New viewers and veterans alike are welcome to offer constructive commentary in this thread.
Another couple tips.
I think this often (but not necessarily always) comes from designers who work on their entries right in the submission field. Which is another habit I would recommend against.
Okay so participating RPG Superstar's snark thread makes it really hard for me to remain August Positive which has been very important to since I read that article 3 years ago. So rather than wade into the temptation of the snark thread I'd like to start a more positive feedback thread.
So with all that in mind here goes.
Ah, she tricked Owen into scribing his signature on her own limb, thus empowering her spell combat touch attack with his own truename to breech his magic wards and defenses. Exxxxxxxxxxxcellent. I happen to know she also tricked Neil and Mark in the same manner...(again on her hands...sheesh people)
Curaigh in the case of the Marlowe household this is the last Superstar year for us. So our dynasty ends with Monica thoroughly destroying my two Top 16 tags with at least a Top 4 tag... *grin* ...and I couldn't be prouder. Spoiler:
Well it ends here unless one of our kids decides to enter then you never know. Could be multi-generational. Anyway, I'm happy with the work I've been getting and don't really feel the need to compete again. Next year I'll be happy to just root everyone on from the sidelines. Then too as an added bonus I'll feel free to talk and express my opinions on every round.
Also, although I've never played Shackled City, I just looked up the Cauldron map online, and I love it! It would definitely be a fun city to play around in for a while. Even if you don't run the AP (which was really good), the setting material on the city itself is almost worth the price of the HC IMO.
Wayfinder is an excellent way to get noticed. Also (like Eric's thread illustrates) many writing opportunities with 3pp are posted right here on the Paizo forums. You can also search your favorite 3pp and see if they have submission guidelines or contact information posted. Then start pitching ideas. It also helps if you are active on the forums and on social networks. A blog can also be a great start*. If you can get out there and demonstrate you are a good communicator and have interesting ideas you may find someone will approach you either to off you work or to point you in the direction of opportunities (like open calls) you might have missed. *edit: I was reviewing several competitors Paizo profiles and I must have mixed you up with another contestant when I said you had a blog. Sorry for any confusion this may have caused.
A decent way to include puzzles might be to add it to the list of things a designer should add to the encounter round. Your encounter must include a monster from r3 and a new map (not from r2) and at least one trap, hazard or puzzle.
Much worth reading. So be gentle with them, OK? :) And if not precisely gentle. Then at the very least treat them with the respect and courtesy you would like to receive if you were in their place.
Sadly dear it's always been this way...That's why there is traditionally a bar, blankets and hot cocoa.
The Superstars should all have their maps in now and the judges are busy making their initial comments for Tuesday's next big reveal...In the meantime tell us about your favorite RPG Map. One of my recent favorites was the city of Cauldron. Sure we all knew how that was going to end from the start but that was half the fun.
Tempest Bow
Three times per day, a tempest bow can fire an arrow with hurricane force. The wielder makes a standard attack roll as a full round action. All creatures Medium size or smaller in a 100 foot line along the trajectory of the attack may be blown away as if they had been caught in a hurricane wind. If the attack roll is successful the target takes an additional 1d6 points of damage and suffers a penalty to all checks to resist being blown away equal to the wielder’s Strength modifier. An arrow fired from a tempest bow while this power is active is destroyed.
I'll also leave this link here as something you all might find of interest as well: Sean K Reynolds: Magic Item Advice PDF and Review
Creativity first. Then Readability, Rules, Formatting and finally my many miscellaneous biases. Admittedly I have found formatting is a pretty good indicator of failures on more than one of my previous criteria. Admittedly there are a few with sub-par formatting that score high on creativity and thus earn my vote but they are rare. I do not count parallel design against an item either. Whether it's filigree, earth breakers, or animated snowmen I try to take each item as it appears in it's given pairing no matter how tired I am of voting for Frosty the Snowman knock offs.
I would wait and see if the designer puts this item up for review in the critique thread. I'm sure you just want to be helpful but some designers will have put themselves out there as far and possibly farther than they are comfortable with. Just something to think about. *Edit* This is what I get for not refreshing the page before replying. Sorry Brigg did not mean to dogpile.
I this item! Not sure it's superstar on its own. The powers are not super exciting but the description/flavor is spot on...and I love it. Good on you designer!
I see what you did there.
I'm with Jacob. Don't second guess yourself now. Take this time to think ahead...hone those mapping skills and prepare for round 2 even if you don't make the top 32 it's valuable design practice.
Congratulations to all our new contestants! You all have made a bold and exciting decision. It can be tough to put your work out there for everyone to read and critique but it can also be very rewarding (and not just if you make the Top 32). This is a chance to learn and grow not only as a designer but as a player or GM. I wish you all the best of luck and hope you have a good time. Welcome aboard!
About to send in my first entry ever to RGPSS... (how many times can I recheck this thing?) Not enough and too much. Frightening but you can do both simultaneously. Welcome aboard and good luck.
Nice, Joey. Be careful, though, it's addictive! Very. I'm trying to not enter this year...but it's sooo tempting.
I don't care. We can't really know if something was re-purposed or not so all I'm worried about is: Is it cool? If you are inclined to think that repurposing an item is lazy design then I hope you consider that what looks like a repurposed item...might not be.
FWIW At my table the "reload" step has always played out at the top of the round...player draws ammunition and fires not fires and draws more ammunition. Thus if the player decides to change weapons on the next round then the character is only dropping the bow. As far as I have ever seen the rules do not say what order things must happen in and draw-fire makes more sense to us. SO at our table a wielded bow is a bow in hand. Look at it another way. I have an archer we'll call him Legolas who has the requisite feats to do all the stuff you're arguing about and gets up to 5 AoO if conditions are right. Using the arrow ready requirement:
Sometimes RAW don't have the answer which is why we have GMs.
