RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32, 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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You have made it into the top 32, you have completed your map, you have turned it in, and soon those maps will be posted for all the world to see.
Congrats on making it this far! Now be careful and don't disqualify yourself. Every year one or more people make a critical mistake and have their item disqualified from the contest. That critical mistake? Talking about their map when they shouldn't.
During public voting rounds, contestants are prohibited from any public discussion that could be considered as adding to, expanding upon, or clarifying the content of their current submissions. This applies to (but is not limited to) interviews, personal blogs, and messageboard posts on paizo.com or elsewhere, including the paizo.com discussion thread for the entry itself. Any such discussion may result in disqualification, in the sole discretion of the judges and/or Paizo.
Don't talk about your map (or monster, encounter, or pitch) while voting is ongoing! Feel free to thank people for their comments, but don't expand, explain, clarify, or correct. Don't do this in the messageboards. Don't do this on Facebook. Be aware at all times that there is a possibly that any public communication could be seen by a judge of the contest.
I nearly DQ'ed myself this year on Facebook. I posted on my wall that I had made the top 32 and that I needed to do a map. A friend asked me a question about the map and I replied, forgetting that Owen KC Stephens is able to see my posts. Low and behold he not only saw the comment but replied to it. He assured me I had not done anything to disqualify my entry from the contest, the answer I gave was not specific enough to identify my entry or specific details of it, but he did warn me to be more careful.
This is a plea. Don't disqualify because you are so excited that you just have to talk about your item. The rules are there to test us, to see if we can have self-control.
Once voting is done and the results have been posted you can go in and comment, expound, explain, and respond all you want. Wait until then.
Good luck!
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Read the feedback on all the Top 36 items. The judges are laying down some deep design wisdom everywhere and might not repeat it when they get to your item.
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RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
,
Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9
aka CalebTGordan
|
Along the same lines as what Isaac said: Go and study what people had to say about monsters in previous contest seasons after reading all the judges comments for this year.
And start working on monster design now. Get a few concepts going. Workshop them if you can, and learn that template like your life depends on it.
Wouldn't workshopping actually disqualify you? Looking at the other threads for feedback, a lot of people seem to be able to identify the items (and owners) of the things they workshopped on.
Wouldn't workshopping actually disqualify you? Looking at the other threads for feedback, a lot of people seem to be able to identify the items (and owners) of the things they workshopped on.
As long as the workshopping isn't public in any way it has never been a problem in the past. And I think that the majority of people in the Top 32 had at least 1 other person look/ comment on their item before submitting.
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Link to Owen's post re: workshops.
Regarding Pit Crews:
You need to do all the creative work on an entry yourself. You need to not do anything that identifies which entry is yours.
Beyond that, pit crews are fine.
What we are looking for is someone who does a phenomenal job producing material as a freelancer game/adventure designer. It's extremely common for freelancers to have a small group they have read over their submissions. My wife read everything I submitted as a freelancer for the first 6-7 years of my career. Groups such as the Werecabbages, Freelancer Forge, and Four Horsemen create semiformal guilds of freelancers who can exchange thoughts and give opinions on one-anothers material.
I used to call such folks "alpha readers," by which I meant the people you have read something first, before you sent it to your editor/developer/publisher. The term "pit crew" has popped up for superstar and I rather like it. These people aren't the driver or the engineer. They just kick the tires and see if the oil needs changing.
Without our tight deadlines, and the rules of doing your own work and staying anonymous until judging is over, I am fine with contestants getting the opinion of trusted friends or colleagues to give a first level of feedback.
And having someone on your pit crew is no guarantee they'll vote for your item over others.
Fair enough, I stand corrected. Just figured that caution was the better part of valor here. :-)