RPG Superstar 2013
,
Dedicated Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9
aka Steven T. Helt
|
You get a guitar, an amp, lights and 1000 adoring fans. Do you play "Mary Had A Little Lamb" or do you play "Eruption."
If I get past the first round, I think I'll play "Glasgow Kiss".
Round 1: Design a new monster special ability.
OK, now answer the question I asked above. How does this task make our selection process better? What does this show that a wondrous item doesnt?
And, once you tell me that, tell me what restrictions you would put on your task. What is the word count, for instance?
My worry about a new special ability is that there isnt much meat there to judge the submission. With a wondrous item we get creativity, concept, mechanics, theme, execution and just enough writing to get a flavor for the author. How is that improved with a special ability task?
Make your case, counselor.
|
RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32
,
Dedicated Voter Season 6
aka Eyebite
|
I am always amazed at the people who submit another type of figurine of wondrous power. I always post: "This is RPG Superstar, your time to shine, and you submitted another figurine of wondrous power. Really? That's it? That's all you've got?" Knock my socks off! And I dont mean gonzo. But come with something strong.
Crap.
Undone in '08 by an "R" rated item (the Sorrow Box), undone in '09 by playing it safe with a figurine type item. I thought it was different enough, but if figurines are this despised . . . well, I'll be playing the home game until 2010.
Although the results will be out tomorrow, I'd be interested in hearing the judges' input in respect to low-level items vs. high-level items. In your opinion, are people likely to have better results designing high-level items, given that there are a wider range of effects that can be brought into play? Did you see many quality low-level items during the judging? I'm probably not asking the right questions here, but it'd be great to hear your take on power levels in respect to wondrous items.
CR
I didnt say "figurine-type items" I said another figurine of wondrous power. As in "figurine of wondrous power - jade giraffe" or something like that.
Although the results will be out tomorrow, I'd be interested in hearing the judges' input in respect to low-level items vs. high-level items. In your opinion, are people likely to have better results designing high-level items, given that there are a wider range of effects that can be brought into play? Did you see many quality low-level items during the judging? I'm probably not asking the right questions here, but it'd be great to hear your take on power levels in respect to wondrous items.
CR
Great question.
A well-designed low level item that is interesting is one of the hardest things to do. Higher level items are easier to be sexy because you can throw around some bigger spells and effects. We definately saw some good low level items and I believe you will see some low level items in the top 32.
Wolf and I both feel that it is harder to design a low level wondrous item than an artifact due to the tight design constraints that are on a low level item.
Nooo. Double post. Oh well, time for a smurf.
Edit:
And best wishes to those of you over there in the US with the new (presidential) administration which begins tomorrow.
Kobold Press
|
Although the results will be out tomorrow, I'd be interested in hearing the judges' input in respect to low-level items vs. high-level items. In your opinion, are people likely to have better results designing high-level items, given that there are a wider range of effects that can be brought into play? Did you see many quality low-level items during the judging?
In my opinion, low-level items are harder to design well, so they get more of a look from me. There were several that stood out and that made the Top 32.
The wider range of powers for high-level items doesn't necessarily make things easier. A lot of those really big-gun items are easy to dismiss as "should be an artifact" or the like.
Most of the entries fell somewhere in the middle.
Star Voter Season 6
|
I think you could use a trap design for the first round as well. That's about the only other thing I can think of that would be able to accommodate writing restraints, show creativity and still show an understanding of the underlying mechanics of the game.
Many of the other suggestions wouldn't work.
Also, the one suggestion for making monsters and then using somebody else's stuff doesn't work for me, and here is why.
In the later rounds, you could be unfairly penalized or helped based on the quality of somebody else's work.
|
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
|
Although the results will be out tomorrow, I'd be interested in hearing the judges' input in respect to low-level items vs. high-level items. In your opinion, are people likely to have better results designing high-level items, given that there are a wider range of effects that can be brought into play? Did you see many quality low-level items during the judging? I'm probably not asking the right questions here, but it'd be great to hear your take on power levels in respect to wondrous items.
CR
As a guest judge I can say that among the 37 items we listed I liked some very low-power items and some more high-power items as well. The obvious rule, of course, is make it awesome and it doesn't matter what level it is. If you have to choose, though, I think craft, detail, and mechanics, and flavor go further with a lower-power item than a higher-power one. It's easier to seem creative when you have a big budget to work with, but I think it shows more creativity in being able to make something at lower level and still be cool.
You try to ask yourselves these question:
- Would my character want one of these?
- Would my villainous NPC have a good use for one of these?
- If I saw this item in a book, would I remember it 5 minutes later?
and maybe, to me, the best question:
- Is this the sort of item that, if I saw it in a book, I would slap myself in the forehead at how obvious it is that an item like this should be in the game? In fact, I'm amazed no one has come up with it before, because it always should have been there.
If your item passes the Face Slap Obvious (tm) test (and to me, 2 or 3 of the items in this contest did), you know you're really onto something.
In my opinion, low-level items are harder to design well, so they get more of a look from me. There were several that stood out and that made the Top 32.
The wider range of powers for high-level items doesn't necessarily make things easier. A lot of those really big-gun items are easy to dismiss as "should be an artifact" or the like.
