Map Fu's page

Hi Paizo

Below is a suggestion for products for next years festive period...

A Character Advent Calendar
A Creature Advent Calendar (or multiples for different CR Ranges).

Behind each door is a miniature appropriate to the advent calendar - i.e. you are buying a 24/25 miniature collection that you open once per day.

You could also intersperse dice, paizo pens and pencils, erasers, badges, special edition cards to be used in play, maybe a discount voucher - this would bring the price down a little and reduce the cost of so many minis.

You could have Starfinder and Pathfinder versions (this will be expensive for me as I would want both lol).

You could also have digital only versions (they would be reasonably expensive) but if you buy one, you get a pdf product added to your account on a daily basis, giving you a surprise for the run up to Christmas Day?

Just a thought that I thought you might like to consider.

Thanks for your time.

Anthony.

Hi

Cozy Cooking in the time of Corona

I don't usually self promote, but helping people hardest hit by the pandemic and recent events is something I have taken an active role in. Now I need as many of you as willing to help out.

I reached out to publishers and fellow freelancers to build a cookbook of simple and fun recipes to help purchasers make their supplies go further, to have fun as a family and at the same time to raise funds for those hit by the pandemic, be it health workers, families suffering tremendous loss and so on.

Legendary Games stepped up, saying 100% of all pdf sales of such a cookbook would go to this fund-raising effort. A print version is to be made in due course but for now, the pdf is out. The print version will need to cover printing cost, but aside from that, the rest of the sale price will go to the fund as well.

Please consider getting a copy. Links below. It is available now.

Even if you aren't interested in the book yourself, please can you help spread the word by sharing the links on your social media? Please mention it is for charity. I am getting nothing from this, nor are any of the contributors or publishers.

Thank you in advance for your kind attention and time.

I dont know if it will be available on the Paizo store, but if it appears on there, please comment below with the link for me, thanks.

Stay safe, keep well,

Anthony

Legendary Games product page

Drive Thru product page

Hi Paizo,

There seems to be weird things happening with downloads.

I am using Google Chrome on Windows 10.

Google Chrome is up to date
Version 68.0.3440.106 (Official Build) (64-bit)

From the playtest page.. click the download all button

Page response is XMl, Access Denied - even though I am logged in as me.

From the content list, click the individual file.
Page refreshes after a second or two, the clicked item disappears. Wait a few second more, another page refresh happens, the clicked item is back with a problems downloading link.
No file as yet downloaded.
Click the problems downloading and you get the same page refreshes as before and no download starts.

So, I though I would try from my digital content.
Log in, shows all my digital content
Scroll down to the playtest bundle,
The rules update was added to my downloads, so I click it
Personalise, wait 60 seconds
Wait
Click it
Problems downloading link appears, but no file downloads.
Click the problems link.
Personalise message appears, sigh, we now have a no file download loop.

I hope there's enough detail here for you.

Hi

I received my playtest package from Amazon today, but it contained just the Doomsday Dawn adventure and the hardcover rules.

According to my order quoted, I should also have had a softcover rules and some flipmats.

I planned to run the game using the softcover rulebook so that the expensive hardcover would not get worn.

Is there any way I, or you, can track the missing items from this order?

Many thanks in advance,

Anthony Adam
Order 4890371

Okay, I am reading through the rules thoroughly at the moment and thought you might like some general feedback, so I will post the odd thing here or there for your consideration.

I wont post typos, it's a playtest book, but sometimes I might have a general point to make - like this...

PDF - page 6 of 434
Left column, section The Game's Flow, 2nd paragraph starts

"A game of Pathfinder can be played for as long as the
Game Master has an ongoing story she enjoys exploring
and advancing with her players."

My issue with this is two fold.

#1 - it feels like an old school throwback to the time when the GM determines everything.
#2 - it's not as inclusive as you normally are. Todays games, the story drive is not just for the enjoyment of the GM, it's for all.

So in the interests of modernising and inclusivity, might I suggest rewording slightly...

I'm not a pro, but something like this maybe...

"A game of Pathfinder can be played for as long as everyone, GM and players, are enjoying exploring and advancing the stories being experienced together."

I don't know if you would also like feedback of this ilk or not, but thought it wouldn't harm to mention it. Maybe I'm being too pedantic, I don't know.

Overview almost complete - really enjoying the read so far, well done all. I firmly believe saying what was done well is as important as things that might be contested, so...

The Gaming is For All section starting bottom right on the same page. Beautifully written, sensitive and sensible - well done indeed the writer who wrote that.

Oh, I Know I said I wouldn't but Template Fu is a stickler...

Die Rolls, pdf page 9 of 434, first para...

"Many rolls in Pathfinder involve rolling a d20, adding bonuses or penalties, and telling the GM the result so she can compare it to the number representing the difficult of the task."

I think that should be "difficulty of the task." :P

Please can the playtest pack be updated with a printer friendly version of the character sheet - i.e. plain white background rather then the papyrus colour like background.

Although the coloured one looks fab, it's very hard on my pocket to print these for my group. This will save me a fortune in ink/toner.

I wont be printing quite so many tracking sheets, so I can live with that one.

A very, very many thanks in advance.

One of the things I regularly come to Paizo for is for my fix of magazines, paper and pdf, quarterly, monthly or annually (things like Wayfinder, Adventure Quarterly, Rite Publishing, etc, etc.)

At the moment, it is a real pain having to search for each magazine in turn. A real pain. Sigh.

So...

Pretty please with a cherry on top!

Can we please have a "Periodicals" link under the gaming part of the Store drop down to take us to a launch type page to find all magazines, including those we might not know about?

A very many thanks in advance.

Anthony.

Hey all, hope this is the right place for this.

I just pre-ordered the playtest and noticed that all the products were listed as Pathfinder and not Pathfinder 2.0, so...

Will the store and downloads areas separate Pathfinder 2 products from Pathfinder 1?

In particular, I am thinking about name clashes and the problems that can create, e.g. if the Pathfinder 2 Bestiary is called Pathfinder Bestiary, it could name clash in my downloads with the original Pathfinder Bestiary.

