Mod!Challenge Mods’ Dare Challenge 2024!—RESULTS ARE IN! Thanks to all who took part!

It’s the classic… the dreaded… the much beloved…

THE MODS’ DARE CHALLENGE!!!



[warning: flashing gif below!]




Fig. 1. Evil plot bunny in its natural habitat.​

What is the Mods’ Dare Challenge?
In this challenge, which predates your current mods by quite a bit, you get the chance to think up the craziest, evilest plot bunnies you can possibly think up—and then dare your fellow fanfic writers to write those stories! The mods then give your dare to someone to write, and you, in turn, receive someone else’s crazy bunny to write. (Think the fic-gift challenge, but instead of something you want, it's something off the wall, crazy or just plain weird!)

The last two Mods’ Dare Challenges were held in 2017 and 2020.

Examples of Classic Past Dares:

Fig. 2. The fanfic author thinking up the perfect dare.​

Q. OK, I’m in! What do I have to do?
A. Send a PM to all three fanfic mods— @devilinthedetails , @Mira_Jade , and @Findswoman (yes, all three of us, please!)—with the following:

1. Your dare.
2. What eras/shows/films/games/etc. you would like to write in.

Some guidelines for submissions:

1. You may state any number of eras/films/shows/etc.
2. For Saga era, you may state which sub-era(s) you prefer (PT, OT, ST, etc.). We will try to match these up as best we can but can’t guarantee we’ll be able to.
3. The dare you submit may be as specific or as vague as you would like. You can have required elements, a word limit, a bizarre/funny plot point, or anything else those crazy plot bunnies want to come up with that fall within the TOS.
4. Please exercise caution when including elements from fandoms and properties other than Star Wars. If you choose to do so, we ask that you include enough details and information that a writer who is unfamiliar with those fandoms can still write about them easily. Beyond that, your dare can still be zany and fun!

Some guidelines for writers:

1. You’ll be sent a dare, and you’ll have about a month to write and post it. After that, we’ll open voting.
   
2. Stories may be no more than 2500 words in length (there is no lower limit unless the dare submitter specified one). It’s fine if you decide to write a multichapter/multipost story, but only the first post will be counted toward the challenge. All elements of the dare must be in that one post.
3. Please post your Dare Challenge story in its own thread, and indicate in the thread title that it is a Dare Challenge response.
   
4. Your author notes at the beginning of the story must quote in its entirety the dare that you were dared to write.
5. Post a link to your story in this thread once it is up.
6. As always, please adhere to the TOS and all board rules.

Fig. 3. The fanfic author writing the assigned dare.​

Q. Sounds great! So, now, what’s this about voting?

A. At the end of the challenge, you will have the opportunity to vote on your favorite dare stories—and winners will receive colors! Here’s everything you need to know:

1. Anyone who is a member of the boards may vote, but the usual rules apply: only one vote per person, no sock voting, no voting for yourself, only vote for stories written and submitted on time for the Dare Challenge.
2. If you are a Dare Challenge participant and you completed your dare (i.e., you posted your story before the deadline), your vote counts for 2 points.
3. If you are a Dare Challenge participant, completed your assigned dare, and vote, you get one (1) additional point added to your own point total.
4. If you are a Dare Challenge participant who did not complete your assigned dare, and vote, your vote counts for 1 point, and you do not get any points added to your own point total.
5. If you are not a Dare Challenge participant, your vote counts for 1 point.

Q. Could you please give an example of how the points system works?

A. Certainly! Let’s say…

• Luke, Leia, Han, and Lando all take part in the Dare Challenge.
• Luke completes his dare story and votes for Lando’s entry. -> Lando receives 2 points, Luke receives 1.
• Lando completes his dare story and votes for Leia’s entry. -> Leia receives 2 points, Lando 1.
• Han does not complete his dare story but votes for Luke’s entry. -> Luke receives 1 point, Han receives no additional points.
• Leia completes her dare story but doesn’t vote.
• Chewbacca, who didn’t take part in the Dare Challenge, votes for Lando. -> Lando receives 1 point.

Thus the final score is:
Luke: 2
Leia: 2
Han: 0
Lando: 4

Thus Lando wins with four points, while Luke and Leia tie with two points each. Had Leia voted, she would have gained an extra point (since she completed her dare story) and come in second. The point is (a) to give participants an incentive to both finish and vote, and (b) to encourage everybody and anybody to vote!

