Flanwaw's page

Flanwaw wrote:

Perhaps a bit of an amateurish question but stay with me here.

I noticed in some of the earlier wayfinder 'zins that the side trek's are generally a good thousand+ words, but the submission limit for the side trek seeds are 325 words. I'm guessing the submission is more of a idea proposal or basic outline, and the full thin gets fleshed out later but I just want to make sure.

So, this Side Trek thing has sort of grown organically with the ongoing 'zine. We have Side Trek Seeds (early on just called Side Treks) that are the short 325 word summaries of possible adventures. Then we have Side Trek Adventures, 4-6 page mini-adventures that are fleshed out with a map, and NPCs....sort of a one-shot that can be dropped into an ongoing campaign.

So, we have Seeds vs. Adventures, short vs. long. Seeds are open for anyone to submit. Adventures are usually solicited, and are always approved by ME, the editor-in-chief. Seeds are not usually developed into Adventures, though....completely separate submissions there.

Tim

Very good to know - thanks for clearing that up.

Perhaps a bit of an amateurish question but stay with me here.

I noticed in some of the earlier wayfinder 'zins that the side trek's are generally a good thousand+ words, but the submission limit for the side trek seeds are 325 words. I'm guessing the submission is more of a idea proposal or basic outline, and the full thin gets fleshed out later but I just want to make sure.

Excited to see my little Greenscream made the cut - equally excited to see what all the others look like in the printing.

dotting

There were a total of 57 pitches, and we've now narrowed them down to two dozen-ish that got at least one Keep or Weak Keep from us. We have few favorites that are almost certain to be included, but as Jacob said, it's going to be tough to select the ones we want to publish.

I don't have actual statistics yet, but I think the top 3 most popular classes were the mesmerist, alchemist, and very surprisingly, paladin. Rogues, bards, and clerics were also quite popular.

Wait, Paladin...? Not Anti-Paladin?

Now that IS very interesting. I'd love to know how those looked as villains.

Uh oh, my Item's not been found yet. Did the third cull dash my hopes? Time to get looking...

Whenever you click the "both items are equally good/bad" button Paizo's fleet of orbiting satellites performs laser-based brain surgery on you from orbit: subtly lobotomizing the parts of the brain that makes good designers.

They also kick your best friend in the balls.

I am sore all over and riddled with psychosis but I did it.

Maybe my Ma'll finally love me!

You're all sick. Sick I tell you!

Can I put my burning the thread down idea back on the table? Because I can't sea an end to this.

.... NOOOOOOO!

I liked the brief transition of the Snark thread into the constructive feedback thread. Felt more wholesome.

All well, time for snark.

I think it's time to burn the thread down. There's no curing a pun plague this bad.

why are there still items that are clearly ripped from other IP still here?

Because not everyone will immediately recognize items from other IPs. Many of the more obscure ones will probably make it pretty far in if they're decently drafted.

I have to say, of the five or six joke items remaining, at least three or four of them are actually really good.

Yep, despite my innate resistance to it at first, one particular joke item that is related to household pets has managed to get pretty high up my list.

Despite it's jokey framing, it's really practical in application.

Huzzah. I survive the second cull! And added an X to the list - congrats, whoever that guy is who also survived.

If you've been seeing a lot of your item and then suddenly you are not seeing much of it at all after a cull - it is very likely your item was a victim. At least, that appears to be the case.

If it so happens your item didn't make it, take the lessons to heart and try again next time. I know I plan to! (unless I somehow make it to top 8, which is not very likely... but you never know.)

I'm at somewhere in the 800s at this point and i still haven't seen mine.

And it's still on the list according to the thread so... good sign...?

You were a great item the first time you made the top 32.

You were a good item the second time you made the top 32.

But a third time? No. Downvoted.

(People, seriously, read the top 32 items from previous years before submitting...)

There was even a thread of them this year, so really there aren't any excuses.

There's another effect I would have liked to add to my item in retrospect. It ties the flavor together and makes it more useful for a party, without increasing the price.

All the items i was most snarky about seem to have been victims of the first cull. I can't channel sufficient negative energies to be creatively smug!

Thrawn007 wrote:

Can I reach Marathon without ever seeing my own item...

Possible but unlikely.

I've heard some people say they haven't seen their item late into marathon status. Which is incredible, honestly.

Items that teleport you and your friends to safety when it gets too real or items that take away the concept of travel are boring. They go against the point of the game.

Items that make it easier to manage your inventory of gold/spells/items/ etc. are boring for a different reason.

Agreed, good traveling items are things that add to the experience of exploring the world, not take away from it or simplify it.

One of the items on my favorites so far is an item that encourages really getting into exploring and examining the world during travel. It encourages RPing, which is the hallmark of a great item in my opinion.