At the moment, I don't think its a problem as the playtest products include playtest in the name, and not alpha or beta like the original edition 1 playtest products.

It may be a daft question, probably an obvious one but I can't seem to find it being asked previously, and thought it worth raising to double check that the download manager and account product lists can cope with multiple editions with the same name products.

Thanks for your time and attention.

So, there are 6 Bestiaries available for PF 1.0

Some of you may have seen/used/contributed to my wish list sheet I maintained leading up to Bestiary 6.

With the announcement, I thought it might be an idea to do something similar, listing the creatures people would most like to see in the first Bestiary for Pathfinder second edition.

Now, there are some stalwarts we will have to have, like goblins, orcs, skeletons, zombies, and so on - the classics.

Let's assume 60-70% of the Bestiary will be classics, leaving 30-40% we can have some influence on maybe. It may be too late to help Paizo decide what to include in the first 2.0 Bestiary, it may not, so here's what I propose.

I will maintain a sheet of creatures listed in all the Bestiaries and I will regularly report the trends and top votes, collating and updating on a weekly basis.

The sheet will be tab separated by CR and will include a vote count column, creature name, type, and source. It will be as forumlae free as possible, maintaining highest compatibility will all the sheet readers and versions as possible.

All you have to do is post into the thread voting for one to three creatures of each CR you want to vote for.

Although I start with the Bestiaries, if your really want to vote for something in an AP or other Paizo product, please do so, quoting the source book it is from, and its CR so I can add it to the correct tab.

Additionally, you can request up to 4 brand new creatures not yet available, but must supply the origin of the creature - e.g. aboriginal beliefs, Slavic folklore, a url/web link to the lore behind the suggestion.

I will pop in here and collate the votes once a week, posting the current top 5 or so of each CR, and providing a drop box / google drive type link to the current sheet.

Once we start seeing a trend, I might ask for more votes from everyone to add to their list to fill out a preferences - it all depends how active this idea is and whether it is helping everyone, including Paizo, or not.

Let's give it a try, the worst case is our votes are too late to be taken into account, best case is we get a Bestiary that the majority of us really like the final selection of creatures within it.

No need to explain votes, or argue against votes - it's personal preference, so let's just keep this thread clean and vote heavy. Discussions are invited, just please in a separate thread - it will make it much easier for me to collate the votes that way.

In this thread, we are just collating our personal preferences, looking for that sweet overlap that the majority will enjoy.

Just post something like (these are made up) for your votes,

CR 1 - Binky - Bestiary 12
CR 6 - Flumph - Bestiary 99, Snow Flumph - Bestiary 100
CR 12 - Campanestri - Bestiary 15
CR 29 - Jason Bulhman - AP Dungeons of Paizo, Chapter 3 - The desk of Horror

New Creature - Slime Haggis, from the annals of Scottish legends.
New Creature - Rotten Rose, from the annals of English folklore.

Also note, there are some things we can't ask / vote for due to copyrights, like Illithids, so don't vote for those, we can't have them.

So vote away... while I build the sheet this weekend and populate with the first votes.

Just thought I'd let you know in case no one else has spotted it... all your threads under general discussion have a weird chinese/japanese character set with some recognisable web element of [redacted] in the thread titles.

I'm sure you are probably on the case already, but thought it worth mentioning just in case.

Hey support,

Sorry for troubling you but I just purchased Legendary World Carsis for Starfinder from Legendary Games.

Went to My Downloads
Clicked it

The download timestamp updated to "Today", the page refreshing back to the link clicked. BUT.

No download started
No "come back in x link to say its being generated"
I tried the link 3 times now and no joy at all, the page refreshing each time to the clicked link okay, but no messaging or downloads initiated.

Is there an issue with downloads at the moment?

Thanks

Ant

Hey guys

Just tried downloading from my downloads page...

Account login - fine
Click link for product - fine

Wayfinder Bestiary link for example

Come back with click link in 10 seconds, so far so good...

Click link...

The top of page download about to start appears...

And then bang, remote2 url in bar for the download file downloading says it cant connect!

Are downloads broken?

Thanks in advance...

Anthony

While we all are sad or disappointed about Superstar being on hiatus, and while we all understand the reasons behind it, I think one of the things that we are saddest about is the sense of loss of community, of not being engaged with voting, assessing, talking design openly.

The community mind set is vast and always produced so many divergent thoughts and ideas that every designer, want to be, new, and old, always learnt something from it.

As someone who has taken part in every season of superstar, starting as a "fan boi", progressing through the years and feedback threads, creating a recognised alias for feedback, I thought to myself

"As a community member, I surely can keep the spirit alive and the community engaged in some way."

So here it is.

This thread is similar to blazing 9, it is kind of a round by round thread where Template Fu, yours truly, is offering some of his free time to critique designs you post to this thread.

Please note that I have a full time job, and am a freelancer, so that free time is limited. This means that I can only review 5-10 submissions a week, usually at weekends, so I request that you only submit something for review if you have every intent of becoming a freelancer/games designer.

Even with that, it is unlikely I will get to review everything, so I invite my fellow superstar forum members to this thread to help keep the designing fun alive and well.

I have only made top 100 in superstar, so my feedback is neither official, nor always correct - it is just guidance in the hope you find something useful in what is said on your designs. And if I do get something wrong, I am happy for you to tell me - so I can continue to learn and grow too!

As I have always maintained through the years, my feedback is always on your design, nothing is personal - I do promise open and honest feedback, even if it might hurt because that is what is best for everyone, open and honest feedback.

My requests for submissions may venture into Starfinder at some point, but for now, I am going to stick with Pathfinder. Around once every month or so, the design task will change giving everyone an opportunity to try their hand at many of the Superstar rounds that have taken place over the last ten years.

I will always endeavour to give a good focus to the thread challenges, maybe picking particular products as your research starting point. The next post I make will be the initial design challenge.

There is no prize or voting in this thread, it is purely a place to discuss design tasks in depth and keep our superstar community alive. Now, I know that posting stuff on Paizo open forums means you are surrendering ownership of that which you post, so if you don't want to do that, I quite understand and fully respect your decision.

