Lovin' me some Benjamin Bruck so far-
also, Matthew McGee -for turning a monster I could neither picture nor fathom into something comprehensible, yet satisfactorily other
I also like Alexander MacLeod's chymick
Will go re-read carefully to see who gets my final votes- though FOR SURE B. Bruck gets one...
These are the guys who are really popping out at me...
Matthew McGee's Astrumal
Matthew Morris's Caltrop Golem
Benjamin Bruck's Churjiir
Jim Grove's Ardorwesp
They will have my votes.
Alexander's Chymick and Richard's Slithering horror are next on my list...so not too sure as of it.
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I had fun voting this round. Even though I think I went with some less strong stat-blocks, I went with the monsters I thought were the coolest.
Matt Goodall's Chaitrakham stood out, by making me like a monster whose concept I didn't like the last round.
And Mathew McGee's Astrumal felt very retro in its description and I liked how he changed its abilities.
But I think I'd have fun playing any of the monsters this round. I'm very impressed by the level of professionalism I've seen. This contest keeps getting better and better every year.
This round I voted for:
Benjamin's Bruck's Churjiir
Jesse Benner's The Lahamu ("The Soul Drinker")
Jim Groves' Ardorwesp
Matthew McGee's Astrumal
Matthew Morris's Caltrop Golem
and
Richard A. Hunt's Slithering Horror
Benjamin Bruck's Churjiir
Dennis Baker's Churjiir
Lief Clennon's Lantern Thrall
Chris Mortika's Haga
Jim Groves' Ardorwesp
Matt McGee's Astrumal
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From my first look through only three have really grabbed me. Might have another reread and add in some more, maybe take into account previous rounds. Or I might just use 3 votes :).
Alexander MacLeod's Chymick Swarm
Jim Groves' Ardorwesp
Matthew Morris's Caltrop Golem
I'll break out the spreadsheet and start the tally in a couple of hours if I have time!
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Richard A. Hunt's Slithering HorrorWhew! Thank ya much! I was already beginning to worry even though the week is young. :)
Actually, Richard, one of mine went to yours. I didn't really like the slithering horror before (even though the girlfriend did; she loved the "Peter Jackson Monster" vibe), but you took it and turned it around for me. It's no longer the "stomach monster"; it's a shogglagung. Delicious Mythos-esque naming there. It's even got tentacles and everything!
Be proud, sir. You spoke to my gut. And my gut said "ALL FLESH MUST BE EATEN!"
Uh oh.
*EXPLODE*
I kind of liked this round in that the selections had an affect on how I read them and vote on them.
I read all the unique choices first and then I read all the "variants" of a choice one after tge other and graded which variants I thought were the best of that creature.
For those taking on the more challenging choices, I tended to favour because they usually ended up being that bit more wow factor with some interesting ideas.
And for me, there's nothing as good as a creature that makes me go "Hmmmm, now that would work really well against my players if used in this way..."
And there were quite a few "Hmmm" moments, so well done everyone.
I had fun voting this round. Even though I think I went with some less strong stat-blocks, I went with the monsters I thought were the coolest.
Matt Goodall's Chaitrakham stood out, by making me like a monster whose concept I didn't like the last round.
And Mathew McGee's Astrumal felt very retro in its description and I liked how he changed its abilities.
But I think I'd have fun playing any of the monsters this round. I'm very impressed by the level of professionalism I've seen. This contest keeps getting better and better every year.
Thank you Zeugma, I'm glad you liked the way I statted up the old Chaitrakham.
