Meet the Head Judge

One thing we’re particularly excited about with the convention is the scenario writing competition. You will be invited to write/design World of Darkness role-playing one-shots to specific challenges - a theme, a page limit in script length, and a time limit in play time length (because the finalists will be played at the convention, where you can all help judge the audience award).

The competition will run in two categories, official rules systems and bespoke rules; in the latter you would also design or select the game mechanics needed to play your scenario in your desired style. You can design tabletop, hybrid styles or larp in either category, as long as it is possible to play the games at the convention. A selection of the games will be published as an official White Wolf book.

We’ll tell you more about how this all works – and the all-important schedule! – in a few weeks. Until then, we’d like to introduce the competition’s head judge, Marie Oscilowski. She plays a big part in organising the competition, will do much of the administration and lead the work of the esteemed jury.

Marie’s been a role-player since she was 14 and today plays mostly tabletop and freeform, although she enjoys the occasional larp. She has put most of her rpg community service energy into the Danish convention Fastaval, whose renowned Otto Awards in game design are a big inspiration for this competition. At Fastaval, Marie has served as scenario coordinator, engaging with more high-quality one-shots than most of us will ever read. What is your relationship to the World of Darkness? World of Darkness is by far my favorite setting, probably because it was my first real experience with tabletop. Vampire has a big place in my heart, but in general, I just love the setting and the many different kinds of games you can get from it. The scenario writing competition will have two categories – existing rules systems and bespoke rules. What do you think the greatest challenges are in each of these categories? In both cases it is important to make clear what you use and what you don’t use. Even though you use the rules, it is important to communicate where your focus lies. Is it an investigation based scenario or a game based on drama or relations? It will help others to know what they should focus on, when preparing to set up the scenario to play.

When you use an existing setting, you should try to decide what to use and what not to use. WoD is a huge setting, and for a single shot scenario, not everything will be relevant. I would make that clear to myself before starting. I think time is going to be an issue. Both in regards to designing, but also in regards to how long the scenario should run for. This is not a campaign. There isn’t time for everything the setting has to offer. When you choose not to use the rules, only use some of them, or in general diverge from the original, you should choose based on the story you want to tell. It is important to make sure that the rules you make up, take from other things, or that you have omitted totally, are the right decision for the scenario you are designing. It is also important to remember that certain expectations come with designing scenarios in WoD. You should make it very clear where you differ and why, so others can see and follow your vision when running or playing your scenario. What advice do you have for people writing one-shot scenarios for competition?

It takes longer than you think, and what you think is evident in your writing, might not be for others. I would strongly recommend getting someone to read what you write to make sure others understand it. I would also suggest testing the game before finishing the written part. Play it with your friends, and they can tell you if a role needs more flesh to it, or if there is a plot hole. Also, the easiest way of seeing if your scenario takes too long to play is to play it. Finally I would recommend trying to narrow down how much setting you include into your game. In a campaign you have time to introduce lots of NPCs, plot threads from every corner of the setting, but when you write a one shot you have less room. So choose what matters, choose what makes your story better, and try to kill some darlings.