It's the Most Superstar Time of the Year!

And here we go! :D

AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

SUUUUUURRRRGE!!!!

Only four rounds? And a fresh set of Judges for every round? Intereeeesting....

Oh, and what the Kellogg brothers said ;-)

Nice! Looking forward to all the fun :)

Do you think anyone's submitted their item yet?

Wow, big changes this year! Good luck, contestants!

Interesting:

1)This year is shorter
2) Luckily, I don't fall in the 'Anyone who has a design credit in 3 or more of Paizo's Pathfinder products is ineligible.' category

Let the Spellcraft checks... BEGIN!

Do you think anyone's submitted their item yet?

Is the Pope Catholic? ;)

EEEEeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

Woohoo! I'm looking forward to watching this year's contest unfold. Plus I'll see if I can improve upon my Star Voter status.

BLAM. You'd better make it good, folks! :D

BLAM.

Ack!

Woohoo! I'm looking forward to watching this year's contest unfold. Plus I'll see if I can improve upon my Star Voter status.

Hey taig! You changed your avatar! I hardly recognized you. :)

Mike Welham wrote:

Woohoo! I'm looking forward to watching this year's contest unfold. Plus I'll see if I can improve upon my Star Voter status.

Hey taig! You changed your avatar! I hardly recognized you. :)

As long as Paizo keeps putting badger avatars out there, I'll use them. :)

There's something off about Daigle's portrait, but I'm not able to put my finger on it. Might be the haircut.

No archetypes this year, eh? I suppose they've got enough of them what with the Advanced Class Guide.

No archetypes this year, eh? I suppose they've got enough of them what with the Advanced Class Guide.

I am sort of glad, but seeing the timeline, doing some prep work after submitting a wondrous item might do some good, 3 days go by pretty fast

Good luck everyone!

Whoo!

Hey Ross, did you lose your Superstar tag?

Same dwarf, same dance, different flavor! :)

Wow, top 16 goes straight to top 4 this year. I guess that means... that the finalists and the 3 runners up are the ones that won't be eligible to compete in the future, instead of the top 8?

EDIT: Hmm, I wonder if it might make more proportional sense to go something like 32 (or 36) >>> 12 >>> 4?

Samuel Stone wrote:

No archetypes this year, eh? I suppose they've got enough of them what with the Advanced Class Guide.

I am sort of glad, but seeing the timeline, doing some prep work after submitting a wondrous item might do some good, 3 days go by pretty fast

Anyone in this contest not practicing hard core monster and encounter design from the second they submit their item (and before that, if they know what's good for them) is a fool, a damned fool and nothin' but a fool, so help me Aroden.

Hey Ross, did you lose your Superstar tag?

I lost it when I became staff, which I lost when I changed jobs. I could probably get it back if I asked nicely, I suppose.

A new challenger approaches!

Whee, I'm very excited! One might even say...SUPER excited!

My team is Cable - Ryu - War Machine, please give up now.

It strikes me that the round they've decided to do away with was the "mechanics-lite" one, like describing an organization. I can live with that.

Great spread of new Judges this year!

(Is anyone else glitching out on the Judges or rules pages in Chrome?)

Agreed, Jacob 3. Start practicing now.

I'm kind of bummed about the drop to four rounds; I tended to like Round 2.

Interesting that it's new judges for each round (plus SKR, of course). Wonder if that'll have an effect on anything besides the judges' sanity.

Great spread of new Judges this year!

(Is anyone else glitching out on the Judges or rules pages in Chrome?)

As in the "too many requests" error? I've gotten that a lot from it, yea.

Ross Byers wrote:

Great spread of new Judges this year!

(Is anyone else glitching out on the Judges or rules pages in Chrome?)

As in the "too many requests" error? I've gotten that a lot from it, yea.

Yes, that one. Where it consistently refreshes until you get the monkeyclick page. Wanted to make sure it wasn't just me before filing a bug report. (Firefox works fine.)

Maurice de Mare wrote:

Hey Ross, did you lose your Superstar tag?

I lost it when I became staff, which I lost when I changed jobs. I could probably get it back if I asked nicely, I suppose.

Plugs that back in.

Great spread of new Judges this year!

(Is anyone else glitching out on the Judges or rules pages in Chrome?)

Yes. We are currently investigating.

Ross Byers wrote:

Maurice de Mare wrote:

Hey Ross, did you lose your Superstar tag?

I lost it when I became staff, which I lost when I changed jobs. I could probably get it back if I asked nicely, I suppose.

Plugs that back in.

Thanks, Chris!

Finally! I can stop freaking out, and comfortably re-write my item a bajillion times before I submit it New Years Eve.

Can't wait to vote!

Good Luck everyone.

Looking forward to seeing what y'all come up with, especially for the monster round!

Agreed, Jacob 3. Start practicing now.

I'm kind of bummed about the drop to four rounds; I tended to like Round 2.

Interesting that it's new judges for each round (plus SKR, of course). Wonder if that'll have an effect on anything besides the judges' sanity.

And what does that say about SKR's sanity? I'm often amazed he survives the normal wear and tear from the flak on the boards, let alone all this!

Yep, I gotta agree that the spread of judges is absolutely fantastic. Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!

Looking forward to seeing what y'all come up with, especially for the monster round!

Yeeeeeeeeeessssssss....

I'm actually kind of jealous of people who are still eligible. Go! Submit things! Have fun!

Actually, I take that back. First, read Sean's threads on what not to do. Then submit things and have fun!

This is a great opportunity for many fans, but I don't think creativity should be restricted to only wondrous items. Why not an original creature, setting or other category?

The round following the magic item round is creating a creature.

Yes, but most of us don't make it that far.

The hiss of "it begins" that I just made at my computer desk was entirely involuntary.

Funny, I thought the boards would be busier after the announcement than before it. :)

20 days to go: what should I do, what should I do, what should I do.

Looking forward to the slew of judges. That's a mountain of varying sources for feedback to the contestants.

This is a great opportunity for many fans, but I don't think creativity should be restricted to only wondrous items. Why not an original creature, setting or other category?

• Short enough to judge large quantities quickly (there are a LOT of submissions)
  
• Include mechanical elements with a broad range of power and effect
  
• Include flavorful elements
  
• Appeal to all classes

If the first round was to design a Feat, for instance, feats have a relatively narrow power band, limiting the contestants options. (And a lot of Feats tend toward the mechanical rather than the flavorful.)

If the first round was to design a Spell, nothing could be done for Fighters, Barbarians, or Rogues.

If the first round was a setting, there wouldn't be a test of mechanical ability.

If the first round was a monster or a class, it would be impossible to sift through them for the Top 32.

There's also a good reason for this kind of inertia: Some people start practicing long in advance (see the Blazing 9 thread, for instance), and I think Paizo wants to reward people who do their homework.

Not saying it will never change: Change is the nature of life. But there are good reasons for being the way it is.

Yes, but most of us don't make it that far.

Most people don't make it past the open call, but that's the nature of the contest. Of any contest. Especially one that doubles as a job interview. You have to learn to walk before you learn to run, so to speak. (If you have an idea for a super-cool monster or setting, you don't need RPG Superstar to share it: you can post in in the Homebrew forum, or pitch it directly to a 3PP.)

Funny, I thought the boards would be busier after the announcement than before it. :)

People are working on their items?

A female judge in every round! Thanks for listening, Paizo! :D