I just had a long rant about Latin grammar at my mom, gimmie dat deliciousness.I'm always excited when people think it's cool to be a classicist :-) I know I do, but I'm sort of, you know, biased.
Salvete, discipuli linguae antiquae! Sis, dimittite errores meos; anni octi elapsus sumus ab tempore quo Latinam didici. Oblitus sum omnia...
Lol, *so* not going there! I can read it fine, but I don't focus so much on the language side, and if I start correcting people's Latin I'm bound to screw up and embarrass myself eventually. I'm going to limit myself in this competition to ancient Thassilonian only :-)
Probably wisest. :P
I miss Latin a lot. I don't exactly have any reason to keep in practice with it after the one year I took in college, so... yeah, I've completely forgotten 98% of what I once knew regarding grammatical rules. I keep trying to bully my friends into letting me tutor them in it, in the hopes that it would be a good excuse to refresh myself on it. No dice yet. :P
That said, what is your area of focus, Scott? I was supposed to do a senior project on the Bona Dea scandal, but I never really got beyond the research stage.
I'm a philosopher first and a classicist second. My PhD is in philosophy, and I simultaneously picked up a MA in Classics (which added a very busy year to my program.) The combination got me my present job, though, so it all worked out in the end!
That said, my focus in ancient philosophy has been on ancient ethics and epistemology, especially looking at Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics. I also teach a bit of contemporary ethical theory, applied ethics, and political philosophy.
And I hope all you readers out there just made your Will saves against my sleep spell!
That is very suitably geeky. :D And yep, made my will save!
I'M BRAINSTORMING
Stop hitting refresh on this page so much and get to work all of you!
Damn! Guilty.... <.<
Though honestly, this is par for the "avoiding grading I have to do" course....
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Salvete, discipuli linguae antiquae! Sis, dimittite errores meos; anni octi elapsus sumus ab tempore quo Latinam didici. Oblitus sum omnia...
Haha, in all honesty, I was totally going to correct you about "oblitus sum", but then I remembered obliviscor is deponent...! ;P Glad to see more classicists join the ranks of the Top 32!
And to all of this year's Top 32 and alternates, I echo previous sentiments when I say that—no matter what happens—I hope you find this competition to be an enriching and positive experience. I know I did!
@Scott LaBarge: A lot of my graduate research has dealt with Renaissance Neoplatonism, but I've had trouble locating good introductory materials discussing its Hellenistic roots (with Porphyry, et al.); any suggestions? I realize your philosophers are somewhat earlier, but I'm not above exploiting my previous Top 32 status to break into the Guildhall to pursue a lead. :)
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Congratulations everybody!
As a stranger from a different time , I'm somewhat late to the party. Still, I'm very excited to be in your company, especially with so many already well-established contestants present.
About me: I'm from Berlin (Germany). I'm 30 years old, though I remember little before the age of 12, when I started gaming pen and paper RPGs. Having finished my PhD in early modern history recently, I'm striving to become an archivist. I prefer cats to dogs, tea to coffee, and I often lie awake at night, devising ingenious plans to bring ruin to my players' characters.
Technically, I'm a first-time entrant, though I've been following this contest for quite a while with great interest. A long-time forum-lurker, I started posting on the homebrew forum only a few months ago (by the way, a great place to practice your design skills!).
Good luck to all of you!
Having finished my PhD in early modern history recently, I'm striving to become an archivist.
So THAT explains your reference to the primum mobile...! This competition (and hobby) never fails to attract some of the most erudite people. Gabriel, if you're willing to relocate, I am continually bombarded with emails looking for archivists in California. It may be worth considering...! (Though our collections likely can't compare the richness of those found in Europe!)
@Scott LaBarge: A lot of my graduate research has dealt with Renaissance Neoplatonism, but I've had trouble locating good introductory materials discussing its Hellenistic roots (with Porphyry, et al.); any suggestions? I realize your philosophers are somewhat earlier, but I'm not above exploiting my previous Top 32 status to break into the Guildhall to pursue a lead. :)
Send me a pm and we can chat; I doubt the rest of the RPGSS universe wants to be party to that conversation. Though I should warn you that I'm pretty weak on the Neo-Platonists; I tend to be metaphysics-averse, and with the Neo-Platonists you get almost nothing but :-p
CONGRATS TO ALL THE 32 and the ALTERNATES...It is awesome to see so many old faces from prior years, familiar faces from the boards, and several of my favorite items making it to the big show.
