Royal Road Anniversary

New to the celebration? start reading from here. Otherwise, skip to the "16th-day" section to get the answer for the cipher and read about the new tags. 

Greetings fellow Royal Travelers, 

On this marvelous day of October 31st, we leveled up yet again. It's the birthday party, and everyone’s invited! For the celebration banquet, we’re kicking it off with a couple of entertaining events.

To match the celebratory mood for the next 24 hours, we have changed the standard avatar picture, as well as the base cover art.

We want to thank our loyal Royal readers and authors. Knowing you enjoy using the site keeps us passionate to continue improving it. 

Recently, we implemented a new unique border feature to allow users to pick between every border they ever had as they leveled up. You can find it here: https://www.royalroad.com/user/borders. You can also read about the potential borders and how to level up here: https://www.royalroad.com/blog/23/leveled-up.

This year was a little tough, so we want to give our premium users a special thanks for supporting us financially. Accordingly, we will start adding new unique borders for premium users, which they can use to show off their status.

To receive a Premium profile border, you must have an active Premium Subscription during the timeframe in which it is available for adding.
If you have an active Premium Subscription during that timeframe, the Premium profile border will be added to your Border Wardrobe automatically, for use at any time while you have an active Premium Subscription.

You can check the available custom borders in the border wardrobe https://www.royalroad.com/user/borders.

Halloween themed border - will be available to be added to the wardrobe from October 31st to November 6th. 
Birthday themed border  - will be available to be added to the wardrobe from October 31st to November 30th.

 

For our starter event, we are kicking it off with our 3rd Writathon contest! This includes an opportunity to win a free premium membership for all the participants. 

 

Royal Road WRITATHON!

Royal Writathon is Royal Road’s writing challenge to our users. To win, you need to write at least 55,555 words in 5 weeks. 

You can only participate with an Original novel. 

It can be a new story, or you can continue an old one. But the 55,555 words have to be over one story. 

First Milestone:

Write at least 25,000 words by November 15th to qualify for the announced participants' list. 

The list will be announced to everyone, and it will show the fictions that are seriously participating in this challenge to make it easier for readers to find those stories.   

Second Milestone: 

Finish writing 55,555 words before December 5th, 2020. 

If you complete this milestone by the deadline, you will count as a winner of this challenge (even if you didn’t make it in time for the first Milestone)!   


Rewards: 

All winners will receive a 1-month author premium (can be used or gifted per request). 
All winners will also receive an Achievement!

Extra Rule:

For the duration of the contest, the story can’t include sexual content.

The story can’t be a Fanfiction. 


How to submit your fiction: 

To participate:

Add [participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge] in the description of your story.

And register by filling this form after you submit your story: 

 

If this is your first fictional story submission, you can follow these steps: 

  1. Register for an account on Royal Road if you have not already. This can be easily done here.
  2. Click Write on the navigation bar, which will take you to The Author Dashboard.
  3. Click [Add New]
  4. Fill in the Title and Description. Select the genres and additional tags. Fill in your first chapter's title and the content of your first chapter.
  5. Upload a cover image that is 400x600 pixels or larger (this is optional).
  6. Click Submit.
  7. All new submissions are manually checked for appropriate tagging and plagiarism, so expect it to take between 12-24 hours for a submission to be approved. Please be patient.
  8. Note: Please do not include links in your description.
  9. Note: If you do not select fanfiction for stories based on others' work or do not choose the content Warnings appropriate for your story, the submission will be rejected.
  10. Once your fiction has been approved, you can find it by going to The Author Dashboard, found in your username dropdown menu “My Fictions” (top right corner), or by clicking on [Write] in the site header.
  11. Add additional chapters by clicking [Add New Chapter].

 

Solve The Code

Skip to "The 16th-day" section, to find the solution. 

For the glory of the Empire, we need your help to decipher a code.

Our spy has spent the last year infiltrating Tadpoleon’s army. He always contacted us secretly with ciphered codes that no one else would think to check.

The person that usually works on this was lost to us when he succumbed to isekaitus. The last we saw of him, he was declaring himself to be the chosen one.
Tadpoleon’s party will be joining our celebration soon in an attempt to improve our diplomatic relations. Our spy will decipher it for us at that time - but we fear that it might be too late by then. What if there is important news in this message? 

We need to know the truth as soon as possible. Please check this image and try to decipher the code!

Deadline: November 15th (IDLW timezone) 
Reward: Special achievement. 

 

 
Hints:
1. To get to the next stage, you need this incomplete URL: www.royalroad.com/pages/
2. To get to the next stage, do what you are asked to do in the comics. 
 
***

The 16th day!

At the start of the celebration, we asked for your help to solve a cipher.

However, the responses were alarming! Now that we know how to solve the cipher, let me explain it to you:

First, you scan the barcode and get the number “123567564”.
To get to the next stage, you need to follow the instructions and “double the trouble,” which is listed in the image.

Following the hint, you put the word “trouble” twice in the URL: 
https://www.royalroad.com/pages/troubletrouble.