Also, it's easy to aim high with a concept, price it accurately as an expensive item, then have your flavor text shoot you in the foot when you suggest that the item is "commonly used in small frontier villages." Not many villages can afford a 50,000 gp magic item.
That's one of the things I really like about the contest... it makes you look at all aspects of design and how they relate to each other. It's easy to miss little things like the above when you look at an item as separate pieces rather than a whole, things that look absurd to a judge who reads your item start-to-finish in just a few minutes (rather than the hours or days you spent designing it part-by-part).
As a matter of interest, will it be appropriate for alternates to post their first round entries on the 'items which didn't make it' thread after the top 32 have been announced, or should they wait until after the next round has closed, before posting their items there?
I think the alts have to wait. You could get called up at any time. But I'll let Vic give the final word on that. Its his show after all :)
But if you have a suggestion, bring it. We'd love to hear it.Round 1: Design a new monster special ability.
I don't know how it would work out as a competition... but it certainly sounds fun to me :)
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32
aka Fatespinner
|
I think the alts have to wait. You could get called up at any time. But I'll let Vic give the final word on that. Its his show after all :)As a matter of interest, will it be appropriate for alternates to post their first round entries on the 'items which didn't make it' thread after the top 32 have been announced, or should they wait until after the next round has closed, before posting their items there?
IMO, the alternates should be visible and have the judge's commentary visible to everyone, but the thread should be locked until that alternate is "activated" to prevent people from saying stuff like "This should've been top 32! I want to vote for it! WAAAAGH!"
IMO, the alternates should be visible and have the judge's commentary visible to everyone, but the thread should be locked until that alternate is "activated" to prevent people from saying stuff like "This should've been top 32! I want to vote for it! WAAAAGH!"
This actually sounds like a really good idea.
Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9
|
I think "design a wondrous item" is perfect for the round 1 entries, and gives some nice consistency to the contest year-to-year. You can do anything with a wondrous item, which can bestow powers akin to new feats, new spells, new monster powers, etc.
|
Star Voter Season 7
|
Here is another. It cropped up last year, but this year I think I can better explain what I mean:
13. Poorly-thought-through Item (aka Excessively Abusable Item). We had alot of items that the designer didnt really think through to their normal result and, had they done so, they would have seen some serious abusability in their item's future, such as a way to use it that wasnt intended but that clearly it would be put to. That is why it is good to think not just does the item do what you are designing it to, but what would a normal group of PCs do with this item whether or not it is what you intended. One of my favorite items submitted had a great name and a great power, but it had an unintended abuse. All the judges agreed that PCs would just do X with the item and abuse the power. And it was too bad, too (see!) because I...
Oh man. If Clark's favorite reject is referring to my item, I'll be sorely disappointed.
Well, I guess there's only 16- hours left to wait and find out if my one-word-gaff cost me a spot in the top 32.
Sadly, once you hit submit, you can't take it back.
Even if it did, I'd love to know that I am on the right track, since there is always next year.
I think "design a wondrous item" is perfect for the round 1 entries, and gives some nice consistency to the contest year-to-year. You can do anything with a wondrous item, which can bestow powers akin to new feats, new spells, new monster powers, etc.
Seconded.
Plus, everyone is busy working on next year's Wondrous Item NOW, so changing horses in mid-flow wouldn't go down well with the natives.
Personally, I think Clark's a great chap, and I wouldn't want to see gamers burning his effigy because he'd said "Well, why not have them design a new PC race in 200 words..."
;p
Chief Technical Officer
|
I think the alts have to wait. You could get called up at any time. But I'll let Vic give the final word on that. Its his show after all :)As a matter of interest, will it be appropriate for alternates to post their first round entries on the 'items which didn't make it' thread after the top 32 have been announced, or should they wait until after the next round has closed, before posting their items there?
Since they could be activated any time up to the end of judging for round 2, they should not post their entry anywhere.
I do agree that the alternates should be able to see the judges feedback on their items tomorrow. I'll have to figure out a good lo-tech way to do that, though, since Gary's out sick. (Thus it will probably be manual and not very pretty.)
Hay People, Don't know if it something the Judges can disclose but will there be a connection between round 2 and round 3? will you have to make a stats block for the villain you created?
I think it would be a cool idea to give every one of the finalists to create a stats block for a villain concept created by someone else (as suggested before, but in relation to THIS YEAR and not next year).
Uri.
I think the alts have to wait. You could get called up at any time. But I'll let Vic give the final word on that. Its his show after all :)As a matter of interest, will it be appropriate for alternates to post their first round entries on the 'items which didn't make it' thread after the top 32 have been announced, or should they wait until after the next round has closed, before posting their items there?
Since they could be activated any time up to the end of judging for round 2, they should not post their entry anywhere.
I do agree that the alternates should be able to see the judges feedback on their items tomorrow. I'll have to figure out a good lo-tech way to do that, though, since Gary's out sick. (Thus it will probably be manual and not very pretty.)
Vic, if you take Fatespinner's suggestion above, I think you can do it with the existing forum tools.
1. Move the alternates to the Round 1 category.
2. Edit the titles to have 'Alternate' in them.
3. Lock them.
The problem being that everyone will be able to see the alternates, not just the alternates themselves.
If that's unacceptable, the best thing to do would just be paste the judges comments into their notification email.