That said, having met the people at Paizo, I would expect with their highly professional manner that if you did post something here that they liked and wanted to use, they would approach you directly about it.

I may post the odd thing myself for you to review by return, but the main purpose of this thread is for TemplateFu to keep his claws sharp and his belly full :D

... kidding.

No, really it's for us all to continue to learn and grow as designers and to keep the Superstar community alive and well. I hope you make use of my offer.

I have only one request - please, really, really please, use the templates. Format your entry.

I know we all get antsy about badly formatted entries, but the reason I ask is a simple one... a badly formatted entry will pull my focus away from the actual design and most of your feedback will be "didn't use the template".

It is much easier to critique a properly formatted submission which means that I can review more of them in the same amount of time. Thank you so much in advance.

The challenge posts will always be all bold so that you can see when a new challenge starts. I will also post an all bold "challenge closes in two weeks" post and a "challenge closed" post so that you can have some deadline practice too. Each new challenge will then be made approximately 7-10 days after each challenge closed post to allow everyone I time to catch up reviewing those last minute submissions.

So, watch for my next post, it will be our first design challenge. I think I have a good one, and yes, for old times sake, and as a nod to the Superstar we know and love, it will be for wondrous items.

Just tried printing off my final event schedule and the banquet is no longer appearing!

I still have an e-ticket for it (just checked in a panic), but it's a bit of pain that my schedule doesn't include the most important event of Saturday!

I blame Cosmo, even thought it's not that thread! :P

As this is likely to be the only time I can get to the US for Paizocon for a few years due to the cost, I would dearly like some autographs this year...

So, to help my packing and my arms/carrying capacity, could you let me know if you are willing to sign my Beta book (it's still fairly mint condition and I would dearly love to get a signature or two in it).

I would like as many staff as possible to sign it if that is at all possible.

Thanks in advance for you kind consideration.

Just making the clock easier to find ;)

At time of posting, 9 days 7 hrs 15 mins to go.

I think this one will be popular, so if we manage to book this, would sending our sample page(s) to you prior to the event lighten the load any for you?

Hey all - looking for some help on getting familiar quickly with the "current" Golarion setting.

There are a lot of novels, web fiction, setting books and supplements, articles in APs and comics, modules and PFS scenarios all providing information on Golarion, its nations, gods, and timeline.

As someone wanting to swap from a long term home brew campaign (that has run for over 30 years) to Golarion (basically to save myself time), I am looking at the sheer volume of Golarion information available and admit to being a bit bewildered on what to read and in what order...

Aside from the Inner Sea World Guide, what would you say would be the best reading order to get up to speed with Golarion lore as it stands today?

If I have to buy some things I don't have already (not much I admit as a charter subscriber >.<), that's no biggie.

Many thanks in advance for any and all suggestions.

Now my title has your attention, I am working for a 3PP and am under NDA but would like to ask the community at large for some research by way of a data poll.

I would like a general feel about the creatures found in Paizo only products in order to narrow my choices of population for my product I am working on.

I would like your responses PM's to me to protect your anonymity unless you are happy for everyone to know your guilty pleasure creatures.

So, what am I asking for.

I want you to answer the four questions below with one and only one choice of creature for each question, so you have to be ruthless in your selection. They must be from published Pathfinder Paizo products only.

I have a spreadsheet (read-only to ensure integrity of data collection) that you can find here.

So choose creatures for each CR you want to feedback on, answering these four questions...

For a CR, which creature do you hate meeting the most as a player?
For a CR, which creature do you hate running the most as a GM?
For a CR, which creature is your personal guilty pleasure?
For a CR, which creature do you think is the weirdest/wackiest/most fun/most interesting (your choice)?

You can answer the questions multiple time is you wish, but only once per CR rating.

Please provide with each answer the source book the creature is found in that you are stating preference for.

If you want to supply answers for CRs not on the spreadsheet, feel free to do so and I will add them. I will come back to this thread every few days announcing when the sheet is updated with new answers.

Yes, Paizo staff, please feel free to give me your choices too - your names will not be revealed in any way with your choices unless you post them publicly on this thread.

I only need CR, creature name, sourcebook for each question - not your reasoning.

No, this survey is not for a "new edition" and no it is not for a "best of bestiary". It is for something I think is rather more special and different - there is nothing like it on the market, ummm, so far, but someone might beat me to it, you never know...

Yes, I have my selections, but I don't want to sway the vote, and so will not add mine to the sheet until at least 10 responses have been received.

A very many thanks in advance to those kind enough to help me out with their views and preferences.

Spreadsheet here - repeated for ease of finding in all that text! :P

Hey web peeps

There is an oddity happening on the web site.

Reproduction Steps (Chrome or IE)

Step 1 - Go to the main paizo home page in a new window
Step 2 - In the left menu bars, click Novels - in the Fiction section
Step 3 - When that page loads, click Web Fiction - the third link of three iconed links.
Step 4 - Observe it starts to load the menu of items and then flips to a blank page with continual loading bar swirly.

Fortunately, hitting the back button returns you to the menu, but it is rather disconcerting.

Hope you can repro and fix :)

Thanks in advance

Ant

Hey all

I would just like to wish Paizo and all my fellow forum posters a very happy holidays and a wonderful new year.

I would also like to, for the first time, offer a thank you for the year:

Thank you to Paizo management for controlling the good ship Paizo for another year, bringing us loads of new Beasts, the 100th AP, Season 9 of RPG Superstar, and many items of gaming goodness.

Thanks to the RPG Superstar judges, IT clever souls and everyone participating in this Seasons competition, making Season 9 a warm and wonderful place to learn and compete in.

Thanks to the Technical Bods and WebSite Maintenance people - our forums remain a friendly and spam free place. This is down to each and every one of you keeping things running, so you definitely deserve this moment of appreciation. Good job all!

Thanks to the Web Store Ninjas, from the Grand Ninja Masters and Mistresses down to the lowly trainee Ninja - all of my products arrived in good time and condition as usual. All my questions (not very many) answered with good cheer and wonderful promptness. You all all customer relation gods and goddesses.

