Top 32 - Please Tell Me More About You

[Herremann the Wise]

Hello Everyone but specifically to the Top 32,

I was wondering if you could tell me a little bit more about you?

Is this your first or fourth time entering? Do you have a website or blog I can look at? What do you do when not designing gaming stuff? What's it like to be in your shoes at the moment in the spotlight? Any really weird advice for those who didn't make it?

Basically, I would like to know a little bit more about you.

I'm really excited for you all and cannot wait to see what you design so I can do some serious voting.

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

[Eric Hindley]

This is my 4th year entering. I have a bit of information in my profile. I suspect that will be a good way to find out more about most of your favourite entrants. Most of us are busy scrambling to build archetypes right now, but you may get more responses over the weekend...

[John Spalding]

This is my first year entering. I played around with a couple things last year but didn't submit them.

When not designing game stuff, I put in my time at school. I spend a great deal of it at a medium-sized, gray, round table discussing cases with friends and the rest in an infrequently used computer lab which is about 10 feet from that table and into which the microwave vents the sometimes strange and sometimes delicious microwave smells. Like the medieval serf, my life takes place within a very small geographical area these days.

I am really enjoying drafting an archetype and I was especially excited to get the e-mail yesterday. It really made it hard to focus on my note draft, especially the "Blue Book-ing" part.

[Eric Hindley]

Eric Hindley wrote:

This is my 4th year entering. I have a bit of information in my profile. I suspect that will be a good way to find out more about most of your favourite entrants. Most of us are busy scrambling to build archetypes right now, but you may get more responses over the weekend...

And a spoiler...

[Paul Brown]

First entry, as I wasn't really involved with the forums before this year.

I'm 24, married, with a full-time career that I absolutely love. I'm continuing my education with a Master's while scrambling to get any free time that I can. I don't get to game nearly as much as I did in college, but I try to do a few PBP games here on the boards.

[Jerall Toi]

This is my 2nd entry, though I've been aware of the contest since its 1st year. Like John, I played around with a few ideas during the early years, read the boards and followed the contests, but didn't submit an entry until last year.

Currently, I'm running two games: Smuggler's Shiv with my local group and a Rogue Trader PbP with my old university group.

On the designing game stuff side, I tend to share a lot of what I do on my blog and I've written a few blog posts for Nevermet Press.

[Ryan Marsh]

A breif summary.

Entered every year to date.

When not designing I'm playing, three games a week, though thankfully I'm not running all of them like usual. When I'm not playing, I'm spending time with my wife and son. And when I'm not doing that I'm working.

More later. Back to the designing.

[Trevor Merback]

This is my first time entering. I didn't even know about RPG Superstar until late December. I entered my item as a lark and still surprised (and flattered that) it was so well received.

I'm in college now, studying music, and looking for work.

As far as advice goes (though I'm not necessarily the most qualified to offer it), I think it's important to look at how your item (or whatever entry) might be abused and try to stop that before it happens. As a long time rules abuser, I know that clear rules will save everyone a lot of time and the DM a lot of pain. Nothing slows a game down like rules lawyering. Also, a little flavor will go a long way but a lot can lead to rules confusion. I think I got through because of make whole but people got hung up on the visual effects of Eric Hindley and Charles Dunwoody's items (both of which I really enjoyed).

I guess the biggest advice I can give is that you should think about what people are going to get caught up on and they are going to think is really cool.

I hope some of that is helpful. Man, I hope I don't sound like a gibbering mouther. Maybe you should just wait and see if I get any further before taking this advice.

[Herremann the Wise]

Thank you everyone for replying by the way, I really appreciate the time and effort you guys put into getting yourselves "out there". I understand things must be pretty hectic at the moment. I figure that if the audience gets to know you better, they are going to be more inclined to really celebrate your awesome designs and be there to support you if you have a tougher round. Thanks again everyone and best of luck for round two.

