The most Superstar blog for the RPG Superstar season


RPG Superstar™ General Discussion

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A photo and brief commentary: Missed Shot

Grand Lodge RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32 , Dedicated Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9

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I posted some notes about how I'm going to review Round 3 entries. More advice will follow, stay tuned.

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I updated the post mentioned above (same link) with some information on recommendations / final verdicts. I'll probably add more and more information before Round 3 begins and make a separate thread about my advice once I'm happy with the contents of the post.

RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Dedicated Voter Season 9 aka motteditor

I know the contestants should be well onto Round 3 at this point, but for the rest of us it's almost time for Round 2 to really get under way.

Here are my thoughts on what I'll be looking for when it comes to the maps.

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Some new information added to my notes about round 3. (still the same link)


The Monsters are Coming! (includes 10 photos of a half-fiend minotaur—some with real flames!)

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I updated my notes on judging round 3. Almost done!

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With the Top 16 to be revealed in a few hours, it's time to turn our attention to monsters!

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IS there a blog or thread anywhere? I had wanted to say congratulations to the Top 16 but there's not a good "spot" from what I can tell...

Regardless, congratulations Top 16!

RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Dedicated Voter Season 9 aka motteditor

This thread's about posts about the contest on Mikko's blog, A Sword for Hire.

Usually Paizo posts a blog entry that will list who advanced.

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Jacob W. Michaels wrote:

This thread's about posts about the contest on Mikko's blog, A Sword for Hire.

Usually Paizo posts a blog entry that will list who advanced.

Hey Jacob,

I knew what it was for -- it just seemed the most appropriate one (he's a judge in Round 3 and all, right). I thought in the past they made an official Blog-post WHEN they announced and such...

Sorry if it was thread-jacking.

RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Dedicated Voter Season 9 aka motteditor

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No, worries, Lucus. Reading back over my reply, it looks a little short, but it definitely wasn't meant to be!


As I eagerly await the monsters to be revealed in round 3 of RPG Superstar, I give you: Impatiently Waiting (a photo-only post)

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Nice! :)

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I posted about what I'm looking for in the monster round.


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A Monster's Essence (brief commentary, plus a lich and his crystalline phylactery)

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Some thoughts on being a judge on RPGSS, and a few words on Pathfinder Online.

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Your stream-of-consciousness blogging while playing Pathfinder Online for the first time is hilarious! :)

Grand Lodge RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32 , Dedicated Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9

Heheh, thank you. :) I'll probably write more about Pathfinder Online sometime later.

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My thoughts on some of my favorite encounters from throughout the years.

Also, is the encounter round the toughest in Superstar?


It's off topic, but if you like wyverns, take a look at this: The Wyvern.

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Some thoughts on encounter design. Does your encounter tick all the boxes on this list?

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Jacob W. Michaels wrote:

My thoughts on some of my favorite encounters from throughout the years.

Also, is the encounter round the toughest in Superstar?

Monkey Goblins Attack and the Chase on Charred Ground kind of set the bar for encounters didn't they. :)

I think it is the easiest round in that it fills out like tables across the world to every week. An experienced GM has already put together a map, a critter, and motivation for her or his players. I think it is the hardest round for the same reason, and shows the difficulty going from GM to designer. Taking someone else's maps, critter, traps, etc. for your own players is vastly different than creating various parts and appealing to people not at your table or even speaking your language.

Personally I think the first round is the hardest, but then I only have a wee bit of experience in any of the others. :)

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Mikko Kallio wrote:
Some thoughts on encounter design. Does your encounter tick all the boxes on this list?

Excellent advice as always Mikko.

I like to hear bits of foreshadowing in an encounter, so THE encounter is not what I necessarily look for. Of course the adventure paths have shown that THE encounter of this adventure can still offer foreshadowing. :)

RPG Superstar 2009, Contributor

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I like encounters and encounter locations which tell you even more about the featured villains/monsters/etc. than the stat-block alone can do. Not necessarily in an expository way. Rather, through the location choice, small features or aspects of the location which feature into the tactical setup, and even the minions which may factor into the encounter or encounter location, as well.

