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New Grand Contest: The One-Page Dungeon!

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font-of-sorrowsA few weeks ago while mulling the jumble of ideas that was to become my new Primal/Within D&D campaign, I made the discovery of the One Page Dungeon template.  I was blown away at the sheer brilliance and simplicity of the concept and I’ve already used it a few times, including for my next game session on Friday.

While I was playing with it I had one of my insidious explosive ideas:

How could I spread the word about this awesome design tool?

Then I thought

How ’bout I make a contest?

So I contacted Chgowiz, one of the 3 co-creators of the template and I pitched him the idea.  We hit it off rapidly and our  contest rapidly took shape.  We pulled in the template’s other two creators (Amityville Mike and Sham) and I got a few of my friends on board to help us judge the contest.

Then Chgowiz and I hit many publishers for prizes, hoping that a few would accept to provide us with  few goodies…

…Turns out that an overwhelming number of them accepted, offering us a TON of prizes!

So without further delay I present you with:

The One Page Dungeon Creation Contest!

The idea of the contest is to ask readers to create one dungeon level in an edition-less format (ex: you can name monsters but you don’t provide stats for them) using the template and submit it for the contest. We’d judge the entries based on criteria such as ‘most evocative setting’, ‘Funniest entry’, ‘Most creative use of a Trap” and so on. Once we’ve named winners, we’ll be compiling a FREE PDF of the winners/runner-ups and releasing it to the community at large.

The contest starts today, April 14th and ends on May 14th at midnight. Once the contest is done, 6 judges will scratch their heads and figure out just who stands above the rest. Categories include (but not limited to):

  • Best All Around (Contest Grand Prize)
  • Grand Prize Runner-Up: Old School Dungeon Design
  • Grand Prize Runner-Up: New Edition Dungeon Design
  • Alternative prize categories: Most Creative Trap, Funniest, Most Gonzo, etc.

The judges will no doubt have other categories in their minds, as we have a ton of prizes lined up!

We have several well known RPG bloggers who will be judging, in addition to us:

ContestRules:

1. Participants create a one page dungeon using the template found here. For a contest entry example see here.

2. The dungeon must have the following features:

  • Name of Dungeon
  • Map
  • Dungeon Key (in an edition-neutral form: Description of monsters, Treasure, Traps, etc… No game stats)

OPTIONAL (If you can fit them on one page…)

  • Wandering Monster or Random Event tables or a list of scripted “events” that can occur over the adventure
  • Background
  • Additional descriptions that add to the dungeon, such as detailed description of trap or trick or unique feature.

3. Only one entry per participant. Participants may revise/replace their entries up till the end of contest, with the last revision counting as their official entry. Entry may win grand prize or one of the runner up prizes, plus any number of alternative prize categories.

4. Participants are allowed to modify the template, provided it remains a one-page entry.

5. Submission must be emailed in PDF, Word or Open Office format at the following address: onepage@chattydm.net

6. Submitting a dungeon to the contest releases it under the Creative Common Share-alike license (US 2008) with credit to the contest participant.

7. Contest closes on May 14th 2009 at Midnight.

The prizes (oh yes, the prizes!)

Grand Prize

  • Patron membership of Wolfgang Baur’s Open Design
  • Quarterly membership to Monte Cook’s Dungeon a Day
  • A full Licence for Smitework’s Fantasy Grounds II
  • 1 year membership to Obsidian Portal
  • 50$ Gift Certificate from One-Bookshelf
  • 4 Badges to Neoncon 2009

Grand Prize Runner-Up: Old School Dungeon Design

  • Bundle of Goblinoid Games product
  • Bundle of Brave Halfling Production products
  • Otherworld Miniatures Demon Idol Miniature
  • Bundles of Fight On and Knockspell issues
  • Bits of Darkness Bundle from Tabletop Adventures
  • 6 month membership Obsidian Portal
  • 2 Badges to Neoncon 2009

