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

[Rasyr]

Gee, you guys are so nice you're all giving me a warm fuzzy feeling inside.

I asked this question before, guys, but received no comment. If your papers are accidentily shuffled out of order in your envelope(submission agreement at bottom, instead of at top), are you doomed?

I have all my materials. But I still am unsure of whether or not I put them in the envelope in proper order. The thought that I might have inserted them inside the envelope improperly disturbs me. And it's too late for me to do anything about it now.

Does anyone in charge know the answer to this one? Please enlighten me!

You didn't get an answer because we didn't know....

My guess is that it depends on the mood poor Christine is in when she opens it...

 

[trix]

Story Line . . . ?

. . ., but the other was from an outline for a book idea. One of my brothers also submitted an idea from a novel outline.

I'm wondering how many people here also used a book (or story) idea as their basis? I'm not sure that there is any advantage to this approach, other than well-defined main characters and plotline. What do you folks think?

I created a world that was worthy of a storyline. Nothing like a bit of history to put a bit of mystry in the minds of the players. I keep things a bit more mature than DL. (Nothing worse than playing in someone elses epic) and a bit more realistic.

I focused on keeping things origional and unique so that its similar but nothing like DL, FR, DS, SJ, etc. Keep in mind that the winner should be nothing that they could recreate in-house.

Thats pretty difficult to do.

So, I ended up with 1170 words 10pt with a cool twist on magic which i've yet to see in any world/RPG.

(I've also estimated which words will get punched when they 3-whole-punch the page, and the/and/of will get punched if they've got a good punch that punches at the optimal spots)

The biggest problem I came up with was the name of the world.

Forgotten Realms
Greyhawk
Dragon Lance
Spell Jammer
Ravenloft
Dark Sun

Purplehippo
Hippo Lance
Hippoloft
Purple Sun
Hippo Jammer

Hehe, You can see that although those names are different, they're not unique. Likewise, the setting that should be the winner should be an origional setting, one that is unique, similar in the medival/middleages of FR and DL, but nothing like them.

-Tim

 

[Mirth]

Re: Story Line . . . ?

The biggest problem I came up with was the name of the world.

I had the same problem, so I didn't name mine. (By world, I assume you mean setting - i.e. Greyhawk. I did name my world - i.e. Oerth.) They didn't ask for it, so I didn't give it, mostly because what I came up with either sounded right and wasn't marketable or just plain sucked. Overall, I decided that a bad name would just detract from the other ideas on the page. I have a feeling it's an even split as to how many people submitted a setting name and how many didn't. What do y'all think? (Yes, I'm a southerner.)

 

[Lord Pi]

Golly! 1100 words? I had enough problems fitting my 419~463 words on a page.

Format:
Basically my Microsoft Word defaults
Arial 10pt text
Headers included in Arial 10pt bold text
1.25" margins left and right
1" margins top and bottom
1 blank line between headers and text
single spaced text
1 lame printer to print it all on

Also, I want to give a shout of thanks to everyone on this board for their help. Thanks.

- Lord Pi

 

[Jon F. Zeigler]

Re: What are people actually writing?

I have the weirdest sensation that people were largely writing stuff that is far, far away from the point of this exercise... The questions that the template asks aren't "tell us about your world" questions IMO, but "so what does the ad-copy for this product line look like?"

Did anyone else treat it as a marketable product line proposal first, fantasy world second?

<* raises hand *>.

The stronger proposal I sent in didn't have a single specific reference to in-setting material - no names and almost no back story. It described in considerable detail what kind of setting it was, though. With marketing angles.

 

[Weeble]

Re: Re: Story Line . . . ?

I had the same problem

Me too, and if one of the qualifications is a good name, I loose.

 

[Zot_Wyzo]

Just slogged through all 42 pages of this

I sent mine off from Chicago yesterday at 2:30 PM.

The thing I'm happiest about is the fact that I chose not to read a word of this thread until after I had worked on my proposal for two weeks, finishing it up for the most part at 11:20 PM CDT Thursday night with a quick edit at 7:00 AM CDT Friday morning.

I started reading this thread about 15 minutes after I posted the proposal. I would get worried, then frightened, then truly enter a realm of utter despair. Then I would read one of Anthony's posts and feel fine again.

I learned of the contest from the Wizards D&D page. I followed the instructions to the letter and refused to read even a single thread about it anywhere on the web.

Man, that was the BEST decision I made in this entire affair!

 

[Irysangel]

Re: Re: Story Line . . . ?

I had the same problem, so I didn't name mine. (By world, I assume you mean setting - i.e. Greyhawk. I did name my world - i.e. Oerth.) They didn't ask for it, so I didn't give it, mostly because what I came up with either sounded right and wasn't marketable or just plain sucked. Overall, I decided that a bad name would just detract from the other ideas on the page. I have a feeling it's an even split as to how many people submitted a setting name and how many didn't. What do y'all think? (Yes, I'm a southerner.)

I didn't name mine either -- I couldn't find anything catchy enough that would be a perfect summary for it, and would make me flip over to run to get it. I did name my world, but that's about as far as I got.

And hooray for the South!

 

[Ghostwind]

d20Zine to include proposals in next issue

Since several individuals have stated they want to post their worlds after the selection process has been narrowed down to the ten, I am willing to include anyone's entry in the next issue of d20Zine!. If enough people contribute, I will make the issue a special edition devoted solely to campaign proposals that anyone will be able to download, read, and use to formulate ideas for their own campaign worlds.

For those who haven't heard of d20Zine!, it is an online quarterly magazine developed by the d20 Magazine Rack and consisting of articles written by both fans and industry professionals. The premier issue is available on our site for download.

Anyone who wishes their entry to be included should contact me after the deadline for the selection of ten has passed and we will go from there...

 

[Weeble]

Ghostwind, this is an excellent idea!