Mercenaries, Dark Knights, and Charity Fundraising Rules

What are Mercenaries, Dark Knights, and Merchants

Each of these Game of Tomes / Tourney of Tales player options is not affiliated with a house. They offer their word count for a specific time period to a house in return for funds raised for charity or promises of good deeds or similar things.

Mercenaries, Dark Knights, and Merchants may NOT sell their services to receive any real monetary value for themselves.

The TL;DR on How They Work

A Mercenary or Dark Knight uses the Twitch Polls to collect votes on who “wins” the words written by the mercenary during the stream. (Mercenaries and Dark Knights MAY NOT auction off words written off-stream.
A Merchant exchanges words, Twitch bits, or donations for digital or physical products. It is contrary to the spirit of the competition to introduce any real stakes. Mercenaries may NOT sell their word services for any real monetary value. However, mercenaries may ask for trade-in-kind, or for things with real value, such as bits and Twitch subscriptions, as long as their portion of the monetary value (i.e. the portion of the subscription fee that isn't kept by Twitch) is going to a charity.)
Mercenaries may choose the charity they support or donate to NaNoWriMo or another charity supported by Game of Tomes streamers.

An Example

Gregory Lemon raises funds for the Kids Need to Read literacy program.

Notes for Game of Tomes (November)

If a House Leader is eliminated while having the support of a mercenary, they may "will" the services of that mercenary to another House of their choice.

Notes for Tourney of Tales (April and July)

In the Tourney of Tales, the Great Houses of the Realm are gathering for a medieval-style tournament. Traditionally, there have been no mercenaries during Tournies. But this year GoT will allow a form of mercenary called a "Dark Knight”.

Details: GOT Charity Fundraising Rules

The rules as of March 2022.
Streamers taking part in the Game of Tomes and Tourney of Tales may use the events to raise funds for real-world charities. We welcome and encourage these charity drives.
The following rules have been created for a streamer to be included on the list of Charity Streamers. These rules ensure all activities are above reproach. Potential Charity Streamers must agree to these rules before announcing themselves as a Charity Streamer.

Game of Tomes Disclaimer of Liability

Game of Tomes, their staff, or any other streamer will not be held liable for the actions of a specific streamer. It is the responsibility of each charity streamer to follow the local, state, or federal laws regarding charities, donations, or raffles. Each charity streamer is responsible for their own actions and will not hold claims against Game of Tomes, their staff, or any other streamer.

Generic Charity Streamer Rules

All Charity Organizations receiving funds raised during the Game of Tomes must be approved by GoT staff. Generally speaking, these should be charities recognized by the USA IRS as a 501(c)(3c) non-profit organization (or the country of origin’s equivalent). https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/charitable-organizations/exemption-requirements-501c3-organizations

Charity Streamers MUST provide a plan for how the moneys are to be collected and expected payment date of the collected funds to the selected charity. This must be provided in writing (email.) Pre-approved plans are included below. The collection site (Twitch, Paypal, Ko-fi, etc.) must be specified in the plan.

Charity Streamers MUST present receipts of donation to the GoT within four (4) weeks of receiving the funds. If this is not possible, an explanation must be provided to GoT Staff in writing and for discussion. FAILURE TO PROVIDE PROOF OF DONATIONS or RECEIPTS will result in expulsion from future Game of Tomes or other punitive actions as deemed fit by GoT Staff.

Twitch Affiliates are paid on the 15th of the month after funds are collected. The donation MUST be made within four weeks (28 Days).

Streamers using financial platforms that release money after a period of time MUST donate the collected money within four weeks (28 Days).

Other common collection sites include: PayPal, Ko-Fi, etc.

Charity Drive Plans

The three rule sets for collecting money are based on previous charity drives run by GoT Streamers. They include Donation, Mercenary, and Merchant. (All defined below.) A streamer may choose to run with one or more of these rule sets.
For example, A “Merchant/Donation” or “Mercenary/Donation” are easy to combine. A “Mercenary/Merchant” is allowed but may be too much for one streamer to handle in a single drive. Regardless, clear communication to viewers and donors is expected.

Donation Rules

The “Donation Rules” cover collecting financial donations for a charity without any exchange given to a House or donor. This may be included with any other plan for those who want to help the charity but do not play the game or want to receive any rewards.

All Charity Streamers MUST declare in their stream what constitutes a “donation.” Viewers should clearly understand what type of financial transaction will benefit the Charity or go to the Streamer. Some examples of Donation Rules include:

All Twitch Bits via Polls

All Twitch Bits (regardless of source)

All Twitch Subscriptions

All Ko-Fi Donations (or other platforms)

All Ad Revenue for the Month

Mercenary Rules

A “Mercenary” uses the Twitch Polls to collect votes on who “wins” the words written by the mercenary during the stream. (Mercenaries MAY NOT auction off words written off-stream.)

All Mercenary word count reports MUST include the word “Mercenary” along with the submitted word count.

A Mercenary holds a Poll (via Twitch) and the results of the poll determine the GoT House who will receive the words.

Mercenaries may use other polling software that collects money if they are not Twitch Affiliates. Share the platform with GoT for review in the submitted plan.

The “Mercenary” should require Twitch Bits to vote in the poll. They may give everyone a “free” vote but extra votes cost bits. House with the most collected bits will receive the words.

In the event of a tie, the “Mercenary” has multiple options:

Split the words between the two houses.

A “run-off poll” between the tie-holders determines the winner.

If a tie is between a Human House and the Undead, the tie goes to the Humans.

UNDEAD RULES: If the “Mercenary” is in the Undead Horde, they may continue to use the polls to raise money for their charity. However, a Human House must have MORE THAN DOUBLE the votes to win the words away from the Horde.

Tie Examples:

IF HUMAN MERCENARY: (H >= U) 10 House, 9 Undead= House wins. 9 House, 9 Undead= House wins. Ties go to the houses.

IF UNDEAD MERCENARY: (2H > U) 21 House, 10 Undead= House win. 20 House, 10 Undead= Undead wins - Ties go to Undead. 19 House, 10 Undead= Undead wins

Mercenary Teams

Viewers within a Mercenary’s stream may donate their word count to be auctioned. These team members may report their words separately to the House who wins the poll. They will need to include “Mercenary” in their submission. Mercenary Team Members may delegate the reporting to the Mercenary Streamer.

Merchant Rules

A “Merchant” exchanges words, Twitch bits, or donations for digital or physical products. Clear rules must be established for currency exchange rates for those who allow for words and bits to be combined.
It is recommended that 10 words equal 1 bit, 100 words equal 10 bits. A digital profile badge could be purchased for 100 bits or exchanged for 1000 words.

Digital Examples (delivered electronically)

A PDF or eBook.
A graphic or image badge.

Physical Examples (requires shipping)

A physical book.
Other merchandise.

Questions?

Please ask on the GoT server or in one of the organizer streams. If we don't know the answer right away, we'll get back to you. Though, if the answer is here in the rules, we'll direct you to this document.

This article is a work in progress, and may be subject to changes.

This article is part of a series related to streaming the Game of Tomes. For more information, see Streaming Game of Tomes.

For roleplaying a mercenary without recieving donations, see So You Want To Be A GoT Mercenary.

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