Once you open the link, you will find a locked page that requires a password. You can use the barcode number as the password to enter that page.

 

There you will find a message, written with the backward cipher (A = Z), (B = Y)… 

You can start figuring it out from the title, which is underlined and matches the title in the cover art itself.

“Gsv Rmxivwryov Gzwklovlm& Gsv Hfkvi Vnkivhh 

The Incredible Tadpoleon& The Super Empress Penguin”

The rest of the translated ciphered message is as follows:

Glory be to the Empire,
As suspected, Tadpoleon started conscripting people into his army. It is unknown if he wishes to attack the Empire.
After spending a year by his side, I discovered that the elegant leader has a deep fascination with science fiction stories.
If you wish to uphold the peace, I recommend distracting him with glorious fiction.
royalroad.com/pages/Event4October2020

The link leads to a page with a big drawing of “The Incredible Tadpoleon.”

 

When we first received the cipher, we asked for your help and advice moving forward. 
Many people suggested we follow the spy’s suggestion to advance the science fiction stories on the site and distract Tadpoleon with it.

However, others have brought to our attention the spy’s intention. Can he be trusted? 
Not only does he continue to glorify Tadpoleon, calling him an incredible and elegant leader, but he sent us a giant mural of him and suggested for us to pay ‘tribute’ to uphold the peace as if we need to fear him.

The main fear we have of Tadpoleon is that he is incredibly charismatic. The first time he visited us was on April Fool’s 2019. His charisma was so strong, our people fell for it, and they were ready to lay down their arms and follow him. You can read all about that here, in the blog post:  https://www.royalroad.com/blog/22/april-fools-day-2019.

So just in case, we decided to advance the visibility of sci-fi on the site by adding relevant tags to make it easier to search for sci-fi related stories.

Some of these tags aren’t hardcore sci-fi but we felt it is time to add them anyway. These tags are on a trial period and could be removed based on their reception in the next few months. Per request, on this forum post https://www.royalroad.com/forums/thread/106739 we may add more sci-fi related tags on the site in the next few days.

If you wrote a story that incorporated the elements of these tags, please edit your story to tag it appropriately.
You can do that by going to the author dashboard https://www.royalroad.com/author-dashboard, then by clicking your fiction’s cover and going to its dashboard, where you can edit the title, description, and the Tags.

The newly added tags: 

Time Travel - Characters directly travel through time, possibly within the same timeline, alternate timelines, or even creating new timelines.
Loop - Characters relive the same time period through a loop; may or may not involve alternate timelines.
Artificial Intelligence - A subgenre focusing on characters or major actors that are advanced AI.
Genetically Engineered - Characters are genetically modified to be superior to their original species.
Technologically Engineered - Characters are enhanced or created through technology, such as cyborgs or robots.
First Contact - A story focusing on the first meeting between two or more species or societies and the events that occur because of it.
Hard Sci-fi - Uses theoretically possible science and attempts to explain how the science works; does not include fantasy elements.
Soft Sci-fi - Uses futuristic-type science, but doesn't explain how the technology works and the science isn’t necessarily realistic or feasible.
Progression Characters work to improve themselves over time rather than acquiring rapid growth, usually through training, grinding, studying, and/or introspection.
Dystopia - A society where the common person's living conditions are undesirable or frightening, often with a totalitarian government/authority.


Meanwhile, Tadpoleon arrived at the party and is being calm and respectful, but I can’t find our spy. We shall keep an eye out for anything else Tadpoleon might do.
Not to be distracted by the Toad’s actions. We shall now introduce those that took on the challenge and wrote 25,000 words in 16 days since the start of the Writathon!

You can find them here https://www.royalroad.com/pages/writathon102020.

***

We hope you will enjoy the celebration with us and that you will continue to enjoy using Royal Road.

If you have any suggestions to continue improving the site, please comment below or add it to suggest.royalroad.com.

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Comments(320)

Wing
Admin

Wing on

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO EVERYONE! 

memahalo

memahalo on

Happy Anniversary Royal Road! Thanks for being an awesome platform for our drug literature needs!

Also shoutouts to all the admins, authors, and people who help keep this site running

starvingsloth

starvingsloth on

Oh my, another new event!

Happy Birthday Royal Road!

Is the new border available after we no longer be premium user? For example I want to be premium for November only to get the new premium borders..

    pewpewcachoo

    pewpewcachoo on

    Sloths are my spirit animal.

    Wing
    Admin

    Wing on

    If you stop being premium, your collection in the wardrobe will not be affected. However, you can only "wear" the borders when you reactivate your premium account. 
    The purpose of the unique borders is to display better those that have active premium accounts. Previously we had the word [Premium] Under the username instead(in comments). Now to the same effect, we are displaying it in a better way.

    Example: If you had a premium in November, you would get November's borders & you can publicly display them

    In December, if you paused your premium, you won't be able to display the premium borders, but the borders you took earlier will remain in your wardrobe.

    In January, if you decided to enable your premium again, you would be able to display November's borders (you would also get new borders from January).