Q. So, what’s in it for me? You said something about colors?

A. That’s right! Colors are awarded for first, second, and third places, based on the number of points received during voting:

• 1st place gets 1 week
• 2nd place gets 72 hours
• 3rd place gets 48 hours

And not only that… a special prize will be awarded for the Mods’ Choice Dare!

Q. Mods’ Choice Dare? What’s that?

A. The mods will decide on the dare that they consider the best of all those submitted (whether it gets written or not). The person who submitted that dare will get to torture the mods with whatever colors they choose for one (1) whole week! We’ll mention in our signatures that that person is responsible for our colors during this time and acknowledge that they submitted the best dare of the challenge.

Q. What are all the relevant dates and deadlines?

A. Your dare must be sent to the mods by April 8, at 11:59pm (23:59) PST.

Dares will be sent to their recipients on or before April 11.

Dare stories must be posted by May 8, at 11:59pm (23:59) PST.

Voting begins May 12 10.

Voting ends May 19, at 11:59pm (23:59) PST.

After voting starts, all the dares will be posted in one of the reserved posts below so anyone who wants can give them a try!

Fig. 4. Evil plot bunnies expressing unbridled joy over having been written.
​

Aaaaand that should just about cover it! We DARE you to release those evil plot bunnies and join in the fun!

Love,
Your Fanfic Mods

 

The Challenge Index!
Watery Eyes by Vek Talis (dare by Chyntuck)
Kraytdragon Palpatine by earlybird-obi-wan (dare by Raissa Baiard)
Bad Business by Chyntuck (dare by Vek Talis)
The Nan-dalorian by Raissa Baiard (dare by gizkaspice)
Where No Han Has Gone Before by DarthIshtar (dare by WarmNyota_SweetAyesha)
Cat-aclysmic in the Jedi Temple Library by gizkaspice (dare by earlybird-obi-wan)

Out-of-Competition Submissions:
Recovering Treasures by WarmNyota_SweetAyesha (based on a dare by DarthIshtar)

 

List of All Dares!

Chyntuck's Dare

I dare you to adapt this clip of the song Μάτια βουρκωμένα from the movie Διπλοπενιές to the Star Wars universe, in the era and continuity of your choice. Here is a list of the specific elements that must feature in your story for it to be worthy of the glory that is 1960s Greek musical cinema:

1. Your story must take place in a harbour (or SW equivalent)
2. There must be musicians walking down the street who are inspired to start playing their instruments for some wholly improbable reason that you will define.
3. Your working-class yet handsome protagonist will of course start singing along. It is an absolute pre-requisite that a few chest hairs be visible along the collar of his shirt. If you choose a non-Human protagonist, you will have to replace this with a suitably antiquated and macho symbol of masculinity.
4. Your protagonist’s co-workers will drop whatever they’re doing to belt out the chorus, as seen at 00:56 of the video. This must include people who arrive on the scene in a ludicrous mode of transportation, such as the workers seen at 01:11 who are coming up in a crane lift for no particular reason, and then going down again.
5. Your protagonist must let out a war cry of sorts in the middle of the song (01:29 of the video), the deeper meaning of that war cry, if there is one, being entirely up to you.
6. There must be sailors in uniform (or SW equivalent) who perform a few dance steps in unison, just because, and then resume their stroll (01:32).
7. There must be someone who pirouettes while carrying a patently absurd object, such as the butcher boy with a carcass at 02:06.
8. There must be schoolgirls (or SW equivalent) skipping happily to the tune of the music (02:17)
9. There must be one or more people who integrate the steps of the dance seamlessly in the course of their work, such as the dock workers at 02:23.
10. The lyrics of the song (which you may write or just summarise) must include the quote ‘without love and pain you wouldn’t be alive’. If you’re actually making up lyrics, it’s okay to adjust the wording of the quote to make it fit the type of verse you choose to write.