Thanks to the development team, for pushing through the edits, rewrites and all things development. You have certainly earned your holiday time this year, so feet up, relax and have a nice break. The whips can crack again on your return! :P

Thanks to the coffee runs, doughnut supplies, cake bakers, and treat suppliers who kept everyone's sugar levels at hyper production levels.

And thanks to anyone who I may have missed in that summary.

Happy holidays one and all!

Just a quick pop in to the Superstar forums so that TemplateFu can wish everyone the very best for the holiday season!

Happy Holidays to everyone!

A question! Grin.

As Season 9 is in 2015, and I already have Marathon Voter 2015, are my votes carrying me to Champion 2015 status or are the voter tags different for season 9?

i.e. Star Voter Season 9, Dedicated Voter Season 9, etc.

As it's 1.30 am here in the UK, I thought I'd fire off that little question and have some sleep :)

Night night, happy voters.

Hey peeps

It may be interesting, it may not, but I will post here periodic voting stats as I work through all these delectable submissions

*chew*

Ummm, *hides template points meal bones behind back*

So, as a sanity type check in, after 10 pairs:

Total Unique Items Seen : 19
Pairs seen: 10
Votes cast: 10

Armor, 4 items, 21% of submissions seen
Weapon, 4 items, 21% of submissions seen
Wondrous Items, 11, 58% of submissions seen

Template Failures (2 or more basic template mistakes)
- 8, 42% of submissions seen

Which means that template wise, currently 58% are good to awesome!

I will see how the next 40 votes changes the landscape and post an update tomorrow when I get there (I'm going quite slow at the start of voting to give each entry a proper consideration)

Goblin Bazooka
Aura strong evocation; CL 15th
Slot none; Price 16,500 gp; Weight —
Description
A large funnel is attached to the side of this oversized bazooka. The funnel, formed of interlocking claws and skeletal hands, links with the loading chamber of the bazooka firing mechanism.

Any goblin within 60 feet that is directly in line with the front of the bazooka’s funnel must make a DC 16 Reflex save or be sucked off their feet and pushed into the funnel mouth.

The funnel hands animate, squeezing and pushing the goblin until it cowers in a fetal ball stance and is able to be fed through the narrow end of the funnel into the bazooka firing chamber. The bazooka is now loaded. It may hold one goblin in the chamber and a second in the funnel at any one time.
As a ranged attack, the bazooka fires a goblin up to 200 feet. The goblin, strange creatures that they are, sing “I flyz like the birdz, ohhhh meee ohhh myyyy, weeeely high” as they hurtle to their impact point. On reaching the target, the goblin explodes into a mass of gore and flying bones.

A creature impacted hit by the goblin takes 4d6 bludgeoning damage from the impact. The target and all creatures within 20 feet of the impact take 3d6 piercing damage from all the goblin bone shards, save DC 16 Reflex for half.

The bazooka cannot be fired in the same round that a goblin is being loaded into the firing chamber, they do struggle so.

A goblin can only be fired from the bazooka once.
Construction
Requirements Craft Magic Arms and Armor, grasping hand, hydraulic push; Cost 8,500 gp

Hey fellow contestants.

As in previous years, I have found some time on Wednesday and Thursday to take a look at the templating for anyone that would like me to.

So, if you PM me any entries or dry runs by end of Wednesday, I will work through them and point out any mis-steps I can see during my free time on Thursday.

If you use the full mark up in the PM as you would in the entry box, I will see the entry formatted and so will easily spot things amiss for you.

Due to the popularity this had last year, I repeat, this is a quick eye over of the template only, and you can only ask one time each year.

I will work through them as they are posted, as many as I can, so please bear with if its a while before I get to yours.

You can be assured of total discretion and professionalism as last year's entrants who availed themselves of this offer can attest to.

The offer is now made - it's in your hands if you would like me to cast my eye over for you.

Either way, good luck to all competitors this season.

TemplateFu

Hi Owen/Superstar moderators.

Where the rules say we have to refer to the PRD, is this referring to only to the game rules / construction requirements etc or is it more far reaching?

Sorry if this is a bit garbled, what I am trying to ask is something like "Is Golarion lore fair game?"

i.e. the gods, places etc which aren't in the prd - are we able to base our items and ping off of Golarion lore in their design?

OK, This is your chance to take part in something that I think has never been done before. And I know I am setting myself up for a lot of work and late nights, but I think this could be one of the most interesting challenges ever set before the superstar family.

It begins with Paizo, a company that will soon give us Adventure Path issue #100. The have challenged our minds, our game, our table, our friends for years. They have given us the opportunity to become noticed as a potential game designer of the future. They have taught us, encouraged us and provided feedback on our submissions.

So, as someone on the other side of the fence still, a want to be like so many of us, I thought, how can I show my appreciation for this company that has become so central to my hobby.

Then it hit me.

They have challenged our tables. They have an in company game night. So...

How about WE challenge THEM?

That's right!

I have the formatting skills, I have adobe acrobat to made the pdf, office to make the documents!

So we, the long term superstars who never seem to break that round 1, the Top 32s and alternates, the top 100s and the 100s who don't even make that list have a chance to write collaboratively a celebratory "Challenge Paizo AP" in honor of 100 APs they have given us.

So, to begin, this is a pdf or series of PDFs that we will write and add maps and art to - I will format it all into pdf(s)/word docs and then send these to all particpants and one or two Paizo volunteers who will run our challenge on Paizo game nights, to give us the kill tallies and game updates.

So our first hurdle is finding those Paizo volunteers willing to do this for us on the Paizo side. So there's the gauntlet Paizo - who amongst you are willing to be our "insiders"?

The next hurdle is, there is NO money in this venture. You work purely to put your encounters, creatures, items, art and design before Paizo - not as a "proposal" but as a full blown "gaming challenge". Another route to getting noticed if you will.

I will happily act as lead designer for the project, I have a core idea for the AP sub theme, so I am now looking for those wanting to take part to let me know by private message.

Our first task once I have chosen from those interested will be to decide on the AP story line, I have a skeletal theme which I can propose, and I will be writing some parts too.

