RPG Superstar™ 2012 Top 32 Revealed

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Paizo Publishing today announced the finalists for RPG Superstar, the largest open-call tabletop roleplaying game design contest in history. Judges Ryan Dancey, Clark Peterson, Sean K Reynolds, and Neil Spicer selected the Top 32 from hundreds of submissions in an initial contest to design a wondrous item using the rules from the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, available in stores and in electronic form on paizo.com. The Top 32 wondrous items are now on display at paizo.com, complete with judge commentary and additional comments from 2011 RPG Superstar finalists Sam McGowan, Jerral Toi, and winner Sam Zeitlin. Gamers are invited to contribute their own comments to the entries.

"RPG Superstar is a unique opportunity for gamers to become professional designers and for Paizo to discover new, talented writers," said judge and Paizo game developer Sean K Reynolds. "As a developer who regularly works with about a dozen notables from previous competitions, I look forward to seeing these designers grow and improve over the next four challenges. Congratulations to this year’s Top 32!"

The Top 32 finalists (and their winning wondrous items) for RPG Superstar 2012 are (in alphabetical order):

Chad Bartlett
Gloves of Reconnaissance

Alexander Bennett
Dustings of Darkness

Jim Callaghan
Cloak of the Swashbuckler

Will Cooper
Ghostvision gloves

Adam Donald
Flask of Liquid Sunlight

Bob Drouin
Figurine of Familiar Power

Anthony Guillotte
Bottled Time

Mark Hart
Spellblight Cage

Dan Jones
Claw of the Crawling Spell

Mikko Kallio
Vexing Spirit Lamp

Jacob Kellogg
Cloak of Energy Reversal

N. Edward Lange
Sunblossom

Thomas LeBlanc
Metamorphosis Saddle

David Ludwig
Basilisk's Eye Sight

Andrew Marlowe
Cayden's Cup

Benjamin Medrano
Chalice of Eternal Fire

Jacob Michaels
Haunting Glass
Steve Miller
Night Monarch Vardo

Greg Monk
Shadow Box

Eric Morton
Boots of the Phantom Staircase

Joshua Murphy
Gloves, Charlatan

Jason Neals
Binder of Unbound Forms


Andrew Newton
Sticky Pugfoot

James Olchak
Rajah's Silhouette

Tom Phillips
Feywhisper Crown

Sam Polak
Moonlight Flute of the Ghost Hunter

James Raine
Spellbreaker Gauntlets

David Ross
Clockwork Conscience

Daniel Rust
Elixir of Resurgent Flame

Chris Shaeffer
Scent of the Savored Sting

Ian Studebaker-Grey
Silhouette of the Phantasmagoria

Jacob Trier
Sunrise Shawl

Russell Vaneekhoven
Chimaeric Mantle

Mike Welham
Raptoring Gloves

2012’s alternates are Benjamin Medrano, Andrew Newton, and Alex van der Kleut.

UPDATE: Anthony Guillotte, a Top 32 contestant, elected to drop out of the competition, and Jason Neals failed to complete an organization, allowing Andrew Newton and Benjamin Medrano to advance from alternate to the Top 32.

The Top 32 will now be required to design a concept for a new organization to the specifications of the RPG Superstar judges and submit that concept by 2:00 PM Pacific time on Friday, January 27. These round two submissions will be revealed to the general public on January 31 with judges’ comments and the public will then get to discuss the entries and vote for their favorite. Voting ends on February 6 and the Top 16 by votes will move on to round three.

The ultimate winner of RPG Superstar, announced April 3, 2012, will write a Pathfinder Module to be published in early 2013. The 2011 RPG Superstar champion module, Sam Zeitlin’s The Midnight Mirror, releases in April 2012.

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Tags: RPG Superstar
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RPG Superstar 2011 Top 8 , Dedicated Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8 aka John Benbo

Congrats!

Liberty's Edge Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Can't wait to dive into the latest crop of Superstar magic items.

Dark Archive Star Voter Season 6

Congratulations to everyone of you

Lantern Lodge

Always good to see familiar and new names!

Dedicated Voter Season 8

Grats everyone, commenting time!


Congratulations, guys! Woohoo! Way to go!


Congratulations to the winners. Many thanks to the judges.

Silver Crusade Dedicated Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Dedicated Voter Season 9

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Congratulations to the winners! Those are some evocative items in there :-)

RPG Superstar 2011 Top 4 , Dedicated Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7 aka Jatori

Congratulations to the Top 32 (and alts)!

Wait... is that a threepeater?

Dark Archive Contributor , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka Boxhead

Congrats to the Top 32!


1 person marked this as a favorite.

MIKE! MIKE! MIKE! MIKE!

Congrats to you and all the Top 32!

Star Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7

Congrats to the winners!


Congratulations to the winners!

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32 , Dedicated Voter Season 8 aka artofcheatery

3 people marked this as a favorite.

I need to post to make sure this is real...
-X

Sovereign Court

Nice work all! Grats!


Congratulations everyone, looking forward to seeing the future entries!

RPG Superstar 2009 Top 16, 2012 Top 32 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Marathon Voter Season 9 aka Epic Meepo

To those about to die, I salute you. ;)

And all the finalists and alternates are welcome to stop by the 4th annual Top 32 Guildhall.

RPG Superstar 2011 Top 16 , Star Voter Season 6 aka Shadow-Mask

Congratulations everyone. Looks like a good group. :) Time to razzle-dazzle the organizations.

Verdant Wheel

1 person marked this as a favorite.

