Scoring
Tinder and kindling are the primary currency of Hearth : Home. They can be redeemed at the Forge, the Kiln, and the Tending hub to alter the traits of existing Scoria and create or acquire new Scoria.
You can earn tinder and kindling by creating art and writing based on Hearth : Home's settings and characters, including any existing Scoria.
Each user has an individual store of tinder, which they earn by creating new pieces.
Each Scoria character has an individual store of kindling. Scoria earn more kindling every time they appear in a piece of artwork or writing, even if the piece's creator is not the owner of the character.
No artwork may be submitted for tinder and kindling more than once. Please do not submit WIP's.
You are not required to submit artwork on DeviantArt or to the group to claim tinder and kindling, but you must link to all pieces you earn tinder from on your player profile and all pieces your Scoria earns kindling from on their tracker. If your Scoria earned kindling from a piece by another artist, their tracker should reflect that.
You are responsible for determining the amount of tinder and kindling earned on each piece you submit; please include a breakdown of points earned in the description of the piece. Staff may or may not check your work on any individual piece. You do not need to wait for confirmation before adding the tinder/kindling to your profile/tracker.
These guidelines are up to your interpretation, but please remember that the spirit of Hearth : Home is to create and enjoy art, not to farm for points. If staff finds that you have abused this leeway, you may be reprimanded, docked points, or even asked to leave the group.
To determine how much tinder and kindling a piece earns, choose one category to give you a base score, then add bonuses as they apply.
Collaborations: if two or more artists collaborate on a piece, they each earn the full amount of tinder.
Commissions: only the artist of the commission collects the full amount of tinder, while the commissioner collects 50% of the full amount. Any Scoria depicted in the piece still collect the full amount of kindling, regardless of who they belong to.
Batches: multiple pieces of art may be submitted as one deviation/file, but if they are separate images that do not interact or form a cohesive whole, they should be scored individually.
Comics: score comic panels as individual works in the category that best applies to them, then include the storytelling bonus.
Gijinkas: you may only claim tinder and kindling on an artwork that shows Scoria in a gijinka/humanoid form if the Scoria in question has learned the gijinka transformation at the Forge.
Design submissions and masterlist images may be posted outside hub/tracker topics (separate from the actual masterlist entry) for tinder and kindling; they receive any bonuses that apply to them.
All tinder and kindling amounts should be calculated in whole numbers. However, if decimals should arise, you are permitted to round up any fractional amounts to the next whole number.
If you are ever in doubt as to how much tinder and kindling you should earn from a piece, please feel free to contact staff.
Basic categories
Choose one category into which your artwork fits. The tinder value for each category applies only to the creator, while each Scoria depicted in the piece earns the kindling. (Example: if Player A sketches their Scoria B and someone else's Scoria C, A receives 3 tinder before bonuses, while B and C each receive 1 kindling before bonuses.)
If a work falls outside of these categories (e.g. sculpture, crafts), please contact staff to have it individually scored.
Sketches & doodles - 3 tinder & 1 kindling
Tiny works - 5 tinder & 2 kindling
Lineart & monochrome - 8 tinder & 3 kindling
Color illustrations - 14 tinder & 5 kindling
Shaded illustrations - 18 tinder & 7 kindling
Writing - 4 tinder & 2 kindling per 50 words
Roleplay - 6 tinder & 3 kindling per 50 words, with caveats
Bases - 20 tinder & 0 kindling
Bonuses
Different bonuses stack; add points from as many bonuses as apply to the work. Check the individual bonuses to see whether they stack with themselves. Each Scoria depicted in the work receives the full amount of kindling unless otherwise specified in the bonus description.
Full-body - multiply category tinder & kindling by 2
Minimal background - +4 tinder
Background scenery - +9 tinder
Character interactions - +5 tinder per additional character & +3 kindling to each character
Storytelling - +6 tinder & +1 kindling
Others' Scoria - +3 tinder & +2 kindling per Scoria
The Kindler - +7 tinder
For fun - +5 tinder
Simple animation - +3 tinder & +1 kindling
Moderate animation - +6 tinder & +3 kindling
Complex animation - +10 tinder & +5 kindling
If you have questions about either a specific piece or scoring in general, please contact a staff member. The best ways to do this are via the #contact-staff channel in the Discord server or the Help & Questions forum.