     

      starvingsloth

      starvingsloth on

      Alright, thanks! Does that imply we'll get new borders from time to time? Will there be a new border each time there's an event? If I decided to be premium after November, will there ever be a chance for me to get these November borders, or it's strictly one time only for each premium borders?

      Wing
      Admin

      Wing on

      As it is planned now, there will be at least 1 border per month. 
      Some months will include 2 borders, with the first border being normal, and the second border having certain limitations.
      For example, you can collect the border, but you need to be at least level 5 to wear it.

      starvingsloth

      starvingsloth on

      I see. If I missed some of the early premium badges, can I get the again somehow or will they be lost forever? Actually this question can also be extended to other special achievements. Is there a way to get all achievements?

      Wing
      Admin

      Wing on

      We already commissioned enough borders to last us for more than 2 years. The current idea is to never reuse the borders.
      But, that will be decided based on the success of this program, which will be only be seen over the next 2 years.  

      TSUN

      TSUN on

      Hopefully not any reputation requirements, getting up another level can take ages. Levels you can at least make a lot of reviews and comments bam bam bam. Idk

Endless Paving

Endless Paving on

Yay!

All the things!

All the good things!

Briizy

Briizy on

Quick question -- where do we submit our guesses to decipher the code?

 
 
 
[2:36 AM]
LimitNacho

LimitNacho on

Oh geez, I really want to do the puzzle this year. Let's see what I can learn about ciphers in a few weeks.

pewpewcachoo

pewpewcachoo on

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRIENDS!

starvingsloth

starvingsloth on

Where do we put the solution to the cipher code?

Nameless32

Nameless32 on

THANKS 4 CHAPPY

Zogarth

Zogarth on

Quick question, one of the rules is that the story cannot include any sexual content; how is this determined? Does it just mean that any story with the tag can't participate? I feel like that will hit many authors (myself included) who just put the tag there as a precautionary.

    Wing
    Admin

    Wing on

    The rule is against sexual content during the contest: From when you "submit" your entry until December 5th, 2020.
    If you tag the story for sexual content and intend to add sexual content AFTER the contest is over - that does not break the rules of this challenge. 

    While it is not 100% accurate, we have an automated system that scans the text for mature content. But not breaking this rule is mostly honor based. 

      Zogarth

      Zogarth on

      So, if my story is already tagged with sexual content currently (doesn't have any in it), and it won't have any in it for the foreseeable future, I am good?

      I just put the tag there to be super safe.

      Wing
      Admin

      Wing on

      Correct. As long as the foreseeable future is not in the duration of the contest, you are good. 

       

      Raelik

      Raelik on

      What if you're continuing an existing story that already has such a scene in it? Does it still count if I don't write any new sexual scenes for the duration of the contest?

      Would deleting it for now work? Then replacing it in December? It kinda sucks otherwise. What exactly counts in this? Does non sexual nudity?

      KurtMKing

      KurtMKing on

      It's only in the chapters posted for the contest. Anything posted before or after doesn't count.

Mash_Potatoes

Mash_Potatoes on

Happy Birthday!

FlyingRaven

FlyingRaven on

Is the comic page the code which we have to decipher? I am confused

l611

l611 on

congoo!!

l611

l611 on

is the code in the image metadata or is it encrypted in some form? or am I missing the 1st hint entirely? 

mightykk

mightykk on

Happy Birthday!

starvingsloth

starvingsloth on

Can you give us a hint on the image? I've been bashing my head for two hours, and didn't find anything resembling progress....

How hard is the decrypting supposed to be? Is knowledge of steganography needed, or we can decipher it using only the available texts on the image? Am I allowed to ask this? Are we allowed to discuss how to decrypt this with other members?

    Kato - san

    Kato - san on

    I don't know what I am allowed to say fellow decrypter but the answer is really straight forward, I'll take the liberty to quote our Sergent Wing from another comment: "Just do what you are asked to do in the comics"

    And he quite literally means the page that is available to us

Pinguies

Pinguies on

Happy birthday !

Pinguies

Pinguies on

Empress penguin = wing.                                Tadpoleon = ?

10--10-2020- x2

Cynici Humora

Cynici Humora on

Dog turd level of internet speed will be the bane of my existence if I'd like to join the writathon. 

Question: can I just dump all 55,555 words in a day and still be counted as a participant (though this would probably a detriment to the growth of my story, but I could still just repost them after the event right?)? also can revising older chapters count to the total word count?

    Wing
    Admin

    Wing on

    Yes.
    But. you'd lose out on gaining readers with that. You are better off spanning your releases over multiple days. 

    I recommend reading this https://www.royalroad.com/support/faq#topic-61 

Cynici Humora

Cynici Humora on

another question, solving the puzzle through groups are allowed right? since crowd sourcing data and information is also a way to solve problems, though the tadpoleon army can compromise the data collected. Though this could only happen if it would be sanctioned for discussion in the forums.

redron1028

redron1028 on

if anyone is doing the puzzle can we work together? I have something in my mind but uncertain if this might be the key. We can do pm :D

Chintu Lal

Chintu Lal on

Happy birthday 

 

IthronMinya

IthronMinya on

Happy Birthday!

