RPG Superstar 2011 Advice

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Do you want a shot at becoming a professional game designer? If so, you should enter the RPG Superstar 2011 competition. Though the competition doesn't begin until December 3rd, that's just when we start accepting submissions. Be smart and start working on your Round 1 wondrous item submission now. That gives you a few extra weeks to refine your item concept.

You should also check out the series of posts I'm writing giving advice about things likely to get your item auto-rejected. They're indexed in a sticky post here on the Paizo forums. This is my third year judging, and by posting these I'm trying to help other designers—that's you!—avoid common pitfalls that'll knock you out of the competition. Fellow judge—and RPG Superstar 2009 winner—Neil Spicer has been providing helpful comments in response to these posts, too. And it wouldn't hurt to read Neil's Advice For Round 1 post from last year.

Also check out former Superstar judge Clark Peterson's extensive write-up of problems he saw in items from a previous competition, which can help you steer clear of things that'll make your chances crash and burn.

Let me point out one thing so we're absolutely clear: you have to participate in Round 1 (wondrous item) if you want to progress to later rounds in the competition! We had a few people last year miss out entirely because they thought they could jump in at a later round. Oops!

Read the competition rules. Do some research. Submit a wondrous item between December 3rd and December 31st. Paizo uses this competition to recognize talented designers we can use for freelance writing—whether or not they make it to the final round. And if you do make it to the final round, you could win a contract to write an adventure module for Paizo. This could be your big break!

Good luck, good gaming, and most of all... have fun!

Sean K Reynolds
Developer, RPG Superstar Judge