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View Full Version : WINNERS of the Party Design Contest



Gorbash Kazdar
2005-06-10, 12:15 AM
Best Overall Party

The Dark Materials/A Mind of Their Own (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=Contests;action=display;num=11155041 50) by The_Glyphstone

Most Humorous Party
Heroes of the Stage (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=Contests;action=display;num=11164782 87) by Peregrine

Best Exploration of a Theme

The Dark Materials/A Mind of Their Own (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=Contests;action=display;num=11155041 50) by The_Glyphstone

Best Flavor Text

The Dark Materials/A Mind of Their Own (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=Contests;action=display;num=11155041 50) by The_Glyphstone

The Order of the Stick Award (Best Good Party)
The Sunlit Quintet (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=Contests;action=display;num=11156669 19) by Safria

The Linear Guild Award (Best Evil Party)

The Dark Materials/A Mind of Their Own (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=Contests;action=display;num=11155041 50) by The_Glyphstone

Website Staff Award
http://plaza.ufl.edu/redwolf/gorbashseal.gif

http://plaza.ufl.edu/redwolf/AMindofTheirOwn.jpg (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=Contests;action=display;num=11155041 50) by The_Glyphstone

[hr]
Voting was close in Best Overall, Best Theme, Best Flavor Text, and in the OotS Award (two of them were won by a single vote), but A Mind of Their own cleaned up a lot of categories. Heroes of the Stage had a solid lead in Most Humorous from the start.

Congratulations, Glyphstone, Peregrine, and Safria! And thanks to everyone who participated!

White Blade
2005-06-10, 12:27 AM
I am going to point out that A Mind of Their Own won all the categories it could well other then humorous but the entry wasn't funny in anyway.

Sacrath
2005-06-10, 02:14 AM
Wow, will his avatar fit all those awards? Nice pic btw.

The Glyphstone
2005-06-10, 05:41 AM
SUH-WEET!!! ;D ;D

Honestly, I'm flattered. Thanks to all who elected me, and I didn't even have to vote for myself. Agreeing with WhiteBlade, there wasn't really any humor involved. To Save a Princess really deserved that one - "50 Coppers"... :)

And excellent picture, I love it.

Now, off to edit my sig..links might have to be removed.

Safria
2005-06-10, 05:47 AM
Wow, I'm so happy :D And Congrats to Peregrine and Glyphstone.

I thought that "to save a princess" and "heroes of the stage" were both really funny. Reckon that "to save a princess" lost out a little bit due to length. However Peregrine totally deserved the award cos his entry had me cracking up so I think the awards reflect the acheivements.

So having been somewhat verbose...reckon i'll go hunt some undead ;)

Gorbash Kazdar
2005-06-10, 06:33 AM
I also have seperate avatar-sized images of each of the members of the party, if you want them, Glyph.

pumpkinetics
2005-06-10, 06:35 AM
Right. Now I shall announce my motion to ban Glyph from the contest board BECAUSE HE'S SO FRICKIN' GOOD!!!!!!

How do you do that?

PokeTheBard
2005-06-10, 06:52 AM
He bribes the voters.

Simply put, lol.

The Glyphstone
2005-06-10, 07:26 AM
Grrr...you're all just jealous... >:(

I don't bribe the voters. Highlight the words below if you want to know my TRUE secret...

Ha ha! By reading this, you are now my mind-slave. vote for me in all future contests. ha ha...

Peregrine
2005-06-10, 08:41 AM
Woohoo! :D Just... woohoo!

Also, well done Safria. :) And I would join in the general fist-shaking at Glyphstone for being so darn good if I hadn't added to his vote count myself...

Grey Watcher
2005-06-10, 09:26 AM
Congratulations, you three! I'm sorta glad I never finished my entry. Saved me the humiliation of defeat. ;D

White Blade
2005-06-10, 10:05 AM
I never even got one I liked, The only way you can't lose is by not playing the game. As soon as I saw Glyph's entry I just said "Am I going to waste my time writing something up that has no chance of winning. No, I am not."

Zherog
2005-06-10, 09:08 PM
Congrats to the winners! :)

***

I want to call attention to two entries that didn't win, but I thought were awesome. In fact, I voted for them in a couple of categories.

