Are you ready to be a Superstar?

Thomas LeBlanc wrote:

1) Will the items be voted on as submitted, without any changes made to them?

2) Will the judges winnow out any submissions before voting begins?

1) Yes. We aren't editing the items at all.

2) We don't plan to reject any items before voting unless they violate the contest rules (such as an item that's a wand rather than a wondrous item, or an item that goes over word count, or one that has obscene content).

I'd also like to point out that the judges *probably* won't look at every submission before voting begins, so it's quite possible that some items won't be identified as breaking the rules until *after* voting begins. Fortunately, the method we're using for voting ensures that such a situation will have no unfair impact on votes cast for or against items that are later disqualified.

What will be the voting option?

• Item 1
  
• Item 2
  

or

• Item 1
  
• Item 2
  
• Both
  
• None/neither
  

^ in cases both interest the voter or neither of them do.

It was a bloodbath! Ryan called my Varisian Carver archetype "a ham-handed butcher" and Sean actually used the word "Argh" in his critique.

It took me days to stop weeping blood. :-)

Ironically, looking through them now, I see Jerall got dinged for creating a race-specific archetype. I wouldn't be surprised if in the wake of ARG (as opposed to Sean's "Argh") at least half of this year's entries are race-specific (pending rule twist, of course).

Lots of fun room to play there actually, considering the less common races only have one or two apiece. Heck, someone could make a drow double-scimitar wielding archetype. That's archetype-y at this point, right?

Pick one, or don't. No ties. Make a stand!

Cool enough. To date, pics are only used in the 'meet the judges' column if you win and become a guest judge :) You can worry about that bridge later. Enter now. 'Tis fun! :)

We now have a marketing person full-time who has the marching orders to play up the contestants quite a bit more than we have in the past. A big part of what we are trying to accomplish with this contest is to make superstars out of folks. Make them household names in the RPG business. If you are trying to remain anonymous, then this isn't the contest for you. If you win (or even do well), we are going to try our damnedest to make you famous!

-Lisa

For the first time since Superstar began I have no clue what type of item I want to make. Hope I come up with something fast...

John Bennett wrote:

Read through all the archetypes in the APG, the Ultimate books, and the Advanced Races Guide (all available here on the PRD) to get a feel for what has already been done. Next, read through all 32 2011 entries to understand where mistakes where made.

This scares me about doing too much too early, as some of the archetypes in Ultimate Magic appear to be at odds with some of the 2011 rules and judges' advice, and the 2011 word limit looked like it made some classes particularly tough. Really want to see what changes or is clarified in the 2013 rules, if anything.

I'm interested to see the word count as well. Typically, part of the notoriety of round 2 is a short word count. But it's good to start generating ideas now and see what's been done before. For example, using my saboteur again. There's no way I would submit it this year. Ultimate Combat has the battle scout archetype for rangers. Different name and abilities, but same core idea- a ranger who goes behind enemy lines. Saboteur now would play too much in that design place, I think.

The problem I have is with my photograph and municipality of residence being freely circulated.

You're WAY overthinking it. Paizo's not saying "we're going to tell the world where you live", they're saying "We can make references to or write articles about RPG Superstar contestants and winners, without having to pay you to use your name"

They're a good company, of good people. Relax.

Another way to look at it....

Some advert, Pathfinder in big letters, Paizo prominent, Your name in there!

Holy Moly Batman! Can that really be so bad?

You know that page that announces the winner's name and location (town state)? That's what he's worried about, I think, and I can understand that.

If you win (or even do well), we are going to try our damnedest to make you famous!

-Lisa

That sounds pretty OK to me! :)

You know that page that announces the winner's name and location (town state)? That's what he's worried about, I think, and I can understand that.

Just paranoia. Unless you are a fugitive, in witness protection, or have a dangerously stalking ex, then having your name and town/state should not be a worry. Seriously.

Items will be randomly selected for voting. Every item will be voted on before any item is selected for voting again. There will be no indication during voting how each item is currently ranked.

You will not be prevented from voting on your own item, though odds are you will not be presented with your own item.