13lack12ose

13lack12ose on

Thanks RR crew. Happy birthday :)

Alchemyst

Alchemyst on

Is this puzzle thing meant to be solved by your average joe or are you supposed to allready be familiar with codes and stuff?

DeathCrawler

DeathCrawler on

happy B-Day

Justice

Justice on

Halloween themed border - will be available from October 31st to November 6th. 
Birthday themed border  - will be available from October 31st to November 30th

I would have taken 1 month premium if it was a PERMANENT reward.

    Wing
    Admin

    Wing on

    I updated the blog post to describe this better.

    Halloween themed border - will be available to be added to the wardrobe from October 31st to November 6th. 
    Birthday themed border  - will be available to be added to the wardrobe from October 31st to November 30th.

    Once it is in your wardrobe, it is permanently there. As long as you have an active premium you can choose to wear it. 

    Newer members won't be able to add it to their wardrobe. 

Monitor

Monitor on

What exactly does add to your wardrobe mean? Could you clarify that bit, please?

 

On the borders, maybe make it so that if you loose premium, you can still display them, maybe in a greased out form? Just an idea :-)

fanobody

fanobody on

The name of the image is KKUg0MO.png

Royal Road

COMICS 10

the incredible tadpoleon& the super empress penguin

OCT 2020

DOUBLE THE TROUBLE!

Code bar = 123567564

Is the uppercase important?

1. To get to the next stage, you need this incomplete URL: www.royalroad.com/pages/

Do we complete the url or we use it to go to the search bar.

2. To get to the next stage, you need to be literal.

Vantablack, The Devourer of the Multiverse

Vantablack, The Devourer of the Multiverse on

Happy birthday

TinDevlar

TinDevlar on

Happy birthdayy!!

SenescentSoul

SenescentSoul on

Happy Birthday!

I Don't Bite...

I Don't Bite... on

HAPPY!!!

 

Aselo

Aselo on

This is supposedly simple especially now that he changed the hint again but I must be seriously overthinking it because I still can't get it.

Plus1

Plus1 on

Damn. Happy birthday.

esmecksart

esmecksart on

Happy Birthday!🥳

BO0KW0RM

BO0KW0RM on

....I don't know hope to decrypt text...I got through the password but....Aaannyways Happy Birthday! 

pewpewcachoo

pewpewcachoo on

The story can’t be a Fanfiction. 

I have a question about this. Is a story considered fanfic, if i am writing about the future of our world, but make it where people took certain things too far. An example would be jedi and force powers and people love the concept so much that they take it to the next level. That when we had technology advanced enough, they made implants to help them lift/push/shoot lightning stuff like that. Maybe even make swords and make their own jedi order.

The whole story would be a what if satire on what would happen to humans if we went to space too soon. I don’t wanna say more because it would spoil the story a little.  I would have more than jedi fyi, i have notes for like 5 or 6 things that would fall under the fanfic tag. Also the story wouldn’t focus on most of these things and the MC honestly wasn’t going to be interacting with most of the lore I was gonna add. I was actually thinking of making a lot of the stuff like snippets from books, of journal entries from the MC about his thoughts on some of the subject matter.

    starvingsloth

    starvingsloth on

    Hello fellow sloth enthusiast! In my opinion, if your story happens in the same universe as its inspiration, or share a specific culture, or specific history, then it falls under the fanfiction category.

    If you can use the idea, change the name, and sprinkle a bit of originality, then I would consider it original. For example, Instead of Jedi you can call it a space samurai with psychic power. 

      pewpewcachoo

      pewpewcachoo on

      But by definition fanfic is fiction written by a fan of, and featuring characters from, a particular TV series, movie, etc. and from the wiki, fanfic is fictional writing written by fans, commonly of an existing work of fiction. The author uses copyrighted characters, settings, or other intellectual property from the original creator(s) as a basis for their writing.

      My story is a what if based satire on how humans can take things way to far and do some pretty stupid things. It wouldn't be a focus at all, and more of a footnote so people understand what i am talking about.

      But i guess if i worded it like you said then most people would understand what i mean, but it just kinda loses the feel for me slightly.

starvingsloth

starvingsloth on

Sssttt let them realize on their own

xramunas

xramunas on

Happy birthday. 

P. S. Content rule - story can’t include sexual content. Define 'sexual content' lol.

GamingWolf

GamingWolf on

Vowron Prime

Vowron Prime on

First!!!

D.C.Veiling

D.C.Veiling on

Happy Birthday!

Ashcheul

Ashcheul on

Happy birthday! Thank you for you amazing idea to build this site and your efforts to maintain it! You rock.

uavgas

uavgas on

Happy Birthday Royal Road! I've been here for a long time, ever since the website was here to host the novel Legendary Moonlight Sculptor and I have always been excited about the great changes I've seen. It is one of the fictions that really made me like the many of the genres I now go for. I am super grateful to the administrators and moderators of the website and forums for giving me such a great platform. Cheers! 