So, who amongst you wants to turn the tables on Paizo and give them an adventure, a challenge that will shake them to their gaming core?

PM me if you are interested.

In that PM, let me know what you like to design and write, do you like fluff or crunch, are yo a monster whizz or an encounter genius, are you a master with art packages, an amazing cartographer, etc?

Above all, please tell me as much as you can about how you would like to contribute and how much time you can spare to the project.

I will endeavour to use as many of those willing to participate as possible.

Deadlines:

PMs should be receieved by 12 noon GMT, Friday 8th May, 2015

I will send the skeletal plot synopsis to all those responding on Saturday 9th May, 2015

We will then spend two weeks in conversation via a google doc share, using the comment facilities to thrash out the underlying theme and storyline.

This to complete on Friday 22nd May

I will then break down the tasks for the first part of that adventure, using existing APs as the framework for word counts and the like. I will PM everyone with their assignments and word count targets, and will point to the APs that their assignment should follow for formatting, content, flavor etc.

First draft of work should be returned by the last day of June 2015

I will spend July 2015 reviewing everything, sending edits and change requests all while putting the initial pdf/doc together.

Our aim is to have 1st draft or the first part of the AP complete and ready for proof readers and play testers by the end of August 2015.

September 2015 will see that 1st draft go out to volunteer artists and proofreaders.

The aim, to have Challenge Paizo AP #1 into final edits and ready for issuing by the end of October 2015.

November we will review what we have done, learn from it, read the play reports from the Paizo table, celebrate and then knuckle down on challenge AP #2 - the time table on this one will accouont for 3 months of RPG Superstar, so I will not ask you to give up too much of your time during that period.

Lets do this everyone, lets give something back to Paizo to say thanks for 100 APs.

But please, as exciting as this may sound, IT IS A LOT OF WORK, so please only PM is you are serious and able to spend the time and make the commitment, you need to be willing to take feedback on the chin, to make copious edits and changes and follow through a full development of something that could be unique and special.

Thank you everyone for reading this and giving it your valuable time and consideration.

Please, one last thing, publicise this post to those you know who want to be games designers - lets build not only a challenge but a showcase of as yet undiscovered talent.

Hey contestants,

I will post to this thread as I catch up with the map reviews. Sorry it's taking so long but with 3pp work and now my house having subsidence and then finding asbestos in the kitchen and being moved to a hotel while its all fixed, it has been a very hectic time this year! >.<

As a sweetener for those of you waiting for your review, #6 (Nanny Pajit) is now up

Hi everyone

Last year, I was given an honorary allowance to be allowed into the Superstar only guildhall due to the time and commitment I had shown to the competition.

I think this should be an annual thing and after thinking about it for some time, as the first recipient of this honor, I would like to propose someone for this year. Passing the torch and honor on so to speak.

The nominee I have in mind is someone who feedback's regularly year in, year out. But more than this, they carry the spirit of the competition through the whole year. They have initiated one of the most participated and well loved threads in the competition - one that starts a few weeks after the winner has basked in glory, and it finishes a week or two before the next competition starts.

A thread of mutual participation, encouragement, learning and feedback that has run for many years now.

I nominate this year that this golden ticket be awarded to the grand master of the Blazing 9 thread.

I nominate Curaigh.

If you second this motion, please add your support here and maybe one of the competition heralds, e.g Owen, can ratify this permission for one of the long time regulars and stalwarts of the competition.

Thank you all for yet another wonderful competition.

Hi contestants

I thought I would ask my fellow superstar contestants and Paizo at the same time.

Posit: You are designing an archetype that works across MULTIPLE classes... and you want to stay as true to Paizo formats as possible...

When describing the abilities of the class, how should you format it...

Normally it's of the form...

Ability Name (Ex/Su/Sp): At nth level, crunchy description. This ability replaces class ability name.

So, should I format it like this, or in some other way?...

Ability Name (Ex/Su/Sp): crunchy description.
A cleric gains this ability at 1st level, replacing cleric ability
An oracle gains this ability at 2nd level, replacing oracle ability
etc.

What about other sections of an archetype, e.g. replacing the normal skills?

I would like to write this design in a way that people think is a good way to do this, and I cant find any archetype that crosses multiple classes, so I am kind of trying something weird and wonderful.

What do my superstar comrades in arms (and Paizo) suggest?

Hi

I don't know if this is a general problem but...

I use Outlook 2010, and recently, when I open emails from Paizo, especially when a product pdf I have has been updated, it takes MINUTES to open the email, sometimes causing Outlook to crash and die.

This started happening to me around 2 months ago or so.

It keeps popping up dialogs about Contacting \\static3.paizo.com\image\product\catalog\.....

So it looks like the image server is not serving images in a timely manner to the email when it is opened.

The most recent email that suffers this issue on trying to open is one with subject

"Community Use Package: Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Character Sheets Updated"

If I leave it opening for about 5 minutes, I eventually get the text but no images at all.

Again, I am not sure if it is me or the server. My outlook uses the outlook connector for my hotmail account, which is fully up to date with all patches.

Just thought I would mention this in case other people are experiencing the same on some emails.

Thanks

Anthony

I was wondering how other people have viewed this years rounds... it is undeniable that we have had another great crop of contestants, entries, and lessons in games design.

So I though a thread where each competitor, finalist or not could suggest one SMALL change for next year what it would be. I'm not talking about the rounds being different or reintroducing rounds that have fallen by (anyone remember trying to design a memorable villain? - sheesh!)

I wonder if this year has left an impression on you on some small way that maybe caused your interest in the competition to wane. There have been comments about the lack of posting (my own reason is freelancing time demands - which is a nice problem to have I suppose), but I wonder if some of the lack of interest is somehow related to the rounds.

I'll start the ball rolling with my thoughts by way of example.

The change of round 1 brought freshness to the competition, exciting and new was in but now, four round in...

Too...

Much...

Nar Voth!

Yup, I said it.

I am losing interest because the variety of setting seems to be missing and I am not being given the chance to assess the contestants work in different environments/areas of Golarion. For a roughly three month period, that underlying central theme has started to wear very thin.

