Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax Nov 30, 2003 14:14:20	If you answered "yes" then move your mouse pointer over to http://www.dragonlance.com/features/contests/. If you answered "no" the Queen of Darkness shall visit you tonight (in its natural form, not Temptress mind you . First Prize is print #1 of a numbered, limited edition of just 100 of Larry Elmore's painting which adorns the Dragonlance DM Screen. Speaking of which, your players might just forget to roll their saves while they feast their eyes upon it - just another perk for a killer DM Screen. Second and Third prizes are copies of the DM Screen itself. So head over to http://www.dragonlance.com/features/contests/ and put your quill to the paper.
#2 zombiegleemax Nov 30, 2003 16:45:42	Wouldnt it be better if the products would come out when they were supposed to?
#3 ferratus Dec 01, 2003 3:46:04	Products never come out when they are supposed to. It's the rule of the RPG business. Publishing delays are inevitable due to innumerable problems. Don't be such a sour puss. I'm pretty excited about this contest, as it gives me something to shoot for. I have three relatively low-level adventures I'd like to create. and I know the concepts are pretty good. Two are a little controversial, but I think with enough care and attention I'll win over a couple people. Problem is, I've never written an adventure before. I'm going to be way over my head. Oh well, wish me luck!
#4 talinthas Dec 01, 2003 4:16:11	besides, you have to remember that sov press is basically Margaret and Jamie now. I dont blame them for taking time. I'd enter this, but i have never written an adventure in my life, and have no idea how =)
#5 darthsylver Dec 01, 2003 8:27:19	Ferratus I know what you mean. I have what I think is a cool idea for an adventure and I have been a DM for years so you would think it would come easily. But writing an adventure for someone other than your friends can a little scary.
#6 zombiegleemax Dec 01, 2003 10:15:35	Those of you who are not sure about writing adventures, I'd be happy to look at your attempts, and to offer advice. Although I'm going to have a stab at the contest, I'm not so bothered about winning. I promise I won't cheat. Even if I did, the Council can see this post, and anything I could conceivably steal would be obvious in any submission I made. I think my email address is hiding in my profile, but I'll put it here anyway. [email]pddisc@yahoo.com[/email]
#7 zombiegleemax Dec 01, 2003 12:27:48	Here, use this as a handy guideline for writing your adventures: Dungeon Writer's Guidelines Christopher
#8 ferratus Dec 01, 2003 13:10:36	Darthsylver> Yep, I've DM'd lots of adventures before, but I used to nothing but story flow charts, a couple hand-sketched maps, an NPC stat block or two, and the seat of my pants. I imagine that many of us are in the same boat, so I urge that nobody with a good idea should feel discouraged that they've never written an adventure before. At the very least you'll learn how an written adventure is put together, and it will make it that much easier the next time.
#9 ferratus Dec 01, 2003 13:10:50	*double post*
#10 cam_banks Dec 01, 2003 13:26:09	Originally posted by ferratus Darthsylver> Yep, I've DM'd lots of adventures before, but I used to nothing but story flow charts, a couple hand-sketched maps, an NPC stat block or two, and the seat of my pants. Indeed. The total prep time for my weekly sessions of my Birthright campaign for D&D3E was around 30 minutes of stat block writing for an NPC or a templated monster. Most campaigns I run tend to take on a life of their own, so even story flow charts don't see any use. Writing an adventure for others to use is a very different beast. I encourage folks to take a stab at it, use the online resources people have suggested, and remember to include any number of alternatives, options, and variant endings to an encounter to help a DM whose players aren't cooperating. Cheers, Cam
#11 darthsylver Dec 01, 2003 20:45:23	Yeah I know what you mean. So far I have an outline, a timeline for the general outline and the main antagonist. I am still working on the subordinates. I am unsure exactly what is required. It states that there should be at least 1 combat and 1 non-combat encounter, I don't know exactly what they mean. DO they want me to lay-out exactly what will happen during these encounters, do they just want the participants, what? I figure I will deal with it once I get done making the characters.
#12 cam_banks Dec 01, 2003 21:01:18	Originally posted by darthsylver It states that there should be at least 1 combat and 1 non-combat encounter, I don't know exactly what they mean. DO they want me to lay-out exactly what will happen during these encounters, do they just want the participants, what? Think of it this way - it's nice for the heroes to get a chance to flex their combat muscles, but it's also nice to give them a chance to flex other muscles as well. Although many if not most characters have been designed with some capability in combat, a party has any number of other resources - social skills, rogue skills, knowledge & research skills, and even craft skills. Consider including an encounter where success will not be measured by how quickly or well the heroes kill a monster or defeat a villain, but by whether they can solve a riddle, outwit an otherwise invulnerable foe (authority figures can be dealt with on occasion by clever use of Diplomacy or Bluff), etc. Cheers, Cam
#13 zombiegleemax Dec 18, 2003 22:53:55	Just to remind everyone:
#14 zombiegleemax Dec 18, 2003 22:53:57	Just to remind everyone:
#15 darthsylver Dec 19, 2003 9:15:49	Cam - I understand that they want a combat encounter (one where you fight) and a non-combat encounter (one where you don't fight). What I was a little hazy on was exactly how they wanted laid out. Did they want me to detail the for example: Combat encounter - The PCs need to go through a mountain and retrieve a hammer from a tribe of hobgoblins. Or is this a non-combat encounter. Non-combat encounter - the PCs are looking for a relic. They must go to the library of Palanthas in order to persuade the aesthetics to give them information. Is this somewhat what they are asking for.