Zethuron

Zethuron on

Happy Birthday RR!

JK-sama

JK-sama on

we did it reddit 

Werkrat

Werkrat on

Can someone tell me what the changes were so I can see what it is highlighting?

Med Aymen Ben Chaabene

Med Aymen Ben Chaabene on

Happy birthday

CrumblingGolem

CrumblingGolem on

Well, I feel really stupid, I got the code that everyone has here really quickly, then since it landed on 404, I did every action I could think of to the code according to the comic instruction but I'm still stumped... guess I'll see the answer at the end.

karinberry

karinberry on

This is awesome!

vladerag

vladerag on

Happy birthday you odd penguin\human hybrids!

ElderDragon

ElderDragon on

Happy Birthday! Thanks for providing an awsome platform for reading.

karinberry

karinberry on

Anyway, what is deemed as sexual content? Is kissing/making out without nudity included? 

just_patches

just_patches on

Happy B-day! I just joined the site a week or two ago but I'd glad to be here

One question about the Writathon, being a newbie. I submitted and I'm curious if I'll be informed afterwards. Like a message saying "Your piece has been approved for the Writathon"

...Or will that be all after submitted and all I gotta do now is just write.

redron1028

redron1028 on

ME: *types royalroad.comics*

 

Crazy_Beast

Crazy_Beast on

Happy Birthday

Miraeki

Miraeki on

Happy Birthday RR!!🎉🎉

staggen_mx

staggen_mx on

me after i tried to solve the puzzle with no results:

MrBadWithNames

MrBadWithNames on

Oh shit! Happy Birthday lads!

Memzak

Memzak on

Happy Birthday! Welp, looks like today is gunna be spent codebreaking.

Ariana Vivoni

Ariana Vivoni on

A belated happy birthday!

DoktorPrimat

DoktorPrimat on

HeartPiercingSpear

HeartPiercingSpear on

Happy Birthday!!

The puzzle is so irritting, the barcode was the first thing I checked, after that I am just just getting more and more confused.

mjkj

mjkj on

Happy birthday RR! 😁

richiekim

richiekim on

I know it's late, but I sincerely wish RR a blessed birthday! 💌

tarakis

tarakis on

Happy Birthday!!

Nine Lizards

Nine Lizards on

I think my mind isn't wired up for something like this. I just don't see it.

Oh well. Happy birthday anyway! I'll try again in one more year... I admit defeat :-)

 

Ashcheul

Ashcheul on

Attempts to interpret image:

1.1. faithful copy: https://www.royalroad.com/comics/10/THE INCREDIBLE TADPOLEON& THE SUPER PENGUIN EMPRESS/OCT 2020/DOUBLE THE TROUBLE/123567564

1.2. faithful copy, spin on com-ics: https://www.royalroad.com/ics/10/THE INCREDIBLE TADPOLEON& THE SUPER PENGUIN EMPRESS/OCT 2020/DOUBLE THE TROUBLE/123567564

2.1. cast to typical rrl-URL-speak: https://www.royalroad.com/comics/10/the-incredible-tadpoleon-and-the-super-penguin-empress/oct-2020/double-the-trouble/123567564

2.2. cast to typical rrl-URL-speak, spin on com-ics: https://www.royalroad.com/ics/10/the-incredible-tadpoleon-and-the-super-penguin-empress/oct-2020/double-the-trouble/123567564

Fail, fail, fail, fail.

Hm. Well, it seems I do not think in the same manner as person who designed this puzzle. Eh, life is full of trials and tribulations) Moving on) (I'm not going to let myself sucked into this black hole of trying out different combination of these strings and styles you could write 'em down, no, sir!)

    Wing
    Admin

    Wing on

    The comics tells you what to do in order to find missing word.
    Don't copy, just do what you are asked to do in the comics.

      Ashcheul

      Ashcheul on

      That message prompted me to sink another 20 minutes of life into this brutal endavour (  ^         ^      )

      I think it's time for me to man up, and admit defeat (and never return to this most insidious monstrosity). (  ^         ^      )

      Ashcheul

      Ashcheul on

      Anyways, even if I failed, it's not a reason to be all gloomy right now) Thank you guys for RoyalRoadL ! (  ^         ^      )

      starvingsloth

      starvingsloth on

      Don't give up!

      First hint said that you only need to complete https://www.royalroad.com/pages/{decrypted-code}

      For example, the previous easter event lead to https://www.royalroad.com/pages/penguin

      Pay attention to the wording of hint 2.

      You're close!

Ashish choudhary

Ashish choudhary on

happy Birthday!!

oblueknighto

oblueknighto on

Cool

WOLF CRECENT

WOLF CRECENT on

Happy Anniversary Royal Road.

May you have many many more.

Miles Trombley

Miles Trombley on

Happy Birthday!

DrBuller

DrBuller on

Happy birthday!

Dradel Lait

Dradel Lait on

Well all of this does sound cool. I'm looking forward to read the new writathon stories.