You can earn tinder and kindling by creating art and writing based on Hearth : Home's settings and characters, including any existing Scoria.
Each user has an individual store of tinder, which they earn by creating new pieces.
Each Scoria character has an individual store of kindling. Scoria earn more kindling every time they appear in a piece of artwork or writing, even if the piece's creator is not the owner of the character.
No artwork may be submitted for tinder and kindling more than once. Please do not submit WIP's.
You are not required to submit artwork on DeviantArt or to the group to claim tinder and kindling, but you must link to all pieces you earn tinder from on your player profile and all pieces your Scoria earns kindling from on their tracker. If your Scoria earned kindling from a piece by another artist, their tracker should reflect that.
You are responsible for determining the amount of tinder and kindling earned on each piece you submit; please include a breakdown of points earned in the description of the piece. Staff may or may not check your work on any individual piece. You do not need to wait for confirmation before adding the tinder/kindling to your profile/tracker.
These guidelines are up to your interpretation, but please remember that the spirit of Hearth : Home is to create and enjoy art, not to farm for points. If staff finds that you have abused this leeway, you may be reprimanded, docked points, or even asked to leave the group.
To determine how much tinder and kindling a piece earns, choose one category to give you a base score, then add bonuses as they apply.
Collaborations: if two or more artists collaborate on a piece, they each earn the full amount of tinder.
Commissions: only the artist of the commission collects the full amount of tinder, while the commissioner collects 50% of the full amount. Any Scoria depicted in the piece still collect the full amount of kindling, regardless of who they belong to.
Batches: multiple pieces of art may be submitted as one deviation/file, but if they are separate images that do not interact or form a cohesive whole, they should be scored individually.
Comics: score comic panels as individual works in the category that best applies to them, then include the storytelling bonus.
Gijinkas: you may only claim tinder and kindling on an artwork that shows Scoria in a gijinka/humanoid form if the Scoria in question has learned the gijinka transformation at the Forge.
Design submissions and masterlist images may be posted outside hub/tracker topics (separate from the actual masterlist entry) for tinder and kindling; they receive any bonuses that apply to them.
All tinder and kindling amounts should be calculated in whole numbers. However, if decimals should arise, you are permitted to round up any fractional amounts to the next whole number.
If you are ever in doubt as to how much tinder and kindling you should earn from a piece, please feel free to contact staff.
Basic categories
Choose one category into which your artwork fits. The tinder value for each category applies only to the creator, while each Scoria depicted in the piece earns the kindling. (Example: if Player A sketches their Scoria B and someone else's Scoria C, A receives 3 tinder before bonuses, while B and C each receive 1 kindling before bonuses.)
If a work falls outside of these categories (e.g. sculpture, crafts), please contact staff to have it individually scored.
Sketches & doodles - 3 tinder & 1 kindling
- This category covers rough pieces that are not cleaned up or colored, regardless of how much of a Scoria's body is shown in the piece.
- Please do not submit sketches that are so rough or lacking in detail that no individual Scoria is identifiable.
- Clean works that depict a general Scoria form without identifiable features may be submitted as bases; see below.
Tiny works - 5 tinder & 2 kindling
- This category covers works whose width and height are both 100 pixels or smaller, regardless of style or detail.
- Please do not submit cropped pieces of larger works (the larger work will get you more points anyway).
- If an image is larger than 100x100 but contains multiple tiny pieces that do not interact or form a cohesive whole, the tiny pieces should be scored individually in this category.
Lineart & monochrome - 8 tinder & 3 kindling
- This category covers works that use clean lines, with no guides or under-sketches visible.
- Pieces that use simple monochrome coloring may also fall into this category.
- More complex monochrome art, especially pieces that use shading to create depth, may be submitted under the colored or shaded illustration categories.
