Tricks or Treats 2017 - Official NotD Swap Announcement Thread

Requested by popular demand, I have decided to host a Nights of the Dead house swap! Anyone from Maj'Dul, Skyfire, Halls of Fate, Antonia Bayle, Thurgadin or Test is welcome and encouraged to sign up! Due to lack of interest from the TLE and IoR servers, I will not be running swaps on those servers at this time. How and where to enter can be found at the bottom of this post.This swap will be called Tricks or Treats 2017 (henceforth referred to as TOT17.)

Here's what you need to do before signing up :

1.) Choose the home you'd like to have decorated. Change the "name" of the home to "TOT17" and set public access to "NONE." (This is so random people can't accidentally zone into your home and see what your decorator is working on.) Then, grant trustee access to "Shanette."

2.) Leave a book or note in the home with the following information, for your decorator :

- Name
- Address and City of Home
- Character Race, Class, Gender (this can sometimes be helpful to your decorator while designing your home for you.)
- Any additional requests or information you'd like your decorator to know about you or the home.
- Please include one of the options below in the book for your decorator.

• I would like a Nights of the Dead theme.
• I would NOT like a Nights of the Dead theme.
• Decorator's Choice on Nights of the Dead theme.

3.) Place additional items you think your decorator might need or want. Such as a Guild Hall door, portal pads, or a house actor customized as your character so that they can build your house to scale to your character.

4.) Use one or both item expanders on the home. (Totally optional but always courteous.)

5.) If the home you're submitting is a non-prestige home (that is, requires rent) it is usually also a good idea to pay up the rent for the maximum time allowed, OR to place 4 treasure hoards in the home to negate rent. Reminder that all 4 treasure hoards MUST be owned by the homeowner. Hoards owned by alts or friends. will not work.

6.) Once the swap has officially begun (see dates below) DO NOT enter the home, or you risk ruining the surprise for yourself and possibly upsetting your decorator, if they catch you.

How to sign up :

Once you've completed all of above steps, send EMAIL to shanettesnow2004@yahoo.com with the following information to enter the swap :

- Server(s)
- Homeowner Name(s)
- Decorator Name(s)
- Home Address and City
- If you feel you will only be able to complete a smaller home, include this in your email, and I will try to accommodate you to the best of my ability. (Please keep in mind that depending on how many people sign up, there may not be any "small" homes to give.)
- Please also include one of the options below in your email, so that I can swap homes accordingly.
As Homeowner :

• I have requested a Nights of the Dead theme.
• I have requested NO NIghts of the Dead theme.
• Decorator's Choice

As Decorator :

• I prefer to decorate a Nights of the Dead theme.
• I would prefer NOT to decorate a Nights of the Dead theme.

If the above information is not included in your email, I will assume you are fine with being assigned a Nights of the Dead theme, as both homeowner and decorator.


Please DO NOT send in entries via the forums or in-game mail. I will only be accepting entries via email for this swap.

You are welcome to sign up on as many servers as you feel you will be able to participate on, but I encourage you to remember that there is a time limit to complete them, and other events going on concurrently. Please don't overwhelm yourself!

The sign-up period will begin today and will run until midnight of September 7th, 2017, when the swap assignments will start going out, and the swap will officially begin. The swap will run from September 8 to November 2 (the very last day of the actual NotD event.) This gives everyone a month to get signed up, and a little over 2 months to decorate their assigned homes. DO NOT enter the home you are offering to have decorated between September 8 and November 2. (I'm very aware some of you break this rule, and you know who you are!)

As with previous swaps, you may notify me by email, in-game mail, PM, or via this thread when you have completed your home(s) and if everyone participating on a server finishes early, we will end the swap for that server and exchange homes. However, no one should feel pressured to rush themselves to finish early. It is important to take your time and have fun!

Helper Sign-Ups :

If you don't think you'll have time to enter and decorate a home but would still like to participate by assisting others, please let me know your decorators' name and server and I will compile a list of "helpers" for each server, that people can contact. You may also sign-up as a helper even if you're entering the swap yourself. Helpers may sign up with email, PM or via this thread.


A Couple of Last Notes of Importance :
- Once the swap has officially begun, I will NOT be doing "house checks." As I do some of the video tours, when the swap is concluded, I like to be surprised and have genuine reactions.. If you would like someone to come in and check the house you're working on for feedback or suggestions or the like, please contact one of the Helpers from the list for your server. (Unless it's your homeowner.)
- If you miss the sign-up period deadline, and would still like to sign up (within a reasonable time frame) please let me know via email or PM and I will try to accommodate you.

All home assignments will go out via in-game mail so please be sure to have room in your mailbox by September 7th, 2017.

The email to sign-up again is shanettesnow2004@yahoo.com

I am very excited and looking forward to all of the spooky and creepy awesomeness everyone comes up with for TOT17!
Good luck and most of all, HAVE FUN!

