RPG Superstar™ 2012 Top 32 Revealed

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?

We're not going to be releasing a precise count, but you can tell them 'hundreds and hundreds' or that we had a record number of submissions this year. (Yes, it's been a record year for the last several years. It's been true each time.)

Congrats...

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

Wow, I hadn't noticed that. Crazy. I have to admit, I kinda figured I'd see Marie Small this year :) I liked her stuff last year.

Congratulations to the top 32!

Grats to the advancers, way to go and good luck from here out.

Congrats to everyone! Especially well done to Tom Phillips for making it three years in a row which is pretty impressive!

Wow! What an outpouring of support, you guys! Thanks!!! :)

This just goes to show what I already knew--that Paizo/Pathfinder fans are the best, most awesome fans in the world! All around good people! Cheers!

To the judges: sincere thanks for your time and attention in reviewing all these wondrous items for the contest. I tip my hat to you, sirs!

Wish us luck in Round 2. I hope we all feel inspired and have the chance to do our best work. I can't wait to see what the other 31 come up with!

I'm having fun with this. It's intimidating, sure. But what a cool experience! Thanks again, everybody! :)

Thanks to the judges for their consideration, and congratulations to the other top 32 and alternates! I can't wait to show down against some fantastic work! (And, you know, hopefully surpass said fantastic work by a little bit.)

Congratulations to all the winners! I look forward to the rest of the contest! ^_^

Gratz Everyone!

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.)

+1

The one thing I missed from this announcement that was done in previous years was the location from where each contestant hailed. It was a curiosity of mine to see the demographics of states and/or countries represented.

Urizen, our congratulations email asked us to let Paizo know where we hailed from. My guess is that will be added to our profiles. I agree that that's interesting -- an entrant from two or three years ago is from the town next to mine...

Makes me wonder what the rest of the entries were like.

Hey, I just noticed that three of us Top 32-ers are named Jacob. And two of us even share an avatar!

Congrats all of you. You deserve it.

Jeff de luna wrote:

Congrats...

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

Wow, I hadn't noticed that. Crazy. I have to admit, I kinda figured I'd see Marie Small this year :) I liked her stuff last year.

Thank you, Clark. :) That means a lot. I'll post my item in the critique thread as soon as it's open. I think I know where I went wrong; I'm curious to know what others think, though.

Again, to everyone who made the cut - Congratulations. It is one wild ride that is well worth it. I learned a TON last year, and I'm sure y'all will, too. :)

Jacob K., I noted that same thing in the Guildhall thread. Pretty impressive considering only 26 people use our avatar. I figure there's a higher percentage chance that one of the Jacobs win, though, so I like the odds. : )

Clark Peterson wrote:

Jeff de luna wrote:

Congrats...

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

Wow, I hadn't noticed that. Crazy. I have to admit, I kinda figured I'd see Marie Small this year :) I liked her stuff last year.

Thank you, Clark. :) That means a lot. I'll post my item in the critique thread as soon as it's open. I think I know where I went wrong; I'm curious to know what others think, though.

Again, to everyone who made the cut - Congratulations. It is one wild ride that is well worth it. I learned a TON last year, and I'm sure y'all will, too. :)

Nice to see you posting again this year, even if you didn't make the absolute top cut this time in the judge's opinion. I recall very much enjoying your submissions last year, and as the Ask A RPGSupersuccubus scribe, I'll try to remember to watch out for your item, and give it a (very advanced) succubus' version of a 'once over' if I see it... ;)

Marie Small wrote:

Clark Peterson wrote:

Jeff de luna wrote:

Congrats...

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

Wow, I hadn't noticed that. Crazy. I have to admit, I kinda figured I'd see Marie Small this year :) I liked her stuff last year.

Thank you, Clark. :) That means a lot. I'll post my item in the critique thread as soon as it's open. I think I know where I went wrong; I'm curious to know what others think, though.

Again, to everyone who made the cut - Congratulations. It is one wild ride that is well worth it. I learned a TON last year, and I'm sure y'all will, too. :)

Nice to see you posting again this year, even if you didn't make the absolute top cut this time in the judge's opinion. I recall very much enjoying your submissions last year, and as the Ask A RPGSupersuccubus scribe, I'll try to remember to watch out for your item, and give it a (very advanced) succubus' version of a 'once over' if I see it... ;)

Why, thank you, sir. I greatly enjoyed the...unique perspective you and "she" gave to all the entries. :)

Charles Evans 25 wrote:

Marie Small wrote:

Clark Peterson wrote:

Jeff de luna wrote:

Congrats...

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

Wow, I hadn't noticed that. Crazy. I have to admit, I kinda figured I'd see Marie Small this year :) I liked her stuff last year.

Thank you, Clark. :) That means a lot. I'll post my item in the critique thread as soon as it's open. I think I know where I went wrong; I'm curious to know what others think, though.

Again, to everyone who made the cut - Congratulations. It is one wild ride that is well worth it. I learned a TON last year, and I'm sure y'all will, too. :)

Nice to see you posting again this year, even if you didn't make the absolute top cut this time in the judge's opinion. I recall very much enjoying your submissions last year, and as the Ask A RPGSupersuccubus scribe, I'll try to remember to watch out for your item, and give it a (very advanced) succubus' version of a 'once over' if I see it... ;)

Why, thank you, sir. I greatly enjoyed the...unique perspective you and "she" gave to all the entries. :)

And posted: *link*

At this point, TLDR:

Marie Small wrote:

Charles Evans 25 wrote:

Marie Small wrote:

Clark Peterson wrote:

Jeff de luna wrote:

Congrats...