First was "Scions" by Glinelen. I thought the look at Da Vinci as numerous people was awesomely creative, and it was a fun read, too. I enjoyed the different personalities you assigned to each, and I particularly liked how you handled who was the "party leader." Overall, a really creative entry.

The second entry I want to call some extra attention to was "The Sunlit Quintet" by Safria. I thought it was a really interesting look at the "kicks undead's ass' concept, and really enjoyed the flavor and tight mechanics of the class.

***

And finally, I'm gonna offer some tips for people in future contests. Maybe I'm the only person these matter for, maybe not.

Formatting is important. I'm a slow reader. If I have to struggle to read your entry, chances are I'm going to skip it. The more readable your post is, the nore likely I am to get to the end. Use blank lines to break up blocks of text; use bold and italics in key places to emphasis stuff. Double check the spelling of stuff. You don't need perfect spelling (I sure know I don't have it), but again, if I have to struggle to "translate" your post, I'm more likely to skip it.
Speaking of spelling... I have a pet peeve, and I try to ignore it, but sometimes I can't. Rogue is a class in the Player's Handbook; Rouge is a makeup product, and also the color 'red' in french. If your post is mentioning rouge, it better be as part of a disguise kit.
I don't know if anybody else bothered, but I generally double checked some simple mechanics. If you had a Prestige Class, it better be one you can qualify for; same thing for feats - you should make sure you meet all the pre-reqs. I didn't go so far as to count up skill points and recompute BAB and saves - though it doesn't hurt to check that stuff, too.
Flavor text needs to do two things, preferably simultaneously. First, it needs to inform me about the person, party, item, class - whatever it is you're designing. Second, it needs to entertain me. It's usually not too hard to accomplish both with the same block of text - as long as I want to keep reading, you're entertaining me.

I guess that's about it. I had fun making my entry, and I hope those who read it enjoyed reading it. I found it a challenge to reproduce my group's party using only OGL and GitP material - and I think I did a decent job of representing what they might look like at that level.

Again, congrats to the winners!

Veera
2005-06-10, 11:32 PM
Congratulations to all of you!

...

Now, to comb through the winning entries and steal the best characters for use as NPCs... **Grins evilly**

Gorbash Kazdar
2005-06-11, 12:32 AM
Now, to comb through the winning entries and steal the best characters for use as NPCs... **Grins evilly**
I've already got a stack of print outs for so I can steal use the parties here.

Zherog's suggestions are fantastic. And I cannot stress the rogue/rouge one enough... Takes all my willpower not to start frothing at the mouth at that one.

To add to formatting, judicious use of colors and font formatting can really make a difference as well. Makes headings easier to spot. Tables take some practice but are a huge help. As far as spelling and grammar, it takes only a minute or two to copy/paste over to a word processor with spell checking - take the time. If you can get someone to take a look at the post beforehand, that would be good, too.

Also, I would like to stress the idea of reading posts before the end of the contest and making constructive criticisms and helping out. The screen name contest has a lot of great examples of this. It helps make all of the entries better.

Anyways, congratulations again to the winners!

Zherog
2005-06-11, 08:31 AM
Now, to comb through the winning entries and steal the best characters for use as NPCs... **Grins evilly**

One thing to remember when doing this: PC's have more gear than NPC's. I can't speak for anybody else, but my entries all have wealth based upon the PC table, not the NPC table.

So, either you'll have NPCs that are "wealthy" or you'll need to remove some gear from them.

The Glyphstone
2005-06-11, 08:47 AM
Same thing here. In my particular case, I had to use the PC tables, otherwise my party would have been a bunch of paupers with a spiffy intelligent item each, since the darn things are so expensive.

Zherog
2005-06-11, 08:59 AM
Same thing here. In my particular case, I had to use the PC tables, otherwise my party would have been a bunch of paupers with a spiffy intelligent item each, since the darn things are so expensive.

Yeah, I know. I actually cut an intelligent item from my party. Rosa - the halfling cleric/rogue - has a rapier infused the spirit of her murdered sister, Quina. As a DM, she's great fun to roleplay - there's very few shades of grey for Quina. :)

It was easier, though, to make Rosa a coherent PC by making her rapier normal.