Μάτια βουρκωμένα (‘Misty Eyes’), music by Stavros Xarchakos, lyrics by Nikos Gatsos, vocals by Dimitris Papamichael and choir; Διπλοπενιές (apparently known in English as ‘Dancing the Sirtaki’), director: Giorgos Skalenakis, 1966

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Vek Talis's Dare

I dare you to write a fic of exactly 2,327 words, set in either the OT or PT. Your fic should have only one character pov (if your normal style is omniscient pov then this is your chance to write outside the box) and include the words: Solivagant, Pestilence, Palaver. Your main character should NOT be a major character in any of the films. Your fic should include some sort of fight and at least one character (who isn't the main character) tap dancing. Your character's goal in this fic is to kill one of the main characters in the OT or PT. You may, if your muse requires it, substitute kill for simply stopping them from reaching some goal, if your written character isn't a killer, but I would prefer attempted assassination (doesn't mean they have to be successful). Finally, your fic should take place on a world, or in a space station or space ship that was NOT shown or even referenced in either the OT or PT and contain at least 3 paragraphs of descriptions of that setting (the setting itself can be created by the author or something referenced in Wookiepedia or any other source, so long as it is only referenced there and not in any of the movies).

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earlybird-obi-wan’s Dare

The Cat-aclysmic dare.
1 Write a story including a cat named Blacky.
2 He/she is trouble in the Jedi-temple.
3 Jocasta Nu chases Blacky.
4 Count Dooku helps and reveals his love for Jocasta.
5 Some of the archives are destroyed.

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DarthIshtar's Dare

I dare you to write a story of 2276 words with the three-part story structure as follows:
1). We learn what a character holds sacred
2). We see the sacred destroyed or damaged through no fault of their own
3). We see the sacred restored through an act of sacrifice.

This must be set within the Empire, but involve no military. One character must be an alien and one character speaks with a fondness for alliteration.

The story must begin and end with a haiku.

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WarmNyota_Sweet Ayesha's Dare

A Trek/SW crossover in Beyond featuring an ensemble cast for SW but focusing mostly on Han/Leia and Luke/Mara.

I want there to be a serious threat: either Sithly or Vong, whichever the author decides works best.

The Trek character I want to help resolve the crisis is an interdimensional character called Q. He can manipulate the timestream in very unusual ways.

A page with character info is:

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Q

The tone of the fic can be hilarious or serious or both.

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gizkaspice's Dare

A story based on the Mandalorian where Mando keeps picking up weird, random alien babies for some reason and eventually just becomes a nanny as another gig job.

At one point he must absolutely say, "I can't believe I turned my back for one second, and you already set something on fire. You don't even have any arms" and "you spit that other baby out. Now."

Grogu learns some bad habits from these babies.

Mando is either called or compared to a mandarin orange or a mango. At some point, he must wear an apron while baking cookies.

One of the alien babies can be a Non-SW element up to the writer if they would like.

At one point, Greef must go "You tellin’ me you got a bunch of weird babies and a very tiny one lives in your helmet?"

Additional:
Addition of cats or Kylo Ren just being there for some reason via time travel for extra brownie points always an option but not required.

Additional elements up to the writer welcome, depending on the writer's level of catnip/coffee/hallucinogenic mushroom/etc consumption level.

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Raissa Baiard's Dare

I dare you to write a story in which Emperor Palpatine, in order to combat his sagging approval rating, hires a publicist who suggests that ideal way to rehabilitate his image as a kindly, grandfather figure is to host a Younglings’ Story Time at the Imperial Archives. The book the publicist chooses for Palpatine to read is “Blue Milk and Tea”, by galactically beloved children’s author Professor Soose (“I do not like blue milk and tea, I do not like it, no siree! I would not drink it with my cookies; I would not drink it with some Wookiees.”) In the audience are: a youngling who keeps asking questions which may or may not have anything to do with the story, one who climbs into Palpatine’s lap, and one who has to go potty multiple times. It’s up to you how well or poorly the story hour goes.

 

Excited to see what evil plot bunnies this inspires

 

Yes! But for anything involving elements from non-SW fandoms, we ask people to keep in mind this clause from the OP, with emphasis on “exercise caution”:

One thing that is very helpful where outside fandoms are involved is providing links, videos, etc.—those can make an immense difference.

 

So, everyone, tomorrow (April 8) is the last day to submit dares! (Sorry I’ve been remiss about reminders; it’s been a busy week that involved both Findsboy’s birthday and traveling out of town.) You have till the end of the day PST to send them in. Let’s see what we get!

 

All righty doo, everyone, it's on! All dares have been sent to their assignees via PM; if for some reason you haven't gotten yours or something looks off, just let me know. The deadline, once again, is end-of-day PST on May 8. Good luck and happy writing... if indeed we can call it that!

Fig. 5. One of your Dare Challenge hostesses feeling most
pleased with herself after sending out all
the dare assignment PMs.
​