The Unofficial Top 32 Guildhall

[Eric Morton]

So, are any of the other finalists starting to develop the same sense of camaraderie I feel towards my fellow Top 32?

If nothing else, we've all gone though a few shared experiences: the submitting; the submitting again; the submitting that second submission a few extra times because the submission tool is wonky and dag nammit! No Post-Monster is going to eat my entry a few hours before the dealine!

So I thought I'd start this thread as a place where us Top 32 can drop by and say hello, or speculate wildly about the curve balls the judges are going to throw our way, or whatnot.

And, of course, former Top 32, future Top 32, alternates, would-be Top 32, and wanna-be Top 32 are all welcome to stop by and post random comments here, as well.

Good luck to all my fellow Top 32.

[Ross Byers]

Good luck, and may you make it further than I did!

[Eric Morton]

Everyone, please allow me to introduce my various avatars:

Epic Meepo wrote:

I'm the avatar you may already have seen on these boards now and again. If you're wondering where this Eric Morton guy came from, he's been writing as Epic Meepo over in the playtest forums for a while now.

Migrus wrote:

MMEEOOWWW!

Devil's Advocate wrote:

But then again, the whole idea of introducing people to avatars is silly. And the avatars aren't even posting separately under their own names, for crying out loud. I'm putting an end to this silly post, right now.

EDIT: Thanks for the encouragement, Ross! I'm honored to be here in such good company.

[Neil Spicer]

Just thought I'd poke my head in, nod, and say "cool"...

I'm still trying to wind down from the multiple edits on my villain concept. I've got a low-level headache (probably from stress?) and my stomach either doesn't like what I had for lunch (pizza and hot wings!) or it too is tied in knots.

I've got a game to run tonight at my FLGS. It's Curse of the Crimson Throne and our first session. I'm nowhere near prepared! But at least I've got a couple hours before I head out. And maybe some time at the gaming table will help ease the anxiety.

Thanks for setting up Guildhall 32...

My two-cents,
--Neil

P.S. It's so much easier when you just post under your one avatar. Although I've got several PbP avatars on the boards. ;-)

[Mark Thomas]

I't funny I ran a game last night and the camaraderie and support sort of put me at ease for submitting today. Still editing is a litttle stressful.

Good luck to all of you.

[Eric Morton]

NSpicer wrote:

I'm still trying to wind down from the multiple edits on my villain concept. I've got a low-level headache...

Trust me, I know the feeling. I was lucky enough to have guessed the 500-word limit in advance, yet I still spent the better part of two days agonizing over changes I could make to my villain concept. I must have gone through at least a dozen drafts, and the headache I've got now is a full-blown CR 20.

On a related note, am I the only one who ended up dropping the first villain concept he came up with in favor of something else? My first idea was an outside-the-box adaptation from real-world mythology, but in the end, I decided it would be better to go for something entirely original.

[Neil Spicer]

Epic Meepo wrote:

On a related note, am I the only one who ended up dropping the first villain concept he came up with in favor of something else?

I stuck with mine throughout. It's a villain I've had in mind for a couple of years probably when I was putting together potential proposals for submission to Dungeon magazine back in the day. Now it's finally written up. And it comes Paizo's way regardless...

--Neil

[Paul Worthen]

I also have another avatar name - astute1 - although I think most of my posts here have been in the 4e section of the forums. I'm really happy about entering this contest. I thought that grad school had killed any interest I had in writing things (my thesis went through over a year of revision.) However, getting into the swing of writing gaming material is really exciting, and I'm putting some serious thought into whether I'd like to work something up for publication whether I win this or not.

Right now, though, I'm going to put this contest out of my mind for the evening and go play some D&D!

[Eric Bailey]

NSpicer wrote:

Epic Meepo wrote:

On a related note, am I the only one who ended up dropping the first villain concept he came up with in favor of something else?

I stuck with mine throughout. It's a villain I've had in mind for a couple of years probably when I was putting together potential proposals for submission to Dungeon magazine back in the day. Now it's finally written up. And it comes Paizo's way regardless...

--Neil

I dropped my first villain concept after spending all of Tuesday night trying to make it work. Prior to this round, I thought it was really solid but when actually sitting down with it the whole thing just wouldn't come together.

Thanks for making this thread!

-eric

[Joshua Blazej]

Epic Meepo wrote:

On a related note, am I the only one who ended up dropping the first villain concept he came up with in favor of something else? My first idea was an outside-the-box adaptation from real-world mythology, but in the end, I decided it would be better to go for something entirely original.

I kept the same villain concept throughout, but it kept evolving throughout my revisions so that the final version looks a lot different from the first draft.

