About Tales from the Vault

"Tales from the Vault" is an exercise in interactive fiction; all the stories within are told in segments by our visitors. This storytelling method, sometimes referred to as an "Exquisite Corpse" exercise, gives each reader a chance to take an existing story in whatever direction their imagination suggests to them. You, the reader, sustain these tales. During the portion of your segment, you control the destiny of the characters enwrapped in the storyline. Once your segment is added to the story, another may come along and take the tale in a direction you never imagined.

Each submission to Tales from the Vault is reviewed by the VaultKeepers before we publish it on our site. We accept submissions of almost any length (although if it's truly long, as in more than 40,000 characters, we would prefer if you e-mail it directly to us rather than use the submission form), and we encourage you to take the story in whatever direction you see fit. We only have a few guidelines for acceptable submissions, and they are:

1. Please refrain from excessive use of profanity or adult situations.

2. Please make a legitimate effort to continue the story; submissions which are facetious in nature will probably not be posted. Please note that most segments which attempt to use the "It was all just a dream" cliche to derail a story will probably be rejected, unless the segment is very well constructed.

3. If we receive two or more submissions for the same Tale at once which would take the tale in different directions, our staff will have to make a completely subjective judgment about which will be posted. We will make every effort to fit all good submissions into the story; we sometimes make minor editing changes or write a linking segment to make such submissions work.

4. If a submitted segment seems to bring one of the serial tales to a logical conclusion, our staff may decide to let the story end. The story will be available in the archives to read, but will no longer be open for submission.

5. The maximum number of active stories in Tales from the Vault is sixteen. When one of the active stories is brought to a close, we will post an announcement in the Vault. At that time, we will accept submissions for new stories, or requests to revive any of the "Tales in Limbo" (see Archives Section). We will keep all submissions on file and review them every time there is a story opening.

We will not edit or modify any submissions for Tales from the Vault any more than is necessary to format them for publication on the Internet (well, we may spot a typo and fix that for you). We try to get the submissions on-line within a few days of receiving them. Please note that we take the weekends off, so stories received over the weekend will not be posted at least until the next Monday. We thank you all for your submissions - you are the ones who make Tales from the Vault work!

If you have original artwork for Tales from the Vault, we would be happy to consider it posting it on the site. Please E-Mail the VaultKeeper with any any artwork, and attach the file. Alternatively, if you have the artwork posted on the Internet somewhere, you can simply e-mail us the URL and we'll go get it. Please be sure to include your name and e-mail address so we can give you credit for your art, and tell us which story the illustration is meant to accompany. We will accept illustrations for all stories and poems, including ones in the Archive.

All submissions to "Tales from the Vault" are considered to be jointly owned and copyrighted by Oblique Studios, Inc. and the original author.

The Editor(s) at "Tales from the Vault" reserve the right to eliminate sections of submitted works, remove or replace sections of submitted works, refuse to post any submission, and/or make changes (such as grammar, spelling, or format corrections) in any submission. By submitting a work, the author grants Oblique Studios the right to post that submission in "Tales from the Vault."

Oblique Studios does not claim the right to restrict the use of any submitted segment by its original author in any way.

Oblique Studios does not claim the exclusive ownership of any ideas, storylines, or characters submitted to "Tales from the Vault."

Story segments for "Tales from the Vault" are considered to have been submitted with no expectation of compensation. Oblique Studios is not liable for any claims or liabilities with respect to use of your submissions. Oblique Studios may develop similar or identical materials, or may receive similar or identical materials from others. In the event that publication of these stories is considered in any other arena besides "Tales from the Vault," Oblique Studios will post notice of that intent on the "Tales from the Vault" web site.

If you see a work which you believe has been plagiarized, please contact us immediately. Oblique Studios is not liable for any claims of Copyright infringement based on plagiarism though we will immediately remove any material which is demonstrated to be a violation of Copyright.

All characters in the stories of "Tales from the Vault" are purely ficticious. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is coincidental.

For comments, questions, recommendations, or artwork submissions:
E-Mail the VaultKeeper

© Copyright 1998 Oblique Studios, Inc.