Top 16 Advance to Round 3 of RPG Superstar™

Finalists to Design Original Monsters by End of Week

Feb 7, 2012, 02:00 pm

Sixteen amateur game designers have advanced to Round 3 of Paizo Publishing’s RPG Superstar, the largest open-call tabletop roleplaying design contest in history. 2009 RPG Superstar champion Neil Spicer joined celebrity judges Clark Peterson, Ryan Dancey, and Sean K Reynolds to critique 32 original organizations designed by Round 1 finalists. In this round, fan votes determine who advances to Round 3, in which the Top 16 will design original monsters with full game statistics. All finalist submissions, complete with judge and reader commentary, are posted to the paizo.com messageboards.

“It's always interesting to see how the competitors embrace each round's challenge. Some play it conservatively, some appeal to a specific fanbase, and a few charge ahead to create something wild and innovative,” said judge and Paizo game developer Sean K Reynolds. “This year we had several traditional organizations like mercenary soldiers and seekers of lost knowledge, and unusual ones like a clan of succubus-geishas and a fleet of whale-riding pirates. As a judge, I'm always impressed with the creativity of the competitors—even the weird ones!”

The Top 16 finalists for RPG Superstar 2012 and their winning entries to date are:

Will Cooper Stormsworn Company Adam Donald The Red Bastards Bob Drouin Fear, Fist and Flame Andrew Marlowe Andoran Mercantile League Jacob Michaels The Unfettered Steve Miller Arcadian Interceptors James Olchak Cold Hearth Lodge Tom Phillips Sisters of Chana-Zhol

Sam Polak Riders of the Black Steppe James Raine Besmara's Chosen David Ross Dreamstitchers Daniel Rust Anointed Choir of the Rapture Chris Shaeffer The Pure Line Jacob Trier The Maidens of Veiled Vengeance Russell Vaneekhoven The Foulgrip Rangers Mike Welham Monster Reformation Alliance

The Top 16 will now be required to design Pathfinder Roleplaying Game statistics for an original monster concept and submit their complete monster write-up by 2:00 PM Pacific time on Friday, February 10. On February 14, Paizo will reveal judge comments on all 16 submissions to the general public, who will then get to discuss the entries and vote for their favorites. Voting ends on February 20, and the Top 8 (by votes) will move on to Round 4.

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.

For a complete schedule of RPG Superstar, including rules and a FAQ, visit paizo.com/rpgsuperstar.

About Paizo Publishing
Paizo Publishing®, LLC is a leading publisher of fantasy roleplaying games, accessories, board games, and novels. Paizo's Pathfinder® Roleplaying Game, the result of the largest open playtest in the history of tabletop gaming, is currently the best-selling tabletop roleplaying game in hobby stores. Pathfinder Adventure Path is the most popular and best-selling monthly product in the tabletop RPG industry. Paizo.com is the leading online hobby retail store, offering tens of thousands of products from a variety of publishers to customers all over the world. In the nine years since its founding, Paizo Publishing has received more than 50 major awards and has grown to become one of the most influential companies in the hobby games industry.