[Carl Flaherty]

Epic Meepo wrote:

On a related note, am I the only one who ended up dropping the first villain concept he came up with in favor of something else? My first idea was an outside-the-box adaptation from real-world mythology, but in the end, I decided it would be better to go for something entirely original.

I thought about it, but I would not have had time to do a good job, if I changed in mid-stream. :)

[Paul Worthen]

Epic Meepo wrote:

On a related note, am I the only one who ended up dropping the first villain concept he came up with in favor of something else?

I had three concepts which I outlined. The one that ended up getting written up was not the one I had originally had my heart set on.

[Matthew Morris]

I stuck with my original plan. Just hope it doesn't turn around and bite me.

I don't know if I have the camradarie of which you speak, part of me still think's it's a mistake I'm in such a group of peers.

[Mark Thomas]

Mark Thomas wrote:

I had two concepts in the running, and the scarier one was creepy but really one dimensional so the other one grew into what I eventually submitted.

[Stefan Schulz]

It took me several false starts to even get into the villain concept. From then it was a matter of refining, cutting away the dross, and to quote Bob Ross, happy little accidents.

Once this round is over, I'll be more specific. Heck, maybe I'll put up my subversion revisions.

[Matthew Stinson]

So... I didn't expect to get to round 2 at all and had nothing made up when they told me. I'm on night shift right now working 6pm to 6am... this week has really put the hammer to me.

Grats on everyone making it this far. I can't wait so see what you all have came up with.

[Trevor Gulliver]

I hadn't even thought about a villain concept until I found out I was in the top 32. It just never occurred to me that I'd need a bad guy. I had a sleepless night disturbed by nasty dreams and my villain was waiting for me in the morning.

How'd you guys react when you saw your name on the list?

[Joao Beraldo]

Weeee! Top 32 love for everyone! ;)

I had a villain in mind. Well, it was more like an encounter... and THAT was what was wrong with it. It didn't do villaineous things. It just stood there like any monster, but with some backstory.

Then... BOOM, the spark hit me yesterday and I figured I could actually make it into a actual villain.

After rewriting it 4 times, I finally finished it minutes ago.

And its time to hope for the best ;)

Good luck everyone!

[Carl Flaherty]

Epic Meepo wrote:

So, are any of the other finalists starting to develop the same sense of camaraderie I feel towards my fellow Top 32?

If nothing else, we've all gone though a few shared experiences: the submitting; the submitting again; the submitting that second submission a few extra times because the submission tool is wonky and dag nammit! No Post-Monster is going to eat my entry a few hours before the dealine!

So I thought I'd start this thread as a place where us Top 32 can drop by and say hello, or speculate wildly about the curve balls the judges are going to throw our way, or whatnot.

And, of course, former Top 32, future Top 32, alternates, would-be Top 32, and wanna-be Top 32 are all welcome to stop by and post random comments here, as well.

Good luck to all my fellow Top 32.

One thing with the concept of this guildhall, that kind of worries me. Being picked as one of the RPG Superstar's 32 is kind of like being picked as one of King Leonidas's 300.

And we all know how that turned out. =80

[Matthew Morris]

Tarren Dei wrote:

I hadn't even thought about a villain concept until I found out I was in the top 32. It just never occurred to me that I'd need a bad guy. I had a sleepless night disturbed by nasty dreams and my villain was waiting for me in the morning.

How'd you guys react when you saw your name on the list?

Before or after the chest pains subsided?

I was shocked most of the night. It wasn't until later that I went 'Oh frak! I need to work on this!"

I then logged on before I went to work the next morning, just to make sure I didn't halucinate.

[Joao Beraldo]

I was hitting f5 on my keyboard several times the day the top 32 were supposed to come out. I quit trying after a while because the site was off. I ended up not sleeping early and, around 1:30 am my time, I tried again. I was hopping around the house. My wife woke up thinking it was our 4-year old daughter running to sleep on our bed :D

After scaring her out of the bed, grinning and still hopping, I returned to the computer. Thats when I saw a message from a friend (Sandrinus, who also submitted) saying 'Congrats! :D'

Really exciting :)

Now, the funny thing? Two guys here in Brazil posted on their blogs about the Top 32 and are making a little fuzz about me since Im the only brazilian :D

I didnt expect sudden local fame out of Round 1 ;)

[Neil Spicer]

Tarren Dei wrote:

How'd you guys react when you saw your name on the list?

What list?

I found out in a very humorous way. I left the office at 4:30PM Eastern, knowing that after my 30-minute drive home, the results would be posted on the website. But, I figured the whole site would be slammed with everyone checking to see if they made it.

