Every year in December we host WorldEmber! A one month challenge to write ten thousand words, with a chance to win big prizes.
WorldEmber 2018 was even bigger, better and shinier than our first year in 2017, and it turned out to be an incredible showing of creativity from our community. In the end there were 3532 competitors, and over 29,600 articles written!
So without further ado, welcome to our 2018 Winners List.
Most Words
Acolitus took away the prize for Most Words in WorldEmber 2018, with a stunning 246,216 words written!
Most Liked Article
Most Liked Article went to the adorable Floofy Dragons by Jonil02! Who doesn’t love fluffy, adorable dragons? It should be a crime to make something so cute.
Most Liked Article (Staff League)
Most Liked Article in the Staff League went to TJ Trewin’s WorldEmber Begins. It was a close race with second place, but TJ pulled ahead with this community encouragement journal!
Most Total Likes
Most Total Likes (across all participating articles and worlds) went to Qurillion! 789 likes in total were wracked up by this like-wizard.
Most Total Likes (Staff League)
Most Total Likes (across all participating articles and worlds) in the Staff League went to Ademal, with 175 likes!
Human of the Match
Human of the Match is our category for someone who was a great sport with quality entries often ranking in many categories, but didn’t win any other prize. This year it went to Oneriwien!
Special Category Winner: Item
WorldEmber’s first special category (a new system we trialed this year!) was Item. This category was sponsored by DrawLabs, board game creators extraordinaire! Their latest game Say Whaaat? is too fun to say outloud!
The winner of Item was YesLittlehummingbird with Dark Gold, a precious fabric, commended by the judges for not even needing a magical item to be a unique article.
Special Category Winner: Spell
The Spell category was sponsored by the creative folks at Cantrip Candles – atmospheric scented candles for your next D&D game. We love the Goldwheat Bakery candle!
This year there was hotly contested competition in their category. However the winner who drew ahead was ElementalShrike with Habitus, the odd occurrence of tools getting used to you.
Special Category Winner: Species
The Species category was sponsored by Creature Curator and artist Brian Colin, expert creator of strange beasties. Check out his Cardography dungeon crawl module for some tabletop fun.
The winner this year was Meteorite Tick by Qurilion, a potentially freaky alien invader to his world. Wouldn’t want to meet one of these in a dark alley…
Special Category Winner: Myth/Legend
Ironrise Games, creators of the wonderful world of Spirel and the Ironrise boardgame set in that same world, sponsored Myth or Legend! (psst, did you know they’ve given away their CSS theme for free to guild members? Go check it out in your Config panel!)
The Ironrise Team had to think long and hard on this pick, but they decided on with the Second Telling of the Supplication of Toke by Seraaron! A well crafted creation myth that’ll be sure to inspire your own.
Special Category Winner: Plot
The Plot Category was brought to us by Guy Sclanders, of the How to be a Great Game Master Youtube channel! He has plenty of advise on how to write your own plot in his videos.
With such a prestigious judge, the competition was hot. The winner this year was the Ancient City by Qurilion, a common narrative found across Qurilion’s world.
Special Category Winner: Building
The folks at DungeonFog – the dungeon map builder you’ll never stop loving once you try it – judged the Building category. They had a hard time deciding due to the quality of the entries.
However, finally they settled on Reyvera’s article Viktor Wolf’s house. A detailed breakdown of the home of alchemist Viktor Wolf and his strange tools and laboratories. Till even built a map of this winning entry using DungeonFog for the awards ceremony!
Special Category Winner: Character
Guy Sclanders and the How to be A Great Game Master channel had a double showing this year! Because judging just one category isn’t enough, Guy put his hand up for two! Parker Malachi by ChaosTearKitsune won the Character category, with a beautifully illustrated profile of a dhampyr.
Special Category Winner: Vehicle
TableTop Loot, purveyors of the shiniest, most desirable RPG dice around, judged the Vehicle category this year. Someone get me the Wild Magic dice will you?
TableTop Loot’s selection for Vehicle went to Dragon Turtles by Ikenbon. If such an interesting title wasn’t enough to entice you, just imagine a caravan of giant tortoises. Interested now?
