Dark Heresy - Dark Reign's adventure contest

[Darkjoy]

Dark Reign has just released the results and I came in second, which is pretty cool!

Click me

Third place was won by my good friend: Bart.

[Mactaka]

Grats!

[Radavel]

The Emperor is smiling on you. Cheers.

[Arcane Joe]

Hey congratulations! The art of creating adventures is a wide and wonderful thing - you should feel proud : )

[Darkjoy]

The adventures were released to members today!

At a later date the adventures will be released to the rest of the public. So if you are a member of Dark Reign, go there now and download free adventure goodness!

I am impressed by the way the layout of the adventures have been done, very professional IMHO.

Let me know what you think of my adventures.

[Darkjoy]

And now even non-members can download the adventures!

Free Adventures Here

[Darkjoy]

Would anybody be willing to comment on the adventures?

Paizo might not be the best place, but I know some Dark Heresy players hang around here. You've read them (hopefully). And I want your opinion!

Because the silence has been deafening :-(

[Jeremy Epp]

Darkjoy wrote:

Would anybody be willing to comment on the adventures?

Paizo might not be the best place, but I know some Dark Heresy players hang around here. You've read them (hopefully). And I want your opinion!

Because the silence has been deafening :-(

Well downloaded and read the 3(4) top adventures... I agree with their choice for a winner, it was a good general adventure with recommendations for how to get various groups into it, it felt WH40K. Similary your friends adventure would be pretty easy to place and played on standard WH40K tropes a good solid little romp.

Your work was also very good, the combination of the two modules was a great adventure but each part was lacking without the other. The other problem I had with it generally is that the direction was pretty specific. I liked it but I can see where it would not work in many campaigns. That said the plot could well be yanked into completely different genres. The basic story and structure would work as well in anything from gritty fantasy through pirates to roaring 20's to Modern OPs on through Shadowrun/Cyberpunk all the way to a Star Wars style game. So bravo I may not run this in Dark Heresy but I certainly like it enough to run it somewhere... maybe Deadlands...

[Darkjoy]

Jeremy Epp wrote:

Well downloaded and read the 3(4) top adventures... I agree with their choice for a winner, it was a good general adventure with recommendations for how to get various groups into it, it felt WH40K.

Thank you. Finally some feedback, after 300+ downloads and no feedback whatsoever, you do start to wonder ;>

I agree with your points concerning my adventure, if you ever run it in another system, tell me how it went.

And now back to the quote: Really? Because I read it and didn't understand why it won. Downloaded and read it again and still it didn't 'click'. I am a total 40k novice so maybe I just don't get it, but after the raid the PCs don't do anything....they are just part of the GMs movie with no active part to play. And that, after years of reading Paizo adventures, I know isn't good.

[Darkjoy]

Fantasy Flight Games will also do an adventure writing contest!

LINK

I am entering, are you?

[Jeremy Epp]

Darkjoy wrote:

Jeremy Epp wrote:

Well downloaded and read the 3(4) top adventures... I agree with their choice for a winner, it was a good general adventure with recommendations for how to get various groups into it, it felt WH40K.

Thank you. Finally some feedback, after 300+ downloads and no feedback whatsoever, you do start to wonder ;>

I agree with your points concerning my adventure, if you ever run it in another system, tell me how it went.

And now back to the quote: Really? Because I read it and didn't understand why it won. Downloaded and read it again and still it didn't 'click'. I am a total 40k novice so maybe I just don't get it, but after the raid the PCs don't do anything....they are just part of the GMs movie with no active part to play. And that, after years of reading Paizo adventures, I know isn't good.

True to some extent, but handouts look really nice, has all the classic Warhammer hooks so everything is pretty comfortable for anybody who hangs out in 40k land and really the format is such that frankly there is only space to have one or two steps and a big fight and thats it so given the limitations its not bad and he does give multiple ways to get where you are going and detailed instructions for new GMs on how to actually run the thing. In your case you managed to cram more in because you had the 2 parts and gave a little less hand-holding baby step detail for the GM. Your story is definately more sophisticated but less friendly to starter GMs.

I suspect they were partially judging on how well the adventures grow the game. Modules and especially short modules tend to be aimed at neophyte GMs in general as they need the most help to get going. Long time veterans of gaming don't really need modules and such... give us a neat plot twist or a cool image and we can fill the stats and details in ourselves and run with it very quickly. New GMs really like to be told which skill applies when and what levels of success mean, what happens next and have lots of pretty good graphics to look at or handout. Corruptio Optimi Pessima and Rising Sun will slot in pretty well with Edge of Darkness and Shattered Hope. As all can be run by just about any GM for just about any group.

That said the only one I'm seriously looking to run is Arastus Affair pt 1 and 2. So while I understand why the others scored higher in the contest yours was the most interesting to me.

...I might run the others as well but 'Investigate the Space Hulk' and 'Battle in the Depths of the Hive' are both so generic and common in WH40K that they spawned their own games (Space Hulk and Necromunda respectively) nor less countless adventures that have been done before.

[Darkjoy]

Thanks again for the insights.

Funny thing is, Dark Reign asked me to rewrite / edit the Arastus Affair after the contest closed. It was never meant to be anything more than a post on a website, so it is just great if anyone wants to play / run it.

[Jeremy Epp]

Darkjoy wrote:

Thanks again for the insights.

Funny thing is, Dark Reign asked me to rewrite / edit the Arastus Affair after the contest closed. It was never meant to be anything more than a post on a website, so it is just great if anyone wants to play / run it.

I can see why... as I said the idea is really neat and not often seen. It gives players and GMs a look at a slightly more sophisticated plot than 'See the mutant, Kill the mutant' Which grows that game with a slightly more advanced crowd.

Also them asking you to touch it up shows they see potential in you... thats good! It just needs a few nudges in the right direction and more time and practice to polish into a real skill.

So for sure enter the other contest, show your stuff and listen to them when they make suggestions. Don't slavishly follow the suggestions but seriously think about them. They come from some sort of experiance, so are worth listening to. But on the other hand you obviously also have some ideas that not everyone has so don't let them force you into some dumb formula that takes all the spark out either.