Anne Sullivan's page

Anne Sullivan wrote:

The only thing I'm not fond of is the Smoldering Gorge. I agree with others that it feels sort of squeezed in at the top and doesn't feel the right size for a dragon. I would add that the shape is maybe a little too reminiscent of something that I don't really want to see in my RPG maps (but since no one else has seen it, maybe I'm just especially sensitive to seeing such things). Changing it the gorge be at an angle would give you more room, and making it less linear/more rounded would give the dragon/encounter more space and solve the shape issue.

Overall great work. :)

Now that the gag is off, can I just say that this post was for me the single hardest moment to keep my mouth shut this whole round? Once I read it, I scrolled back up the page to see what you meant, and when I saw it, I laughed out loud. And then couldn't UN-see it. :-p

Funny stuff, and something I'll try to keep in mind if ever I put a similar feature on my map. If I'm in a Freudian mood, maybe it will even be the dread Toothy Gorge.

Hahahaha Toothy Gorge! I'm glad it made you laugh. I spent longer trying to word that one sentence than the entire rest of the critique. I had that "oh crap I can't unsee that now" moment, and considered not mentioning it, but... well I failed my will save.

Seriously glad to see you made it to the next round. :)

I really like the variety of spaces you've created, even sticking with the organic feel to all of the areas. Looking at the map, I immediately wanted to grab my friends and play the map which is a huge success in my book. I especially find the mushroom forest idea evocative and would have a great time exploring that with my characters. I also like that some of the mushrooms are growing outside of that one space which is a nice realistic detail.

The only thing I'm not fond of is the Smoldering Gorge. I agree with others that it feels sort of squeezed in at the top and doesn't feel the right size for a dragon. I would add that the shape is maybe a little too reminiscent of something that I don't really want to see in my RPG maps (but since no one else has seen it, maybe I'm just especially sensitive to seeing such things). Changing it the gorge be at an angle would give you more room, and making it less linear/more rounded would give the dragon/encounter more space and solve the shape issue.

Overall great work. :)

I agree with what Mark said, that if someone had said "check out this axe shaped map" I would have readied myself for overly themey thematicness. However, this is really solidly done, and the axe shape is not the first thing you see which is why I think it works so well.

It does get a little cluttered (especially in the armory area) so visually it's difficult to differentiate spaces (although color would undoubtedly help with that), but I love that you've given so much thought to how the space would actually be used.

The multi-levels just ties it up for me. I can't imagine this not carrying you to round 3.

115) Blade of the Dark Betrayer
The Good: Ok so I did the angle of using an enemy's shadow against them that is a cool core concept.
The Bad: wouldn't a light betrayer be more of a surprise? the name is just... no
The Ugly: Ok can I counter this with the darkness spell? How about I use...

Thank you so much for all the time you're putting in to review all these items!

However, I've learned a TON from seeing other people's items and reading the reviews, and I really can't understate how valuable it's been. I'm working my way through the core rulebook and I will be back next year without a doubt!

Thanks again!

I can't find the post with your item in it Anne, but the name isn't very evocative to me. "Dark" is a fairly generic adjective in fantasy.

It's the last post on page 5, and got a bit lost in the shuffle. :)

You bring up a really good point. I don't think I really understood how important the names were until I was actually voting and recognizing my own reactions. Next year I'll be putting more thought in my name. :)

Wow, I'm humbled to be on your Top 33 list, Sean! Thanks for the Blade of the Dark Betrayer love. :)

Anne Sullivan wrote:

In the spirit of "we learn by doing," I present to you my "wow, I learned a lot by doing all those things wrong entry. Thank you in advance for your feedback. Next year I will do better! :)

Blade of the Dark Betrayer
[...]

*Formatting issues.

*Can I have more than one shadow active at once? I'm guessing yes.

*I wish there was something shadowy on the weapon itself so that this felt less like it could just be a shears wondrous item that snipped shadows.

I really appreciate the feedback, thank you! I see there are a few more levels of thinking I needed to do with my item.

In the spirit of "we learn by doing," I present to you my "wow, I learned a lot by doing all those things wrong entry. Thank you in advance for your feedback. Next year I will do better! :)

Blade of the Dark Betrayer

Aura moderate enchantment; CL 7th
Slot none; Price 22,310 gp; Weight 2 lbs.

Description
This +1 short sword has an inky black hilt that is cold and smooth to the touch. Shadowy shapes writhe slowly just below the surface of the blade.

Up to three times per day, the wielder can attempt to sever the shadow from an enemy using a melee touch attack. If the attack is successful, the shadow is under control of the wielder of the blade. While under control of the player, the shadow provides flanking to the wielder for that enemy regardless of the direction of light. The shadow does not require space to occupy to provide this benefit.

The shadow remains under the wielder’s control until the enemy dies or the player stops wielding the blade for any reason. If the area surrounding the enemy is covered in darkness, the effect ends immediately.