Trevor Merback wrote:

I hope some of that is helpful. Man, I hope I don't sound like a gibbering mouther. Maybe you should just wait and see if I get any further before taking this advice.

But this is exactly what I mean. Opening up the keyboard and putting your personality and thoughts out there helps the audience identify with you and look forward to your next submission. By making top 32, you've earned the right to give advice and have it be respected.

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

[Scott Fernandez]

I'm 34, a long time paizonian, gamer for over 20 years. You may know me better as the King of Vrock on the boards or from the paizo chat. This is my first superstar, I always thought about entering but just didn't till this year. Link to my twitter's in my profile, but I work in the auto industry as a security & safety contractor.

How I'm feeling right now is pretty excited and anxious and a little under the gun trying to whip the jumble of notes that is my archetype into fighting trim. I hope you all like it and can't wait to ask your gm to allow it!

--You gotta lose your mind in Detroit Vrock City!

[Levi Harbeson]

Well, let's see here...

I'm Levi, and I'm from Black River Falls, Wisconsin. I'm 19 and I'm currently going to school in Milwaukee. I'm double majoring in Theatre Education and Creative Writing. I have to admit that I entered on a whim this year, and never expected to make the Top 32! When I got the email I was so shocked I cried just a little! Haha! Obviously, this is my first year entering RPG Superstar, although I've watched it unfold over the past three years.

In my free time I read a lot, and play a ton of music. I work at a supper club too. Gaming is my life, and I'm so excited to make the Top 32, but I already said that!

I guess that's really me in an aggshell. If you need to know more, I recently started a gaming blog which I've neglected pretty bad over winter break. It's linked in my profile, and linked to some other blogs I work on! :D

I can't wait to get to know everyone! Congratulations to everyone who made the Top 32, and to EVERYONE that entered!

[James Martin]

Hello! My name is James, I'm 32, divorced and the father of a little boy. In real life I'm a grantwriter and specialist for North Dakota State University in Fargo, North Dakota. I was born in Northern Virginia, outside of DC, lived in Indiana for several years, then North Carolina before moving here. I GM for my home group, which is just starting the Rise of the Runelords AP. In what spare time I have I read, write and drink.

I started gaming in 1996, with GURPS and the Old World of Darkness. I moved onto 2nd Edition D&D for about three weeks, then headed to Africa with the Peace Corps. When I got back I discovered 3rd Edition and have been with the ruleset ever since. I gave 4th edition a go, but both I and my gaming group were not excited by it. We've been Pathfinder fans ever since.

This is my second year of RPG Superstar. I submitted in 2009, got picked in 2010 and now here I am again. I still can't believe it and I'm working my butt off to make my archetype as archetypical as I can. My problem is I fell in love with five ideas and couldn't choose until I got them all into the first draft. Now I've chosen and I'm fine-tuning the rules parts.

I wish everyone good luck and look forward to reading all the cool new options for my favorite game!

[Sue Flaherty]

Howdy :)

My name is Sue, and this is my third year entering RPG Superstar.

I am an avid gamer, have been into RPGs since the original little pink D&D books hit my area back in 1978 :) I have probably tried, and might own, just about every system out there, but I constantly have returned to D&D/AD&D over the years, until 4E came out. It was not my cup of tea, and I was thrilled to discover Paizo and Pathfinder for my style of gaming.

I've been very lucky to be married to another avid gamer for twenty-four years and counting. We share GMing duties with a good friend, alternating currently between three ongoing Pathfinder campaings (Runelords, Crimson Throne and Second Darkness) and are loving every moment of them. I am the proud pet of a Pembroke Welsh Corgi named Max, and work in an after-school program with children, many of which I have interested in gaming and Pathfinder :)

What do I do when not designing ... in no particular order I write fanfiction, do needlework of all kinds, paint lead figures, do crosswords, play games of all varieties and flavors, read voraciously, collect all kinds of things, do other crafts as the mood strikes, spend far too much time in front of the computer, etc. :)

At this moment, I'm not wearing shoes LOL! Being a Southern California gal, barefoot is better. But I am still vibrating with surprise over making it into the top 32, and while I hope to continue on, just getting here is a great, great honor and thrill.

