None of the top 32 from any year have been perfect submissions. They all have their flaws, some smaller, some larger. So don't let your desire or fear of a need for perfection prevent you from getting involved. One of the great things about this contest is watching the contestants grow as designers. Of course, don't use this advise as an excuse not to do your homework and submit a clean item, I'm just saying not to let your obsession that it might not be perfect prevent you from submitting.
Perhaps a bit late on this advice, sorry about that :) See, I'm not perfect either.
Clark
Message recieved by at least one soul.
stuff about not being perfect
Hey, Clark? Sorry you're not a judge this year. Since you're not, though, I can say this without it sounding like flattery:
Rappan Athuk is the single best dungeon crawl ever written, whether hardback, box, or whatever. I have run games in RA so many times, it has become a regular, repeat destination in every campaign I run; the Upper Levels will likely be beneath Scarwall when I run Curse of the Crimson Throne in the upcoming year, and the Lower? Oh, that's got Grand Mastaba written all over it: with Lorthact being a stage pseudonym for... well, the guy that's down there.
Sorry to all the many, many runners-up on this one, but Clark and Bill Webb et al win this one hands down.
Rappan Athuk is the single best dungeon crawl ever written, whether hardback, box, or whatever.
+1.
Heck yeah, I'll jump on board for some Rappan Athuk love. ;-)
Seriously, gamers just seem to know... even if I've never gamed with them before, anything in my game that's made of green stone is to be feared. Horribly, horribly feared. :)
stuff about not being perfectSorry to all the many, many runners-up on this one, but Clark and Bill Webb et al win this one hands down.
I would like to add my ditto to this statement. You two gentlemen kept the 1st edition feel alive for those of us who like the danger level high in our adventures. "Third edition rules with First edition feel" was no mere mantra it was reality. I would also like to add that the story/plot lines in the adventures that Necromancer games produced were top notch as well. And is being kept alive through Greg Vaughan's Slumbering Tsar produced by Bill Webb's Frog God games in the Pathfinder Role Playing Game rules set. Way to go!
Clark, I for one will miss reading your responses to last year's (and previous year's) contestants. I found myself, more often than not, seeing the submittals in the same light and truly appreciating your presence as a judge even though I was not a contestant. The insight into what makes a module great comes through loud and clear in your comments. This is not to detract from the other judges contributions in years past. They said what they needed to say to help educate potential freelancers in the business of adventure design.
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Seriously, gamers just seem to know... even if I've never gamed with them before, anything in my game that's made of green stone is to be feared. Horribly, horribly feared. :)
I learned the "green stone" axiom when somebody poked a sickstone elemental in the Shackeled City campaign I was in. Damn... it's been THAT long since I've been a player? Wow...
None of the top 32 from any year have been perfect submissions. They all have their flaws, some smaller, some larger. So don't let your desire or fear of a need for perfection prevent you from getting involved. One of the great things about this contest is watching the contestants grow as designers. Of course, don't use this advise as an excuse not to do your homework and submit a clean item, I'm just saying not to let your obsession that it might not be perfect prevent you from submitting.
AAAAAAAAAGHHH!!!
MY ITEM SUCKS!
... There... Tension breaker. Had to be done.
(I *am* deeply concerned my item is "boring". Each time I go back to review previous year's entries I keep thinking, I should have done some of *this*.)
Perhaps I should have just posted my interpretation of the "Cheese Grater of Peace"... An Item so cheesy your opponents won't fight you out of fear of future association.
Thanks everyone for the kind words about Rappan Athuk. I know Bill reads the boards but I'll make sure to pass those comments along to him, too.
I wish I could take MORE credit for RA, but it started as Bill's baby. When he and I met in college and played way too much D&D, this was the huge dungeon in his campaign. He had it in rough notes in a huge folder. Well, he and I set out to flesh it out and type it out. He and I worked on it and I, as the better typist, did the bulk typing. We didnt finish all of it then, there were still many levels detailed only by Bill's chickenscratch (seriously, his writing is totally illegible) on the backs of scraps of paper.
Bill and I went our separate ways after college. When I years later read about Ryan Dancey's plan for the OGL and for third party publishers, I started Necro and also started the hunt for Bill because he and I had lost touch. But I knew RA would be the perfect thing for this new open game license. I wound up finding him after I had started writing Wizard's Amulet. The rest is history. He and I reconnected, thanks to Necro, and I am even the godparent of his first child. So Necro did more than just get RA published, it brought two old friends back together which without question has been a wonderful thing.
We did RA in three parts, initially. It was just too much to do. And its full of inside jokes, and references to people we knew (and some fun revenge moments for people we didn't like, see Goov, for instance). I have to admit, along with the Wilderlands (and a couple others--Abysthor, etc), the RA Reloaded boxed set is one of my proudest Necro moments.
So thanks for the kind words.
But again, the real great thing about RA, in my view, is that it was the thread that reunited Bill and I. And for that I will be forever grateful. Bill is, hands down, one of the absolute greatest persons I have ever met in any part of my life. I don't know if you could find a more honest, creative, genuine, likable, positive, quirky, brilliant and "dependable to have your back" guy than Bill Webb. If you are friends with Bill, he is a friend for life.
A lot of very cool things about Rappan Athuk.
Too cool, Clark. Too cool.
Thanks everyone for the kind words about Rappan Athuk. I know Bill reads the boards but I'll make sure to pass those comments along to him, too...
No doubt that's what the hobby is about.
Sometimes we throw dice at each other for long setup times and cheesing before and after games, but really, it's a social game. It's about friends.
Great, great story, Clark. :)
Great point, TOG.
It is a social game.
Clark