The Beginning of the End of My First RPG SS

[Owen K. C. Stephens]

Last night I went over my notes for the final four entries of the 2015 RPG Superstar contest, compiled them, edited them, and posted them. And when I did, I realized that was the last time I'll be doing that at least for quite a while.

I have always followed RPG Superstar, and mentioned it regularly in my social media posts, but I'd never been part of it before. Then I was suddenly a Paizo employee, and Sean K Reynolds (the very able host who ran it so often before), was gone. I talked to a number of folks internally about the contest before I eventually volunteered to run it, but the enthusiasm I have always felt for this opportunity for new folks to break in convinced me to throw my hat in the ring, and I have yet to regret doing so.

Certainly I've made some mistakes along the way. I think more blog posts and press releases are called for, and next year I really want whoever runs it to warn people a month or so ahead of time what date the contest will begin. There was an issue with the resolution of the map round we should (and will) fix if we do it again. And there are tons of feedback on issues where I'm not positive we'll change what we're doing, but I know we'll be discussing it.

There are also things I am entirely convinced were good ideas. Changing round 1 clearly brought in a lot of people who have never entered before, and that's the ultimate reward for any early round change. The discussion about what cartographers do and what it takes to produce a good map sketch is enough to justify having a map round of some kind all by itself, however we may or may not tweak the exact rules for it. And a number of first-time judges really stepped up their participation in ways that made me glad I invited them.

And, of course, fan participation has been great. The community is fun, helpful, and friendly, which is amazing and gratifying.

Thanks to you all.

Now assuming you are reading this after the Round 5 entries have been revealed, go read them and vote for your favorite!

[Feros]

Well done, Owen! You've been a great host and have really made this a great contest overall!

[Christopher Wasko]

Terrific job, sir! A+

[Jacob W. Michaels]

Chris, he already filed his notes. No point in kissing up now. ;)

No, seriously, though, the contest has been as fun as always. I really appreciate your addressing suggestions/complaints in such prompt fashion, Owen. Is it too early to start counting down to next year yet?

[GM_Beernorg]

Bang up job this year Mr. Stephens, I will be back for my fourth year as a competitor next year, and tis quite true that we the fans and competitors owe you and the Paizo gang a huge thanks!

[Christopher Wasko]

Jacob W. Michaels wrote:

Chris, he already filed his notes. No point in kissing up now. ;)

No, seriously, though, the contest has been as fun as always. I really appreciate your addressing suggestions/complaints in such prompt fashion, Owen. Is it too early to start counting down to next year yet?

That's how he knows the sentiment's genuine ;)

[Owen K. C. Stephens]

Jacob W. Michaels wrote:

Is it too early to start counting down to next year yet?

Yes, but only because we don't know when the next RPG SS contest begins yet! (Well, and because even if we did, I would't want to take any focus away from the Top Four, who have earned everyone's attention though hard work and perseverance.) However, I do PLAN to have RPG SS get scheduled, and then announced, far enough in advance that a counter down will actually be a relevant and fun option.

[Kalervo Oikarinen]

This year has been great, and personally very exciting as well as nerve-racking. Well done, Owen!

[Feros]

Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:

Jacob W. Michaels wrote:

Is it too early to start counting down to next year yet?

Yes, but only because we don't know when the next RPG SS contest begins yet! (Well, and because even if we did, I would't want to take any focus away from the Top Four, who have earned everyone's attention though hard work and perseverance.) However, I do PLAN to have RPG SS get scheduled, and then announced, far enough in advance that a counter down will actually be a relevant and fun option.

...

Now you guys are just toying with me!

;)

[Mikko Kallio]

I'm also very glad I got the chance to be part of this year's RPG Superstar. Owen, everyone at Paizo & guest judges, all the 32 finalists + alts, and everyone in the audience, thanks for making this a very good year of RPG Superstar!

[Curaigh]

Hah! I thought that too... what would Feros do if there was a counter?!? :)

Thank you Owen, I have really enjoyed all of the changes. Even if they didn't work as planned, they help to keep things fresh. Considering the four proposals in front of me I think it is safe to say it all worked out. :)

Super job!