Weird advice ... keep trying, keep creating, and keep entering. Look for items that are not just "here's this spell, let's make an item using it" ... any potion or scroll can do that. Look at your own game, and listen to what folks are saying, or wishing they could do - is there something that does that? If not, is it practical or feel a true need? If so, see if you can make such an item. And a really big point I've learned, if you can't describe it in the words alloted ... it is probably way to complex an item :)

Hope that answers some of your questions about me, and I'll be seeing ya'll around!

[Cody Coffelt]

This is actually my first year entering as well. I joined the boards last year shortly after Round 3 of the RPG Superstar 2010. I used to work at a call center with way too much time on my hands so I would frequent the boards for an escape from boredom. I've recently become unemployed though so this was a nice surprise.

I'm 25 and I GM for a Pathfinder group. We play a lot of Rock Band, boardgames, and a fair amount of casual drinking on the non-Pathfinder nights. Nothing beats a good martini. I'm also participating in a PBP that I started last year, and running another one I started this winter on these boards. SdF's Kingmaker and SdF's Crypt of the Everflame. I've started and stopped/completed a couple other PBP's over the year too.

[Sam Zeitlin]

Hey! I'm Sam, and this is my first year entering this contest. I'm 24, working for the gubmint in DC until I go off to law school in the fall.

I've been gaming since sixth grade or so, when one of my friends brought a copy of Shadowrun 2e home from summer camp. These days I'm running the Kingmaker adventure path, which is excellent, and also playing a lot of small press non-traditional rpgs. Skipping game night to work on your archetype feels like the definition of irony...

Outside of gaming I spend my time playing guitar, doing improv, reading, or talking/arguing about politics (it's the local sport of choice in DC, especially since all our actual teams suck).

Working on archetypes is fun, but hard. The more time I spend on it, the more I realize how tricky of a design problem it is, and how many considerations there are to balance by tomorrow. I'm definitely excited and honored to be doing this, and I hope you guys will get a kick out of what I can cook up. My kingmaker players are all looking to add archetypes to their PCs, so I'm really looking forward to seeing the rest of the Top 32 as well.

[Nick Bolhuis]

This is my first time entering as well, though I would have last year had I been more on the ball. I'm 29 and hen not writing for Superstar I claim to know what I'm doing as an electrician.

I've been roleplaying for 16 years or so. Started with rifts and TMNT, then on to DnD, then here. I run an ongoing story driven campaign for 12 PCs (which can be rough), and am working on writing my own setting. I play when I can, but most of my other players don't have much time to DM. I've been buffing my archetype for quite some time already, so I feel pretty confident.

I drink coffe like a fiend, have a weakness for fancy beer and have a cat.

My wierd advice: Go for long walks and talk to yourself without writing anything down. Then when you come home jot down just the nucleus of any good ideas you have. Worry about solid rules until later, you're first take will be coloured by how cool you think the idea is. The next day, anything you had right you will still remember, and everything else will seem silly or weak, then you can strengthen your work. Also, start with more outlandish ideals, and then "normalize" them as the rules force you to, rather than starting with strong rules, and them forcing them to be cool.

[Sean Huguenard]

I'm Sean, and this is my first time entering the Superstar. I've been gaming for about ten years, starting in freshman year of high school, starting with D&D 2e (though, I never actually SAW my character sheet for that game...). I really cut my teeth on D&D 3.5 and Werewolf (Glasswalker!).

I'm a pretty avid video gamer, playing everything from JRPGs to shooters to puzzle games, and I aspire to be a writer sometime in the future.

[Danny Lundy]

This is my 2nd time entering the contest. Last year I was auto-rejected for word count. Lesson learned on that one. As for advice, I plan to post a bit on my round 1 item once I get round 2 submitted. Last year, and again this year, I read a lot of what winners said they were thinking during their design. That helped me a bunch.

