Pielorinho
Iron Fist of Pelor
Here's a little more information about what I’m looking for in an entry. I'll post the actual rules for the tournament later.
Originality. Many of the ingredients will have multiple meanings. Please feel free to take an unusual meaning of an entry – if you get “fireball” as an ingredient, it could just as easily be describing the ignition of gases in a zero-g environment as describing a third-level spell. Be aware that you can stretch this principle to the breaking point: a fireball is not a conflagration at a fancy dance, unless you’re really really good. And note also that there are plenty of original, creative ways to use the third-level spell: you don’t need to go for the obscure interpretation in order to impress me. The more you can make me say, “hee hee, clever!”, the more I’ll like your entry. (As an addendum, feel free to branch out into other genres; my only request is that you refrain from using campaign-specific terminology. If I don't know what a Frejabbit machine is, and you don't explain it to me, that's your problem, not mine).
Spectacle. I’ve tried for a little bit of the cool-factor in ingredients, but it’s really up to you to draw it out. If you get “coral reef” as an ingredient, that could be a reef on which a ship runs aground – or it could be a sentient, malign reef with flailing, stinging tendrils on which a race of demon-crabs scutters up and down. The more you can make me say, “Holy crap!”, the more I’ll like your entry.
Pathos. Make me laugh, make me cry. Make me care about the characters one way or the other. If I’m pitying the villain even as I hate her, if I’m desperately hoping the kid gets returned to his family, if I read about the balor’s trap and say, “Gah!”, you’re doing your job.
Open Seas. I’m not sure what to call this one, except that it’s gotta be the opposite of railroading (where the PCs can only go in one direction). Think about your adventure, and think about different things PCs could do in it, and try to help a GM deal with different PC actions. NO adventure can anticipate everything, but if your adventure assumes that the PCs will act in a highly specific fashion – or worse, if it forces the PCs to act in a highly specific fashion – I’ll not be pleased. The more freedom the PCs have in the adventure, the more I’ll like your entry.
Integration of ingredients into the adventure. Hopefully this is obvious, but each ingredient should, by virtue of what it is, shape the adventure. If you get “star amethyst” as an ingredient, I don’t want to see its entire use consist of, “The mayor promises to give the PCs a star amethyst as a reward if they catch the rampaging ferret.” First, that’s a totally boring use of any ingredient; second, that star amethyst could have been anything else, and the adventure would be no different. Describe to me how the star at its center fluctuates and shimmers, and how a wizard crafted it into a ring of shooting stars, and make that ring a central aspect of the adventure, and you’re doing much better.
Unity: It's important for each ingredient to shape the adventure, but it's equally important to make the adventure a cohesive whole, instead of a bunch of random cool things pasted onto one another. The tension between ingredient integration and unity of adventure is why these things are so damn hard to write.
Organization. Your job as a writer is to communicate your ideas effectively to me. If you’ve got a moral problem with paragraphs, punctuation, or sentence structure, for the sweet love of all that is holy DO NOT ENTER THE TOURNAMENT. The easier a time I have reading your entry and judging it, the happier I’ll be.
Brevity. Not a huge deal, but make every word count. If you bore me with unnecessary words, you’ll lose the round.
Note, however, that these are some vague guidelines: now that I've written this, I'm going to forget I wrote it. Each round, I'm going to choose whichever entry I like more. The above just gives you some ideas about what I'm liable to like.
Daniel
Originality. Many of the ingredients will have multiple meanings. Please feel free to take an unusual meaning of an entry – if you get “fireball” as an ingredient, it could just as easily be describing the ignition of gases in a zero-g environment as describing a third-level spell. Be aware that you can stretch this principle to the breaking point: a fireball is not a conflagration at a fancy dance, unless you’re really really good. And note also that there are plenty of original, creative ways to use the third-level spell: you don’t need to go for the obscure interpretation in order to impress me. The more you can make me say, “hee hee, clever!”, the more I’ll like your entry. (As an addendum, feel free to branch out into other genres; my only request is that you refrain from using campaign-specific terminology. If I don't know what a Frejabbit machine is, and you don't explain it to me, that's your problem, not mine).
Spectacle. I’ve tried for a little bit of the cool-factor in ingredients, but it’s really up to you to draw it out. If you get “coral reef” as an ingredient, that could be a reef on which a ship runs aground – or it could be a sentient, malign reef with flailing, stinging tendrils on which a race of demon-crabs scutters up and down. The more you can make me say, “Holy crap!”, the more I’ll like your entry.
Pathos. Make me laugh, make me cry. Make me care about the characters one way or the other. If I’m pitying the villain even as I hate her, if I’m desperately hoping the kid gets returned to his family, if I read about the balor’s trap and say, “Gah!”, you’re doing your job.
Open Seas. I’m not sure what to call this one, except that it’s gotta be the opposite of railroading (where the PCs can only go in one direction). Think about your adventure, and think about different things PCs could do in it, and try to help a GM deal with different PC actions. NO adventure can anticipate everything, but if your adventure assumes that the PCs will act in a highly specific fashion – or worse, if it forces the PCs to act in a highly specific fashion – I’ll not be pleased. The more freedom the PCs have in the adventure, the more I’ll like your entry.
Integration of ingredients into the adventure. Hopefully this is obvious, but each ingredient should, by virtue of what it is, shape the adventure. If you get “star amethyst” as an ingredient, I don’t want to see its entire use consist of, “The mayor promises to give the PCs a star amethyst as a reward if they catch the rampaging ferret.” First, that’s a totally boring use of any ingredient; second, that star amethyst could have been anything else, and the adventure would be no different. Describe to me how the star at its center fluctuates and shimmers, and how a wizard crafted it into a ring of shooting stars, and make that ring a central aspect of the adventure, and you’re doing much better.
Unity: It's important for each ingredient to shape the adventure, but it's equally important to make the adventure a cohesive whole, instead of a bunch of random cool things pasted onto one another. The tension between ingredient integration and unity of adventure is why these things are so damn hard to write.
Organization. Your job as a writer is to communicate your ideas effectively to me. If you’ve got a moral problem with paragraphs, punctuation, or sentence structure, for the sweet love of all that is holy DO NOT ENTER THE TOURNAMENT. The easier a time I have reading your entry and judging it, the happier I’ll be.
Brevity. Not a huge deal, but make every word count. If you bore me with unnecessary words, you’ll lose the round.
Note, however, that these are some vague guidelines: now that I've written this, I'm going to forget I wrote it. Each round, I'm going to choose whichever entry I like more. The above just gives you some ideas about what I'm liable to like.
Daniel