I can't wait to vote!!
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Greetings!
I think I'm still in shock that I actually made it to the Top 32! Not really sure if it'll ever actually go away...
So... I'm Matt Roth, but I go by Helio most of the time pretty much everywhere. Somehow my students know that's my 'other' name, despite me never actually telling them. Like the other Matthew, I teach English! And while I'm not from Philly, I am from Jersey, so that's almost the same thing? I started gaming about 10 years ago, when my uncle introduced me to 3.5, and I was immediately hooked. I'm a wannabe writer (and game designer), professional procrastinator, and generally cool dude.
Glad to be counted among greatness! Congrats everyone!
Congratulations all, looking forward to seeing some cool maps.
RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Dedicated Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9
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I have a patch on my vest that says "Original 900".
Ha! I've got that one too. And I'm actually wearing a hoodie with a skull and a +1 anarchic gun-sickle on it.
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
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Dedicated Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9
aka Rusty Ironpants
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Hello and congratulations to the other finalists and alternates.
I guess I will go ahead and do an introduction.
My name is Russ Brown and I have been playing and running RPGs since grade school, which is quite a long time*. Mostly I have played D&D and later Pathfinder, but I have tried many other systems at least a few times. I also enjoy board games and especially tabletop miniatures games.
Professionally I am a computer programmer and analyst and for the last 14 years I have worked at a major food distribution company. I live in Denver, Colorado.
I have been a follower** of Pathfinder since the beginning, being a Charter Subscriber and whatnot. (Yay forum tags!) I have been involved with Pathfinder Society since 2010 as a player and event organizer at my local store. I have recently become both a four star GM for society and a Venture Lietenant for the Denver area.
This is the third time I have entered RPG Superstar, but the other times were a few years back - before they instituted the public voting for round 1. Obviously this is the first time I have made it past round 1.
So good luck to the other contestants, and I should now probably get a few hours sleep before I have to go to work and think about RPG map ideas instead of database designs.
*Read: I'm old!
**My friends would probably say fanboy!
Philosopher here, too, for what it's worth. I'll make a more proper introduction when the Friday deadline is no longer looming over me :-).
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
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Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9
aka mamaursula
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Oh man, I went to bed and woke up to find my name was still on the Top 32 list, guess it's time to get serious about this map.
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Congratulations to all others to have made it this far, and thank you for the opportunity to have proceeded this far as well. I would be lying if I said I wasn't surprised to be among you now.
My first foray into roleplaying games was almost exactly one decade ago in the basement of a friend's house, where I was made game master of a GURPS game almost by default. I did not manage to sit as a player beyond a single session until I began playing Pathfinder Society just two short years ago. This was also my introduction to the Pathfinder system. In the time since, I've become somewhat attached to the system, running games for the local community with as much frequency as reason allows. If all of our tables make like scheduled, our local Venture Captain and I should hit our fourth stars simultaneously on February 7th of this year, which will be an cherished moment for us both.
I've done a great deal of writing for and about pathfinder since beginning to play it, but the only thing in a state close enough to completion to actually place out where it could be publicly viewed has been my Mystic Theurge Guide.
I am currently working professionally in a combination role as a tier 2 technician and technical document writer for a wide variety of proprietary software in manufacturing support roles. Sadly, that's as much as I am certain that I can say in a public setting.
This is my first time entering RPG superstar. I had not heard of it prior to this year, but I would likely not have had the confidence to enter last year. At my wife's reassurance, I put together what I believed to be a solid item that I was excited about, and entered. I am now here with the rest of you, and I will continue to do my best. Best of luck to all of you. I am sure it will be quite a ride.
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
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Dedicated Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8
aka Black Powder Chocobo
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A lil late to making a real post as I was out ill yesterday, here's a bit about Dave.
I am a military brat from Maine and ended up in Rapid City, South Dakota my freshman year of high school and I've stayed since. I am currently a backend web developer for my alma mater with no design experience other than a love of the game and some homebrew campaigns I've ran. This is my 3rd year trying for RPGSS and I'm glad 3rd time was the charm.
