Round 4: Who Got Your 3 Votes?


RPG Superstar™ 2008 General Discussion

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My favourites this round are:

In the Bleak Midwinter
Mind the Machine
Savagery, Sorrow and Shame


Nem-Z wrote:
With all due respect to A Grave Man, if presidential primary elections can have polls that are as completely off-base as the NH ones were, why are you concerned with our little exercise here?

Well, heck, I've all but given up on anything to do with political polls. I was rather hoping our little community would have higher standards. Teasing, by the way.

Ernest Mueller wrote:
On a more serious note, I would hope that, say, a senior editor deciding on entries for a monster book would have ones he loves but would have some he's marginal on, that he'd ask other folks about to see if they saw something he didn't about them....

Interesting thought, but I don't quite see the absolute similarity in the scenario. First, the editors in this case have already talked and made their own choices--our votes aren't helping them decide and choose in any way. Secondly, the three amigos don't even have to go with the popular vote--they'd be foolish not to, from the customer service standpoint, but there's no contract involved.

Personally, I approached this as an American Idol-esque competition. They perform, judges critique, we vote. Yes, people talk about the AI competitors...but in terms of percentage, if 1,000 people are voting in the Paizo competition, and 50-100-200 people are talking about to each other about it, that's 5-10-20% of the entire pool. Conversely, if we say 10,000,000 people vote for AI (a conservative number for illustration), to have the same percentage, that's 500,000-1,000,000-2,000,000 people all talking to each other. And the likelihood of that is slim. Furthermore, you don't see the AI voting totals on the screen at any time, only that X moved on and Y didn't. I'd guess that Fox does this in the hopes of minimizing skewing of the totals.

Ernest Mueller wrote:
Worrying about the "purity" of the vote is a little self defeating. Some people are taking earlier entries into account, others aren't. Some people are taking gender, or location, or looking good wearing nothing but belts into account, and others aren't. Embrace the truth of democracy...

Notwithstanding the earlier comment about giving up on political polls, but "self defeating?" Harsh way to put it, especially since I do take democracy seriously. I'll admit that I do tend to idealize things like democratic principles--but in my opinion, if they're not held to high standards then they're all but useless. Compare early American elections to recent: Then... good men, little campaigning, the runner-up is not the first loser, etc; Now... mudslinging, voter fraud, controversy, and so on.

I can't call the present iteration the "truth of democracy" with a straight face.

But whatever, the thread's already at 50+ votes. My comments were indeed made with honorable intentions, and I can only hope that they were taken seriously and given consideration by the readers prior to posting their own.


We love you man.


Ernest Mueller wrote:
We love you man.

Mhmm... If this is for me, then I appreciate the sentiment, but doubt its truthfulness. I'm barely tolerated by the people on this board that I know in real life. :-P

And I dunno...indications are that you're from Austin...I'm pretty much hard-wired to look askance upon just about anything from out of there. ;-)

Hey, at least you're not from Lubbock... Gig 'em.


I went with Mind the Machine, Bleak Midwinter, and Ooze Imperium.

Owner - House of Books and Games LLC , Marathon Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7

A Grave Man wrote:

... I do take democracy seriously. I'll admit that I do tend to idealize things like democratic principles -- but in my opinion, if they're not held to high standards then they're all but useless. Compare early American elections to recent: Then... good men, little campaigning, the runner-up is not the first loser, etc; Now... mudslinging, voter fraud, controversy, and so on.

I can't call the present iteration the "truth of democracy" with a straight face.

I'm unclear from your comment whether you're referring to this contest or drifting into the morass of contemporary American politics.

Assuming that we're staying on topic, by disdaining the public counting of a sample of votes, you're assuming all of the defects of public discussion with none of the benefits.

As I see it, people on here are pointing out the merits and flaws of the various entries. Identifying their vote is merely a more clear representation of their view of the top three items.

By stating that it will skew the polls, you're assuming that people will change their vote because other people are voting a certain way. While I'm sure there is a percentage that will, I believe that the majority of the people here will stick to the choices they prefer rather than trying to take a kingmaker role by changing their vote.

But I have been known to make mistakes, from time to time. Oh dear.


