What is the Iron Player Championship Tournament

The Iron Player Championship is a single game tournament at at Gencon each year where over 60 players compete to determine who is the best Dungeons and Dragons player.   Con RPG tournaments have become formulaic: Three rounds, hundreds of players, judges instead of dungeon masters, and linear adventures.  The Iron Player Championship deviates from the formula, throwing players into a challenging epic adventure where they decide the course of the story and their characters.  In the mean time, they are judged by three Iron Dungeonmasters as they battle in tactical combats, mind-bending puzzles and moral challenges.  The tournament takes place in a single seven and a half hour setting with winners awarded on an individual and team basis. Scoring is determined by a combination of judge’s ratings, player votes and overall objectives met.  Scoring is based off of the entire adventure, not one-third, so players are never eliminated.   The 2010 Iron Player Championship takes place Thursday, August 5th from 11:30 to 7 p.m. at the Hyatt in the Discovery Room.  (Game Code: RPG0900129).

Who are the Iron-DM Allstars

The Iron-DM Allstars are a group of Dungeon Masters whom formed a friendship while competing each year in famed RPG writer Nick Logue’s Iron DungeonMaster Tournament, a grueling six hour tournament where dungeon masters write and run an adventurer based off of three random items.  Since its creation it has expanded to include other great Dungeon Masters and RPG Writers.

How is the Tournament Judged

A lot of questions have come about as to how the tournament is judged.  This was NOT the D&D open where metagaming can take you far.  As a matter of fact, players get penalized for metagaming and power gaming in this tournament. That is not to say you should not build a great character, but arguing over rules and treating the tourney like a board game will find you near the bottom of the rankings.

Players are given points as individuals and as teams for meeting certain objectives. The adventure was designed with the knowledge that every player will do what they could to meet their ultimate objective. DMs also judge players subjectively.

We will also limit the sources that can be used. As we switch to Paizo's Pathfinder system (3.5 to the next level). Part of the competition is making a character as fast as you can.  We compare this to a pit stop in NASCAR, its just as much apart of the competition.

2010 Tournament

For 2010, we are continuing the Collateral Apacolypse storyline with Ninjas vs. Pirate.  We're continuing to use the Pathfinder system as well.  Trust us, this is not your campy internet Ninjas vs. Pirates, this is going to be the darkest adventure yet for the tourney.

Our Main Goal

The sparking idea was to figure out a way to donate money to the National Academic Games organization. Most of us began our fledgling gaming career playing Academic Games in Highschool, and would not have the creative drive and success we have had today without their incorporation in schools.  Our primary goal is to make sure that all kids can be exposed to ways to release their creative and intellectual energy. All proceeds from this event go to the Academic Games Leagues of America. If you would like to find out more about Academic Games, go to their website at http://www.academicgames.org.