Fantasy Faire 2016 has opened its gates, and will run through until Sunday, May 1st. It brings together everyone with a love of fantasy – enthusiasts, creators, performers and designers – for eleven days of commerce, special events, live music concerts and more, all to help raise funds for Relay for Life of Second Life.
Rather than write a long preview to this years event – which once again offers some of the most fantastic region builds seen in a virtual world to present visitors with a set of connected realms – I decided to put together a preview video. I hope you enjoy it, and I look forward to seeing you in the Fairelands!
This year, Fantasy Faire once again presents the hunt in an expanded, story-based quest in which visitors to the Fairelands are invited to participate.
As the Bard Queen’s Emissary to the beleaguered races of the realm once called Belfience, but now cast under the darkness of the Unweaver and called Malfience, those joining the quest are tasked with finding the Exiles from that once peaceful land, and with their support undo the evil of the Unweaver and bring healing to the land.
To help you play your role to the fullest, here are some hints and suggestions to start you on your way.
Getting Started
There are two versions of the HUD available through the special RFL of SL vendors, which are prices as follows:
L$250 – provides you with the quest HUD and tools to get you going
L$350 – provides you with the quest HUD and tools to get you going and male and female Emissary costumes so you can be more in character – and it will help you recognise other Emissaries, so you can help and support one another!
You must accept the experience by clicking Yes to participate
When you have purchased your HUD package wear it, and then touch it to unpack the contents to a folder in your Inventory called FF2016 The Tale of Exiles. This contains 3 game elements which must be worn: the Game HUD, and two attachments simply called “Attach Me” and “Attach Me 2”.
On wearing the HUD, a scroll will open on your screen with some important information. – please read it through and then click it to close it.
Your viewer’s World Map will open, together with an invitation for you to join The Tale of Exiles experience (shown right) – you may have to move your world map to one side to see this.
Make sure you click YES to accept the experience, as this will ensure that things behave correctly as you go.
The HUD
As with most HUD-based activities, the HUD tracks your progress, provides hints, and for the quest, provides access to various options, of which Teleport and Inventory at the top let and right are probably going to see the most use – toggle to open / close.
The HUD – tracks your progress, provides hints, etc.
Teleport opens a list of the Fairelands (above left), clicking on the name of one will display the World Map, allowing you to teleport to it. Note that the destinations are not necessarily where the Exiles are – although some might be closer than others!
Inventory records the various items you collect during the quest (above right). You can page through the items using the back and forward buttons and – at the appropriate time in your quest, click on Use to make use of the displayed item.
Click Help to obtain a note card describing the rest of the functions.
Saving Progress
You don’t have to complete the quest in a single go; the HUD will record your progress and items collected, allowing you to leave and do other things, and then return to the quest later. You can remove the HUD (and other attachments) on leaving the Fairelands / breaking off from your quest, and then re-attach them when you return to the Fairelands or want to resume your quest.
However, if you want to be completely assured your progress has been saved before stopping, click Setup > Save.
Reloading Progress
Occasionally, things do go wrong in Second Life. If you find your HUD is misbehaving, or failing to display the right information, click Setup > Reload. This should force the HUD to reload information from the quest database and correct problems.
Game Play Guidelines
Gameplay comprises a number of chapters (indicated by the HUD) which can be divided into four parts: Heed the Bard Queen, Seek the Exiles, Find the Eggs, and Heal the Lands.
Part 1: Heed the Bard Queen
When you start the quest, the HUD will open your World Map so you can teleport to the Bard Queen – or you can use the LM supplied with the HUD package. You will also have to return to the Bard Queen once you have located and spoken to all eight of the Exiles.
When you arrive at the Bard Queen, click on her to converse through dialogue boxes (top right of your screen)
Part of the Bard Queen’s story will be told through videos displayed in your viewer. If the videos do not start automatically, click the screen. If they refuse to run, use the links in local chat to watch them on YouTube (please do not share or embed links to the videos in blogs!)
One of the features introduced to Fantasy Faire 2015 was the opportunity to nominate and then vote for the King and Queen of the Fairelands and their (strictly non-human) Chancellor.