[Monica Marlowe]

Thank you so much!

[Adam Daigle]

You did a great job running the show this year, Owen!

I was very happy to return to judge the monster round, and I had fun checking out all the items as they came in. I only wish that I had more time to be more involved, but that wasn't in the cards this year. I apologize to the contestants for pretty much dropping off after Round 3 completed.

[Anthony Adam]

Adam Daigle wrote:

You did a great job running the show this year, Owen!

I was very happy to return to judge the monster round, and I had fun checking out all the items as they came in. I only wish that I had more time to be more involved, but that wasn't in the cards this year. I apologize to the contestants for pretty much dropping off after Round 3 completed.

Quite understandable - that bestiary 5 monster request and index spreadsheet has become a bit of a monster in its own right and I know you look at it ;)

[Adam Daigle]

Anthony Adam wrote:

Quite understandable - that bestiary 5 monster request and index spreadsheet has become a bit of a monster in its own right and I know you look at it ;)

I certainly do!

[Brother Fen]

Thanks for hosting the event, Owen!

[Avatar-1]

Good on you, mate.

[Thomas LeBlanc]

[backhanded compliment] Great job on the contest Owen! Even though there wasn't a blog about voting numbers like the previous 2 years... [/backhanded compliment]

Joking aside, you had a great first year as a host. You took what was handed to you and made it your contest. Looking at the submissions for round 4, the contest is a success. The change to round 1 is something many of us have wanted for a while. And the map round is my favorite round, so make sure it stays please.

[R Pickard]

Running this contest cannot be easy. Thanks for your hard work, Owen.

I wanted to echo something said here and something I said awhile ago... I never would have entered were it not for the round 1 changeup, that got me interested in and excited about the contest and got some creative juices flowing. And because of that... I'm in the top 8, and looking at places to submit work.

I can't help but share some feedback/idea... but I'd say keep round 2 something different every year, also to keep people on their toes and to make things feel fresher. R3, 4, and 5 are probably always going to be monster, encounter, pitch and 1 even if it's switched up a bit is probably always going to be an item of some kind, so 2's the only opportunity to help freshen things up. I think the map round was cool in part because it was new, but could be something people get tired of (I am not speaking for myself here as I can never have enough maps to look at). BUUUUUT I think a map round should be one of the possibilities that gets cycled into Round 2 (along with, say, archetype, organization, etc.). I also think the map round should be restricted to a larger scale (town, overland, etc.), rather than an encounter/dungeon map since we will see those always in round 4.

[Jeffrey Swank]

My first year entering and I had a great time, a ton of fun and have learned a lot! Thank you Owen. =P

[GM_Beernorg]

::hears archetype round, gets big grin:: Hey R P, if I pay you in some sort of valuable stuff, can you keep eluding to the strong desire for an archetype round?

All trolling and what not aside I cannot stress how much this contest helps folks design confidence, and seems to give them the designer's writing bug, which IMO is a great thing! Owen's and the Paizo teams hard work has allot to do with that, so, keep it up folks!

[Scott LaBarge]

*Could* round 1 be something other than an item? Obviously it has to be something short. Feats are probably too bitty. Artifacts seem to me to invite disaster. Maybe a spell?

And Owen, let me also join the chorus of gratitude; it's been a super fun ride, and you've done a wonderful job. I won't even hold it against you for voting against me twice ;-)

[CripDyke]

Quote:

it's been a super fun ride, and you've done a wonderful job. I won't even hold it against you for voting against me twice ;-)

No. Not at all. I learned as much from the well-placed critiques as I did from the astute compliments.

Add my thanks, Owen K. C. Stephens.

==========
It seems not to be common here to address people by their full 'nym, but elsewhere on the internet, that is the social norm. One of the arguments is that this is a chosen name (you get to choose exactly what is displayed), so I should respect your choice. However, if I was to use shorter forms, unless someone called me "Crip" or something first, I'd shy away from using the "first name" part, even in circumstances where I am less confident that the first name actually does equal someone's first name.

If I'm being a stuffy stick-in-the-mud, do let me know.

[Owen K. C. Stephens]

Story Time!

