Four amateur game designers have advanced to the final round of Paizo Publishing’s RPG Superstar 2010, the largest open-call tabletop roleplaying design contest in history. Professional gaming cartographers Robert Lazzaretti and Corey Macourek joined celebrity judges Sean K Reynolds and F. Wesley Schneider from Paizo and Necromancer Games president Clark Peterson to critique a fully mapped complete Pathfinder RPG encounter.
The Top 4 finalists for RPG Superstar 2010 and their winning entries to date are:
- Matt Goodall (Cheltenham, Victoria, Australia); The Lost Ziggurat of Amar Zedas; Chaitrakhan; Churjiir; Spellstrike vambraces
- Jim Groves (Ontario, Oregon, USA): Seven Towers Observatory; Ardorwesp; Skintaker; Seducer’s bane
- Alexander MacLeod (Raleigh, North Carolina, USA): Cloister of Saint Bethaene; Chymick Swarm; Ardorwesp; Scapular of true devotion
- Matthew McGee (Davis, California, USA): False Tomb of the Crawling Pharaoh; Astrumal; Ossuary Golem; Batrachian helm
Having designed new magic items, creatures, traps, and encounters, the Top 4 will now be required to write a full adventure module proposal for an installment of Paizo’s award-winning Pathfinder Modules line of "one shot" adventure modules. Paizo’s Creative Director James Jacobs will join the celebrity judges to comment on the four submissions, and the 100,000+ users of paizo.com will vote on their favorites. The proposal with the highest number of votes will be published by Paizo as a 32-page Pathfinder Module in early 2011. Previous RPG Superstar-winning modules include 2010’s Realm of the Fellnight Queen, by Neil Spicer, and 2009’s Clash of the Kingslayers, by Leandra Christine Schneider.
Contestants must submit their 3000-word Pathfinder Module proposal to Paizo by 2:00 PM Pacific time on Friday, March 12, 2010. On March 16, 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 March 22, and the 2010 RPG Superstar and his winning Pathfinder Module proposal will be announced on March 23, with the winning module to be published in early 2011.
For a complete schedule for RPG Superstar 2010, plus rules and FAQs, visit paizo.com/rpgsuperstar.
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Paizo Publishing®, LLC is a leading publisher of fantasy roleplaying games, accessories, board games, and novels. Paizo's Pathfinder® line of rules, adventures, sourcebooks, novels, and campaigns combines decades of game design experience into one evocative system compatible with the 3.5 rules. Paizo's GameMastery® accessories offer easy-to-use tools aimed at improving the tabletop RPG experience. Paizo's board game imprint unleashes fun, challenging games like Kill Doctor Lucky™ and Yetisburg™ that appeal to both families and casual gamers alike. Paizo's Planet Stories® line of science fiction and fantasy novels promises thrilling adventure of the like not seen since the legendary pulps. Paizo.com is the leading online hobby retail store, offering tens of thousands of products from a variety of publishers to customers all over the world. In the seven years since its founding, Paizo Publishing has received more than a dozen major industry awards and has grown to become one of the most influential companies in the hobby games industry.