Color illustrations - 14 tinder & 5 kindling
- This category covers art in full, flat color.
- Monochrome works may be submitted to this category if they are complete, clean artworks with notable variation and complexity in value.
- Art in this category may use rough lineart with guides and visible sketching, as long as the piece is fully colored.
- Lineless works may be submitted to this category, as long as they are fully colored.
- Works that include only basic hints of shading should be scored in this category. Where the exact borderline falls between "basic hints of shading" and "full shading" is up to your interpretation.
- Works that use simple gradients for shading should be submitted to this category rather than as shaded illustrations.
Shaded illustrations - 18 tinder & 7 kindling
- This category covers fully-colored art that uses shading to create a sense of depth, texture, or three-dimensional appearance.
- Art in this category may use rough lineart with guides and visible sketching, as long as the piece is fully colored and shaded.
- Works in lineless, painted, and cel-shaded styles are all accepted in this category, as long as they include full shading.
- Monochrome works may be submitted to this category as long as they are complete, clean artworks that exhibit effects of depth or texture.
Writing - 4 tinder & 2 kindling per 50 words
- Please round down to the nearest 50 words when calculating points (i.e., 50-99 words counts as 50 words; 100-149 words counts as 100 words).
- Creative writing works may be poetry or prose.
- Summaries and pure exposition (such as character profiles or backstory summaries) may be submitted in this category, but do not receive the storytelling bonus below
- Works under 50 words should be submitted in batches of at least 50 words.
- For a character to earn kindling or qualify the pieces for bonuses, the character should actually appear in a scene and/or receive focus, not be mentioned in passing. Scoria who are not physically present may receive kindling if they are the primary focus of others' thoughts, speech, or actions.
- Please be reasonable in dividing scenes and works based on the characters appearing; do not submit a collection of unrelated scenes featuring different characters and then claim kindling for the full word count for each character.
- Consider scoring scenes individually if not all characters are present or relevant to an individual scene.
Roleplay - 6 tinder & 3 kindling per 50 words, with caveats
- Script-format roleplays are not eligible to earn tinder or kindling. Roleplays do not need to be fully polished writing, but they should comprise a prose narrative.
- The roleplay may be publicly visible in its raw form (e.g., roleplay that takes place on a forum, where admins can publicly view it) or a player may clean up and post a roleplay that took place privately (e.g. a roleplay that took place on Discord copied and pasted into a literature deviation).
- If you are copying and pasting a roleplay to post it, please be sure to clean it up and make it readable; elements like timestamps and extra spaces should be removed.
- To be redeemed for points, a roleplay must be a complete, resolved thread. In-progress threads may not be redeemed.
- You may divide storylines into multiple consecutive threads so that earlier parts of the storyline may be redeemed; however, please ensure that each thread depicts a distinct event and comes to a suitable stopping point (i.e., do not arbitrarily divide threads for point gain).
- Each participant in a roleplay must contribute at least 400 words across at least three posts to receive tinder and kindling.
- Note that all roleplay participants are eligible for the storytelling and for fun bonuses below as long as they meet the word and post count requirements.
- Only Scoria owned by participants in the roleplay may earn kindling from a roleplay.
- To earn kindling in a roleplay, a Scoria must be physically present in the scene; if a character is present for only part of a thread, they should only receive kindling for the length of the posts for which they were present.
- Each roleplayer earns the full amount of tinder and kindling for the thread, including both the base word count amount above and any bonuses that apply.
- As long as all players are satisfied and enjoying the roleplay, disparities in word count between players are fine.
Bases - 20 tinder & 0 kindling
- A base is generalized linework of a Scoria that can be colored and edited multiple times to depict different individual Scoria.
- An artist may claim tinder on the initial submission of a base, but not on any art created with that base, whether the edits are by the original artist or by someone else.
- Ideally, bases should be made available to the full group as resources (the high tinder count for bases is intended to encourage artists to create bases for others to use). When submitting a base, please specify the conditions under which others can use it.