When I first got a job at Wizards of the Coast in 2000, I was eventually paired to work on "Tempest Feud" with Jeff Grubb. I was more than a little in awe of Jeff - I still have the 1st edition Monster Manual II I got as a birthday present from my parents in 1983, which though credited to Gary Gygax has Jeff Grubb as a "design consultant."

So I stammered and goobed and generally made a fanboy of myself, and kept calling him "Mr. Grubb."

Eventually, Jeff said if we were going to get anything done, I'd have to call him Jeff. That felt weird for weeks, but eventually I got used to it. And then it helped me feel like we were in the same community.

I have no issue with people being either polite or formal, and I think there's a time and place for using someone's full name.

I also think of all of us as part of the same community. I was a Pathfinder fan long before I was a Paizo employee.

So if anyone is more comfortable using my full name, that's totally fine. But I'm also perfectly happy with being called by my first name here.

:D

[Anthony Adam]

Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:

Story Time!

When I first got a job at Wizards of the Coast in 2000, I was eventually paired to work on "Tempest Feud" with Jeff Grubb. I was more than a little in awe of Jeff - I still have the 1st edition Monster Manual II I got as a birthday present from my parents in 1983, which though credited to Gary Gygax has Jeff Grubb as a "design consultant."

So I stammered and goobed and generally made a fanboy of myself, and kept calling him "Mr. Grubb."

Eventually, Jeff said if we were going to get anything done, I'd have to call him Jeff. That felt weird for weeks, but eventually I got used to it. And then it helped me feel like we were in the same community.

I have no issue with people being either polite or formal, and I think there's a time and place for using someone's full name.

I also think of all of us as part of the same community. I was a Pathfinder fan long before I was a Paizo employee.

So if anyone is more comfortable using my full name, that's totally fine. But I'm also perfectly happy with being called by my first name here.

:D

Fact Time :P

At least one of us on these boards is a little in awe of EVERY Paizo employee, past, present and future - and a tad jealous too ;)

So I guess, you are all now our "Mr. Grubb" equivalents!

[R Pickard]

CripDyke wrote:

It seems not to be common here to address people by their full 'nym, but elsewhere on the internet, that is the social norm. One of the arguments is that this is a chosen name (you get to choose exactly what is displayed), so I should respect your choice. However, if I was to use shorter forms, unless someone called me "Crip" or something first, I'd shy away from using the "first name" part, even in circumstances where I am less confident that the first name actually does equal someone's first name.

If I'm being a stuffy stick-in-the-mud, do let me know.

CripDyke, I think I know what you’re coming from, and I think particularly in oldskool online forums or intentionally obvious forums where your username is a NAME YOU HAVE PICKED for yourself, so obviously the default is to go with what the person has picked for themselves.

Here, Paizo staff (like Owen), however, just by default have their whole real names as their usernames. I can’t speak for them, but I think unless one of them specifies otherwise, it’s safe to presume they don’t expect to be addressed by their whole names any more than you would address a human being in meatspace like this: “Hello, Bob Smith, how are you, Bob Smith, what are you doing today, Bob Smith?” It would just be weird. Likewise I think anyone who registers a username that IS their real name or something resembling it is okay with just being addressed by their first (or last) name. (And that hopefully if that is not the case they will be clear about that.)

Oddly we Superstar contestants don’t get to pick what’s displayed in the Superstar forum–-it defaults to the name we registered for our mailing address when we registered for the site. I didn’t realize that UNTIL I had gotten into the top 32; I always thought we’d get notified before the announcement and they would ask us what we wanted our author byline to be. Oh well. That's what I get for not paying attention to certain things.

When I registered back in, what… 2008? I never even heard of Superstar and, oddly enough, registered with what I wanted to show up on a mailing label, not what I wanted as an author byline. My "Superstar" username IS of course an abbreviation of my name and not a misrepresentation, but it is kind of irksome and weird to be called “R” or "R Pickard" now—but that’s not any of the users’ faults and I don’t care enough to correct them. Oh well. You probably can change your mailing address name, but again, I never realized that’s what they were using for this, and I thought it would be weird/confusing to change it after I got into the top 32. Also, I don't want to change it because I still want have my packages from the Paizo store addressed to R Pickard.