~Shanette
August 7th, 2017

- ToT17 Helper List -

Antonia Bayle

Berrilyn / Merriel (Contact via forums only, can offer /claim items)

Wizette

Ocarinah

Febrith (can offer /claim items)

Cyrrena

Maj'Dul

Daemora / Merriel (Contact via forums only, can off /claim items)

Leathericehawk

Tchotchke

Wizzam

Febrith (can offer /claim items)

Kenana

Skyfire

Wizzam

Aneylee

Kianneoftroi

Febrith (can offer /claim items)

Thurgadin

Febrith (can offer /claim items)

Done hope its ok I don't want my place decorated in theme next year though once I get the house I really want have to wait till this years NOTD to get it

Looking at the Spooky Mansion-type place with the yard full of dead trees, the pond, and the cemetery? That one's cool. I like how you can adjust the weather there!

Uwk

Being that I do not like anything that will creep me out too much (popping out MUMMIES) etc . . . . not sure if I really want to do NOTD. I like some of the stuff we can make and I usually have SOME NOTD stuff in my houses. . . but I would have to request that I not get anything really scary. I would hate to have a heart attack walking into my house! Let's put it this way. .. when I visit houses that even REMOTELY look like something might POP out at me. . . I turn around and LEAVE! ASAP!!

You can definitely say no notd in your book to your decorator. While I love creepy stuff, I will NOT go into any home with a pop up zombie. So I can understand

I have added that info to that part of the sign-up information. Anyone requesting non-scary stuff or no NotD theme, can do so in the book to the decorator.

So, while I absolutely respect people not wanting something scary and hating the pop-up zombies, I look forward to Halloween and NotD all year and have been getting excited for spookytimes. I would be really disappointed to enter the swap and get a home for someone who wants no NotD at all, only because it's what I've been looking forward to doing (and I can do non-NotD anytime of year). Can we say we do not want a completely non-NotD house for the swap as decorators when we enter (i.e. ask for someone who wants or is open to a spooky house)? Or are the pairings random? Not trying to be a pain, but, I thought I'd ask.

Edit to add: If we really want a NotD-themed home, and some decorators won't be cool with decorating one, should we note that in our sign-up too? I would also be sad to enter a house for like my Necromancer and not get something spooky.

Yes, I've edited the post to reflect this. Homeowners can request a non-Notd "scary" theme, and decorators can adversely request not to be given homes that have requested such.

The pairings are, for the most part, random, I use a random number generator to swap them, unless there are special notes to be taken into consideration, then I swap them manually, to try to accommodate everyone's wishes. Not being a pain at all, I totally understand wanting to decorate for Nights of the Dead in a Nights of the Dead swap. It's kind of the whole point.

Hehe I love this whole idea - I'm relishing the opportunity to be placed right outside my comfort zone and just go bonkers for NoTD!
However, as I'm not anticipating many (if any) Thurgadin sign ups I'm wondering if anyone would be interested in pairing with me from another server that has a character (or is willing to make one) on Thurgadin. That way, I can make their character a home here and they could make one for me on their own server? Just a thought in case I'm on my own on this one over here! Warning - it may involve zombies!

Absolutely. We had a case of this for the GNG. Someone wanted a home on AB, but could only decorate on MD. I would love for you to be able to participate this way!

*shakes old lady fist*
Don't make me make a toon over there, young lady! I'll do it!
Wonderful to see you joining the fun!

I think I will sit the scary stuff out. I will wait for Frostfell.

Gretal is absolutely right. It isn't fair to those who truly love NOTD and al things scary to end up with someone like me and doesn't want to be scared S**tless!

True, but some people may not care whether they decorate scary or not. Like me I do not care... I will decorate whichever way my homeowner wants and I will allow free reign in my house. So I totally think you should sign up.

I agree x a meeeelion eleventy!
I've already told Shan, I will go wherever she needs me, and deco whatever she needs. I just enjoy decorating!

I have set up a house for this swap so count me in!

Vasciagio Bladesong
Maj'dul

Oooo yay! My evil kitty is in need of a good scary spooky place to rest her furry hide!

Urghmagerd, if I wasn't scared - before I am now!
"Young lady" - yep yep, that's me

Also I'd like to volunteer /claim items for anyone on any server - purple void creature in a jar anyone? Other than that I can't really do much to help other servers - harvest perhaps lol!

Aww! And here I was just about to suggest me jumping in onto Thurgadin to keep you company (and I'd respect your wishes...lots of spooky, maybe, but no pop-ups [plus, iirc, they're kind of rare/No-Trade/Heirloom/whatever I'll have to replace, if I can, and I love you dearly, but... ;->]!) But if Febrith (and darn it, Kianne is away, right when I was gonna try to strong-arm her into something on Thurg again :-/) is gonna be on Thurg, too, we won't be alone. ;->

Uwk
who wonders: is there anyone else there that's here in this forum that isn't you, me, Feb, or Kianne? :-/

Kianne's on Skyfire I used to struggle to remember who was on what server until I started doing video tours lol!