Ceramic DM - Spring 2005 (Late Bloomer) - Signups complete

[arwink]

I'll sign up if you're looking for a 12th.

 

[BSF]

Ooh. Consider yourself in Arwink. However, I don't think I will be able to provide as insightful and thorough feedback as you have provided me in the past. Nevertheless, I will look forward to switching judging/writing positions with you.

 

[BSF]

I am sblocking the majority of the first post. People are still welcome to sign up as alternates.

The judges have been discussing things in the back channel to see what expectations we should set for judgements. We are going to commit to having judgments posted within four days of when a match-off ends.

Mind you, this four days includes buffer time for the unexpected. We hope to have judgements posted quicker than that. Remember that Maldur is in Europe, Rodrigo is in the Eastern US, and Macbeth and I are both in the SouthWestern US. With disparate job responsibilities and family considerations, there is a lot that can get in the way of volunteering to judge. Nevertheless, we are confident that we can consolidate all of our judgements withint four days.

Writing resources: Google is great for when you have the hankering to write about something that you have limited personal knowledge about. Nevertheless there is also the danger that you will get something drastically wrong. Just make it a good story and folks will usually cut you a little slack.

Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com are good resources as well.

 

[Hellefire]

BSF, depending on how that 4-day thing works out, maybe consider it as something to add to the FAQ? I was pressing for something like that last time when I was a *smidgen* impatient. Well, ok, *I* would never be impatient but, um, my fish Bob was. Yeah.

Aaron

 

[BSF]

I wouldn't want to dictate how each specific contest works based on the schedules that current judges can accomodate. To be honest, it looks like I will be the bottleneck on this one. Maldur and Rodrigo are pretty sure they can handle judgements very quickly. Though Macbeth has a few concerns if a match ends on a weekend when he has limited net access.

I did want to discuss everything with the rest of the judges this time aorund so we could reasonably set your expectations though.

 

[Maldur]

*shakes the judging stick*

Less talking more pictures!!!

*chants*

Pictures! Pictures!

Good luck everyone!!

 

[arwink]

Ooh. Consider yourself in Arwink. However, I don't think I will be able to provide as insightful and thorough feedback as you have provided me in the past. Nevertheless, I will look forward to switching judging/writing positions with you.

You'd be surprised. At last count, it was almost a year since I last dabbled with the demon-mistress of short fiction, and ten months since I wrote any creative work that didn't involve the words "Spells", "feats" or "prestige classes."

To say that I'm a little rusty is something of an understatement.

I'm more or less ready to start whenever. Just fire up the pictures and give me some opponents.

 

[Herremann the Wise]

Quick note, the next alternate just got I spot because I am dropping out.

2 reasons; my wife's granfather just suffered a massive stroke and we are basically waiting for the call in the hospital any time now, and secondly the bickering and ego display in this thread for the last couple of days has totally turned me off the competition anyways.

I'll watch and read the entries, good luck to all competitors, but I'm out. Sorry.

Just a quick post to hope everything's OK with your family - from the other side of the Earth [Sydney, Australia].

***​

On a separate note, I was just wondering if there was a consensus on the most devious or difficult pictures given for a Ceramic DM match? Additionally, if you had to pick a favourite Ceramic DM performance or story, which one would you pick?
As I'm new to all of this, I have been slowly going through the ceramic DM history marvelling at some of the excellent stories told. Just curious on a few different opinions and perspectives.

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

I'm not sure there is any one set that is the most devious. Different folks find different things difficult to assimilate. Personally, I find the pictures the hardest when there is one in the set that is egregiously anachronistic or so explicit that it leaves little room for interpretation. In my first competition, third round, one of the pictures was of an airplane in obvious distress. That pretty much dictates that, no matter what direction was suggested by the other pictures, at some point there had to be an airplane. Since the other pictures fell right into place, having to adapt to accomodate that one picture was very frustrating. (Edit: Having said that, I've now screwed myself in future competitions....never reveal a weakness for the picture-picker to exploit )

Others have said that they find it more difficult to write when the pictures are generic and not really tied to any particular era or action. Some prefer portraits, some action shots, etc. It just really depends on how the individual author goes about constructing their story.

Of the ones I've had to work with, I think the above-mentioned airplane and this one from last fall were the two that were the hardest to work into their respective stories. I'd still like to know what the hell the latter was from.

 

[FireLance]

Of the ones I've had to work with, I think the above-mentioned airplane and this one from last fall were the two that were the hardest to work into their respective stories. I'd still like to know what the hell the latter was from.

I would say that the picture that Rodrigo linked is a pretty good example of different folks finding different things difficult to assimilate. For the record, I was competing against him during that round.

To me, that photo was pretty obviously Photoshopped (or otherwise edited) to place the head of a hippo (specifically, George the Hippo from the old children's show Rainbow) onto the body of a highwayman. Berandor (judging at the time) would later point out that it was the body of a highwaywoman, but neither Rodrigo nor myself noticed the *ahem* clues at the time.

Anyway, a hippo-headed man immediately brought to my mind the Giff race from the 2e D&D Spelljammer campaign setting (if you're not familiar with it, think spells and swashbuckling in space). Of course, I wanted to work in a reference to George the Hippo as well, so I mentally tagged him as Long George Platinum, giff pirate and adventurer (yes, I worked in a reference to Treasure Island as well).

So, a picture that Rodrigo found difficult to work into his story sparked off the idea for one of the important secondary characters in mine.