You will be able to refresh the voting page as many times as you want—the more times people vote for one item or another, the better! (OK, technically, once you've ranked every single pair of items against each other, we'll stop offering you items to rank. But that's a LOT of item pairs.)

We will be using a Condorcet method for determining the results, most likely via Schulze beatpath strength calculation.

By pair, do you mean only 2 choices to be selected for each set? I thought condorcet used multiple selections for each "ballot".

If presented in pairs, will each voter see the same pairing or random pairings?

If presented in multiple selections, will each voter see the same set of selections or different sets?

No matter how you break it down, I feel for you Gary! Having to come up with a voting system for so many items must be a real pain in the butt. Can't wait to see what is going to happen with voters submitting and refreshing come open voting...

Just paranoia. Unless you are a fugitive, in witness protection, or have a dangerously stalking ex, then having your name and town/state should not be a worry. Seriously.

Eh, as we don't know what field this person's in, I could see it being a legit concern. Perhaps he/she's in a job field where gaming might not be appreciated (a Maine legislator's participation in World of Warcraft was used against her in her most recent campaign, for instance). Heck, I was surprised to see Superstar Judge Peterson is in fact Judge Peterson and I could see someone using gaming against him in a campaign depending on where he lives.

Heck, maybe he/she's online dating and doesn't really want role-playing to be one of the first things that comes up when a prospective date Googles him/her. I used to try to make sure my real name wasn't linked to my online gaming/comics activities as I wanted to introduce the fact I was involved in those hobbies to a date after we got to know each other thanks to the stigma unfortunately attached to them. (Ironically, last year's Superstar was how I introduced my gaming hobby to my then-new girlfriend and that worked out great, so thanks Paizo!)

And those are all valid reasons to not participate in RPG Superstar.

But we're not going to change the contest rules to accommodate people who opt out of competing for that reason.

It's RPG Superstar, not RPG Anonymousstar.

Will the bottom 32 (ie, those in the top 64 of the public vote, but didn't make the judges' cut) be mentioned anywhere?

... I wouldn't be surprised if in the wake of ARG (as opposed to Sean's "Argh") at least half of this year's entries are race-specific (pending rule twist, of course).

ARG (not to be confused with Sean's 'arrgh') is/was my guess at the twist :)

Anonymousstar... Hmmm... wheels beginning to turn...

I'm ready to be a Superstar...I just hope I can make it through the judging!

Will the bottom 32 (ie, those in the top 64 of the public vote, but didn't make the judges' cut) be mentioned anywhere?

Maybe. I did something like that last year for the almost-made-it items, and gave developer feedback on those items if the author requested it.

Pick one, or don't. No ties. Make a stand!

What if the two "best" items get put together or something (or, someone who might otherwise end up as a finalist get taken out at the beginning).

Nazard wrote:

Will the bottom 32 (ie, those in the top 64 of the public vote, but didn't make the judges' cut) be mentioned anywhere?

Maybe. I did something like that last year for the almost-made-it items, and gave developer feedback on those items if the author requested it.

And it was good feedback, even if he hated the idea for your item.

Vic Wertz wrote:

Pick one, or don't. No ties. Make a stand!

What if the two "best" items get put together or something (or, someone who might otherwise end up as a finalist get taken out at the beginning).

I believe it won't be a tournament style voting thing. Its not like Best item A and Best item B will be paired up for all voters, and the winner moves on to the next bracket.

Best Item A might be paired randomly with Best item B at some point, and so Best Item A, or Best Item B may have more votes than the other.

But if Best Item A and B are truly both best, then the strength of voting for each individual items vs. the rest of the field will shine through.

Nazard wrote:

Will the bottom 32 (ie, those in the top 64 of the public vote, but didn't make the judges' cut) be mentioned anywhere?

Maybe. I did something like that last year for the almost-made-it items, and gave developer feedback on those items if the author requested it.

He he, this time though, there will be 32 of them - which means if they all say "Yes please", you could end up with a name change to "Neil" :D

Belle Mythix wrote:

Vic Wertz wrote:

Pick one, or don't. No ties. Make a stand!

