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IRON DM 2023 Tournament Thread
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<blockquote data-quote="Gradine" data-source="post: 9210377" data-attributes="member: 57112"><p>Okay, so. D&D Supremacy.</p><p></p><p>My understanding is that this competition was originally born out of a group called the "Rat Bastard's DM Club" or something of that nature. The early competitors and judges all almost exclusively came out of that group. From the name I can kind of gleam that there's an old school, D&D-focused mentality from the start. The competition has grown pretty far out from those humble beginnings, but, well, D&D still sheds a hell of a shadow over the industry. I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a judge or competitor, at least on this site, if not the broader community, that doesn't at least have a solid grasp of what a D&D adventure in general looks like. D&D is still deeply embedded in the shared language of our hobby. It's still, unfortunately, the default. I can say, with timid optimism, that there has never been a time in the 50-someodd-years of our hobby, where we have come closer as a community from moving beyond that, but it's still, I think, somewhere far in the distance, if at all.</p><p></p><p>It's at this point where I point out how I've approached this particular dilemma. First, as a player: I've participated as a contestant in seven tournaments: 2014-2018 and 2021-2022. My overall record is 10-5, with two championships under my belt. Not to toot my own horn, but I'd like to think I've done pretty well for myself. I'm curious, however what that breaks down to under the following four circumstances:</p><p>D&D vs D&D - 3-2</p><p>Non vs Non - 2-1</p><p>My Non vs D&D - 4-0</p><p>My D&D vs Non - 1-2</p><p>Interestingly, when I'm doing D&D I'm .500 (4-4), when I'm not doing D&D I'm 6-1. I should probably learn a lesson from that. In fact, my last D&D adventure to go head-to-head against a non-D&D adventure was a loss... against Snarf! <shakes fist at Paul Hollywood></p><p></p><p>I've now judged three different years, and in those years I was able to weigh in on 8 rounds that pitted a D&D adventure against a non-D&D adventure, and my judgment was split evenly 4-4 (including a 2-2 record this year). I've also tried to utilize the ingredients I've provided to steer away from D&D (or at least not directly toward it), with a decent amount of success, including likely contributing to that Owl Hill Trail sighting in 2019. That said, "Laser Sword" still got us a 50/50 split, and "Faster Car" still led to two D&D (or at least, non-specific but D&D-esque) adventures, so, you know. It's an uphill battle.</p><p></p><p>Honestly, I'd be interested in seeing someone go back through every match in those old tournaments and seeing what the breakdown is of D&D vs non-D&D games is. As skewed (and consequential!) as those championship statistics are, it's also true that championship matches make up, at most, 1/7th of every Iron DM contest ever (weird triple-round-robin finals nonwithstanding). Of course, you'd also have to make a determination for every entry as to whether it's "D&D" or not in the first place. Is generic fantasy "D&D" if it isn't called out in the subtitle or referenced mechanics at all? Is a non-entry fantasy definitively not "D&D"? If we're counting Pathfinder as D&D, what about Starfinder? Or Star Wars D20? Many adventures are systemless, and if Dimension 20 has taught us anything (and hopefully it has!), it's that you can do D&D in pretty much <em>any </em>setting or genre.</p><p></p><p>I love both reading (and writing!) interesting and out-there Iron DM entries, specially when it comes to non-fantasy genres. Being fully honest, I think that it's great for the competition to see a greater diversity of adventures. And I do think that you can be successful here when breaking out of the D&D bubble. I think building an entire game from scratch can put you a bit behind the eight ball; we're really looking for <em>adventures </em>here, so any time you spend explaining mechanics is less time you can spend really fleshing out that adventure. Not that [USER=7023840]@Snarf Zagyg[/USER] didn't absolutely make it work for them, they did, and I'd also add that the mechanics I developed for my 2021 winner were what put me over the top. I've seen (and had!) it backfire too, though. As much as I think it's more than possible to do well in this competition while steering clear of D&D (and make no mistake, getting to the championship match at all is <strong><em>doing well</em></strong>), it's harder to recommend developing systems/mechanics/whole games on your own.