CleverNickName
Limit Break Dancing (He/They)
Some ideas on theme weeks, in no particular order (and of variable usefulness):
Random Encounter Week
Contestants compete with each other to develop the best random encounter. Each contestant has 24 hours to write a random encounter that fits the brief set forth by the judges. The brief can be a list of ingredients, a specific monster or terrain, a theme, whatever. If it were up to me, I'd stay away from making it game-specific or edition-specific.
Cartography Week
As above, except the brief is to develop a map of some sort. See the comments upthread about potential pitfalls.
Beach Week
To kick off the start of summer, the contestants must write a beach-themed adventure. The judges provide a brief full of summertime, beach-party ingredients.
NPC Week
The judges provide a brief to the contestants to write a colorful, imaginative, and detailed Non-Player Character. Especially if the NPC isn't a standard humanoid...I'd love to see functional NPCs built from ghouls, oozes, or elementals. As always, I think this should avoid being edition-specific, and shouldn't include game mechanics or stat blocks.
Free RPG Week (for the week of July 25th)
The judges choose one or more of the free products available for download on Free RPG Day, and the contestants must create an adventure or whatever from those ingredients. I think this could be really fun.
Monster Week
As above, except the brief is to create a brand-new monster. If it were up to me, I'd avoid making it specific to a particular game or edition...I'd avoid stat blocks altogether and focus more on descriptions, ecology, and non-mechanical descriptions of attacks (Writing "this monster breathes fire" would be fine, but writing "this monster's breath weapon deals 4d6 fire damage on a failed DC 12 Dexterity save" would not be.)
Riddle Week
The contestants must create a riddle, puzzle, cipher, or similar brain-teaser. This is always the hardest part of writing an adventure for me, and I'd love to see what others come up with.
Trap Week
Just what's printed on the tin. The contestants must create an interesting trap or environmental hazard based on the judges' brief. As with the NPCs and the monsters, I think this would work best if it weren't edition-specific, and didn't include specific game mechanics.
Golden Oldies Week
The judges pick a classic adventure module that is long out of print, like "Keep on the Borderlands" or "Under the Dark Fist," and the contestants must write a re-imagined version of it. Maybe they update it for the next generation? Maybe they "fix it" with a new and improved version? Maybe they import it into a completely different campaign setting or game system?
Finals Week
All of the gold-star winners' ingredients are combined into a single brief! The last three finalists must write an adventure using some (or all) of the previous winning ingredients: the winning monster, the winning riddle, the winning NPC, etc.
Random Encounter Week
Contestants compete with each other to develop the best random encounter. Each contestant has 24 hours to write a random encounter that fits the brief set forth by the judges. The brief can be a list of ingredients, a specific monster or terrain, a theme, whatever. If it were up to me, I'd stay away from making it game-specific or edition-specific.
Cartography Week
As above, except the brief is to develop a map of some sort. See the comments upthread about potential pitfalls.
Beach Week
To kick off the start of summer, the contestants must write a beach-themed adventure. The judges provide a brief full of summertime, beach-party ingredients.
NPC Week
The judges provide a brief to the contestants to write a colorful, imaginative, and detailed Non-Player Character. Especially if the NPC isn't a standard humanoid...I'd love to see functional NPCs built from ghouls, oozes, or elementals. As always, I think this should avoid being edition-specific, and shouldn't include game mechanics or stat blocks.
Free RPG Week (for the week of July 25th)
The judges choose one or more of the free products available for download on Free RPG Day, and the contestants must create an adventure or whatever from those ingredients. I think this could be really fun.
Monster Week
As above, except the brief is to create a brand-new monster. If it were up to me, I'd avoid making it specific to a particular game or edition...I'd avoid stat blocks altogether and focus more on descriptions, ecology, and non-mechanical descriptions of attacks (Writing "this monster breathes fire" would be fine, but writing "this monster's breath weapon deals 4d6 fire damage on a failed DC 12 Dexterity save" would not be.)
Riddle Week
The contestants must create a riddle, puzzle, cipher, or similar brain-teaser. This is always the hardest part of writing an adventure for me, and I'd love to see what others come up with.
Trap Week
Just what's printed on the tin. The contestants must create an interesting trap or environmental hazard based on the judges' brief. As with the NPCs and the monsters, I think this would work best if it weren't edition-specific, and didn't include specific game mechanics.
Golden Oldies Week
The judges pick a classic adventure module that is long out of print, like "Keep on the Borderlands" or "Under the Dark Fist," and the contestants must write a re-imagined version of it. Maybe they update it for the next generation? Maybe they "fix it" with a new and improved version? Maybe they import it into a completely different campaign setting or game system?
Finals Week
All of the gold-star winners' ingredients are combined into a single brief! The last three finalists must write an adventure using some (or all) of the previous winning ingredients: the winning monster, the winning riddle, the winning NPC, etc.
Welcome to Beach Week!
Write an adventure using the following ingredients:
Your adventure must be 750 words or fewer.
You have 24 hours, starting now. Good luck!
Write an adventure using the following ingredients:
- Beach Towel
- Sand Castle
- Giant Crustacean
- Sunburn
- Killer Mai Tai
Your adventure must be 750 words or fewer.
You have 24 hours, starting now. Good luck!
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