Sometimes, these things can be mentioned directly...i.e., they're "in your face" as a result of the terrain conditions, the additional monsters, traps, hazards, and even the creature's tactics write-up in a stat-block. But, I think the Superstar approach often hints at other things which indirectly tell you even more about the featured adversary of the encounter. To me, that's important...and not because it'll all be read-aloud text or part of any given combat...but, rather, it'll be part of the encounter write-up which will better inform the GM on how to portray the adversary and the environment in which he/she/it is encountered.

But that's just my two cents,
--Neil

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Round 4 Judge Steven Helt warned us we may need to rely on the contestants' work in previous rounds to make our decision here, so I took a look back at their previous entries to date.


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Designing for Pathfinder: Searching for the Right Words

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Ignotus Advenium wrote:
Designing for Pathfinder: Searching for the Right Words

That is an amazing article for new freelancers, or even GMs that want to format homebrewed stuff properly.


Browman wrote:
Ignotus Advenium wrote:
Designing for Pathfinder: Searching for the Right Words
That is an amazing article for new freelancers, or even GMs that want to format homebrewed stuff properly.

Thanks Browman—glad you like it and hope it helps.

I'm hoping that some experienced designers will add some comments with tips and insights, so check back later...

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That's a very good post, Joe! I'll try to find the time to add a comment with tips later.

On Sunday, I blogged about archetypes. While no longer relevant for RPG Superstar, I hope you'll find it interesting.

The archetype round was always a favorite of mine, but a lot of people seemed to struggle to come up with interesting ideas, and it didn't test the finalists' adventure writing skills quite so well as other types of challenges, so it had to go.

Scarab Sages Modules Overlord

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Mikko Kallio wrote:
The archetype round was always a favorite of mine, but a lot of people seemed to struggle to come up with interesting ideas, and it didn't test the finalists' adventure writing skills quite so well as other types of challenges, so it had to go.

I was also a fan, so no promises that it won't return some year.

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Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:
Mikko Kallio wrote:
The archetype round was always a favorite of mine, but a lot of people seemed to struggle to come up with interesting ideas, and it didn't test the finalists' adventure writing skills quite so well as other types of challenges, so it had to go.
I was also a fan, so no promises that it won't return some year.

I've probably done as many archetypes in my freelancing work so far as anything else, so it's certainly a skill I'd say people need to have. Heck, I just did one today, in fact.

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Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:
Mikko Kallio wrote:
The archetype round was always a favorite of mine, but a lot of people seemed to struggle to come up with interesting ideas, and it didn't test the finalists' adventure writing skills quite so well as other types of challenges, so it had to go.
I was also a fan, so no promises that it won't return some year.

That would be really interesting. I love designing archetypes.

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Owen, I'm very glad to hear that there's at least some hope they're coming back. :)

Jacob, I very much agree. I just had a very interesting conversation about archetype lengths with fellow freelancers, and yes, I've also designed a number of archetypes in my freelancing. In terms of word count, I think so far, (not counting adventures) I've written feats > monsters > spells > archetypes > other things.

So, I think archetypes are relevant and it's a useful skill for any freelancer. Just to clarify, this is the reason the archetype round was cut.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who's been commenting on our recent blog posts! Actually, in the near future there will be some changes in the ASFH blogging team, and I'm not planning hire a new regular. Instead, I'm planning to do an open call so that basically anyone can pitch an idea and write a blog post.


I would love to see a return of the archetype round, its like that is something I do allot of or something for a little company called The Flying Pincushion. And @ Mikko, that was a darn good conversation bout archetypes.

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I love archetypes and I think it is a particular challenge to do one well--I thought that was a great round back in 2013 in particular, some of my favorite Superstar things came out of that round.

OTOH, I also love maps, so...

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Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:
Mikko Kallio wrote:
The archetype round was always a favorite of mine, but a lot of people seemed to struggle to come up with interesting ideas, and it didn't test the finalists' adventure writing skills quite so well as other types of challenges, so it had to go.
I was also a fan, so no promises that it won't return some year.

