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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[SkidAce]

My players already gave me a coffee cup that says "World's Best DM" - will I have to give it back if someone else wins?

I'm jealous...

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

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.

Hmm. That's an interesting theory as to the purpose of this. Maybe a sort of "face of D&D" DM that they can use as some kind of symbol. I'm not sure about that.

I would just guess that they want to make a profit off of whatever adventure becomes of this contest (probably becoming a DMs Guild adventure like the Lost Laboratory of Kwalish and the like), marketing the adventure as "The Best DM chosen by this contest, and streamed live on X-date". Then, how things go from there would be much more unclear (maybe involving the winner as a consultant/freelancer in future 5e adventure books).

However, if they are looking for a "Corporate-Endorsed Matt Mercer" figure, that could cause some issues depending on how they go about it. It's not like they're going to say "Okay, drop whatever else you're doing, you're a D&D-livestream star now! Go make a livestream at least as popular as Acquisitions Incorporated, and you need to be our face for the hobby from here-on-out!" That just seems like a lot of pressure to put on a person, especially through a public contest like this. I don't think they're dumb enough to do that.

 

[Burnside]

I’m gonna give this a shot. But this seems like WAY more of a designer challenge than a DM challenge.

 

[EthanSental]

Hiya.

Seems ok, but man... it sure does seem... a bit on the "sleazy used car salesman" side of things for some reason. A company owned by a mammoth company worth billions of dollars, basically trying to take advantage of their customers. Don't get me wrong... $2100 worth of merchandise is nothing to sneeze at, but it's all the other 'conditions' that raise my eyebrow. They are basically saying "Hey D&D community! We want ALL your ideas! Give them to us, and ONE of you people will get some books and stuff we have laying around the office".

In particular:

"..any and all publicity and advertising or other promotions by Wizards without any further attribution, notification or compensation to Entrants."

The part I bolded is the "scummy" part. I mean, it'd be a nice gesture (and pretty common 'in the real world of artists') that if someone creates something that was inspired by some other artists work, that the inspiring artist gets a mention. So simply having a nice little paragraph at the bottom of the credits that says "Other Material in this book inspired by..." and then just put a list of the artists who's ideas/whatever were, well, inspiring to WotC. No money, no compensation...but damn. Not even a mention? That's pretty low... just sayin'...

^_^

Paul L. Ming

id respectfully disagree with the first paragraph since TSR did the same with submissions to Dungeon or Dragon magazines back in the day. Contestants should view it as a chance to get noticed if that’s their desire…not lazy on the company side as I look at it as building the bench with some creative contest for the gamers.

 

[Umbran]

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'd like to see...

A complex rules situation - your ruling, and why.
A complex table dynamic situation - your approach to handling it and why.
Discussion of a house rule designed to yield a particular result in play.
Design an encounter, for characters level X-Y.
Design a 5 room dungeon, for characters level X-Y.
Design a major NPC/monster head villain for a campaign.

 

[Helldritch]

Well, no chance for me to try my skills on that event. People from Québec can not apply...

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

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.

I certainly expect to see the two finalists and especially the winner all over streaming and official WotC events for the year after they're crowned.

And after that, they've probably got the publicity to have a popular streaming channel, if they want it. If not, they've got a hell of a cool trophy for their gaming shelf.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I'd like to see...

Design a 5 room dungeon, for characters level X-Y.

I suspect an adventure suitable for streaming in the final round is the second tier challenge. I make all my dungeons in Google Docs and just peeked at my favorite low level five room dungeon I created, and it's 1,200 words with minimal fat, since it's mostly just notes to read at the table. Almost certainly not suitable for the first tier, especially since they reference us using monster generation rules, and my adventure doesn't have any new monsters in it.

 

[Ancalagon]

They won't even credit? boo.

 

[pming]

id respectfully disagree with the first paragraph since TSR did the same with submissions to Dungeon or Dragon magazines back in the day. Contestants should view it as a chance to get noticed if that’s their desire…not lazy on the company side as I look at it as building the bench with some creative contest for the gamers.

..except that contestants are NOT going to get noticed. One of them will. Maybe a handful of the "almost won" types who might get some side offer from WotC for something....maybe.

But the other few hundred or thousands of people who have interesting ideas that get "used" in some other WotC product? Nope. Nothing. They get no mention. They get no "chance to get noticed". All they do is loose the ability to take that cool idea they had and develop it themselves to sell or even give away.

That's the "scummy" part; that WotC doesn't even attempt to 'help' anyone but themselves and the one guy/gal who wins.

As I said... It'd be a simple matter to just put "With inspiration from various other fans: [list of names]". That way the artist/writer/DM could at LEAST point to it on their 'resume' and say "See? That magic item, the Spoon of Special Brewing? Yeah. My idea". They don't own it, they can't use it, but they could point to the WotC book and say "There's my name, in the Inspirations list".

^_^

Paul L. Ming