The Iron Player Tournament is a different breed of tournament than what you find at most cons.  You won't find linear story lines, pregen characters and one sided style.  There should be no reason why a con game should feel like you are playing an entirely different game than the game you play at home. 

 What we do at Iron Player Master is weed out the single definitive player that is the epitomize of a Dungeons and Dragons player.  The competition that measures all the skills used to play dungeons and dragons.    Most competitions tend to turn into tests of which team can metagame the best leaving out the role playing. Not Iron Player, inspired by Nick Logue's Iron Dungeon Master and Hellfire, each player is judged not only on their skill navigating through obstacles, but how well they stay in character, how well they use their character and how well they work in a team atmosphere.  

 Players begin by building their character on the iron player character sheet.  We don't think you can judge a players skills with a pregen. Making your character, choosing skills and picking feats and spells are one of the biggest parts of the game.   We determine the guidelines to character builds before the event, and, provide early hints in our design journals.    The guidelines to character building are determined before the event. Players have at least 35 minutes to build a character but may take as long as they like. The game will not begin until all players have built a character.

Then the players compete in a three stage adventure being judged by three different DMs. The tournament takes place in one day and allows each team to play through the whole adventure.  This is important to keep the feel of Dungeons and Dragons.  None of us have ever played a game and the DM got up and walked away 1/3 into the game.  You might have an awful time with your first DM, but may pull it together at the end.  We like to call our Dungeon Masters DMs, and not judges.  Their first job is to DM a great job. A players score determined partially by the judges (who rate you on role playing, avoiding metagaming, and other intangiles), partially by his team members  and partially by a loose skill of objectives.  The objectves in the game are designed to be achieved in multiple ways.  Instead of having minor objectives, we insteand go for more long term goals.  This way, you are not following a breadseed path.    

Players may play however they like. Do note that metagaming and not role playing will net a low score. Cheating and fudging dice are grounds for immediate removal from the tournament. This includes incorrect character sheets.