- Your-character-here pieces should not be scored as bases, but as illustrations in one of the categories above. YCH's should be submitted only once completed, and the same YCH base should not be submitted more than once.
- Bases are eligible for bonuses that apply to them, such as full-body and animation, but do not earn any bonus kindling.
Bonuses
Different bonuses stack; add points from as many bonuses as apply to the work. Check the individual bonuses to see whether they stack with themselves. Each Scoria depicted in the work receives the full amount of kindling unless otherwise specified in the bonus description.
Full-body - multiply category tinder & kindling by 2
- This bonus applies to all visual art categories: sketches, lineart, colored illustrations, shaded illustrations, and bases.
- To qualify, the piece should depict at least 75% of a character's body.
- For Scoria, a full-body should run from head to the start of the hindquarters. The hindquarters themselves and the tail may be omitted.
- For gijinkas or humanoid characters, a full-body should run from the head to at least mid-thigh.
- If multiple characters appear in the piece, multiply the kindling received by each Scoria who appears as a full body by 2.
- If multiple characters appear in the piece, add 6 tinder for each full-body after the first.
Minimal background - +4 tinder
- Visual art pieces receive this bonus if they include a background that is more than a single block of color, but does not depict actual scenery.
- Pieces with a simple, rectangular, single-color background do not receive a bonus.
- Pieces with backgrounds that consist of abstract shapes, gradients, and/or multiple colors qualify for this bonus.
- If a piece shows a character interacting with elements of the environment, but does not show the location or context for this interaction (e.g. a Scoria standing on a log, but no scene around the Scoria and log), it receives this bonus rather than the background scenery bonus.
- Pieces that use an existing photograph for a background may claim this bonus. However, please make sure the photo is available under a Creative Commons license or otherwise licensed to you, and be sure to credit the photographer appropriately. If you use a photograph in your work with no credit to the photographer or without an appropriate license, the work will be considered stolen art and not accepted for any points, and you may be reprimanded.
Background scenery - +9 tinder
- Visual art pieces with a concrete background that forms a scene receive this bonus.
- The background should be identifiable as a location in the world, though it need not represent a specific location. A generalized forest scene is fine, but vague striping intended to represent trees should receive the abstract background bonus instead.
- Backgrounds do not need to fill the entire canvas to receive this bonus, as long as they clearly show where in space the character appears.
- Detailed landscape pieces that do not include any characters may be submitted under the appropriate illustration category and may receive this bonus. However, the landscapes in such pieces should be clearly specific to the Hearth, not generalized depictions that could be anywhere on Earth.
Character interactions - +5 tinder per additional character & +3 kindling to each character
- This bonus applies to both visual art and writing.
- If a scene depicts two or more characters significantly interacting, add 5 tinder for each character beyond the first; each character receives +3 kindling.
- If a character interacts with multiple other characters, add +3 kindling for each other character they interact with.
- Example: if characters A, B, and C all interact in a piece, the artist receives +10 tinder for two characters beyond the first, and A, B, and C all receive +6 kindling for interacting with two other characters.
- You may also judge that a piece includes multiple separate interactions instead of one multi-character interaction (e.g., A interacts with C and C interacts with B, but the three do not interact together). In this case, score the interactions individually.
- This bonus does not stack for additional interactions between the same characters (e.g. if A and B interact twice in the same written story, the bonus may only be applied once).
- For the purpose of this bonus, only Scoria and the Kindler count as characters. Animals, whether wild or domesticated, do not count as characters.
Storytelling - +6 tinder & +1 kindling
- This bonus applies to creative writing that depicts a moment in time as it happens, rather than serving as pure summary or exposition.
- This bonus also applies to comics that use multiple panels to depict events occurring.
- Character descriptions, profiles, and backstory summaries do not qualify for this bonus.
- Prose or comics that are primarily internal monologue or musing may receive this bonus, even if nothing really "happens" in the piece.
- Narrative poetry may receive this bonus as long as there is discernible action occurring in the piece. Poetry that represents thoughts or emotions without actual action may not receive this bonus.
- Prose should be at least 500 words to receive this bonus.