...about that kingmaking, I'd like to point out that reading the actual entry threads gives more or less the same information as these polls...when you read the reviews, raves and rants you already get an idea which will be the entries getting most votes, which are generally not liked and which are the borderline ones.
So I don't think this thread really has that much stronger effect than making all the comments public. This is just a quick checklist.

That said, the way votes have been spread does give some room for speculation, the top three has such a clear lead while there is quite a competition over that coveted 6th position...I am tempted to change my vote for one of the better "other" entries, but still...it was quite clear for me after reading the entries and comments that the ones I picked were considered best by many others too, while the fourth vote was clearly borderline...


In order of prefrence. I voted Darkblight, Midwinter and then finally chose Mind of the Machine. Boomer came in at a close, very close, 4th favorite. I hope you make it to the next round Boomer. You didn't get my vote this round but that doesn't mean I don't want to see what you have up your sleeve in the next round. Good luck to all of you. Everybody still in the contest has done a great job in adding to my homebrew. THANKS!


New Page? New update!

The last few votes have really made things interesting, creating both a 3-way tie for first place and a savage battle for the crucial #6 spot!

EXIT POLLS wrote:

30 Total Respondents

##########
21 The Darkblight
21 Mind the Machine
21 In the Bleak Midwinter
09 Born of Lightning
06 The Ooze Imperium
~~~~~~~~~~
05 Kakuen-Taka, The Hunger that Moves
05 Savagery, Sorrow and Shame
~~~~~~~~~~
01 Scared to Undeath
Bookeeping wrote:

01 Total Floaters

##########
01 Andriale (machine, undeath, ???)


I considered Schneider, Outzen, Nelson, and Boomer as worthy submissions. Looking back on their previous submissions, I saw that I previously had issues with both Schneider's wondrous item and Outzen's country. Ultimately, I found Outzen's country inspiring dispite its problems while Schneider's wondrous item is just too broken.

My votes went to Outzen, Nelson, and Boomer.


This was a really tough round. I really liked at least one monster from each entry. I've changed my votes around several times, but always come back to:

In the bleak midwinter - The variety of monsters means that I could use them in several different types of encounters. The writing was clean & evocative, and each one stuck in my mind.

Mind the Machine - The organization & writing of the entry impressed me. I knew exactly what I was dealing with after the intro, and my mind immediately started generating ideas that used these monsters as I was reading the details.

Kakuen-Taka, The Hunger that Moves - It took a while to wrap my head around this one, but in the end the ideas wowed me too much to neglect it. It needs a lot of polishing, but I would just love to run (or play in a game against) these monsters.


gbonehead wrote:

I'm unclear from your comment whether you're referring to this contest or drifting into the morass of contemporary American politics.

Assuming that we're staying on topic, by disdaining the public counting of a sample of votes, you're assuming all of the defects of public discussion with none of the benefits.

As I see it, people on here are pointing out the merits and flaws of the various entries. Identifying their vote is merely a more clear representation of their view of the top three items.

By stating that it will skew the polls, you're assuming that people will change their vote because other people are voting a certain way. While I'm sure there is a percentage that will, I believe that the majority of the people here will stick to the choices they prefer rather than trying to take a kingmaker role by changing their vote.

But I have been known to make mistakes, from time to time. Oh dear.

Thought it was fairly obvious that the paragraph you referenced focused on elections in general (American politics, more specifically), and not at all on this contest. And "drifting?" I went into that morass on purpose, and with a purpose.

I feel no contempt towards you and those who chose to make their votes public. There is no disdain on my part. I brought up reasons that public polls concern me, and chose not to participate.

If we can jump back to the American political system for a moment, we know that John McCain won the New Hampshire Republican primary (a vote that is deemed important almost solely because it occurs before other states' primaries). Today there are articles in the media proclaiming significant increases in McCain's poll numbers--CBS states that he's gone from 7% to 33% and is now leading the national Republican race.

Regardless of one's political viewpoint, this can't seem like a coincidence. Either the NH primary influenced the citizens polled, or there's a media conspiracy to boost McCain.

But, as I've tried to make clear, I am not accusing anyone of a)trying to influence others or b)allowing themselves to be influenced. My sole intent was to point out that it is a possibility. I did not intend to imply that public accounting of the votes will absolutely skew the actual vote, but I don't believe there's anyone who can say it will absolutely not do that.

