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Wednesday, January 16, 2013

The Grand Original Map Contest

The Grand Original Map Contest

Up for grabs are 4 original Dyson Logos maps.  Creativity is all that is required to win.  Winners will get the original hand-drawn maps.    

You can enter multiple times and there are four different categories to choose from.   To enter, you must agree that your entry can be published (non-commercially) for the benefit of the gaming community.   All entries will be released in a public nature under a non-commercial Creative Commons license.    The digital imagery of the maps will be released under the same license.   Entries must be submitted before midnight, EST on February 16, 2013.

Prize Pool

  • Grand Prize: Fully Stocked Dungeon - Full Page Hand Drawn Map
  • Best Creature - 1/4 Page Hand Drawn Map
  • Best Trap, Treasure or Puzzle - 1/4 Page Hand Drawn Map
  • Best Environmental Setting - 1/4 Page Hand Drawn Map

Grand Prize

Grab a copy of the full page map and create a glorious dungeon delve.   You must use the large map (AKA "Dwarven Fortress") as the basis for your adventure but can add additional imagery, maps, details, etc.   If you create a great creature, trap or environment, you can enter those into the other prize pools in addition to your stocked dungeon.  Separate entries please.   

Best Creature

Create a new creature, race or species that dwells within one of the maps.

Best Trap, Treasure or Puzzle

Dungeons are complex places.    Create an interesting trap, treasure, or puzzle using one of the maps.   Entries can be a singular location be intertwined throughout several locations.    

Environmental Settings

Pick a map.   Generate a novel interesting environment for one or more locales.   How does it affect the characters in the dungeon.   We’re talking slippery, slimy, vision clouding, dragon nose smoke spouting stuff.   

(for Best Creature, for Best Trap, Treasure or Puzzle and for Environmental Settings, you may draw upon any of the maps show for inspiration, or not at all)


Judging

Not everyone can win so we’ve employed a series of critical judges.   While Grumpy Dwarf wanted to be a judge, we gave him some beer thus dissolving his interest.   The three judges are Dyson of Dyson’s Dodecahedron, Erik of Tenkar’s Tavern, and Mark of Mithril & Mages.  Each judge will assign a score of 1-5 (5 is best) for each particular entry.  The results will be tabulated and the entry with the highest score shall be awarded the prize.  

Where to Enter

Tap your entry into a comment on THIS VERY POST post over here at Tenkar’s Tavern.   It can be the full entry or just a link to your cool entry.   The judges will collate all the entries and then begin once the contest closes.   

FAQ

What System Should I use?

Whichever one you want too!.  Sure, we all have a particular system we love at the moment.  For the contest, just use whatever you love.   The idea is that the overall flavor of the entries can easily be shifted to a different system.    Call it system neutral but with a peculiar bent on also being prep for whatever you happen to be running.    


Oh, and of course, here are the maps in question:

Big Map - AKA "Dwarven Fortress" - It doesn't actually need be a Dwarven Fortess, but who am I to question Dyson's Map Labels ;)




Small Map A - Torvek's Tower



Small Map B - Rose River



Small Map C - Troll Chasm



Why the hell are you STILL looking at the page? Download your maps and get writing!

35 comments:

  1. Well, I guess someone has to be the first to comment, so here I go! My best creature entry is over at my site:

    http://spesmagna.com/archives/1412

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  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. OK, my full dungeon, Torvek's Tower, including some nasty environmental . . . well, nasties, is here.

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  4. Argh. Something wrong with the link. Here's the URL: http://forrestaguirre.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-grand-original-map-contest-entry.html

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  5. Once more into the fray, this time with a "Best Trap, Treasure or Puzzle" entry:


    http://spesmagna.com/archives/1417

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  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  7. @The Dave - I'm going to guess it's a secret entrance behind a rock / boulder, but really, it's your call

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  8. OK here is my submission..