</p><p></p><p>That's my takeaway, anyway.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Gradine, post: 9210377, member: 57112"] Okay, so. D&D Supremacy. My understanding is that this competition was originally born out of a group called the "Rat Bastard's DM Club" or something of that nature. The early competitors and judges all almost exclusively came out of that group. From the name I can kind of gleam that there's an old school, D&D-focused mentality from the start. The competition has grown pretty far out from those humble beginnings, but, well, D&D still sheds a hell of a shadow over the industry. I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a judge or competitor, at least on this site, if not the broader community, that doesn't at least have a solid grasp of what a D&D adventure in general looks like. D&D is still deeply embedded in the shared language of our hobby. It's still, unfortunately, the default. I can say, with timid optimism, that there has never been a time in the 50-someodd-years of our hobby, where we have come closer as a community from moving beyond that, but it's still, I think, somewhere far in the distance, if at all. It's at this point where I point out how I've approached this particular dilemma. First, as a player: I've participated as a contestant in seven tournaments: 2014-2018 and 2021-2022. My overall record is 10-5, with two championships under my belt. Not to toot my own horn, but I'd like to think I've done pretty well for myself. I'm curious, however what that breaks down to under the following four circumstances: D&D vs D&D - 3-2 Non vs Non - 2-1 My Non vs D&D - 4-0 My D&D vs Non - 1-2 Interestingly, when I'm doing D&D I'm .500 (4-4), when I'm not doing D&D I'm 6-1. I should probably learn a lesson from that. In fact, my last D&D adventure to go head-to-head against a non-D&D adventure was a loss... against Snarf! <shakes fist at Paul Hollywood> I've now judged three different years, and in those years I was able to weigh in on 8 rounds that pitted a D&D adventure against a non-D&D adventure, and my judgment was split evenly 4-4 (including a 2-2 record this year). I've also tried to utilize the ingredients I've provided to steer away from D&D (or at least not directly toward it), with a decent amount of success, including likely contributing to that Owl Hill Trail sighting in 2019. That said, "Laser Sword" still got us a 50/50 split, and "Faster Car" still led to two D&D (or at least, non-specific but D&D-esque) adventures, so, you know. It's an uphill battle. Honestly, I'd be interested in seeing someone go back through every match in those old tournaments and seeing what the breakdown is of D&D vs non-D&D games is. As skewed (and consequential!) as those championship statistics are, it's also true that championship matches make up, at most, 1/7th of every Iron DM contest ever (weird triple-round-robin finals nonwithstanding). Of course, you'd also have to make a determination for every entry as to whether it's "D&D" or not in the first place. Is generic fantasy "D&D" if it isn't called out in the subtitle or referenced mechanics at all? Is a non-entry fantasy definitively not "D&D"? If we're counting Pathfinder as D&D, what about Starfinder? Or Star Wars D20? Many adventures are systemless, and if Dimension 20 has taught us anything (and hopefully it has!), it's that you can do D&D in pretty much [I]any [/I]setting or genre. I love both reading (and writing!) interesting and out-there Iron DM entries, specially when it comes to non-fantasy genres. Being fully honest, I think that it's great for the competition to see a greater diversity of adventures. And I do think that you can be successful here when breaking out of the D&D bubble. I think building an entire game from scratch can put you a bit behind the eight ball; we're really looking for [I]adventures [/I]here, so any time you spend explaining mechanics is less time you can spend really fleshing out that adventure. Not that [USER=7023840]@Snarf Zagyg[/USER] didn't absolutely make it work for them, they did, and I'd also add that the mechanics I developed for my 2021 winner were what put me over the top. I've seen (and had!) it backfire too, though. As much as I think it's more than possible to do well in this competition while steering clear of D&D (and make no mistake, getting to the championship match at all is [B][I]doing well[/I][/B]), it's harder to recommend developing systems/mechanics/whole games on your own. That's my takeaway, anyway. [/QUOTE]
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