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Adventureaweek.com has just launched the Pathmaster Adventure Writing Contest!
Get ready to test your creative mettle and join the ranks of fellow Game Masters competing for the grand prize, the chance to have your own Adventure Path published in both PRINT and PDF!
What is Pathmaster?
Pathmaster is an adventure design contest open to Game Masters and Adventure Designers! If you have an idea for a Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Adventure that you’d love to design and see published by Adventure-A-Week, write and submit a 400-word pitch for a 32-page adventure.
Who is allowed to enter?
Anyone can enter! We strongly encourage unpublished game masters with creative minds to dive in and give this contest a shot.
Read more about the PATHMASTER Adventure Writing Contest.
I'm in. Valhalla Calling was a fun experience and this should prove to be as well. :)
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We're happy to have you! It should be a very exciting experience, especially for the five finalists!
The RISE OF THE DROW Kickstarter launches soon, and two of the five finalists will be chosen to assist in developing new sections of this massive mega-adventure being published in print and PDF, and distributed world-wide! That's just the tip of the iceberg, other prizes include 3 free months of Adventure-A-Week, the chance to have an entire adventure path published, and a bunch of other goodies! :D
Should be a good time for all involved! Good luck!
Will certainly be submitting!
Just a query, does including stuff in your pitch from the AaW setting score points, ie give an advantage over pitches without?
Fully intend to enter this, keep an eye out.
Just a query, does including stuff in your pitch from the AaW setting score points, ie give an advantage over pitches without?
Being on the judges panel for the opener for the Pathmaster Contest I can guarantee that I will be looking as skill of writing and interest of pitch before I look at setting locale.
Now, having said that, let's go over a few key things that one should always keep in mind when submitting an adventure proposal.
1. We're gamers too. If it has been done to death, we've probably already seen it also...make it original.
2. If you absolutely must ignore rule #1, make it interesting. Show me something I've never seen before, take a classic that we all know and do something new.
3. Understand the material. I know, this seems like an obvious one, but trust me, I point it out due to past experience.
4. If you want to work with the AaW setting then make sure you understand it enough to do right by it. I won't state that using the setting will help your odds, but I can guarantee using it incorrectly will certainly hurt.
5. Have fun. It translated into your work my friends. Trust me, I've read and reviewed enough material to tell you that enjoying your writing shows.
Beyond that, good luck to you all, I eagerly await submissions.
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I'd like to add 6.:
Know your word-count. Don't pitch an epic investigation spanning 90+ pages when you only have 32. Cut-down modules almost always suck and you can tackle the complex, longer modules once you've established a reputation.
7.: Be creative, but don't try to reinvent the wheel. Use your word-count for good adventures, not the oomphteenth archer-archetype, 90th iteration of a shadow domain etc.. If you do new crunch, make it evocative and unique and make sure you understand item-statblocks and rules.
8.: Don't forget terrain, morale and tactics. Enemies can turn up tables to get cover. Empty barrels of oil. Etc. I hate static backdrops, dumb dragons etc.
9.: Don't overdo plots. If you can, develop one plot-string well (with perhaps a couple of side-quests/red herrings) instead of two mediocre. DMs can always add a second plot.
10.: Don't assume player-actions in your read-aloud texts and offer optional ways to succeed. If one failed check can grind your module to a screeching halt, something's wrong.
11.: If in your campaign devils are nice guys that cuddle with fuzzy bears, that's fine by me, to each his own. But in a published module, devils are the incarnate souls turned creatures of the outer planes and avatars of their alignment's ideas. If you deviate from established creature-lore, you should give EXTREMELY compelling reasons to do so. (mind you, that doesn't mean you can create VARIANTS or the nice, space-friendly reskins...)
12.: If you have a great idea, develop it - spontaneous, good ideas are often the very best IF properly developed. Also: AaW-modules usually are great because of small customs/societies peculiarities that make the world come more alive, feel more organic and wondrous. If you can, try to include an interesting cultural tidbit here and there.
(And yeah, I'll also be a judge in the contest. ^^)
All the best and have fun writing - I look forward to reading the pitches!
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I'm looking forward to it too; count me in!
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Great advice judges, cheers!
I was hoping End! was going to drop in and add his thoughts to the list of advice from some judges.
Can't wait to see what everyone has to offer!