I will not lie, i am sad i didn´t win. But congrats to everyone anyway. At least i got experience (maybe i will even level up).

RPG Superstar 2015 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16 , Dedicated Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka Hodge Podge

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Everybody, anyone that got into the top 32 has you all to thank. You're all amazing. I don't feel worthy of this, but I promise that I'm going to do my best to make this competition worth your attention.

Remember to submit your items to the critiquing thread. I'd love to see them. Also, if you have the time, rip my item a new one!

- Chris, formerly Hodge Podge


Congratulations to the winners.

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 8

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Thanks everyone. It's a privilege to get this far. The amazing support and information on these boards is the reason I have these funky new brackets after my name.

Good luck to everyone who got through!

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8

1 person marked this as a favorite.

A big thank you to the judges and everyone who have posted in the Superstar forums. The community spirit surrounding this contest is truly amazing, and I'll try very, very hard not to disappoint.


Congratulations to all, I will read up on your entries and hope to do better myself next year!


Congratulations, gentlemen! Now it's time to strap on your big boy britches and bat out some homers.

Star Voter Season 6

Congrats to everyone! Now....GET BACK TO WORK!!!!!


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

Congrats, winners!

Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Dedicated Voter Season 9

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Many congratulations to the Top 32 - another crop of goodies for perusal.

Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2013 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2011 Top 16 , Dedicated Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7 aka primemover003

Way to go Top 32! I am insanely jealous but equally thrilled for you all. This experience can really change the way you look at the game you've been playing. Listen to the wisdom of the feedback you get from the judges, but especially from the community. We're the ones judging you now and the mob is fickle. But really congratulations all of you!

--Vrockstars

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32 aka Cydeth

Congrats to the top 32!

And I'm pleasantly surprised I made it as one of the alternates.

Dedicated Voter Season 7

Grats guys


Congrats...

No women? Not knocking the winners, but that's sad...

Former VP of Finance

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Jeff de luna wrote:

Congrats...

No women? Not knocking the winners, but that's sad...

I'd just like to reiterate that judging is completely anonymous.

If you'd like to see more women represented, encourage the women in your life to participate.


Yeah, that's what I thought. Badger female gamers into joining. I don't believe there's any gender bias at all at the judging level.

Sovereign Court Star Voter Season 6

Congrats to the top 32! Alternates too!!

Sczarni RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32 , Champion Voter Season 6, Champion Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Champion Voter Season 9

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Chris Self wrote:
If you'd like to see more women represented, encourage the women in your life to participate.

I honestly try to get my wife to play anything. Monopoly Deal is the closest I can get her to my type of cards. Roleplaying is right out and so are my favorite board games. But she is my Editor In Chief!


Thomas LeBlanc wrote:
Chris Self wrote:
If you'd like to see more women represented, encourage the women in your life to participate.
I honestly try to get my wife to play anything. Monopoly Deal is the closest I can get her to my type of cards. Roleplaying is right out and so are my favorite board games. But she is my Editor In Chief!

Interesting, 33-50% of my groups' members have been female since college. But, now that I think about it, many of them have outside interests that aren't quite so focused on gaming, so they don't frequent RPG message boards. I'll mention it to them when next year comes around.

In any case, I'm very excited to take a look at this years' entries!


There's no female judges, either.... Just sayin'. ;)

(Just in case the winking smiley isn't sufficient -- because I know things can get heated when Superstar is on -- this is by no means any sort of claim of bias against the judges. I would, however, love to see Lisa or one of the other women associated with Paizo sitting in one year. Just because that would be awesome.)


No wonder i didn't make it into the top 32... I just glanced at the items that made it and it looks like i'm out of my league! congrats to the 32 and alternates that got picked!

Now, it's time for me to do a bit of woodsheddin' so i'm ready for next year...

Star Voter Season 6

Congratulations to the Top 32!

And to the alternates!

And to everyone who entered!

Shadow Lodge

You know, I was obviously and severly disappointed on not making it in this year. And while I still think that I had a great item (and can't wait to see what the judges say about it when they open the thread tomorrow) I have to agree with alex head; the items this year are all very good. Even the ones I didn't like are still very well designed.

Short Version: Congrats on some great items this year.

Sovereign Court Dedicated Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7

Congrats everyone (especially the top 32, but to everyone who entered as well). I am looking forward to seeing what the top 32 come up with for the next round.

Good luck y'all!

Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8

dang didn't make it and after waiting all day to find out after being called into work early.

RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32, 2011 Top 4 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Marathon Voter Season 9 aka DankeSean

Congratulations to everyone! It's a really exciting bunch of items and contestants this year, can't wait to see what comes next!

Star Voter Season 8

Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Congratulations Everybody!

Grand Lodge RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8 aka Jiggy

I still can't believe I made it!

So, every time I tell a friend or family member, they say "32 out of how many?". So, is there a number (precise or approximate) that I can tell them?

RPG Superstar 2009 Top 16 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8 aka Ezekiel Shanoax, the Stormchild

Jacob Kellogg wrote:
I still can't believe I made it!

Congratulations, Jacob! Awesome job. Now bring it for Round 2!

Good luck to everyone in the 32+.

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 8 aka Ottovar

Congrats and a huge Thank You to the judges, staff, and especially the awesome community here!

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32 , Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7 aka Monkster

Thanks so much - and congrats to the other 31 and alternates! Looking forward to seeing the other entries in further rounds - there is some amazing creativity I'm up against!

Paizo Employee Director of Game Development , Dedicated Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9

Congrats everyone! Rock this thang!

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