As far as changing votes goes, it's my personal belief that if someone allows themselves to be swayed by public opinion to change a decision they've already made (in elections, business, etc), then that shows personal weakness. Before anyone gets offended, I hold in high esteem those people who either wait to get information and perspective before deciding, or even those who go back and change votes based on concrete issues. If someone tells you that you're buying an ugly car and you change your mind because of that, then you're a fool or a overly socially conscious teenager. If you look at that car and decide that you can't afford the payments, then you're making a fair decision.

And go ahead and put me down for three votes for the three trailing authors...

...If you believe I'm not just picking them to mess with the numbers.


It may be a touch of hubris, but if by my statements I've caused a person or two to consider that they may be unwittingly influenced, and then they make the extra effort to decide and make their own choices in what amounts to a vacuum...

Then I feel as I've done right by the democratic principles, and am satisfied, confident and all the more devout in my beliefs.

Scarab Sages Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games

I'm afraid I'm probably no help for sorting out the tie at the top, as I voted for Darkblight, Midwinter, and Mind in the Machine. I kept going back and forth between Machine and Born of Lightning as both had elements I liked, but I ended up choosing based on my great esteem for Christine's work in the country and villain rounds. I'm mostly voting on the entries I like best each round, but if it's very close I think the past rounds are a good tiebreaker.


Eldrich Gaiman wrote:

I considered Schneider, Outzen, Nelson, and Boomer as worthy submissions. Looking back on their previous submissions, I saw that I previously had issues with both Schneider's wondrous item and Outzen's country. Ultimately, I found Outzen's country inspiring dispite its problems while Schneider's wondrous item is just too broken.

My votes went to Outzen, Nelson, and Boomer.

Christine Schneider just lost out this round, since I only get three votes:

Kakuen-taka
Bleak Midwinter
Darkblight

RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka Phloid

I'm going with:
In the Bleak Midwinter
Born of Lightning
and
Darkblight

Darkblight is by the best by far, but these are the ones I could see myself using in my own game and the writing in all of them is atleast better than most.

Owner - House of Books and Games LLC , Marathon Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7

A Grave Man wrote:
Thought it was fairly obvious that the paragraph you referenced focused on elections in general (American politics, more specifically), and not at all on this contest. And "drifting?" I went into that morass on purpose, and with a purpose.

On purpose or not, I'd prefer that political discussions be kept out of my D&D.

A Grave Man wrote:
I feel no contempt towards you and those who chose to make their votes public. There is no disdain on my part. I brought up reasons that public polls concern me, and chose not to participate.

Please be sure to read carefully. Clearly you express no disdain for anyone here, it's unlikely you'd spend the effort if you did. But you have expressed the opinion that what is going on in this forum is a bad idea, and that was the disdain I referred to.

A Grave Man wrote:
If we can jump back to the American political system for a moment...

Nope, I'll pass :)

I really really like to keep my good old D&D free of that mess.


Your D&D?


Eldrich Gaiman wrote:
I considered Schneider, Outzen, Nelson, and Boomer as worthy submissions.

This mirrors my thinking almost exactly save that I also put Taylor in there. I thought that writing had to really count at some point in this contest, and that's what led my to pick Boomer over Christine (even though I really wanted to) and Taylor over Outzen. It's also because I could see myself using all three creatures in The Darkblight, Kakuen-Taka and In the bleak midwinter.


My 3 votes went to Darkblight, Bleak Midwinter, and Born of Lightning.

Scarab Sages RPG Superstar 2013 , Dedicated Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka Steven T. Helt

Well, Boomer's math almost cost him my vote. I wanted to be serious about the math and mechanics, and besides getting paid by the adjective, those were Booms' only real flaws.

Big flaws. Too many flaws.

But unique concept was aso important. There is the theme requirement, which everyone passed for me (and Boomer excelled with his symbiotic relationship), but there is also the unique design and concept of the monster. Thinking of hernes as just another Master of the Hunt entry made me lean towards him.

My pics are: Darkblight, Mind the Machine and Kakuen-Taka.

And now, dear god, let me sleep.

