Vista Adventure Writing Contest
Hey everyone!
Hopefully by now you've all seen the Starter Village Vista we created! It's our goal to make many more. We've got several already in the works covering our Yggdrasil theme, a rocky desert, pirates, and more.
But we figured we'd call on the community to help us create more. So we're launching our Vista Adventure Writing Contest!
Rules
Pick between 5-10 Czepeku maps to link together into a non-linear sandbox adventure*
Maps can be any variation not just the original, for example as part of our Arctic Vista we've included the Chthonic Lighthouse - Winter variation and the Motte and Bailey - Winter Day (see below).
Descriptively title your adventure, for example 'Desert Heist' or 'Arctic Werewolf Chase'.
Write an introductory paragraph covering the general idea of the adventure.
Write 1-2 paragraph for each location detailing how it's relevant to the overall sandbox.
For each location, link to the relevant variation on czepeku.com (like the Chthonic Lighthouse example above).
Keep everything system agnostic, for example do not include DnD stat blocks.
You may suggest up to 1 map location that we haven't yet created, for example in the below image 'Iceberg Bridge' might be suggested as a key location to connect up the two islands in the top right.
If relevant, you may link to Czepeku Tokens to help describe a character in the adventure.
Conditions
AI is forbidden. Those using AI will be fired out of a cannon into the sun.
The deadline is October 17th.
One submission per person (if the contest is popular we will run more in future).
You must be a Czepeku patron or website subscriber to take part.
Submissions
Please submit your finished adventure using this Google Form.Submissions now closed!Submissions will be judged by the Czepeku team and select members of our community.
Prize
The winner(s) will have their idea turned into a beautifully painted Vista and presented through Czepeku Scenes and Czepeku.com
The winning submission(s) will be paid for at a rate of $0.15 per word.
Czepeku will reach out to the winner(s) for further paid writing work, including expanding the vista concept into a fully fleshed out adventure.
There may be several winners. We don't want to limit the amount of possible winners.
We hope to use this contest as a way to find nascent writing talent amongst our community that we can help foster into other future Czepeku projects.
Last note: Anyone who is a supporter of any of our Czepeku projects may take part. And we encourage everyone to do so. If you belong to a group under represented in TTRPGs for example BIPOC or LGBT+, we doubly encourage you to take part. :)
*For good examples of sandbox style adventures please see:
The Dark of Hot Springs Island
Oz
Neverland
Gardens of Ynn
Mythic Bastionland
You Got a Job on the Garbage Barge
Ultra Violet Grasslands
Dolmenwood
Wolves Upon the Coast
Any kind of adventure that encourages players to explore and understand the world they're in is good, rather than a linear adventure that pushes them from set piece to set piece.
Comments (53)
Results of the contest can be found here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/153796277
It just came back to my mind, are there any updates on this? We’ve had some new Vistas posted and I was wondering if any of them were the winner(s)?
Did I miss an announcement somewhere or is this still in judging phase?
Any update on this? Have you picked the winners yet?
I'm very interested in this if it comes around again! I was quite busy so wasn't able to participate this time.
It seemed very popular so it's likely we'll do another again in future! :)
Same question. I had thought that 17th deadline meant submit on the 17th.
It looks like quite a few people were caught out from the timezone. So we've reopened it for 24 hours from this message. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdre_tz-S0nfXG7POh-4ZbrQ79WMWzq1_AucQ_HwyhTMw25iw/viewform?usp=header
Is there any way to submit this today? I misunderstood what deadline meant and thought it meant today was the last day
It looks like quite a few people were caught out from the timezone. So we've reopened it for 24 hours from this message. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdre_tz-S0nfXG7POh-4ZbrQ79WMWzq1_AucQ_HwyhTMw25iw/viewform?usp=header
Submitted mine a couple of days ago. Good idea to push us to write. Thank you for the opportunity. When will winners be notified or announced?
Not sure, we're very busy right now with next week's kickstarter and usual map work but i'll try to read as quickly as I can.
Just submitted mine! Thanks for this regardless, the motivation to sit down and write and feel productive was very helpful.
Deadline is 17th, we can sent our entry that day or last chance is 16th 23:59?
I have the same question
I have submitted an entry!
I just submitted my entry. I thought the deadline was the 14th, not the 17th, so I may go through and make some edits, if that's alright.
I just submitted my entry but misread the maximum length as the minimum and may have gotten a little carried away. Could I edit my entry and resubmit it so it adheres to the length requirements or will that count as two different entries?
Since it was a Google Doc, I simply went in and made the edits so that my entry better conforms with the length rules. I hope that's okay since I am still within the submission window.
I saw you said in another comment not to mix fantasy and sci-fi maps. What’s the reason for that? I was hoping to use both. Thanks!
Because the winning piece will be made into a vista, available to either the fantasy subscribers or sci-fi subscribers. It would be strange to offer them something which they don't have access to half of.
Hi! I sent my submission through the Google form. I did not receive an e-mail confirmation or anything. Is that normal? I just want to make sure it went through. Thanks!
I don't think Google forms has an email confirmation!
