FĂ ilt [Welcome]! Ciamar a tha thu [How are you]?

• The Fiery Cross Sign-up runs through March 1, 2011 [CLOSED]
• The Fiery Cross Clan Assignments & partners posted March 15, 2011
• Sporrans mailed by May 15, 2011

Outlandish Swap V: The Fiery Cross

Scottish clans were originally a Highland way of life. The Highland clan was, above all things, a family; a family in which everybody believed they were all, from chief to blacksmith, descended from one founder or progenitor. They regarded themselves as very close kinsmen. This Swap is dedicated to such clan families and will be organized into four clans.


Wednesday, July 6, 2011

J.H.R.C!

Ye've done it again, lasses! Congrats to Clan Beauchamp!


Beauchamp: 766
Fraser: 265
MacKenzie: 252
Murray: 562

RESULTS!!!!!

Part 4 - I Hear No Music but the Sound of Drums (the poems challenge)

We had 20 participants for this tricky challenge!

There were 12 perfect scores, so these lasses received an extra point for their teams: Caireann & Zella of Clan Murray, Eilis, Ealasaid Farquharson, Imogene, Elspeth, Bree, Morven, Brighde & Muirne of Clan Beauchamp, and Ciara & Magaidh of Clan Fraser.

We did have an early bird and a sneaker for this round: Caireann Murray was our early bird, and Mollie Mackenzie was our sneaker -- an extra point for each was also awarded for these accomplishments!

After a random drawing out of the "perfects" by one of my boys,
I'm happy to announce that Imogene Beauchamp has earned her clan an extra 5 points -- well done!

Scoring for this game:

Murray: 29 + 2 + 1 = 32
Beauchamp: 95 + 8 + 5 = 108
Fraser: 20 + 2 = 22
MacKenzie: 20 + 1 = 21


Part 5 - 'Tis Better to Marry Than to Burn


This was our Cryptogram/Anagram/Drop Quote game extravaganza that you had 2 weeks to complete! We had 11 competitors (3 Murray, 6 Beauchamp, 1 Mackenzie, & 1 Fraser), and 5 (4 Beauchamp & 1 Fraser) who submitted a participation point email. 7 of those 11 were perfect scores. Those with perfect scores received 1 extra point for their team. These lucky (hardworking!) lasses are: Caireann, Zella & Bea Murray, Nematona & Muirne Beauchamp, Kinley MacKenzie, and Magaidh Fraser!

Of those 7 lasses, the winner of the drawing is: Muirne Beauchamp! Congrats on an extra 5 points, lass!!

The early bird goes to Caireann Murray, and the sneaker to Magaidh Fraser, for an extra point, each.

In addition, I'm awarding 2 lasses who managed to answer every. single. question. of this challenge correctly -- the maximum points were 25, but there were 33.5 points available. Caireann Murray and Zella Murray both managed each and every one! You each have earned an additional 3 points for your team! Braw job, lasses!

Scoring for this challenge is as follows:

Murray: 96 + 3 + 5 +1 + 6 = 111
Beauchamp: 137 + 2 = 139
MacKenzie: 28 +1 = 29
Fraser: 26 +1 +1 = 28


Part 6 - War of the Regulation

25 competitors in this game -- we raided each others "project" pages to find things that Claire's family may have wanted to give her for her birthday.

No extra points for this one -- everyone who participated received 10 points.

Beauchamp: 120 pts
Fraser: 40
Murray: 60
MacKenzie: 30



Part 8 - A Hunting We Will Go

There were 9 participants, 4 murray's & 5 beauchamps! I was quite liberal with the scoring, so there were no extra points awarded for this one.

Thus this game's scores are as follows:

Clan Murray: 40
Clan Beauchamp: 41


...and that is all of the games, completely scored! I'll be adding them all up & posting the final scores this afternoon or evening, but I have a sneaking suspicion of who is the winner (again), and think you all do, too... ;)

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Game 9 (book discussion) Results

Fiona Fraser back to report some more game results...for our final game, the book discussion, we had a total of 17 participants (plus the chieftessess, but they were ineligible for point earning). The scoring for this game is a little different from the last one, so I've explained it below.

Each question you answered earned you 2 points. If you chimed in on all 4 discussions, you earned an extra 2 points (I'm lookin' at you, bartlebean, violetdawn, pepperpurl & georgethegirl!). As this was a team challenge, if you participated at all, you earned an additional point for your team (7-Beauchamp, 5-Murray, 4-Fraser, 1-MacKenzie).