This ability can only be used on enemies that have shadows. It is not available in darkness or other situations where shadows are not present.

Construction
Requirements Craft Magic Arms and Armor, lesser simulacrum; Cost 11,310 gp

Petty Alchemy wrote:

Santa Clara University? About 20mins from where I live. Maybe I'll absorb the Superstar beams for next year.

Lol, I'll try to be as radiant as possible :-)

Close to me as well! And as a woman try to encourage more women to get into gaming (I'm a lecturer in CS/game design), I really appreciate your work with that! :)

Congratulations to the Top 32! :D It's exciting to see quite a few of my favorites make it on to the next round. I can't wait to see your maps!

Congrats, GM_Solspiral! Way to go!

From a lady who takes so long to consider each vote (and who gets otherwise distracted by life) that she hasn't even made Star yet this year, I salute you and the other Champions!
Thanks for all the item sorting you do for us! May the cream of the crop rise to the top! :)

Congratulations on Star. :D

mamaursula wrote:

.. the judges decide that there is a Golden Ticket among the culled

the judges probably look at less than 200 items now that the voting system is in place. As most of them do have lives outside of the contest. Clark has mentioned how much time the judges had to dedicated when they were the only ones processing the entries.

One of the judges actually already stated that he's read every single entry and 7 of his top 40 were culled. I'm continually impressed by how invested all the judges are in this contest.

Anne Sullivan wrote:

Oh my gosh, I made it to Marathon!

Why can't I seem to stop voting still?

You made it!

Now...why am I not a Champion yet? I want to stop...must...sleep.

There is no sleep. Only voting!

Anne Sullivan wrote:

Oh my gosh, I made it to Marathon!

Why can't I seem to stop voting still?

Congratulations! And may I just say...

One of Us! One of Us!

;)

Hahaha! If it weren't a physical impossibility for me to make it to Champion at this point, I might have tried. :) Instead I shall look upon you all with awe!

Oh my gosh, I made it to Marathon!

Why can't I seem to stop voting still?

Ahhh! The most disturbing item doesn't have a dark sounding description, but in how it is used.

YES. It kinda caught me unawares the first time I ran across it. :) "la de da..wait what? Then WHAT? That got dark fast!"

My biggest problem with the cull is that it's made my item seem a lot less awesome in comparison to all the crazy cool stuff I'm seeing now. Fortunately, my goal was to enter something that "wasn't embarrassing" and it made it past the cull so I feel like I totally fulfilled that. Woohoo! (Dream big!)

Uh, this is not to imply that things that didn't make the cull are things the designers should be embarrassed by! Oh gosh! Abort! Abort!

My biggest problem with the cull is that it's made my item seem a lot less awesome in comparison to all the crazy cool stuff I'm seeing now. Fortunately, my goal was to enter something that "wasn't embarrassing" and it made it past the cull so I feel like I totally fulfilled that. Woohoo! (Dream big!)

I am hoping to make it. That wasn't part of the plan, but then my temp job ended and I love it here...or I don't have a life, whatever. However, I have no idea where I am. I am somewhere deep in to Marathon, since I made it within the first week. If I had to hazard a guess, I'm between 4000 and 5000, but that could just be the competitor in me talking.

You've got this! :) I'll see you in the voting booth. ^_^

Adam, I love that Ira Glass speech! I also highly recommend Stephen McCranie's Brick By Brick graphic novel. It is a comic that discusses how to be a creator. While the focus is a bit more on visual art, it's easy to expand it to encompass any creative field. The majority of it is available for free online.

Just had a thought... my almost ran item's doppelganger might make top 32. if that happens I'm going to never stop kicking myself

Unless you make top 32 as well. :)

Whoa, where did that rod come from? Nice!

Is it okay to talk about stuff and reveal authorship after voting closes, or do we have to wait until the results are revealed?

I'm guessing we have to wait until the results are revealed so that it's still anonymous to the judges. So once the critique thread is live, you're good to go. (Or if you make the top 32, it gets revealed for you!)

My latest voting game is trying to guess which item was written by which person on the boards. It is making me look forward to the top 32 and critique threads for the reveals. :)

And if nothing else, if I just guess "Jacob" I have a higher chance of being right.

sigh I am somewhere deep in the over 2500 votes but I don't keep track, so I have no idea where I am, but now I feel driven to get to Champion.

~excerpt from "Confessions of a Nerd"

That is where I'm at on a mini-scale on the way to Marathon.

The timeless tale of the forest v. the undead. Who shall win?

Serpent soiree!

I've gotten a string of bard items this evening. No pun intended.

Oh man, I haven't seen this since day 1 of voting and it was the first item on my keep list. Yep. It's still awesome.

Anne Sullivan wrote:

Feros wrote:

Somebody has done something to the Tally section on the post-cull list and may have wiped items? Anybody want to check on this?

It looks like the items were sorted based on type and it took the columns to the right with it. 355 items on the list, so looks about right. Or are you talking about a different tab? Sorry if I misunderstood!