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Quick Count:
Last Vote: N'wah (partial)
Total Votes: 23 from 7 voters
Benjamin Bruck — Churjiir — 4
Jim Groves — Ardorwesp — 4
Matthew McGee — Astrumal — 4
Matthew Morris — Caltrop Golem — 3
Richard A. Hunt — Slithering Horror — 2
Alexander MacLeod — Chymick Swarm, A Thousand Alchemists — 1
Chris Mortika — Haga — 1
Dennis Baker — Churjiir — 1
Jesse Benner — The Lahamu (“The Soul Drinker) — 1
Lief Clennon — Lantern Thrall — 1
Matt Goodall — Chaitrakhan, icy pack-hunter — 1
David Posener — Astrumal — 0
James Martin — Churjiir, Two-Headed Rat King — 0
Jason Schimmel — Chaitrakhan, icy pack-hunter — 0
Joshua Kitchens — Churjiir, Two-headed Rat Emperor — 0
Tom Phillips — Ossuary — 0
Partial Votes:
Marcus Ewert — 1 (Benjamin Bruck)
Bigmancheatle — 4 (Benjamin Bruck, Jim Groves', Matthew McGee's, Matthew Morris')
Zeugma — 2 (Matt Goodall, Matthew McGee)
Illessa — 3 (Alexander MacLeod, Jim Groves, Matthew Morris)
N'wah — 1 (Richard A. Hunt)
All these wonderful churjiir votes, I keep getting excited and then remember that, in this round, the churjiir isn't my monster. :-)
I'll lay out my votes and reasoning here:
In alphabetical order:
Alexander MacLeod - Chymick Swarm - Great choice of creature to stat up. Decent execution. Took on the "hat trick" triple-threat challenge of devising an intelligent, construct swarm. Good innovation on the alchemist's "lab" element. Would have liked to see a bit more use of its glass-eating ability and a few more alchemical effects and tie-ins. Bottom line - job well done.
Benjamin Bruck - Churjiir - Well-written. Good rules-fu on display with only a handful of minor errors. Innovative use of the "gnaw the mind" and memory-related abilities which elevates the original creature concept for me. Absolutely love the "servitor flea" aura idea. Still bringing the mojo in every round so far. Bottom line - still a front-runner in this competition after 3 rounds.
Jim Groves - Ardorwesp - Nice creature choice. I really hoped to see someone stat this thing up. Didn't disappoint on the flavor side. Stumbled in a handful of places on the stat-block execution, but not enough to raise any serious flags for me. Some innovative stuff, just not as tight as it could have been. Would have liked to see a few things explored more fully or in different ways (e.g., leftover adamantine once slain, speeding the development of the egg-hatching rather than an immediate chest-rupturing 'gotcha' moment). Bonus points for fully invoking the Calistria connection with some good flavor description. Bottom line - Solid, but not the front-runner this round.
Matt Goodall - Chaitrakhan - Nice creature choice. The ice-cat cried out for a stat-block this round. I liked this one only slightly better than Jason's...and I thought it got dinged a little too hard on the HD problem. I liked the flash-freeze ice-netting and the ice armor. Didn't like the heat sense implementation and thought it could have been done differently. Liked the Golarion tie-in's via the flavor text. Bottom line - Good job. Worth advancing to next round on the basis that I want to see continued growth.
Matthew McGee - Astrumal - Challenging creature choice. Love the implementation of the special abilities and handling the magnetism aspects in the creature's original description. Solid math, but still needs some work on the finer aspects of stat-block creation. That will increase in time, though. Still bringing the mojo in every round so far. Bottom line - Strong candidate building an impressive portfolio of work so far.
Matthew Morris - Caltrop Golem - Good creature choice. I wanted to see someone try their hand at this beastie. Would have liked a lower CR, as I think that would have shown real designer insight in filling a niche (i.e., a low-CR golem). Somewhat disappointed by the lack of flavor text, but I suspect you were pressed on word count. The stat-block execution and presentation seem solid. Would have liked to see spike stones included in the spell requirements for crafting one. Bottom line - Experience from last year could be paying off for you. Still need to bring some massive mojo to advance further.
Aside from those votes, I'd also like to give an honorable mention to:
Also in alphabetical order:
Chris Mortika - Haga - Big props for taking on the biggest challenge possible. I just think you fell short on the execution. Lots of stat-block problems and issues just called into question your grasp of the rules elements necessary for freelance design. That question has been lingering for a few rounds now and this attempt at the haga didn't help turn that around. On the plus side, your flavor text continues to be awesome and I didn't mind the Aroden connection.
