IRON DM General Discussion

[el-remmen]

Wow. That seems like a lot but also doable. Personally, I think the word count limit should depend on each category. Magical item? 250 to 500 word. Locale? 750 to 1000 words. etc

 

[el-remmen]

Another tidbit from the trenches of archiving:

Seriously considering keeping track of how often contestants have a header in their submitted adventure entitled "What's Really Going On."

 

[Rune]

With these long-form competitions, it might be better to aim to run them a little earlier than Summer. Mid- to late-spring seems better to me, as it is half a year between the usual IRON DM tourney times.

 

[Wicht]

With these long-form competitions, it might be better to aim to run them a little earlier than Summer. Mid- to late-spring seems better to me, as it is half a year between the usual IRON DM tourney times.

Maybe run something in April this year, and then try to have Iron DM in October? I suspect that October would work better than November and December as the Halloween season is less hectic and more creatively conducive than the Thanksgiving-Christmas-New Year season. That would mean recruitment at the end of March and the end of September.

 

[Neurotic]

There is exactly zero chance of me keeping such punishing schedule - 9 times in the month for me would be possible only if I took a month long vacation - and even then it would be hard to keep

 

[Wicht]

There is exactly zero chance of me keeping such punishing schedule - 9 times in the month for me would be possible only if I took a month long vacation - and even then it would be hard to keep

That's why its a first draft. Feedback is dearly welcomed.
What would you think a more practical schedule, especially if we were to try and keep it contained within 1 month? Would every 5 days (6-7 rounds) be more doable? Or even every 4 days? 72 hours to write 500 words does not seem that grueling of a schedule from my perspective, but then I do a lot of writing, so others may have different standards.

 

[Gradine]

That's why its a first draft. Feedback is dearly welcomed.
What would you think a more practical schedule, especially if we were to try and keep it contained within 1 month? Would every 5 days (6-7 rounds) be more doable? Or even every 4 days? 72 hours to write 500 words does not seem that grueling of a schedule from my perspective, but then I do a lot of writing, so others may have different standards.

For me it comes down to availability of writing time. There are certain times of the week I have time to write, and others I do not. This is why I prefer a weekly schedule. 6-7 rounds means around a month and a half, which isn't terrible.

I would also say that, as a judge, I would definitely chafe at such a regimented scoring system. The 20/10 breakdown at the end in particular could lead to ties that a more granular scoring system would be far more likely to avoid. That said, I understand the simplicity makes the scoring task a little easier on the judges. The 5-4-3-2-1 scoring in the earlier rounds I could get behind.

I'll think up a list of categories I think would be most appropriate

 

[el-remmen]

I think it should be limited to six entries per contestant total. Ten might be a nice round number, but it is really too much to ask to have it go on so long and write so much. Six is twice as much as a contestant needs to be available at most in typical IRON DM, so to almost double that for everyone on a tight schedule (including the judges) seems like a lot.

I like six weeks - everyone must participate in the first and the final (either sixth or a seventh) is just three people - with everyone being required to skip one of the the four (or five) in the middle (thus either scheduling or strategic choice could be the reason to skip).

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I was about to write that I'd be behind @Wicht's plan, with maybe a day or two off between rounds, but @Gradine 's post reminds me that I really can only be sure to have time once-a-week, realistically. (Though that can cause other problems, as my free time is Sunday-Monday and I know some prolific posters here on ENWorld who never post anything on weekends as a rule. So what's good for me, might not be good for others.

I think the hard part will be figuring out how to give the contestants time-limits while being flexible about start times. How do we give people a 48 hour limit (say) but allow them to start at a different time than the other contestants? That has been solved for Iron DM with the negotiating we've done on head-to-head matches, but it might be harder with a big free-for-all (which I like).

Unless we drop the 48-hour time-limits. The fairest scenario I can imagine would be to make the contests go from Friday to Sunday and the Judging go from Tuesday to Thursday. Weekly Rounds. Limit to Six, I think.

 

[Wicht]

For me it comes down to availability of writing time. There are certain times of the week I have time to write, and others I do not. This is why I prefer a weekly schedule. 6-7 rounds means around a month and a half, which isn't terrible.

I would also say that, as a judge, I would definitely chafe at such a regimented scoring system. The 20/10 breakdown at the end in particular could lead to ties that a more granular scoring system would be far more likely to avoid. That said, I understand the simplicity makes the scoring task a little easier on the judges. The 5-4-3-2-1 scoring in the earlier rounds I could get behind.

I'll think up a list of categories I think would be most appropriate

6 rounds with 4 days each (3 to write and 1 to judge) and then a 7th round with 6 days (5 to write), would be about a month. My experience is that the longer things like this go on, the more likely to run out of steam by the end, which is why I think trying to keep it within a month would be better than going longer.

As for the scoring. I was trying to think of a way to make the first rounds important, and yet also make the final round the most important, so that the person going into the final in third place still had a chance to take the title. If you only had 2 judges, then allowing the judges to give points is to be preferred to having the judges try to hammer out a consensus... especially with three final participants. The points need to be high enough in the final round for the 1st and 2nd place participants to move ahead sufficiently to make it less of a foregone conclusion (potentially) going into the final round. But making them points not divisible by five would help prevent ties, so maybe 14 and 7 points?