I came into the house and my wife informed me she was taking the girls outside to play in the snow (yeah, it snowed in Charlotte that morning). I said okay and told them I'd check on them later. I then fired up my home PC and pointed my browser at Paizo. No dice. It wouldn't load. Kept timing out. Then, when I finally did get through, I had a message that said the messageboards were temporarily down and even the link to the RPG Superstar page said the same thing. Bummer.

But then, I remember Lilith's invitation to venture over to DMTools.org and hang out in their chatroom if the Paizo site was nuked. So, I figured I'd go over and commiserate with people who were also having problems accessing the site...

The first IM that came my way after logging in as NSpicer was from Lilith. It said, "Congrats, NSpicer!" And after my heart skipped a beat, I weakly responded with, "Congrats on what?" And then someone else congratulated me. And my mind spun off into that world of impossible dreams and fearful imaginings. Finally, Lilith came back with, "You made the Top 32!" And I believe I said something clever like, "No freaking way!!!!" And someone else asked me if I'd checked my email notification. After slapping my forehead I realized...of course! My email! After a hasty "be right back" I pulled up my email in record time and read Vic's hearty congratulatory note and instructions. And amazingly enough I didn't have a heartattack on the spot.

A bit later after that, I managed to pull up the official RPG Superstar page and see my name and item listed. It took about an hour after that before I could access the judges' comments. And from there, I was still beside myself with joy, fear, nervous anxiety, amazement...a whole gamut of emotions that seem stuck on replay for the Round Two submission.

So, yeah...that's how I reacted. :-D

My two-cents,
--Neil

[Paul Worthen]

Tarren Dei wrote:

How'd you guys react when you saw your name on the list?

I hung around at work a few minutes longer so that I could check the list. I must have been one of the lucky ones who got through right before the site got swamped, because it came up right away. At first, I didn't see my name, because I wasn't expecting to. Then I saw my item on the list, and my jaw just dropped. I was so excited on the way home that I couldn't stop grinning!

[Mark Thomas]

I'd just finished giving my 2 month old son a bottle and went over to the computer, I open my e-mail and thought, "Vic Wertz? Isn't that the tech directer from Paizo? Holy Crap!!"

I open the email and it's the congrats you're in.

I called my wife at work with just the words, "I made it."

[Andrew Judd]

I didn't check my e-mail until after the fact, figuring I wouldn't make it into the first round. I loved the items from last year, so I looked at the list for campaign idea use. Good thing my name is nice and alphabetical like that. :)

I had a dredge of a time just going over a list of possible villains concepts. Most of the time was spent deciding which one to actually put effort in!

Then there's my fear of unoriginality, so I kinda avoided the Paizo forums like the plague ('cept for that quick burst to explain my pricing), for fear of seeing something that would influence me too much. >_<

Now I finally get to rest for at minimum a week and a half, and actually look around again.

[Eric Morton]

Tarren Dei wrote:

How'd you guys react when you saw your name on the list?

Thanks to server timeouts and forgetting to check my email, it took me about an hour after the announcement to find out I was in.

So there I was, bouncing around and grinning stupidly, when it occurred to me that I was working an evening shift that started in about thirty minutes, and I'd just spent the last fifteen minutes of the time I would need to get ready for work jumping around like an aerobics instructor holding class while having a seizure.

So long story short, I ran frantically around the house, sped to work, arrived five minutes late, and spent eight consecutive hours stressing that I wasn't getting a head start on my villain concept.

To say nothing of the deep-rooted panic I experienced when I first discovered the problems with the submission tool and started freaking out about not being able to submit my villain.

And you know what? It was all totally worth it.

[James F.D. Graham]

Heh,

I was home all day, waiting till 6pm local time to see the results.
By about 2pm I was tired from all the anxious waiting so I forced myself away from the computer and did some housework.

I came back at 6 and saw my Inbox had a new message. The preview said "You made the 32 Congrad..." and I didn't even open it I was so shocked.

As for the villain, I spent all my time going over various concepts, judging each against the criteria, trying to make one fit. Until I finally I tossed them all out and started over.

Go figure.

[Stefan Schulz]

Thanks to living in germany, I got the news just by the time i thought about going to bed early. I had a few intense days at work. I saw the countdown and figured "what the hell, I'm going to give a few items a good readover".

Then the list came up. I had honestly pretty much burried all thoughts of being on it when i came across the figurine in the SRD. My mind just froze with giddy for a while. I thought about calling about all my friends, when the first congratulations arrived via gmail chat.

The mail nailed it, and a note of "what now!" entered the hyper. Still, i honestly admit I spend the first night just being happy and doing nothing productive at all.