Peregrine
2005-06-11, 10:04 AM
I used the PC tables because Gorby said so in rule 4. ;D But I'm not sure how well mine would've worked with the NPC wealth level; I based a couple of jokes on equipment (mainly the matching cloaks of charisma). Not essential to the design, but handy.

Glinelen
2005-06-11, 10:58 AM
Congratulations to Glyphstone, Peregrine and Safria :D

I really enjoyed designing my party and apologize to all who had to read the "rouge" instead of rogue, it's gone now.

Everyman
2005-06-12, 04:19 PM
I'm just going to add in my congrats to everyone. It was great reading all these entries. ;D

I can't wait for the next contest, as everyone (well, maybe just the students) will have much more free time in order to spend on the designs!

The Glyphstone
2005-06-12, 05:13 PM
Agreed. Too bad I'm not a moderator, otherwise I would have volunteered to run the next contest. I guess I'll just have to settle for winning again. ;D :D :)

Everyman
2005-06-12, 08:38 PM
Ah...it appears someone is presuming something. Don't be getting a big head now. ;)

Actually, I look forward to the next contest, as I'll actually be able to complete the entry. So look out, as I'm aiming for your title. ;D

Oh, and congrats on your second win. Here's to you!
*Drinks rootbeer*

Camora
2005-06-13, 03:57 AM
Hum...i have to say i'm totally surprised that "to safe a princess" didn't win anything (i voted for it in all but two categories). So i'm just curious, if Gorbash could say which entries were under the favorites for Best Overall, Best Theme, Best Flavor Text, and in the OotS Award. (am i that weird for voting for the princess?!)

Congratulations to all the winners.

Gorbash Kazdar
2005-06-13, 04:52 AM
I suppose if people do want to see full vote tallies...

Best Overall:
Heroes of the Stage - 2
To Save a Princess - 2
Racial Misfits - 1
The Scions - 3
Steelclad Spleen-skewers - 1
A Mind of Their Own - 5
The Laughing Hands of Olidammara - 1
Racial Harmonies - 2

Most Humorous:
Heroes of the Stage - 10
To Save a Princess - 2
Racial Misfits - 2
The Scions - 1
Steelclad Spleen-skewers - 1

Best Theme:
Heroes of the Stage - 1
Racial Misfits - 4
The Rejected - 1
The Scions - 5
Sunlit Quintet - 1
A Mind of Their Own - 6

Best Flavor Text:
Heroes of the Stage - 3
To Save a Princess - 2
Racial Misfits - 2
The Rejected - 1
The Scions - 2
Steelclad Spleen-skewers - 2
Sunlit Quintet - 1
A Mind of Their Own - 4

OotS Award:
Heroes of the Stage - 2
To Save a Princess - 3
Racial Misfits - 1
The Scions - 4
Sunlit Quintet - 6
The Laughing Hands of Olidammara - 1

LG Award:
Steelclad Spleen-skewers - 6
A Mind of Their Own - 11

Gorby's Seal of Approval:
A Mind of Their Own - 1 ;)

As you can, several were pretty close.

Callahan
2005-06-13, 03:22 PM
Is that a complete tally of votes? According to my records, I voted for the Steelclad Spleen-Skewers as most humourous party and it isn't counted on your list as a vote.

Actually I voted for the Spleen-Skewers in a coupla categories. I thought that was a great entry.

The Glyphstone
2005-06-13, 06:05 PM
Geez, I came close in the Website Staff Award. ;D

But at least I'm happy that most of my choices were winners or runners-up. To Save a Princess was really funny, and Sunlit Quintet was the best good party out there. I didn't know that the S.S.S. (Steelclad Spleen Skewers) were the only other evil party.

Gorbash Kazdar
2005-06-13, 07:19 PM
Is that a complete tally of votes? According to my records, I voted for the Steelclad Spleen-Skewers as most humourous party and it isn't counted on your list as a vote.

Actually I voted for the Spleen-Skewers in a coupla categories. I thought that was a great entry.

