Slash a Squash for Turbine

Sharpen your knives and lobotomize your gourds, because it’s time for Turbine’s 2010 Pumpkin Carving Contest!

The days are shorter, the nights are colder and there’s dead, rotting vegetation all over your lawn. That can only mean one thing: It’s time to massacre some pumpkins! And since you’re going to be mercilessly slicing and dicing anyway, you might as well get something out of it, like, say, some free goodies from one of three of Turbine’s most popular MMOs.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to lay your hands on a pumpkin, disembowel it (save those seeds, they’re good eating!) and then carve it up into an Asheron’s Call, Dungeons & Dragons Online and/or Lord of the Rings Online-themed Halloween ornament. Send a photo of your masterpiece to Turbine, then sit back and wait for fame and fortune to roll in!

Okay, so maybe not a lot of fame or fortune. This is what you’ll actually get:

Best Asheron’s Call Pumpkin:

• 60 Days of Free Game Time
• A Pet Pumpkin Golem
• An in-game title: “Jack-o’-all Trades”
• Custom Forum Title: “Jack-o’-all Trades (2010)”

Best Dungeons & Dragons Online Pumpkin:

• 3000 Turbine Points for the DDO Store
• Custom Forum Title: “Dragonmark of Spooky (2010)”

Best Lord of the Rings Online Pumpkin:

• 3000 Turbine Points for the LOTRO Store
• Custom Forum Title: “Master Carver (2010)”

One runner-up in each category will also be awarded the fancy-schmancy forum title. Full contest rules, including specific image requirements and a copy-and-paste entry form can be found at lotro.com, and because I know you’re going to ask, the contest is open to any and all registered players, regardless of where they live.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that a lot of the entries in the 2009 contest were seriously kick-ass and you’re going to have to get downright medieval on some poor pumpkin if you want to have any chance of winning. Have a look at some of last year’s best on Flickr, then get yourself a pair of pliers and a blowtorch (or a knife, if that’s your preference) and get to it!