Dennis Baker - Churjiir - I came this close to tossing a vote your way rather than Matt's chaitrakhan. You definitely picked up your game. I think you had better stat-block execution. Just didn't like the spell dissonance thing as much. I did like the direction you took on making the churjiir a low-level rat-demon, though.
Jason Schimmel - Chaitrakhan - As I said before, I had a tough time deciding between this version of the ice-cat predator and Matt Goodall's version. In the end, I thought Matt showed more innovation with his flavor text and stayed more true to the chaitrakhan's collection of powers as described in Round Two. But, for the record, I liked your implementation of the ice-netting ability as a poison with Dex loss and a one-person entangle effect.
Best of luck everyone,
--Neil
Even with six votes this time, this round was tough deciding who to vote for. I found myself relying a bit on the past entries in "tie-breaker" situations.
My votes went to, in no particular order:
1. Alexander MacLeod/Chymick Swarm
2. Benjamin Bruck/Churjiir
3. Lief Clennon/Lantern Thrall
4. Matt Goodall/Chaitrakhan
5. Jim Groves/Ardorwesp
6. Matt McGee/Astrumal
It's worth noting that I really didn't care for the Lantern Thrall or Chaitrakhan last round, but I enjoyed what Lief Clennon and Matt Goodall did with them enough to vote for them this round.
All right- i voted, and here's who I cast my votes for:
Alexander MacLeod's Chymick
Benjamin Bruck's Churjiir
Matthew McGee's Astrumal
Not planning on casting my remaining three votes, but: Good luck, everyone- and congratulations for excellent work that has you in the running at all.
RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32
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My votes:
Chris Mortika's Haga - It isn't CR 6 and it needs more HD, but the monster is good and the abilities are good.
David Posener's Astrumal : This round wasn't great, but the last two were awesome.
Jim Groves' Ardorwesp : Every DM needs at least one grudge monster. A sundering chest-burster definitely fits the bill.
Lief Clennon's Lantern Thrall : I liked the idea of them being sort of customizable and that in groups they become stronger (at least if they are of different colors).
Matthew McGee's Astrumal : Probably my favorite over all 3 rounds.
Matthew Morris's Caltrop Golem: Very function and well put together.
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Guess I should put all of my votes down. Hate to leave things partially done, eh?
Votes went to:
Alexander MacLeod's Chymick Swarm, A Thousand Alchemists
Benjamin's Bruck's Churjiir
Jesse Benner's The Lahamu ("The Soul Drinker")
Jim Groves' Ardorwesp
Matthew Morris's Caltrop Golem
Richard A. Hunt's Slithering Horror (already tallied)
Funny enough, they were all little alphabetical block twosomes. Dunno how that happened. :P
To everyone whose been in the contest, excellent work! I hope to see lots of awesome things from all of you in the future, winners and not-so-winners alike. Even if you only made it to the Top 32, that's an honor less than a hundred people have acquired over the last three years. You're all Superstars to me. :D
Oh, also: the general consensus seems to be that since this round's all stats, and three people chose the churjiir, it should be okay for me to post up the churjiir art I did.
If anyone at Paizo disagrees, I'll pull it down post-haste. The last thing I want to do is get anyone DQ'd.
Here it is: the churjiir. Enjoy!
Oh, also: the general consensus seems to be that since this round's all stats, and three people chose the churjiir, it should be okay for me to post up the churjiir art I did.
Here it is: the churjiir. Enjoy!
Awesomely vile and hateful. I love it!
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Here's my votes and reasons.
ALEXANDER MACLEOD'S CHYMICK SWARM, A THOUSAND ALCHEMISTS
Unquestionably one of my favorites this round. Well done and all around well designed. I agree that some more could have been added to make it a hands-down winner, but this was the first I clicked "vote" for without hesitation or second thought.