What I found amazing in previous years was the variety of locations, settings, and environments. This year we have, subterranean creatures, now subterranean encounters and soon to be (most likely) subterranean module proposals.

So my summary for this year is not enough variety in the challenges underlying theme, once a competitor has proven they can handle Nar Voth, I would have liked to have been able to assess them working in other thematic areas. Can someone writing well for Nar Voth write as well for Cheliax? If a writer has affinity for Varisia write as well for the Worldwound?

I am being brutally honest here I guess, but my viewing of the round rules in these later rounds has been very much "Sigh, Nar Voth... AGAIN! Sigh."

I hope I am not offending anyone, as my intent is purely to let Paizo know how at least one of us (aka me) feels about the tasks set from the voter point of view.

Anyone else have anything they would like to feedback on the competition? Let's summarise it all here in one thread for Paizo to access easily and please try to be reasoned with not only the what you feel, but why you feel that way. :)

Hi all

You may be wondering why Template Fu is quiet this year.

I can confirm that any reviews I normally do will not be happening as did in previous years.

The main reasons are two fold, and you deserve to know as some of you are waiting for them to start.

The two main reasons are...

a) I had a "flexible" schedule with a 3pp based on whether I progressed or not in the competition this year. I was culled, so I am concentrating on the 3pp work as priority - taking much of my spare time at the moment.

b) Having been culled, I realize that I have much to learn about magical items of the types for round 1 this year, and so I do not feel qualified to review on the entries as I have in previous years. I want to spend some study time before commenting so that I am happy that I will not be leading people astray in things I say.

So sorry, no template fu reviews this year - I may return in a month or two and retrospectively work through them, but for now, I am very busy with 3pp work.

I hope you understand.

Anthony.

Just popping on line to wish...

* everyone at Paizo,
* all the 3PPs,
* RPG Superstar judges,
* RPG Superstar contestants,
* RPG Superstar forum posters and lurkers,
* Paizo secret store Ninjas,
* Paizo customer care bears
* Paizo designers
* and everyone else who I may have inadvertently forgotten...

A very happy and prosperous New Year to you all!

Hi Paizo

When previewing, and when voting in prior years, the name with the word count was in bold when presented to us.

This year, the item names and word counts are not in bold.

It makes those items where the contestants have worked hard to submit with the template seem less shiny than they should be.

It's only an impression I know, but any chance we could have the bold back?

Many thanks in advance.

Ok, as a tease, I am going to post occasionally a vote count by item category list.

Enough info to make you think "ohhhh is mine one of those?"

So 10 votes in...

Armor - Seen 3, Upvoted 1
Ring - Seen 3, Upvoted 1
Rod - Seen 1, Upvoted 1
Shield - Seen 4, Upvoted 3
Staff - Seen 2, Upvoted 1
Weapon - Seen 7, Upvoted 3

;)

I'll post again at around 50 votes.

A revised little something as we have only 12 days now before we get to the sleep before Christmas Day and all those pressies filled with Paizo goodness... revised for the new Round 1 goodness (not as good as the original but what ever is :P)...

The Twelve Days of Superstar
by Anthony “Template Fu” Adam

On the first day of Superstar,
an entrant sent to me
An over word count entry.

On the second day of Superstar,
an entrant sent to me
Two Wondrous Items,
And another over word count entry.

On the third day of Superstar,
an entrant sent to me
Three reworked items,
Two Wondrous Items,
And another over word count entry.

On the fourth day of Superstar,
an entrant sent to me
Four real world names,
Three reworked items,
Two Wondrous Items,
And another over word count entry.

On the fifth day of Superstar,
an entrant sent to me
FIVE GOLD WEAPONS,
Four real world names,
Three reworked items,
Two Wondrous Items,
And another over word count entry.

On the sixth day of Superstar,
an entrant sent to me
Six staves of oblivion,
FIVE GOLD WEAPONS,
Four real world names,
Three reworked items,
Two Wondrous Items,
And another over word count entry.

On the seventh day of Superstar,
an entrant sent to me
Seven template fails,
Six staves of oblivion,
FIVE GOLD WEAPONS,
Four real world names,
Three reworked items,
Two Wondrous Items,
And another over word count entry.

On the eighth day of Superstar,
an entrant sent to me
Eight rules transgressions,
Seven template fails,
Six staves of oblivion,
FIVE GOLD WEAPONS,
Four real world names,
Three reworked items,
Two Wondrous Items,
And another over word count entry.

On the ninth day of Superstar,
an entrant sent to me
Nine random powers,
Eight rules transgressions,
Seven template fails,
Six staves of oblivion,
FIVE GOLD WEAPONS,
Four real world names,
Three reworked items,
Two Wondrous Items,
And another over word count entry.

On the tenth day of Superstar,
an entrant sent to me
Ten longsword scabbards,
Nine random powers,
Eight rules transgressions,
Seven template fails,
Six staves of oblivion,
FIVE GOLD WEAPONS,
Four real world names,
Three reworked items,
Two Wondrous Items,
And another over word count entry.

 
On the eleventh day of Superstar,
an entrant sent to me
Eleven armless armors,
Ten longsword scabbards,
Nine random powers,
Eight rules transgressions,
Seven template fails,
Six staves of oblivion,
FIVE GOLD WEAPONS,
Four real world names,
Three reworked items,
Two Wondrous Items,
And another over word count entry.

On the twelfth day of Superstar,
an entrant sent to me
Twelve real life names,
Eleven armless armors,
Ten longsword scabbards,
Nine random powers,
Eight rules transgressions,
Seven template fails,
Six staves of oblivion,
FIVE GOLD WEAPONS,
Four real world names,
Three reworked items,
Two Wondrous Items,
And they all went in the reject bin.

:P

If you would like a quick template use check of your entry, please feel free to PM me your design and I will happily point out any miss-steps you have made.

By using the forum PM tool, this will allow us both to see your item as it would appear in public voting.

This is only an offer of template use checking, I will not be able to detail critique designs as I need to provided a quick turn around for those who want to take this offer up.

This offer is available for anyone sending me ONE design before midnight UK time of the 12th December. I will try to answer as many as I can before midnight UK time of 14th December.

