RPG Superstar 2009™ Round Two Assignment: Design a Villain Concept

Design a villain for a fantasy campaign world, as might appear in a published adventure or campaign sourcebook, for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Beta Release. Your villain should be designed for standard-level play, not Epic. (If your villain had stats, it would be CR 20 or less.) Entries in this round must be 500 words or less.

The submission form includes fields for subject and body.

The subject field should include only the villain's name and, optionally, a *brief* descriptive tag. (Example: Karzoug, Runelord of Greed.)

The body of the submission must include the following:

• The villain's name and descriptive tag, repeated from the subject field
• The villain's gender, race (human, elf, pit fiend, and so on), and class and level (if it has class levels)
• A description of your villain, including physical description
• Your villain's motivation(s) and goal(s)
• Schemes and plot and/or adventure hook(s) for your villain

DO NOT INCLUDE A STAT BLOCK—just gender, race, class, and level. No hit points, saving throws, skill bonuses, magic items carried, or so on. Don't even state the CR—we know what's CR20 and what's not.

You may include additional information about your villain in the body, but the entire body field must not exceed 500 words.

PRESENTATION:
You must use this format:
Name
gender race class level
Description: text goes here
Motivations/Goals: text goes here
Schemes/Plots/Adventure Hooks: text goes here

ALLOWED SOURCES:
Apart from your own original content, you are limited to using or referring to the following sources:

• Paizo's Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Beta Release, and officially released web enhancements to the Beta
• The 3.5 SRD as presented at d20srd.org
• Published content from Paizo's Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting
• Content from the earlier round of this year's RPG Superstar contest (whether you created it or not)
• Content that is in the public domain (such as mythological references, etc.)

You may NOT use or refer to Open Game Content (or any other material) from other publishers.

INAPPROPRIATE CONTENT:
We know that villains are vile and evil; they often do bad things to motivate the PCs to act. Nevertheless, we require that your submission not include salacious sexual references; not show a prejudice against or disrespect for existing real-world minorities, nationalities, social castes, religious groups, genders, lifestyle preferences, or people with disabilities; not portray current real-world religions and religious groups and/or practices in any way that promotes disrespect for these religions or their participants; and not include gratuitous and/or excessive gore, sexual violence or violence towards children.

Entries must be submitted through the submission tool at paizo.com/rpgsuperstar and must be received by 2PM Pacific time on Jan 23, 2009. Fan voting for Round Two begins January 27, and ends February 2. The sixteen (16) contestants advancing to Round Three will be announced February 3.

DISQUALIFICATION:
Contestants may be disqualified for the following reasons:

• Submission is not a villain
• Submission does not conform to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Beta Release
• Submission is not designed for standard-level play
• Submission exceeds 500 words
• Submission does not contain all required information
• Submission includes stat block information other than gender/race/class/level
• Submission doesn't follow the mandated format for presentation
• Submission is copied from a previously published source
• Submission uses material from sources that aren't allowed
• Submission violates restrictions regarding inappropriate content
• Submission is not submitted by the deadline
• Submission does not generally use correct English
• If, in the sole discretion of the judges and/or Paizo, a submission is deemed a "joke" or otherwise fails to meet the minimum requirements of the competition or other contest rules, it will be rejected
• If the contestant posts in his or her entry thread during the voting period for any reason other to acknowledge feedback or to encourage people to vote for his or her submission, the contestant will be disqualified

All prior contest rules apply, except as modified above. Full contest rules can be found here. The RPG Superstar FAQ can be found here.

ROUND 2 FAQ:

Q1: What is a "villain"?

You know what a villain is. A villain is more than just a "monster" or an "encounter," though your villain may be a monster (as in not humanoid) and you may in fact encounter him/her/it. A villain is more than just an NPC. We want to encourage a broad reading of what a villain is, but here are some guidelines. A villain:

• Is a unique NPC
• Is an individual creature or entity
• Is as much a plot device as an encounter
• Is an antagonist for the PCs
• Does not have to be a final boss, but he/she/it must be more than just a simple henchman
• Must be capable of being a proactive opponent, not simply reactive
• Must be capable of independent thought and be able to come up with plans and take actions to thwart the PCs

Q2: Can you give me some examples of villains?

Darth Vader is an excellent example of a villain. Iago from Othello is a villain. Magneto and Mystique from Marvel are villains. Medea (in the later part of her story) is a villain. Jade Fox from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a villain.

Q3: I'm still not clear on the definition here.

Take a look at the discussion threads about last year's villain round. If you still don't know what to do after reading those, RPG Superstar may not be the contest for you.

Q4: Can my villain be more than one person or creature?

No, each villain should be a single person or creature or entity or whatever stuff our authors come up with. Just one. Now, that "one" may have henchmen or minions, but they should not be the focus of your submission.

Q5: I think that villains should have opposable thumbs and pass for humanoid—is that a restriction?

Nope. This thing is wide open. Your villain can be monstrous or humanoid or whatever. Those design choices are up to you, so long as you actually create a "villain" as defined above.

