Scenario Design Competition

We are looking for original, single-session role playing scenarios. A scenario may use a published role playing system or setting, but we also encourage the use of settings or systems of your own creation. Scenario's should be written with sufficient detail that a person unfamiliar with the setting and rules can gain a clear understanding of events.

For some helpful advice on writing scenarios for gaming conventions please click here.

The play time of scenarios should be designed to be between two and a half and three hours in length. It is suggested that your scenario use pre-generated characters due to the time constraints of a convention game. If you don't want to include pre- generated characters then you will need to allow for character creation time within the three hours available.

For any questions or comments regarding the Scenario Design Competition please e-mail us.

1. This competition is open to anyone with a New Zealand mailing address.
2. All entries must be the original work of the creator(s).
3. The scenario may not have been previously published nor entered in an earlier competition.
4. It is acceptable to refer to other published gaming material but no copyrighted work should be reproduced.
5. You may enter as many times as you like, and there is no cost to enter.
6. The Judge's decision is final.
7. KapCon reserves the right to grant no award if there are no entries of sufficient quality.
8. Every entry must include name or names of the creators on a front title page but nowhere else in the work should the name appear again.
9. Every page of an entry should be sequentially numbered.
10. KapCon reserves the right to refuse to accept entries that are, in the opinon of the organizers, illegible or so poorly organized as to make them too difficult to judge or run. A double-spaced type-written or legibly hand written manuscript with consecutively numbered pages is an absolute minimum standard for acceptance, but even this may be rejected if the content is still too confused.
11. By entering this competition you agree to let this scenario be run at Kapcon XI and grant KapCon the right to reproduce enough copies of the provided materiel for this purpose.
12. Send Entries to :

    Kapcon Scenario Design Competition
    P O Box 1451
    Wellington
    

    Alternatively you may email them to the competition administrator. Emailed entries must follow the same layout rules and must be in one of the following formats : Microsoft Word, Adobe PDF, or a Unicode plain text format such as UTF8.

13. If the author wishes the scenario manuscript returned and is not attending Kapcon XI, a stamped self addressed envelope should be enclosed with the entry.
14. The closing date for entering the competition is : December 1 2002.
    All postal entries must be post-marked no later than the closing date. If emailed, they must be recieved no later than the closing date.
15. . Prizes will be awarded at Kapcon XII, Wellington 18-19th January 2002.

• Including a timeline helps make your scenario easy to understand and follow.
• Providing challenging characters for players helps make the game more enjoyable.
• Take into account that it is possible that neither Judge nor players will have played in the setting before.
• A play-test may help to iron out any wrinkles.

To send in a question simply e-mail us with your querry. All reasonable questions we recieve will be answered on this page.

Q. How is this competition being judged?

Kapcon SDC is using the same double blind system of judging as most writing competitions. Each entry is recieved and logged, then the cover page is removed and the entry is passed on to the judge. This means that the judge has no idea who the author of any given scenario is. This system ensures impartiality and is why we ask that the authors name ONLY appear on the cover page of the work.

Q. What are the judging criteria?

Each scenario will be marked on the following: Creativity, Playability, Characters/Character generation, NPC's/character interactions, Pace, Challenge, Plot and Detail. with the emphasis being on Creativity and Playability. We want to see scenarios that will be fun for both GM and players.

Q. Who will be the Judge?

The Judge for 2002/03 will again be Dale Elvy, a New Zealand-born fantasy author, who recently won the 2002 Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel for his novel First Hunter, and has twice been winner of the Best GM prize at previous Kapcon conventions.

Q. What about copyright issues etc?

Under the Berne Convention, to which New Zealand is a signatory, your original creative works automatically gain copyright as soon as you produce them. It is therefore illegal for anyone to reproduce, replicate or otherwise copy your work without your permission, regardless of whether you have made any attempt to publish or register the work.