Grand Prize Runner-Up: New Edition Dungeon Design

  • D&D 4e Dungeon Delve & Adventurer’s Vault
  • Fantasy Grounds II License
  • 6 month membership Obsidian Portal
  • 2 Badges to Neoncon 2009

To divide among other Categories

  • Open Design’s Kobold’s Guide to Game Design
  • Quarterly membership to Monte Cook’s Dungeon-a-Day
  • Bundle of Necromancer Games products
  • Bundle of Brave Halfling Production PDF products
  • Bundle of Knockspell and City Encounter PDFs
  • Bundle of Fight On Magazine (issues 1-4 PDFs)
  • Tabletop Adventure’s Bits of Darkness Bundle
  • Tabletop Adventures’ Deck O’Names Set
  • A few D&D 4e Adventures and Hardcovers
  • Otherworld Miniatures – Pig Faced Orcs (Or Box of Minis)
  • Goodman Games – Random Esoteric Creature Generator
  • Badges to Neoncon 2009

Our sponsors!
These prizes have been generously donated by our sponsors – they really are excited about this contest and we hope you are just as excited about their support. Please be sure to show them your support as well.

So what are you waiting for? Sharpen those pencils, get out those dungeon mapping tools, grab some graph paper and your favorite beverage and show us what you can do… on ONE PAGE!

If you have any questions about the contest, please feel free to contact either of us: Phil (Chattydm@chattydm.net) and/or Michael (chgowiz@gmail.com)

Good luck… if YOU DARE!

Comments

  1. I’m in, question is; are there penalties for size? At the time I got my creative sugar-high, there was only an A5 notebook around so I made the size 25×25. Will that be a dealbraker stealing my well-deserved 1st place?

  2. Note to all: The Zip file with the template has been fixed. Sorry for the inconvenience.

    @Trabant: Download the file shown in the rules and you should be good to go.

  6. There are several elements which we found are easier to recognize than explain.

    The one that comes to mind is Number and size of rooms (old school = Many, small; New Editions = Less, larger)

    There not tightly defined concepts, we wanted the contest to appeal to all fans of dungeons across editions.

  8. David – most of the categories are going to be extremely subjective, that’s why we have 6 judges. See, when we get to trying to decide who wins, there’s going to be a cagematch for each category, and we’ll have 6 judges enter, one judge leave. Then that dungeon will win that specific category…

    Seriously (I need more sleep) that’s why we have people who hew closer to the original edition theme and people who are more familiar with the newer editions. In my opinion, a dungeon that has a linear or fairly linear plot, large rooms for the tactical nature of the newer editions, more of a newer “feel” to it would probably fall in the newer category. A dungeon that felt like “Tomb of Horrors” – sandbox or evil old style traps or orcs with pies (kidding) will probably fall in the older category.

    (I reserve the right to drag anyone who does orcs with pies into the cagematch in my place for that one…)

    Chgowizs last blog post..Announcing the One Page Dungeon Contest

  9. Oh, I dare. 🙂

    Sweet. Thanks for the contest, Chatty and crew! This is going to be a lot of fun, and it’s the perfect mix between being too easy to enter and too hard. Great prizes, too!

    RPG Ikes last blog post..The On-Call Player

  10. Thanks for the feedback Ike, we sure worked hard to bring this thing about and it’s really satisfying to see people get enthusiastic about it all!

    Good luck in making your entry!

  11. I’m… going to have to disagree with linearity being a differentiating factor at all. Old-school dungeons can be just as linear as new ones, and vice versa. Linearity is a style choice, but is not inherent to any era of design.

    There are a number of other factors to differentiate the two schools, but linearity just isn’t one of them.

    Grahams last blog post..32 hours of D&D gaming party!

  13. Is there a limit to the number of entries? Or do you want us to be as creative as possible?

  14. You’re allowed one active entry. By this we mean that you may submit more than one entry, but only the last one will be considered for the contest.