Day two, i started out scribbling villains as if the contest was judged by volume. The end result, you'll see soon.

[Eric Morton]

It looks as though we all made the deadline for Round 2, Post-Monster notwithstanding. Sweet.

(Well, less sweet if you're an alternate, I suppose. I feel your pain.)

[Neil Spicer]

Epic Meepo wrote:

(Well, less sweet if you're an alternate, I suppose. I feel your pain.)

Last year all but one of the five alternates got pulled up though. It's probably harder for that to happen this year since the contest is fairly well-known now and people learned a lot from the first time around.

--Neil

[Mike Speck]

I managed to see the list right before the boards went "plooie." I had workshops for the last few weeks/weekends, so I'd not even PONDERED a villain concept. (I had one snuck into my item in case I needed an emergency idea seed, though.) I spent most of the night grinning. It even made up for breaking my glasses earlier that day. =0

Congrats to all of you! I'm ridiculously impressed with the company I'm in, and will be cheering you all on until the end of contest!

[Eric Morton]

NSpicer wrote:

Last year all but one of the five alternates got pulled up though. It's probably harder for that to happen this year since the contest is fairly well-known now and people learned a lot from the first time around.

Probably true. But then again, on this thread

Matthew Morris wrote:

So now I just wait and see if I did something stupid and get DQ'ed

So at least one of us is trying hard to give the alternates a glimmer of hope. (Not by being a bad designer, mind you. Just by being pessimistic.)

[Mike Speck]

Ooh, can I try by being a bad designer? ;-0

[Neil Spicer]

Epic Meepo wrote:

So at least one of us is trying hard to give the alternates a glimmer of hope. (Not by being a bad designer, mind you. Just by being pessimistic.)

I don't think they DQ you for that. So, alas, the glimmer is fading...

Mike Speck wrote:

Ooh, can I try by being a bad designer?

...or maybe not.

[Vladislav Rashkovski]

I'm definitely feeling the camaraderie. :) And I feel honored to be among so many talented individuals.

Sumbitting less than an hour before the deadline is a nerve-wracking experience, but it was totally worth it - the adrenaline of editing in the last possible minute and all.

So, fellow contestants - did you come close to the word limit, or did you finish your entry within a relative distance from the maximum?

[Eric Morton]

Mike Speck wrote:

I'd not even PONDERED a villain concept. (I had one snuck into my item in case I needed an emergency idea seed, though.)

I knew Blightlady was there for a reason!

Incidentally, what's the chance you'll ever design Blightlady's butter to go along with Blightlady's bread?

And does anyone else have any leftover ideas from the first round?

[Neil Spicer]

Clandestine wrote:

So, fellow contestants - did you come close to the word limit, or did you finish your entry within a relative distance from the maximum?

Yes. Very close.

Eric Morton wrote:

what's the chance you'll ever design Blightlady's butter to go along with Blightlady's bread?

I have only one word to add to that...

"Parkaaaaay!"

Eric Morton wrote:

And does anyone else have any leftover ideas from the first round?

Yes. Several actually. Aside from the other seasonal dryads, I started and half-finished several items along the way. Kept coming back to the last leaves because I liked the name and flavor more.

[Eric Morton]

NSpicer wrote:

Mike Speck wrote:

Ooh, can I try by being a bad designer?

...or maybe not.

Shh... Don't discourage him! I'll take every advantage I can get.

[Matthew Morris]

Epic Meepo wrote:

And does anyone else have any leftover ideas from the first round?

Well i'd thought about my villian being an incredibly charming and jovial guy who's bound to a fallen angel, but that would be too blatent after the first round. :-)

[Stefan Schulz]

Clandestine wrote:

I'm definitely feeling the camaraderie. :) And I feel honored to be among so many talented individuals.

Sumbitting less than an hour before the deadline is a nerve-wracking experience, but it was totally worth it - the adrenaline of editing in the last possible minute and all.

So, fellow contestants - did you come close to the word limit, or did you finish your entry within a relative distance from the maximum?

I don't want to spoil anything, but i sure hope/beg/pray word does not count any different than the text editor i used. Otherwise, an alternate might just earn its wings.

[Vladislav Rashkovski]

NSpicer wrote:

Yes. Very close.

Me too. Just a few words away from the limit.

[Matthew Morris]

NSpicer wrote:

Clandestine wrote:

So, fellow contestants - did you come close to the word limit, or did you finish your entry within a relative distance from the maximum?

Yes. Very close.

Same here. I wasn't kidding with my redacted comment about it. hundred of natives of <redacted> are joyious at the word count.