ConnorBS

ConnorBS on

I have just joined the community and started writing here. This community has been great and enjoying this event. Nice work RR!!

DoktorPrimat

DoktorPrimat on

Happy birthday RRL! Here's to another year!

-Dok
All Hail the Penguin Empire!
BANANA!

Vertrex

Vertrex on

Happy Birthday, my friend! =D

ComingStorm

ComingStorm on

Through the first part, past the password... and now im stuck. well, i guess my feeling of being smart had to end. this is as far as i can go.

l611

l611 on

this seems like a good place to ask another question I had. what was this site's first name?
everyone refers to it as rrl but WHAT DOES THE L STAND FOR?? 

yellingbrian2

yellingbrian2 on

I hate this puzzle. I know what I'm supposed to do, but I don't even know the order of which to eneter the varables

name="the-incredible-tadpoleon&-the-super-empress-penguin"
name_cap="THE-INCREDIBLE-TADPOLEON&-THE-SUPER-EMPRESS-PENGUIN"

title="double-the-trouble!"
title_cap="DOUBLE-THE-TROUBLE!"

comic="COMICS" 
comic_cap="comics"

chapter_num="10"
chapter_num_doubled="20"

date="10/2020"
date_num="102020"
date_num_doubled="204040"
date_writen="oct-2020"
date_writen_cap="OCT-2020"

bar_code="123567564"
bar_code_doubled="247135128"

The issue is that there are 6 varables with diffrent possible combinations. Just from selecting the corrct varables from the above list meens there are 80 options (2*2*2*5*2) but WAIT because there is the possiblity one (or more) of these varables could be a red haring (and not actualy a part of the code) there is actualy 324 options (3*3*3*6*2) of varables that could be a part of the page's code.

Then we get into the issue of the ORDER of these varables which meens for every combination of 6 varables we have 720 ways (6*5*4*3*2*1) to arange those varrables in order.

THAT MEENS: There is 233,280 diffent ways of entering the web page code!!!

I tried writing a self-recursive function to check all possible urls to see what doesn't give a 404, but my personal laptop ran out of memory and I don't waant to use my work computer because I'm woried I'll get in trouble, and I already tried using the srearch function on RR to find the page!

Can you answere a couple questions to at least nerrow it down? PLEASE!!!

  1. Is capitilazation IMPORTANT?
    1. The Comic Image prints them in all caps but as far as I can tell Royal Road only uses lower case webpage names...
  2. Do we actualy have to DOUBLE any of the numbers?
    1. It says Double trouble, and you say to do what the commic tells us, but there are 3 potential numbers that could be doubled
  3. What is the corrct way to depict the date in the url?
    1. Is it OCT-2020, 10-2020, oct-2020, 10/2020, 102020
  4. Is "comics" even supposed to be a part of the code? 
    1. I assumed it was a substitute for 'fiction' but you already have 'page' as a replacment
  5. I'm assuming the "!" mark at the end is a valid part of the code and "tadpoleon&" dosn't ACTUALY have a space in between those two words. But I could be verry WRONG about that.
    1. If I am wrong and those are valid possiblities the number goes up to 648,000 options...
  6. Can I get an example of what a "page" url is supposed to look like (so I know how to order the varables)
    1. I could not find any examples of a ''https://www.royalroad.com/pages", I don't know what it's supposed to look like

PLEASE HELP!

Kt07

Kt07 on

Happy birthday Royalroads 

Kt07

Kt07 on

Happy birthday Royalroads 

Jossy

Jossy on

Ehhh i think i may just be too stupid or too smart to understand this kind of simple things i give up this one

    Jossy

    Jossy on

    Im trying to put every combo possible with all the words given and the bar code and also trying to double it and leaving it as it is, i imagine is much more simple than that so i tried to take https://www.royalroad.com/pages/writathon32020 as a reference and write only 1 word but i still can't seem to figure it out after trying all the words and numbers on the comic cover, i will try again tomorow i refuse to lose against such an simple puzzle *grumble*

darkenedjawbone

darkenedjawbone on

woo, just finished the puzzle (it's satisfying to do it yourself:)
do you think in the future it will be possible to customise your reputation gem as well? being able to pick your preferred colour(from those you've unlocked of course) would be pretty sweet, and i can see switching those getting far more use compared to level frames, where there's usually a single clear winner for what to pick.

Tali

Tali on

Happy Birthdayyyy

lightnovelreader

lightnovelreader on

I hate puzzles(it fucked me in the exams too stupid floor puzzle) because there simply is no method to solve them specially visual one, that's why math is good

CRANT

CRANT on

For everyone still having trouble with solving the code, here are two hints. First: you are looking for a word, not a number to put at the end of 'www.royalroad.com/pages/'. Second: if you remove the word 'the' from the instructions, the instructions become much more obvious.

wulfian

wulfian on

@Wing I had some trouble due to 'comics'. I was looking for several comics when there was only one (front) page. I know some others had the same confusion.