But for what it’s worth, I’d rather be called DeathQuaker or DQ, and otherwise Rep or RP. I don’t mind initializing nicknames, which is a pretty common practice on message boards these days, and there are even people IRL who know my real name who call me “DQ” instead. ;)

[R Pickard]

Anthony Adam wrote:

Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:

Story Time!

When I first got a job at Wizards of the Coast in 2000, I was eventually paired to work on "Tempest Feud" with Jeff Grubb. I was more than a little in awe of Jeff - I still have the 1st edition Monster Manual II I got as a birthday present from my parents in 1983, which though credited to Gary Gygax has Jeff Grubb as a "design consultant."

So I stammered and goobed and generally made a fanboy of myself, and kept calling him "Mr. Grubb."

Eventually, Jeff said if we were going to get anything done, I'd have to call him Jeff. That felt weird for weeks, but eventually I got used to it. And then it helped me feel like we were in the same community.

I have no issue with people being either polite or formal, and I think there's a time and place for using someone's full name.

I also think of all of us as part of the same community. I was a Pathfinder fan long before I was a Paizo employee.

So if anyone is more comfortable using my full name, that's totally fine. But I'm also perfectly happy with being called by my first name here.

:D

Fact Time :P

At least one of us on these boards is a little in awe of EVERY Paizo employee, past, present and future - and a tad jealous too ;)

So I guess, you are all now our "Mr. Grubb" equivalents!

When I first started posting here, I was always addressing Paizo folk as "Mr. Jacobs" and "Mr. Reynolds" and "Ms. Stevens." :) I've gotten more informal since, I don't know if that's a good or bad thing.

[Anthony Adam]

Heh heh, sounds like your mum was like mine and instilled old school gentlemanly manners in you too! :)

[R Pickard]

Anthony Adam wrote:

Heh heh, sounds like your mum was like mine and instilled old school gentlemanly manners in you too! :)

Heh. Both my parents were school teachers, and very much into ensuring good manners were had by all. ;) In fact I think my dad is more manners obsessed than my mom was (himself an old school gentleman), but both were very courteous and wanted to instill good etiquette in their kids.

They did a good job teaching me certain niceties, but didn't even quite realize it at first... as I was also a headstrong kid and would butt heads with them. But I really did respect what they taught me, I just couldn't admit/SHOW that right away. They went to a parent teacher conference with MY teachers expecting to hear how stubborn and noncompliant I was only to have the teacher compliment them on my politeness.

Lesson to parents: your kids do listen and follow your example, even if you think they don't. :)

[Jacob W. Michaels]

You could probably ask them to change it, DQ. I asked them to add my middle initial as I'm somewhat OCD about using it for when I publish. They certainly didn't complain about the change (at least not to me; they might have in the office). :)

Oh, and since you've been so open about requests, I hope you bring back hometowns next year, Owen. That was often added in for the Top 32 after they were announced in previous years, and I think a lot of people liked knowing. I know I ended up meeting one of the previous Top 32 only because his tag mentioned he was from the same area as I am.

[Chris Lambertz]

Just dropping in to say that Owen has been a wonderful host for this year's competition! Thank you for picking up the responsibility for making this contest awesome, and it's been so great working with someone with such great enthusiasm for the contestants/voters/onlookers throughout the whole thing :)

R Pickard wrote:

CripDyke, I think I know what you’re coming from, and I think particularly in oldskool online forums or intentionally obvious forums where your username is a NAME YOU HAVE PICKED for yourself, so obviously the default is to go with what the person has picked for themselves.

Here, Paizo staff (like Owen), however, just by default have their whole real names as their usernames. I can’t speak for them, but I think unless one of them specifies otherwise, it’s safe to presume they don’t expect to be addressed by their whole names any more than you would address a human being in meatspace like this: “Hello, Bob Smith, how are you, Bob Smith, what are you doing today, Bob Smith?” It would just be weird. Likewise I think anyone who registers a username that IS their real name or something resembling it is okay with just being addressed by their first (or last) name. (And that hopefully if that is not the case they will be clear about that.)

