And, also, may we send more than one submission for the same adventure?
I never said "outlines," just outline. Singular. You may submit your best outline for each scenario.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32
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This may seem like an extremely basic question, and i am sure i am hurting my chances by asking - but i would probably hurt them worse by getting this wrong: What format are you referring to in the description?
You mention 750 words, but that meshes up with neither the "website blurb" (150-some words) nor the adventure overview in the module itself (1000is words).
Anyway... back to massaging my brain how to marry Numeria with pirates and spiders.
I'm asking for a 750 word outline for a 7,000 word scenario.
I'm not going to get any more specific than I already have.
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Just out of curiosity, how do you guys come up with some of the 'wonky' stuff in there? Like:
and at least one ettercap.
Why not just say "write an adventure about 'pirates and spiders' and leave the rest up to the author's creative license?
This isn't meant as a bash or anything, just looking for insight into how it all works.
Could be a lot of things, but my guess is that they want an illustration of an ettercap in the adventure... either because they have one they already purchased that they need to use, or because they need to accumulate illustrations for an eventual monster book, which we all know is coming at some point, or both.
- Ashavan
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Just out of curiosity, how do you guys come up with some of the 'wonky' stuff in there? Like:
and at least one ettercap.
Why not just say "write an adventure about 'pirates and spiders' and leave the rest up to the author's creative license?
This isn't meant as a bash or anything, just looking for insight into how it all works.
I would assume that, in part at least, it's to see how well people can write to a spec. The fact that the spec given goes beyond simply "pirates & spiders" makes it harder for a writer to just tweak one of their own existing scenarios and drop it in. It becomes more of a challenge -- can you find a way to weave both ettercaps and spiders into a coherent adventure :)
They're not limiting the author's creativity, they're saying write under these restrictions *and* still show creativity.
What they said.
Creative Director
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There's a lot of reasons we ask for specific creatures or locations. The scenarios are not only one-shot adventures, after all. They're each helping to expand on the world of Golarion as a whole, and not every monster is appropriate for every adventure in every location. The inverse is true; some monsters are particularly well-suited for a location, and we want to be sure that, say, an adventure that would be set on the coast of Varisia would include a goblin, or an adventure set in the dee Mwangi would include an ape-man.
Additionally, we want to make sure there's a good spread of monsters in these scenarios. By singling out specific monsters or a few, we ensure that we get that spread.
As for the author's creativity, it's worth re-stating the fact that these aren't just any old adventure scenarios. They have to fill a VERY specific role in specific locations in the Inner Sea region, and that's the main reason we've got guidelines as strict as these. It's actually a pretty standard practice in shared-world writing to get a list of the cans and cannots. We're not looking for something brand new, in other words, but something that builds upon the framework we've already started. There's PLENTY of room for authors to get creative, but doing so within the confines of that framework is a requirement.
And last but not least, we DO need monster illustrations for the upcoming monster book. Some of the monsters we're putting in these scenarios are therefore serving a little double duty here.
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Creative Director
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Oh, and some free advice from the Editor-in-Chief:
Piling on prestige classes and templates is not creative. With each additional template and/or prestige class you add to the adventure's villain, chances of us accepting the proposal drop dramatically.
For purposes of this bit of advice, the half-dragon template counts as 5 templates. :-)
For purposes of this bit of advice, the half-dragon template counts as 5 templates. :-)
Ahh, half-dragons deserve a comeback!
Has the template been used by Paizo during the last 3 years? I cannot recall an adventure that features them......
Oh, and some free advice from the Editor-in-Chief:
Piling on prestige classes and templates is not creative. With each additional template and/or prestige class you add to the adventure's villain, chances of us accepting the proposal drop dramatically.
For purposes of this bit of advice, the half-dragon template counts as 5 templates. :-)
What he said. :-)
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Creative Director
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For purposes of this bit of advice, the half-dragon template counts as 5 templates. :-)Ahh, half-dragons deserve a comeback!
Has the template been used by Paizo during the last 3 years? I cannot recall an adventure that features them......
I have yet to see an author whose ideas are good enough to justify a return of the half-dragon to prominence. Take that as a challenge if you will, but I'm pretty sick of this template, since in early 3.0 era it seemed that every other monster was a half dragon.
I have yet to see an author whose ideas are good enough to justify a return of the half-dragon to prominence. Take that as a challenge if you will, but I'm pretty sick of this template, since in early 3.0 era it seemed that every other monster was a half dragon.
For purposes of this bit of advice, the half-dragon template counts as 5 templates. :-)Ahh, half-dragons deserve a comeback!
Has the template been used by Paizo during the last 3 years? I cannot recall an adventure that features them......
How about a half-dragon ettercap? That could work...... ;->
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I have yet to see an author whose ideas are good enough to justify a return of the half-dragon to prominence. Take that as a challenge if you will, but I'm pretty sick of this template, since in early 3.0 era it seemed that every other monster was a half dragon.
For purposes of this bit of advice, the half-dragon template counts as 5 templates. :-)Ahh, half-dragons deserve a comeback!
Has the template been used by Paizo during the last 3 years? I cannot recall an adventure that features them......
Yeah, but in the last dozen years era evrey other monster was a Drow, too, and that didn't stop anyone from creating SD AP, right? It still can be great, if it's done right.
