Superstar 2014: Top 16 Revealed!

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Paizo Publishing today announced the Top 16 for RPG Superstar! Judges Liz Courts, Lee Hammock, and Adam Daigle gave their critiques on the 32 monsters submitted for Round 1, and the 16 monsters who received the most votes from the public advance to become the Top 16!

"This year's monster round presented a unique challenge: creating a monster suitable for an urban environment. The competitors did a great job creating weird and interesting creatures, such as creepy chimney trolls, undead warhorses, and twisted fey spirits of trees turned into lumber. Congratulations to this year's Top 16, and good luck in the ENCOUNTER design challenge!"

Furthermore, Paizo has asked the Top 16 to provide short autobiographies so that the voters can learn more about their favorite competitors. After all, this competition isn't just about completing game design challenges, it's about finding the next superstar game designer! You can check those out here.

The Top 16 finalists (and their winning wondrous items and monsters) for RPG Superstar 2014 are (in alphabetical order):

Andrew Marlowe — Cincinnati, OH Round 2 Kaliswyrm Round 1 Scourge Vial Brian Fruzen — Milwaukee, WI Round 2 Emberling Round 1 Groundbreaker Cloak Christopher Wasko — Storrs, CT Round 2 Timberjiff Round 1 Bonedancer Bodhrán Emmanuel Greene — Fishers, IN Round 2 Nafligo Round 1 Crest of the Fallen Jacob W. Michaels — Bethlehem, PA Round 2 Guttersnipe Round 1 Poltergeist Knot James Casey Round 2 Filth Dragon Round 1 Gossiper's Gourd Joseph Kellogg — Kingsport, TN Round 2 Shattered Dryad Round 1 Ironmorph Dust Mark Nordheim — St. Louis, MO Round 2 Portrait Phantom Round 1 Horned Helm of the Wild Stag

Mikael Sebag — Irvine, CA Round 2 Miscaster Round 1 Amulet of Reverse Incantation Mike Kimmel — Seattle, WA Round 2 Chimney Troll Round 1 Earthbind Boots Mikko Kallio — Helsinki, Finland Round 2 Immured Round 1 Deck of Falling Houses Rich Malena — Portland, OR Round 2 Bogle Round 1 Sun Wukong's Puzzle Box Robert Brookes — Newmarket, NH Round 2 Disir Round 1 Spirit Window Tripp Elliott — Stafford, VA Round 2 Grymp Round 1 Bosun's Call Tyler Beck — Cumberland, MD Round 2 Selachipoda Round 1 Deck of the Hellwasp's Sting Victoria Jaczko — Tucson, AZ Round 2 Chwal Round 1 Bitter Widow's Veil

The Top 16 are now be required to design a location, encounter, and map to the specifications of the RPG Superstar judges, and submit that concept by 2:00 PM Pacific time on Friday, February 7. These Round 3 submissions will be revealed to the general public on Tuesday, February 11 with judges' comments, and the public will then get to discuss the entries and vote for their favorite. Voting ends on February 17 and the Top 4 by votes will move on to Round 4: the module pitch!

Sean K Reynolds
Host, Designer, Former RPG Superstar Judge