What if the two "best" items get put together or something (or, someone who might otherwise end up as a finalist get taken out at the beginning).

I believe it won't be a tournament style voting thing. Its not like Best item A and Best item B will be paired up for all voters, and the winner moves on to the next bracket.

Best Item A might be paired randomly with Best item B at some point, and so Best Item A, or Best Item B may have more votes than the other.

But if Best Item A and B are truly both best, then the strength of voting for each individual items vs. the rest of the field will shine through.

It's not a bracket. Your preference literally only tells us your preference among two items; the wonders of mathematics do the rest.

Nazard wrote:

Will the bottom 32 (ie, those in the top 64 of the public vote, but didn't make the judges' cut) be mentioned anywhere?

Maybe. I did something like that last year for the almost-made-it items, and gave developer feedback on those items if the author requested it.

Will the top 64 be notified after public voting, or will it just go out to the Top 32 and alternates after judging, like last year?

WOO! I am delighted and intrigued by the massive 1st-round public voting. Very cool.

Good luck everyone! This this contest continues to be amazing.

Hoo, boy. I've been brainstorming for a while, but just now I was listening to that judges panel thing and inspiration struck - probably my best idea so far. Super excited!

No, it's not a corset of size distortion. I said "inspiration", not "lazy rip-off". ;)

So I've been scouring the boards for the last few weeks in anticipation of the RPG Superstar event, and tried to take all of the excellent advice to heart.

It's time.

Here. We. Go.

Good fortune to all of the participants!

Good job. I'm glad to see people doing their homework! Well done!

What if the two "best" items get put together or something (or, someone who might otherwise end up as a finalist get taken out at the beginning).

The lovely thing about Condorcet methods is that doesn't happen. At worst, there'll be some preference cycles that create vagueness around whether voters really preferred what gets in as #64 to what gets excluded as #65, because different Condorcet methods use different cycle-breaking mechanisms.

Can't wait to see the new Archetypes! I'm gonna enjoy relaxing in my armchair drinking my Cheerwine and reading your submissions!...

Luck to all of you.

No, it's not a corset of size distortion.

It's a loincloth of size distortion, isn't it?

Jacob Kellogg wrote:

No, it's not a corset of size distortion.

It's a loincloth of size distortion, isn't it?

Either way, you both nicely avoided adding the word "Revealing" to the name :D

I have my archetype narrowed down to one and I have searched and searched and it hasn't been done (yet).

The features swapped in follow a tight theme so the challenges remaining are :-

Good writing - making things succinct and clear.
Making sure it's playable and not a form of NPC.
Making the choices and powers fun and balanced but not game breaking.
Oh yeah, and making the cut of course, but we all have that challenge :)

The final challenge for me will be the formatting as I saw mention somewhere that archetypes formatting has changed. Either way, you will probably get to see the entry at some point as there is often a post round thread of "what would you have posted".

Hey Anthony, that is great stuff to have done, and definitely the right attitude to go in with. It spurred a couple of thoughts.

One thought is that clarity, payability, and balance are all important. But don't leave out the awesome. Lots of people got dinged last year in the second round for good execution on a timid idea. [Edit to add: I know you know this, it just bears repeating :-)]

Second thought — go write another couple of archetypes. The practice will be useful in any event, and you don't know what devious twists our favorite Paizonians have in mind. What if the submission has to be a racial archetype? What if it has to be based on an APG class? What if it has to be mythic? What if it has to be written in 400 words and yours takes 500? What if it has to be linked to a country, or an alignment, or a god?

Preparation is great, but don't get locked into just one idea. It might turn into a trap.

Funny you should mention racial - I have a few ideas for that.

What I'm doing at the moment is getting the core features written (no more than a sentence per as much as possible), which will just leave refining and editing to do should I progress.

I will probably do the same for the racial.

As for the mythical - I need to finish reading that - it has some interesting possibilities and luckily my current archetype wouldn't take much to upgrade to a mythical version (sometimes I get lucky).

Sad though it is, I also have a monster ideas sketched out for CRs 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, and a couple of encounter ideas too.