This will allow everyone a chance to fix things up or have confidence in their template use around 2 days before submission close.

I will work on them in the order received.

If you haven't gotten a reply by midday 15th December your local time, then I probably didn't reach yours, sorry.

The design PDF I started to compile from the last seven years of this competition does still contain advice that is very applicable to armor, staves, wands, rings, etc, so feel free to check it out.

I have also started a games design blog which has advice snippets, links and tutorials already available that you might find of use.

NB: I am in no way an official of this competition, I only offer advice and help to my fellow contestants. It is your decision if you wish to take me up on this offer.

Either way, have fun and do enter.

Hey all

Just posting here about a games design blog I started (those of you frequenting or following RPG Superstar every year will know me as Template Fu).

I have designed the site to eventually be one of the "go to" sites for people new to freelancing and those wanting to break into games design, the intent being to include tutorials on item design, creature design, adventure design, encounter design, making approaches and proposals, professional conduct, and so on.

I already have a regular viewing of 50-70 views daily which is currently growing every week, and so I am now comfortable with posting here and pointing all you wonderful publishers to my games publishers directory page.

This page houses links to games publishers who make use of freelancers of all levels of experience and size of portfolio.

Companies already on the directory include 0One Games, AAW Games, LLC, EnPublishing, Kobold Press, LPJ Design, Paizo Publishing, LLC and Rite Publishing.

I invite all games publishers in these forums to visit my site and my directory page to determine if they would like to be added to the directory.

Home
Games Publisher Directory Page

If you decide you would like to be added, please PM me and I will provide you an email address by return.

I will need to check what links you would like for your directory entry, what short description you would like and whether you have any direct guidance to freelancers wishing to approach you. I will also need an graphic of at least 200x200 pixels to place beside your directory entry. Please refer to the Paizo and AAW games entries to see all of this in action!

Thank you for your time and attention.

Anthony.

Hi

Sorry for posting here but I am having trouble with orders of pdf products since yesterday.

I bought Way of the Wicked 7 and the Campaign Setting Numeria yesterday, (Ord ref 3236961) and the items duly appeared in my vast downloads list (I have been a customer for a very long time now :P).

Later I added the Iron Gods Players Guide (free).

In the last 24 hours, I have been completely unable to download any of these three product pdf's from my downloads on my account.

I click the link...

It does its usual pausing before downloading (says at the bottom... waiting for secure.paizo.com)

Then after a while the page refreshes with "No data received" box and no download kicks off.

2 days prior to this I was perfectly able to download my subscription pdfs, including the first iron gods AP.

So something funny is going on somewhere?

On returning to my downloads list, the last download for each item still shows as never, so I suspect it didn't get as far as creating the pdf for download?

I tried an older item on my list that I have downloaded loads before. Nope, no joy. Same "No Data Received" result.

Help?

Thank you in advance.

Anthony Adam.

Hi,

Sorry for hi-jacking the paizo forums, but I am trying to contact the goblinworks peeps with a query and there is no "mail/contact us" link anywhere I can find on their goblinworks web site.

I received the update recently saying I had to finalise my pledge - found this, so this bit is done :)

It also mentioned logging into the goblinworks site so I can check my access level (I pledged the $100 level during the active time of the kickstarter, purchased no addons, and this pledge shows in my account on Paizo).

I tried logging in using the same email as my Paizo one on the goblinworks site, and clicked the forgot my email and password link as it has been quite some months I think. It came back as unknown account. The email on the Paizo site hasn't changed and I have an active pledge, so what should I do now to check my access level and confirm I am ready to go?

Sorry for asking here, I am just unable to locate a better email link to ask directly.

Apologies if this is asked elsewhere but I am having a devil of a time finding it.

I received the latest email update (thank you) with a message about updating your kickstater reward.

Now, step 1 - go to Paizo.com - I did.

Step 2 - access my account - so far so good.

Step 3 - Click the manage my pledge in the kickstarter section.

Now this is where it goes awry. There is no "Kickstarter" section but I do have "My Pledge Drives" section.

There is a button here called "View or Claim Kickstarter Pledges"

So I click that think that is what is meant by "Manage My Pledge" in the mail.

I get my list of pledges and click Details next to the Pathfinder Online one.

This takes me to a page showing lots of add ons and a list of fulfilled pdf's etc and expected deliveries of the items not yet sent.

No Manage button.

So, basically - what is it the email is asking me to do? I have received loads of pdfs already and as far as I can tell my Pathfinder online pledge is managed and acknowledged already?

Is it a case that the instructions don't marry up to the sections and buttons anymore?

Many thanks in advance

Anthony.

p.s. posting this here as I suspect I may not be the only confused and befuddled individual ;)

Ok, round 2 results are known, the contestants progressing are busy beavering away on their next submission (if not *whip crack* why not? :P)

So... it must be time for the round 2 would have been entries to be shared this year.

I'll kick off with my would have been entry to get the ball rolling. Please share your would have been entries in this thread - we can only learn by observing and sharing, so get to it everyone :)

Initial feedback and thoughts I have had is my tie in was to Golarion flavor rather than being more specific to a locale or region, so I probably would have gotten caned for that >.<

This would have been comes in at a healthy 585 words, enjoy.

The crimson skin of this misshapen, hairless humanoid is mottled with purple blotches. It flexes sickled claws as lipless flesh curls back revealing a wide maw of broken, jagged, blackened canines.

