[OOC] Studio Audience (conversations about 2023 Iron DM)

[rhaiber]

Ouch, that 500-word limit was killing me. I had all this other stuff planned with different hooks and instructions to the players on what to include in their first posts, but I started with my exposition. Then, when I had my first draft of that exposition about done, I ran it through the word counter to see how many I still had left for the mechanics portion … only to find I was already over the limit and had to edit it down.

Originally Posted by O2CXt3

When I first saw the list, I thought to myself "A numbat!?? Nobody will use a numbat!". Well done, @rhaiber.

@O2CXt3: the funny thing is, when I looked at the list, that was the first one that jumped out to me and made me say ”Yup, that’s gonna be my NPC.”

@everyone: some truly amazing writing and ideas all around. I would love to be a player in any one of these games.

[lostcheerio]

I never knew what a numbat was either, so I have IronDM and rhaiber to thank for correcting that gap! And they're so freaking cute. And they eat termites! They're basically stripey lil angels on earth with adorable Australian accents.

[bananabadger]

Savoylen will be opening Round 1 tonight (Sunday EST -- a few hours from this posting).

There will be two Round 1 Threads. Each contestant has been assigned one of the threads (and you have been filtered out of the other thread until submissions close, not because there is any great secret in the other thread, but in order to avoid game posts mistakenly submitted to the wrong thread).

Your game thread is where you should post your "acknowledgment" post and your entry post--only those two posts. All questions/comments/hurrahs etc should continue to be posted into this OOC thread.

Your Round 1 entry can be posted as a placeholder in your game thread, and you can post your entry as a draft to be updated since you are allowed to edit your entry up to the closing minute this year.

As with previous years, please do not discuss the ingredients in the OOC thread or off-site with other competitors. You can, however, enlist assistance in the form of having someone look over your entry. In fact, it is strongly recommended that you at least use a spellcheck and wordcount program before considering your submission final.

Good luck!

[savoylen]

Thanks for those reminders Bananabadger!

And yes, the Round 1 rooms are all open a bit early for you... so have at it!

- Savoy

[bananabadger]

Squirmonkey--In answer to your question about interpretation of prompt and where to post questions...thanks for bringing that up.

Questions are welcomed here in the OOC thread. It is our preference that questions be stated openly in the OOC thread, and not in private PMs or Secret text boxes. What is important for one competitor to know is important for all competitors and judges to know. (This does not, of course, apply to issues of veils/triggers/redlines which by nature merit a private conversation. In that case, please PM Savoylen, or any judge or host you feel most comfortable with conveying your message.)

It is the competitor's job to interpret the ingredients as they see best, and to convince the judges of the legitimacy and appropriateness of that interpretation. For that reason, hosts and judges will generally not comment on the reasonableness or validity of any ingredient or prompt interpretation during the the time of that round's submissions.

Your best guideline as to how judges in general--and any one judge in particular--might react to a broader/narrower/different/etc interpretation of an ingredient or prompt is to gauge how the judges or that judge in particular have/has reacted in past Iron DM competitions.

[squirmonkey]

Thanks! My questions follow:

The prompt requires that we use both ingredients as well as a "wonderous item". Am I correct in understanding valid entries must include all three things?

"Wonderous Item" is a term that has a specific meaning in some RPGs (in some editions of D&D it's a specific category of magic item). Are we meant to use this meaning specifically? Is this item up for interpretation like the ingredients? What is the significance of it being listed separately from the ingredients?

The prompt asks for the writing of an "encounter room" but the rules box gives a detailed explanation of "encounter". Is the prompt "encounter room" intended to have additional meaning? Does it require the encounter be indoors? Does it requires the encounter to be confined to one location? Does it require the encounter to be linked to a location (such that it would not be possible elsewhere)? Does it require that the encounter be inherent to the room (such that anybody encountering the room would face the encounter, as opposed to an encounter that might involve events that may be happening in the room)?

[savoylen]

Originally Posted by squirmonkey

Thanks! My questions follow:

The prompt requires that we use both ingredients as well as a "wonderous item". Am I correct in understanding valid entries must include all three things?

"Wonderous Item" is a term that has a specific meaning in some RPGs (in some editions of D&D it's a specific category of magic item). Are we meant to use this meaning specifically? Is this item up for interpretation like the ingredients? What is the significance of it being listed separately from the ingredients?

Yes, two ingredients and something wondrous (that means whatever you want it to mean)

The prompt asks for the writing of an "encounter room" but the rules box gives a detailed explanation of "encounter". Is the prompt "encounter room" intended to have additional meaning? Does it require the encounter be indoors? Does it requires the encounter to be confined to one location? Does it require the encounter to be linked to a location (such that it would not be possible elsewhere)? Does it require that the encounter be inherent to the room (such that anybody encountering the room would face the encounter, as opposed to an encounter that might involve events that may be happening in the room)?

That flavor text was not meant to limit your creativity. The prompt of "encounter room" could have easily been written as "encounter area".

[briar]

The entry is to be no longer than 500 words, which includes *everything* you put into the post.

I realize that this question was answered in the previous round, but I think the wording here prompts clarification. Are we to assume by 'everything' that formatting and code will count against us or is it just the 'output' of our post that will be graded?

Also, my previous judge mentioned that the use of ellipsis ( ... ) might constitute a problem because it counts as a use of "space" as they put it, but never got back to me on the determination. Please let us know if this will continue to be an issue.

[bananabadger]

The actual words will be counted (not the coding behind them)--so if I understand you correctly, it would be only "the output."

The one grey area is Tool Tip text, which we strongly discourage from using during the tournament because it has to be pulled up and counted separately.

If there is a question of length, we will copy and paste the wording into this site to do our word count. There is no rule against spacing or against the use of an ellipsis. I just checked the use of an ellipsis on the word counter site, and it does NOT include it in the total word count.

But, again, if you copy and paste the submitted text (non-coding), and plug that into the word counter, that is the same measure we will use to verify count.

[briar]

No TT's then. That's fine. I can use other methods. Appreciate the quick response.

[bananabadger]

Room Two is bursting with energy! All competitors present and DMing away! Good luck!

Room One, where are you? Looking for several more check-ins!

[briar]

And now we wait.

Happy Monday, everyone.

Enjoy your morning coffee and get a good start to your day today ♪

[Thaco]

Maybe I'm blind (or maybe I'm still only halfway into my first coffee of the morning), but I can't find anything posting the deadline for Round 1 entries. I know it's on the 15th, and if my math is correct from the countdown in the Round 1 thread, I think it is:

October 15, 21:00 Pacific Time (UTC-8)

Is that correct?

[bananabadger]

The countdown is the deadline, yes.

[Homestarbaby]

Originally Posted by briar

And now we wait.

Happy Monday, everyone.

Enjoy your morning coffee and get a good start to your day today ♪

Yay briar! Woo hoo! Happy to cheer for you, taking a turn in this competition!



Also good luck to everyone else, just not quite as much!