#16 cam_banks Dec 19, 2003 9:29:06	Originally posted by darthsylver Cam - I understand that they want a combat encounter (one where you fight) and a non-combat encounter (one where you don't fight). Both should be included in the same adventure or scenario. An encounter forms part of the overall adventure, and a non-combat one should make use of the skills of the characters rather than their combat ability, while the reverse is true for a combat encounter. So, you might have a party of heroes enter a dwarven crypt looking for a magical hammer (the premise of the adventure), encounter a puzzle-chamber which needs to be triggered in order to proceed, and then a room full of dwarven wights who the party needs to survive in order to retrieve the hammer they're guarding. Cheers, Cam
#17 zombiegleemax Dec 21, 2003 18:47:54	So by 'non-combat', is that a role-play opportunity, or just the chance for the players to use 'other' skills, like open locks or the spell knock?
#18 darthsylver Dec 21, 2003 20:52:38	I understand the difference and the need for both types of encounters. My question was did they want me to detail the encounter. Like the party must destroy a band of 5th level barbarian goblins who happen to have a 8th level cleric of morgion in order to get the key that opens the final room in the dungeons of skullcap where they must go to retrieve the crown of the lich king. And an encounter in which they must get information from marty the town gossip in order to find out where to find the band of goblins that happen to live at the base of the mountains of the kharolis mountain range. Or can I just say the party must find information about where to find a key needed to open the room that has the crown they are seeking and that a band of goblins happens to have the key. Extremely detailed (the first example) or simplied and left for interpretation (the second example).
#19 zombiegleemax Dec 29, 2003 9:41:41	I just realised, the word limit on this thing is ridiculous. Can we get any more in there? Please? How many entries have there been thus far, so I might get away with my absurdly long encounter? How are we meant to fit *any* of the extra stuff into the thing, without it taking up about half the space? How many words do pictures count as? I've heard that a picture paints a thousand words. Does that mean I've gone over the word limit with 4 pictures?
#20 rooks Dec 29, 2003 17:18:54	Gretings all! I submitted an entry for this bad boy yesterday. Good lukc to everyone who entered. Though I've been DM'ing for over 9 years and have written adventures before, I rarely if ever use them. My campaigns tend to be heavily story-driven and focus more on plot and mood, mixed up with plenty of action to keep things moving. Often, stories create themselves in the middle of a campaign and wait on the shelf until the current story is finished. Many thanks for Stormprince's posting of the Dungeon submission rules. Those are a big help. And I wish everyone else tons of luck. Peace
#21 rooks Dec 29, 2003 17:18:55	Wicked, wicked hobbits doubles posted me, yessss they did, precioussss, they double posssted me!
#22 zombiegleemax Dec 29, 2003 17:18:58	Originally posted by pddisc I just realised, the word limit on this thing is ridiculous. Can we get any more in there? Please? How many entries have there been thus far, so I might get away with my absurdly long encounter? The Submission Rules say: Adventures should be 1,500 to 3,000 words in length and submitted in Microsoft Word, rich text or plain text format (longer adventures are acceptable, but try to stay within the guidelines) So, yes, you can "get more in there" since the figures in the rules above are ballpark figures, just don't go overboard. Originally posted by pddisc How are we meant to fit *any* of the extra stuff into the thing, without it taking up about half the space? How many words do pictures count as? I've heard that a picture paints a thousand words. Does that mean I've gone over the word limit with 4 pictures? The rules only impose limits on words. Extra "stuff" (maps, images, whatever isn't composed out of words---relevant to the submission of course) is actually a bonus. Originally posted by darthsylver I understand the difference and the need for both types of encounters. My question was did they want me to detail the encounter. Extremely detailed (the first example) or simplied and left for interpretation (the second example). That's entirely up to your. But ask yourself this: the Contest Guidelines says: The adventure should have at least one combat and at least one role-playing encounter (more are encouraged) So, if you go with your second example but your other combat encounter actually lists the goblins the party must fight through you're getting an unbalanced set of encounters. One, the combat one, is detailed, the other, roleplaying one is composed of a simple mention that "PCs should try to know who has the key" which IMHO doesn't even qualify as an encounter as defined by the DMG. For instance, from that single sentence who opposes the PCs in their search for knowledge? If you don't know who is the antagonist of the encounter, you also don't know the difficulty of the encounter. The only thing you know is what the party receives (the "treasure"--- in this case, knowledge of the key's whereabouts) but the DM has no information on validating if the party has earned the encounter reward.
#23 zombiegleemax Jan 12, 2004 6:02:34	How's the judging going? Not that I'm impatient. I just got bored with waiting.
#24 zombiegleemax Jan 30, 2004 4:15:15	I can't think of anything else to say, except that I'm even more impatient for the results. Couple this with the lack of any form of results from the Margaret Weis competition as well... DL competitions are crap.
#25 cam_banks Jan 30, 2004 4:23:57	Originally posted by pddisc I can't think of anything else to say, except that I'm even more impatient for the results. Couple this with the lack of any form of results from the Margaret Weis competition as well... DL competitions are crap. Winners have been announced, pddisc! Check www.dragonlance.com for details. Cheers, Cam
#26 zombiegleemax Jan 30, 2004 4:31:56	Oh. OK. I'll be quiet instead then. What about the Monk one?
#27 Dragonhelm Jan 30, 2004 9:32:34	Originally posted by pddisc Oh. OK. I'll be quiet instead then. What about the Monk one? Margaret Weis should be (if she hasn't already) contacting those who entered the contest. I don't think we can post all the entries, as they may go into her upcoming book, Ashes and Amber. We'll see.
#28 rooks Jan 31, 2004 0:57:48	WHOA! I nailed 2nd place. Very cool. Hey everyone - check out my entry and let me know what you think. Any feedback would be appreciated. PEACE.