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

Wow, I hadn't noticed that. Crazy. I have to admit, I kinda figured I'd see Marie Small this year :) I liked her stuff last year.

Thank you, Clark. :) That means a lot. I'll post my item in the critique thread as soon as it's open. I think I know where I went wrong; I'm curious to know what others think, though.

Again, to everyone who made the cut - Congratulations. It is one wild ride that is well worth it. I learned a TON last year, and I'm sure y'all will, too. :)

Nice to see you posting again this year, even if you didn't make the absolute top cut this time in the judge's opinion. I recall very much enjoying your submissions last year, and as the Ask A RPGSupersuccubus scribe, I'll try to remember to watch out for your item, and give it a (very advanced) succubus' version of a 'once over' if I see it... ;)

Why, thank you, sir. I greatly enjoyed the...unique perspective you and "she" gave to all the entries. :)

And posted: *link*
It's a bit brutal I'm afraid, as there wasn't much to excite a (very advanced) succubus...

No worries. I knew there were issues with it when I submitted it.

Very insightful and entertaining, in a uniquely (advanced) succubus way, of course. Thank you, and please pass along the appreciation of a (not Superstar this year) mortal to your "employer." :D

Have fun in what looks like to be a tough race this year. Congratulations for making it this far as well.

Congrats to all!

Best of luck with your organizations.

For the record, if any of you submitted an organization of intelligent blink dogs, you automatically get my vote.

For the record, if any of you submitted an organization of intelligent blink dogs, you automatically get my vote.

Doggone it! ... Literally!

UPDATE: Jason Neals failed to submit an organization, allowing Benjamin Medrano to advance from alternate to the Top 32 with his item, the chalice of eternal fire. Congratulations, Benjamin, and welcome to the Top 32!

(As an alternate, Benjamin submitted an organization for Round 2, and it'll go public on Tuesday with all the others.)

Welcome to the club Benjamin!

Hmm, clicked on Jason Neals profile and saw no posts...

Welcome on board, Benjamin!

Eep? I'm...honestly surprised and (briefly) panicked...but thank you, everyone!

Congo rats Benjamin!

Hmm, clicked on Jason Neals profile and saw no posts...

Indeed. "No posts. No reviews. No lists. No wishlists." To which can be added "No Profile" - There is only the thread for his item remaining. Perhaps this person withdrew completely from the Paizo boards?

With two Alternates promoted, I just noticed that there were only three this year, rather than the usual four. Was there any particular reason for this?

Good luck Benjamin!!

And even his name was changed back to a screen name... Very odd.

Big congratulations to Benjamin. Well deserved, and I look forward to seeing more of your work.

And no hard feelings at all towards Jason. The pressure to make a good Round 2 entry is overwhelming, much more so than making it into the Top 32 (at least for me). Why? Because now you are really feeling the anticipating eyes of thousands of people, waiting to dig into your work and give you a piece of their mind.

And unlike Round 1, where you have months to tinker with your item to get it just right, the time you have to turn in your Round 2 submission is brutally short - especially if you didn't really think you were going to make it this far and haven't prepared properly. *looks guilty*

I came very, very close to throwing in the towel at several points myself, and might have done so if I had not had the support of so many awesome people, including my wife and good friends, some of which I have met right here on the forums. If you have never been active on paizo.com prior to entering the contest, the temptation to just sink back into quiet anonymity must be very strong.

So Jason, if you are reading this, I hope you pop into the Top 32 Guildhall and say hi. You are a Top 32 winner, whether your forum tag says so or not, and no-one can take that away from you. I hope you will come back strong and give it another shot next year, if you still feel up to it.

I'll be perfectly honest myself. I never expected myself to actually make it. I don't have the best self-confidence, and I do my best work in spurts of furious activity. Every one of my items has been the work of a day at most. I brainstorm, revise, and let my enthusiasm for the moment get the better of me...and then, when I'm done, I panic. It's the way I am.

And, to a degree, I feel guilty entering the top 32. Jason deserved the spot, not me. Am I going to drop out because of it? No. But now I feel that I have to prove, to myself, that I deserve to be in the top 32.

I'll do my best, not just for myself, but for those who did drop out and ended up letting me into the contest. It's the least I can do.

And, to a degree, I feel guilty entering the top 32. Jason deserved the spot, not me. Am I going to drop out because of it? No. But now I feel that I have to prove, to myself, that I deserve to be in the top 32.

I'll do my best, not just for myself, but for those who did drop out and ended up letting me into the contest. It's the least I can do.

By golly, he has gumption! Take that demonic bull by the horns and wrastle his butt back to the Abyss.

I'll do my best, not just for myself, but for those who did drop out and ended up letting me into the contest. It's the least I can do.

You damn better! :P

But the last thing you should feel is guilt; the judges pick alternates for this reason. If you get called up, you're no less deserving of advancing at #34 than #1--you're in that top tier either way, and that's not by accident.