Special Category Winner: Settlement
These next categories were bestowed by our wonderful Deity level guild members! We’re always super grateful for their support. The Settlement Category was judged by Nevermore, who if you aren’t following on Twitch for his beautiful settlement maps, you should be now.
B.K Bass won the Settlement category with Northampton. An immensely detailed delve into the capital of a fantasy duchy.
Special Category Winner: Technology
Vetixico, our Deity of Ice, judged the Technology article. Vertixico’s article covers were also a sponsor of WorldEmber this year. You can check them out on Patreon. His chosen winner was SierraKomodo and Hyper-Train! A new breakthrough in interstellar cargo hauling.
Special Category Winner: Organization
Tarkol bestowed the Organization category this year. The Deity of Wonder had a strong selection of articles to choose between. Ultimately, the Circle of Ozahn by Barron took the title though. An intriguing look at a guild of big game hunters in the world of Ethnis.
Special Category Winner: Material
The Material Category came from our Deity of Passion, Kyo. The winner was Ichor by Hyperax, a soul rotting liquid that should scare you right away from it.
Special Category Winner: Ethnicity
The Ethnicity category was judged by the esteemed Deity of Dragons, BasicDragon! If you love dragons, give her a Twitch follow. This year, the winner went to Pestrib by ElementalShrike. An ancient eagle people who are described in splendid detail.
Special Category Winner: Condition
The Deity of Plots, Ademal, bestowed the title of Best Condition. You probably know this deity from his Ethnis project. The winning condition had to be a good one. Smartassery by Avalokitesha is both interesting and comedic. After all, what if sarcasm really was a disease?
Special Category Winner: Geography
The Geography category was granted from on high by Sap and Stars, our Deity of Trees. The winning Geography was the Umbral Shroud by Necrolight132. The edge of the world given physical manifestation.
Special Category Winner: Tradition
The Deity of Resolutions descended from Olympus to bestow the Tradition winner! You know him as our Master of Games, Barron. This year the Tradition category went to Angjao by XanthussMarduk. An oriental inspired folk religion well worth a read.
Special Category Winner: Document
The Document category was given by our Deity of Madness, Laughing Prophet. The Document category was a busy one, and the ultimate prize went to the Ballad of Kyril, by Anzbananz!
Special Category Winner: Law
Eeon descended from his lofty perch to judge the winner of the Law category. Qurilion took home another win with Narrative. Compliments to his winning article, explaining the law of metaphysical narratives.
Special Category Winner: Military Formation
Military Formation was given by the Deity of Wine, SirElghinn. We don’t encourage drinking wine when forming militaries, though. The winning article went to Flight by ElementalShrike! A peek at how a bird race would organise their military formations
Special Category Winner: Profession
The Profession category was bestowed by AvantGeek, the Deity of Fire. Mix a bit of ink and a bit of magic, and you get a Rune Tattooist, the winning profession by ChaostearKitsune. A stunningly illustrated guide to this odd profession in her world.
Special Category Winner: Rank/Title
Rank or Title was judged by World Anvil itself! The founders Dimitris and Janet got together to bestow this high prize. The honours went to Mwandi by Solkyoshiro. In the world of Swordsfall, a Mwandi is a spirit medium housing the soul of a king.
Special Category Winner: Language
Judging for the Language category was conducted by our very own Queen of the Anvil, Janet. Her winning choice was Druidic by Ondo! The mother tongue of the druids of Eirean.
Special Category Winner: Military Conflict
The Military Conflict was judged by World Anvil developer Dimitris. The quality of entries so high we got a double winner in this category.
Duel (or perhaps that should be ‘dual’) first prize went to the Great War by Tarkol and the Battle of the Alse by Dhelian. Both outstanding examples of how to write a war, especially if you’re like me and don’t know where to start.
Massive congratulations to everyone who participated in WorldEmber 2018. The real prize, always with World Anvil competitions, was the amazing community spirit and the progress everyone made on their worldbuilding.
I, for one, can’t wait for next year!
The WorldEmber Challenge Page is now open again and you can check out all the entries here.
