Here Be Monsters 2 begins on Thursday, 21 January

[Mike Welham]

Here are some more statistics:
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.
.
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Creature Type:

Construct: 1
Fey: 1
Ooze: 3
Outsider: 23
Plant: 1

Size:

Huge: 3
Large: 5
Medium: 13
Small: 5
Tiny: 2
Fine: 1

[Drejk]

So I was right about two out of four creature types (beyond the obvious).

Size isn't terribly surprising either - I'd expect a few more Large maybe, and I certainly didn't expect Fine hellish monster, though.

[Tacticslion]

Mike Welham wrote:

Here are some more statistics:

.
.
.
.
** spoiler omitted **

** spoiler omitted **

Dagggggggummit. I don't know if this makes me makes me more or less nervous!

Dang it!

One thing I do know this makes me, though...

Tacticslion wrote:

Belabras wrote:

If a bunch of folks came up with Oozes I'm going to be super impressed.

If a bunch of folks came up with Oozes, I'm going to be super impressed, but also super confused. Probably in a good way.

WELP! Super confused in a good way it is!

Drejk wrote:

So I was right about two out of four creature types (beyond the obvious).

Size isn't terribly surprising either - I'd expect a few more Large maybe, and I certainly didn't expect Fine hellish monster, though.

That is one fine fiend, if you know what I mean!

*nudge-nudge-wink-wink*

(I mean its size category. Duh.)

[Belabras]

I am indeed super impressed. Can't wait to see what those oozes are.

[Adam Daigle]

I've officially sent my comments off to Mikko tonight after work.

[Mikko Kallio]

Thanks, Adam!

I've still got a few things to do, but we're almost set for the big reveal on Thursday!

[Trekkie90909]

*begins a very long drum-roll*

[Mikko Kallio]

Tacticslion wrote:

That is one fine fiend, if you know what I mean!

*nudge-nudge-wink-wink*

(I mean its size category. Duh.)

There was also a second Fine creature--a swarm of cannibals. We had to DQ it, though, because it had the young template applied. The swarm's special abilities included paranoia and insanity. ;-)

[Drejk]

Duh.

Spoiler:

I haven't looked on the links so it took me a while to get it...

[The Raven Black]

Mike Welham wrote:

Jacob W. Michaels wrote:

Hmm. Other teasers ...

Not sure if this counts, but I always thought I was a lenient judge, so I was surprised to discover I had the most outright rejects -- twice the number of one judge.

On the other hand, I also had twice the number of keeps as that judge (I think it's been noted, we initially rule entries on a continuum of reject-weak reject-on the fence-weak keep-keep).

One of the judges might have been using a weird bell curve metric. ;)

Technically, you could argue that a straight line is a kind of bell curve. Expect table variation though ;-)

[Tacticslion]

Mikko Kallio wrote:

Thanks, Adam!

I've still got a few things to do, but we're almost set for the big reveal on Thursday!

Aaaaaaaagggghhhh~!

Trekkie90909 wrote:

*begins a very long drum-roll*

Aaaaaaaagggghhhh~!

Tacticslion wrote:

That is one fine fiend, if you know what I mean!

*nudge-nudge-wink-wink*

(I mean its size category. Duh.)

Mikko Kallio wrote:

There was also a second Fine creature--a swarm of cannibals. We had to DQ it, though, because it had the young template applied. The swarm's special abilities included paranoia and insanity. ;-)

(•_•) / ( •_•)>⌐■-■ / (⌐■_■),

YEEEEEEAAAAAHHH~!

FTFY~!

[Jacob W. Michaels]

I fear Mikko is trying to rickroll us...

Maybe that's that paranoia acting up, but that'd be suitably hellish of him...

[AngryNerdRageDemon]

Jacob W. Michaels wrote:

I fear Mikko is trying to rickroll us...

Maybe that's that paranoia acting up, but that'd be suitably hellish of him...

No one would ever do that to you!

Heehee! I think he's falling for it!

Crap! Gotta turn off my external internal monolo-!

[Curaigh]

Jacob W. Michaels wrote:

I fear Mikko is trying to rickroll us...

Maybe that's that paranoia acting up, but that'd be suitably hellish of him...

Hmmm.... I guess I should have expected that, but he didn't & I am now having flashbacks to [redacted]. & To think, I did not trust my dancing skills enough to pursue that career when this sort of choreography was the norm. :)

RPG Superstar wrote:

Construct: 1

Fey: 1
Ooze: 3
Outsider: 23
Plant: 1

What?!? No dragons?! We love those crazy little guys! Oh wait. Stupid auto-correct. There it is, spelled with two 'O's'. :P

I could still be right on the angels, but I am surprised my tongue-in-cheek construct and plants proved right. :)

Speaking of bell curves. I had never noticed arranging the sizes in a column like this would produce one so closely. :) is there a three letter abbreviation for fine? for colossal?

Huge: 3
Large: 5
Medium: 13
Small: 5
Tiny: 2
Fne: 1

[Drejk]

Ahem.

Isn't it 25th already?

*looks at Mikko*

And you can hardly blame the time zones, you get 25th earlier than me...

[Mikko Kallio]

Drejk wrote:

Ahem.

Isn't it 25th already?

*looks at Mikko*

And you can hardly blame the time zones, you get 25th earlier than me...

It is the 25th, and I'll start posting the Top 6 monsters in a few hours. The first one should go live at 8 PM Finnish time or 10 AM Pacific time.

