D&D General Win The Title of D&D's Best DM

WotC is running a competition called the Dungeon Master Challenge. Similar to Paizo's old RPG Superstar contest, it features various design rounds which whittle down the contenders until only one remains.

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The winner gets a trophy and some D&D products worth just over $2K.

Note: your entry becomes the property of WotC, which can use it in any way it wishes, even if you don't win. They don't even have to credit you for it. Be sure to consider this when deciding whether to enter.

• The first design challenge for a 1,000-word entry is Thursday June 17th, and contestants have three days to submit their entries. This round is open to everybody who qualifies (18+, in one of a list of countries).
• 10 contestants will then proceed to the next round in July, which is an elimination stage with various weekly 1,000-word design challenges.
• Three of those will go on to the final challenge in September, which involved being a DM on a livestream, judged by a panel.

What's a Freelance RPG Writer Worth?

Freelance writers (as opposed to those on salary) tend to be paid per word. The rate varies from publisher to publisher, and on how experienced the writer is. Ed Greenwood, for example, can command a much higher rate than a new writer can. Obviously only you, the freelancer, can decide...

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[bedir than]

Do we know what the prompt will be?

Brandy Camel said they're keeping the prompts secret so that no one has an advantage

 

[Inchoroi]

Yeah....

I'm super leery. I got burned by a small RPG company; I'd hate to see how screwed I'd be with a huge corp. Maybe I'm just being cynical?

 

[Disgruntled Hobbit]

There’s plenty of ways to protect themselves, and plenty of ways to promise to pay people for any work that they end up using. If I use somebody’s work, I pay for it. Period.

Paizo did the exact same thing with RPG Superstar

It's not that they'll steal someone's idea. It's that in six months or six years they'll coincidentally do the same thing as a pitched idea and don't want to be sued

It's why many publishers and authors won't even look at unsolicited pitches

 

[J-H]

Do we know what the prompt will be? It's entirely possible that magical items and enemies won't be a part of it. It sounds like at least one of the challenges is creating a new monster.

The 1,000 words thing is a big deal if they want to use these folks as freelancers, as being able to adhere to guidelines is one of the key things that separates a good freelancer from a bad one.

Even if they don't intend that, more than 1,000 words (which is a lot more than I think many people realize) means judging this would take forever. As it is, I don't even them the work ahead of them.

Yeah, publishing and cutting things is brutal. I have a simple "crashed UFO with cryogenically frozen illithid" dungeon in my current campaign, which I'll publish when done in a year or two. It only has has -23 fights and some exploration, and it comes in at over 1,800 words. The only two statblocks are for a couple of built-in laser turrets, which only have the basic necessary combat stats (no str, int, cha, etc.).

Making an actual story out of it that includes a "this is how the party gets here and why" would add at least another 500 words. It's mostly a set-piece exploration where the story is developed through what the party finds, and if they're dumb enough to push the glowing blue button (they will be).

One of the abandoned/flooded silver mines is only 872 words, excluding the statblock for the Von Neumann aquatic silver miners, but it's pretty bereft of story.

1000 words isn't enough for a 4-hour adventure unless there's a bunch of filler combat.

Yeah....

I'm super leery. I got burned by a small RPG company; I'd hate to see how screwed I'd be with a huge corp. Maybe I'm just being cynical?

I'm not entering this with any expectation of making money or even necessarily winning. I just want to see if I can.

If you want to make money full-time to support a family by writing, you probably need to have words like "Code" or "Technical" or "Marketing" or "Grant proposal" involved too.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Paizo did the exact same thing with RPG Superstar

It's not that they'll steal someone's idea. It's that in six months or six years they'll coincidentally do the same thing as a pitched idea and don't want to be sued

It's why many publishers and authors won't even look at unsolicited pitches

It's not about stealing (it's pretty clear they own it if you submit) but it is signing over IP that you make. It reminds me of how Keith Baker made Eberron for a setting contest, and it has since become one of the most popular D&D settings. He has been lucky enough to be treated quite well by WotC, having him write a bunch of material for the setting... but they still own the IP in its entirety, and were under no obligation to sign him for freelancing after his submission was made.

Anyway, by submitting an idea through this, you are in effect signing a contract that's not very favorable to the submitter. Which is ok if you're happy to do so in the hope of getting exposure, but if you don't get exposure, you're signing over material for zero benefit.

 

[Umbran]

It's to protect them more than get your ideas
They don't need one of the 15,000 people who submitted screaming that they stole their idea in six months

Exactly. Without such a clause, if, five years from now, some designer who never even saw any contest material writes a piece that is even vaguely similar to something a contestant did, the contestant would raise a hoot and holler, and possibly try to sue. Without such protection, the contest would be more trouble than it is worth to WotC. So, you get that clause.

If you're really the best DM out there, it isn't like you're short on ideas anyway, right?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

1000 words isn't enough for a 4-hour adventure unless there's a bunch of filler combat.

My guess is the first tier won't be a full adventure. That would be a ton of work in a very short time frame and a lot of work to judge. I suspect the first tier is a monster, along with some other things, like a spell and a magic item.

I'm not entering this with any expectation of making money or even necessarily winning. I just want to see if I can.

The best reason, IMO.

If you want to make money full-time to support a family by writing, you probably need to have words like "Code" or "Technical" or "Marketing" or "Grant proposal" involved too.

More fields than that, but it depends on what your standard of living is. If you want to be the sole breadwinner in a family and a homeowner, it's either in very particular fields or you are an exceptionally fortunate writer. I know a novelist whom I suspect most of this forum are familiar with and more than 20 novels in, he has to supplement his writing with teaching writing at the collegiate level.

If you want to have a nice standard of living as a full-time writer, marry someone with a more lucrative profession.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Neat idea but the pedant in me thinks the title should be "best designer" as the best DM would be about running a game not writing

totally agree. Best DM is something shown at the table. Everything else is prep, but also irrelevant to the actual game at the table.

 

[J-H]

My guess is the first tier won't be a full adventure. That would be a ton of work in a very short time frame and a lot of work to judge. I suspect the first tier is a monster, along with some other things, like a spell and a magic item.

I hope you're right if it's monster + spell + item... although I'll probably struggle with the spell. Monsters & items are easy for me. It's hard to come up with new spells that are more than just a re-skin or that don't have unintended consequences.

More fields than that, but it depends on what your standard of living is. If you want to be the sole breadwinner in a family and a homeowner, it's either in very particular fields or you are an exceptionally fortunate writer. I know a novelist whom I suspect most of this forum is familiar with and more than 20 novels in, he has to supplement his writing with teaching writing at the collegiate level.

If you want to have a nice standard of living as a full-time writer, marry someone with a more lucrative profession.

That's a good way to put it... just like farming, the best thing financially is a second career or "real job."

 

[Dausuul]

The cynic in you has never read through a slush pile of contributions from the general public.

Ha, yes. I tried freelance editing once. Made me want to take a power drill to my brain. And the stuff I was editing wasn't even that bad; perfectly coherent sentences, even the semblance of a plot. I shudder to think what the full-time pros have to deal with.

As for the contest, the bit where you have to livestream a session at the end makes it seem like they're looking for the next Matt Mercer. I don't blame them one bit, and I hope their search is fruitful, but I have no delusions of being that guy, so I shall cheer from the sidelines.