IRON DM General Discussion

[el-remmen]

In other news - I find it funny when under "Hooks," a contestant writes "There are many ways the PCs can get involved" and then they just list two.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

In other news - I find it funny when under "Hooks," a contestant writes "There are many ways the PCs can get involved" and then they just list two.

To be fair, they may have thought of more but left them out for space? (Though I assume you're still working before the word-limits came down). Or they just figured, "Here's a few examples, but I'm sure you're gonna use your own anyway."

I have to admit, the sentence "there are many ways the PCs can get involved" makes me want to answer, "Duh. Of course there is."

 

[el-remmen]

Yeah, I am still on the pre-word count tournaments. . . don't get me wrong, despite having an adjective synonymous with brutal, perhaps cruelly, honest criticism and judging named after me, I am not bring up this stuff to pick on past contestants - just noticing what I consider funny patterns. Sometimes this kind of this can be chalked up to a contestant writing "many" but then only coming up with two but forgetting to go back and edit the word "many." Lord knows my entries are rife with errors and oversights.

BTW: Just got to what I assume is my final IRON DM (on ENWorld at least, since all others are lost) from 2005 and I got bumped in the first round! I had totally forgotten about that one.

P.S. Speaking of "lost tournaments," I am also trying to put together a list of them (and if possible their winners) just for the sake of the record. If you come across reference to one we don't have a thread for I would appreciate posting about it here or DMing me so I can add it to the list. So far the only one I have on my list is IRON DM Fall 2004, which apparently Wulf Ratbane won and took place on the Rat Bastard DM's Club boards.

P.P.S. About every other time I go to type Wulf Ratbane, I type "Rat Wulfbane" instead.

 

[el-remmen]

Oh wow, IRON DM 2010 is a 16-person tournament! Who wants to volunteer to archive that one?

 

[Rune]

Oh wow, IRON DM 2010 is a 16-person tournament! Who wants to volunteer to archive that one?

I feel like this is the one humble minion keeps mentioning, so I’m going to go ahead and nominate... @humble minion!

 

[CleverNickName]

In other news - I find it funny when under "Hooks," a contestant writes "There are many ways the PCs can get involved" and then they just list two.

750 word limit will get you every time.

Oh wow, IRON DM 2010 is a 16-person tournament! Who wants to volunteer to archive that one?

Ah, the good old days.

When I did the write-up for that one, I originally had all of the entries hyperlinked to the contestants. I see the links aren't working anymore, though. Must have gotten broken when ENWorld switched software?

I'll take it on. I was the emcee, after all. Might as well finish what I started.

 

[Wicht]

Let's just say that 15 years later I happened to see one of the contestants and a former mod in person and they both mentioned still being annoyed by my choices and it being a factor in their not playing.

Talk about taking a loss hard.

I know I've groused a time or two about losing (especially that one time twenty years ago...), but I hope it always came out as the amused, good-natured grousing I meant it as. It's not like there's really anything on the line when you lose except personal pride. And nothing invested except time. The real joy for me as a contestant was never the winning, it was the opportunity to do the mental exercises involved in the creating and writing.

 

[Wicht]

Judging these past two years has been fun, and I look forward to playing a role as a judge, if not host, if this upcoming Spring/Summer spinoff (if not hosting, but it seems Wicht is keen on taking on that role). For the next tournament though, I think I want to go back to competing.

I'm of two minds about that (re:hosting). If I have the time, I honestly wouldn't mind doing it. I legitimately don't know what my schedule will look like in two months. The wife and I started foster parenting this past March and we are undergoing a dual set of transitions with children about the middle of February, and we aren't sure what direction we are going to be taking for a couple of months after, all of which is to say, I am either going to have more free time right around there, or maybe not much at all. I should know about the beginning of March what it will look like.

Relative to judging, I wouldn't mind competing again this year also, but that does mean that if both Gradine and I did that, we would need some others to step into (back into) the judge role.

 

[Wicht]

To be fair, they may have thought of more but left them out for space? (Though I assume you're still working before the word-limits came down). Or they just figured, "Here's a few examples, but I'm sure you're gonna use your own anyway."

I have to admit, the sentence "there are many ways the PCs can get involved" makes me want to answer, "Duh. Of course there is."

Writing out, "there are many ways a PC can get involved," is one of those things that I might type out of lazy habit, and then hope I can think of them...

 

[Rune]

Writing out, "there are many ways a PC can get involved," is one of those things that I might type out of lazy habit, and then hope I can think of them...

The ol’ improvised book report routine.