I hope so; I was actually a little sad there wasn't an archetype round as I find that fun. It may or may not stem from a cool idea I had a couple of years ago, but couldn't submit as I didn't qualify, nope, not at all.<_<

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I will say that while I like archetypes, and I'm very appreciative of the Superstar 2013 archetype challenge that got me to do my first archetypes and thus led to a lot of my current work, I don't know that it's the best Superstar challenge.

I think it's a very crunch-heavy endeavor and that's tough for readers/voters, especially when there were 32 of them. I could see it as a Round 3 challenge, taking the place of monsters, but I think monsters are a more popular choice. I like having Round 2 being a little less crunch heavy (a la maps or organizations, which I thought was a really fun one that could be more valuable if you threw in an associated feat with the organization).

Scarab Sages Modules Overlord

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The reasons archetypes were cut are good ones, and when I mentioned it internally while planning this Superstar, they were repeated. They remain true, and I don't have a good counterpoint at the moment.

(Besides, I was proposing a LOT of changes. I am a bit amazed I was given as much leeway as I was. It helps that the contest is providing such good entries and great community interaction even after those changes.)

I'd modestly like to have one round that's less adventure-design-focused each year, but I can't do that at the expense of finding someone who can write a module we can publish.

But I do like the round, so I'm still thinking about it...

RPG Superstar 2009, Contributor

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Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:
I'd modestly like to have one round that's less adventure-design-focused each year, but I can't do that at the expense of finding someone who can write a module we can publish....But I do like the round, so I'm still thinking about it...

I really liked the change to have a separate mapping round this year, but personally I think it would be even better if it was accompanied by a 300-word, sidebar-equivalent write-up of an organization, region, or even a small nation description reminiscent of the first year of the contest which synergizes with the map itself. That way, there's some context given to the area depicted in the map, and it also showcases a bit more of a contestant's creativity with the written word, even if it's not too crunch-heavy. I think both of those components (i.e., map plus sidebar exposition) still lend themselves well to what it takes for a person to write an adventure module, which is most certainly what you want to test in these potential freelancers.

But that's just my two cents,
--Neil

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It's true that archetypes aren't quite so important for a freelancer who only writes adventures.

But how many % of the content RPG Superstars and Superstar finalists design for Paizo are actually adventures?

I know Neil and Jim have written a lot of AP volumes, but it seems to me that the majority of us (Superstar winners and finalists) mostly design other types of content. Or what do you think? I think that might be a good argument for including a round not directly related to adventure design.

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Has Paizo ever considered making a playable race as a Superstar challenge? I think that could work particularly well coupled with a theme centered on the other planets in Golarion's system, which would give contestants a very wide range of locations to work with.


Now that is a darn good idea Scott, I love crafting races, and it is indeed a good challenge IMO. Also, lots of space to work in, but whipping up a compelling and interesting race is not as easy as some may think. Good call!

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Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:

The reasons archetypes were cut are good ones, and when I mentioned it internally while planning this Superstar, they were repeated. They remain true, and I don't have a good counterpoint at the moment.

(Besides, I was proposing a LOT of changes. I am a bit amazed I was given as much leeway as I was. It helps that the contest is providing such good entries and great community interaction even after those changes.)

I'd modestly like to have one round that's less adventure-design-focused each year, but I can't do that at the expense of finding someone who can write a module we can publish.

But I do like the round, so I'm still thinking about it...

Mikko Kallio wrote:

It's true that archetypes aren't quite so important for a freelancer who only writes adventures.

But how many % of the content RPG Superstars and Superstar finalists design for Paizo are actually adventures?

I know Neil and Jim have written a lot of AP volumes, but it seems to me that the majority of us (Superstar winners and finalists) mostly design other types of content. Or what do you think? I think that might be a good argument for including a round not directly related to adventure design.

I think Mikko has a really good point. While the main goal is to find someone who can produce a quality adventure --- the broader goal is to cultivate potential new designers in general.

And, besides adventures, a good chunk of other RPG products are player-oriented, featuring new options for PCs: classes, archetypes, feats, spells. Testing where someone can write for this rather huge part of the RPG market isn't a horrible idea --- and a crunch heavy round isn't a bad idea either, because you need folks who can prove they understand the game's mechanics intuitively.