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Wow - this is a daunting task specially using english when its not ones native language. Seeing that I am completely newbie at stuff like this, I guess Rule 5 apply mostly to me - HAVE FUN!
Anyway planning begins now 400 words seems like the first milestone, many miles away. 32 pages seem like mount Everest right now. But to quote the chinese saying "every journey begins with the first step".
Let the Journey begin!
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English isn't my first language either - go for it! I look forward to reading your module! (And believe me, once you're at it, 32 pages will be not much space. :)
English isn't my first language either - go for it! I look forward to reading your module! (And believe me, once you're at it, 32 pages will be not much space. :)
Nor is it mine (I'm from Denmark) and I did fairly well in the Valhalla Calling contest. :) Point is, English not being your first language shouldn't keep you from entering. So write up a pitch and submit it! :)
Ha, ha! END, I can't help but assume you were thinking of me when you tossed out RULE 11.
If in your campaign devils are nice guys that cuddle with fuzzy bears, that's fine by me, to each his own.
Referencing "Devil of Dark Wood" perhaps? I've learned a lot about writing adventures for general audience consumption since then, like Joshua says... it's RPG boot camp! ;)
Maybe we should write a book together entitled "How to go from no stars to five stars in three weeks flat"? ...or perhaps I should just stick to writing/publishing adventures! :P
Contest ends in only 3 weeks! Get your adventure pitch in today!
http://adventureaweek.com/pathmaster
Can not wait to see what people submit for this, am excited folks!!!
Feel free to PM me if no one has responded to you here Caleb. I have some suggestions to help you without jeopardizing you entry.
just found this today and now i'm trying to figure out if i should go ahead and do up a adventure i've been working on...i mean chances of winning are low and all that..but still that possiblity of getting an idea like that published
FireCrow - Submit! Even if you don't get published, it's a great way to learn via the feedback and hone your craft! Plus, you never know - perhaps you're actually really good and can deliver a great module! Give it a shot!
one thing i'm having trouble with...is this suppose to be just 400 words or less of describing what the adventure would be...or should i write out a 400 word or less excerpt from the adventure or does it not matter as long as i get the idea across?
FireCrow - Submit! Even if you don't get published, it's a great way to learn via the feedback and hone your craft! Plus, you never know - perhaps you're actually really good and can deliver a great module! Give it a shot!
Thank you for the encouragement. It will be submitted in just a few minutes.
Edit: and submitted
Done and done.
<insert confident proclamation here>
Seriously though, good luck everybody!
Don't remember to get your entries in folks, can not wait to see what you all have for us to look over.
Good Luck!!
I have an idea, but I fear it may be to ambitious. Worry begins to set. :(
Here's a final bump for people to sneak in before the deadline!
How much time do we have left to submit? I'm not sure which time zone counts with regard to midnight tonight.
If you did not read the feedback from Valhalla Calling, allow me to summarize.
"While you need to know your background to properly write your pitch, do not write your pitch full of background. Focus on the action of the characters."
Caveat: Unless you can incorporate the background into the action, in which case you already knew that.
-Ben.
Is there an ETA to reveal the finalists?
This is the first time I've ever submitted an adventure for publication of any sort, so I'm fairly excited to have done even that step, even if I don't get any further (though 400 words was definitely challening to try to get across the full scope of what I'm thinking and hopefully be intriguing). It's definitely motivated me to try to set "pen to paper" (or fingers to keyboard, to be more accurate) with a few other things I've got bouncing around my head.
And yes, the beginning of going through the entries. Yes, some of the pitches are barely a few sentences, others are far to much...but they will all be weighed and gone through, lol.
Some of the pitches are quite impressive. ^^
I decided to submit something on the last day. I do love carving out a fun adventure! Looking forward to the results!
But when will we know?!
Soon....I am weighing my decisions on where my votes fall before End and I decide to talk with Jonathan.
Maybe my sleeping schedule can finally get back to something resembling normalcy. :)
Excellent, I have a dog in that hunt and I'm intensely curious how I measured against your other submissions.
The suspense is terrible.
I hope it will last.
Not too much longer, I hope.
I've already sent my picks off - as soon as Joshua has picked, we'll discuss winners. ^^ (And oh BOY, there were some neat ideas here!)
Bump. Any word?
Contacted Joshua again regarding his picks - we'll finalize the results soon!
Bump. Any word?
Heh, I keep checking the actual site, but there is more information here :)