Zalpha

Zalpha on

Who ever created this puzzle I dislike you, a lot. I wasted so many hours trying to solve this all the while feeling like a complete idot for not being able to solve something so simple. I can only suggest removing the word "the" to make it more obivious and hopefully that removes the miss direction that it is causing everyone.

    Wing
    Admin

    Wing on

    Sorry

      darkenedjawbone

      darkenedjawbone on

      i feel like it might be better to just have that implied URL redirect to the real astral lock page.  it doesn't make it easier, but is more forgiving and means you can be less obvious elsewhere

      Zalpha

      Zalpha on

      I posted my message angry/anoyance as I just solved the puzle and was suffering form self loathing. I wanted to remove my post but couldn't after I cooled down. It wasn't really your fault. I do think it makes more sense without word "the" in it. As otherwise it was making me think the trouble was the code, or Tadpoleon and that needed to be doubled. Obviously only after a long while did I get it.

    ChillyPepper

    ChillyPepper on

    I think its merely confusing because of the link and the hints. It wasn't made to be purposly evocative. A slight misfortune of events, sadly. 

    Still a good event though.

Jack0fheart

Jack0fheart on

Are we supposed to work out the password too, or do we simply have to find the page?

Avery Light

Avery Light on

Now that I finally cracked the code, I can sincerely say happy birthday ^^

Quick question though: I have successfully input the password then it takes me somewhere with incomprehensible things. Is that the finish line?

Vampireman14

Vampireman14 on

Happy birtjday

wman3

wman3 on

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, soon to be my birthday

 

cracked the puzzles and I can't believe it was this simple

NesterII

NesterII on

To anybody bashing their head against the wall in frustration on the puzzle, please take a day off and come back later, I did that after spending like 30 minutes on the puzzle yesterday and the new perspetive really helped.

JosefinaFAAD-Jojo

JosefinaFAAD-Jojo on

Got the barcode, that was easy. I feel it has a lot to do with the order of everything in the image. But I'm super stuck! XD I'm better at wooden brain puzzles, this is a different story. lol

Nigou

Nigou on

I did it :). Honestly the first step was just stupid if you wanted to do something like that it's primordial that you make sure that everybody will write the same thing given the same information so if you're going to do something like that again make sure to tell people that they don't have to use capital letters, any spaces or grammar. Also if you want to do something aimed to a average person I don't think using a barcode is a good idea it's still take some knowledge use. The last one was nice but time consuming.

Drejzer

Drejzer on

Happy birthaday.

The first stem was the hardest one in the whole process.
I would have been banging my head on the wall for a mont and I wouldn't figure it out.

At first i was thinking that the barcode shows which letter from each word should be taken... but then it didn;t actually work.

Then I saw the hints, and I was absolutely stupefied.
It's so dumb.
I got that after few minutes... but i forgot to clean up after my previous tries (which included trying is there is something within pages/comics/ ...)

I'm deeply annoyed.

at least teh code was neat and tidey...

though i believ ethere is a typo in the message?
or is that part intentional?

Avadonia

Avadonia on

God damn i can't solve this even with all the hint i can find, i'm stupid as fuck, only thing asked in the comic is to double the trouble but i don't understand how to do that/what it mean.

Thanks for the event though :).

JosefinaFAAD-Jojo

JosefinaFAAD-Jojo on

Ok...I'm hitting a wall again. lol What is up with this third cipher. After your pass the second part, it's a whole new world. XD I'm looking for different ways to decode ciphers. Well, at least I got past the second part.

neilu

neilu on

Hello,

I (very) quickly went over the forums in case there is a thread with answers to these questions but couldn't find one.

I'm participating in the writing challenge, but what if I want to do major edits to earlier parts of my story? From the inscription, it seems the challenge will be followed through number of pages.

In the hypothetical case I completely bin a chapter of two and move lost stuff into other chapters (still overal slimming the story), will I lose wordcount for the challenge? 

Opposite side of the spectrum, what if I add content earlier, in a chapter released before the challenge start date, will those count for the challenge?

And what about heavy modifications, if I completely transform a chapter, but the wordcount stays similar, should I keep the older version in a spoiler tag or something to make the new content count?

Thanks for any answer!

 

Jossy

Jossy on

The first part can't be this hard... maybe it's becouse im not an native english speaker im having so much "trouble" hehe.. im dyinggg (;Д;)

Mr. Candy Cane

Mr. Candy Cane on

Happy Birthday

MrAlwaysRight

MrAlwaysRight on

I have no clue what to do with the cover. It's supposedly really simple, so I just typed every single word and number in the picture in the address bar, in any possible order imaginable. Spent 2 hours on this...

dachen11

dachen11 on

hi so i found out how to get there.

Um okay so to get there the first hint is the beginning, while the second hint is a lot more helpful. 

Only use the spoiler below if you really are desperate. It is something I found through trial and error and is not the actual answer.

Yeah, I thought about it, then realized it would make it way too obvious, even if it wasn't the answer. And that it took me a whole day after figuring this out before I actually found out how to get there.

umm, just screw around with pages first, and look closely at other URLs. there's a hint in that I guess.

dachen11

dachen11 on

once you figure out the first part, the rest should be smooth sailing. Took 1 day to figure out the first part and then about 10 minutes for the rest.