Personally, I’m 36 and a divorced father of 4 kids. Ages:18g-15g-14b-8g. I’ve been where I work for about 7 years now and I’ve done a wide variety of things here. Worked my way up from call center, to account management and now I’m doing some energy analysis and database stuff. My friends have often said I’m an optimistic pessimist; I prefer realist. Lol

I love gaming, but I rarely get the chance. I had children early and spent most of my life working 2 or 3 jobs or working + school. (don’t wait till 30 to go get a college degree – it’s hurty). I’ve never really been able to get a solid group together to play. We had 2 years where I got to play pretty regular (two married couples once a month), but alas that group fell victim to divorce. <sigh> These days I’m running the Legacy of Fire adventure path for my kids. I can’t find anything else that can occupy 4 to 6 kids with a 10 year age difference for 4 hours. Can you? So gaming for me, is family time.

Shameless plug for the Paizo people: I bought my first Paizo adventure at Gen Con in 2010. I was blown away by the detail and the format. I often do not have time to design games to play with my kids or the money to spend on a bunch of gaming material. So whoever came up with the idea to sell the entire LoF set for $85 as a Christmas special, I thank you. We gamed every day for a week straight and we are just getting started.

I hope that wasn’t TMI, but you did ask.

[David Vigil]

I'm 31, married, no kids. I've been gaming for the last 16 years, playing OWoD, AD&D 2nd ed, Star Wars (D6 and D20), Robotech, Rifts, Heavy Gear, D&D 3.0 & 3.5, L5R and of course Pathfinder. I've followed the contest every year, and considered entering, but this is the first year I actually entered.

It's a little surreal. I feel like I'm a little over my head trying to squeeze game design in between my two jobs and what passes for my social life, but no matter how far I go, it'll be fun while it lasts!

[Ryan Marsh]

*sighs* Well that was annoying. My post got eaten. Lets try this again shall we.

So I'm a married spawning 26 year old gamer. I've been playing for 9 years on a regular basis (at least once per week). And currently I participate in two games weekly and one game bi-weekly. Gaming ten times a month isn't too bad.

I've been writing on and off for years, but only recently decided to make an actual go of it. The past year has been spent gathering all my stray ideas together, a daunting task that is still not quite complete. But with only one single folder remaining, soon it will be done.

By day, I am a mild mannered delivery man. And before the year is out my family and I will be leaving the wilds of Northern Ontario for the wilds of British Columbia.

[Artus Nemati]

Hi there Paizo community.

I'm a 25 year old accounting student who loves playing and working on games. I don't have a website, but here is a link to the Obsidian Portal for my most current game. The journal is pretty much written by my wife, but I take care of updating the wiki portion of the site. Which is probably why there is a huge journal hosted on the site, and the wiki is kind of patchy right now.

This opportunity to participate in a design competition has been thrilling, and I am willing to see it through to whatever end it may bring.

[Jerry Keyes]

Hi! I'm a long-time gamer of 20+ years, starting with D&D and then adding in offshoots like Gamma World, Top Secret, Amber, Paranoia and others. After becoming disenchanted with 4e, I picked up my first Pathfinder material at GenCon 2010 and I'm very glad I did. I only post on the boards here occasionally to avoid adding noise.

I don't normally do any kind of game design beyond making encounters for my players, but I consider myself to be somewhat creative and my outlet is usually fantasy art/maps. Honestly I was surprised that my first attempt at a Wondrous Item made it into the Top 32 (normally I prefer to create with others), especially after reading the other entries -- but that hasn't stopped me from bragging to anyone that will listen!

My wonderful Wife of 20 years (a former gamer) lets me GM a regular game for the local teens (including mine) to keep me away from less savory/expensive hobbies. But I've been driving her crazy since entering this contest with all the requests to proofread and critique. I'm sure she's secretly hoping I don't advance any further.

