IRON DM 2025 Tournament Thread

[Fenris-77]

Dude, you're messing hard with my ability to check on posts without clicking on the specific thread.

 

[Rune]

Dude, you're messing hard with my ability to check on posts without clicking on the specific thread.

I expect you’ll get an @-summons when the time comes.

 

[Gradine]

And that looks like three votes for @AustinHolm, who is our new Iron DM for 2025! Congratulations are in order! I don't know how often we've had any rookie champions, but it's a rare feat regardless. But will you be able to defend your crown next year? We'll have to wait and see...

@Fenris-77, you've put up some of my favorite entries in this competition so far. You clearly know what it takes to make it this far and win. In reading the judgments of my co-judges, one theme I see repeated is "missed opportunity". I wonder if maybe you found these particular ingredients difficult to work with. They appeared, in several instances, to be obstacles to be wrangled into shape. That's going to happen in the best entries, but I think in this case it happened too often, and it led to you missing opportunities to tie those ingredients together in a way that would have made each of them, and the entry as a whole, much stronger.

Unanimous results are rare in these later rounds; to have two out of three matches unanimous is rarer still. I don't want anyone to take away that these matches were not close. All of our competitors have put out incredible entries this year, and it has been the toughest for me personally to judge, by far. I think, in future years, we will look back on this year's tournament as one filled with incredible exemplars; a year to point to for any new contestants looking for a crash course on How To Iron DM.

I can't wait to see what the future holds...

 

[Fenris-77]

And that looks like three votes for @AustinHolm, who is our new Iron DM for 2025! Congratulations are in order! I don't know how often we've had any rookie champions, but it's a rare feat regardless. But will you be able to defend your crown next year? We'll have to wait and see...

@Fenris-77, you've put up some of my favorite entries in this competition so far. You clearly know what it takes to make it this far and win. In reading the judgments of my co-judges, one theme I see repeated is "missed opportunity". I wonder if maybe you found these particular ingredients difficult to work with. They appeared, in several instances, to be obstacles to be wrangled into shape. That's going to happen in the best entries, but I think in this case it happened too often, and it led to you missing opportunities to tie those ingredients together in a way that would have made each of them, and the entry as a whole, much stronger.

Unanimous results are rare in these later rounds; to have two out of three matches unanimous is rarer still. I don't want anyone to take away that these matches were not close. All of our competitors have put out incredible entries this year, and it has been the toughest for me personally to judge, by far. I think, in future years, we will look back on this year's tournament as one filled with incredible exemplars; a year to point to for any new contestants looking for a crash course on How To Iron DM.

I can't wait to see what the future holds...

I posted a design journal of sorts. That's my mea culpa.

 

[Rune]

Congratulations to IRON DM 2025 @AustinHolm!