Yeah someone did a sort and mucked up the tally formulas. No idea why as they are tallied on the front page.

*shrugs*

Who knows?

It's okay, Petty fixed it all. :)

Somebody has done something to the Tally section on the post-cull list and may have wiped items? Anybody want to check on this?

It looks like the items were sorted based on type and it took the columns to the right with it. 355 items on the list, so looks about right. Or are you talking about a different tab? Sorry if I misunderstood!

Ahhh item. I keep seeing you. You have a misspelling in your description but I keep voting for you anyway. I bet your designer is upset at themselves for the misspelling, but hopefully they don't beat themselves up too badly. Because you're interesting and make me smile. Have another vote.

Mine made it! Very exciting. :)

I totally agree with what has been said. For those who didn't make it, you should still be proud! There's a lot of people who didn't make that first step of entering. I bet you've learned a lot and your next entry will be even better! And of course there are many other entry points into writing. I know I'll be checking out 3PP opportunities. :)

Still pretty sure this is a reskinned wondrous item.

I think I've seen that one quite a bit today.

Flying vs anti-flying. This is a tough call.

Anne Sullivan wrote:

Azouth wrote:

Jeff Lee wrote:

Scepter vs. scepter

wow same for me.

Did you all vote for that one? Because I did.

I voted for the one on the left.

Me too. Left scepter gets all the votes.

Edit: Except Feros's vote.

Jeff Lee wrote:

Scepter vs. scepter

wow same for me.

Did you all vote for that one? Because I did.

Scepter vs. scepter

Hey cool, me too!

Oh man! I just saw my item for the first time. :D That was a surprising rush!

Does anyone else now just want to start putting random borders on things to mess with other people?

You are a bad, bad man group of mandragons. ;)

FireHawk wrote:

arent those edits by a user whose name is hidden via the anonymity settings? which in this case would most likely be the sheets owner from second machine

*edit* yes Im talking about the thin border

Nah, they're actively applied. You can remove them by going to the borders thing and choosing "none".

Yep. What James said. I just removed them all since it didn't seem to be serving a communal purpose and might have been tipping a hand towards voting preferences.

I would be interested in seeing some keep lists if people are willing to share. I currently have nothing in return, but I have now started a keep list (which currently has 4 items) and when it grows to something worthy, I will share back. :)

bordered cells in google sheets are cells that have been edited by another user. Or they are cells that a user has actively open

When someone is on a particular cell, it is bordered with a thick colored border. When you hover over it, it says which anonymous animal is currently in that particular cell.

However, what we're talking about are some of the items have been actively changed by someone to have a colored border. It's thinner and there is no hover text. What's unclear is why someone or a collection of someones chose to change the border color of some of these items. :)

[...]

Clarity can be huge...there are some really complex items that are effectively explained in a succinct manner, and there are some simple items whose explanations meander.
[...]

I admit, I find myself being really biased towards clarity as well. I like to think of it as "elegance" but really it's "I'm kinda new and wow that's really complicated and you lost me 2 paragraphs ago." Which isn't super fair, but with so many items out there to choose from, I'd rather have the one that's easy to remember how it works than the one that I continually forget to use one or more of its abilities. And my votes reflect that preference. :)

The thing I'm saddest about missing was getting a chance to see the item with the really long name. Would it be possible for someone to PM me the text of that one, or is that against the rules?

Thank you for those who sent me the description, I appreciate it! Definitely worthy of the name. :D

James Raine wrote:

Bunch of items on the list are bordered. What for?

Maybe someone highlighting their item? Maybe dupe remnants? I wondered the same thing.

I am also curious. My guess is it was the beginning of an attempt to double check that all the items were really there post-cull. There is some concern that the first pairing people saw were leftovers from pre-cull and may have made it into the document. But that is just a WAG.

Thank you! I thought I was losing my mind. I'm not keeping up with the threads very well and I went to check on another item and didn't get the file I expected to see! Too much voting perhaps? :-)

Haha yeah I could imagine it would be incredibly confusing coming in on the middle of that! :) There is never too much voting...right?

I am really confused about what is going on with the post cull list. First there were two side by side lists, now there's only one. Have we settled that the list we currently have is what we're working on? I know this seems like a strange question to ask, but there are definitely items on this list that weren't on both and it may be false hope for some, I'm just trying to get a clear picture for those who may not have been on both.

In the thread about the community list, someone posted (I'm sorry I've forgotten who!) that they were merging the 255 items they had seen with the community list and put them side by side for comparison. There was one new item added from the 255 item list, and then it was deleted once the comparison was done.

Edit: It was Eric who was doing the comparison. You must have checked in just at the right moment to see it happening! :)

Ohhh there's that ring again. You are so awesome ring, I'm happy every time I see you. I want you in my game. Have another vote, on me!
Very nicely balanced, designer. Kudos!

Whoa. That description got dark fast.