In lieu of the early bird and the sneaker awards, bonus points were awarded to the person who garnered the most interest (i.e. the most clicks - 35, to be exact -- mostly in agrees), and the person who made the most contributions to the thread overall. In this case, both of these categories are won by the same lass...Pepperpurl! Congrats on earning an extra 2 points for clan Murray!

Our final points award is the random drawing by my boys, done of the participants who took part in all 4 discussions. Bartlebean is the winner of that one! Congrats on winning 5 points for clan Beauchamp!

Point totals for this game (participation points + 2 points for participating in all 4 discussions + number of participants from your clan + bonus points + 5pts to the drawing winner)

Beauchamp: 36 + 4 + 7 + 0 + 5 = 52
Murray: 26 + 4 + 5 + 2 + 0 = 37
Fraser: 12 + 0 + 4 + 0 + 0 = 16
MacKenzie: 4 + 0 + 1 + 0 + 0 = 5

Stay tuned for more game results this week!

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Game results -- game 7

We're a might out of order here, lasses, but we wanted to get you some results! We will be getting the results to games 4-6 (and 8) to you soon, don't worry. So without further ado... the participants were:

Beauchamp: Caroline, Ealasaid, Besse, Nemetona, Muirne, Lady NF, Elspeth
Fraser: Magaidh
MacKenzie: Mollie, Kinley
Murray: Caireann, Zella, Latharna, Ruadh, Bea

The lasses with perfect scores:

Perfect scores: Caireann, Caroline, Ealasaid, Magaidh, Zella, Besse, Nemetona, Mollie, Kinley, Bea, Elspeth

...and the extra point winners are:

Early Bird - Caireann
Sneaker - Ruadh

And of course all of those with perfect scores earn an extra point (which we did not add separately, but is there, I promise!), and one lucky lass from that group will win an extra 5 points

...and that lass is...(insert drumroll here):
Magaidh! Congrats!!

Point totals (for this game only) are as follows:

Beauchamp: 71
Fraser: 11 + 5 (perfect) = 16
MacKenzie: 22
Murray: 50 + 1 (EB) + 1 (Sn) = 52

Well done, to all, and we'll be back soon with more results!

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Part 8 ~ Homework ~ A Hunting We Will Go

For this wee homework assignment, we will ask you to list 5 things that Claire would have in her wee medicine basket (or stillroom) and their uses Find a picture of this item and post it to the HOMEWORK thread on Ravelry. For example, if your find is a heart/lung bypass machine,  please show us a book reference from Part 8 where she would use the Heart/Lung machine or has one, and post the picture. If someone prior to you has used this item, you have to find a different item. The photo reference can be off-ravelry.
This assignment is for the good sisters, not for the chieftesses. Please include your swap name and clan name in the post (not everyone uses a clan badge and it helps us). The homework assignment is due on May 10th at midnight, ET.
Good luck, lasses.

Mordag and Fiona

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Alarms of Struggle and Flight

Good sisters,

Here is a wee quiz based on part 7 of the book - Alarms of Struggle and Flight. In this challenge, there are two columns - one of names, the other is something to match up with one of the given names. Please submit your answers to highlandergames (at) ymail (dot) com with the word TRIVIA in the subject line. Also, please include your swap name and your clan so we can give you proper credit.

Brianna               Afraid of thunder, killed by lightening
Deborah            Discovered bat skeleton in amulet
Isaiah Morton     Nom de Plume
Jackson Jolly      Had a feral eye for the school teacher
James MacQuiston   Called the birds
Josiah                 Received 5000 acres as compensation
Judas                 Proclaimed the bear has special scratching trees
Obadiah             Solicited the Bear-Killer
 Roger               Performed Tarot readings
Tsatsa'wi            Wagoner for Sherston's Brewery

Please submit your answers by Tuesday, May 3rd at midnight.

Respectfully submitted,

Mordag Murray and Fiona Fraser

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Adso's Ridge & Favorite Things Results

Lasses, well done on the games thus far! We now have the results from the "Marsali" (Adso's Ridge, this time around) game based on section #2, and the "Favorite Things" homework based on section #3 ready for you to see!

Adso's Ridge:

Participants:
Clan Beauchamp: Lady North Facing, Imogene, Caroline, Elspeth, Ealasaid, Muirne, Morven, Nemetona

Clan Fraser: Jeanette, Eirinn, Ciara, Magaidh

Clan MacKenzie: Ide, Jessie, Kinley

Clan Murray: Caireann, Bea, Ceana, Zella

Perfect Scores:
Caireann Murray, Bea Murray, Kinley MacKenzie and Ciara Fraser! An extra point for each o' the four of ye, lasses -- well done!

Winner (of perfect scores, by drawing from the children's wooden tea set -- the sugar bowl worked quite well!): Kinley MacKenzie!! Congrats, lass, ye've won your clan 5 extra points!