Shadow Lodge

My three votes went to Born of Lightning (Joe Outzen), The Darkblight (Russel Taylor), and In the Bleak Midwinter (Jason Nelson) in no particular order. All three designers provided what is most important to me: material I can use now. Boomer gets an Honorable Mention for the sheer coolness of his submission, but I am not sure how I would incorporate what he has given into my game, at least not without a good deal of thought and foreshadowing. Christine is also an Honorable Mention for her submission; solid and evocative, her ideas will find their way into my game, but again will require some work on my part before I think they will mesh seemlessly into what I am doing.


Mind the Machine (Very cool ideas)
Savagery, Sorrow and Shame (Loved the story)
Scared to Undeath (Usable monsters)

As usual I end up picking one that is in the top 3 and 2 that are toward the bottom.

Almost went with the ooze but they were just too complicated. I enjoyed all the entries but thought most (maybe all) of them were way too long. I'd be interested in seeing the final count (from this thread).


Nem-Z wrote:

Final totals?

The tie at the top is settled but the 6th-place battle is unrelenting! At this point I think it's still entirely open which of the contestants will be left behind. Good luck to everyone still slugging it out down in the trenches!

EXIT POLLS wrote:

40 Total Respondents

##########
29 In the Bleak Midwinter
28 The Darkblight
25 Mind the Machine
13 Born of Lightning
10 Kakuen-Taka, The Hunger that Moves
~~~~~~~~~~
06 The Ooze Imperium
06 Savagery, Sorrow and Shame
~~~~~~~~~~
02 Scared to Undeath
Bookeeping wrote:

01 Total Floaters

##########
01 Andriale (machine, undeath, ???)

Grand Lodge

I took out my vote for Lightning and went with Ooze to see Rob on to the next round. Hopefully my complete top 6 will make it.

Sovereign Court

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

I went with Jason, Joe and Rob (Bleak midwinter, lightning and oozes) this round as I was pretty sure that Christine, Clinton and Russ would advance to the next round, regardless of my vote (loved the entries though, but this time I tried to vote for my no.4,5,and6, because I want to see them also in the next round).

Owner - House of Books and Games LLC , Marathon Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7

Tio wrote:
I took out my vote for Lightning and went with Ooze to see Rob on to the next round. Hopefully my complete top 6 will make it.

heheheheh

Okay, I admit it, I was wrong. A Grave Man was right. :-)


gbonehead wrote:
Tio wrote:
I took out my vote for Lightning and went with Ooze to see Rob on to the next round. Hopefully my complete top 6 will make it.

heheheheh

Okay, I admit it, I was wrong. A Grave Man was right. :-)

Yep, I was pretty sure he was right that this would affect votes. Not sure that's inherently bad, but basing your vote on a highly unscientific ranking like this has dangers.

We've been close, but never exact. Worse (or better?), we may very well be due for a big surprise.


propeliea wrote:
gbonehead wrote:
Tio wrote:
I took out my vote for Lightning and went with Ooze to see Rob on to the next round. Hopefully my complete top 6 will make it.

heheheheh

Okay, I admit it, I was wrong. A Grave Man was right. :-)

Yep, I was pretty sure he was right that this would affect votes. Not sure that's inherently bad, but basing your vote on a highly unscientific ranking like this has dangers.

We've been close, but never exact. Worse (or better?), we may very well be due for a big surprise.

There will be no gloating on my part. In fact, let me go on record as saying:

1. The reason I started and continue to play D&D is because it is a social event, and even though the focus is on the game, we as friends and peers don't exclude other topics of conversation--be it baseball, politics, relationships or whatever.
2. One person making a statement which in some way supports my original idea, is still only one person, and should in no way be taken as an indication that it is widespread or will have a significant impact.


propeliea wrote:
We've been close, but never exact. Worse (or better?), we may very well be due for a big surprise.

...except this time if you take the final two voters into account we were dead-on.

Just saying.


Nem-Z wrote:
propeliea wrote:
We've been close, but never exact. Worse (or better?), we may very well be due for a big surprise.

...except this time if you take the final two voters into account we were dead-on.

Just saying.

It does indeed appear that way. Wonder if it's due to fewer contestants or if actual voting has slipped.

Though we don't actually know if our order is correct, just that we picked the six.

Grand Lodge

Nem-Z wrote:
propeliea wrote:
We've been close, but never exact. Worse (or better?), we may very well be due for a big surprise.

...except this time if you take the final two voters into account we were dead-on.

Just saying.