- Poetry should be at least 8 lines to receive this bonus.
- All participants in a roleplay earn this bonus as long as they meet the word and post count requirements outlined in the roleplay section.
- Each Scoria who has a significant role in the piece receives bonus kindling, but background characters or those mentioned in passing do not.
Others' Scoria - +3 tinder & +2 kindling per Scoria
- This bonus rewards creators for depicting Scoria that they do not own in their pieces.
- For every Scoria depicted that you do not own, add 3 tinder to the piece's total score.
- Scoria receive +2 kindling when depicted in works by creators who do not own them.
- Collaborations that depict Scoria owned by different collaborators automatically receive this bonus once per collaboration. The kindling bonus received by each Scoria does not increase based on the number of collaborators, though each collaborator collects the full +3 tinder.
- For the purpose of this bonus, roleplays count as collaborations.
The Kindler - +7 tinder
- If the Kindler appears in a piece, the creator adds 7 tinder to their total score.
- This bonus does not stack if the Kindler appears multiple times.
- The Kindler must be physically present in the work, not simply mentioned.
- Visual art does not need to show the Kindler's full body as long as their presence is clear.
- Pieces that depict only the Kindler and no Scoria should be scored in the base category that applies to them, then receive this bonus.
For fun - +5 tinder
- Works created purely for creative enjoyment, without compensation or prompting, receive this bonus.
- Design submissions and prompt fills do not receive this bonus.
- Requests receive this bonus as long as the creator did not receive any compensation from the requester.
- Commissions and art trades do not receive this bonus.
- Masterlist images do not receive this bonus.
- All roleplay participants receive this bonus as long as they meet the word and post count requirements outlined in the roleplay section.
Simple animation - +3 tinder & +1 kindling
- This bonus applies to simple animations that do not involve significant movement by characters.
- This bonus may apply to any visual art category with the exception of sketches. To receive an animation bonus, a sketch should display significant enough animation to fall into one of the more complex animation bonuses.
- Animations such as sparkles, flashing, or glows fall into this category.
- Only Scoria who are affected by the animation receive kindling. If the animation does not alter any Scoria, but acts only as a background or generalized effect, the artist earns tinder but no kindling.
- Very simple character movements such as low-detail winking or bouncing should take this bonus rather than one of the more complex animation bonuses.
- Multiple simple animations in a piece do not stack, but a piece may be considered to contain both a moderate animation and a simple animation if the two animations are fully separate.
Moderate animation - +6 tinder & +3 kindling
- This bonus applies to animations that are too complex to fit into the simple category, but do not involve full-body movement.
- Only Scoria who are affected by the animation receive kindling.
- Bouncing or idle animations should take this bonus if they require more than 2-4 frames. If they use very few frames, they should take the simple animation bonus.
- Pieces that depict one part of the character's body moving while the overall pose remains the same should take this bonus. (Exception: pieces that depict only the eyes moving may take the simple animation bonus, depending on the complexity of the movement.)
- Sketches and rough animations may take this bonus if they depict partial character movement. Sketches and rough animations that depict full-body movement should take the complex animation bonus.
- Background animations may qualify for this bonus if they are relatively complex (e.g. water flowing, clouds moving across a sky).
- Multiple moderate animations in a piece do not stack, but a piece may be considered to include both a moderate animation and a simple animation, if the two animations are fully separate (e.g., a character moving and a simple background element).
Complex animation - +10 tinder & +5 kindling
- This bonus applies to animations that depict full-body movement and/or a full alteration in a character's pose.
- Only Scoria who are affected by the animation receive kindling.
- Sketches and rough animations may take this bonus if they depict full-body movement.
- Complex animations should include in-between frames, but the in-between frames do not need to be polished.
- For animations that also include changing camera angles, full changes of scene, etc., you may contact an admin to inquire about additional points.
- Complex animation bonuses do not stack.
If you have questions about either a specific piece or scoring in general, please contact a staff member. The best ways to do this are via the #contact-staff channel in the Discord server or the Help & Questions forum.