RPG One-Shots

[Juggernaut1981]

Okay, another simple idea.
You need to map a:

• structure (or complex like a church compound or mansion) OR
• cavern system OR
• wilderness location of suitable complexity (i.e. not a flat empty field)

AND Include ON THE MAP a quick blurb on what would happen here. It's a variation on the OPDC and I think it could potentially make a good Micro-Challenge. So the Big Challenge (the one GP has one too many times), the Challenge Lite and the One-Shot Map Challenge... Plus One-Shot maps with a limited size and "direct" scope (i.e. A church, a village, a cavern) would potentially ease the newbies into more Challenges... unlike me who just jumped in a full challenge off the bat.

The idea would also be to make these of a "Print & Sell" kind of quality.

Do people think it is a good idea to add to the different challenges available?

[Sharpe]

I like the idea a lot, but would like to throw something else in there: make the adventure non-system specific. In other words, not D&D.

One issue I see with this -- and it may not be an issue at all -- but, if the referee/GM/DM/Storyteller/guy-with-the-map has the details of the scenario no the map, what is he going to show the players? Wouldn't there need to be a map without, "Here is where the cyclops steps out of the cave behind the players and ambushes them," written on it?

Or, maybe it's a split image. Half of the image is the map, the other half is all the details. There won't be any "'X' marks the spot" on the map. But, if people are printing it out on 8.5"x11", that's going to be a small map no matter what scale it is...

[ravells]

The site is meant to primarily be a site about mapping. Occasional module writing challenges might be fun, but I think a regular one would dilute our primary aim too much (just my view). Also I don't know if we have enough people who take up the challeges we already have to add another one (yet). That said, we are growing so who knows what the future may bring? It's a really tempting idea (after all it puts maps in context) but a little too early for me though.

In the early days we had an 'alliance' with a site like this, but which was all about writing adventures / modules. We tried to have cross challenges where a module from that site would be used as the subject matter for doing a map on this one. It just didn't work out after a few months (the other site kinda lost interest). I would really like to see another alliance with a module writing site which was more active and crossed over with this one though, lol! one could expect the mapping request subforum to get pretty full!

[Ascension]

I think adding a third monthly challenge would be difficult right now and would attract few entries...heck our lite challenges have sort of gone bye-bye. I do like he idea of having this as a recurring theme in the main challenge as many of us only need a week or two at most to do the map itself and then for fun we add in stories in the thread. Heck, if we could put together a bunch of these one-offs then we could e-sell them and make a lil payola.

[ravells]

Lite has gone just for this month...I'll post a challenge next month if none else beats me to it.

[Juggernaut1981]

As a thought, it seems really odd to have the Lite challenge lasting 2 months, but the "Serious Challenge" lasting 1 month. Could it be worth changing the format of the Lite Challenge and making it a monthly/fortnightly challenge?

If you wanted to include a "Lite Challenge" prize logo that was drastically different, I'm for that. But maybe the Lite Challenge should become stuff like the OPDC.

Temple or Religious Building (no particular period)
City Square/Markets (not from any period in particular)
A castle (in any state of repair)

...
And for the Big Challenges you have some of the bigger more epic things. I know I haven't joined a Lite Challenge cause I'd bang something out and entirely forget about it before the challenge was judged...

[Gamerprinter]

Despite there not being a lite challenge going on right now, it isn't 2 months long, only one month, rather it normally runs from the 15th of one month to the 15th of the next month - that way voting doesn't occur for both at the same time, they overlap by 2 weeks.

GP

[Juggernaut1981]

"The Powers That Be" can feel free to delete this suggestion... seems it's been covered...

[shantedracule]

Taking few ideas from above and runing with them.

the blurbs instead of being campaign specific or encounters could be area features that are genre nuetral.

The easy way to do this would be 2 maps one plain and one with "Blurbs" or numbering and a cheat sheat for those that want them for a game.

This I believe can facilitate the original idea of this post the integraty of this sight being about maps and the want for generic areas not specific to the game.

If you keep them smallish with like a room or area cap this means you could make them quick 2 week chalenges

I still agree that the big chalenge would be better suited to being longer than any of the light or quick chalenges but again thats an opinion.