[Swords for Hire] Contest: Villain Codex


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Swords for Hire Development (Jacob W. Michaels and Mikko Kallio) is excited to announce its first project, The Villain Codex. This PDF, being done in conjunction with Outland Entertainment, will feature a series of antagonists for gamemasters to pit against their players. The NPCs will be fully fleshed out, with stat blocks, letting a GM simply drop one into an adventure when he needs a statted-up opponent or build an adventure or even campaign around.

The first Villain Codex will feature 12 opponents of CRs 3-8 for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Finished villains will be 600 words, including a stat block and a description of the villain, his/her motivations, plus potential plots, lairs and minions.

Right now, we’re looking for your best ideas. Send us a pitch that describes your villain and potential plots, as well as expected build. Please include at the top the villain’s name, race (please use core races only), gender, alignment and class. Also please include what CR you think the villain should be; a range of CRs is fine at this point, and we can assign what we would like you to build him/her at if we pick your submission. Finally, remember that the villains should be setting agnostic. If they use a bar as their headquarters, feel free to name it, but don’t put it in a city in an existing campaign world.

We expect to pick six villains, though obviously if we’re bowled over, we could select more. We’ll be approaching designers to produce the other six villains, so if your pitch is good enough, it could lead to more work immediately.

How do I submit?
Please send your pitches to swordsforhire@gmail.com with your submission in the file (NOT as an attachment).

How many pitches can I submit?
You can submit up to 3 pitches. If you have more good ideas, save them. There will be follow-up Villain Codexes for higher CRs coming through 2016.

If I submit, will I get published?
Unfortunately, not necessarily. We’re including 12 villains in this first Codex, so only the best selections will get published. Any pitches that are accepted become property of Swords for Hire Development, which retains sole ownership.

What books will I be able to use?
Villains will be limited to rules from the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook, GameMastery Guide, Advanced Player’s Guide, Ultimate Magic, Ultimate Combat, Ultimate Equipment, Ultimate Campaign and Advanced Class Guide.

Will I get paid?
We’ll be paying a flat rate of $6 per entry that we publish, which will work out to about 1 cent per word.

Alright, I’m ready to get started! When you do you need this by?
Pitches are due by the end of the day (Eastern time) May 1. We’ll get back to you and let you know if your pitch has been accepted within a week and will need your finished villain by June 1. Payment will be received at this time.

Wait, I have more questions!
Go ahead and ask. We’ll be happy to answer.


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Um. Just for ABSOLUTE MAXIMUM CLARITY, does the stat block count against your word count, and do you want a Tactics block as part of it (and if so does the block count)?


Dotting... and thinking of ideas while waiting for clarification.


The stat block will count against the word count (we realize that could be a tight squeeze, but 600 words plus art will fill a single page).

A short tactics block would be nice.

Keep in mind, we don't need the full stat block at this point, in part because that will obviously depend on what the final CR each villain is.

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The pitches don't have to be very long. I think 50-100 words per villain should be enough.


.

Do we not get access to the Bestiaries?

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Yes and no.

We would like these submitted villains to be the core races but if you need the Bestiaries for minions or advanced familiars, that's absolutely fine.

We expect to have some monster/non-core race villains as well, but we will assign those to specific writers later in the process instead of using an open call.


Only paizo material for classes and other stuffs?


Jacob W. Michaels wrote:

Yes and no.

We would like these submitted villains to be the core races but if you need the Bestiaries for minions or advanced familiars, that's absolutely fine.

We expect to have some monster/non-core race villains as well, but we will assign those to specific writers later in the process instead of using an open call.

Are templates like lich and grave knight okay, or would you prefer core races with plain levels?

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We'd prefer plain levels for the six villains for the open call.


Definitely interested.
Been running a few ideas through my head.

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Looking forward to seeing them, bigrig.

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Important notice: There's a typo in the email address in our announcement. The correct email address is swordsforhire.dev@gmail.com

It's entirely my fault that the wrong address ended up in the announcement--I forgot to notify Jacob about the change in the address. Apologies for any inconvenience!

-Mikko Kallio / Swords for Hire Development


Jacob W. Michaels wrote:

How many pitches can I submit?

You can submit up to 3 pitches. If you have more good ideas, save them. There will be follow-up Villain Codexes for higher CRs coming through 2016.