Additional Bonuses:
Early Bird: Caireann Murray
Sneaker: Magaidh Fraser (11:54 pm)
Congrats, lasses -- an extra point, each!

Scores:
Beauchamp: 55
Fraser: 33 + 1 (perfect) + 1 (sneaker) = 35
MacKenzie: 25 + 1(perfect) + 5(winner) = 31
Murray: 39 + 2 (perfect) + 1 (early bird) = 42

**************************************************

Favorite Things:

Participants:

Beauchamp: Eilis, Nemetona, Muirne, Suisan, Caroline, Brighde, Sineag, Isobel, Lady North Facing, Elspeth, Imogene, Morven, Alyth, Bree, Ealasaid

Fraser: Eirinn, Ciara, Magaidh, Jullienne, Lileas, Rhona, Jocasta, Fiona, Aileen

MacKenzie: Rhona, Eadgyth, Ceitidh, Isabelle, Jessie, Seonag, Kinley, Rayanne, Ide, Mollie.

Murray: Mordag, Ruadh, Chloe, Bea, Ceana, Caireann, Toireasa, Marsali, Latharna, Arafel, Zella, Eileen, Meadth, Leigh

Scores:
Beauchamp: 150
Fraser: 90
MacKenzie: 100
Murray: 140

Thanks to all the lasses for playing. You have earned 10 points for your team, and you have helped your spoiler get to know you better!


*********************************************

Final scores as of part #3 can be found on the sidebar. :)

-Respectfully submitted, Mordag Murray & Fiona Fraser

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

'Tis Better to Marry Than Burn

Lasses, Ye've been doing a braw job on all of the challenges we have set your way. This time, we have a three part challenge but ye have two weeks to complete it. Still check in every week on Ravelry.

 
For this challenge, we will ask ye to solve a crypto list, a Drop Quote puzzle and some anagrams. The puzzles will be here, but send your answers to highlandergames (at) ymail (dot) com.

 
Crypto Families: Each puzzle contains a list of related words with a simple, unique substitution code. The heading for each puzzle gives a hint as to the types of words. Each of the words are in the book, but you really don't need your book to solve the words. You just need to figure out the code. The key to solve the first crypto family is different from both the second one and the third. Good luck!

 
People (max 5 points)
  • WOWOIW FJCC AILOCYXW
  • UAIJSEJ
  • FJYYH
  • VXNIBYI OWWJB
  • AJELIW AGBFIWS
  • UAOCCOU PHCOJ
  • QIYAJE CJNCJEN
  • BYJUAJW FXWWJY
  • LIVXE SXWICS LINSXWICS
And they're off :(max 5 points)
  • LSIQA FBIUSY
  • TJKBDM
  • QIUN RDUYB
  • SI LBSSB QSIJUB
  • YNISSJDM
  • SXQIY
  • QSIUBMQB
  • NRDUDXTRLUBK
  • HUJBYJIMY
  • NBYYI
A Mac Donald by any other name: (max 3.5 points)
  • ODTHQO _________
  • ___________ DZ YQLHW
  • KHXDA ___________
  • ___________ DZ WNL UYQLY
  • ADELAW ____________ DZ YWDATDFHI
  • ___________ DZ SQHTAHTHQO
  • ___________ DZ BLVVDSN
Drop Quotes: (5 points for each one)


  Here is a link to the drop quotes. To solve a drop quote, the game is simple. Each puzzle contains a hidden quote, with the spaces for each letter in that quote laid out in a typical crossword puzzle-type black and white grid. Above each column are a series of letters. Simply "drop" each letter into the appropriate squares in each row and column to reveal the hidden quote. Each quote is in Part Five of the book, but it is not necessary to have a paper copy of the book to solve the quotes. 

 
Anagrams: ( max 5 points)

 
For the anagrams, try to find a name of someone who is or is mentioned in this sectioned by rearranging the letters. 
  • Hey, it will
  • Heft her ant, ken?
  • A fine, left owl nut
  • Ahem, sun salon
  • Cement line
  • Arm can no more
  • Chug back meal horn
  • Her room accent
  • Zinc ace on mum elk
  • Drunken arc
 Maximum points for each part is listed next to each quiz. Mix and match your challenge for a total of 25 points (this is for two weeks). Please submit your answers by midnight on April 27th.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Part 6 ~ The War of the Regulation