You realize that Eberron will one day be the default setting for D&D, and thus all adventures not set in Eberron should be easily convertible into Eberron with minimal changes. You can remember when Sebastian's avatar was a cranky looking dwarf from an Eberron adventure.
Also, Christopher, Click Here for Wayfinder Submission Info. :)Cool, thanks a million! Where would I send pitches? This thread is full of terrific advice. And if you want to pitch to 3pps visit their websites see what they have to offer and get a feel for what they might be looking for. Some sites have submission guidelines posted. Good luck!
Submitted about an hour ago. It really is hard to hit that button. I remember working on my last product and though I really wanted to put out the best product I could, I wasn't really stressed out about whether people would like it or not. With RPGSS, the expectations seem so much higher. While the expectations do seem however higher I think it's more that you're out there without a net. As contestants we have to be designer, developer, and editor. The voters are looking for a publishing quality entry. And they should be: This is Superstar. Fact is though, we have to carry the weight of all of those jobs ourselves. Sure we may have a few alpha readers who can catch a few things but they aren't the same. So I think you're totally valid in feeling more stress during RPGSS than when you are publishing. Strangely though, I'm having a different experience. I'm still really calm (that isn't to say that there haven't been a few nail-biting moments) but it's nothing like 2012 was for me. The release of my first 3pp PDF, on the other hand, has been twisting at me. Checking up on it was an even bigger temptation than looking for comments on my entries.
I'd like to thank everyone who supported my kaliswyrm in the voting booth but I'd also like to thank every one who contributed to the discussion of my monster here even if you disliked it. The discussion helps me see where the kaliswyrm worked and where I needed to be clearer. If I have time I'll try to get into more specifics soon. In the meantime here are a few issues I'd like to address briefly now though. Tremorsense v. Blindsense: We'll put this firmly in the oops category. The day after I submitted I realized I should have changed this as I had not adequately defined what an "insectoid head" looked like. my original concept was for the Kaliswyrm's head to be brimming with antennae through which it could sense movement. When I realized my error it was too late to change but we live and learn. Breathing v. not breathing: I'm still torn on this issue. I intentionally chose to make this a native outside because I want it to really be hungry and not just enjoy eating. But I also wanted this thing to breathe. The no breath SQ seemed like a cheat here I didn't want to take but I can certainly see the arguments for breathless and could be convinced to alter it pretty easily. For me though, the kaliswyrm is more like a dolphin or other sea mammal in that it breaths by just breaching the surface of it's home environment and I think with some developement that could have been made clearer. Again we live and learn.
I'm going to politely disagree with this assessment. You are welcome to your opinion but you should know I did an absolute dance of joy when urban was announced. Simply because urban environments were where I had always imagined this guy. The origin of the Kaliswyrm was a video I saw on Facebook of a sea creature called a bobbit worm. An accompanying article talked about how an aquarium continued to mysteriously lose fish from a particular tank. In order to solve the mystery the staff had to drain the tank and it was discovered that an enormous bobbit worm had been accidentally transported in on the coral reef that provided the fish with a habitat. My mind immediately went to monsters and gaming. The question that nagged at me was what if the habitat was a castle or a town and the thing ate people? From that question the Kaliswyrm evolved. Dungeons are predictably full of man eating horrors the city not so much.
Whip-crack fast, this black and gold scaled, serpentine wyrm strikes, the massive serrated mandibles atop its eyeless, insectoid head snap closed with devastating force.
A kaliswyrm hunting from its lair gains a +2 Circumstance bonus to Stealth checks made to hide. During combat, a kaliswyrm concealing a portion of its body inside the lair gains the benefits of partial cover. Furthermore, it may drag a single creature of Medium size or smaller into the lair to suffocate. An abandoned lair vanishes in 1d6 days. Anything left inside appears on the ground where the lair was anchored. Nab (Ex) If a kaliswyrm hits with its bite attack, it deals normal damage and attempts to start a drag as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity.
Poison (Su) Spit—contact; save Fort DC 13; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect numbing, -2 penalty to Strength and Dexterity; cure 1 save. Spit Venom (Ex) As a standard action a kaliswyrm can spit venom up to 15 feet as a ranged touch attack. Descended from the outsider subjects of mysterious ancient experiments with draconic blood, kaliswyrms are now typically encountered in cities with connections to Thassilon such as Magnimar and Kaer Maga. A hunting kaliswyrm prefers to surprise its prey, striking and dragging it back into its lair to suffocate. It restrains its prey with vice-like mandibles and serpentine coils, sadistically relishing the final terrified struggles of its meal. If an enemy seems formidable the kaliswyrm spits a numbing toxin before engaging. Cunning nocturnal predators, kaliswyrms have a rudimentary understanding of humanoid language and habits. They prefer to lair in alleys among the detritus and refuse, satisfying their hunger and murderous urges on vagrants, prostitutes and thieves. Animals and vermin can satisfy a kaliswyrm's diet, but if forced to subsist only on beasts it will abandon its current lair for a better hunting ground. In some rare cases, a fortunate kaliswyrm will make an alliance with a gang or thieves guild, which will feed their enemies to the wyrm. Mostly loners, kaliswyrms seldom live near one another. Those few instances where a group of the creatures share a territory usually end in jealousy, violence and cannibalism.
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