Very excited for this, I already use your map to build adventure zones so I'm looking forward to submitting!
This is fantastic! Two questions I have--am I allowed to do a bit of graphic design/layout for the document, or would you rather only have plain text in a googledoc? Second--I plan on doing a mystery, with clues in each location. I know you said 1-2 paragraphs, but can I include a short list of bullet points along with the paragraph(s)? I think the bullet point list would make it easier to read. Thanks again! I'm really looking forward to this and seeing what people come up with!
Plain text in a document. You can align text to make it readable but that's all. We're looking for writers not graphic designers. ;) As long as the bullet points add up to a similar amount of text as the two paragraphs, that's fine.
This is a great idea. I'm already working away on an idea for this. My main challenge is going to be to avoid having too many others before October 17th. Well, that and not writing too much.
Yeah, with these maps as inspiration it'd be easy to get carried away.
love this idea!
Do we have to be a paying patron? Or will patrons who subscribe at the free level be able to participate?
Being a paying patron through either the Patreon or a subscriber through the website is preferred, yes. This is a way to give back to the community that supports our work.
I have a few questions for the Czepeku Team. If two maps made by you guys are of the same location, would that count as 1 or 2 maps against the cap? Such as Wizard Vault and Wizard Bank I am not a native, so this might be a silly question, but how many words / sentences would you guys like to have per paragraph / location, and should they be more phrased like a ttrpg book, stating what exactly could be encountered here, or give more the vague idea and story of the place? Also, very cool idea the whole thing, got me really excited to participate. I always wanted to have a chance to prove myself as a writer! :)
The Wizard Vault has an entrance section, and the basement section. I would probably count each a different location. But you only need to mention both sections if both are relevant. It may be that you only need players to go to the entrance for example. We didn't want to limit people by a specific word count or sentence count. But a paragraph is probably 3-5 sentences generally. The goal is to work within a limited constraint. Please phrase it like an adventure concept. What's the point of the location, who or what would the players do there, why is it relevant to the overall adventure, etc. If you want to see some examples, please check out the ones I listed in the post. :)
Could we reinterpret things that exist within the maps that could be a little vague if it weren't for the title, such as a beholder statue in one of the maps?
Please do interpret each map as you see fit.
Would there be a second contract cover ownership of the text copyright for use in future adventures, supplements, etc? I don't see that this is covered on the doc.
I suppose this was mostly meant to be a fun competition and we hadn't considered the legal rammifications of ownership of the work. I suppose in the case that you win the contest and we offer to pay you for your work, the adventure would be credited to you but belong to Czepeku.
I couldn't tell if "Sandbox" meant it could be guided or not, as my preferred style of DMing is more of a... "set adventure in location and create a bunch of optional areas folks can wander to with room for expansion"... But I gave it my best :]
The sandbox is our preferred adventure style, hence that stipulation, but these things are always on a spectrum.
So exciting! I would love to participate with my co-DM (who I believe is also a subscriber), can we send in one submission as co-writers?
Sure, that sounds fine to me.
This is a neat idea! I’m already brainstorming ideas!
Does this include Czepeku Sci-fi Maps as well? Or does it have to be fantasy?
I had to go to bed last night, but I'll posting the same contest to Czepeku Sci-Fi today. The rules are the same for both, but you can't mix and match maps between fantasy and sci-fi.
Can the winner request to be shot out of cannon or is the use of AI required?
Unfortunately the cannon is programmed to only activate in the process of AI. There is a catapult though.
This is a wonderful concept your maps are so evocative they inspire wonderful story ideas! I will begin creating!
Question! Can I collaborate with somebody who is not a Czepeku patron? I'm not a native myself so I would appreciate the possibility to collaborate with my friend
Sure, it sounds like they're just helping you fix your English. Sounds harmless to me. :)
Rad. I have a few questions if that's ok? -How do you feel about using public domain images as stand ins for images of NPCs or factions? -Is photo bashing allowed? -Can we edit the maps a bit to suit the scenario or do we need to keep it purely how the map currently is? 1 to 2 paragraphs per section for a sandbox feels a bit constrained but I'm up for a challenge. Is this considered a minimum with a "sky's the limit" kind of approach? For example: the sandbox can have feuding factions, each with separate motivations. NPCs that act as neutral parties, adversaries, or allies. 1 to 2 paragraphs feels tough to fit that kind of info while not going a more guided or railroaded direction. Poetic and open language can be used, but that can be frustrating as it's left up to interpretation without providing clear guidance. Thanks!
- Public domain images are fine and so is photobashing but this is a writing contest, it would be fine to have no images at all (except the maps) - Keep the maps as is, just pick from the 7000 or so variations we already have - 1 to 2 paragraphs per map is the maximum, not minimum. It's a purposeful constraint. The idea is to see how well you can convey the overall adventure in a limited word count. If the concept is good and we like it, we will approach the winners to expand their concept more. We have approximately 30k subscribers in total. If 10% of them take part in the contest, that's a crazy amount of words to read, hence why we were so limiting with the word count.
I fully support the "firing AI into the sun" part!
Thank you for limiting this to non AI fabrications