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<blockquote data-quote="Wicht" data-source="post: 8176084" data-attributes="member: 221">I waffle. Sometimes I tend to think that the word count should probably be reversed, with the later rounds making the word count less, rather than more, but I get the reason for doing it the other way and reverse myself. Either way, when judges confer on rules prior to the contest, I am always going to be in favor of keeping it, regardless of the exact form it takes.My reasons are 3-fold...1. It makes it easier on the judges to read (natch).2. Learning to write to a word count is a useful skill for any RPGer who ever wants to actually do non-vanity project RPG writing (and don't we all really on some level) and this gives people a taste for what it is like to try to write an adventure proposal for a publisher, keeping said proposal to some predetermined length. If you can write for Iron DM you literally have what it takes to write an adventure proposal for a publisher (not saying you will get accepted, adventures are notoriously bad sellers, but you have what it takes).3. Writing to a word count is harder than not writing to a word count and does help distinguish the better and more concise writers. This is a writing contest as much as a creativity contest and it does help distinguish skill. Judging is abitrary on some levels, but we still want some criteria to help us judge against.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Wicht, post: 8176084, member: 221"] I waffle. Sometimes I tend to think that the word count should probably be reversed, with the later rounds making the word count less, rather than more, but I get the reason for doing it the other way and reverse myself. Either way, when judges confer on rules prior to the contest, I am always going to be in favor of keeping it, regardless of the exact form it takes. My reasons are 3-fold... [B]1.[/B] It makes it easier on the judges to read (natch). [B]2.[/B] Learning to write to a word count is a useful skill for any RPGer who ever wants to actually do non-vanity project RPG writing (and don't we all really on some level) and this gives people a taste for what it is like to try to write an adventure proposal for a publisher, keeping said proposal to some predetermined length. If you can write for Iron DM you literally have what it takes to write an adventure proposal for a publisher ([I]not saying you will get accepted, adventures are notoriously bad sellers, but you have what it takes[/I]). [B]3.[/B] Writing to a word count is harder than not writing to a word count and does help distinguish the better and more concise writers. This is a writing contest as much as a creativity contest and it does help distinguish skill. Judging is abitrary on some levels, but we still want some criteria to help us judge against. [/QUOTE]

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