D&D General Win The Title of D&D's Best DM

WotC is running a competition called the Dungeon Master Challenge. Similar to Paizo's old RPG Superstar contest, it features various design rounds which whittle down the contenders until only one remains.

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The winner gets a trophy and some D&D products worth just over $2K.

Note: your entry becomes the property of WotC, which can use it in any way it wishes, even if you don't win. They don't even have to credit you for it. Be sure to consider this when deciding whether to enter.

• The first design challenge for a 1,000-word entry is Thursday June 17th, and contestants have three days to submit their entries. This round is open to everybody who qualifies (18+, in one of a list of countries).
• 10 contestants will then proceed to the next round in July, which is an elimination stage with various weekly 1,000-word design challenges.
• Three of those will go on to the final challenge in September, which involved being a DM on a livestream, judged by a panel.

What's a Freelance RPG Writer Worth?

Freelance writers (as opposed to those on salary) tend to be paid per word. The rate varies from publisher to publisher, and on how experienced the writer is. Ed Greenwood, for example, can command a much higher rate than a new writer can. Obviously only you, the freelancer, can decide...

www.enworld.org

 

[RobJN]

My players already gave me a coffee cup that says "World's Best DM" - will I have to give it back if someone else wins?

You'll have to send it to the winner of this thing.

 

[bedir than]

The radio silence about what's happened to the Adepts program makes me think they're not sure whether or not to continue it. They could have easily said "sit tight; we have a big announcement coming later this year," referring to this contest, but haven't.

Is there an Adept that's never been a contractor on a formal product? Because all contractors are forbidden from the contest.

 

[Oofta]

WOTC owns everything published on dmsguild.com right? Some epically great stuff on there they’ve never bothered to use. They absolutely should, way better than their stuff. But they don’t. They lazy. Object on principle grounds all you want, they are to lazy to “steal”.

Reminds me of this salesman we tried to hire, he was good at sales, knew nothing of insurance though, thought we could train him. He had to sign a non-piracy agreement, anyone he sold insurance to for us, he would be barred from soliciting for another agency for three years. He refused. “My sales Are my sales you don’t own them, that’s naughty word”…we thought maybe he didn’t understand, cause common agreement, no he understood, just was weirdo.

One person's "great stuff" is another's niche that won't sell to the broader public. For better or worse they have specific targets; D&D wouldn't be the 800 pound gorilla with year after year double digit growth if they were "lazy".

So celebrate the DmsGuild but stop insulting people you don't know who make decisions based on factors you have no knowledge of.

 

[BrassDragon]

Not open to entries from my country... weird that they only allow a few EU countries to participate, wonder what the reasoning behind that is.

 

[Morrus]

Not open to entries from my country... weird that they only allow a few EU countries to participate, wonder what the reasoning behind that is.

Data Protection laws?

 

[Nikosandros]

Data Protection laws?

I'm no expert on the matter, but I think that the provisions of GDPR apply in all the EU member states. I would guess that the country restrictions in this contest might depend on the specific laws each country has for competitions with prizes.

 

[BrassDragon]

I'm no expert on the matter, but I think that the provisions of GDPR apply in all the EU member states. I would guess that the country restrictions in this contest might depend on the specific laws each country has for competitions with prizes.

Yeah, data protection shouldn't be a hurdle if they accept entries from France and Germany - other EU countries have the same protections under GDPR. I can't imagine which law or regulation applies to prizes in this context... I live in the Netherlands and the limitations only apply to sweepstakes and gambling in the context of promotions.

Maybe intellectual property protections? The way WotC claims ownership of everything submitted might not fly with local authorship laws in some EU countries.

 

[pming]

Hiya!

Reminds me of this salesman we tried to hire, he was good at sales, knew nothing of insurance though, thought we could train him. He had to sign a non-piracy agreement, anyone he sold insurance to for us, he would be barred from soliciting for another agency for three years. He refused. “My sales Are my sales you don’t own them, that’s naughty word”…we thought maybe he didn’t understand, cause common agreement, no he understood, just was weirdo.

Oh man... "Non-Compete Clauses". That's what it's called I think, at least it is in the world of 3D artists/animators. These things are horrible...for everyone. The three-years would likely get this one tossed out in court for being too lengthy; generally speaking, they are more enforceable if they are:

1. Short in length (a few months to a year, almost never more than 2)
2. Specific to a small geographic area/business (re: a county, city, etc)
3. Necessary to protect the employers interests (trade secrets, relationship with customers/clients, etc)
4. Have "reasonable support of consideration" (meaning the employee gets stock options, additional additional consideration, accelerated benefits, bonuses, etc).

So... IF the insurance company's NCC didn't specify this sort of thing, and provided little to no extra consideration, tossing on a 3 year "Sentence of Unemployment" would likely land it in the "not-enforceable" side of the Judge. IMNSHO of course, IANAL.

The reason these are horrible, and the "weirdo" made the correct decision, is because it effectively puts the sword to the neck of the employee: "You can work for me, and you'll LOVE IT! Because if you don't... I'll reduce your hours to 4 a week or just fire you. And you can't work in your chosen field with your skills and knowledge for the next three years. You'll loose your car. Your house. Your family and you will be living in poverty, on the street. Deal with it, slave! [insert maniacal evil laugh here]". It gives the bad employers "permission" to be bad, effectively. Normally if you work of an a-hole, you just give him the finger after your first pay check and go find a better employer. Can't do that if that first and last paycheck is going to have to last you a year and a half.

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[Pauper]

I get the arguments for and against the IP rights clauses in the terms and conditions; what's got me scratching my head is this:

PUBLICITY RIGHTS

By participating in the Contest and/or accepting a prize, Entrant agrees to allow the Wizards and/or Wizards' designee the perpetual, royalty-free right to use, publish and display his/her/their name, address (city and state/province), biographical information, photos, picture, portrait, likeness, voice, footage of entrant's participation in streaming events, and/or statements regarding the Contest, prize won, and/or Wizards for promotion, trade, commercial, advertising and publicity purposes, at any time or times, in all media now known or hereafter discovered, including, but not limited to, live television, worldwide, on the World Wide Web and Internet, without notice, review or approval, consideration of possibility to participate in another Contest or any other of Wizards' events, and without additional compensation, except where prohibited by law.

I mean, I get why Wizards would want to have publicity rights for the final three, and that they'd probably want to give people a heads-up on their expectations on what Wizards will expect of folks who do well, but this seems a bit over-the-top. I mean, "in all media now known or hereafter discovered"?

The "except where prohibited by law" part is significant, though -- there is no federal U.S. law on the 'right of publicity', but a number of states do have laws that protect people from the use of their likeness in advertising without that person's written consent. If you live in Wisconsin, the original home of D&D, you're one of them!

--
Pauper

 

[J-H]

I think it's pretty boilerplate.
What if, 33 years from now, they decide to do a retrospective on "50 years of D&D" and include footage of "Best DM contest winners from each decade" on their HoloNet channel? They don't want to have to come back to the winner, or the winner's estate, for permission to include them in the retrospective because the agreement didn't include HoloNet.