    Thus, we allow people to fix a ‘oops’ left in the entry or allow someone to come back later when inspiration has struck stronger than the initial entry.

    We trust that this allowance won’t be abused.

  15. I’m in! I just finished a dungeon for my local Meetup. I think I can crunch it down to one page and submit it.

  17. Why are we being asked to enter our work under a sharealike license? Can’t it be entered under a simple attribution license? I don’t like forcing end-users to share if they don’t want to.

    But I will be entering. I like a good challenge.

  18. @Mike Conway: We decided to apply to any contest entries we publish the same license that Chgowiz, Amityville Mike and Sham applied to the template, hence the share-alike choice.

    Looking forward to your entry!

  21. @One Man Horde: It’s a shame not to have you participating. You know you can combine your game with the contest by prepping a dungeon for your gaming group. Plus you have a whole month to do it.

    Come on!

  24. @Anders: Yes, yes yes! The only limit is the template.

    In fact if someone without a Scanner really wants to enter the contest, email me and I’ll supply my snail mail address.

  28. Or you could contact Greywulf who’s in the UK and send him the entry to be emailed to me. I’m sure he’s easier to bribe than us.

    Of course I’d love to get a letter from England!

    Phil

  30. @CDM Oh, I’m VERY easy to bribe 😀

    @ One Man Horde If you want, mail me (greywulf(at)gmail.com) and I’ll send you my address. I’ll scan what you post and forward it to Chatty, and return you the originals.

    greywulfs last blog post..Insert your own caption here

  32. “4. Participants are allowed to modify the template, provided it remains a one-page entry.”

    This interests me very much. In the comments you siad, “The only limit is the template.”

    As long as I include the elements (Name of Dungeon, Map, Dungeon Key) and it’s one page, is it a ‘legal’ entry?

  34. I just want you to know (although I’m sure you’re aware already) that you’re evil. You now have me punting ideas around for sardine can gaming. I wonder how much I can really pack into one page…

  35. I’ll take that as a compliment! You can build whole megadungeons by using such templates for part of your levels in your own game.

    But of course, for the contest, we want to see just how much you can do with just one little page.

  38. Phil, any objections to folks posting their entries up on their own blogs as well as mailing them to you, or would you prefer the submissions were “sealed envelope” until the competition is over?

    greywulfs last blog post..A chance meeting

  39. None whatsoever, you just run the risk of being upstaged by someone looking at your entry I’d say. But feel free to post it!

  41. No, unless I’m mistaken, the .zip file with the templates are word documents or Open Office ones. If you have an issue just catch me on Gtalk and I’ll send it in a format you can use.

  43. We define Dungeon in the loosest term possible and we’d be happy to get Mutant Caves, Robot Castles and Modern Evil Overlords dens. While we expect most dungeons to be inspired or for the whole spectrum of D&D, you can supply us with a Dungeon inspired by any game or Genre.

    Heck, I’d probably do a sector for Paranoia if I could!

    Oh and it’s Midnight EST.

  45. @Darran: Your choice. The entries so far run the whole gamut from B/W hand drawn to old School-blue Corel Draw maps to full color Gimp ones.

  48. Just sent in my entry (under the name Jay).

    I like the fact that the contest is not system-specific. It means that “players” (like me) can enter the competition, even if they don’t have the “DM” resources. The contest is really about ideas more than getting the rules right.

  54. Hey!

    I just sent in my template for the dungeon, its called Tentacle Beast. Please let me know if you got it.

    Thank you!
    Dusty

  55. “ends on May 14th at midnight”

    Gah…. did that mean this morning or tonight? May 14th midnight, I thought, was this evening. Bummer if I missed the deadline…. please advise.

    Regards,
    Old Man

  57. I was blown away at the sheer brilliance and simplicity of the concept and I’ve already used it a few times, including for my next game

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