warrior and scout.

[weirdquark]

So can I be half-dwarf (fat+beer), half-ginger (human+awesome)? ;-)

Seriously, though, this is very helpful. I googled some of the terms and was leaning toward gnome because I couldn't find a description that fit me, and didn't want to be a boring human, and the gnome I have in my garden has a pot belly (plus gnome was described as introverted). Am I wrong that race is more of a creative way to describe yourself than something that impacts the challenge?

I'm torn on guilds. I think I'm letting the way the forums were setup before impact me, but want to make sure I'm going the right direction. I don't do Crossfit - I try to do heavy lifting but don't want to leave cardio/endurance fitness out. I don't want to drop into the undecided group only because this is my second challenge and being specific/focused works well for me. That said, my primary goal is strength. However, focusing only on strength last challenge I lost a lot of my cardiovascular endurance (-10). So based on this info where should I be? Go Warrior and do cardio on the side/separate from challenge? Or go Ranger (or whatever the Crossfit group is) even though I don't do Crossfit.

I realize I CAN do either, just looking for a little guidance from a professional to get the most out of the challenge!

I also know I'm over-complicating things, but am excited to give this a try. I've never done anything like this before!

PS- Thanks spezzy for taking the time to set this up. I follow you on Twitter and saw you working endless hours on this. Props! (Do people still say "props?")

If your primary goals are strength, I'd go with warrior class. I'm calling myself a warrior/assassin because a lot of my goals for this challenge are body-weight exercise related, but multi-class/ranger doesn't fit the conception of my character/me so I'm going with the warrior guild anyway. I think it's fine to have goals in other guilds -- it's not like warriors don't also need to have good endurance for long marches, and swinging a sword for hours on end in battle takes a lot of endurance too. But if you think your goals are more balanced, then you might want to go ranger -- don't think of it as the Crossfit guild, but as the 'do a little bit of everything' guild.

[Crooked]

Really really pumped for this! I'm not an RPGer at all, but this seems fun! I think this should be pretty similar to past challenges except that there are opportunities to get a little nerdier. As some others have said, if the game aspect is freaking you out, it's basically the same as before except you're putting yourself in a category/class for the sake of where you're posting your challenge thread. I don't think any of the other stuff is really required. Pick your goals and, IF YOU WANT, assign points values to them. The whole NF concept is inherently choose-your-own-adventure - if there's something you're not interested in doing, find something else you'd rather do and make the challenge your own.

[Eurydice]

This is awesome. I'm loving the LARP-ness of it all. The race/character class/dots in Attribute X aspect just ups the awesome, in my opinion.

I'd say we should have skill trees next time, but programs like Convict Conditioning and (sort of) Starting Strength already have them built in.

[Leimanu]

Neat. I think this'll be the kinda thing that I have to learn as I go, but the basic 6wk challenge is there. The attribute points are a little hazy yet, but I'll just play around. I never got too involved in the different Guilds, so this'll be cool to visit other places. Good way to be open to other fitness opportunities. I like the little role-playing thing.

You can make up for own race, too. I'm gonna use some creativity and imagination. Really make up my nerdy profession.