We've got some prizes to give away. Woot!
What I need from you guys is ideas for contests/games and such to see who gets the goods.
Please post your suggestions here.
Hey gang!
We've got some prizes to give away. Woot!
What I need from you guys is ideas for contests/games and such to see who gets the goods.
Please post your suggestions here.
How about a 'first reply in this thread' contest? :D
Alternately, I really enjoyed Penny Arcade's 'ten word story' contest about WoW. I'd like to see a contest in which each person submits a single sentence which they feel captures something essential about D&D, be it the in-character tone they love, the kind of madcap hyjinx they're always getting into, or even the sense of camaraderie among the players at the table. One sentence that means 'D&D' to you.
Whoever is judging the contest gives a short write-up about a character. In this short narrative, the character's abilities are displayed - for example, it could be a quick description of cleric raining down radiance on his undead foes. (Obviously, the class wouldn't be "cleric.") We would be given the character's class name and power source, but not the class's role. The character's race would be obscured so that we don't metagame whether it's an optimal choice for attack stats/etc.
We would then have to design enough powers and class features to fill this character's character sheet at level 6. That means 2-3 at-wills, 2 encounters, 2 dailies, and 2 utilities. Perhaps some class-specific feats. Class features, of course, but we wouldn't need to provide data for each possible build of the class: just our vision of this one character.
We would be scored as follows:
Flavor: 20 points. How well does our class capture the flavor of the snapshot of the character we are given? Are power and feature names generic or creative?
Mechanical creativity: 20 points. Does the striker have an interesting way to do extra damage or is it a Hunter's Quarry clone? Does the defender have a cool way to mark enemies? Creating a distinct class is as important as making a cool one.
Mechanical balance: 10 points. I think this should be emphasized less because, quite simply, we're not professional game designers.
Is this something we vote on?
And while not a specific suggestion (maybe I'll think of something later), I would prefer at least one thing that is an emphasis on creativity/character-development/storytelling, instead of all mechanical/rules implementation things. Perhaps line that "contest" up for something edition-neutral (or have a few prizes, and do a "1st picks first, 2nd picks second, etc").
Perhaps some other random ideas:
- "Design an [Inn]Fighter" - design a character card for Inn-Fighting (maybe WotC would remember, then, that they made that game).
- "Point of Light" - a short (no more than a few paragraphs - a few hundred words, maybe?) description of a settlement in Points of Light, including (but not limited to) its history, surroundings, inhabitants, adventure hooks, and interesting features. No mechanics required.
- "The Hero's Tale" - three short snippets (say, 50 words or less, each) about a single character: one at heroic, one at paragon, and one at epic tier.
*shrugs*
I've got a submission ready for it in any case.
I'd say I won off-topic.
How about person who has won the most popular thread in each section.
I'd say I won off-topic.
Unfortunately, you just lost for staying on-topic. ;)
Ooh, I dig Farmer42's groove. Allow me to second the 'fun, slightly mechanical' point, while emphasizing the slightly. I'd rather not see prizes going out for what is, essentially, system mastery. That's pretty much its own reward, and I'd rather see official contests reward creativity and originality rather than optimization and rules-lawyery.
That's why I said something like the kobold success table. It ultimately has no real mechanical effect, other than sometimes making the players roll a search check to find the poor sot in their fallen comrade's backpack.
A similar option would be critical miss tables using the same style as the kobold reaction table (mostly fluff, minor crunch) with different tables for different types of attacks (melee, ranged, area, single target magical). Maybe my love of tables for adding humor and fluff is getting the better of me.;)
Pwease.
Webster's dice collection? :angelhide
Only one person has one of my speckled dice and she's allowed because she's a close, personal friend of mine. :D
When I gave it to her, she was so happy she gave me a hug. I'm still worried my wife is going to kill me while I sleep.
So no, none of my dice are up for prizes. Even thought it would be cool. (I still treasure and use the d20's Zherog gave me.
)Have the community post pics of their D&D various places. From a character sheet poking out from under a test paper, to an electric d20 spinning on a sports scoreboard.
I want to say, but I want to get the okay first.
Fair enough. But I do think knowing what sort of prizes we're talking about will help steer the conversation - at least a little bit.
Only one person has one of my speckled dice and she's allowed because she's a close, personal friend of mine. :D
I need to send her an e-mail. Been a while since I talked to her.
When I gave it to her, she was so happy she gave me a hug. I'm still worried my wife is going to kill me while I sleep.
If she does, can I have your dice? :angelhide
And so on.