Given that I didn't say who voted for what, I dunno how you came up with that. The reason the totals are wonky is that not everyone voted for an entry in every category, In fact, one only had a vote in one category, and another had votes for only two. Others missed a category here or there. So, the total votes numbers don't match the number of voters.

Peregrine
2005-06-13, 07:26 PM
The fact that there are no votes for the S.S.S. in Most Humorous is probably what tipped Callahan off. ;)

And hey! I was that close in Best Flavour Text? ;D Right, that's it, got to keep Glyphstone out of the next contest...

The Glyphstone
2005-06-13, 07:31 PM
If it turns out to be "campaign setting" or something similar, you might be in luck - I have no ideas at all for that type of contest.

Gorbash Kazdar
2005-06-13, 07:35 PM
The fact that there are no votes for the S.S.S. in Most Humorous is probably what tipped Callahan off. ;)
Oh... I misread part of his post (not enough sleep). The Sunlit Quintet votes actually his S.S.S. vote that I put in the wrong place in posting, since I was transferring from an Excel sheet to the post. My bad :P

Callahan
2005-06-14, 03:21 PM
No big.

Just thought I'd bring it up as I noticed the discrepancy.

Pax
2005-06-15, 05:12 AM
Ha ha! By reading this, you are now my mind-slave. vote for me in all future contests. ha ha...
... yes, master ...

;D LOL. ;D

Seriously, I'm very happy you won - and I'm glad for whatever teeny part I played in encouraging you to go with that idea ANYway, despite the early conceptual-setbacks in terms of mechanics. ^_^

I more than half-wish that I'd had enought ime to try completing my own entry, insteadof bailing out near the very beginning. I might've had a run for neatest concept; you never know.

Ah well; maybe NEXT time ... if my GMing doesn't leave me too little time. ^_^

Cantankerous
2005-06-25, 09:19 AM
You know, when I first saw the contest thread - one of the first things I've seen on the message boards - I thought to myself, "Boy, am I gonna show these hare-brains how to make a real party!"

Then I saw that there was a winners thread.


So congratulations to the winners! And better-luck-next-times to the also-rans!

You can bet that I will be in the next contest if it's anything like the last one. So please, winners, don't get too cocky. You'll definitely have some competition later on, and may the best ones win.

---

I would also like to ask Gorby, when he gets back, how much organizational structure and command of English compare to creativity and rule correctness in the contest. Just curious.

Thanks for reading the post of some supercilious newcomer. :)

Zherog
2005-06-25, 01:06 PM
I would also like to ask Gorby, when he gets back, how much organizational structure and command of English compare to creativity and rule correctness in the contest. Just curious.

I think that question is for each individual voter to answer, since everybody will have different criteria.

For me, organizational structue is important, to a point. Basically, if I have to struggle to read your post then I stop reading. You might have the absolute coolest entry in the entire contest, but I'm not going to take my time to figure things out. So - use blank lines to break up text, use bold, italics, and so on to highlight things (like ability titles, and so on), etc.

As for rules correctness - it matters, though the degree depends on the contest. For example, in the Party contest that just finished, I was willing to overlook some rules things - as long as they were obviously simple mistakes and not blatant rules loopholing. However, back when we did the magic item contest, rules were very important - if you created items outside the scope of the rules you didn't get my vote.

Others may feel differently, though. Others might think that following the rules is secondary to the flavor and such of the entry - and that's totally cool.

One item you didn't bring up, but I'll mention anyway, is spelling and grammar. These bug me, too - but only up to a point. If you have a few typos in your entry, well, hell - I'm sure my entries have a few typos too. I could care less. Similarly, I'm not the grammar police - I'm not going to comb over your entry looking for passive voice, sentences ending in prepositions, dangling participles, and so forth. If I can read it, good enough.

But... if you constantly type "teh" instead of "the," if you make use of AOL-speek or "leet" speak, there's a real good chance I'm not going to read past the first few sentences. My time is too valuable to me to spend it trying to translate that sort of garbage.

Overall, I look for the "cool" factor. It's vague, and it's different from contest to contest. Basically, though, it can be summed up as the entry that, after I read it, I say, "Wow - that's cool!" The last contest had three such entries - The Scions, The Sunlit Quintet, and A Mind of Their Own. Those three got my votes in various categories.