MATT Treasure Matching Contest

In the thread of Choice Treasures from The Mother of All Treasure Tables™, twelve select pieces are detailed. These treasures were written by our ten Writers of Darkness, and in fact each of those writers is represented somewhere in that list. (Obviously, with twelve treasures and only ten writers, two of them are included more than once.)

The goal of this contest is to match each of the Choice Treasures with the correct author. This will require careful psychological analysis – or not. If you prefer, just roll a die. To enter, post your answers to one of the contest threads (here, Necromancer Games, or Treasure Tables GMing Forum) or if you prefer, e-mail them to: contest at tabletopadventures dot com. On or about November 1, the answers will be compiled and checked for the most correct matches. The entrant with the most correct matches will win the electronic product of his or her choice free from Tabletop Adventures. The winner will be announced by Tuesday, November 7.

[Technical details: One entry per person please. In the case of a tie, TTA reserves the right to randomly select a winner from among the top entrants. Members of Tabletop Adventures or their freelance writers who worked on The Mother of All Treasure Tables™ are not eligible for this contest.]

Here are the primary Writers of Darkness:
Christopher A. Field
K. H. Keeler
Rodney Lucas
John Walsh
Steve Honeywell
Martin Ralya
Deborah Balsam
Darren Pearce
Daniel Brakhage
Vicki Potter

Use this form and fill in the name of the person you think wrote each piece:
Choice Treasure 1 –
Choice Treasure 2 –
Choice Treasure 3 –
Choice Treasure 4 –
Choice Treasure 5 –
Choice Treasure 6 –
Choice Treasure 7 –
Choice Treasure 8 –
Choice Treasure 9 –
Tsathogga’s Choice –
Orcus’ Choice –
Editor’s Choice –

Summing Up

The various treasures listed in the Choice Treasures thread:

Choice Treasure 1 – Table IV #18: strange daggers with serpent theme
Choice Treasure 2 – Table VIII #02: jeweled mirror, water clock and spyglass
Choice Treasure 3 – Table I #23: scratched yellow beryl and a couple coins
Choice Treasure 4 – Table V #93: tropical-patterned chest with northern-type gear
Choice Treasure 5 – Table VII #27-28: armor and weapons with oak-tree theme
Choice Treasure 6 – Table II #04: religious book with hidden compartment
Choice Treasure 7 – Table X #05: mithral sleigh and accoutrements
Choice Treasure 8 – Table VI #97: jewels and gold in a gigantic skull
Choice Treasure 9 – Table III #54: elegant dagger and sheath hidden under clothing
Tsathogga’s Choice – Table IV #34: decorated cooking pot full of valuables
Orcus’ Choice – Table VI #31: black and red clothing and armor for a lady
Editor’s Choice – Table IX #8: golden lion on a pile of coins and other valuables


About the Writers of Darkness:
(This information is summed up from a thread on the Necromancer Games forum.)

Chris Field was introduced to RPGs at the point of a Glitter Boy's Boom Cannon, and if you don't know what he's talking about, than you obviously haven't gamed with him enough. After a 4-year stint in the US Navy, Chris established a name for himself as a freelance author. In addition to his work for Tabletop Adventures, Chris has produced sourcebooks, new races, and tons of new content for Expeditious Retreat Press, Behemoth 3, Ancient Awakenings Press, Misfit Studios, and more.

K. H. Keeler combines twenty-five years roleplaying experience as both player and game master with thirty years as a professor of biology (specializing in ecology). Writing for Tabletop Adventures has provided an exciting and unexpected opportunity to combine those skills.

Rodney Lucas has been creating role-playing products since 2002 when he released his Generic Game Master’s Helper (GGMH), a program designed to help the game master add flavor and realism to his campaign. That product has evolved over the years, and is a popular tool for game masters with access to a PC or laptop when they play, which is now available through Prism Hobbies. Since then he has begun to focus on writing, first as a product reviewer for several popular e-zines, and now as a freelance writer, currently working on projects for Tabletop Adventures.

