WotC Seeking Your Setting Proposals (was "Big Wizard announcement")

[Pallis]

rules

I'm sure I'll come off as another, unthinking knob, so bring on the flames.

From http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/dx20020606b:
"You don't need to type your proposal onto a printout of this page, but it must follow this format and have these entries, in this order, clearly labeled."

That one concerns me a little. Answer the questions. Fine. Number the questions. Not thrilled, but fine. Keep them in the same order. I don't like that one, sorry. Just like a movie trailer, the order can make a difference. Have you ever seen a trailer, then watched the movie, and noticed that the trailer isn't always in the exact order of the movie? They do what they can to knock your socks off.

The fact that we have to use the PDF document got me. I can see why and I have no problem doing that. I'm just glad I saw that. I wasn't planning on reading ALL of these posts. Good thing I did. For those that want a link to the PDF, here you go:
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/SubmissionAgreement.pdf

Good luck, everyone. May your fonts be too small and your grammar sloppy.

 

[Staffan]

Re: rules

That one concerns me a little. Answer the questions. Fine. Number the questions. Not thrilled, but fine. Keep them in the same order. I don't like that one, sorry.

That's to make it easier for the people reading the submissions. If you're looking for the WHAM! factor of a movie trailer, the bulk of that's supposed to come from the "core ethos sentence".

 

[nopantsyet]

Re: Re: rules

That's to make it easier for the people reading the submissions. If you're looking for the WHAM! factor of a movie trailer, the bulk of that's supposed to come from the "core ethos sentence".

I think also it goes to development of the idea. I think the idea that wins will have individual strength in each separate answer withouth having ot reliy on interconnections, premises etc. The questions are broken up and put in an order that makes it very difficult for a world to distinguish it from any other. And I'm pretty certain that if the first couple answers don't grab their attention, they are never going to get to your "What's unique?" answer. And judging my submission-in-progress by that critera, it's destined for a recycling facility in the Pacific Northwest.

 

[seasong]

Re: Wish they hadn't gone with an enter as often as you like rule for this.....

After reading posts from people who are submitting at least a dozen proposals, I am starting to wish they would have limited it to one entry per person. Seems like the multiple proposals turns it into even more of a random lottery situation, sigh.

guess I can whip up several POOMA submissions as well, just to feel competitive. Anyone else feeling this way?

The only lottery aspect is during the "aaaah! too many submissions! throw 'em out!" part, when the judges will toss stuff for any reason at all. The best way to survive this period is to not give them any reason to toss you. That means CAREFUL writing, not prolific writing.

Once past that part, I'm pretty sure that 99% of the people submitting a dozen or so proposals will have been roundfiled, leaving the error-free to compete on the merits of their ideas.

a little fish in a big pond (thomas weigel)

 

[Twilight]

Orcus

Orcus,

Those ethos sentences you wrote were very well written.

Must I write on such a level to be chosen for the 10 page, or just make sure my ethos is of proper size and a good summary?

 

[Orcus]

Twilight-

I cant tell you what it takes to win. I'm not on the selection committee. But I have used this type of selection in the past and I have asked people to boil down their project into one sentence. So I know what I expect in those situations, which is why I gave the examples I did. You can rest assured that industry types will have finely honed sentences, far superior to the ones I made up off the top of my head for examples.

For those straining against the "requirements"-

This is a JOB offer, essentially. Treat it like that. Follow the directions. You dont get points for breaking the rules.

Just a suggestion.

Clark

 

[Tallow]

Twilight-


For those straining against the "requirements"-

This is a JOB offer, essentially. Treat it like that. Follow the directions. You dont get points for breaking the rules.

Just a suggestion.

Clark

Yeah, that's what I don't understand. Someone comes up to you and says, "hey I wanna pay you $120,000." You say, "Ok, whatta I gotta do?" They say, "You gotta write me something using my template." You say, "What, are you nuts? Stop stiffling my creativity!" Yeah right... come on... if someone is going to pay you, you gotta do things the way they want it done, or don't expect to get paid.

Andy Christian

 

[seasong]

Ouch

I sent my semifinal draft of the single page to my best friend for a critique yesterday, and got back the bleeding manuscript this morning. Man. 14 hours of work over six days and it's not done.

I'll be real lucky if I can complete two by the deadline.

Anyway, just wanted to share my pain. On to my questions:

1. "Clearly Labelled". I am assuming, presently, that this means "numbered and in the proper paragraph order". Is this correct?

(If it means "the full text of the question included", I'm going to have to cut out another 100 words to fit it all. )

2. The core ethos sentence monster is eating me alive. Why, God, why!?

3. Anthony has mentioned that "addition" of rules is no problem, but that "subtraction or revision" would require an impressive piece of work. So, by way of example, do the elves of Dark Sun count as revision, or addition?

Thanks,

 

[Twilight]

....

Im fine with all the rules and stuff, dont mind that, but seeing as how I dont write fiction everyday and am not majoring in something relating to such, i feel im gonna get stiffed by all these guys with elegant writing.

 

[Zulkir]

Morning all,

Okay, new round (this one is sponsored by Vegimita Vita mix)

1) On the issue of labeling the questions in the template - as long as you are clear about the questions you are answring it is not that vital. However, the easier you make it on us the more likely we are to pay attention. If the answers are broken down by paragraph and they follow the same order as the template there won't be a problem. If you turn in an epic poem in which the correct reading of assonance and consonance reveals the hidden answers we won't bother.

2) DO NOT RESUBMIT IF YOU DID NOT USE THE PDF. Our new legal counsel "Julie" has agreed to reveiw any submissions that come in not using the PDF. As long as no changes were made to the content of the submission agreement we will accept it.

3) If all ten finalist are the same guy we will higher that person immediately

4) I have covered whether or not we will make the 10 pagers public. the answer is "no". Here's why. We want to continue the process blind. Only our admin and the people selected will know until we select the top three. After that it will be up to the the other seven if they want to "go public".

5) On submitting multiple proposals. I actually believe that it will be faster for me to reject a dozen ill conceived and poorly written proposals then it will for our admin to try and track whether a particular submitte has sent in seperate entries. Given that it seemed easier to just let people do as they wanted and let competative evolution win out.

AV