I join my brothers and sisters in dedication to the cause.

"I survived Paizo Superstar Season 9's first cull!"

I think I'll make a T-Shirt saying that.

Tshirt? I'm getting a tat!

Choices are becoming a lot harder now, with the first culling done.

I almost miss the unformatted joke items

My item has survived the first cull... HUZZAH!

Flanwaw wrote:

chaoseffect wrote:

YES! Finally an item that lets me reenact the Jennifer Lopez episode of South Park!

This could be considered a bit too much info in terms of identifying a particular item. Be warned.

There's 2 of them...

Really?

... Woooooooooow.

I've seen a couple of relatively cheap items that are really good. I think I'm actually more impressed when someone comes up with something interesting that can be appropriately priced at less than 1k.

People seem to be tempted to submit high power high cost items, hoping the power=coolness factor will score them some points. It's really a lot more impressive on a design level when designers achieve an awesome effect that a part can use cost effectively.

YES! Finally an item that lets me reenact the Jennifer Lopez episode of South Park!

This could be considered a bit too much info in terms of identifying a particular item. Be warned.

Flanwaw wrote:

Superstars drinking game!

Take a shot for every alcohol-related item that comes up for voting!

Take two if it's a joke item.

Down the whole bottle if it makes a pun.

Are you TRYING to kill someone? I get that you want less competition, but isn't that a little much?

I play for keeps.

But feel free to remove the second two rules if you want even the slimmest chance for survival.

And for those that plan to do a lot of voting i'd also downgrade a shot to a sip.

Superstars drinking game!

Take a shot for every alcohol-related item that comes up for voting!

Take two if it's a joke item.

Down the whole bottle if it makes a pun.

'turgid'

Obvious, but humorous, Christian allusion vs. cool item with formatting errors.

Hmmm...

Blatant real world religious allusions - beyond more general things like ANGELS ARE GOOD and DEMONS ARE BAD, always raise an eyebrow for me. It just draws me out of the game way too much.

Dangling participles are the true cursed items.

The snark is strong this year. You people are drunk with power! Drunk, I say!

Don't you tell me when i've had enough, I know when i've had enough!

THIS IS WHY YOUR ITEM IS BAD AND SMELLS.

this is wonderful - and also functions as a good guide of the biggest no-nos.

Wow. Just got triggered by a word in a title. Which is 70% extra sensitivity on my part and 30% a word that just shouldn't be used lightly.

Even worse, that word does not accurately describe the item. Please make sure you know what the words in your title actually mean.

I think I know which item you may be talking about.

A few odd souls have snuck through some very questionable entry names this year.

A drinking item with a random bonus, vs something I'm pretty sure is stolen straight out of a joke from a webcomic.

Also one of these is 83 words and the other is 298
I've seen both before and selected the opponents each other time.
I don't know....

People seem to think that alcohol can do anything - and any ability fits the theme of booze.

It makes me wonder if some among us need to take a few weeks off the sauce.

I wonder how many times I've voted.... hmm... Though more than one a year does sound cool.

I for one welcome our new designer overlords.

I now have 4 favorite items.

- A shield that has ranged abilities not related to shield throwing.
- A spear that makes really good use of the more unloved combat maneuvers
- A wondrous item that any mid-level party would love
- A tiny little trinket that may not be powerful, but is perfectly produced and packed with utility

Wow, a SiaC that's actually pretty good. Solid flavor, unique implementation, and something that makes it worth using over the actual spell in a lot circumstances!

That, and it being compared to an unformated joke item scores it my vote!

Yet another theme: improving the utility of scrolls.

Beware the item of 'less rules about boring things'. For those adventurers who don't care about anything but kickpunhing rolls.

Well, i'll take not seeing my item yet as a good sign then.

I'm starting to see mostly item's I've already seen at this point.

And somehow one of them is always that same bad joke item.

I honestly don't know how you can do that, Feros. So much voting, and you're keeping track of so much info all the same.

Are... you made of magic?

I also save almost all of the items like a crazy hoarder, even the terrible ones

I've been C/Ping a few myself for use in homegames. Some of them are just too fun to not use, even if i'll need to do some changes on pricing and other minutia.

I think i'll autopass on the racist item. And for all future racist items: No, bad, don't do that.

Assuming you vote once every minute, it will still take over 83 hours to become a Champion voter.

These people would scare me, if they were not benevolent presences on the forums.

So it can be done then!

But i'm mostly joking, I am no such superhuman and responsibilities can only wait so long.

I like item's that fill highly specialized roles or perform hyper specific tasks no one would ever need done.

They're often pointless and no one would ever use them... but they're creative and spirited and fun for those Dm's who like to make it hard on their player's to find uses for their magical loot.