Grimm Brigade wins 1st Obsidian Contest

Umm, wow:

And the winner is....

jclef, with his module Grimm Brigade!

The module had some great writing, area designs and a very original concept. If you haven't played it already, I highly suggest it and all of the other mod contest modules.

Thanks to all those that participated. We had a great time judging this contest and playing all the modules.

Stay tuned for a new contest kicking off in the very near future!

A few comments:

• You can read my comments about Grimm's Brigade here. As you'll see, I thought it was a fun and enjoyable module that offered some great action in a tight, polished package. Many congrats to jclef for the excellent submission and for winning.
  
• That said, I'm rather surprised--I felt that The Birthday by Maerduin was on another level in terms of quality. A much deeper, interesting, and, for me anyway, more enjoyable module. And action wise, I think it holds up with Grimm's Brigade quite well.
  
• I would probably also rate Cry Wolf by Lorft above (barely) Grimm's Brigade. All are solid modules--I guess my rankings might just reflect my preference for interesting stories and good writing over action.
• I was surprised that they only announced one winner--I think the community would be much better served if they granted gold, silver, and bronze awards, for example.
  

Nevertheless, congrats again to jclef for his win. It is a deserving module and is well worth a look. Furthermore, thanks and congratulations to all the authors of this first module contest!

Update:

I thought it might be nice to recap the Obsidian Mod Contest, based on the rankings by popular vote. We might consider this a "People's Choice" ranking that makes for an interesting comparison to Obsidian's rankings (I'm hoping they'll release a top-3 or top-5 list).

Here are the rankings with a 5-vote minimum. The number in parentheses indicates my vote, if applicable:

1. The Birthday - 8.92 (8)
   
2. Grimm Brigade - 8.50 (7)
   
3. Cry Wolf - 8.33 (7)
   
4. Daark Twins - 7.69
   
5. Being Good - 7.68 (7)
   
6. Witch in the Wood - 7.25 (6)
   
7. A Walk in the Woods 7.21
8. Ebha - 7.00
9. Happily Never After - 6.90
   
10. Once Upon a Time - 6.67 (6)
    
11. Grimm's Patchworld - 6.56
12. Queen of Lies - 6.50
    
13. Prince of Light, or Shadow - 6.48
14. The Rampion Champion - 6.10

Apparently I'm somewhat more conservative than average. And I'm embarrassed at how few of these mods I got a chance to play. :(

One thing that is important to note about this list is that none of these modules scored below 6, which means that all of these modules were given an average verbal rating of at least "Good, Qualified Recommendation." Furthermore, three scored above 8, which indicates they were "Excellent, Recommended to Anyone." Given the tight deadline of this contest (less than a month), I think that's pretty remarkable. Again, congrats to all these authors, and especially congrats to jclef for winning the competition.

Update2: Lorft had some comments about ways in which the organization and marketing of this contest could have been better. I agree with him. Hopefully Obsidian will take note.