Oddly we Superstar contestants don’t get to pick what’s displayed in the Superstar forum–-it defaults to the name we registered for our mailing address when we registered for the site. I didn’t realize that UNTIL I had gotten into the top 32; I always thought we’d get notified before the announcement and they would ask us what we wanted our author byline to be. Oh well. That's what I get for not paying attention to certain things.

When I registered back in, what… 2008? I never even...

Heya DQ, if you'd like your name reverted, this is definitely within our capabilities! My sincere apologies for not noticing sooner! Go ahead and ping [e-mail] if you'd like this changed.

And I agree, this is definitely something we should consider for next year's contest. We want all RPG Superstar contestants to feel comfortable with the name next to their work and it's something I personally advocate for. I feel like the feedback we've gotten has been invaluable for improving the contest each year and appreciate it :)

[Sean K Reynolds]

Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:

Story Time!

When I first got a job at Wizards of the Coast in 2000, I was eventually paired to work on "Tempest Feud" with Jeff Grubb. I was more than a little in awe of Jeff - I still have the 1st edition Monster Manual II I got as a birthday present from my parents in 1983, which though credited to Gary Gygax has Jeff Grubb as a "design consultant."
So I stammered and goobed and generally made a fanboy of myself, and kept calling him "Mr. Grubb."
Eventually, Jeff said if we were going to get anything done, I'd have to call him Jeff. That felt weird for weeks, but eventually I got used to it. And then it helped me feel like we were in the same community.

Relevant story: When I started at TSR, Jeff Grubb and Roger Moore were both there, and they had both worked on 1E AD&D stuff. Most of the rest of the staff started in the 2E days, and I hadn't played much 2E, so I didn't know them. But when I met Jeff, I was agog and said, "Holy crap, you're Jeff Grubb!!!" And when I met Rogue, I was likewise agog and said, "Holy crap, you're Roger Moore!!!" Eventually I got over it, but for this then-24-year old, it was a pretty awesome day. :)

Anyway, looking forward to the voting results tomorrow. Good luck, everyone!!! :)

[Monica Marlowe]

Sean K Reynolds wrote:

Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:

Story Time! About Jeff Grubb

Relevant story: About Jeff Grubb and Roger Moore

True Story: Last year when I worked the Monte Cook Games booth with Sean K. Reynolds, Charles Ryan, Bruce Cordell, Monte Cook and Shanna Germain I was afraid I would embarrass the hell out of myself, but everyone was awesome. It's really hard to imagine sometimes that the really great designers that you're looking up to are every day awesome people that you might just be sitting next to.

[Liz Courts]

R Pickard wrote:

But for what it’s worth, I’d rather be called DeathQuaker or DQ, and otherwise Rep or RP. I don’t mind initializing nicknames, which is a pretty common practice on message boards these days, and there are even people IRL who know my real name who call me “DQ” instead. ;)

Heh. For the first couple of weeks that I worked here, my co-workers still referred to me as "Lilith." :D

[Owen K. C. Stephens]

Liz Courts wrote:

Heh. For the first couple of weeks that I worked here, my co-workers still referred to me as "Lilith." :D

I bet that only stopped because there wasn't a constant supply of cookies.

[Captain Phoenix]

GM_Beernorg wrote:

... I cannot stress how much this contest helps folks design confidence, and seems to give them the designer's writing bug, which IMO is a great thing! Owen's and the Paizo teams hard work has allot to do with that, so, keep it up folks!

Ha ha, so true. That bug bit me. And I learnt a lot about design, the m and n dashes and style guides. Call me a RPG SS convert :-)

[Anthony Adam]

Sean K Reynolds wrote:

Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:

Story Time!

...

Relevant story: When I started at TSR, Jeff Grubb and Roger Moore ...

