This is quite a discussion and one that I think is rather important, however I believe most of the main points have been said already.  The only thing that HAS to be in a story to make it MK is the Curse and I think there are some that don't even deal with that all that much (ex. ones set outside of MK itself).  As for a jumping in point I always assumed one would not only have to, but want to read all of the preceding stories in order to understand the back story and plots.  When I was thinking of starting writing I remember I spent many nights at the computer reading over half of the TSA archive and most of The Blind Pig, before I found Metamor's archive and dug in there.  As it stands I still try to read every story that comes over the list as it's posted although I admit I am behind.  Just a few more pennies on the pile. John Burman aka Fox Marine Chris <chrisokane@verizon.net> wrote:<blockquote class="replbq" style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"> This discussion got started on the TSA list but it needs to be mentioned here. Comments and suggestions are welcome! </blockquote> <hr size=1>Need a vacation? <a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=48256/*http://travel.yahoo.com/;_ylc=X3oDMTFhN2hucjlpBF9TAzk3NDA3NTg5BHBvcwM1BHNlYwNncm91cHMEc2xrA2VtYWlsLW5jbQ--">Get great deals to amazing places </a>on Yahoo! Travel.