carpedavid
First Post
Iron DM, the adventure-writing competition that's sweeping the nation, makes a triumphant return to EN World with the Spring 2005 Tournament. Sign-ups will take place in this very thread on Tuesday, May 31st at 1:00 PM, EDT (that's eastern daylight time, or GMT-4 for those outside the US). The first eleven (that's right, 11) competitors with timestamps after 1:00 will get to participate in this season's incarnation of the Roughest, Toughest DM Competition on the Web!
The previous winner, Wulf Ratbane, gets a guaranteed seat, if he wants it, for a total of twelve participants.
What is this Iron DM of which you speak?
Well, according to the official Iron DM archive:
Where can I read previous tournaments so that I know what I'm getting myself into?
Why, you can go to the official tournament archives, found here:
http://www.aquerra.com/IRON_DM/main_archive.htm
Who is eligible to sign up?
Aside from current or previous players in this judge's campaign, anyone is! If you've ever GMed a game (or even if you haven't), you're a potential participant.
Wait, who are you to run this thing?
Me? I'm a multiple-time finalist, Spring 2004 Champion, and was the Fall 2004 Judge.
I just found this thread in the middle of the tournament, and I have no idea where to begin.
While just jumping in and reading through the thread is the most interesting way to follow the tournament, here's a handy dandy menu of the entries and judgments:
Round 1
Round 2
Finals
The previous winner, Wulf Ratbane, gets a guaranteed seat, if he wants it, for a total of twelve participants.
What is this Iron DM of which you speak?
Well, according to the official Iron DM archive:
An Iron DM tournament is a contest in which writers show their ability to turn a collection of random ingredients into a cohesive adventure over a short period of time.
Created by Nemmerle (a regular of the EN Boards and co-creator of the Rat Bastard DM Forum), the tournament was inspired by the tongue-in-cheek cooking show Iron Chef. Whereas the show’s contestants fashion several dishes out of a single random ingredient, however, Iron DM contestants fashion a single adventure out of several random ingredients. These ingredients may include locations (Millhouse, sinking island, filthy nursery), creatures (goblin prince, wyvern, guttersnipe), objects (limes, broken teeth, rod of wonder), or more abstract elements (betrayal, typhoon, vengeance).
A single round in the tournament consists of two contestants pairing off against one another. The tournament judge gives both contestants the same set of ingredients (usually six) and a set length of time in which to create the adventure (usually between four and twenty-four hours). Once both entries are in, the judge reads them and evaluates both their qualities as an adventure and their creative and appropriate use of ingredients. The judge then issues a ruling, usually accompanied by a detailed critique of each adventure. The winner of a round advances, until the tournament’s final round produces the Iron DM.
The tournament helps DMs hone several important skills, including the ability to fashion interesting stories out of the unpredictable actions of PCs (mimicked in the tournament by the judge’s ingredient list), the ability to create memorable spectacles and characters, the flexibility to accommodate multiple paths into and through an adventure, and an exploration of the consequences and aftermaths of an adventure. In addition, several DMs have used Iron DM tournament entries in whole or in part in their own games.
Where can I read previous tournaments so that I know what I'm getting myself into?
Why, you can go to the official tournament archives, found here:
http://www.aquerra.com/IRON_DM/main_archive.htm
Who is eligible to sign up?
Aside from current or previous players in this judge's campaign, anyone is! If you've ever GMed a game (or even if you haven't), you're a potential participant.
Wait, who are you to run this thing?
Me? I'm a multiple-time finalist, Spring 2004 Champion, and was the Fall 2004 Judge.
I just found this thread in the middle of the tournament, and I have no idea where to begin.
While just jumping in and reading through the thread is the most interesting way to follow the tournament, here's a handy dandy menu of the entries and judgments:
Round 1
- Ingredients - el-remmen vs. Tinner - judgment
- Ingredients - Wulf Ratbane vs. reveal - judgment
- Ingredients - Stormborn vs. WinnepegDragon - judgment
- Ingredients - Dremmen vs. Evilhalfling - judgment
- Ingredients - Nonamazing vs. howandwhy99 - judgment
- Ingredients - Warden vs. Mark - judgment
Round 2
- Ingredients - Evilhalfling vs. Tinner - judgment
- Ingredients - Nonamazing vs. Stormborn - judgment
- Ingredients - Warden vs. Wulf Ratbane - judgment
Finals
- Ingredients - Tinner vs. Stormborn - judgment
- Ingredients - Wulf Ratbane vs. Stormborn - judgment
- Ingredients - Wulf Ratbane vs. Tinner - judgment
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