I had stated before that I might change my vote to Rob. And my gamble has worked! My entire top 6 made it to the next round. Indeed this calculated voting (on 1 vote) is done in almost everything where polls are taken and made public. It's inherit to human nature I think to be influenced by what others think, feel or say.

And yes, this time the prediction is completely accurate in who went through. Let's see if we can do that for the next round also.


Tio wrote:
And yes, this time the prediction is completely accurate in who went through. Let's see if we can do that for the next round also.

Why? Whether or not my point from before was proven, to honestly attempt to predict the winner from this poll is what...one step shy of doing away with the actual voting part?

I hereby propose that there no longer be a separate, confidential voting booth. Let's have it out in the open. It's pretty much what's going on anyway.

Grand Lodge

A Grave Man wrote:
Tio wrote:
And yes, this time the prediction is completely accurate in who went through. Let's see if we can do that for the next round also.

Why? Whether or not my point from before was proven, to honestly attempt to predict the winner from this poll is what...one step shy of doing away with the actual voting part?

I hereby propose that there no longer be a separate, confidential voting booth. Let's have it out in the open. It's pretty much what's going on anyway.

There were only 40 voters who posted their exit polls. I think that that is a very very small portion of the actual voters. Personally I think there are at least 1000 voters, which would make the exit poll results only a 4% indication of the actual result. And that is IF everyone posts their actual votes. In addition there is the vibe you can get from the actual submissions and the comments made there. Therefor, just like in an actual election, voting should be confidential.

My comment was made to indicate that I also like the way we try to predict the future based on 4% of the voting public. That we can be right indicates that the ones posting their results have a good feeling to what the rest of the public want. Or you can see it as Oprah showing her support for Obama. How many people will vote for Obama just because Oprah supports him??? Remember, that election is held in the USA.


propeliea wrote:

It does indeed appear that way. Wonder if it's due to fewer contestants or if actual voting has slipped.

Though we don't actually know if our order is correct, just that we picked the six.

I'd say it's fewer contestants...if we have fewer choices, smaller sample of voters becomes more and more representative.

Though indeed if this thread got the order right is questionable, but wouldn't be surprised if the top 3 shown here was top 3 of the actual contest. And should these exit polls continue, we will probably start getting correct order too in the next round or the one after that.

Also noticed that Oliver was taking something of a gamble, thinking that Clinton was a shoo-in when the exit polls here showed it was not the case...


Tio wrote:


There were only 40 voters who posted their exit polls. I think that that is a very very small portion of the actual voters. Personally I think there are at least 1000 voters, which would make the exit poll results only a 4% indication of the actual result. And that is IF everyone posts their actual votes. In addition there is the vibe you can get from the actual submissions and the comments made there. Therefor, just like in an actual election, voting should be confidential.

My comment was made to indicate that I also like the way we try to predict the future based on 4% of the voting public. That we can be right indicates that the ones posting their results have a good feeling to what the rest of the public want. Or you can see it as Oprah showing her support for Obama. How many people will vote for Obama just because Oprah supports him??? Remember, that election is held in the USA.

That has too many ifs and assumptions to be a theory you can hang your hat on. I just don't see the point in trying to predict the winners, especially now that we've already seen one instance where the projection was correct. There's an appreciable difference in anticipation, nervousness and excitement.

I'd ask if Christine, Jason and Russell (as the clear front-runners of the polling) felt half as worried about going through as they would have without a poll. Conversely, I'd ask Joseph (as the apparent odd man out) how seeing the projections affected him.

And finally, I am completely mystified by the final USA comment. Would a request for a clarification be out of line?

Liberty's Edge RPG Superstar 2008 Top 8

A Grave Man wrote:

Conversely, I'd ask Joseph (as the apparent odd man out) how seeing the projections affected him./QUOTE]

Personally, I took things very hard myself. I'm not one who ever seeks affirmation or even care about peoples opinions regarding myself but this was one forum where it did matter to me quite a bit and was very hard. I'm not used to feeling that bad about something I'd done.

This thread, didn't affect me much as I'd been counted out in earlier rounds by it but managed to forge on ahead. It was my personal monster thread that was my downer.

I must admit seeing varianor admit to voting for me here, really made my day. THANKS!


