Manticore Games is launching a $20,000 D&D adventure building contest with winners to be revealed at PAX Online.

The following is a guest article by Patrick Buechner, the CMO of Manticore Games, the creators of Core.

Do you remember the first-time you played Dungeons & Dragons? My first adventure was playing through the much loved and sometimes misunderstood module Keep on the Borderlands with some friends at our local game store, Rivendell. I still remember exploring the Caves of Chaos, partying at the guild hall, and ending up as the main course at a Lizardman banquet. But what has stuck with me was how our Dungeon Master crafted the story specifically for us out of her imagination. Keep on the Borderlands was the original “sandbox” module where much of the story was left to the DM to craft and customize with the tools and frameworks provided by its author (and the father of Role Playing Games) Gary Gygax. 

At Manticore Games, we believe that amazing, one-of-a-kind interactive games and worlds can be made by anyone with an interest in sharing their ideas. Like Gygax did for DMs in Keep on the Borderlands, Core gives creators powerful and easy to use tools and frameworks to turn their ideas into memorable experiences.

With a name like Manticore, a mythological creature who appeared in the original D&D Monster Manual, you know we love fantasy. So today I’m excited to announce that Manticore Games has launched our official D&D Design-a-Dungeon Contest that will run through September 6. In this contest we are challenging our community of creators and newcomers to imagine and build original adventures in Core inspired by Dungeons & Dragons. Prizes totaling $20,000 will be awarded for the best D&D-themed games and experiences in four different adventure setting categories: strongholds and towers, the wilderness, elemental planes, and of course dungeons, caves, and catacombs. 

To assist contest participants in their quest, Manticore has created a new “framework.” Frameworks are the kits we use to give Creators content, tools, and templates to start building in the game genre of their choice. The D&D Contest framework includes a collection of weapons, NPCs, a basic level progression system, example fantasy props, and a template white-box dungeon map. It’s the toolkit to get you started not just building a contest entry, but any sort of RPG you can imagine. We’re also building a special “hub world,” the fantasy village Corehaven, that will connect to all of the winning worlds through portals found in a magical shrine.

All the winning games and explorable worlds created during the contest will be unveiled and be playable during a special PAX Online storytelling and gameplay panel in September. We have invited our favorite D&D celebrity players and DMs to reveal and play through the contest winners. During the panel, they’ll also share tales of their most epic D&D adventures. We will be working with them and our community to recreate these scenes from inside Core. During the panel, we’ll show these recreations as they tell their legendary stories.

Just like the DMs who build campaigns full of exotic locations, tantalizing treasures, and complex NPCs for their players, our Creators are building worlds and experiences that can only be found on Core. We can’t wait to see and experience what they unleash when we bring Dungeons & Dragons and Core together!

Contest details can be found on the official page: https://dndcontest.coregames.com. We can’t wait to see what you’ll make!

About Core

Core is an endless universe of games to play and worlds to explore designed by a global community of creators. It’s a radically accessible game construction kit and game-playing platform, all in one. Whether you’re interested in playing unexpected takes on shooters, RPGs, and party games, exploring massive and spectacular worlds with friends, or unleashing your own insane game designs on the world, Core is your portal to the multiverse.

© 2020 Manticore Games, Inc. Dungeons & Dragons permitted under limited license from Wizards of the Coast LLC. © Wizards of the Coast LLC.