The Campaign Builder's Guild

This is the discussion thread for the December contest, "What Is That?"  Please direct all non-entries, questions, comments, and concerns here.

Cheers!

Darnit.  I was looking forward to this contest, but to enter I'd have to stat it out as a d20 creature, and there's no way in heck I'm going to go through that hokum ever again.

Maybe next month.

Oh yeah, nice picture though.

Eh, I kind of find the d20 statting process relaxing; just pawing through my books, taking what catches my eye.

I liked the contest over all. I wish I had some more time to flesh out the ideas for the mountains I had, but, that really isn't required to play on the island.

Can we keep the resulting race to use in our own settings?
Perhaps changing their appearance slightly would be needed so as not to be directly ripping off the artist's work...

QuoteEh, I kind of find the d20 statting process relaxing; just pawing through my books, taking what catches my eye.

So do a lot of people who use d20, it seems.  But for those of us who don't...

Not that I have any real issue with that, of course.  Only that I was looking forward to a slightly more system-neutral contest this month, so that I could better stretch my creative wings.  D20 doesn't work for me, which is why I haven't and probably won't write for the Guide (even though it could only profit from my contribution).

On that note: can I make my own contest?

Might take a go at this one, but Ishy, have you ever tried making a monster in that new stat block? Trust me, it's a waste of everyone's time...

A few notes for people:

The reason it needs to be d20 is because that's the only way that several of the judges will be able to accurately judge.  I know nothing of Mutants and Masterminds, White Wolf, or any of the other systems (other than Agone, but that's a waste of space).

Golem, I specifically said that it doesn't have to be in that new format for stats, but that's just what I prefer.  I am not, however, judging entries based on how much I prefer their "prettiness."  I'm judging on balance, originality, and description (amongst other things).

Okay, in the interest of trying to get more people to participate, SA, how would you recommend we make this more of a system-neutral contest that the judges (one of whom doesn't play anything other than d20, really) will be able to fairly and accurately judge?  I suppose we could just stick to the ecology and description part of contest, but that makes it more of a Writing Contest than what I'm interested in.  So, I'll give 3 days for response and discussion on that subject, and if we can come to an agreement, I'll change the contest rules on Wednesday.  Otherwise, we'll just stick to what we have.

Hm, nice picture.

Spoiler ahead, don't read if you don't want to spoil your own imaginative process concercing this creature:
[spoiler]Is it just me or does it look a hell of a lot like a Protoss from StarCraft?[/spoiler]

Due to time constraints, I will let this contest pass. Good luck everyone, I'm anxious to see what people will come up with.

Túrin

Quote from: Túrin[spoiler]Is it just me or does it look a hell of a lot like a Protoss from StarCraft?[/spoiler]

[spoiler]The artist is a friend of mine and he's a big Starcraft nut, so there's a good chance that that's where he drew inspiration from.[/spoiler]

Quote from: IshmaylOkay, in the interest of trying to get more people to participate, SA, how would you recommend we make this more of a system-neutral contest that the judges (one of whom doesn't play anything other than d20, really) [dice][/dice]  will be able to fairly and accurately judge?  I suppose we could just stick to the ecology and description part of contest, but that makes it more of a Writing Contest than what I'm interested in.  So, I'll give 3 days for response and discussion on that subject, and if we can come to an agreement, I'll change the contest rules on Wednesday.  Otherwise, we'll just stick to what we have.

Don't get me wrong.  This wasn't a complaint by any stretch, merely identifying why I haven't entered the contest.  I know full well that CBG is predominantly d20, and that in no way detracts from my enjoyment of the site or the Guide.  In fact, I would advise that we keep the primary monthly contest d20 oriented, as it would result in at least one extra article in the Guide.

But as you might well be aware of by now, I am almost exclusively "fluff"-oriented, in part because GURPS doesn't seem to be a widely used system on these boards.  So while you may not be interested in writing contests, I am.  That is why, while I will not participate in the December contest, I was at least planning to enter the November one.  It was D&D oriented, yes, but strictly speaking, racial composition, adventure sites and ecologies do not require an understanding of the game mechanics.  It required my brain, but not my books.

So again, I'd advise keeping a regular contest that involves d20 mechanics as it is.  I'm not here to whine and have things change for my benefit, to the possible detriment of the community.  But a second contest (or maybe even more) would be grand, in my opinion.  While I understand that multiple official contests might divide entries between themselves and therefore limit the potential results all round, if they're small things we may very well churn out more, as people won't have to dedicate themselves to a large project.  In fact, if contestants aren't writing the same thing (eg. each trying to come up with their own description for a single monster), we might be able to use multiple entries, as they would be uncontradictory.

For example: The Islands - the contestants are given a nondescript island of a particular size, and told that it is part of an archipelago.  The contest is similar to The Island, except that, as you can expect, at the end the best three/five/trillion islands become part of an archipelago.  (I understand that this would make for a big article.  Just an idea)

In terms of other possible articles (and these may or may not work as contests):

A monthly collection of adventure seeds, NPC histories and motivations, etc.
New uses for old monsters.
Designing villains (either a contest, a tutorial, or both).
"You are all in a bar": Alternative starting points to an adventure.
Different genres in D&D.
Thaumatology: exploring the principles of magic in different settings.
More of our forum debates about roleplay theory!

This, of course, has nothing to do with the December contest.  Sorry for the digression.

Once again, I don't recommend changing the contest.  But if we can come up with a way to create other simultaneous contests, I would looooove that.  Or not.  I can content myself to read the other entries.

Well, I suck with crunch.  But, I can come up with ideas for creatures without any real issue.  Honestly, I sometimes have too many ideas for my own good.

Expect that I will be entering this one and that there will be plenty of fluff to be read.  I will also do everything within my power to make the crunch very well done.

I guess I'm the first volunteer for judging.

That is, if you want me back.  :-|



note: I just noticed have a whole lotta smilies!

It'll be hard to judge anything if no one puts up an entry.... but in case it happens, you'll be a judge.

I have something on my hard drive, but it isn't quite finished based on what is expected.


If I ever get some time to myself I will try to finish it.