John Walsh has been writing for years and has games-related credits in many fields, ranging from historical articles and settings to dungeon and wilderness descriptions for Tabletop Adventures. He lives in Bangkok with his wife and daughter, having more or less completed an odyssey from the UK to Sudan to Greece to Korea to Australia to Abu Dhabi and then to Thailand. When not writing, he teaches mostly MBA-level students.

Steve Honeywell has been a professional writer since 1991 and a gamer since the late 70s. He has worked with Dog Soul Publishing, Tabletop Adventures, The Le Games, Adamant Entertainment, and has written more than a dozen articles for Pyramid and D20 Weekly. Previously, he worked as a computer and video game strategy guide author and penned all or part of more than 35 hint books. He lives in the heart of corn country in Illinois with his wife, two daughters, and menagerie of animals. He espouses solid, Midwestern values and dispenses homespun wisdom while crushing all who block his path. Steve is currently finishing his M.A. in linguistics.

Martin Ralya has been doing freelance writing for the RPG industry since 2004, and has been lucky enough to work with a number of publishers, including Tabletop Adventures, E.N. Publishing and Expeditious Retreat Press. He also writes Treasure Tables, a weblog for GMs, and runs the GMing Q&A Forum. A gamer since 1987, Martin has a house full of books and a head full of ideas, and he loves to write.

Deborah Balsam is a relative newcomer to the roleplaying game industry. She landed her first freelance writing job with Emerald Press in 2004, and hasn’t looked back. Deborah divides her time between running Dog Soul Publishing with her fiancé Sean, raising her two miniature gamers, and doing freelance graphic design and writing for several other companies, including Tabletop Adventures. She is also one of the ‘Overlords’ of Emerald Press’s Living Nights Project, an upcoming campaign setting for fantasy d20. Deborah has one word of advice for other parents who freelance: “Naps!”

Darren Pearce works as a freelance writer/author/game developer/reviewer for various companies. He grew up immersed in fantasy and science fiction. He was given the D&D Box set at an early age and it gave him an interest in writing, both from a fiction and from the statistics and rules point of view. Darren joined Dark Quest games in 2001, worked for the PC game industry on games like Breed, Savage and Knights of Honor and has written for Mongoose’s Signs and Portents magazine, detailing the City of Port Bax from the Lone Wolf book: Fire on the Water. Darren lives in England, writes a great deal of game related material and fiction (non-game related) and works on various books.

Daniel Brakhage is a long-term game master with the ability to keep players on the edges of their seats, a skill he is now putting to use in Tabletop Adventures, publishing materials to help Harried Game Masters. His training and experience in a variety of types of writing have been largely useless as Overlord of a publishing company, since he ends up running the business more and writing less. He was thus pleased with this project, since he was actually required to do one of the things he enjoys most.

Vicki Potter is the Editor of Tabletop Adventures, and a game master of long standing. Many of TTA’s early products represent materials she wishes she had had for her own past campaigns. While she got into RPG publishing to run a business rather than write, Vicki has enjoyed the chance to apply her quirky creativity in producing material for other Harried Game Masters to use on their unsuspecting players.

Here are the answers to the treasure matching contest:

Choice Treasure 1 – Darren Pearce
Choice Treasure 2 – Martin Ralya
Choice Treasure 3 – Rodney Lucas
Choice Treasure 4 – Chris Field
Choice Treasure 5 – Daniel Brakhage
Choice Treasure 6 – John Walsh
Choice Treasure 7 – Deborah Balsam
Choice Treasure 8 – Steve Honeywell
Choice Treasure 9 – K. H. Keeler
Tsathogga’s Choice – Chris Field
Orcus’ Choice – Vicki Potter
Editor’s Choice – Martin Ralya


(Sorry this list is a little late. I also realized that, contrary to what was previously stated, we can't announce any entrants' names because of privacy issues. I'll try to do better in the future should the occasion arise.)