Do you want multiple pitches submitted separately or all three in one e-mail?

May 1 is... 15 days away. I shall mark it as 10 and see you then :)

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Curaigh wrote:
Jacob W. Michaels wrote:

How many pitches can I submit?

You can submit up to 3 pitches. If you have more good ideas, save them. There will be follow-up Villain Codexes for higher CRs coming through 2016.

Do you want multiple pitches submitted separately or all three in one e-mail?

May 1 is... 15 days away. I shall mark it as 10 and see you then :)

You can send multiple pitches in one email. That way it's easier for us to keep track of who's submitted what. :-)


All in one email will be a little easier, but if you send one and then realize you have a cool idea for another, that's fine.


Nicos wrote:
Only paizo material for classes and other stuffs?

Or can people use classes from other 3pp?

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Paizo only, please.

Contributor

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I sent of some pitches. Hope you like them!


Thanks, Donato! They're definitely a good start.


Ya know, as soon as I read this I REALLY wanted to make an amazing Kuru villian, but sadly that race is not allowed :(


I have to admit, I don't even know what that race is.


Kuru are a race of cannibals from the Shackles...

Check them out here.

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I've seen a few kurus in a recent Pathfinder Society scenario. While non-core races aren't allowed in this open call, I do think that a cannibal would be an interesting villain concept. Maybe you can build one using a core race? There are several ways to gain a bite attack, and it's the flavor text that makes a cannibal scary.


Mikko took the words out of my mouth. I think there's no reason a villain can't be a cannibal and a member of a core race. I'd say that'd make it even more creepy.


Darn it. *Trashes Hannibal Lecter inspired villain due to it being suggested already*


Serpent wrote:
The pitches don't have to be very long. I think 50-100 words per villain should be enough.

How strict is this limit? If we go to 110-120, should we cut it down?

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Sounds pretty cool.

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@Kobold -- 110-120 is fine for the pitches. While I agree they don't *have* to be very long, I certainly am not down-grading them for it.

Now, that said, keep in mind that the final entire villain will only be 600 words, so someone sending in an 800-word pitch would make me have some doubts about their ability to keep to that limit.

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Yep, what Jacob said. There's no hard limit, and I don't think 100-200 words is too much by any means. I really meant that your pitch doesn't have to be longer than 50-100 words to be accepted.

It is, however, advisable to make every word count. The pitch isn't just a summary of the concept, it's also a writing sample.

Anyway, looking forward to reading your pitches! :-)

Sovereign Court

I just sent in two pitches: Altria Nightingale and Friedrich Wildheart . One of them (Nightingale) may be a bit unorthodox, though with a bit of tweaking she could be a more standard villain (and I am sure you would quite quickly see what I mean).

No matter how this goes, I am certainly interested in seeing the villains provided within this book. ^_^


Thanks, Michael. Glad to hear it and looking forward to looking at your villain pitches.

Also, Zova Lex, I might suggest instead of throwing away your concept, polish it! Both Mikko and I said a cannibal could make an interesting idea, so make sure you submit the best cannibal we get!

Sovereign Court

Actually Zova and I are the same person :3. I switched my default alias, so it only looks different. I suppose I could polish the concept and send it in as my third pitch.

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Received! Thanks for the pitches, Michael!


Will you guys also be looking for art?

Sovereign Court

And my final pitch has been sent in.


Master_marshmallow, Outland Entertainment is handling the art; I can check with them to see if they're looking for folks, though.


I'll come up with a couple of things and dance them down the way.


It is a distinct pity that as 3PP you are not exploring the rich diversity of other 3PP races and classes (and I include Paizo for non-core races) to create some evocative and fantastic villains. Being able to include the full statblock with full ability description for say a Vitalist, Warder, Ethermancer, Malefactor, Godling, Shadow Warrior or Timethief would be absolutely Vile and Dark.

I understand there is likely a requirement based around a perceived ease of integration with existing campaigns. But seeing as this is already 3PP...

*sigh*

So not Occult Adventures classes? :p


I disagree. This is the start of a series, and I think it makes sense that the first installment would use a very simple range. Besides, I've been running a game with a godling PC. Pitting one against the players would just be cruel.

Sovereign Court

Aye, I would be inclined to agree with KC. Things should start off on a smaller, more comfortable scale for the buyer. As for the Occult adventure classes, aren't they still in the playtest phase? It would be kind of a hassle to change up the villain's abilities after the final version of OA comes out (because I'm almost positive some things will be edited and made more balanced).

