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For last year's competition I posted a list of 27 "auto-reject" topics for RPG Superstar. I'm linking them here just so these ideas are fresh in everyone's mind.
These aren't really "auto-reject" topics, they're design traps to avoid when designing your item. We judges have to evaluate hundreds of items and narrow the field to just 32 competitors. If you put a target on your back and give us an easy excuse to reject your item, you've made a mistake.
Read what's been done in previous competitions. Avoid these traps, pitfalls, auto-reject categories, whatever you want to call them. There's an incredible amount of advice online for this competition--use that advice to make your item better. There's advice to help you win, and advice to keep you from crashing and burning.
And understand that there are wondrous items in the Core Rulebook that fall into these traps--and likewise understand that RPG Superstar isn't just "design an item that would be acceptable filler for a big book of magic items." To make it into the Top 32, your item has to be exceptional, not merely adequate.
(I've moved #27 to the top of the list because it's the rule that breaks all rules. To quote myself, "Every single one of these 27 advice posts is here to help steer you away from mistakes that could make the judges reject your item. Going against that advice can be risky. But sometimes taking a risk is the way to get noticed, to make progress.")
Below this list are some other handy links about the competition, submitting, writing, and design.)
- Wondrous Item advice #27: An awesome item may disregard the other advice
- Wondrous Item advice #1: Spell in a Can
- Wondrous Item advice #2: Swiss Army Knife
- Wondrous Item advice #3: Backstory/History/Description Item
- Wondrous Item advice #4: Item Ought to be Not-An-Item
- Wondrous Item advice #5: Item Fails to Follow Game Rules
- Wondrous Item advice #6: Item is a Variant of an Existing Item
- Wondrous Item advice #7: Obvious Pricing Errors
- Wondrous Item advice #8: The Random Item
- Wondrous Item advice #9: The Intellectual Property Violation
- Wondrous Item advice #10: Item isn't Spell-Checked or Proofread
- Wondrous Item advice #11: The In-Character Quote
- Wondrous Item advice #12: Item is a Joke
- Wondrous Item advice #13: Item makes you blind and not blind
- Wondrous Item advice #14: Item is something we can't advertise due to mature or offensive content
- Wondrous Item advice #15: Item is unclear on how often it is useable
- Wondrous Item advice #16: Item's name is a real-world item name
- Wondrous Item advice #17: Item is modern technology presented as magic
- Wondrous Item advice #18: Item makes bearer unable to be lost
- Wondrous Item advice #19: Item involves vomit
- Wondrous Item advice #20: Item makes GMing harder
- Wondrous Item advice #21: Item gives a class ability or a feat
- Wondrous Item advice #22: Item makes adventuring safe
- Wondrous Item advice #23: Item's drawback is actually a benefit
- Wondrous Item advice #24: Item repeats existing rules text in its description
- Wondrous Item advice #25: Item is a child's toy
- Wondrous Item advice #26: Item encourages metagaming
One last bit of R1 advice: Include the Item's Name
* Work on your item in a program that allows you to save. Save early, save often. When you're ready to submit your item, copy it from the most recent version of your saved file and paste it into the submission window. We've heard horror stories of people who compose their item in the submission window, and lose their submission due to a browser glitch, power failure, or accidentally closing the window. Don't let this happen to you!
* Make sure you know how to post an item. Posting your submission works just like making a message board post--you can preview how your submission looks before you make that final decision to post. Use the preview function! Use it!!!
* Work on several ideas, and submit the one you like the best. Variety can help your creativity.
* Know the rules. You don't have to know all the rules, but read up on the stuff that's relevant to your item. If you're designing an item for cavaliers, make sure you've thoroughly read the cavalier class...
* Read the judge and fan comments on previous Top 32 items to see why they were kept. If you have time, read the "Judges, please critique my item" threads to see why they were rejected.
* Make sure your item doesn't exceed the word count limit for the round. Seriously--one word over and you're disqualified. Use the word count function in your typing program, they're all pretty close (Paizo uses Microsoft Word, FYI), and if you use the Preview button when you submit, it'll tell you the word count for your submission. If it's over the word count (300 for a wondrous item, including the item name and all the stat block info), edit it down.
* Check your item for spelling and grammar errors. Then check it again. Then hit the Preview button. Then check it again. Then, if you're satisfied, hit Submit.
* Submit something, even if you don't think it's very good, or if you don't think it's good enough. If you never actually submit an item, you have a 0% chance to win the competition.
* Be ready for criticism and try to learn from it.
* Remember the Paizo message board policies, especially unwritten Rule 0, "Don't be a jerk."
* Read Seabyrn's thread about passive voice in writing.
And, just for fun, here's my example from last year of an item submission that fails for many, many reasons.