And no, you do not need help. If I could do it while listening to my calculus teacher, then you can do it too.

JackBlank

JackBlank on

Happy Birthday! I also wanna say thanks to the ones who created the codes. It was really fun!

For those still stuck on the first part. Do exactly what the comic tells you to!!!

For those stuck on the subsequent parts. Every answer is in the comic page!!!

Good Luck everyone!

 

P.S. Dont overthink it.

JackBlank

JackBlank on

If you solve it and send the pm then what? do we get a msg back? or a notification?

King_H

King_H on

HBD in areas

evankarmis

evankarmis on

Damn I just started this puzzle and I feel bad for my wall

jacktank17

jacktank17 on

Happy Birthday

dionescuyn

dionescuyn on

belated happy birthday

wizard1234588

wizard1234588 on

Happy Birthday! I finally solve the puzzle after spending over an hour getting confused by a leftover from an old puzzle, then when i enter the right password i get something about the 10th issue of the comic and alot of gibberish. Is that what is supposed to be there, a error, or maybe im supposed to do something further with the gibberish?

MelodieRivers

MelodieRivers on

Happy Birthday to my favourite literature website (yes, even if I don't have much time nowadays to use it... :(  )!!!!

Vreasque

Vreasque on

When on the 15th is the deadline? I'm participating but I'm really going to be cutting it close on the first deadline so it'd be great if I could know exactly how much time I have.

    Wing
    Admin

    Wing on

    "We always upheld the deadlines with a simple rule:
    If we specified a timezone, then according to that timezone. (Usually, there is a reason behind the specification of the timezone)

    If we didn't specify the timezone, the contest shall continue, until the last place on earth passed that date. So basically according to the IDLW timezone. "

Vreasque

Vreasque on

When on the 15th is the deadline? I'm participating but I'm really going to be cutting it close on the first deadline so it'd be great if I could know exactly how much time I have.

jeseber-R

jeseber-R on

Happy birthday!!

Salt Master

Salt Master on

I have a few questions about the writathon.

1. What did you consider the first day of the event. The 1st of November?

2. To qualify for the announced participants' list you need to publish 25k words by the 15th. Is that before the 15th or by end of day 15th? (Trying to schedule releases and don't want to dump a few on the same day)

3 I submitted the form and was just wondering if I was supposed to receive some sort of confirmation.

 

Kraggnog the Destroyer

Kraggnog the Destroyer on

That code challenge is so cool! Royal Road never ceases to entertain me 😁 I'm glad I saw this before the 15th, or else I would have seriously missed out! Good luck everyone and happy hunting!

FlyingRaven

FlyingRaven on

When is part 2 of the event starting?

BO0KW0RM

BO0KW0RM on

Ooh those tags are going to be interesting...I do love a good loop story but it's hard to find one. Thanks! 

scare.crow

scare.crow on

I hope we still healty and keep read good and awsome novel from RR, see u again all next year :D

DAFC

DAFC on

Happy Birthday guys im a long time reader and altough i dont participate in challenges (mainly writting one) i really love how you display content and lore and incetivise everyone to write(maybe ill try in the future).

Thanks for everything 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

And sincere wishes of many more to come.

 

MrBadWithNames

MrBadWithNames on

Hell yeah! Progression tag!

Soldieratarms

Soldieratarms on

The new tags are great, though the progression tag could use some clarification. Most stories here include some form of progress, so how much is required to qualify? Is there any minimum amount of growth? Does growth in undesirable directions ( ie from strong to weak) count? Overall, it could use some narrowing of intent, like connecting it only to measurable progress, while putting emotional/mental progress in another tag.

Venan

Venan on

I'm late, but happy birthday. This place has come a long ways. I am glad to be growing old with everyone here.

 

l611

l611 on

@Wing you might as well include the lgbt tag as well. it's been missing from this site.

Yueko_chan

Yueko_chan on

13lack12ose

13lack12ose on

That's awesome news about the new tags!
Thanks for all your hard work Wing and all other admins people behind the scene!

Superdoedoe

Superdoedoe on

Pog

regik

regik on

I suspect you've got the definitions of hard and soft sci-fi mixed up -- hard sci-fi is supposed to be the crazy impossible stuff and soft sci-fi is supposed to be somewhat reasonable.

darkenedjawbone

darkenedjawbone on

woo, plot progression

SillyScribe

SillyScribe on

Happy Birthday!

sunandshadow

sunandshadow on

Heck yes time travel tag!!! <3

CazXZX

CazXZX on

happy Birthday!!!!

RedPrincexDESx

RedPrincexDESx on

Well, I'm a couple weeks late to this but --- well done!

Rarufu_Ono

Rarufu_Ono on

boi the king

boi the king on

Happy late birthday to this old server may u survive the peral of time

SketchyFrog

SketchyFrog on

Kiriaru

Kiriaru on

I got stuck at the dang barcode

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