I found creating an Archetype to be challenging, so I'm probably not very qualified to give any advice. The one guide I do try to follow though is this:

• Start with writing something you would want to use as a Player.
• Wait one day.
• Review it as if you were the GM that had to have it in your campaign.
• Fix it.
  

[Jerry Keyes]

Danny Lundy wrote:

These days I’m running the Legacy of Fire adventure path for my kids. I can’t find anything else that can occupy 4 to 6 kids with a 10 year age difference for 4 hours. Can you? So gaming for me, is family time.

Wow, you just peeked into my dining room didn't you?!? I just started running my kids through LoF and we're having a blast. I can get them to cringe just by saying "Pugwampi".

You're probably way past the Sultan's Claw, but if you need a homemade map to run the encounter let me know and I'll send my humble rendition.

[Charles Dunwoody]

I started gaming with AD&D 1E and Gamma World 1E. I'm currently GMing Pathfinder every other week. I have eight players, five of whom never played table top RPGs until 2010 in my campaign. Pathfinder played a huge role in bringing in the new players.

I entered the contest once or twice before. I've been with Paizo since the beginning and was published in the Paizo paper version of Dragon Magazine a few times.

I have a column about building worlds with RPGs at rpg.net which I've been writing for a few years. I'm currently writing about Magnimar, Varisia.

I'm married to a wonderful woman, have two great kids, a good job, I'm active in my kid's activities, I'm quite involved with my church, and I enjoy talking with others about their beliefs. In between those things I write and read. I'm also working on a fantasy novel (11,000 words heading for 90,000 almost all written on break at work--250 words day equals a 90,000 word novel after one year).

My weird advice is if you want to become a better writer see if you can get a gig writing for free but published by someone else. If you can keep putting words down and making deadlines, it will help you sell your writing (if you hope to get paid someday). Practice makes perfect but a missed deadline makes getting published again really, really hard.

Also, I'll repeat what I've heard published authors say. If you can't stop writing then you have to write. If you want to get better, write every day even if you don't feel like it. Read every day as well. And never ever miss a deadline!

[Joel Flank]

I'm 38, married, and have an 18-year old stepson. I have 3 cats, one of whom loves when I have friends over for gaming. Not only does she get that many more people to pet her, but she claims any dice that fall off the table. I'm the pricing manager for a marketing/tradeshow company, and appreciate having only a 5 minute commute.

I've been gaming for 30 years now, thanks to reading my friend's older brother's basic set, as well as watching his dad play 'Temple of the Apshai' and 'Morloc's Tower' on their tape drive for their Apple II computer. Wherever you are now, thanks O'Brien family!

Ever since, I've been playing RPGs (mostly D&D in one form or another, but have played a lot of systems over the years), board games, card games, computer games. One of my yearly highlights is the family trip to Gen Con, and coming home with a 6-10 new games to stuff in our overflowing closet of games. My profile on here has more information about the games I play, if you're interested. Aside from gaming, I read as much as I can, and making sure my Tivo doesn't get too full to record new shows.

This is my 4th year entering, and 2nd time in the top 32. The first time was the first year of the contest, so there was no advise threads or previous year's contests to use as examples. It made making the top 32 that much more of a shock, since I had no idea what to expect, and had no expectations that I would make it. You newcomers to the competition have it easy now! (trivia note: I have done quite well with Paizo contests actually, in addition to Superstar, back in the Dragon magazine days, I won a Monty Python Spamalot prize package and a copy of the new Talisman board game (not the current edition, but the one before that). I'm eagerly awaiting Paizo to start running the Mega Millions Lotto!) I also like to use nested parentheses.

As for advice, I don't know if I'd say I have anything weird, but I try to design things that fill a niche that is underdeveloped in the game. My first entry was a way for fighters to better protect the soft squishy mages in the party, and this year's entry was to boost a druid's ability to be the primary divine caster/healer in a party. I also highly recommend using traditional writing tools - a dictionary and thesaurus, even if nowadays those are dictionary.com rather than massive tomes. I also regularly use Behind the Name as a reference.