Initially I was thinking of steering away from explicitly duplicating the Penny Arcade contest, since I didn't want to just rip them off, but... well, it's a great format, for one. For another, I just remembered that those guys love 4e! You should get in touch with them and make it an official cross-promotion dealie, where they run their second 'ten word story' contest and you provide the goodies. WotC could still do the judging if you folk aren't comfortable with Jerry and Mike running the show, or if Jerry and Mike don't want the extra work. I think it'd be a win-win for PA and D&D, giving them a fun event and you some great publicity.
Seems like a good idea, if they were willing. More cross-promotion would certainly help you guys (WotC) out, and I'm sure WotC could work out some incentive to get them involved. Heck, if you could tie it to the next podcast series, and get Kurtz and Wheaton involved, you could have quite the (minor) event.
Just give me the prize. :D
The prize list may be changing- which is why I still haven't announced what they are yet. So stay tuned!
Maybe an At-Will, Encounter or Daily contest for our favorite character classes. :lightbulb
Contests
Writing - Short stories, set in the official campaign settings.
Writing/Game Design - Create a new Magic Weapon.
Writing/Game Design Advanced - Create a new class, complete through 10th level. New power sources acceptable. Classes to be chosen by popular vote, the top 10 (or so) to be then play tested for balance, then the top three(ish) to be greately rewarded.
Art - Character art, to depict classes in an 'iconic' way.
Art - Creation of things with D&D themes. Random catagories, like Pumpkin carvings, Decorative cakes, Sculpture, collage, Book-mock-ups, etc.
Art/digital - Photochop, Take a picture of yourself, and then alter it to turn yourself into a D&D Character.
Prize suggestions
Free month (or more) of D&Di access.
Attributed publication of contest entries. (I'd like it anyway)
Preview materials, of the sort that would normally be sent to a reviewer.
Free Dice.
For character art, custom D&D mini's of the character.
Complete contest and prize idea.
Contest - Best Convention pictures, D&D themed.
Prize - Convention survival kit, containing Dice set, 2 pencils, Notebook with reference tables on cover, a can of Red Bull or such like, Caffeinated soap, and Deodorant(for both personal and defensive use).
You are not going to let this die are you?In related news, I'd like to take this time to mention that I've changed my name to Charity.
http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1154305
Swordmage novel contest.
________________________________________
What do you have to do to enter? Simply answer the following three questions correctly. All of the answers can be found on our website. The first 16 entrants with the correct answers will receive a book!
Wow, really? All the great suggestions of fun, engaging, creative contests submitted in the suggestion thread, and you choose a trivia write-in? Is this the 1950's? Are you shilling Ovaltine? Since your product is a roleplaying game, you should be aware that your customer base is inordinately creative and challenge-oriented, and should be offered the opportunity to demonstrate and be rewarded for that unique talent. Short stories! Fluff tables! Thematic NPC write-ups! The expressive, engaging options are literally limitless, and what do you choose? A frelling trivia scavenger hunt for the first 16 correct answers. Maybe I'm just expecting too much from the most iconic brand of the industry, but I'd like to think that you could be more innovative than some cut-rate morning radio show giving away Dave Matthews tickets.
________________________________________
Yes how dare you give stuff away.
Yes, that's it exactly. I hate free stuff. You've totally nailed me, and without missing the point or misinterpreting my post at all.
Seconded.
People - there are eough real reasons to bash WotC - let's not turn this into a witchunt!
This is a fine thing they're dong, and a step in the right direction; I, for one, am going to enter.
...do you really think you could win at this point? It took me ninety seconds with a Google search to get all of the answers. Do you really think that, in the past sixteen hours, sixteen people haven't already done what I did and actually entered in the contest? Hey, I'm pulling for you, but c'mon.
This is just another element of the contest's bad design. It's not inclusive or engaging, but rather exclusive by nature. A creative submission contest (like the dozens of ideas submitted, at WotC's request, in this thread) would keep people entering for weeks. This thing won't have any entries past the first day or two, because there's no chance sixteen people haven't blundered their way through a site search and entered already. Might as well just run a lotto. Woohoo.
I'm not just annoyed because the contest is lame. I'm annoyed because the lame contest idea was chosen over so many better ideas that WotC asked us for. Yeah, this won't be the last one, and it'd be super peachy keen to see a real contest featured someday instead of some 'What was the name of the Lone Ranger's cousin's horse?' crap, but I can't actually think of a worse foot for these contests to start off on.
-Please stop spamming. Do not post in this thread unless you have technical difficulties, or some other problems/questions.