Am I famous? :)

Liberty's Edge RPG Superstar 2008 Top 8

varianor wrote:
Am I famous? :)

Of course!

Scarab Sages Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games

A Grave Man wrote:
Tio wrote:


There were only 40 voters who posted their exit polls. I think that that is a very very small portion of the actual voters. Personally I think there are at least 1000 voters, which would make the exit poll results only a 4% indication of the actual result. And that is IF everyone posts their actual votes. In addition there is the vibe you can get from the actual submissions and the comments made there. Therefor, just like in an actual election, voting should be confidential.

My comment was made to indicate that I also like the way we try to predict the future based on 4% of the voting public. That we can be right indicates that the ones posting their results have a good feeling to what the rest of the public want. Or you can see it as Oprah showing her support for Obama. How many people will vote for Obama just because Oprah supports him??? Remember, that election is held in the USA.

That has too many ifs and assumptions to be a theory you can hang your hat on. I just don't see the point in trying to predict the winners, especially now that we've already seen one instance where the projection was correct. There's an appreciable difference in anticipation, nervousness and excitement.

I'd ask if Christine, Jason and Russell (as the clear front-runners of the polling) felt half as worried about going through as they would have without a poll. Conversely, I'd ask Joseph (as the apparent odd man out) how seeing the projections affected him.

And finally, I am completely mystified by the final USA comment. Would a request for a clarification be out of line?

As for me, I found the poll numbers reassuring.

I had a pretty good sense of a generally positive regard for the entry from my thread, but based on the total sense of posts from everyone (even though the judges' comments were good), I wouldn't have called it a shoo-in for one of the top spots.

Each round is survive and advance, survive and advance. Do your best to knock it out of the park, as Russ said, but make sure you get to the next base so you still have a chance to keep on moving. If I get to the final round of 4, that will be the most nerve-wracking, because there are no more fall-backs. No more "well, I like this AND that AND this one over here." It's one single vote for your grade A #1 favorite and no votes for anybody else.

Of course, I gotta make sure I do my best in THIS round before I worry about that. Time to get back to work!

The Exchange Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 6 , Dedicated Voter Season 6

A Grave Man wrote:

I'd ask if Christine, Jason and Russell (as the clear front-runners of the polling) felt half as worried about going through as they would have without a poll. Conversely, I'd ask Joseph (as the apparent odd man out) how seeing the projections affected him.

It's nice to have some idea what the outcome will be, including in the rounds where I've finished closer to the cutoff than I likely did this last one. I'd just as soon the full voting results remain secret, though. Too much temptation to manipulate the vote if you can see the results.

Scarab Sages Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games

Russ Taylor wrote:
A Grave Man wrote:

I'd ask if Christine, Jason and Russell (as the clear front-runners of the polling) felt half as worried about going through as they would have without a poll. Conversely, I'd ask Joseph (as the apparent odd man out) how seeing the projections affected him.

It's nice to have some idea what the outcome will be, including in the rounds where I've finished closer to the cutoff than I likely did this last one. I'd just as soon the full voting results remain secret, though. Too much temptation to manipulate the vote if you can see the results.

Definitely. Obviously there's enough temptation even with this tiny sample, however representative or not.

Grand Lodge

A Grave Man wrote:
Tio wrote:


Or you can see it as Oprah showing her support for Obama. How many people will vote for Obama just because Oprah supports him??? Remember, that election is held in the USA.
And finally, I am completely mystified by the final USA comment. Would a request for a clarification be out of line?

I meant to say that people are influenced by what others say or do. Famous people are often asked to support opinions, people or products. The reasoning behind this is that famous people act as rolemodels for others to follow. I was suggesting that this could also be the case in posting your votes in this thread and the comments in other threads about the submissions. These will always influence others. So if we were to outlaw this thread we should also outlaw comments about the submissions. Not only by us the voting public, but also by the Jury. I don't think anyone wants that little trinket taken away.

Personally I feel it greatly adds to the excitement and vigor of the contest.


Tio wrote:

I meant to say that people are influenced by what others say or do. Famous people are often asked to support opinions, people or products. The reasoning behind this is that famous people act as rolemodels for others to follow. I was suggesting that this could also be the case in posting your votes in this thread and the comments in other threads about the submissions. These will always influence others. So if we were to outlaw this thread we should also outlaw comments about the submissions. Not only by us the voting public, but also by the Jury. I don't think anyone wants that little trinket taken away.