I do have a blog, which I primarily use to write book reviews, but which I have lapsed on recently due to time constraints.

[Marie Small]

Hi, all. I'm a happily married mother of four balancing work, family, hobbies, RPGSuperstar, and freelance layout. This is my first time competing in RPGSuperstar; I didn't know it existed before November of this year. I am humbled and tickled pink to have made it on my first try.

I've played RPGs for the last 20-ish years. I've played all editions of D&D at some point, WoD, GURPS, Paladium, and other systems. We currently have a Pathfinder game my husband is running on Friday nights. I'll try any game once, and my favorite phrase for D&D 3.x and Pathfinder is "There's never enough skill points!" I enjoy playing skilled characters, obviously. I always envision them at level 15 or so, though. Since we start at level 1, the statement above has become an obligatory outburst during character creation. ;)

More mundanely, I work for the Department of Human Services trying to help families get back on their feet. I am mom/counselor/cheerleader/drill sergeant/what-all for a moody teenager, bubbly pre-teen, stubborn older child, and laid-back younger child. I'm also lucky enough to be married to a man who, when he found out I'd made Top 32 this year, told me "You're my superstar." (He's wonderful like that. :D)

That's really about it as far as my life right now. I am extremely grateful for this opportunity, and I look forward to seeing everyone's submissions for the later rounds.

[John Bennett]

Just saw this post. I posted a little bit about myself on my profile which was empty before. Anyway, I'm from the wilds of New Hampshire or "New Hampshah." I've been playing RPGs pretty steadily since I was 8 years old when an older kid in the neighbor saw me running around the neighborhood with a plastic sword. He'd figured I'd make a gamer and he was right. I vowed before 4e came out that I would not pick up another edition of D&D, figuring 3 editions was enough. But, I failed my Will save as soon as I saw Pathfinder. I recently discovered the boards this Fall and only heard of RPG Superstar probably a week before it opened this year.

I've been really busy between pursuing a master's degree in Organizational Leadership (I'm a supervisor at my place of employment), work, and trying to come up with exciting adventures for my gaming group. I took up trying to learn the guitar last year. So far, I'm pretty bad, (still playing it with no skill ranks). I also enjoy fine cigars, scotch, and microbrews. I graduated with a degree in film production and I have written 5 screenplays and a rough draft of a novel, all currently unpublished.

As far as I advice, I broke down how I came up with the Cocoon Cloak under that thread if that helps. My other advice, which follows any sort of writing, is edit, edit, edit, come back a day later and edit some more. And format, format, format! Paizo has made it very clear about the format of their items and a total adherence to format is universal in the publishing/writing world. Writing screenplays taught me a lot about following formatting rules.

[Trevor Watson]

Hi everyone, this is my first year entering the contest but I've known about it since the first RPG Superstar. My profile has some basic info about me so please feel free to view it. I was pretty stunned when I found out I made it in this year, after I submitted my wondrous item I discovered an entry from the 2009 contest that had some similarities to mine and assumed I would be rejected. I didn't give the contest any more thought until two days ago when I got the good news, so I've been working like a madman ever since to get a good archtype ready.

Like John Bennett, I vowed I wouldn't look at another set of rules for D&D after 3.5. Instead, I bought the PF core rulebook the day it was released and currently running Rise of the Runelords, with Legacy of Fire lined up with another group. Famous last words!

My advice would be to keep your sentences as simple as possible. After each proofread ask yourself if there is any way to say the same thing with fewer words. The less words you use the easier it is to understand and less likely to be misinterpreted.

Congratulations to all the others and best of luck in round 2!