[Eric Morton]

Vladislov Rashkovski wrote:

So, fellow contestants - did you come close to the word limit, or did you finish your entry within a relative distance from the maximum?

I started with a preexisting villain write up of 320-words, sans adventure hooks. After adding those in and reformatting to make sure I called attention to everything they wanted to see, I had to trim about 20 words to keep it under the limit.

Matthew Morris wrote:

Well i'd thought about my villian being an incredibly charming and jovial guy who's bound to a fallen angel, but that would be too blatent after the first round. :-)

You want blatant? I'll show you blatant. :-)

The villain I scrapped before coming up with my actual entry was based on the Monkey King from Chinese folklore. He was going to be an awakened monkey lich wizard (illusionist) 20 who created duplicates of himself by casting the simulacrum spell on his own hairs.

But then I realized that the concept itself wasn't original at all. (One of the Monkey King's names in Chinese folklore can be translated as Awakened Monkey, so even that design choice is entirely derivative.) Don't get me wrong, the stat block and combat tactics would have been extremely original. But a concept lifted straight from mythology probably wouldn't have made it to the stat block round.

Now that's blatant.

[Mike Speck]

Vladislav wrote:

So, fellow contestants - did you come close to the word limit, or did you finish your entry within a relative distance from the maximum?

I clocked in at 498. Contractions and active voice are my friends. *whew*

Eric Morton wrote:

I knew Blightlady was there for a reason!

Incidentally, what's the chance you'll ever design Blightlady's butter to go along with Blightlady's bread?

Yes, that's EXACTLY why she was there. I had an idea for a buggy druid, and I never trust my memory any more than I have to (though I did end up creating a new villain for Round Two).

Blightlady's butter would not get made without at least one ridiculous Fabio joke. "I can't believe it's not eating me alive!"

As far as blatant...I almost panicked enough to write up a gnome Javert. (My eventual inspiration was a more recent piece of literature.)

-S

[Trevor Gulliver]

NSpicer wrote:

Tarren Dei wrote:

How'd you guys react when you saw your name on the list?

What list?

I found out in a very humorous way. ...

That's similar to how I found out. Narret was clicking refresh non-stop for half an hour and finally I said, "Give it up. It's very unlikely that either of us made it but we entered for the practice. We'll get a chance to get some feedback on our stuff from Clark and the Paizo community. That's worth it. Now, let me check my email." First email I saw was from Craig Shackleton saying "congratulations!!". Grinning commenced.

[Jeffrey Scott Nuttall]

Epic Meepo wrote:

On a related note, am I the only one who ended up dropping the first villain concept he came up with in favor of something else?

Nope. In fact, I went through exactly the same process as in the previous round. I had an idea I was going to use, but wasn't quite certain about it; I wasn't sure I could explain it adequately within the word count limit, but I had other concerns about it too. And then, when I went to actually write it up, I found that indeed it required too much explanation to fit in the word count limit, so I had to come up with something else... which in a way was something of a relief, because it meant I didn't have to agonize over whether my other concerns were deal-killers or not; the word count limit was absolute, so I'd have to come up with a different idea anyway.

We'll see whether this pattern repeats in later rounds. I kind of hope not...

(Yeah, seriously, my first villain idea had way too much backstory to fit into 500 words... and the backstory was essential enough to the concept that I couldn't just leave it out. Maybe at some point I'll post my first villain idea somewhere...)

[Stefan Schulz]

I rejected 1 halfway serious item before my submission.
I rejected 3 halfway serious villains before my submission

I can only assume I'll have to get to 7 trash statblocks before one I can submit - something I think will be very hard in 72 hours ;)

[Jeffrey Scott Nuttall]

NSpicer wrote:

After slapping my forehead I realized...of course! My email! After a hasty "be right back" I pulled up my email in record time and read Vic's hearty congratulatory note and instructions.

Wait... there was an e-mail notification? Holy cow. I haven't had a chance to check my e-mail in days; I guess I ought to read the notification and see if there are any important instructions I missed.

(...)

Okay, I guess need to create my profile. I'll get that done later tonight.

(For whatever it's worth, I think this message may mark the first time I've ever used the phrase "Holy cow". I'm not sure why I decided to use it here...)

[Jeffrey Scott Nuttall]

Paul Worthen wrote:

At first, I didn't see my name, because I wasn't expecting to.

Heh. Yeah, same here.

Okay... so, if they're in alphabetical order, then my name would be right about there... and nope, it's not there. Okay, well, no surprise, really; obviously I was hoping my item would make the cut, but I wasn't really--oh, wait, there it is. Huh? Oh, they're in alphabetical order by first names...

[Matthew Morris]

Come on people,

Update those profiles!