Mikko Kallio RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32 |
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Greetings!
In the fall of 2014, I organized a Pathfinder RPG monster design contest called Here Be Monsters. We got 40 submitted entries and selected 5 amazing finalists. The audience voted for their favorites, and Nick Wasko won the title and a huge pile of 3rd-party material donated by our sponsors.
Here Be Monsters is back! The second season begins on Thursday, and I'll be posting information about the contest on the A Sword for Hire blog. The first post is up:
If you're interested in monster design and would like to be published, stay tuned!
-Mikko Kallio, Here Be Monsters judge
Mike Welham Contributor, RPG Superstar 2012 |
Mikko Kallio RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32 |
I will be there!
Edit: P.S. What format should the submissions be in .pdf, .docx, .jpg, or something else?
I recommend creating the monster in a word processor. The contest announcement I'll post on Thursday should contain all the necessary information about submitting your entry. I'll also post a monster template you can (and should) use.
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Adam Daigle Developer |
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Mikko Kallio RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32 |
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Adam, we're happy to have you on board!
Russ, there aren't going to be any real restrictions on who can enter. Doesn't matter if you own a 3pp or just won RPG Superstar. Former Here Be Monsters finalists are also welcome to submit.
(Jacob, Mike W. Adam, and I are ineligible, but I guess that goes without saying. :-D )
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Tacticslion |
I've been developing several critter ideas, even though I can only submit one; so I ran into a few questions from the different creature ideas.
So... some question and important note for others about the template.
NOTE: Copy/pasting it makes the formatting just wrong.
QUESTIONS:
Downloading it, however, causes something I didn't expect: the "##" elements that I change are also bold, when I expected them to be normal text. Is this intentional? The "##"s themselves do not look bold (though they are), so I wanted to make sure that it was intentional.
Compare the d20pfsrd or PRD, and I could see it early on, but later it seems less like that.
Another question is about devils and links. The second (PRD) link uses italics and url-links for all the spells they have, except their summon ability - it is neither italicized nor linked. You only have italicized spells. IF the creatures in question have a summon ability, should it be italicized like you have it, or no?
There are also other formatting questions I have as a result: how would you handle noting things like bonus feats, or similar oddities?
Thanks!
Jason Nelson RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4; Contributor; Publisher, Legendary Games |
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As announced today on the "A Sword for Hire" blog, Legendary Games is proud to again sponsor this contest and provide prize support for the finalists and the winner!
Each of the Final Five gets their choice of any one of our Mythic Monsters products, while the winner gets a signed copy of our marvelous Mythic Monster Manual!
Hail to the victors! Enter the contest and GIVE 'EM HELL!
Jacob W. Michaels |
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The ## elements should in general not be bold (note that CR and XP are bolded, as per Paizo style). Is it possible that you're picking up the style from the previous bolded element?
Summon is a universal monster ability, not a spell, which is why it's not italicized. Also, you don't need to link anything in your submissions.
As for bonus feats, those can be done with a superscript B after the feat (or, if that's not possibly for whatever reason, a B in parentheses after the feat should get the job done).
Thanks, Jason and Legendary! We appreciate it.
Mike Welham Contributor, RPG Superstar 2012 |
Mikko Kallio RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32 |
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Rusty Ironpants RPG Superstar 2015 Top 16 |
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Setting neutral implies no reference to Golarion. But can we reference creatures who are on the PRD ? For example, this creature loves Bone Devils
What about referencing abilities that appear on monsters in the PRD ? For example, this ability works like the gaze of a Medusa
Your monster may use feats, spells, and other resources available in Paizo's Pathfinder PRD. Your monster may not, however, have mythic ranks.
Typically monsters won't reference other monsters for abilities. They will either use Universal Monster Rules or define the special ability within the monsters stat block.
Mikko Kallio RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32 |
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Setting neutral implies no reference to Golarion. But can we reference creatures who are on the PRD ? For example, this creature loves Bone Devils
Yep, it means no reference to Golarion.. or Southlands, Krynn, Athas, or any implied setting. You may include a reference to bone devils ("Hell monkeys lurk around bone devils' calcified torture hives in Stygia.") because bone devils, their hives, and the names of the nine layers are mentioned in the prd. However, discussing how Asmodeus created the Hell monkeys in Helltown, Stygia would be unadvised. That would assume too much on the setting in which the monsters are intended to be used.
We're not creating monsters for a particular existing campaign setting nor are we creating a new campaign setting; we're only creating a bunch of new monsters that can be used reasonably well in any campaign setting.
I hope that answers your question!
What about referencing abilities that appear on monsters in the PRD ? For example, this ability works like the gaze of a Medusa
What Russ said: some monster special abilities are part of the universal monster rules; everything else should be described in your monster entry. That may be problematic if the description of the ability you want to re-use is very long. 600 words is not a lot, and since this is a contest, you probably don't want to waste a lot of words repeating something you didn't write yourself. I recommend giving your monster 2-4 entirely new abilities + a few abilities from the UMR, *if* it needs them.
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