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[IronDM] Iron DM Returns! Winner announced!
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<blockquote data-quote="carpedavid" data-source="post: 2283459" data-attributes="member: 6971"><p>For those wondering what they might get out of competing in the IronDM tournament, here's my spiel from my judgment of the last tourney's finals. In addition to being what I consider good, general DMing advice, it might also give you an insight into what I'm expecting from the competitors.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">---------------</p><p></p><p>Before I get into the actual judgment, I'd like to take a moment to share what I've learned from competing in previous Iron DM tournaments, since it's my sincerest hope that the competitors found my judgments to be constructive, even when they've been downright mean. </p><p></p><p>The single biggest lesson that I've learned is to focus on what's important. I used to spend far too much time prepping for games - I would create elaborate maps, write up descriptive text for every encounter area, and invent intricately detailed backgrounds for NPCs. </p><p></p><p>Ultimately, very little of that would end up being worthwhile for the PCs. Spiffy looking maps are great, but if I'm the only one that sees them, it's not worth the effort. Descriptive text is great, but if all the PCs really need to get a sense of their surroundings is a sentence or two, I'm just wasting time. Intricate backgrounds are great, but if the PCs never need to know what the NPC studied in grammar school, then I'm really just feeding my ego. </p><p></p><p>Besides wasting creative energy, the other problem that over planning produced in me was the tendency to hold on to the story I had set up; in other words, railroading the PCs. Learning to focus on what's important had a distinct effect on my planning process; I no longer spend so much time on prepping an adventure. What time I do spend is focused on the things I know the PCs are going to interact with, and how they tie together. Since I spend less time planning, I'm more flexible during the game - which means that I'm a better GM. </p><p></p><p>Remember, role-playing is collaborative, improvisational fiction. The players aren't there to read your story, nor are you there to create theirs. As both GMs and players, you are there to create a story together - that's the essence of role-playing. </p><p></p><p>The other lesson I learned from Iron DM, and it's a subtle lesson, is to try to design adventures that give each PC a chance to shine. Competitors - remember those six ingredients that you're given that you have to be creative to tie together? Those aren't a random bunch of items that I pulled out of the ether, nor are they the essential pieces to a puzzle whose pattern you're tasked with developing. They are your PCs. They're the random actions of a group of individual players and the essential qualities of their characters. They're the cleric's turning ability, the rogue's lock picking skills, and the fighter's power attack. They're the decision to take a walk down the inconsequential tunnel that you hadn't mapped out, and the hour spent investigating the rock that you placed there for no reason. The goal of trying to integrate six seemingly disparate ingredients is the same as trying to integrate a group of six seemingly disparate PCs: to create something that's interesting and fun to play.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="carpedavid, post: 2283459, member: 6971"] For those wondering what they might get out of competing in the IronDM tournament, here's my spiel from my judgment of the last tourney's finals. In addition to being what I consider good, general DMing advice, it might also give you an insight into what I'm expecting from the competitors. [CENTER]---------------[/CENTER] Before I get into the actual judgment, I'd like to take a moment to share what I've learned from competing in previous Iron DM tournaments, since it's my sincerest hope that the competitors found my judgments to be constructive, even when they've been downright mean. The single biggest lesson that I've learned is to focus on what's important. I used to spend far too much time prepping for games - I would create elaborate maps, write up descriptive text for every encounter area, and invent intricately detailed backgrounds for NPCs. Ultimately, very little of that would end up being worthwhile for the PCs. Spiffy looking maps are great, but if I'm the only one that sees them, it's not worth the effort. Descriptive text is great, but if all the PCs really need to get a sense of their surroundings is a sentence or two, I'm just wasting time. Intricate backgrounds are great, but if the PCs never need to know what the NPC studied in grammar school, then I'm really just feeding my ego. Besides wasting creative energy, the other problem that over planning produced in me was the tendency to hold on to the story I had set up; in other words, railroading the PCs. Learning to focus on what's important had a distinct effect on my planning process; I no longer spend so much time on prepping an adventure. What time I do spend is focused on the things I know the PCs are going to interact with, and how they tie together. Since I spend less time planning, I'm more flexible during the game - which means that I'm a better GM. Remember, role-playing is collaborative, improvisational fiction. The players aren't there to read your story, nor are you there to create theirs. As both GMs and players, you are there to create a story together - that's the essence of role-playing. The other lesson I learned from Iron DM, and it's a subtle lesson, is to try to design adventures that give each PC a chance to shine. Competitors - remember those six ingredients that you're given that you have to be creative to tie together? Those aren't a random bunch of items that I pulled out of the ether, nor are they the essential pieces to a puzzle whose pattern you're tasked with developing. They are your PCs. They're the random actions of a group of individual players and the essential qualities of their characters. They're the cleric's turning ability, the rogue's lock picking skills, and the fighter's power attack. They're the decision to take a walk down the inconsequential tunnel that you hadn't mapped out, and the hour spent investigating the rock that you placed there for no reason. The goal of trying to integrate six seemingly disparate ingredients is the same as trying to integrate a group of six seemingly disparate PCs: to create something that's interesting and fun to play. [/QUOTE]
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