Eight amateur game designers have advanced to Round 4 of Paizo Publishing's RPG Superstar, the largest open-call tabletop roleplaying design contest in history. Paizo Designer Stephen Radney-MacFarland joined Pathfinder Tales author (Prince of Wolves) Dave Gross, celebrity judges Sean K Reynolds and Mark Moreland from Paizo, former Dungeons & Dragons Brand Manager and creator of the Open Gaming Movement Ryan Dancey, and RPG Superstar 2009 winner Neil Spicer to critique complete villain designs based on archetypes created in the previous round or from an official Paizo source. As a special Round 3 twist, the 16 finalists had to base the villains on artwork provided specifically for this purpose.
"If you think you have the chops, and you have a burning desire to do roleplaying design for a living, then participating in RPG Superstar is the best way to prove it. At the very least you’ll improve your craft through a crucible of constructive criticism," said guest judge Stephen Radney-MacFarland. "Even before coming to work at Paizo, whenever I taught game design classes, I recommended RPG Superstar to my students who wanted to take their game to the next level."
The Top 8 finalists for RPG Superstar 2011 and their winning entries are:
The Top 8 will now be required to design a Pathfinder Roleplaying Game location set in Golarion, the world of the Pathfinder RPG. The location must come complete with lore, a full encounter, and a map. Contestants must submit their entries to Paizo by 2:00 PM Pacific time on Friday, February 18. These Round 4 submissions will be commented on by the four regular judges plus two special guest judges, professional cartographers and regular Paizo contributors Rob Lazzaretti and Jared Blando. On February 22, the entries and judge comments will be revealed to the general public, who will then get to discuss the entries and vote for their favorites. Voting ends on February 28, and the Top 4 (by votes) will move on to Round 5.
The ultimate winner of RPG Superstar, who will be announced on March 22, 2011, will write a Pathfinder Module to be published in early 2012. The winning 2010 RPG Superstar module, Matt Goodall's Cult of the Ebon Destroyers, releases in February 2011.
I'm very pleased to see that many of the ones I voted for are ones that have advanced into the Top 8.
Looking forward to your Golarion Location with Map and Tiered Encounters entries.
~Dean
Scott Fernandez
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2011 Top 16,
Dedicated Voter aka primemover003
Vrock on Top 8! Your villains kicked some serious tailfeathers. I for one cannot wait to see how you play with other people's toys in your sandboxes. There are some really juicy possibilities in Round 3 to explore and expound upon.
Will it be wilderness locations with either of the GOML Cave Druids, vicious Orcs, or an Anti-hero Robin Hood? Perhaps some Urban goodness with little-folk slavers, bloodsport impresarios, or psychotic dreamers? Or do we delve into a Dungeon with insane derro, accidents waiting to happen, vengful elemental ascetics, or brooding dhampir?
Very excited for you fellers! I enjoyed reading your villain entries and am eager to see your location entries...hoping to "lift" one for my own game. :)
That's a great set of top 8 finalists! Congratulations to all who made it this far (and to all that almost made it this far). Bring on the most awesome locations!
John Bennett
RPG Superstar 2011 Top 8,
Dedicated Voter aka John Benbo
LoreKeeper wrote:
That's a great set of top 8 finalists! Congratulations to all who made it this far (and to all that almost made it this far). Bring on the most awesome locations!
This is the round I've been most looking forward, so to be able to compete is an honor.
Enlight_Bystand
Scott Fernandez
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2011 Top 16,
Dedicated Voter
aka primemover003