Q6: Can I have a good-aligned villain?

We are not imposing an alignment restriction on your villain. That creative choice is up to you.

Q7: What if I want to create a CR 1 villain?

You can. There is no requirement that you max out your villain. While it will be up to the voting public to decide, a well-designed low-level villain could be a winner. We aren't testing gonzo power design here. Some would say Balabar Smenk is a better villain than Dragotha—in fact, that is exactly what the editors of Dungeon magazine said when they ranked the best villains of all time in the final printed issue.

Q8: OK then, what are you really trying to test this round?

While in the end it is up to the voting public to decide what entries advance and what criteria to use to make that decision, the point of this round from the standpoint of the judges is really twofold: (1) villain concept and (2) ability to hook us with descriptive text. We are not looking for the ultimate overpowered villain.

Q9: If you aren't testing uber-villains, then why didn't you put a lower CR cap or a CR range on the submissions, like CR 8 or 15?

We considered it. But in the end we wanted to leave those design decisions to the authors. Remember, this is a very creative group of people. We trust them. We didn't want to tie their hands. Placing a bottom end would prevent someone from coming up with an unbelievable CR 2 villain, for instance. We didn't want to do that. We also trust that the voting members here on the Paizo boards are savvy enough and can tell the difference between a poorly designed high-level villain and a brilliantly designed low-level villain.

Q10: Which is more important: a villain that has a lot going for it creatively, or a villain that fills an archetype?

An RPG Superstar does not see a contradiction between these "extremes." The best entries will be both creatively unique and mechanically interesting. Try to create a villain that is unique, yet not so unusual that most campaigns won't be able to find a role for him or her.

Q11: Can I use material from my own campaign?

Provided the campaign has never been published, this is fine, but keep in mind that all submissions become the property of Paizo Publishing, LLC. You are probably better off inventing something new specifically for the contest.

Q12: Can I create new abilities, feats, spells, powers, items, or rules for my villain?

No. This stage of the contest is about story, not about mechanics. Resist the urge.

Q13: What is the role of the judges in Round 2?

The judges will be comment on each entry before they are revealed to the public. The judges will also determine whether or not each contestant has actually fulfilled the assignment, and will eliminate any entries that violate the rules. (Hopefully, though, that won't be an issue.) The judges are allowed to vote, but their votes weigh exactly the same as anyone else's. Beyond that, it's all up to the voting public!

Q14: What is the submission deadline?

2PM Pacific time on Jan 23, 2009. If you don't make the deadline, you're out of the contest.

Q15: How is word count calculated?

Sean and Clark use Microsoft Word 2007; their count will be considered final. We acknowledge that different programs count words differently, so a slight overage of a few words will not be grounds for auto-rejection.

Q16: What happens if one of the Top 32 doesn't submit an entry before the deadline, or submits an entry that's disqualified?

There are ranked alternates from Round 1 working on the same assignment with the same timetable, and they will fill any open slots if any of the Top 32 fail to submit an entry or are disqualified.

Q17: Is there an advantage to posting my submission early?

Submissions are presented to the judges and voters as a threads in a standard Paizo messageboard forum. The default ordering of threads on the forums is by most recent post, so the list will be sorted by whichever entries were commented upon last. As people add comments, that sorting will shuffle the order of the threads, so there is no advantage to posting earlier or later.

Q18: Will I be able to see the judges' comments on my item?

The judges' discussion for the Top 16 items only will be posted online, and fans will be able to consider that feedback in their own voting decisions. After the Top 16 have been announced, non-advancing contestants are free to post their villains to the RPG Superstar discussion forum for feedback from their peers.

Q19: What sort of comments will be allowed from the public on the messageboards?

The messageboards on paizo.com are renowned for a friendly environment with knowledgeable and passionate members. We encourage anybody who posts to give the community their thoughts on each entry, but to do so in a constructive and non-inflammatory manner. Posters should critique the submissions, but not the designer—personal attacks on the contestants will not be tolerated.

Q20: Can I answer questions people are asking about my submission in the discussion thread?

No. Your submission needs to speak for itself. You may post in your thread to acknowledge feedback and encourage people to vote for your submission, but that's it. Violating this rule may result in disqualification, in the sole discretion of the judges and/or Paizo. Contestants can post in the threads of other contestant's villains, but are cautioned that the public is watching what they do and say.

Q21: How do you figure out who wins?

Beginning January 27, the submissions and the judges' comments will be presented in a forum on the RPG Superstar messageboards. They are then subject to open commentary by members of the paizo.com community. A form located at the top of the Round Two forum will allow registered users to vote for up to four (4) of their favorite submissions. Users may change their votes at any time before voting ends. Round 2 voting closes at 2PM Pacific Time on February 2, and the sixteen (16) submissions with the most votes will be revealed at 2PM on February 3. At that time, the top sixteen (16) contestants will be given their task for the next round.

Good luck!