Personally I feel it greatly adds to the excitement and vigor of the contest.

I agree with the influence idea, obviously--it's been my raison d'etre on this board/thread. Wish you'd used a different example though, as Oprah's endorsement (by itself) didn't seem to have a significant effect on the primaries. And, to me at least, the USA part skirted the edge of being condescending.

But I appreciate you taking the time to help me understand what you were going for.


Joseph Yerger wrote:
I must admit seeing varianor admit to voting for me here, really made my day. THANKS!

Hey I voted for you too. (even though you stole some of the Florida karma from the first round making sure that there was none left for me!) I want to be famous!

I found your monsters much more usable than at least a couple of the other entries and I liked the fact that they didn't all have to be used together. Many of the ones that made it through sound much more like campaign style villains to me than monsters I could use as a single encounter.

Liberty's Edge RPG Superstar 2008 Top 8

Ragwaine wrote:
Joseph Yerger wrote:
I must admit seeing varianor admit to voting for me here, really made my day. THANKS!

Hey I voted for you too. (even though you stole some of the Florida karma from the first round making sure that there was none left for me!) I want to be famous!

I found your monsters much more usable than at least a couple of the other entries and I liked the fact that they didn't all have to be used together. Many of the ones that made it through sound much more like campaign style villains to me than monsters I could use as a single encounter.

Thank you Ragwaine! It was what I aimed for. If you recall, initially there were 2 people from Florida who made it to 32, both surprisingly in Sarasota. Neither of us know each other either. I'm sure there were many others in Florida. There are a great many gamers here in both Miami and Orlando (Orlando has Dave Arneson and Blackmoor).


Joseph Yerger wrote:
Ragwaine wrote:
Joseph Yerger wrote:
I must admit seeing varianor admit to voting for me here, really made my day. THANKS!

Hey I voted for you too. (even though you stole some of the Florida karma from the first round making sure that there was none left for me!) I want to be famous!

I found your monsters much more usable than at least a couple of the other entries and I liked the fact that they didn't all have to be used together. Many of the ones that made it through sound much more like campaign style villains to me than monsters I could use as a single encounter.

Thank you Ragwaine! It was what I aimed for. If you recall, initially there were 2 people from Florida who made it to 32, both surprisingly in Sarasota. Neither of us know each other either. I'm sure there were many others in Florida. There are a great many gamers here in both Miami and Orlando (Orlando has Dave Arneson and Blackmoor).

Ooo, I may check that out. Orlando is my top backup choice for phd programs next year after Oxford.


Joseph Yerger wrote:
Thank you Ragwaine! It was what I aimed for. If you recall, initially there were 2 people from Florida who made it to 32, both surprisingly in Sarasota. Neither of us know each other either. I'm sure there were many others in Florida. There are a great many gamers here in both Miami and Orlando (Orlando has Dave Arneson and Blackmoor).

Actually I think there were 3 including you in the top 32 because I remember saying, "No wonder I didn't make it all the Florida karma got sucked up by those 3". It is kind of strange, maybe it means Floridians in general are slackers who have enough time to play role-playing games (and compete in contests).

I didn't know Arneson was from down here. I would like to meet him or Gygax one day just to say thanks for uncountable hours of entertainment.

Liberty's Edge RPG Superstar 2008 Top 8

Ragwaine wrote:
I didn't know Arneson was from down here. I would like to meet him or Gygax one day just to say thanks for uncountable hours of entertainment.

He actually is a teacher of game design at Fullsail, which is an advanced track degree program school. I've been trying to meet him myself, heres hoping it will finally happen at Megacon this March.

Grand Lodge

A Grave Man wrote:

I agree with the influence idea, obviously--it's been my raison d'etre on this board/thread. Wish you'd used a different example though, as Oprah's endorsement (by itself) didn't seem to have a significant effect on the primaries. And, to me at least, the USA part skirted the edge of being condescending.

But I appreciate you taking the time to help me understand what you were going for.

I used the USA part because most people on this board will know the people involved and it's in the actuality right now. If I had used an example of my own country then about 0.001% of the board would have understood what I was aiming for. It was in no way intended to be condescending towards the USA.

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