Though of course I can't speak for Sword for Hire, as it is their project.

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Oceanshieldwolf wrote:

It is a distinct pity that as 3PP you are not exploring the rich diversity of other 3PP races and classes (and I include Paizo for non-core races) to create some evocative and fantastic villains. Being able to include the full statblock with full ability description for say a Vitalist, Warder, Ethermancer, Malefactor, Godling, Shadow Warrior or Timethief would be absolutely Vile and Dark.

I understand there is likely a requirement based around a perceived ease of integration with existing campaigns. But seeing as this is already 3PP...

*sigh*

So not Occult Adventures classes? :p

One of the reasons we didn't want to include 3pp classes is that it's easier for me and Jacob to assess the pitches and develop villains with classes we're familiar with. It's also easier for GMs to use the villains if they don't need more than 8 source books to use the Villain Codex. In fact, I think 8 is a few too many, but we didn't want to be too restrictive.

What Kobold Cleaver said is also true. It's our first product so we don't want to start exploring the rich diversity of 3PP classes right off the bat. Trying to keep it simple, that's all.

As for the Occult Adventures, it's possible that we'll add it to the list of allowed sources for Villain Codex Part II. At the moment, very few freelancers know the psychic rules well enough, so it wouldn't be fair. :-P

If the Occult Bestiary is released before Jacob and I start the open call for Here Be Monsters II, you'll also get to design psychic monsters sometime in the fall. ;-)

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Oh, I forgot to mention I wrote an article about villains and pitches. Those of you who are still considering to submit a pitch, see if there's anything useful there!

The sample villain is a male human fighter. Inconceivable!

Sovereign Court

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Serpent wrote:

Oh, I forgot to mention I wrote an article about villains and pitches. Those of you who are still considering to submit a pitch, see if there's anything useful there!

The sample villain is a male human fighter. Inconceivable!

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. ;) I do love that movie.

Contributor

DOh! Mikko, of course you post that awesome article AFTER I submitted my villians. lol

*edit* I am so using Kurgax the Sellsword to molest my adventuring group next gaming session.


Serpent wrote:


What Kobold Cleaver said is also true. It's our first product so we don't want to start exploring the rich diversity of 3PP classes right off the bat. Trying to keep it simple, that's all.

As for the Occult Adventures, it's possible that we'll add it to the list of allowed sources for Villain Codex Part II. At the moment, very few freelancers know the psychic rules well enough, so it wouldn't be fair. :-P

If the Occult Bestiary is released before Jacob and I start the open call for Here Be Monsters II, you'll also get to design psychic monsters sometime in the fall. ;-)

As Mikko said. If this is successful, I could also certainly see doing a line of NPCs based on 3PP classes.

Pending the occult rules, I could totally see the HBMII twist being that they must be occult-y. I think that'd be a lot of fun, except that I wouldn't be able to participate!


I Sent one pitch, hope is not too bad.

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Michael Riter wrote:
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. ;) I do love that movie.

Same here!

Jeffrey Swank wrote:

DOh! Mikko, of course you post that awesome article AFTER I submitted my villians. lol

*edit* I am so using Kurgax the Sellsword to molest my adventuring group next gaming session.

Sorry Jeff, I wish I had had the time to post the article a bit earlier. Glad to hear Kurgax sounded like a villain suitable for molesting your adventuring group. :-D I'll probably provide a full stat block and use him as an example in a later article that discusses the actual entries.

Jacob W. Michaels wrote:
Pending the occult rules, I could totally see the HBMII twist being that they must be occult-y. I think that'd be a lot of fun, except that I wouldn't be able to participate!

I also think it'd be a pretty decent twist. For lack of a better term, I think the monsters should be "psychic/occult-aware", i.e. you can also design a monster that has no psychic powers but it somehow interacts with the new rules. And sorry Jacob, you won't be able to participate because you'll have other duties! :-)

DM. wrote:
I Sent one pitch, hope is not too bad.

Thanks for the pitch!

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Hey

Pitches sent.
Hope I organized them alright for you folks. Thank you for the opportunity!

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Hi Mikko and Jacob,
I just sent in a pitch for a villain. I hope you like crazy! :P

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