BENJAMIN'S BRUCK'S CHURJIIR
I love me some rats, and this does not disappoint. The well implemented bite and its effects sold me on this. This was an unquestioned vote for me.
JIM GROVES' ARDORWESP
Another well designed statblock on another interesting monster. Well balanced at CR3, and just all around nifty.
MATTHEW MORRIS'S CALTROP GOLEM
Coming as I am from my homebrew game, the idea of a Halfling sized golem just sunk into my brain and didn't let go. While I agree that some mechanics are missing, those that are present are well written. Very happy to vote for this one.
MATT GOODALL'S CHAITRAKHAN
This is where I started hunting for votes. I believe that all six of my votes should go SOMEWHERE, but this was the first entry where I thought "Well, it's better than the rest but not great" and thus became a "I'll vote for this rather than vote for nothing". Harsh, but true to my way of thinking. That said, my reasons for not instavoting for this one are the new rules and the possible rules-lawyering. Introducing a new mechanic, or adding to one that already exists without fully detailing it is just.. sketchy. Especially when it would have been just as easy, if not easier to change a little bit and not trailblaze. (ie, using a creature's own internal body moisture to freeze net it rather than using the chaitrakhan's special ability on its own) Same goes with heat sense. If you blaze new ground, fill in at least some blanks. This is still better, in my opinion than entries I didn't vote for.
RICHARD A. HUNT'S SLITHERING HORROR
At first, I almost voted otherwise based on technical proficiency, then decided to go back and swap this one in for my 6th vote based on sheer AWESOME. Good tech design is important, so be ready to take that up a notch Richard, but you really grabbed me with the rest of the details.
Overall, this round was full of good stuff. But there were places, at least to my perception, where the time crunch was a bit more visible than in other rounds. Last round, I had to peel down my votes. This round, I had to go through the list twice to make all of them even though I had less votes. *shrugs*
{edited to change a vote}
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8
aka AWizardInDallas
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RICHARD A. HUNT'S SLITHERING HORROR
At first, I almost voted otherwise based on technical proficiency, then decided to go back and swap this one in for my 6th...
Yes! Thanks for the extremely kind words and especially your vote! I really hope others see 'awesome' too! :)
Dedicated Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8
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I voted for:
Joshua Kitchens' Churjiir, Two-headed Rat Emperor
Matthew Morris's Caltrop Golem
Benjamin Bruck's Churjiir
Chris Mortika's Haga
Alexander MacLeod's Chymick Swarm, A Thousand Alchemists
James Martin's Churjiir, Two-Headed Rat King
(three Churjiirs and that still isn't all of them)
I really thought three of the churjiir stat blocks were far enough ahead of the rest of the entries all to deserve votes, but for what it's worth, the next unique monsters I might have voted for were:
Richard A. Hunt's Slithering Horror
Matt Goodall's Chaitrakhan
Alexander MacLeod's Chymick Swarm, A Thousand Alchemists
Dennis Baker's Churjiir
Lief Clennon's Lantern Thrall
Matthew McGee's Astrumal
Matthew Morris's Caltrop Golem
Richard A. Hunt's Slithering Horror
My votes. Good luck all.
My votes go to:
Benjamin's Bruck's Churjiir
Jim Groves' Ardorwesp
Matt Goodall's Chaitrakhan
Matthew McGee's Astrumal
because those four were the ones that really stuck out from the competition in terms of (mostly) clean AND creative execution.
Benjamin Bruck — Churjiir —
Jim Groves — Ardorwesp —
Matthew Morris — Caltrop Golem —
Jesse Benner — The Lahamu (“The Soul Drinker) —
I voted for these fout.
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Sheesh. tracking votes by competitor rather than monster makes it way easier to make mistakes! Especially with 5 names beginning with J and 3 Matt/Matthews :).
