Sounds like we should set up our own feedback thread for more in depth analysis. I think I'm going to join a design group or set one up online to hone my skills.Azmahel did pretty much exactly that last year with a "Design a wondrous item every month" kind of thing. Also, even though the judges may not be able to go back and forth with you in discussing every little nuance of your item and decision process, there will be plenty of folks from the online community who will no doubt dive right in and take up that task. It happens every year.
actually that was Curaighs' Thread, I just participated :)
As I'm not in the Top 32, I will also again try to give some feedback in the big feedback thread, So you should at least get one other oppinion about your item.
I know I lost (before the race even started) because I misunderstood the part about first and last name in the profile. I read the emergency email, and I thought it was all good since my first and last name were at the top but turns out it was not changed properly. I do not blame anyone but myself and its a tough pill to swallow but I will look forward to being ready for next year and bring my A game.
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32
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FWIW guys, you didn't lose anything. Hopefully, you enjoyed the experience, will still enjoy the competition itself, and learned something from it (or will, based upon the feedback threads that will crop up here pretty soon).
Take it from me - try to learn how you can improve, and try again next year.
This was my fourth time entering this contest. I never placed in the previous three years, but I learned something each time.
Keep trying, keep submitting, and it might happen for you too.
And, if you truly enjoyed the creation process, why not try your hand at submitting to Kobold Quarterly, or join an Open Design patron project, and stretch your freelancer muscles a bit?
Simply because you didn't make the Top 32 this year does not in any way reflect upon your creativity, or your potential for writing in this industry.
Just keep at it.
I really agree with this. I was fortunate with my wondrous item last year, but this year mine fell short. And that's fine. Iron sharpens iron, and this is a great opportunity for all of us to improve. And I got the chance to create 3 new items this year that I really like (only one of which I submitted), and that I can use in my home game. It was a lot of fun, and I'll happily try again next year. :)
RPG Superstar is a great opportunity to learn about the business - Sean's auto-reject posts are really great, and I'm looking forward to asking for feedback once that's open. Outside this contest, Open Design has a wealth of resources open to patrons, as well as plenty of opportunities to submit proposals for freelance credit. In addition, there's PFS open call and KQ magazine who are always looking for freelance talent.
In the meantime, I'm taking some time to really dig into the wondrous items from this year's contest. There are some really cool ideas, and well-crafted mechanics that we all can learn from.
This contest rocks, whether you get the opportunity to be a contestant or an audience member.
Dedicated Voter Season 6
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I don’t look at it as losing. I put my work out there, and it didn’t make the cut this year. It might next year or the year after. It isn’t going to stop me from putting my work out for public consumption, and it won’t stop me from submitting ideas to companies and contests.
Am I disappointed my item didn’t make it? Sure. Do I think my item might be “better” than some of the ones that made the top 32? I’m going to say, “Sure,” but understand that I’m biased and my opinion isn’t really relevant in this instance. It is human nature, and the nature of the beast in this situation to have feelings like this. There will be items in the top 32 that not everyone is going to like, so understandably we will think ours was better than that item.
But this isn’t about us. This is about those who made the cut. Congratulate them. Give them your constructive feedback. Go back to your own drawing board and enjoy the thrill of creation.
I’m actually excited to read and respond to all the cool cats that made it in the top 32, and I will hopefully, with words of encouragement, spur them on to even further greatness. Meanwhile, I will let my greatness percolate for another year, and spring forth with even more verve and excitement December 2011.
I lost because I had a small item with a low wordcount. Turns out there's very few words needed for an item intended for a 1st-3rd level adventure so it's very difficult to make those words cool without looking obvious. Obvious padding is obvious.
actually that was Curaighs' Thread, I just participated :)
As I'm not in the Top 32, I will also again try to give some feedback in the big feedback thread, So you should at least get one other oppinion about your item.
and I will set one up again once the contest is over. O:) I am also wondering how to set something up for a Paizocon event. O:)
Back to the top 32s! So many good items. :)
Chief Technical Officer
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I know I lost (before the race even started) because I misunderstood the part about first and last name in the profile. I read the emergency email, and I thought it was all good since my first and last name were at the top but turns out it was not changed properly. I do not blame anyone but myself and its a tough pill to swallow but I will look forward to being ready for next year and bring my A game.