    Hell I'm not even sure what category to put it in.. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to build a module around the big map so I made a smaller module based around the Troll Chasm map..

    http://www.basicfantasy.org/showcase.cgi?sid=40

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  9. Here is my first submission, for the stocked map complex. The system is Fictive Hack, the mood is horror, and I think you'll get a kick out of it.

    http://fictivefantasies.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/rarefied-blood.pdf

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  10. Here is my submission for "Environment." It is seven shaping realms, filled with the energy of 60 years of a family's stolen dreams.

    http://fictivefantasies.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/dreaming-in-darkness.pdf

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  11. I'll be back with a multi-map gaming material inspiration document, but in the meantime, here is the Philosopher Ogre and the Towering Assertion. This is for the "Creature" category.

    http://fictivefantasies.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/philosopher-ogres.pdf

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  12. Here is my "Trap" entry. I think it would look very nice in the chamber under the ruin of Torvek's Tower.

    http://fictivefantasies.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/the-kingmaker-stone.pdf

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  13. This is my creature entry, which is call the bone blad and belongs with the Dwarven Fortress map.

    http://www.whitehairedman.com/bone-blade-a-creature-entry-for-the-grand-original-map-contest

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  14. My modified map for "Rarified Blood" is a bit fuzzy in the Word document, and I'm not sure how to fix that. So, here it is in all its independent .jpg glory.

    http://fictivefantasies.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/rarified-blood-map.jpg?w=150&h=120

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  15. If I will take part in this contest, can I enter to another (adventure design on BGG) contest using this map? I will give all credit to author and this blog in the finished adventure?

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  16. @Fred: The digital maps are released under the Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA license. So you can use them for anything non-commercial (aka not-for-profit).

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  17. Here is a play report for "Rarified Blood"!

    http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/old-school-hack-the-fictive-way/adventure-log/rarified-blood

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  18. "The Guard of the Heart of the Romance of the Dead."
    Just in time for Valentine's Day.

    http://dl.dropbox.com/u/16448270/TorveksTower/The%20Guard%20of%20the%20Heart%20of%20the%20Romance%20of%20the%20Dead.pdf

    For entry in the Best Creature category of the Grand Original Map Contest.

    This encounter uses Small Map A - Torvek's Tower. It is not rule-set specific.

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  19. Somehow I suspect this will be a double-post. Sorry if it turns out that way. Third try ... etc. Just in time for Valentine's Day.

    "The Guard of the Heart of the Romance of the Dead."
    For entry in the Best Creature category of the Grand Original Map Contest. This encounter uses Small Map A - Torvek's Tower. It is not rule-set specific.

    http://dl.dropbox.com/u/16448270/TorveksTower/The%20Guard%20of%20the%20Heart%20of%20the%20Romance%20of%20the%20Dead.pdf

    ReplyDelete
  20. I've updated my entry.. Changed the storyline a bit and updated some of the rooms...

    A Matter of Justice..

    http://www.basicfantasy.org/showcase.cgi?sid=40

    ReplyDelete
  21. I've updated my entry into the contest..

    http://www.basicfantasy.org/showcase.cgi?sid=40

    Changed the storyline a bit and fixed some of the rooms.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Do we get to hear the judges' critiques of our entries, or just the scores?

    ReplyDelete
  23. Here's mine!
    https://dl.dropbox.com/u/71618466/PrisionofMagicSquare.pdf

    ReplyDelete
  24. Here's mine!
    https://dl.dropbox.com/u/71618466/PrisionofMagicSquare.pdf

    ReplyDelete
  25. Here is my adventure "The Quarrymen."
    I don't have a scanner so the handouts are a bit rough... enjoy my photography!

    https://www.dropbox.com/sh/w8z4csc58hpbhp2/3UZKAqduoc

    ReplyDelete
  26. Here is my adventure "The Quarrymen" built on the big map. I don't have a scanner, so the handouts are a bit rough. Enjoy my photography!

    https://www.dropbox.com/sh/w8z4csc58hpbhp2/3UZKAqduoc

    ReplyDelete
  27. Flying by the seat of my pants here, but finally, my entry for the Monster section:

    http://ofdiceandmenrpg.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/the-mellified-men-osr-monster.html

    I had planned on a fully-stocked dungeon, but a few weeks of illness really killed that idea!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Here's my grand prize entry! I got (very) drunk while doing the final edits, so...

    https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6JcSdbStkqsS1FNVmNvd2J3eEE/edit?usp=sharing

    ReplyDelete
  29. My entry for the grand prize. I got real drunk during the final edits, so all typos, errors and melodramatics are very much my fault.

    https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6JcSdbStkqsS1FNVmNvd2J3eEE/edit?usp=sharing

    ReplyDelete
  30. Here is my entry for a new goblinoid race that is lurking along the Rose River
    http://codexapocrypha.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-hobgoblin-queens-birthday-part-one.html

    ReplyDelete
  31. Part Two - Treasure
    http://codexapocrypha.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-hobgoblin-queens-birthday-jade.html

    And I just realized I missed the deadline by 48 hours. Damn.

    ReplyDelete

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