I've been roleplaying sine I was 8; my dad taught me how to play from AD&D and I was hooked since. I've expanded since, running lunchtime 2nd edition games in middle school, then after school game nights using 3rd and 3.5 in high school and college, respectively. I went to Pathfinder after experimenting with 4.0 and finding it not my cup of tea and hearing about this awesome system (apparently when I looked, Pathfinder RPG was out about 3 months at that point).
A special shoutout must go to the amazing people at the Ontario Pathfinder Lodge, as they were very welcoming to a business traveler who wanted something fun to do while away from home and never heard of the Pathfinder Society at that point. They helped inspire me to bring Society play back home where PFS has grown in the heart of the northern Midwest.
Now, back to work/map-daydreaming.
Dave
Where in the Philly area are you, Matthew? I'm up in Bethlehem.
(And Chris Schaeffer was originally from, IIRC, Norristown.)
Close, Lansdale!
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I stayed up until 6:30 AM trying to come up with something, and I think I only started getting somewhere around 5:00. Ended up getting 75 minutes of sleep at home and a combined total of 30 minutes on the bus and at the cafe before heading up to the office. Really tired, but it was just barely worth it. :p
I've got the concept and the basic lines and shapes of the map down, just need to tighten it up and add all the fun details. If I get done tonight, then I get to see my girlfriend this week! XD
Why did this week have to be the one where I was running two game sessions? Argh!
Ugh okay, I have an idea of what I want to draw, but no idea where I want to put it. Also, I woke up at 11 AM, despite my best efforts.
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This would go a lot faster if I could actually draw.
Great work, folks. I'm looking forward to seeing your maps. So get drawing and stop reading this post!
Aaand of course I have PFS tomorrow night, leaving me right now and Thursday night to map.
Your Venture-Captain gives you permission to make someone else handle PFS for the duration of RPG Superstar 2015.
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
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Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9
aka CalebTGordan
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School started yesterday. Fortunately I am only taking a class a day. Also fortuitous was having yesterday off from work.
I spent last night calming down, focusing and brainstorming. Today will be focusing on just mapping out anything I can. Tomorrow will be spent polishing and detailing the best of today's maps.
I am really excited to see what everyone does. I love maps, and I hope to see 31+ maps that blow me away.
Ok, I found a place where one of my ideas could conceivably exist. Now running into the problem of "oh man I have some great ideas here but almost no text to explain them in :( "
like I get the impression that the map ITSELF has to tell a story. I can label things in it ("goblin bathroom" "combo altar / torture rack of Zon-Kuthon" "banana storage") but I can't be like, "This particular cult of the banana lord has this doohicky for these reasons."
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RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
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Dedicated Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8
aka Black Powder Chocobo
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@Jensen: That's what I believe, too. I think good use of a legend to bring the map to life will be key along with a title with the combination of all three parts allowing the viewers to see the ideas in your head.
I'm honestly worried about being too specific with my idea. I guess I'll see in a few weeks, but still... the jitters!
@Jiggy: The same! And tonight's the first night of dance lessons Mrs. Black Powder Chocobo.
Yeah... I was looking through the Inner Sea World Guide today and found an already existing thing that 1. hadn't been mapped yet, which is surprising as it's pretty neat and 2. would fit a theme I've wanted to map for a while.
Granted now I'm regretting that choice 'cause I'm like "element X is hard to draw in a hand-drawn map :( "
I'm a pretty good artist but mostly good ol traditional media. Shame I don't have time to bust out the watercolors...
Looking through still to see if anything else jumps out at me before I commit to this one. If I can make it work, it'll be neat. Or, well, I think it's neat.
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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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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Congratulations, everyone! I'll drop only a single piece of advice on here:
Do not hold back on any entry. Give it your all each round. Use the best/craziest/most awesome idea you have.
I know this advice is going to sound strange, but it can be (very) easy to read people's thoughts on your item/map/monster/whatever, and decide that you are already ahead in the polling. It can lead you to pick a "safer" choice on a given round instead of a superstar choice.
Don't fall into this trap.