Last Vote: Illessa
Total: 91 votes from 18 voters
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1 Benjamin Bruck — Churjiir — 14
3 Jim Groves — Ardorwesp — 13
3 Matthew McGee — Astrumal — 13
4 Matthew Morris — Caltrop Golem — 11
5 Alexander MacLeod — Chymick Swarm, A Thousand Alchemists — 10
6 Matt Goodall — Chaitrakhan — 7
7 Richard Hunt — Slithering Horror — 5
The Boundary
9 Jesse Benner — The Lahamu (“The Soul Drinker) — 4
9 Lief Clennon — Lantern Thrall — 4
10 Chris Mortika — Haga — 3
11 Dennis Baker — Churjiir — 2
16 David Posener — Astrumal — 1
16 James Martin — Churjiir, Two-Headed Rat King — 1
16 Jason Schimmel — Chaitrakhan, icy pack-hunter — 1
16 Joshua Kitchens — Churjiir, Two-headed Rat Emperor — 1
16 Tom Phillips — Ossuary — 1
Partial Votes:
Bigmancheatle — 4 (Benjamin Bruck, Jim Groves', Matthew McGee's, Matthew Morris')
Zeugma — 2 (Matt Goodall, Matthew McGee)
FiddlerJones — 2 (Benjamin Bruck, Matthew McGee)
Assuming Dance of Ruin and Darkjoy won't be using their last two votes
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8
aka Benchak the Nightstalker
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Sheesh. tracking votes by competitor rather than monster makes it way easier to make mistakes! Especially with 5 names beginning with J and 3 Matt/Matthews :).
Thank you for running the tally! (Plus, you know, voting for me, that was pretty cool of you as well)
Thank you for running the tally! (Plus, you know, voting for me, that was pretty cool of you as well)
Ditto! +1 Thank you Illessa!
Sidetrack:
Hey Ben, since I'm less than an hour away from where you live, we should meet up for lunch sometime... I can drive to Boise in under an hour. I promise no poison! ;-)
Leif Clennon's votes should be wiped from the exit poll and the poll takers should be prepared for reposts of new votes from those who voted for the DQ'd contestant.
Actually, people are still allowed to vote for me. I just can't advance.
Actually, people are still allowed to vote for me. I just can't advance.
Well played, sir. Maybe as a tribute every remaining competitor could change one of their 6 votes to you. If I were in the contest this year, I think I may have done exactly that. :-)
Best wishes,
--Neil
my 6 votes went to(in order of what i think were the strongest/best entries):
1)Benjamin Bruck - Churjir
2)Matthew Moris - Caltrop Golem
3)Richard A Hunt - Slithering Horror
4)Tom Phillips - Ossuary
5)Matthew McGee - Astrumal
6)Lief Clennon - Lantern Thrall (i had already voted before his DQ and i chose not to change my vote afterwards, because IMO there isn't a stronger/better monster to choose from - not by a long shot).
My votes (in no particular order):
Alexander MacLeod's Chymick Swarm, A Thousand Alchemists
Benjamin's Bruck's Churjiir
Jim Groves' Ardorwesp
Matthew McGee's Astrumal
Matthew Morris's Caltrop Golem
Tom Phillips's Ossuary
Had a tough time narrowing it down from 8 to 6, have to say.
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Ditto! +1 Thank you Illessa!
Thank you for running the tally! (Plus, you know, voting for me, that was pretty cool of you as well)
Hee, it's no problem; like I said in the last round, I have a terribly sad tendency to want to run all these things through spreadsheets and matlab and do all kinds of statistical analysis on them (not that the sample size is large enough for it to really mean all that much, but hey). So doing these tallies 'aint much effort :).
In fact, if anyone else wants an easy way to update (or a matrix of the votes to mess around with), the nasty generic spreadsheet I've used to quickly update the tally away from home is here. Just update the matrix, then sort the tally by column B, and secondary sort by column D :).