All 36 of the potential finalists and alternates correctly filled in their names in time, so nobody was eliminated for that reason. If you weren't a finalist, there was another reason for it. (I'm not sure if that makes you feel better or worse, but there it is...)
I followed the first RPG Superstar. Then I dropped out of RPGing for a while. I just got back into it a few months ago playing Pathfinder. I don't remember much about the first contest except that it was fun to observe and I haven't bothered to read the stuff on the previous contest threads so I don't know how those turned out. This is my first year competing.
I have now read through all of the winning 32 entries and there is something that I find fascinating.
Most of the entries make the some of the same mistakes that I do: problems describing the item in a clear interesting way, problems with game mechanics, problems with the pricing, problems with understanding the full ramifications of the item, ... etc.
I guess I thought that the winners would not suffer from the same weaknesses that I do. It's very eye opening to see.
Don't think of it as losing, think of it as there were 36 people (out of several hundred) who submitted a better item than yours.
Many items didn't make the superstar cut, but the judges agreed they were GIFOABOMI (good enough for a book of magic items).
The guy who gets 5th place in the Olympic qualifiers (when only the Top 4 get to advance) isn't a loser... he's still the 5th-best athlete competing that year.
Just remember there were HUNDREDS of item submissions this year. It was a hard fight to make it into the Top 32. If we were issuing letter grades to all the items, many people would get a B, which is still a good grade! At one point we had about 50-60 items in our "keep" pile, and had to whittle that down to just 32+4. That's like filtering out all the B+ and A- submissions and just keeping the A submissions.
Don't let this get you down. There are people who didn't make the Top 32 for the first three years of the competition, but made it in this year. D&D designer James Wyatt got dozens of rejections from Dragon Magazine before he got in. Every actor you see in a movie or on TV has been rejected dozens of times at auditions. Every novelist on the bestseller list has been rejected by publishers, too. Take a look at your work, hear about how you can improve on it, and try again.
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Developer
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Dedicated Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8
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Take a look at your work, hear about how you can improve on it, and try again.
Speaking of improving our work, is there any official word yet on whether the alternates get to see the feedback on their wondrous items? Not to pester, but... well, yes, I'm pestering. :)
What you're talking about is exactly what I'm talking about; exactly the type of feedback I'd like get.I know. But what I'm trying to say (and being equally unclear about it, I guess) is that I'm not sure we're going to have much time to interact with you.
That makes perfect sense (and yeah, that isn't what I understood from your first response :P ). I was operating under the assumption that if I were to manage to wrangle anything more than a summary of judge comments, it would be by including a simple, direct question along with the description - Clark's comments frequently rephrased the judging comments and added personal notes and impressions, so this seemed reasonable; but I understand that it's better to assiduously avoid suggesting any more polite demands from the judges, who are already so busy and doing so much wonderful stuff :)
Also, even though the judges may not be able to go back and forth with you in discussing every little nuance of your item and decision process, there will be plenty of folks from the online community who will no doubt dive right in and take up that task. It happens every year.
+1, and I'm really looking forward to that bit :D
I'm glad I brought this up now; I'll know now to differentiate between the busy overworked judges and the enthusiastic fellow commenters for asking follow-up type questions.
I'm glad I brought this up now; I'll know now to differentiate between the busy overworked judges and the enthusiastic fellow commenters for asking follow-up type questions.
That said, it's entirely possible Sean and I (and Ryan or Mark) may dive in and elaborate on something in order to highlight a valuable lesson for everyone who's reading along (and not just the individual designer). It just depends on how much time we've got.
;-)
Take a look at your work, hear about how you can improve on it, and try again.Speaking of improving our work, is there any official word yet on whether the alternates get to see the feedback on their wondrous items? Not to pester, but... well, yes, I'm pestering. :)
http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/paizoPublishing/rpgsuperstar/general/t heUnofficialTop32GuildhallFromTheFuture&page=1#16
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Developer
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Dedicated Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8
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Take a look at your work, hear about how you can improve on it, and try again.Speaking of improving our work, is there any official word yet on whether the alternates get to see the feedback on their wondrous items? Not to pester, but... well, yes, I'm pestering. :)http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/paizoPublishing/rpgsuperstar/general/t heUnofficialTop32GuildhallFromTheFuture&page=1#16
Whoops, thanks!
