Story Games "Make a Relationship Map" Contest

[Andy Kitkowski]

Here's a link and the info:
http://www.story-games.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=2693

With all the talk of relationship maps these days, I figured that it was time for a new Endeavor. So here it is. It could have just as easily been "Make the coolest character", "Design the most awesome weapon", or "Draw a pretty gaming map". But R-Maps have been on people's minds for a bit, and I think it's about time they got their due. So, A Contest!

Here's the rules:

1) The contest starts NOW (March 21st). It ends on JUNE 30th. That's over three months, a considerable amount of time.

2) You have to draw a relationship map for a roleplaying game you are either an active player or GM in. The sessions of the game must occur between now and June 30th. If you are in the middle of a campaign now, you can draw upon that game for your R-Map. But you can not submit a map for this contest for a game that you are no longer playing in, or ended already. You have three months, that's plenty enough time to get some gaming down and build a kickin' R-Map.

3) Your map can be any size, shape, color. It can present any kind of data that you wish, in any order or format. You can use whatever you want to make it. I suggest using computer tools to make it, but if you want to draw by hand and scan it in, or take pictures of it, or make a Flash toy and submit a link, that is fine, too.

4) There is only one final judge: Me. There are only a few criteria: Creativitity (colors? shapes? interesting ways of conveying data?), Understandability (does it convey the character relationships in the game? Is it too cluttered? Does it give us a taste of your campaign?), and Awesome (Is it Awesome? Is it AWESOME!!! ?).

5) What's the point of this thread? Just some experiments: To see if there's any art or skill to making a good Relationship Map. To see if something graphical yet utilitarian can be "pimped out" and made pretty. And, because I know there are a lot of creative gamers out there, and want to see what they can do with this thing.

6) You may submit any number of R-Maps as you want for any number of games (if they meet Rule Two, above). You can submit multiple R-Maps for the same game, but each will be judged on its own.

7) The top three entries will win a prize, which will most likely be "stuff" (could be a $5 Gift Certificate to Hot Topic, could be a Book, could be a mug, dunno yet). If there are more than 25 entries, then the pool will expand to the "top five".

You have to agree to make your R-Map accessible. What I mean by that is, "I will save them to the S-G server for posterity". You can't decide to take it down later. That's all.

You can submit the map over at S-G (you need to register to post. If you have registration problems, just PM me here).

Thanks!

-Andy