Darn, the best I can muster as great agog fan-boi moments are

(Gaming World)

I once played in a Gary Gygax DM'd game at Gen Con - Yeah, DM back then ;)
Having Skype lessons from SKR himself! (Sorry Sean, but you are the Roger Moore of the gaming world :p)
Meeting "Willow" and "Grandfather Realms" at GenCon UK, and

(Famous People)

I have met:

Elizabeth Sladen (wow, she was an amazing lady who had all the time in the world for the fans),
Nicola Bryant (man what a crazy lady she is, great fun to talk to),
John Pertwee (a real gentlemen and child at heart),
Tom Baker (totally "who struck" was I that day),
Colin Baker (a really lovely man with a wonderful wit),
Sylvester McCoy (a very enthusiastic gentlemen who really engages the fans), and
Paul Darrow (who is just amazing to talk to)

And 2016 - that's the year I hope to add Customer Care Bears, Store Ninjas, "Aunties", "Uncles", Superstars and Freelance Forger's to the list - I can't make Paizocon this year, but I am going in 2016 as the wife wants to go "American Shopping" - ouchie my wallet >.<

[R Pickard]

Chris Lambertz wrote:

Just dropping in to say that Owen has been a wonderful host for this year's competition! Thank you for picking up the responsibility for making this contest awesome, and it's been so great working with someone with such great enthusiasm for the contestants/voters/onlookers throughout the whole thing :)

R Pickard wrote:

CripDyke, I think I know what you’re coming from, and I think particularly in oldskool online forums or intentionally obvious forums where your username is a NAME YOU HAVE PICKED for yourself, so obviously the default is to go with what the person has picked for themselves.

Here, Paizo staff (like Owen), however, just by default have their whole real names as their usernames. I can’t speak for them, but I think unless one of them specifies otherwise, it’s safe to presume they don’t expect to be addressed by their whole names any more than you would address a human being in meatspace like this: “Hello, Bob Smith, how are you, Bob Smith, what are you doing today, Bob Smith?” It would just be weird. Likewise I think anyone who registers a username that IS their real name or something resembling it is okay with just being addressed by their first (or last) name. (And that hopefully if that is not the case they will be clear about that.)

Oddly we Superstar contestants don’t get to pick what’s displayed in the Superstar forum–-it defaults to the name we registered for our mailing address when we registered for the site. I didn’t realize that UNTIL I had gotten into the top 32; I always thought we’d get notified before the announcement and they would ask us what we wanted our author byline to be. Oh well. That's what I get for not paying attention to certain things.

When I registered back in, what… 2008? I never even...

Heya DQ, if you'd like your name reverted, this is definitely within our capabilities! My sincere apologies for not noticing sooner! Go ahead and ping [e-mail] if you'd like this changed.

And I agree, this is definitely something we should...

Thanks, Chris! If I figure out for sure what I want to do I will email you. :)

Always appreciate how much all of you listen to feedback. I understand not all feedback can be incorporated but feeling listened to is still so important. Thanks.

[Monica Marlowe]

GM_Beernorg wrote:

I cannot stress how much this contest helps folks design confidence, and seems to give them the designer's writing bug, which IMO is a great thing! Owen's and the Paizo teams hard work has allot to do with that, so, keep it up folks!

I started to reply to this and it got kind of long.

[GM_Beernorg]

Very well said Monica, and best of luck, just a few hours more.....heck, I am getting all tingly just as a secondary effect ;)

[R Pickard]

Jacob W. Michaels wrote:

You could probably ask them to change it, DQ. I asked them to add my middle initial as I'm somewhat OCD about using it for when I publish. They certainly didn't complain about the change (at least not to me; they might have in the office). :)

At this point since the contest is over (and has been for me for a few weeks) and I can't enter again it's not that big a deal, but I may just ask them not to convert my name in the SS forum.

Quote:

Oh, and since you've been so open about requests, I hope you bring back hometowns next year, Owen. That was often added in for the Top 32 after they were announced in previous years, and I think a lot of people liked knowing. I know I ended up meeting one of the previous Top 32 only because his tag mentioned he was from the same area as I am.

FWIW, they did ask the top 32 our hometowns if we wanted to have them be revealed.

I asked for mine not to be revealed since I had an online stalker/harasser problem several months ago.

If because I asked to have my info stay private, they just didn't display anyone's hometown (until the top 4, who did have their info and bios put up), I'm sorry if I ruined anyone's fun.

[Jacob W. Michaels]

R Pickard wrote:

Always appreciate how much all of you listen to feedback. I understand not all feedback can be incorporated but feeling listened to is still so important. Thanks.