Nominations came from across all realms of fantasy, with the top five nominated for each of the positions of king and queen (human or human-looking nominations only) and chancellor voted upon through the course of the Faire, with the winners announced at the Fantasy Faire May Day Masked Ball.
The duly elected king, queen and chancellor for 2015 were respectively Havelock Vetinari and Granny Weatherwax and Greebo the cat, all of which marked a fitting tribute to the late Sir Terry Pratchett, who passed away in March 2015,, and whose life and works were celebrated and commemorated as a part of the 2015 Fantasy Faire.
The Fantasy Faire 2015 King and Queen, and their Chancellor – who will it be in 2016? Nominate your choices!
But now, a year on, the first duly elected king and queen have put aside their sceptres, and the chancellor his chains of office. It is now time for the Fairelands Folk to elect those they feel should be elected king, queen and chancellor of Fantasy Faire 2016.
In order for this to happen, there must first be nominations! So who do you think is deserving?
Use the form below (or if you prefer, go directly to the same form on the Fantasy Faire website) and nominate your choices for king, queen and chancellor. Any character from the worlds of fantasy is eligible; the only major requirements being that nominations for king and queen must be human (or human-type) characters, whilst nominations for chancellor are restricted to non-human (or non-human type) characters.
As with 2015, the top five nominated individuals for king, queen and chancellor will go forward for public voting at this year’s Faire. The winners will then be announced at the May Day Costume Ball on May 1st. So make sure you nominate your choices today!
Note: last year’s winners, Vetinari, Granny Weatherwax and Greebo the cat, all from the works of Terry Pratchett, are NOT eligible for election this year.
The Hope: A Relay for Life Photo Exhibition opened it doors on Saturday, April 9th, and will run through until Saturday April 16th, inclusive. For the event, 25 Second Life photographers have paired with 25 cancer survivors and caregivers, to provide an exhibition of extraordinary portraiture coupled with deeply personal stories about dealing with cancer.
The exhibition has been organised by Catalina Staheli, and builds on her 2015 exhibition entitled Stand (which you can read about here). Greatly expanded, Hope is featured in a magnificent gallery set within a landscaped area on Saint Kitts Isle (making it reachable by water for those who like to sail the Blake Sea and points north, and who are looking for a destination).
Built around a central courtyard garden, the gallery provides two floors of exhibition space, with each featured caregiver and / or survivor featured in at least one wall-mounted portrait, their stories available from free-standing signs, the details of the artist who created their picture(s) available from plaques on the wall alongside each display.
With broad hallways, a glass roof, and plenty of opportunities to sit and admire the work on offer as well as tour the various display spaces, the gallery offers a bright, light space, rich in colour courtesy of the plants and the RFL of SL purple. All of which presents visitors with an exceptionally eye-catching environment without detracting in any way from the images on display.
Throughout the exhibition halls are RFL of SL donation kiosks, information givers on in-world support teams, the work of the ACS, and so on. To further help raise funds for RFL of SL, a silent auction is running throughout the exhibition period, with each of the exhibiting photographers offering a portrait package / photo-shoot opportunity to their respective highest bidders. In addition, there will be the opportunity to bid on a place in the autumn course with Visionaire Institute of Photography, and single portraits by special guest artists Skip Staheli, Magissa Denver, and Natzuka Miliandrovic.
Alongside of Skip, Magissa and Natzuka, the artists participating in the exhibition are: Tempest Rosca, Addison Summerwind, Grazia Horwitz, Calypso Applewhyte, Wendz Tempest, Isa Messioptra, AlexAvion, Roxi Richez, Polly Elan, Pam Astonia, mysterr resident, Lam Erin, Roy Mildor, Cubito Smit, Annie1111, Caitlin Tobias, Kaelyn Alecto, Wildstar Beaumont, WrenNoir Cerise, PinkRayne, Reya Darkstone, and of course Catalina.
Running through until Sunday, April 16th, is A Stand for Hope, in aid of Relay for Life of Second Life 2016. The event is in two parts: the Stand Up Best DJ on the Grid competition, and Hope: A 2016 Relay for Life Photography Exhibition.