'Tis almost time for Jaime's birthday, and when we celebrate birthdays, or are preparing to, we usually ask what can we get for the birthday person. With Claire at his side, Jamie needs very little. Instead of presents for Himself, we will be thinking about Claire. What can we get or make for Claire. No time to make anything so we will go raiding. Your assignment ~ find two projects (two different kinds of projects) in your spoilee's profile that Claire would find useful, and explain why. Now, find two different kinds of projects in your spoiler's profile that Brianna would make for Claire and explain why, and lastly - find one project in your own profile that Mrs. Bug would want Claire to have and explain why. This is almost too easy, so I will add a few things to this - all of the project pages must have been created prior to April 5th and you should be showing us 5 different types of projects with 5 different explanations. One point for each project listed, one point for each explanation. Because we don't all fill out our project pages, if you cannot find something on your spoilees project page you can use her chieftess' project page. The same applies to your spoilers project page and your own. If you have any questions, please ask in the Games thread on Ravelry or PM me. Please send your answers to Highlandergames (at) ymail (dot) com with Claire in the subject line. Also, please include your clan and swap name in the email. Good luck, lasses! Mordag and Fiona

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Part 4 ~ I Hear no Music but the Sound of Drums

Good Sisters,

We all hear a different drummer and that means we sometimes interpret things a little differently as well. For this wee quiz, we will give you one stanza from 5 different poems. Please tell us what each poem is about. (1 point each). For an extra 2 points per poem, please send us a (loose) translation.

The maximum points for this challenge is 10, so you need not do the entire challenge. Please send your answers to highlandergames (at) ymail (dot) com with the word poem in the subject line of your email, and include your swap and clan name in the email. Nemetona willna be participating in this challenge as she helped us set it up) so Chieftess Eilis will be filling in for her.

#1)
The flaunting flow'rs our gardens yield,
High shelt'ring woods and wa's maun shield;
But thou, beneath the random bield
O' clod or stane,
Adorns the histie stibble-field,
Unseen, alane.

#2)
Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous beastie,
Oh, what a panic's in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty,
Wi' bickering brattle!
I was be laith to rin an' chase thee,
Wi' murd'ring pattle!

#3)
Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o' the puddin-race!
Aboon them a' ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy of a grace
As lang's my arm.

#4)
Hear me, Auld Hangie, for a wee,
An' let poor damn'd bodies be;
I'm sure sma' pleasure it can gie,
Ev'n to a deil,
To skelp an' scaud poor dogs like me
An' hear us squeel.

#5)
My curse upon your venom'd stang,
That shoots my tortur'd gooms alang,
An' thro' my lug gies monie a twang
Wh' gnawing vengeance,
Tearing my nerves wi' bitter pang,
Like racking engines!


Good luck, lasses. Fiona and Mordag

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Results from Game 1, the Interactive Book Discussion

Lasses, Our first game is complete and we are now chatting with our new spoilees and spoilers and getting reacquainted with our clan. This was a very different challenge and it was great to see everyone share their thoughts on the different characters and answer our questions. For each of the questions, we had a phrase that would have earned your clan an extra point.

Question 1: Claire and the Scottish hospitality -- buzz phrase: Outlander/Sassenach/Englishness
Question 2: Tradition -- buzz phrase: Baptism
Question 3: Honor --buzz phrase: parole
Question 4: Claire as healer/herbalist --buzz phrase: draco seeds/alternative medicines
Question 5: Roger gentle/weak? -- buzz phrase: Roger's wedding present to Bree ( or Duncan's to Jocasta)

We would like to offer an extra point to Magaidh of Clan Fraser for mentioning Claire's Englishness, and thus having a different opinion on hospitality, and to Latharna Murray for offering alternative medicines that Claire used.

For the discussions in general, we went through each post to give the main scores for the challenge. This was truly a clan challenge, but there are a few noteworthy posters - Jeannette of Clan Fraser had the most loves (8) on any one post, Chloe of Clan Murray had the most posts per question and the most overall - 47 posts. Well done lasses! You have earned a special bonus point for your clans!

Points were awarded to each clan based on the number of participants in each question. If you participated in each question/topic, you earned your clan at least 5 points (one for each question). An additional point went to the person who earned the highest number of love, agree, funny, interesting, and disagree clicks in their posts per question (no educationals were used at all). There was no sneaker or early bird award in this game.

The scoring is as follows: participant points + click points + special bonus points + buzz phrase points = total

Beauchamp: 23 + 7 = 30
Fraser: 15 + 1 + 1 + 1= 18
MacKenzie: 12 + 2 = 14
Murray: 28 + 18 + 1 + 1 = 48

Well done, Lasses!

-Mordag & Fiona

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Quiz 2 ~ The Marsali Game

For this quiz we have taken the Ruler of the Ridge's name and we ask that you find something in each of the following categories that begin with each letter in his name ~ ADSO. Oops, not enough letters here so we will make it Adso's Ridge, or for the game ~ A D S O R I G E.