Quoted for truth. One of the things I love about this contest and company is it's obvious you listen to the fans.

--

Monica's blog post is excellent and I don't think I could agree more on that either. I always try to tell people how grueling the contest is -- it's fun, but I think especially after you've gotten in the first time, it's also really hard (I say that because the first time I was just excited about being in; the second time I *really* wanted to win).

Also, leaving feedback is so important, which I've also really tried to push this year. I don't know if other designers do, but I still go back from time to time and read comments on all of my entries, and they can be powerfully motivating, whether they're praise or criticism or both. As Monica says, even if it's just to say something resonated with you, comments are the main reward the contestants get for putting in the effort it takes to advance in this contest. If you enjoy Superstar, you should participate in it.

[Anthony Adam]

Jacob W. Michaels wrote:

Also, leaving feedback is so important, which I've also really tried to push this year. I don't know if other designers do, but I still go back from time to time and read comments on all of my entries, and they can be powerfully motivating, whether they're praise or criticism or both.

Definitely! Although freelancing time demands didn't let me participate hardly at all this year, I have started going back to the map round and adding a review when I get the chance - I will do this through the next month or two until I have done them all :)

5 down, 27 to go ;)

[R Pickard]

Anthony Adam wrote:

Jacob W. Michaels wrote:

Also, leaving feedback is so important, which I've also really tried to push this year. I don't know if other designers do, but I still go back from time to time and read comments on all of my entries, and they can be powerfully motivating, whether they're praise or criticism or both.

Definitely! Although freelancing time demands didn't let me participate hardly at all this year, I have started going back to the map round and adding a review when I get the chance - I will do this through the next month or two until I have done them all :)

5 down, 27 to go ;)

This is much appreciated!

[Monica Marlowe]

R Pickard wrote:

FWIW, they did ask the top 32 our hometowns if we wanted to have them be revealed.

I asked for mine not to be revealed since I had an online stalker/harasser problem several months ago.

If because I asked to have my info stay private, they just didn't display anyone's hometown (until the top 4, who did have their info and bios put up), I'm sorry if I ruined anyone's fun.

That's not just a little terrifying. I hope you have been able to resolve the issue.

In the past Paizo has only made public what they had, I don't know why locations weren't always given, but at least one other time we were only told a country for one of the Top 4, iirc.

[Jacob W. Michaels]

DQ, sorry to hear that. Definitely scary. :(

[Steven Helt]

Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:

So if anyone is more comfortable using my full name, that's totally fine. But I'm also perfectly happy with being called by my first name here.

Also...you may refer to him as the "Owenadaemon", as frequently happens when the Four Horsemen mention him.

You know, in hushed whispers, lest his wrath be great.

Seriously..I have always loved this contest and will faithfully remain a fan as long as Paizo does it. I'm grateful for the opportunity to judge this year and hope I can come back next year. Remember: you never stop learning. Design greats who were a part of the contest before, design great who host the contest today, and young designers just getting started: they all have a unique voice and have something to offer. Never stop learning from the people in this community.

[GM_Beernorg]

Yep, Steven has the right of it. Getting a little misty here...remembering that I am now the co-owner of a 3PP because of RPGSS only three years ago. Never stop dreaming future game designers, and never say never.

[GM_Beernorg]

Also wonder if Owen is big in Cheliax, and does he give out nifty black robes with disturbing embroidery? ;)

[Curaigh]

I kind of wondered if the initial thing was a privacy concern. Of course asking seems contradictory. I hope the internet is treating you better RP/DQ.

Anthony Adam wrote:

Jacob W. Michaels wrote:

Also, leaving feedback is so important, which I've also really tried to push this year. I don't know if other designers do, but I still go back from time to time and read comments on all of my entries, and they can be powerfully motivating, whether they're praise or criticism or both.

Definitely! Although freelancing time demands didn't let me participate hardly at all this year, I have started going back to the map round and adding a review when I get the chance - I will do this through the next month or two until I have done them all :)

5 down, 27 to go ;)

I have less than half R1 items left to do :) I was going to start a thread on critiquing after closing :)