Writing Contest: The Taramand Sea
"There are constellations in the heavens, and constellations in the Taramand. The stars in the inky black above foretell what is to come. The islands in the inky black below remember what already has."
-Chief Astrologer Randulf, The Academy Solaris
We are holding a writing contest for our upcoming game, The Lands Remaining. For this contest, we are looking for entries inspired by one of the game’s settings, the Taramand Sea.
General Submission Guidelines
Resources Folder
A collection of resources can be found here. The resources folder includes:
Discord
You are invited to discuss the contest and solicit feedback on your entry on The Gauntlet Publishing Discord server, via the #writing-contest channel. The contest is not being judged blind, so feel free to discuss your entries wherever (and with whomever) you like. The server can be found here.
Writing Workshops
The creator of The Lands Remaining, Jason Cordova, will be holding a number of special writing workshops for contest participants. The workshops will be via Zoom. Anyone participating in the contest is welcome to attend; a Zoom link will be sent out via Discord. The workshop will be recorded so it can be viewed later.
Workshop schedule:
Public Viewing Folder
After the deadline for submissions has passed, entries will be made available for public viewing. If you don’t want your entry included in the public viewing folder, you can opt out by telling us so when you send your submission email.
Judging Criteria and Announcement of Winners
The entries will be judged on writing quality, creativity, playability, and how well the entry interprets one or more of the Taramand Sea themes (see Themes, below). The judging will not be blind. The judging panel will be announced at a later time. The winner and runners-up in each category will be announced in late June.
Themes
One of the judging criteria is how well your entry incorporates or otherwise interprets one or more of the following themes associated with the Taramand Sea setting: Nautical/High Seas, Stars & Cosmology, Fate, and Cosmic Horror.
Prizes
While the primary aim of the contest is to have fun and engage in a creative process with like-minded writers, and to get hype for The Lands Remaining, there are also some prizes available for each category:
Magic Items & Equipment
Publication and Text Ownership
Entrants own their text and are free to publish it wherever they wish after the announcement of winners. If they choose to publish their entry commercially, entrants must confirm with The Gauntlet that their publication does not infringe on any copyrighted work. We are actively seeking to publish entries that would be a good fit for the Tarmand Sea setting, and in the event an entry catches our eye, we will make a formal publishing offer to the entrant. If the winner or a runner-up receives such an offer, we will pay our publishing rate in addition to their prize money.
"There are constellations in the heavens, and constellations in the Taramand. The stars in the inky black above foretell what is to come. The islands in the inky black below remember what already has."
-Chief Astrologer Randulf, The Academy Solaris
We are holding a writing contest for our upcoming game, The Lands Remaining. For this contest, we are looking for entries inspired by one of the game’s settings, the Taramand Sea.
General Submission Guidelines
- To enter the contest, you must write and submit an entry for one or more submissions categories following the guidelines set in the document Contest Submissions (see Resources Folder, below)
- Submissions must be in a Google Doc, 11 pt. Arial, with no special formatting (bold and italics are fine). You can make your headers larger font than the main text (following examples in the Resources Folder). Your name should not be included anywhere on the Google Doc.
- Send a link to your Google Doc to Amanda, who will be organizing the entries for the judges, via email: [email protected]. Subject line: “THE TARAMAND SEA” By submitting, you are representing your entry is work of your own creation.
- When you send your submission email, indicate if you wish to opt-out of the public viewing folder (see Public Viewing Folder section, below).
- You may submit one entry for each submission category.
- The deadline for submissions is 11:59 PM Eastern on March 1st, 2027.
Resources Folder
A collection of resources can be found here. The resources folder includes:
- Contest Submissions, which explains a bit more about what The Lands Remaining is, what your submission should include, and examples.
- The Lands Remaining (In Development), a folder of the game as it currently exists, in case you want to know more.
- Examples of each submission category.
Discord
You are invited to discuss the contest and solicit feedback on your entry on The Gauntlet Publishing Discord server, via the #writing-contest channel. The contest is not being judged blind, so feel free to discuss your entries wherever (and with whomever) you like. The server can be found here.
Writing Workshops
The creator of The Lands Remaining, Jason Cordova, will be holding a number of special writing workshops for contest participants. The workshops will be via Zoom. Anyone participating in the contest is welcome to attend; a Zoom link will be sent out via Discord. The workshop will be recorded so it can be viewed later.
Workshop schedule:
- Magic Items & Equipment: January 3rd, 2027 from 11 AM to Noon Eastern.
- Journeys: January 17th, 2027 from 11 AM to Noon Eastern.
- Shrines: January 24th, 2027 from 11 AM to Noon Eastern.
- Struggles: January 31st, 2027 from 11 AM to Noon Eastern.
- Mysteries: February 7th, 2027 from 11 AM to 1 PM Eastern.
- Embers: February 14th, 2027 from 11 AM to 1 PM Eastern.
Public Viewing Folder
After the deadline for submissions has passed, entries will be made available for public viewing. If you don’t want your entry included in the public viewing folder, you can opt out by telling us so when you send your submission email.
Judging Criteria and Announcement of Winners
The entries will be judged on writing quality, creativity, playability, and how well the entry interprets one or more of the Taramand Sea themes (see Themes, below). The judging will not be blind. The judging panel will be announced at a later time. The winner and runners-up in each category will be announced in late June.
Themes
One of the judging criteria is how well your entry incorporates or otherwise interprets one or more of the following themes associated with the Taramand Sea setting: Nautical/High Seas, Stars & Cosmology, Fate, and Cosmic Horror.
Prizes
While the primary aim of the contest is to have fun and engage in a creative process with like-minded writers, and to get hype for The Lands Remaining, there are also some prizes available for each category:
Magic Items & Equipment
- 1 winner will receive $100 USD.
- 2 runners-up will receive $50 USD each.
- 1 winner will receive $100 USD.
- 2 runners-up will receive $50 USD each.
- 1 winner will receive $100 USD.
- 2 runners-up will receive $50 USD each.
- 1 winner will receive $150 USD.
- 2 runners-up will receive $75 USD each.
- 1 winner will receive $500 USD.
- 1 runner-up will receive $250 USD.
- 1 winner will receive $500 USD.
- 1 runner-up will receive $250 USD.
Publication and Text Ownership
Entrants own their text and are free to publish it wherever they wish after the announcement of winners. If they choose to publish their entry commercially, entrants must confirm with The Gauntlet that their publication does not infringe on any copyrighted work. We are actively seeking to publish entries that would be a good fit for the Tarmand Sea setting, and in the event an entry catches our eye, we will make a formal publishing offer to the entrant. If the winner or a runner-up receives such an offer, we will pay our publishing rate in addition to their prize money.