Stand Up Best DJ Competition
Having kicked-off on March 12th, the Stand Up Best DJ competition is now reaching the final stages, which will take place over the weekend of Saturday and Sunday the 26th / 27th of March and the 2nd / 3rd of April respectively.
Each weekend for the last two weeks, seven DJs have been going head-to-head for they title of Best DJ on the Grid 2016 and a prize purse, providing the best in music and entertainment whilst raising money for RFL of SL in the process. The standings are determined by a combination of judges’ scores and total donations for RFL of SL raised; with two rounds still to go, you can see the overall standings here, and learn about the seven participating DJs.
The schedule for Best DJ can be found on the A Stand for Hope events calendar, and you can join in the fun, dancing and fund-raising at the Best DJ in SL street party venue in-world over the next two weekend, as noted above. Already over L$250,000 has been raised across the first two weekends of heats, so with our help, the competition could raise a cool L$500,000 (roughly US $2,000) for RFL of SL.
Hope: A Relay for Life Photo Exhibition
The Hope: A Relay for Life Photo Exhibition launches on Saturday, April 9th, and will run through until Saturday April 16th, inclusive. For the event, 25 Second Life photographers have paired with 25 cancer survivors and caregivers. The survivors and caregivers will share their story of dealing with the impact of cancer in their lives, with the photographers supplying a portrait of each of them.
The stories and portraits will be displayed in a special gallery from April 9th through 16th, and to help raise money for RFL of SL, a silent auction will be held during the exhibition period. In it, the photographers will be offering a portrait package / photo-shoot opportunity to their respective highest bidders. In addition, there will be the opportunity to bid on a spot in the autumn course with Visionaire Institute of Photography, and single portraits by special guest artists Skip Staheli, Magissa Denver, and Natzuka Miliandrovic.
Fantasy Faire, the largest fantasy-related event to take place in Second Life, opens its portals on Thursday, April 21st and runs through until Sunday May 1st inclusive. It will bring together everyone with a love of fantasy – enthusiasts, creators, performers and designers – for eleven days of commerce, special events, live music concerts and more, all to help raise funds for Relay for Life of Second Life.
On Sunday, March 20th, the Faire organisers announced that applications for blogging about the Faire are now being taken, with the announcement reading in part:
Every year we welcome almost a hundred bloggers into the early access to the Fairelands, to photograph and capture their beauty when they are still pristine and free from the Lag Monster. This year is no exception.
As with recent years, bloggers are additionally invited to participate in one or more challenges. These are not obligatory, and anyone – official blogger or otherwise – is free to participate in them. They are:
Faire Folk – “create a character from the Fairelands. Pick one of the Faire sims as their home, make a look mostly from Faire items, make the character come alive. Take at least one picture of that character in the chosen home sim and blog away! The more roleplay-style bloggers are invited to write about the character as well, but even those to whom pictures speak more than words can let those pictures speak loud and clear! Sim exploration stories encouraged!”
My New Shiny – “find a shop in the Fairelands you have never heard of before and blog something of theirs that you love. This is all about finding and showcasing the hidden talents, the newcomers, the surprises you can find when you explore the Fairelands thoroughly instead of just going through your already familiar favourites. If you know every single shop in the Faire, pick one that you think should be in the spotlight more.”
Why I Relay – “this challenge is for those who do have a personal reason to support Relay for Life events and who would like to share it. Obviously if you don’t have any personal tie to the charity or if you’d like to keep your reasons private, there is no need to do this. But those who would like to speak out for the charity, for RFL and for their reasons, they are invited to do so.”
I Remember – “tell us your favourite Fairelands of the past, dig up the old pictures, reminisce, travel down the memory lane. Write about your transformations, talk about your favourite moments, re-live it all again. Re-live and prepare to meet your new favourite moments soon!”
Fantasy Faire 2015: The Spires of Andolys, April 2015 (Flickr)
Those applying to be an official blogger at this year’s faire can also apply to write for the official Fantasy Faire website. This has no influence on the actual blogger application and should be filled only if you are truly interested. There’s very limited spots for this.
For full information on applying to be an official 2016 Fantasy Faire blogger, please refer to the Blogger Info 2016 page on the official website, and then complete the application form.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 