You may also have a bit of a following on the boards (whether you know it or not). Don't let that make you feel safe. Keep up the great ideas. You don't know what everyone else is doing.
Remember that only half of the competition moves on each round. It sounds like a lot, but it really isn't. It means half of the competitors get left behind each round too.
I’m back! Congratulations to all of this year’s Top 32. Well done.
My name is Brian. I love games. I've written a few things, most of which you can view on my website hereoesrest.com or in my forum posts on Paizo. I tend to not say much unless I feel I can contribute something substantial to the conversation, so it may not appear as though I’m extraordinarily active on the forums, but that doesn't mean I’m not spending an inordinate amount of time on the game we love.
Over the last year I’ve solidified my position as the PFS Venture-Lieutenant of Menomonee Falls, which is a suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As part of living in the state where Gary Gygax created D&D, I have the fortunate opportunity to help organize an impressive number of local gaming conventions. Right now I’m finalizing the schedule for Gary Con 2015 in Lake Geneva with our Venture-Captain and other local VLs. In March alone we have three conventions: Plattecon, Conflagration and Gary Con. Following close on their heels in April is Gaming Hoopla, a charitable convention that has just moved to the Milwaukee area. Soon after that is Nexus Con!
Essentially, we’re having a lot of fun here in Wisconsin and you should join us if you live close enough.
I’m eager to see what contestants come up with for this year’s RPG Superstar. Good luck to everyone!
Close, Lansdale!Where in the Philly area are you, Matthew? I'm up in Bethlehem.
(And Chris Schaeffer was originally from, IIRC, Norristown.)
Ah, same difference. :)
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And Eric's advice is very wise. Big +1 to all of it.
Brian -- I don't live terribly close (Around-ish to Bethesdsa, Maryland), but I do have a friend who lives in Madison, and I need more reason to get up there. I've done A LOT of volunteer work for conventions in the past (PAX, Arisia, Boskone, Worldcon, MAGFest, PhilCon)... actually, my graduate thesis was originally going to be ABOUT nerd conventions, until I realized my audience wasn't interested (dammit grad students, y u want a memoir?)
Also man I need to figure out how to find my local chapter of PFS. :\
Phew, made it. Congratulations to everyone who made top 32, I can hardly believe I made it here myself. Introduction time.
My name is Frankie Trombetta. I've been tabletop gaming since I was around ten, I want to say. I merely dabbled in 3.5 for a while, then I got really into it in high school. I'm a student in Florida now, gunning for an English degree with a focus in creative writing, and I already have a minor in digital media. With any luck, I'll be graduating this fall. My friends and I game once or twice a week, rotating out different campaigns in different systems. I've stuck mostly to Pathfinder since high school, but recently I've also gotten more heavily into WH40k, Black Crusade, and Rogue Trader. It's going to be a bit of a doozy for me I feel, juggling between the competition, my studies, and sessions, but I'm gonna give it my all.
Best of luck to all of you, and I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!
Grats all!
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
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Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8
aka Cathara
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Hi Everyone!
I'm Allana and this is my second year of trying this contest and the first time I've made it into this thread. Yay for being an alternate! I've also just recently (last week and a half!) started a new job as an English/Drama teacher in the UK (having moved here two a bit under 2 weeks ago from Australia for the job); so you can imagine just how hectic everything is for me right now.
I've been gaming for about a decade now, quite a range of systems with my most recent one to run being Riddle of Steel while I currently play in a Pathfinder game. I have always had a soft spot for rogues and bards and other scoundrel character types, especially ones that do it with flair.
I must admit I'm a tad worried about the map round, I only have work days in which to get it done and as an alternate it may all be for naught :-/ But it's certainly fun regardless!
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I love how many educators we have in the top 32. Teachers rule!
Arrrrrghghhghghgh
I have a rough draft of my map and right now I'm like OH GOD SO MANY PROBLEMS
thank god for my pit crew x_X hopefully they can help me sort this into something better
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RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Marathon Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8
aka Jiggy
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Rough draft done; decompressing a bit before doing the real deal. Even if I don't make it through round 2, I feel like at least this time I won't have to be embarrassed to have my name on it. Feelin' alright about it.