There are 2 D's and 2 S's but you only need to find one D and one S word for each category. We also ask that all of your answers are from Section 2 of the Fiery Cross, but your answers do not have to be what one might find as ordinary. And you can only use one thing for each of thing for each letter in any given category. An example of this can be found earlier in the series when young Germaine puts a cockroach in his mouth. Under the category of Targets, you could use ROACH or INSECT, but not both unless you could find another insect being the Target of someone's snack. But you could repeat ROACH or INSECT if wee Ian had said it was a tradition for the Mohawk to eat cockroaches to celebrate the Hunter's Moon. Same critter, different category - it would work. But as this part of the story is not in this section, these answers would not work for this challenge. And because neither Roach nor Insect are normal Targets, nor are they normal Traditions, I would ask that you tell me why you think it is.

We dinna ken if there is an A, D, S, O, R, I, G, and an E for each category, but we do ken that most of the letters can be found for each category. With your imagination, you may just be able to completely fill each category. But remember, only one of each of the above letters will count for each category.

Another example from a previous challenge that was similar - under the category of Weapons, 'Ink Bottle' was used and then explained that Lord John threw an ink bottle at a rat. I had a lot of fun reading your answers. We look forward to seeing just what you will find.

Target letters: A D S O's R Id G E or A ~ D ~ S ~ O ~ R ~ I ~ G ~ E

Categories: Targets, Blessings, Traditions, People and Guidance

Target - the item we are aiming for (see example above)
Blessings - things that we count ourselves lucky to have or to experience
Traditions - something inherited or customary
People - well, the 2 legged critters whose names are found in this section. Their name can only count once, so if Diana Gabaldon could be used (which she cannot), you could use her under D for Diana or G for Gabaldon. Not both. And while Adso might think he is a person, he is not. Neither is the white sow.
Guidance - where do we turn for help? Any noun will do, as long as that person, place or thing begins with A, D, S, O, R, I, G or E and is found in this section. Guidance comes in many forms ~ I turn to my cookbook for guidance if I am making something I am not familiar with or to my Aunt Dotsy if I need help with knitting. (my aunt is long gone, so it is more what I think she would do) My DS turns to the internet for all forms of Guidance (map, directions, research, instruction manual and even how to do a 3 point turn for his drivers license. Oddly, the internet told him the same thing his mother did.)

Imaginations are encouraged. And if you can rationalize it, in the past the point was always given. We won't break with tradition.

1 point for every 4 answers given, max 10 points.

Please submit your answers to highlandergames (at) ymail (dot) com
with marsali in the subject line. To help us identify you, please include your rav name, your swap name and your clan. All answers must be received by Midnight ET on March 22nd.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Game 1 In Media Res

For this first challenge we will be having a wee discussion. It will involve the first section of Fiery Cross. Please visit the special Games Thread that we have set up for that challenge. The results will be posted here sometime after the challenge.
Good Sisters,

Welcome to the Games and Challenges section of our Fiery Cross Swap. We will be doing things a wee bit different this time. Some of the games will be posted here, some on Ravelry. Some of the responses should be sent to our email account (highlandergames (at) ymail (dot) com and some of them should be posted to the games thread on Ravelry. We will try to be as clear as possible, but if you should have any questions at all, please send a message to either Mordag (abitknottie on Rav) or Fiona (cinnamonamon) on Rav). Or ask it in the general games chat thread. I am sure you won't be the only one with that question.

Who will participate in the games? All of the clan sisters, with the exception of the clan chieftesses, unless otherwise noted.

Our games schedule will follow this schedule:
Game 1: March 1 until March 15 Location: On Ravelry - Games Thread. Open to all swap participants but points will only be awarded to the clan sisters, not the chieftesses
Quiz 2: March 16 - March 22 Location: Here ~ responses sent to ymail account
Homework 3: March 23 - 29 Location: On Ravelry - Games Thread. Open to all swap participants.
Quiz 4: March 30 - April 5 - Location: Here ~ responses sent to ymail account
Game 5: April 6 - 19 - Location: Here ~ responses sent to ymail account
Homework 6: April 20 - April 26 Location: Here ~ with responses sent to ymail account
Quiz 7: April 27 - May 3 Location: Here ~ with responses sent to ymail account
Homework 8: May 4 - May 10 Location: Ravelry - Games Thread
Game 9: May 11 - May 24 Location: Here ~ responses sent to ymail account

We hope you enjoy the new format and the new games we have added.

Respectfully submitted,

Mordag and Fiona