Still, I dig the concern that you only have so many rounds and do need to point people in the direction of adventure elements pretty quickly.

And at the same time I also like the idea of something mechanics lite to help a person show off their overall sense of narrative or design in a broader sense.

So it really can go a lot of different ways.

Neil Spicer wrote:


I really liked the change to have a separate mapping round this year, but personally I think it would be even better if it was accompanied by a 300-word, sidebar-equivalent write-up of an organization, region, or even a small nation description reminiscent of the first year of the contest which synergizes with the map itself. That way, there's some context given to the area depicted in the map, and it also showcases a bit more of a contestant's creativity with the written word, even if it's not too crunch-heavy. I think both of those components (i.e., map plus sidebar exposition) still lend themselves well to what it takes for a person to write an adventure module, which is most certainly what you want to test in these potential freelancers.

But that's just my two cents,
--Neil

While I totally dig why a lot of folks have asked for text to go with the maps, as someone who had to do the map round, I'd like to note this:

Trying to sell an area solely on map design and key alone was an amazing and unexpected--in a fun way, for me--challenge. The set up really makes one think about location in a way that perhaps one otherwise wouldn't when one can rely on descriptive text to get through. I also like that to an extent, what is there can be left to the viewer's imagination and see what they think they can do with the place. While I had my own extensive ideas for how I could use my own map, and what the places there represented and so on--I also liked seeing other people react and say what they would use it for, and see what I had communicated well... as well as what I hadn't.

I know the round was very experimental and there is in fact good reason to tweak it or try different things, but I do think there was some unusual value in it that you could not get from other Superstar rounds.

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Sidebars are an excellent idea (no surprise considering the source). It wouldn't have to be maps either.

I think if you look at the Top 8 over the years, you will find their names as contributors on things more often than some of the many of the Top 4, but that is probably just a biased-perception in my brain (there are twice as many of them :)

Races would be much like monsters in design regard. The ARG has a chapter on it, and I half-expected it the year ARG came out. I actually hope every monster round the twist will be a no racial-HD monster, or that the CRs would allow someone to build a playable monster race. I am kind of partial to those.

Thanks for your insight on the maps RP. Though not as profound on me had a similar experience from the voting side. It was interesting looking at the maps and seeing a story.


Here's a few photos to enjoy while you wait for the finalists' pitches:

One Wraith or Two?

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Curaigh wrote:
I think if you look at the Top 8 over the years, you will find their names as contributors on things more often than some of the many of the Top 4, but that is probably just a biased-perception in my brain (there are twice as many of them :)

Each year, four people get a Top 8 tag, while three get the Top 4 tag. In the first year of RPGSS there was also a Top 6 (i.e. fewer Top 8s), and last year there was no Top 8. So actually, there are almost as many former Top 4 finalists as Top 8 ones, I think.

Don't know about the actual number of contributions, though. Personally, I've managed to keep myself fairly busy with freelance work, but I don't know what everyone else have been up to. Even on the Freelance Forge, we are being intentionally vague about our projects because of the NDAs.

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Some interesting news regarding A Sword for Hire.

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Archetypes, part II.

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My penultimate RPG Superstar blog entry, a look back at all 28 module pitches as we wait for the next four to be revealed.

This was a lot of fun. Even the non-winning modules (several of which I voted for) have some fantastic ideas that could easily be turned into an adventure at your home table. If you're going through some Superstar withdrawal, this could be a good way to treat it. I wish I'd had unlimited time so I could have discussed my thoughts on all the modules, especially some of the older ones that happened before I became aware of the contest.

Give it a look and let me know if there are any that stick out as ones you voted for.

--

(Also, on a tangent, I think the variety in some of the earlier modules when there were no restrictions were a lot of fun. Owen, if you're looking at things to do differently for next year, I might ask for fewer restrictions on the modules again. I don't mind the level restriction as much, but I think I really miss where the contestants got to pick what part of Golarion they wanted to explore/set their module in. I think that was a real draw for me as a voter, even though I can understand why Paizo might want a more focused selection.)

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