I assume this isn't directed at me, since my complaint is perfectly on-topic and falls under the category of 'other problems'. Just the same, because I'm a good scout, I'll be posting my statements in this thread to the original 'Prizes available- Ideas wanted' thread in case people would prefer to discuss it there.
/radio voice
Hey Everybody this is the Morning Melee with Krusk and Hennet! Right now the tenth caller get front row tickets the see Gimble the Bard in concert tonight! Call lines are open!
Most creative entry could have a choice of prizes
1. Signed copy of "Queen of Stone"
2. Signed copy of "Corsair" (released on 3/3/2009)
3. 1 year DDI membership
4. Many boxes of Minis (because we always need more mini's)
Also you get one of those sparkly little special name badge thingies that people who have won actual contest get at the top of their posts.
-M
p.s. i have to agree that previous contest wasn't so much a contest as it was rewarding those lucky enough to be awake at that time or those who spend all their time on the WotC forum board & lets be honest those are the last people we want to reward or encourage
I agree on it needing to be something creative. Maybe a "Create-a-villain contest". You take a monster, maybe add a template or just build him from whole clothe... But you would have to do more then just stat him up, you would have to write up a bio. Explain his motivations, his abilites & his personal sense of style (panache is a major sticking point for mastermind villains).
Most creative entry could have a choice of prizes
1. Signed copy of "Queen of Stone"
2. Signed copy of "Corsair" (released on 3/3/2009)
3. 1 year DDI membership
4. Many boxes of Minis (because we always need more mini's)
Also you get one of those sparkly little special name badge thingies that people who have won actual contest get at the top of their posts.
-M
For those of you who missed it, the contest has been posted - and one can reasonably assume it's over. It was a trivia hunt and the first 16 correct entries won a copy of Corsair.
I personally would like to see a make a villain contest, because after seeing the stuff in dungeon, i think we could do with some new villain concepts, instead of the same old same old that is currently being churned out.
-M
- choose an XP value.
- then, have players choose monsters up to that XP value
- have them fight.
- Winner wins.
We had prizes and last week I found out about the 16 books that WotC wants to give out in short order.
That's not enough time to set up and run a contest. UnCon itself starts planning at least half a year before it's run. Plus whenever we have a contest, there's usually one, maybe two prize winners. What happens if say only five people enter a contest?
So, I suggested the best method would be to ask a couple of qualifying questions, then randomly draw 16 names from correct ones.
(Yes, I'm aware less than 16 might join...) Still, the point is to have something ready and quick and easy.
The contest isn't the end result- it's the tool used to give away a small stack of books. People enter contests usually to have fun, and the "create x" contests are really great- but the need to have a judge and the length of time it takes to set up and run such a thing is too much for a quick giveaway.
Except it didn't end up with 16 random people. It was the first 16, which means that the winners were the people who saw the thread first.
No kidding, being a second shifter I was automatically excluded because I couldn't get their early enough.
If it was a random thing I might have looked the answers up and entered.
Except it didn't end up with 16 random people. It was the first 16, which means that the winners were the people who saw the thread first.
Webster, it's understandable that you had to use a contest that facillitated a quick result, and you obviously did the best you could. I'm not dissapointed with you at all, I'm dissapointed with the Wotc staff that went ahead with contest that is obviously a poor fit for the forums. A 'hotline quiz' on a website is just not a fair contest.
QFT on both of these.
Here's what happened-
I want to say thanks right up front for posting to give us a handle on the situation. It speaks so well of you and WotC that you care enough to smooth the ruffled feathers of a few cantankerous posters.
So, I suggested the best method would be to ask a couple of qualifying questions, then randomly draw 16 names from correct ones.
See, I wouldn't even have had as much of a problem with this, because a random draw beats the hell out of 'fastest finger' any day.
The contest isn't the end result- it's the tool used to give away a small stack of books. People enter contests usually to have fun, and the "create x" contests are really great- but the need to have a judge and the length of time it takes to set up and run such a thing is too much for a quick giveaway.
Once I had a bit of time to think about it, I figured that this was probably the case. Though I completely understand the nature of deadlines and the limitations of organization with short notice, I still stand by my posts. I may have been a bit strident about it, but I wanted it to be clear that I think WotC is capable of better than this, especially when they draw upon the resources of the playerbase as they did.
I now understand that this contest is not intended to be the model of implementation of the ideas solicited, and that's great. Part of my strong reaction was because the presentation gave no indication that this was a preliminary contest, or not the contest we'd been asked to help with. Quite the contrary, in fact. Having this giveaway referred to as 'the first contest' or 'a contest that was on the books before we could implement any suggestions' would probably have reduced my ireful post to a quiet, resigned grumble.