[Tothric]

Tothric wrote:

Man, this thread is building Anticipate—

—tion!

The day is here!

[Mikko Kallio]

I'm testing the poll thingy, and I need a few volunteers to test it's working as it should. Some instructions:

1. Enter the voting booth by clicking this: http://www.poll-maker.com/poll593809x9A4147D7-25
2. Choose any one of the options and click Vote.
3. Send me a PM here on paizo.com with the name of the monster you voted for. (So I can check the results page shows me the right number of votes.)
4. Feel free to try to cheat the system by using different browsers and what have you.
4. Report anything unusual, also via a PM.

Thanks!

[Mikko Kallio]

Thanks to everyone who helped me test the poll! I think the sample is now big enough to tally the votes and check if the statistics I get from the website match the reported votes. I'll close the poll now, but if you already cast a vote but didn't send me a PM yet, please send me a PM asap.

[Jacob W. Michaels]

So who won the test poll? I voted for the infernisaur. Writing was top-notch, even if I wish the special abilities had been just a bit better. I know Mike was pulling for the badger critter... :)

[Mike Welham]

Of course I was! The descriptive text really won me over, and the special abilities were unlike anything I'd seen before. There wasn't enough room for the write up, but sometimes you can't have everything.

[Curtisin]

Jacob W. Michaels wrote:

So who won the test poll? I voted for the infernisaur. Writing was top-notch, even if I wish the special abilities had been just a bit better. I know Mike was pulling for the badger critter... :)

It's rigged I tell you! I voted for the same one!

[Petty Alchemy]

I liked the punny Hellephant, but had to go for Lava Lovah in the end. It just wants to love (lava) and I think we can all relate to that.

[Mikko Kallio]

It was a really tight race between the hellephant, infernisaur, brimstone badger, and lava lovah. Infernisaur won by one vote.

Anyway, the poll seems to be working fine. If you hit the back button in the browser, it's possible to vote several times (and the website registers each), but only the last vote seems to count; the algorithm filters out any extra votes.

[Jacob W. Michaels]

So enough procrastinating! Let's get with the reveal. Hell awaits! :)

[The World Is Square]

F5 F5 F5 F5 F5

Excited to see how things shake down! And just for the record, I am a Hellephant fan through-and-through.

[Mikko Kallio]

28 minutes until the first one is revealed.

[Covent]

Badger, The answer is always more Badger...

[Belabras]

Covent wrote:

Badger, The answer is always more Badger...

Except when it's a snake. (A snake. Oooh it's a snake.)

[Tacticslion]

Belabras wrote:

Covent wrote:

Badger, The answer is always more Badger...

Except when it's a snake. (A snake. Oooh it's a snake.)

Mushroom! Mushroom!

[Mikko Kallio]

Here Be Monsters 2 -- Top 6

Protean, Anomiak
???
???
???
???
???

[Belabras]

Glossolalia is very cool and I wish I had thought of that.

[Amanuensis]

Neat!

Many thanks to the judges for your comments (and especially to Mikko and Jacob for hosting this contest)!

[Mikko Kallio]

Congrats, Gabriel! I really liked your RPGSS monster, so I'm not very surprised to see you in the Top 6. :)

Ready for the next one?

[Mikko Kallio]

Here Be Monsters 2 -- Top 6

Protean, Anomiak
Hellhorn
???
???
???
???

[Curaigh]

Joe is 'the first' repeat entrant. Congratulations Joe,

& 5 other repeaters just got more hopeful :)

[Mikko Kallio]

Congrats, Joe! Our first repeat finalist!

Some of our Top 6 finalists have indeed made the Top 32 in RPGSS or Top 5 in HBM in the past, but we also have new designers in the Top 6. ("New" names to me, anyway.)

[Mike Welham]

One of those repeaters had to go and get himself disqualified, though.

[Mikko Kallio]

Here Be Monsters 2 -- Top 6

Protean, Anomiak
Hellhorn
Enabler Devil
???
???
???

[Mikko Kallio]

Mike Welham wrote:

One of those repeaters had to go and get himself disqualified, though.

Yes. And how!

A few beers at PaizoCon and *boom* we had a new judge. :D

[Mikko Kallio]

Here Be Monsters 2 -- Top 6

Protean, Anomiak
Hellhorn
Enabler Devil
Hellfire Gorger
???
???

[motteditor]

Not sure if Mikko might be having posting trouble, so ...

Headless Devil (Gannceann)

[Mikko Kallio]

Here Be Monsters 2 -- Top 6

Protean, Anomiak
Hellhorn
Enabler Devil
Hellfire Gorger
Headless Devil (Gannceann)
Hellforge Slag

Voting booth

[Eric "Boxhead" Hindley]

Mikko Kallio wrote:

Congrats, Joe! Our first repeat finalist!

Some of our Top 6 finalists have indeed made the Top 32 in RPGSS or Top 5 in HBM in the past, but we also have new designers in the Top 6. ("New" names to me, anyway.)

Hey! I resemble that remark ;)

[motteditor]

Congrats again to all the Top 6! And thanks to everyone for participating and giving us so many fun creatures to read.

And to those of you who aren't contestants, please feel free to leave comments on the monsters and/or here. You're free to advocate for your favorites and give the designers feedback.

[Shadowborn]

Congratulations, folks! Good stuff all around.

[Tothric]

Congradulations! :-)

[Belabras]

Congrats to the top 6! Lots of interesting ideas here.

[Rusty Ironpants]

Congratulations to the Top 6. Good job!