Paizo Publishing today announced the finalists for RPG Superstar, the largest open-call tabletop roleplaying game design contest in history. Judges Ryan Dancey, Clark Peterson, Sean K Reynolds, and Neil Spicer selected the Top 32 from hundreds of submissions in an initial contest to design a wondrous item using the rules from the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, available in stores and in electronic form on paizo.com. The Top 32 wondrous items are now on display at paizo.com, complete with judge commentary and additional comments from 2011 RPG Superstar finalists Sam McGowan, Jerral Toi, and winner Sam Zeitlin. Gamers are invited to contribute their own comments to the entries.
"RPG Superstar is a unique opportunity for gamers to become professional designers and for Paizo to discover new, talented writers," said judge and Paizo game developer Sean K Reynolds. "As a developer who regularly works with about a dozen notables from previous competitions, I look forward to seeing these designers grow and improve over the next four challenges. Congratulations to this year’s Top 32!"
The Top 32 finalists (and their winning wondrous items) for RPG Superstar 2012 are (in alphabetical order):
2012’s alternates are Benjamin Medrano, Andrew Newton, and Alex van der Kleut.
UPDATE: Anthony Guillotte, a Top 32 contestant, elected to drop out of the competition, and Jason Neals failed to complete an organization, allowing Andrew Newton and Benjamin Medrano to advance from alternate to the Top 32.
The Top 32 will now be required to design a concept for a new organization to the specifications of the RPG Superstar judges and submit that concept by 2:00 PM Pacific time on Friday, January 27. These round two submissions will be revealed to the general public on January 31 with judges’ comments and the public will then get to discuss the entries and vote for their favorite. Voting ends on February 6 and the Top 16 by votes will move on to round three.
The ultimate winner of RPG Superstar, announced April 3, 2012, will write a Pathfinder Module to be published in early 2013. The 2011 RPG Superstar champion module, Sam Zeitlin’s The Midnight Mirror, releases in April 2012.
I will not lie, i am sad i didn´t win. But congrats to everyone anyway. At least i got experience (maybe i will even level up).
Chris Shaeffer
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16,
Star Voter aka Hodge Podge
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Everybody, anyone that got into the top 32 has you all to thank. You're all amazing. I don't feel worthy of this, but I promise that I'm going to do my best to make this competition worth your attention.
Remember to submit your items to the critiquing thread. I'd love to see them. Also, if you have the time, rip my item a new one!
Thanks everyone. It's a privilege to get this far. The amazing support and information on these boards is the reason I have these funky new brackets after my name.
Good luck to everyone who got through!
Jacob Trier
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16,
Marathon Voter
1 person marked this as a favorite.
A big thank you to the judges and everyone who have posted in the Superstar forums. The community spirit surrounding this contest is truly amazing, and I'll try very, very hard not to disappoint.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Companion, Comics Subscriber
Many congratulations to the Top 32 - another crop of goodies for perusal.
Scott Fernandez
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2011 Top 16,
Dedicated Voter aka primemover003
Way to go Top 32! I am insanely jealous but equally thrilled for you all. This experience can really change the way you look at the game you've been playing. Listen to the wisdom of the feedback you get from the judges, but especially from the community. We're the ones judging you now and the mob is fickle. But really congratulations all of you!
Thomas LeBlanc
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32,
Champion Voter
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Chris Self wrote:
If you'd like to see more women represented, encourage the women in your life to participate.
I honestly try to get my wife to play anything. Monopoly Deal is the closest I can get her to my type of cards. Roleplaying is right out and so are my favorite board games. But she is my Editor In Chief!
If you'd like to see more women represented, encourage the women in your life to participate.
I honestly try to get my wife to play anything. Monopoly Deal is the closest I can get her to my type of cards. Roleplaying is right out and so are my favorite board games. But she is my Editor In Chief!
Interesting, 33-50% of my groups' members have been female since college. But, now that I think about it, many of them have outside interests that aren't quite so focused on gaming, so they don't frequent RPG message boards. I'll mention it to them when next year comes around.
In any case, I'm very excited to take a look at this years' entries!
There's no female judges, either.... Just sayin'. ;)
(Just in case the winking smiley isn't sufficient -- because I know things can get heated when Superstar is on -- this is by no means any sort of claim of bias against the judges. I would, however, love to see Lisa or one of the other women associated with Paizo sitting in one year. Just because that would be awesome.)
No wonder i didn't make it into the top 32... I just glanced at the items that made it and it looks like i'm out of my league! congrats to the 32 and alternates that got picked!
Now, it's time for me to do a bit of woodsheddin' so i'm ready for next year...
You know, I was obviously and severly disappointed on not making it in this year. And while I still think that I had a great item (and can't wait to see what the judges say about it when they open the thread tomorrow) I have to agree with alex head; the items this year are all very good. Even the ones I didn't like are still very well designed.
Short Version: Congrats on some great items this year.
Congrats everyone (especially the top 32, but to everyone who entered as well). I am looking forward to seeing what the top 32 come up with for the next round.
Congrats and a huge Thank You to the judges, staff, and especially the awesome community here!
Greg Monk
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32,
Star Voter aka Monkster
Thanks so much - and congrats to the other 31 and alternates! Looking forward to seeing the other entries in further rounds - there is some amazing creativity I'm up against!
DM_aka_Dudemeister
Dedicated Voter
Eric Hindley
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32, 2011 Top 16,
Marathon Voter
aka Boxhead
Draco Bahamut
Scott Fernandez
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2011 Top 16,
Dedicated Voter
aka primemover003
Chris Self
Master of Coin
Sphen
Jacob Kellogg
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32,
Marathon Voter
aka Jiggy