I want to be clear that there's no animosity or hard feelings on my part, and that even at the peak of my pique, I was mostly just disappointed at a great outfit like WotC falling short of its potential. Thanks for dealing with prats like me, Web, and I extend a further 'no hard feelings' to WotC_Eric. Lord Karsus still gets a bit of a frown, though, for labeling on-topic posters to a non-restricted thread in a non-restricted forum as 'spammers', but I suppose that goes with the job too.
Thanks again for the feedback, and sorry again if I was a bit too uncivil in speaking up.
I want to be clear that there's no animosity or hard feelings on my part, and that even at the peak of my pique, I was mostly just disappointed at a great outfit like WotC falling short of its potential. Thanks for dealing with prats like me, Web, and I extend a further 'no hard feelings' to WotC_Eric. Lord Karsus still gets a bit of a frown, though, for labeling on-topic posters to a non-restricted thread in a non-restricted forum as 'spammers', but I suppose that goes with the job too.
-The thread was for announcing the contest, and for notifying the WotC staff that people were trying to enter, and were encountering technical difficulties. Posts blasting the organizers of the event, the topic of the event, the prize of the event, and so on, are disruptive, as was the case. Five additional posts were then made, again blasting those who organized the event, the topic of the event, the prize of the event, etc., and/or those who criticized the people who criticized the topic, prize, etc., and/or those who criticized those who criticized those who criticized the topic, prize, etc.
-Concerns and criticisms for events, organizers of the event, the topic of the event, the prize of the event, and so on, belong either in the Community Business section for that particular category, be it D&D, Star Wars, M:tG, whatever, or the Community Contests & Events section.
-The thread was for announcing the contest, and for notifying the WotC staff that people were trying to enter, and were encountering technical difficulties. Posts blasting the organizers of the event, the topic of the event, the prize of the event, and so on, are disruptive, as was the case. Five additional posts were then made, again blasting those who organized the event, the topic of the event, the prize of the event, etc., and/or those who criticized the people who criticized the topic, prize, etc., and/or those who criticized those who criticized those who criticized the topic, prize, etc.
-Concerns and criticisms for events, organizers of the event, the topic of the event, the prize of the event, and so on, belong either in the Community Business section for that particular category, be it D&D, Star Wars, M:tG, whatever, or the Community Contests & Events section.
Fair enough. Heck, I agreed with you enough to move the conversation back here, so I see where you're at on that. No hard feelings, then. I think I mostly just rankled at the term 'spammer'. Saying the posts are off-topic would be much less inflammatory than calling people with earnest concerns and opinions 'spammers'.
The most ludicrously powerful homebrew feat challenge
Can you create a feat that can combine with any other feat to produce a silly unbalanced level of damage output, skill bonus or other mechanical benefit?
- The feat cannot add more than a +2 to one roll or skill check, but can synergise with any other feat (or feats) from the current 4th edition books.
- You must be able to show your work... how do you get this ferocious level of unbalanced terror.
Prize goes to whomever can create the feat with the highest bonus at the lowest level.
The most horrendous homebrew weapon possible challenge
Can you create the most unbalanced and game breaking weapon possible?
- The weapon cannot have magical powers, but can have any of the properties in the PHB or Adventurer's Vault.
- However, you must be able to justify why your weapon does what it does. Using a short description and/or sketch.
Prize goes to the most outragious... voted on by fans and forumites!
The most "totally awesome" homebrew Paragon Path challenge
Can you create a Paragon Path that is "totally awesome"?
- The Paragon Path must follow the style set out in the PHB
- However, you must be able to justify why this Paragon Path is "totally awesome" using a short description.
Fans and forumites vote on the most
Show
horrendous, game-breaking and misguided
- I entered a contest, and until today, I thought I lost. I checked my e-mails and such when people began announcing that they had won. I checked my spam folders, thinking that any communications might have gotten stuck in there. Nothing. Then, I find a package on my door from WotC addressed to me. So, all in all, there (seemingly) needs to be better communication on WotC's part.
- People who have entered another contest within a certain period of time, and have one, shouldn't take precedence over those who are entering for the first time.
- In contests, it should be specified how winners are determined, if there are multiple winners: Do the first entrants win? Is there a random lottery?
- The bugs should be worked out in the system, before contests start, so that people who try to enter, aren't delayed, and thus denied the chance to win by missing the deadline.