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

[mythusmage]

It's a troll. The bit about a PDF burned on a CD should be a clue. Somebody's having fun at people's expense.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Wait - limited to a single submission, period, or a single submission for each idea? The message above - cryptic as it is - seems to imply the latter, and it seems like AV would have said something if they were considering such a move.

I wouldn't call it cryptic. It says one submission per idea, not one per author. That, to me, says "Send as many ideas as you want, just don't sent the same one twice."

As for the rest, well, as long as the letters are still accepted--which it says they are--they can "prefer" whatever they want. Many of us don't have access to PDF programs or CD burners.

But frankly, the whole thing smells fishy to me, regardless of source. Changing the rules in the middle smacks of unprofessionalism at best, trolling at worst.

 

[Talaysen]

I wouldn't call it cryptic. It says one submission per idea, not one per author. That, to me, says "Send as many ideas as you want, just don't sent the same one twice."

As for the rest, well, as long as the letters are still accepted--which it says they are--they can "prefer" whatever they want. Many of us don't have access to PDF programs or CD burners.

But frankly, the whole thing smells fishy to me, regardless of source. Changing the rules in the middle smacks of unprofessionalism at best, trolling at worst.

In this case I was discussing both the message from Gaming Report and the post here by Steve Creech...and Steve's post did seem to imply that it might turn into one submission per person. (To me, anyway.) Hence the confusion.

 

[Savage Wombat]

I just wanted to add...

A lot of people have given really good advice in this thread. But I want to reiterate one, often overlooked point -

Have Fun.

Of all the people reading this post, only ten are even going to be considered in the second round. So a lot of people are going to be really disappointed, if the only reason they're in this is for the chance at stardom.

I found the idea a wonderful challenge. To come up with a proposal that, in my mind, was a worthy entrant - regardless of whether it wins - was an accomplishment in itself. I enjoyed the creative process involved, and the requirements from WotC made me think in new and different directions.

I also suspect that someone who's having fun creating their entry will actually write a better entry than someone who's trying to crank something out.

So be sure to enjoy yourself while you do this. When you're having fun, no effort is ultimately wasted.

Best of luck to all,

Savage Wombat

 

[seasong]

Re: cookies? margins?

I'm wondering how much y'all are trying to cram in--are you skipping lines between question and answer? How small are your margins? Are you leaving the questions in larger typeface than your text? I'm trying hard to hold on to as much white space as I can--it's easier on the eyes, looks more professional, etc. Also, I kind of enjoy rising to the challenge of keeping it brief and concise rather than pushing the outside of the content envelope.

12 point Times New Roman
1 inch margins
white space between paragraphs
reasonably sized titles (and an overall title in 20 point)
~450 words

I could use another 100-200 words if I had them, but they're not absolutely essential to describing my ideas, so I decided the readability was worth it.

And the core ethos sentence (which is still eating my alive) is probably the most important part. I've got two versions of it at present, but either one still needs some cleaning up.

 

[Weeble]

No one should believe anything that comes from a Wizards employee or from the Wizards official D&D site. It's all garbage and not the way you should submit your idea.

 

[kingpaul]

No one should believe anything that comes from a Wizards employee or from the Wizards official D&D site. It's all garbage and not the way you should submit your idea.

By that logic, I would surmise you to be saying the contest is a sham.

 

[Desdichado]

Uhh, for the last several pages of this thread now, Weeble has been throwing out tongue-in-cheek bad advice. I wouldn't take this latest one seriously any more than the others.

And if you haven't read the whole thread, DON'T POST!

 

[BiggusGeekus]

OK,

Last week I printed out the agreement from Word. I clipped it down by changing the font so WotC would have one less piece of paper to deal with. I sent everything in last Thursday. I have not heard from WotC saying that I'll have to re-send.

On the one hand, I think everything I did was OK. On the other hand, I'm getting conflicting messages from WotC about what is and is not good. Should I resend? It sounds like it might be technically required, but I don't want to spam them.

 

[Mercule]

Re: cookies? margins?

I'm wondering how much y'all are trying to cram in--are you skipping lines between question and answer? How small are your margins? Are you leaving the questions in larger typeface than your text? I'm trying hard to hold on to as much white space as I can--it's easier on the eyes, looks more professional, etc. Also, I kind of enjoy rising to the challenge of keeping it brief and concise rather than pushing the outside of the content envelope.

I'm using .75 inch margins because anything larger looks hideous to me. None-the-less, I think I'll be able to double-space everything with 10 pt. font. I'm feeling pretty good about being able to condense the highlights of a 20-year old setting down that tight.

I still have this nagging feeling that I'm leaving something out, but I'm countering that by not including even a single sentence that I don't think slaps the reader upside the head.

I've never submitted anything professionally before and I have to echo the thanks of others to the board members (and Anthony, of course). I'm still far from cocky about my submission, but at least I feel like I'll be competing on the basis of my skill and strength of ideas and not an instant DQ from sheer ignorance.