I've also been practicing the Template Fu and Map Fu alter egos - so I should be prepared for when I pan out again (my competition speciality :p), and Template Fu is very lean and hungry after the last 11 months of hibernation.

You better believe it.

Clark has promised me lots and lots of template issues to feed upon.

*loud tummy growl*

Awesome. Good luck mate, I'd love to see you in the top 32.

Yay for using Schulze – as a Pirate Party member, I heartily endorse this use of the world's best voting system. ;)

Cheapy wrote:

You know that page that announces the winner's name and location (town state)? That's what he's worried about, I think, and I can understand that.

Just paranoia. Unless you are a fugitive, in witness protection, or have a dangerously stalking ex, then having your name and town/state should not be a worry. Seriously.

Side note

Mathew I did really love you in those old Mickey Mouse club shows!

For my money, you were as talented as Britney.

Um you do realize that wasn't me, right?

Good job. I'm glad to see people doing their homework! Well done!

Doing homework has been both positive in coming up with an item to submit and incredibly frustrating!

*Wonder's aloud* "Does that mean I'm finding my mark being creative....or simply recalling previous entries I thought were cool without realizing it..."

Will the top 64 be notified after public voting, or will it just go out to the Top 32 and alternates after judging, like last year?

Only the Top 32 are notified as part of the official process.

I don't know whether to cheer or cry - but the forums work on my spangly iPad - now the competition is truly portable >.<

Will the bottom 32 (ie, those in the top 64 of the public vote, but didn't make the judges' cut) be mentioned anywhere?

The statement about the judges selecting 32 of the Top 64 was an error, and has been removed. The judges will go from the highest-ranked entry down until they have 32 solid entries. If it takes more or less than the top 64 entries to do that, so be it.

Oh. Well, that's news. Thanks for the update, Vic!

I don't know whether to cheer or cry - but the forums work on my spangly iPad - now the competition is truly portable >.<

Work great on both house tablets. The Internet is portable has been for years (laptops), for better or worse.

Come on everyone, how the voting is done or how the results are announced should not be an issue at this stage. All you need to do right now is to bring the awesome. I'm an entrant, I am also a voter. Wow me. Earn my vote. Forget the voting system, you can't change it. You can change your focus to where it should be.

1) I will be measuring you against the auto rejects because I had to measure myself against them.

2) I will be looking at my item pairs in depth, do the items bend rules in interesting ways but not overtly break them?

3) Do I think the item is desirable, fun to use or have written on my character sheets? As a GM, would I want to place it into my encounter rewards?

4) If it's consumable, is it overpriced. If its permanent, does it scale as I level? Does it have game longevity?

5) Is there good attention to detail and execution of the template. I won't ding you for the odd mis-step, but if you have many errors, it will make me question how much effort you have put into the submission.

6) I won't go to the depths of writing style as other might, so long as I can see the core idea, whether it's cool in my mind. There are people who do have degrees in writing in the audience, so as long as I (and they, no doubt) can see you tried your best, then that's all we can ask of you.

7) Does it show me your potential? Subjective, but that is the deciding factor quite often. So make it "ohhhh, shiny!"

These are the things you need to think about... a high proportion of your voting public will be people who have also entered, who have worked hard on their item. Expect them to be as critical on your item as they will likely have been on their own.

That is where your focus should be. So bring me the awesome. Wow me.

Make me nod my head and move my mouse to vote for your item.

THAT is your goal.

Anthony Adam wrote:

I don't know whether to cheer or cry - but the forums work on my spangly iPad - now the competition is truly portable >.<

Work great on both house tablets. The Internet is portable has been for years (laptops), for better or worse.

To quote the immortal wise man, Homer Simpson, "Oh, they have the internet on computers now!"

GM_Solspiral wrote:

Anthony Adam wrote:

I don't know whether to cheer or cry - but the forums work on my spangly iPad - now the competition is truly portable >.<

Work great on both house tablets. The Internet is portable has been for years (laptops), for better or worse.

To quote the immortal wise man, Homer Simpson, "Oh, they have the internet on computers now!"

In a size that can be used in bed without disturbing the sleeping beauty beside you :D