Should I vote for the villains I like best or for the overall craftiness of the designer I like best?
Clouds Without Water made a point in another thread that this round's format wasn't exactly the best format for introducing a villain; usually villains have a whole adventure for their badness to shine through.
On the other hand, I'm tempted to vote for the designer who decided to post their math in a different color, irregardless of the quality of their villain: I could actually understand their stat block without my head exploding.
I guess what I'm asking is: Should I go with the flavor I like, or the design I like?
You should vote for my entry! My dwarf vampire needs some love!
Honestly, I'd vote for the ones that you could see yourself using in a game someday. If one says, "Drop everything and put me into your game!", that's the one to vote for.
You could ask yourself which author is most likely to write a fun adventure, based on the villain and on the author's previous work.
Sounds like you have two main priorities for voting, how about 2 votes for each.
Oooh! A compromise! That's an awesome idea!
Now I just have about twice as many decisions to make! :-P
All right, then go for flavor over mechanics. Mechanics can be learned, flavor is a matter of taste.
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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You could always vote for the entry with the most evil demon ponies in it!
Seriously, though, the contest is in part about who you think would write the most fun and interesting adventure, so I think you are in part voting on 'talent' and in part on 'performance'--how good do I think they are, and how good did they do this time--and I think with 4 votes it's a fair cop to vote 2 each way.
Another criterion, though, would just be being memorable. Not just memorable for being gonzo weird, but memorable for what rings that little bell in your mind that says, "Yes, THAT would be cool. I can totally see how to use that. That would be fun to use."
Sometimes it's all laid out for you by the author, sometimes it's close enough that you can fill in the gaps yourself; hopefully, you not so far that you have to rewrite it (whether that means rewriting stats or rewriting plotlines/hooks), but even then if the idea is 'sticky' enough for you, maybe that's the one to go for.
In a nutshell: vote for the idea that you can't seem to let go or that won't let go of you.
Go with what you like. As long as those entries fill your personal, imperishable and (slightly-to-perhaps-greatly-differing-from-anyone-else's) honorable definition of a villain.
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4
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Formatting issues are, for me, a lesser-weighted part of this contest than raw writing ability. Yes, the text of "Onuyaka" is a LOT more pleasant to glance over than many of the others (my own included, might I add), but that's not why he has one of my votes.
I'm looking for writing ability & creativity first, so formatting necassarily takes a back-seat to that. Certainly, I won't buy a product (or read an entry) that makes my eyes hurt, but that concern is one for the publisher/editor to deal with - after all, we Sexy 16 are competing for the job of making Erik Mona's job harder, not for Erik's job.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4
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Erik Mona doesn't edit stat blocks anymore, so the only way the winner will make my job harder is if he misses deadlines. And given how you guys have all hit every deadline in this contest so far, I am not that worried about it.
Oh.
Well, then I hope to make the job of Erik's stat-block editor as hard as possible, while making fat bank for Erik.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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Erik Mona doesn't edit stat blocks anymore, so the only way the winner will make my job harder is if he misses deadlines. And given how you guys have all hit every deadline in this contest so far, I am not that worried about it.Oh.
Well, then I hope to make the job of Erik's stat-block editor as hard as possible, while making fat bank for Erik.
The Sexy 16 are makin' fat bank now.
Fo shizzle.
fat bank
Is that anything like a sperm or blood bank?
I think there should be a RPG SuperStar Editor contest, to find junior editor wanna-bes. Like me!
Should I vote for the villains I like best or for the overall craftiness of the designer I like best?
Vote W. Dick is a very crafty designer; note the way he and his NPC skirt the rules, and still maintain their role in the game. I'm sure he'll figure a way to continue to play past next year when the chronicle is scheduled to end.
-Diebold