Nightmare Child CR 1
XP 400
CE Small outsider (native)
Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft., dream scent; Perception +6

----- Defense -----
AC 13, touch 13, flat-footed 11 (+2 Dex, +1 size)
hp 13 (2d10+2)
Fort +4, Ref +5, Will +1
Immune sleep

----- Offense -----
Speed 20 ft., climb 20 ft.
Melee bite +4 (1d3+1), 2 claws +4 (1d4+1)
Special Attacks born of dreams, dream maker, sandman touch
----- Statistics -----
Str 13, Dex 15, Con 12, Int 13, Wis 12, Cha 10
Base Atk +2; CMB +2; CMD 14
Feats Improved Initiative
Skills Acrobatics +7, Climb +6, Disable Device +7, Escape Artist +7, Perception +6, Sleight of Hand +7, Stealth +11
Languages Common

----- Ecology -----
Environment any urban (Ustalav)
Organization solitary, pair, or trance (3–6)
Treasure none

----- Special Abilities -----
Born of Dreams (Su) Once per night, as a free action, a nightmare child can draw life energy from a sleeping creature. It must remain within 10 feet of the sleeper for six rounds during which it gains 5 temporary hit points and a +1 profane bonus to attack rolls. A sleeper awakening any time after these six rounds gains the fatigued condition.
Dream Maker (Sp) As a swift action, a nightmare child within 10 feet of a sleeping humanoid twists the sleepers dreams into a nightmare unless the sleeper succeeds at a DC 12 Will save. The nightmare prevents restful sleep leaving the sleeper fatigued and unable to regain arcane spells for the next 24 hours. A sleeper can only be affected once per day. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Dream Scent (Ex) A nightmare child prowling the streets on which it was spawned can scent sleepers in the throes of a nightmare-plagued sleep within a 120-foot radius.
Sandman Touch (Sp) A nightmare child’s first touch attack on a creature with 4 HD or less induces the target to make a DC 12 Will save or sleep (as the spell). The save DC is Charisma-based.

Most commonly found in gothic Ustalav and any other urban settlement where tensions and fears of the population are high. A nightmare child is pulled into existence when a group of humanoids in close proximity experience simultaneous nightmares, the nightmare child coalescing from their fears. Normally a single creature stalks the streets, but under conditions of extreme trepidation a greater population of sleepers will create a number of these creatures, referred to as a trance. When cornered, it ululates with the chilling sound of overlapping voices of the dreamers who gave it life, and fights to the death.

Once created, the nightmare child seeks to make its existence permanent as initially it lives only at night. It desires the life energies of the dreams and nightmares of sleeping creatures, using its skills to induce deep nightmare filled sleep against a whole family, and then draining life giving vitality from the most vulnerable of the house - the children. A nightmare child needs to perform this act uninterrupted for seven consecutive nights to gain permanent existence. Until this is achieved, it fades like memory of a dream with the coming dawn, only to coalesce again at nightfall. Banishment merely causes it to fade as it would at dawn requiring the nightmare child to start its hunting cycle anew.

Hi contestants

A few things to consider and ponder on your encounters.

a) Be consistent with dimensionality.

If the text says the area has particular dimensionality, does the scale of the map and the representation of the area on the map match?

If you describe entry/exits by compass, does the compass orientation on the map result in the representation of those entry/exit points match?

b) Houses aren't build on grid lines? Drunken dwarves rarely make perfectly straight corridors...

Consider the style of your map, does everything go old school and follow the graph paper grid lines, or is it a more natural evolution where the grid lines purley illustrate scale and spacing without effect on area orientation?

If your dungeon corridors are in hard rock, they would like follow the rock strata and the softer paths of least resistance. Make things gel coherently with the surrounding environment.

c) Symbols are never obvious to anyone but the drawer!

If you have symbols, numbered locations, points of interest, etc, have a key table that depicts those symbols and what they stand for. These may not appear on a flip mat but are invaluable to an artist rendering your map to that flip mat.

It could include a compass rose purely for the artist who may have to render your descriptions and room content onto a flip mat surface, but if your whole map is a single flip map and the orientation is easy to work out, it's not so important for flip mat maps.

Also include that scale - if you have pull outs of the map at different scales, don't forget to include those scales too! Again, the base map at flip mat scale is scaled for miniatures and gridded in 5 foot squares, so unless your map differs from that, it'snot so important.

d) leave room for combat!

If you have a party of 6, that's 6 occupied squares, if the encounter has an opposing forced of equal medium enemies, that's another 6 squares, so the encounter area where they are met must exceed 12 squares.

If you want to encourage tactics and movement into your encounter, use at least double that, 24 squares.

A 20 x 20 room is 4 squares by 4 squares with 5 foot squares, that's only 16 squares and so is unsuitable for a 12 medium creature encounter - be aware of this sort of space on your encounters.

Also consider the "dungeon dressings", if you have chairs, tables, altars, pillars, things that eat up free space, bear that in mind on your encounter design too.

e)Sound carries, dynamise your encounters

If combat breaks out in an area of your encounter map, what nearby will hear and come to investigate or aid the enemy? Monsters won't sit idly by, they will come and make things difficult for the PCs and at the same time minimize the risks to themselves.

Monsters who have survived any length of time will hunt naturally and use whatever advantages they can get, so not these possibilities too. It may take a round or two for them to react and arrive, just make sure you have covered this eventuality if you need to!

f)What makes your encounter unique/exciting?

Consider your local environment - is the area highly flammable, slippery with snow, running across slippery rooftops, dangers of precipice edges nearby (like falling from a third story balcony or roof top), chance of discovery by a night patrol, etc. The urban environment provides many opportunities to affect the encounter.

Is there anything else heightening the danger, a time limit visually represented in some way, a rescue where someone is sinking fast in the towns river or well, the lower floor of a building is fast ablaze and spreading to the upper floor where the PCs awaken, a running ranged combat where the boat on the river is fast heading to clear and wide waters out of town leaving the PC's helpless behind, catching the culprits in the act just as the guard dogs awaken from the magically induced slumber, etc.

Hope you find these initial gotchas useful, and best of luck with the reveal tonight.

Please read this after the reveal, it's an old post which I am re-linking on behalf of Clark who couldn't commit to judging this year.

Everything he says is as true today as then.

It's just like Clark to miss potentially the best year yet, so take the time to pop in here and give him a friendly wave, let him know he's missed.

And a quote from a latter post in the same thread...

"It's all good. :) Just a friendly reminder from me. And the reason the reminder is necessary is that it is human nature from an enthusiastic group such as this to want to get to work right away. I appreciate that. Which is what leads me to post the gentle reminder every year (and I have done it every year I think)."

So don't worry Clark, a proxy repeat is now made in your name so you can keep your 100% posting ;)