Welcome to Gaia! ::

The sky shimmered in the summer breeze as Granny and Don Quixote emerged from the library. The air was warm and sticky, and the calls of birds could be heard in the distance.

"Splendid day, is it not, my lady?" said Don Quixote as he looked out on the abandoned city. "Tis the land of adventures! I'll bet there's a dragon right around that corner, waiting to be slain by a heroic knight such as myself! Look, there's one now!"

Granny smiled patiently at Don Quixote, not wanting to upset the proud knight, and answered gently. "Are you sure? It seems to me that it is a windmill, and there is some sign or other about miniature golf, whatever that is."

"So it is not a dragon?" the knight said with a frown. "I know I have been wrong in the past, but I really had this feeling... Oh! Nevermind! There is all the time in the world in this glorious new land!" He paused for a moment and began again. "You may not believe this, but most people at home thought me a foolish old man."

"Oh, really?" said Granny, with as much fake surprise in her voice as she could muster.

"Yes, indeed. It is a sad thing, but I want to prove my worth to these young people by doing brave and daring deeds."

Granny nodded. "I know what you mean. No one takes me very seriously anymore either."

In the distance, both could see what looked like Tom Sawyer and Alice, trying to shove a white rabbit into a shoe box.

"These belligerent youths are becoming sillier and sillier by the moment," Dr. Van Helsing remarked as he joined Granny and Don Quixote. Both nodded in agreement, and the professor continued. "I've been scouting out the area, trying to find a safe place to reside while we sort out this strange situation. A few new acquaintances and I have just recently stumbled across a haven for the wise and aged people in this new land, if you care to join us."

The professor motioned towards a sunny yellow building with porch swings and rocking chairs located by the entry way, and neat shrubberies adorning the freshly washed windows of the guest rooms. In front of the building was a friendly sign that read, "NAME GOES HERE."

"A dragon!" the knight exclaimed, drawing his sword in his excitement.

"Sorry, deary," Granny replied. "It's a nursing home, not a dragon. But, this may prove to be a more exciting adventure than a dragon. And, do, please put that sword away. It worries me."

Don Quixote put the sword back in its sheath, and Dr. Van Helsing led the pair to the front of the establishment. Greeting the trio at the door was a round, lusty woman, Alison; a fat, drunken old knight, John Falstaff; a sleepy looking man from colonial America, Rip Van Winkle; and a malevolent old maid, Ms. Havisham. Together, this strange band of senior citizens entered the nursing home to embrace their new destinies. They were greeted by caring nurses, delicious tapioca pudding, medicine galore, and best of all, no children. What was in store for these brave geriatric patients? Join us and find out!

Friday
Game: Who is the better knight?
Participants: G-Fire and Inky
Synopsis: The two knights will roleplay having a rivalry games such as seeing who can take their pills first, and seeing who can gain as many ladies to serve (they must accept the service proposal). Guests can suggest games, root them on, and even join in as allies.
Prizes: None - strictly roleplay
Task for completion: - Get with the other knight roleplayer before the ball begins, and figure out when you will both be on at the same time for at least an hour, preferably on Friday.


Game: Get off my lawn!
Participants: all
Synopsis: Each character will have an orphan equipped, representing an annoying kid that character wants off his or her lawn. Each character will provide a different challenge to guests, such a finding funny pictures or rolling dice to get the kid of of the lawn. After one person wins a challenge, the cast member in charge of the task will unequip the orphan, and present a prize to the winner. I recommend having two challenges at a time, with a new one filling the gap when one is completed. My reasoning is so that they will have options without there being a confused explosion of posts/PMs.
Prizes: TBA
Task for completion: Be thinking of a task that you want your guests to complete. Try not to make the odds harder than getting one number out of 25 or 30 in a random number generator, but don't make it as easy as "first lolcat pic wins!" Something such as "The first lolcat pic to make my ancient bladder fail wins!" is much better. Post your ideas in the games thread, or you can start a new thread for "Get off my lawn" if you want, and head up the thread.

Saturday
Game: Scavenger hunt
Participants: led by Alv and G-Fire
Synopsis:
Prizes:
Task for Completion:

Game: Hide and Seek
Participants: Option 1 - Inky, Option 2 - Misty
Synopsis:
Option 1 - It is time once again for the crusty old seniors to have their baths, but Don Quixote is not too keen on the idea. Instead, he decides to hide from his would be bathers. This game is meant to be bust a gut funny, so enjoy!
Option 2 - It is time once again for the crusty old seniors to have their baths, but Rip Van Winkle has fallen asleep somewhere or other. Find Rip and wake him up! Again, this is supposed to be bust a gut funny, so enjoy!
Prizes: TBA
Task for Completion:
Option 1 - Guests will roleplay trying to find him, and once he is found, the guests will try to entice him/trick him into the bath, much like capturing a pokemon. Picture posts may work well for this, but we might change it up a bit.
Option 2 - Same as above, but you have to wake him up before you can lure him to the baths.

Game: Wheelchair races
Participants: All, led by G-Fire
Synopsis: Guests will race each other, and sometimes race hosts. Small prizes will be awarded for beating different characters.
Prizes: TBA
Task for Completion: A list of participants will be made, and each two participants will roll a 20-sided dice once to "race" their wheelchairs. The highest number wins. Those who beat other guests may challenge the cast members. More details will come later.

Sunday
Game: Conclude Scavenger hunt
Participants: Alv and G-Fire, etc
Synopsis:
Prizes:
Task for Completion:

Game: Bake-off with Granny
Time: noon to 4PM Central
Participants: Gwen and guests
Synopsis: Granny loves baking, but Ms. Havisham decided to troll Granny by removing the labels from Granny's baking supplies. Now, she doesn't know what she is putting in her mixing bowl.
Prizes: TBA
Task for Completion: Granny will have six ingredients for the guests to choose from. Each guest will post three of the six ingredients in a post in the thread, but each only gets one guess. The winning combination will make a cake or something for everyone to share. If my math is correct, these numbers should allow for twenty combinations of three from the group of six, provided that order doesn't matter. Therefore, this endeavor should not take too long.

Pill Sorting
Participants: Daku and whoever else wants to play
Synopsis: Alison accidentally knocked over the bottles of pills, and needs help with the clues to put the pills back where they belong.
Prizes: TBA
Task for Completion: Guests will complete a crossword puzzle of literary clues, and e-mail their answer lists to Daku. This one can last all weekend, but I would cap the number of winners to about 15 or 20. I also recommend housing this in a guild with a link.


****Note: These are suggestions of ways to fill up the days without leaving dead periods of sheer boredom. If you feel that the roleplaying is going great without them, do not feel the need to push them. However, if things start getting slow, one of these activities (if the necessary participants are online) is a great ways to help guests have fun and speed up the room a bit.

Funds Distribution Goes Here

Current Room Funds - 1.6 million
Expected Room Funds - 2 million
Expected Ball Funds - 3 million
Total Expected Funds - 5 million

King and Queen Prizes - 1 million
Art Contest Prizes - 750k
Writing Contest Prizes - 750k
Plot Game Prizes - 2 million
Buffer Funds - 500k
*Artist to be paid from private funds unless we have some left over.

*Note - Current distributions are purely theoretical right now, and will likely be changed many times before the ball.