Well played, sir. Maybe as a tribute every remaining competitor could change one of their 6 votes to you. If I were in the contest this year, I think I may have done exactly that. :-)
Best wishes,
--Neil
That's charitable, although I can fathom why people would do that. Accepting the inevitable is praiseworthy, certainly. But I'd rather people vote for candidates in the race, whether in contests like this one or in the real world. Voting for Fred Tuttle may be an amusing bit of political theater, but I'd rather my vote count. Now, if this were a plea for a protest vote to shake the powers that be, that would be another thing; but you're not arguing for that. Sorry to be the wet blanket, man.
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Last Vote: gbonehead
Total: 109 votes from 21 voters
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1 Benjamin Bruck — Churjiir — 17
2 Matthew McGee — Astrumal — 16
3 Jim Groves — Ardorwesp — 15
4 Matthew Morris — Caltrop Golem — 14
5 Alexander MacLeod — Chymick Swarm, A Thousand Alchemists — 12
7 Matt Goodall — Chaitrakhan, icy pack-hunter — 7
7 Richard Hunt — Slithering Horror — 7
The Boundary
8 Jesse Benner — The Lahamu (“The Soul Drinker) — 4
10 Chris Mortika — Haga — 3
10 Tom Phillips — Ossuary — 3
11 Dennis Baker — Churjiir — 2
15 David Posener — Astrumal — 1
15 James Martin — Churjiir, Two-Headed Rat King — 1
15 Jason Schimmel — Chaitrakhan, icy pack-hunter — 1
15 Joshua Kitchens — Churjiir, Two-headed Rat Emperor — 1
— Lief Clennon — Lantern Thrall — 5
Partial votes:
Bigmancheatle — 4 (Benjamin Bruck, Jim Groves', Matthew McGee's, Matthew Morris')
Zeugma — 2 (Matt Goodall, Matthew McGee)
FiddlerJones — 2 (Benjamin Bruck, Matthew McGee)
Thank you French Wolf and Gbonehead! Gratefully received!
Perhaps I misunderstood, and we should probably ask for a clarification, but my understanding is that there will be no alternates next round. That means that if I place in the top 8, there will actually be a top 7. If this is the case, votes for me do make a difference in the outcome.
Edit: Re-reading Clark's post, I'm probably wrong about this. Worth verifying, though.
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Contributor
,
Star Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 9
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Perhaps I misunderstood, and we should probably ask for a clarification, but my understanding is that there will be no alternates next round. That means that if I place in the top 8, there will actually be a top 7. If this is the case, votes for me do make a difference in the outcome.
Edit: Re-reading Clark's post, I'm probably wrong about this. Worth verifying, though.
Yeah, Clark said the votes will not count, which, to me, means that your vote count will be reduced to 0, regardless of how many people vote for you, and the top 8 will advance.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8
aka Benchak the Nightstalker
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Sidetrack:
Hey Ben, since I'm less than an hour away from where you live, we should meet up for lunch sometime... I can drive to Boise in under an hour. I promise no poison! ;-)
Re-Sidetrack: Heck yeah, I'm game! My email is brazenhead@hotmail.com, and my schedule is wide open.
For the past several months I have been busier than I have ever been in my entire life, and honestly busier than I reasonably ever expect to be again for the rest of my life (at least, I hope so). That's why I haven't been my usual loudmouthed self on the discussion boards during this year's competition. However, I have been reading your entries, and I'm very impressed.
Congratulations to all of you for making it this far! The bar definitely seems higher for you than it was for me (and I ran into that bar face-first). Even some of the stuff getting crushed by the judges this year looks better than some of the stuff that did well last year. I'm seriously giddy at the prospect of putting some of these monsters to use.
My votes for round three are (in no particular order):
- Alexander MacLeod's Chymick Swarm
- Benjamin Bruck's Churjiir
- Jason Schimmel's Chaitrakhan
- Matthew McGee's Astrumal
- Matthew Morris's Caltrop Golem
- Richard A. Hunt's Slithering Horror
I wish all of you the best of luck in the coming weeks, and I'm very excited to see what you come up with next!
Have to say that it does amuse me that a lot of the "in no particular order" votes (including mine) are actually in the order they're listed on the voting list :)