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I have yet to see an author whose ideas are good enough to justify a return of the half-dragon to prominence. Take that as a challenge if you will, but I'm pretty sick of this template, since in early 3.0 era it seemed that every other monster was a half dragon.
For purposes of this bit of advice, the half-dragon template counts as 5 templates. :-)Ahh, half-dragons deserve a comeback!
Has the template been used by Paizo during the last 3 years? I cannot recall an adventure that features them......
James, two words for you: Azarr Kul. ;)
It still can be great, if it's done right.
Yeah, but the overall concept better wow me so much that I'm willing to risk the Wrath of Jacobs by suggesting we do a half-dragon scenario. :-)
Yes and my preferred format is MS Word.
[Yeah, but the overall concept better wow me so much that I'm willing to risk the Wrath of Jacobs by suggesting we do a half-dragon scenario. :-)
"Your party sets out with a crew of half-dragon pirates, sailing upriver to destroy the half-arachnid/half-dragon servants of the most promiscuous dragon in Golarion. The scenario culminates in an epic battle as you attempt to "fix" the beast once and for all..."
You're fired.
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Creative Director
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Yeah, but in the last dozen years era evrey other monster was a Drow, too, and that didn't stop anyone from creating SD AP, right? It still can be great, if it's done right.
I've never grown personally tired of drow, though, and they've been around about 3 times as long as half-dragons. Which, to me at least, speaks volumes about their utility as NPCs.
Also; drow come with a LOT of flavor. Half-dragons don't.
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Creative Director
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James, two words for you: Azarr Kul. ;)I have yet to see an author whose ideas are good enough to justify a return of the half-dragon to prominence. Take that as a challenge if you will, but I'm pretty sick of this template, since in early 3.0 era it seemed that every other monster was a half dragon.
For purposes of this bit of advice, the half-dragon template counts as 5 templates. :-)Ahh, half-dragons deserve a comeback!
Has the template been used by Paizo during the last 3 years? I cannot recall an adventure that features them......
Had I created the plotline for Red Hand of Doom, I can say with 100% certainty that there would have been no half dragons in there. I did not do the outline, though. I was finishing what Rich Baker started, and he wanted a half-dragon in there, so that was that.
Also; drow come with a LOT of flavor. Half-dragons don't.
Drow = 1 color
half-dragon = black, blue, red, green, white, gold, silver, copper the list goes on and on.
I bet if we get R.A. Salvatore to do a novel on a repentant black half-dragon, we would finally get some half-dragon love ;>
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Director of Narrative
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Good luck to everyone! I'm sure the results of the contest will be great, no matter who wins the opportunity.
I agree. Those are going to be tough to make super-bad-ass-interesting and not what would be expected, so it is certain the cream truly will rise to the top. Rock these out guys and gals!
Just submitted an outline for Perils of the Pirate Pact.
Good luck everybody!
Handing mine in tomorrow hopefully. Got one already finished and got some good ideas for the other one but not so sure if I can get it written by tomorrow. If work isn't too hectic tomorrow then I should be able to get both done.
I'm also sending mine tomorrow. I just have to revise it, and the best time is during morning.
- Zorg
I'm expecting Paizo shouldn't be receiving more than 300-500 entries.
How in the world can Paizo do it all and keep up with their daily work load. The judges won't have much time for in-depth constructive criticism.
Although I'll miss being able to read your work on the boards as we could for the RPG Superstar, it's great that you have the opportunity to compete for publication. As a lover of the art and a Paizo patron, I thank you writers for the work you have put into your submissions.
By the way, is the Open Call Paizo's new form of RPG Superstar?
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Hmmm... I had hoped the relative quiet for the last week or so was apathy and disinterest, so that my submissions might sneak through and win by default when nobody else entered. Bother :)
How in the world can Paizo do it all and keep up with their daily work load. The judges won't have much time for in-depth constructive criticism.
The first cut may be quite deep -- if they've got a lot of submissions to go through then they can be very aggressive in quickly qualifying out ones that fail to meet various criteria; you can quickly find reasons to reject 80% at the first hurdle, then take more time working through the survivors looking for reasons to accept them.
For example you may have written a fantastic scenario, but be way over on the word count -- an experienced editor can tell the difference between 750 words and a 1000 at a glance (and possibly has the wordcount displayed in his toolbar), if you've obviously ignored an explicit instruction then why should they spend much time reviewing the script when they've got a hundred more to go through.
My guess about the process is that it's along the lines of -- aggressively cut the ones that clearly aren't contenders, review the survivors, each bring 1 or 2 favourites and see if there's a clear winner, if there's no clear winner then settle it with a game of Pooh sticks or WH40k.
So to be in contention (1) don't do anything that you can be instantly rejected for, and (2) do do things that make your scenario stand out, that a judge may latch onto as a great or memorable idea.
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What's Pooh sticks?if there's no clear winner then settle it with a game of Pooh sticks or WH40k.
You drop sticks over one side of a bridge and the winner is whoever's stick comes out first on the other side.
Works best if there's a river flowing under the bridge. And if you drop the sticks on the upstream side.
You can of course blend Poohsticks and WH40k together, in this varient you use chaos spikey sticks rather than plain ones.