I'm glad I brought this up now; I'll know now to differentiate between the busy overworked judges and the enthusiastic fellow commenters for asking follow-up type questions.That said, it's entirely possible Sean and I (and Ryan or Mark) may dive in and elaborate on something in order to highlight a valuable lesson for everyone who's reading along (and not just the individual designer). It just depends on how much time we've got.
** spoiler omitted **
Neil? Turn off "Verbose" mode? I don't think so :) We'd know it was an alien impersonation then ::chuckle::
All 36 of the potential finalists and alternates correctly filled in their names in time, so nobody was eliminated for that reason. If you weren't a finalist, there was another reason for it. (I'm not sure if that makes you feel better or worse, but there it is...)
Thank you Vic, that does make me feel better, I know now that my entry made it out the gate to be viewed by the Judges. I had worried that I was automatically DQ'd after all the work I put into my item.
I should rephrase my previous post about losing. Sean's reminder of the extreme talent of the competition as well as a fair amount of the items being book worthy and having a good grade reminds me of why I posted it in the first place. Its not just about winning a grand prize from Paizo (which dont get me wrong would be amazing) but for the love of the game itself.
I have never really made a wondrous item before (I tended to play it safe with rewards and use previously made ones etc) After I reverse engineered the Cloak of the Monte Bank I realized that I could make items and have it done by the book. Pretty pleased about the entire experience and look forward to cheering those 36 Superstars on in the future rounds.
Marathon Voter Season 6
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...This was my fourth time entering this contest. I never placed in the previous three years, but I learned something each time.
Keep trying, keep submitting, and it might happen for you too.
This is the heart of what the competition is about. I really look forward to seeing what you do with the competition, now that you have been given your chance (second chances seem really hard won).
Best Regards
Herremann the Wise
Contributor
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Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9
aka Boxhead
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I lost because I had a small item with a low wordcount. Turns out there's very few words needed for an item intended for a 1st-3rd level adventure so it's very difficult to make those words cool without looking obvious. Obvious padding is obvious.
Eh, a small word count isn't a bad thing by itself. My Shadow Falcon Glove clocks in at about 150 words, and seems to be doing ok. If you had a 120 word item and added words to make it 275, I could see that as a problem.
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Chief Technical Officer
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I lost because I had a small item with a low wordcount. Turns out there's very few words needed for an item intended for a 1st-3rd level adventure so it's very difficult to make those words cool without looking obvious. Obvious padding is obvious.Eh, a small word count isn't a bad thing by itself. My Shadow Falcon Glove clocks in at about 150 words, and seems to be doing ok. If you had a 120 word item and added words to make it 275, I could see that as a problem.
What he said. There was only one person rejected for not having enough words—they had 17. (The template has 24, so clearly they did something very, very wrong.)
Now, I will say that not having a lot of words is often a symptom of a something-in-a-can, or a very basic (and therefore probably boring) item, or a writeup that leaves a lot of questions unanswered—but low word count it is not, in itself, a failure.
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Don't think of it as losing, think of it as there were 36 people (out of several hundred) who submitted a better item than yours.
Many items didn't make the superstar cut, but the judges agreed they were GIFOABOMI (good enough for a book of magic items).
The guy who gets 5th place in the Olympic qualifiers (when only the Top 4 get to advance) isn't a loser... he's still the 5th-best athlete competing that year.
Just remember there were HUNDREDS of item submissions this year. It was a hard fight to make it into the Top 32. If we were issuing letter grades to all the items, many people would get a B, which is still a good grade! At one point we had about 50-60 items in our "keep" pile, and had to whittle that down to just 32+4. That's like filtering out all the B+ and A- submissions and just keeping the A submissions.
Don't let this get you down. There are people who didn't make the Top 32 for the first three years of the competition, but made it in this year. D&D designer James Wyatt got dozens of rejections from Dragon Magazine before he got in. Every actor you see in a movie or on TV has been rejected dozens of times at auditions. Every novelist on the bestseller list has been rejected by publishers, too. Take a look at your work, hear about how you can improve on it, and try again.
Hell yes, Sean - AMEN! ;)