Leaders in Liberty

Submission made. This is my first entry in any Paizo contest of this type.

I hope they get a lot of excellent submissions to choose from!

Am in as well.

When all is done, I would love to see a thread with everyone's entries.

Good luck.

Well, I went to bed last night having just got a spark of inspiration and sad that I missed the deadline. Needless to say, I'm happy I got to submit an entry. We'll see how it goes.

If nothing else, I'm hopeful that our boy Maldris gets a good role model to look up to.

Also, Faction Achievement Unlocked!

*foxes it in*

My submission has been in so long I almost forgot about it

It's probably not my best work but I tried to make it likable.

I also submitted

Not particularly enthused with my entry either, I really needed 25-30 more words.

I was getting flasbacks to highschool where i was like "i need MORE WORDS trying to pad it out to 300. Now its "i need more words" trying to cram more in...

Not particularly enthused with my entry either, I really needed 25-30 more words.

Cyrad twitches as he suffers a PTSD episode related to word count discrepancies and losing RPG Superstar 9.

The 250 to 300 words was a challenge. I used Word to determine count, was this a poor choice on my part?

The 250 to 300 words was a challenge. I used Word to determine count, was this a poor choice on my part?

The Word program will almost certainly be the means by which we track the word count, so you should be in good shape.

The 250 to 300 words was a challenge. I used Word to determine count, was this a poor choice on my part?

One of the things I've found that helps with word count, is to not try and cram as much information as I can into the paragraph.

Find something interesting, catchy, and fun: write to that. I think people will tend to vote for the pitches that catch their interest more than the ones that have tons of information (even if its highly relevant and interesting).

When the finalists are selected, will the total count of submissions be mentioned?

I used https://wordcounter.net/, which said I had 10 words to spare which I thought was a comfortable margin.

Also, submitted! :) I wasn't sure how the deadline would be figured, so I sent mine in by 2pm Eastern which should have been 5pm Pacific.

It seems By Word and wordcounter.net I nailed 300.

I also noticed a couple of errors in mine just now.
Bummer, teaches me to procrastinate.

It seems By Word and wordcounter.net I nailed 300.

One of the things I dislike about Word is that it counts hyphenated expressions as one word, like, always. Even when it's not technically correct grammar to hyphenate. To make matters worse, the grammar checker doesn't flag these errors. You then have to know if the reviewers are going straight off of Word, or also editing for grammar. Which is why I like to do as you do, and use multiple sources for word counts just to make sure.

I used libre writer and didn't consider word count algorithms might differ until it was too late.

Ah, word count. The good old days when your thesis supervisor insists that the HARD MAX described in your institution's guidelines is "more of a minimum really".

My dad used to tell the story of his PHD years where the university had a hard 200 page limit for theses.

One of his friends had a 500 page thesis that they eventually whittled down to 201 pages. Unable to shorten it any further he eventually submitted it with 2 page 197s.

I hear he got away with it to.

I wasn't sure how the deadline would be figured, so I sent mine in by 2pm Eastern which should have been 5pm Pacific.

*double checks the direction of Earth's rotation*

How many entries and how many finalists?

I find I have regrets as yesterday I came up with a brillant way to improve my entry.

Just to provide some basic numbers, Tonya has printed out all of our qualifying entries for review with email addresses and personal names scrubbed for the team's review, and it forms a stack of about 50 entries. The number of finalists we select should fall within a small range, and we're leaving that a little flexible. That way if we have numerous entries that are all roughly equal, we can include slightly more for voting and let the fans decide.

I know that feeling, but when I looked at the 'brilliant' idea, suddenly realized it'd put me over wordcount by about fifty words, so it goes back into the half-formed ideas for future characters area of my brain.

Michael Eshleman wrote:

I wasn't sure how the deadline would be figured, so I sent mine in by 2pm Eastern which should have been 5pm Pacific.

*double checks the direction of Earth's rotation*

Science!

KingOfAnything wrote:

Michael Eshleman wrote:

I wasn't sure how the deadline would be figured, so I sent mine in by 2pm Eastern which should have been 5pm Pacific.

*double checks the direction of Earth's rotation*

Science!

What is "the thing she blinded me with," Alex?

Yes... YES... entering Paizo contests always brings back a certain design thrill I can't find anywhere else. This is a fun starting point for a new character!

I know that feeling. :) and this is fiction! I can totally nail this! I found it late but, a chance to add to the PFS story?!?

What's that! Only 13 hours until the deadline. Grawlixes!
Wait, what's that. Only 250 words? I can totally do this! :)
Grawlix. Today is August 31?* Double Grawlixes! I didn't even see the contest until deadline+11 hours. grawlixgrawlixgrawlix

I need to check the blog more religiously. :)I will write it up anyway while I work on some terrain.
*Original reaction. Not at the time of todays post.

I'm about halfway through, and there are some very interesting takes on this character. It's time to take another stack of submissions outside in the sun to read some more of the community's stories.

It's time to take another stack of submissions outside in the sun to read some more of the community's stories.

I don't know if my entry is protected against UV rays. Some fading may occur.

John Compton wrote:

It's time to take another stack of submissions outside in the sun to read some more of the community's stories.

I don't know if my entry is protected against UV rays. Some fading may occur.

Mines safe from UV light

.... butterfingers not so much.

Enjoy the sun, a nice day, maybe have some tea or coffee or beverage of choice, read a couple...

Y'know, it'd be a hella thing if a few of us hit like *the same touchpoints* and several entries were so close to each other that it'd be hard to separate them.

I don't anticipate it happening, but at the same time, I'm the sort of person who comes up with a character concept, has it rolling for a year or two, and then someone comes up and says "So, you copied 'X' for your character idea, right?"

...when it's intentional, it's not an issue. When it's a spontaneous creation then I start getting Writer Paranoia.

Look for these to go up next Wednesday in the blog!

Fingers crossed

Fingers crossed

New blog post, not on this subject. Hopefully, this means they're impressed and debating our awesomeness.

Wei Ji the Learner wrote:

Fingers crossed

New blog post, not on this subject. Hopefully, this means they're impressed and debating our awesomeness.

Really hoping that I make the 'cut' for voting, at least.

Hopefully, this means they're impressed and debating our awesomeness.

Is that even up for debate? :)

Kerney wrote:

Hopefully, this means they're impressed and debating our awesomeness.

Is that even up for debate? :)

Yes.

Kerney wrote:

Hopefully, this means they're impressed and debating our awesomeness.

Is that even up for debate? :)

Nope! We have the awesomest players out there!

Congrats to the finalists! may the best entry win!

Can you set up the link to vote for the finalists?

Can you set up the link to vote for the finalists?

I think what you need to do is go to this page and then click on the SECOND mention of voting--you're looking for the poll that's below the main blog entry, not the link at the bottom of the blog entry itself.