Tuesday, January 12, 2010

WWACMD?

What Would a Cheddar Monk Do?
Negotiation, Level 2:Negotiation, Level 2: Suggest a Challenge

Truly an easy question to answer. Looking back over the previous months and the challenges put forth, it seems that a Padawan will do almost anything short of joining the dark side to get their diploma from the Academy. The true challenge in this case is to come up with some tasks that not only can be completed by the padawans, but is both ethical and legal.

After a moderate period of meditation, I have come up with the following challenges for the Padawans. As always the final decision will be up to the cheddar masters to determine suitability and points to be awarded for their completion.

1) Charity Level 3: Feed a hungry person (donate food to a local cause, soup kitchen, food bank, etc) (Fixed 4 points)

2) Negotiation Level 3: Convince the cheddar Masters to give points to ANOTHER padawan by posting a plea to YouTube or other video hosting site. (Maximum 6 points at the master's discretion)
Alternate
Negotiation Level 3: Convince another Padawan to post a plea for points on your behalf. (successful padawans get points for both making a plea and having a good plea made on their behalf) (Maximum 10 points at the master's discretion divided between the requester and receiving Padawans)

3) Force Sensitivity Level 2: Communicate with a Non-sentient beast Using Cheddar Monk psychic powers- post video of your effort (2-6 points at masters discretion based on the receptivity of the beast)

4) Laser Sword Level 2: photo or video of the Padawan in public in robes with laser sword (or 10 foot laser pole) 4 points

5) Force Negotiation Level 4: Video of padawan negotiating with a shop keeper or other sales person for a lower price. 2 - 7 points depending on the skills demonstrated.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Creativity, Level 1: Title Crawl

There is not much to blog on this challenge. the criteria that we have to work with are rather straight forward:
"Create your own opening title crawl - preferably video, but a still image is acceptable - summarising one of your own adventures as a Cheddar Monk Padawan. It must be brief: No more than three paragraphs of 35 words or so each. Points will be awarded for creativity in content and presentation."

At first I thought that 35 words per paragraph was too restrictive, but after a few trial runs with the scrolling text, I saw how difficult it was to read long paragraphs as they scrolled.
In keeping with the spirit of brevity that is the challenge, here is the Full sized video on YouTube as restrictions in the blogging software makes the embedded video too small to see clearly.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Doing Good Feels Good

(Challenge level 1 Charity: Make a donation)

The Cheddar monk order was founded with the purpose of maintaining stability in the republic. This stability comes not just from the enforcement of laws, but also the protection of those who are preyed upon by evil. Aiding and defending the weak, and ensuring basic freedoms and rights of all citizens is the foundation of the the order.
Unfortunately, not everyone sees humanity as a whole, and will sacrifice individuals for profit and power (both of which are illusions).
While still under the ministrations of the masters, I go where ordered, thus I was unable to personally attend the enslaved, I was able to financially assist those who have under taken the task to Free the Slaves by donating some surplus credits. A worthy cause to ensure that others enjoy the basic right of freedom that many of us take for granted.
Special thanks to Padawan Metruis who brought this cause to my attention, and sacrificed her time to raising awareness of this issue.