[Sean McGowan]

Since I've finally put the icing on my round 2 submission, I can reply here without feeling like I'm procrastinating. :-)

Hi! I'm Sean. Spent the first year of RPG Superstar on the sidelines wishing I'd known about it a month earlier while they were still taking submissions. Spent the second year on the sidelines wishing I'd remembered my vow to check back in time to submit for that year. Finally succeeded in that vow last year. This will be my second year competing and at the very least I hope I can up my score from last year.

I'm a 37 (closing in rapidly on 38) year old male in New York. Moved here from Boston 20 years ago for college and never looked back. Said college consisted of getting a double BA in theater and english; the original goal was to make it as an actor after school. A few years went by and I realized that really wasn't ultimately my long term interest; I'm not entirely certain I ever figured out what my long term interests were but not having to continue dealing with auditions and frequent rejection were better for my long term mental health, at least. I've been working in a bookstore for the past dozen or so years now; nice to be putting the 'english' part of my diploma to use, at least. :-) Also a perk: discounts to all my RPG purchases.

My advice: do an insane amount of homework. Don't just read and reread every contestants entry; read all the magic items that didn't make it. Read all the self-rejected entries. Read the gag item threads and the deliberately bad item threads and the in-between season item experimentation threads. Then make your item and before you go about submitting it, do all that again. It's amazing the patterns you can see developing; I got to a point where I could practically hear a phantom chorus of judges in my head while reading through the critique threads.I don't know HOW much that helps in the long run; it doesn't make you guaranteed to make the best item out there, but it gives you an amazingly, almost instinctual feel for what NOT to do; kind of like condensing Sean's auto-reject advice into a fine concentrate and then injecting it into your bloodstream.

Hey, concentrating information into an intravenous drug... that gives me a magic item idea for next year... ;-)

[Danny Lundy]

Jerry Keyes wrote:

Wow, you just peeked into my dining room didn't you?!? I just started running my kids through LoF and we're having a blast. I can get them to cringe just by saying "Pugwampi".

You're probably way past the Sultan's Claw, but if you need a homemade map to run the encounter let me know and I'll send my humble rendition.

Actually, I went all out because it was Christmas. I had the monastery map blown up and printed poster sized. It was a nice touch for the kids. I also recommend the paper mini's set. They're about $3, you print them off and cut them out. It's a nice flavor touch.

We just got through the monastery. They hate pugwampis. The youngest player (8) is now referred to as "pugwampi slayer" by her siblings. She went all kinds of monk on them.

[ryric]

Well, during my non gaming time I'm an associate dean at a technical college. I also teach math and physics there(small campus). I'm 36, single, and now I feel like I'm writing a profile on some sort of dating site. :)

I've been gaming since the early 80's. My first game was Star Frontiers, bought at a grocery store. I got into BECMI a couple years later and transitioned to AD&D after that. One time I sat down and tried to count all the different systems I've played, but I lost track somewhere around 30.

This is my first time entering. I was going to pass again this year but I read someone's forum post that basically said "everyone should enter" and I was convinced to give it a try.

My advice would be: play. Play a lot. DM a lot. Look at your item and think "Would I want this as a player? Would I want my players to have this as a DM?" If it's safe in the game of a capricious killer GM, or a rules-lawyering munchkin player, it's probably a good item.

If you're ever in a session thinking "I wish there was a way to do *blah*," write *blah* down. Use these ideas for inspiration.

[Trevor Merback]

I think it's sweet that so many of you have gaming as a family event. I'm lucky to have two brothers who are just as nerdy as myself but mom and dad never wanted to role play with us. *pout*

Eh, their loss.

[Erik Freund]

Who am I? Letsee,

- I'm currently living in Seattle, but I'm from Chicago before that.
- I'm an Evangelical Christian (go Jesus!) who's constantly trying to get people to reimagine what Christains are like (hint: not like you see on the news).
- I work in software testing, currently cutting my teeth on my first management job.
- I like outdoor activities, like hiking, rockclimbing and skydiving. (And I do none of these as often as I'd like.) But I hate sports! Playing or watching.
- I'm a geek. I love P&P RPGs, JRPGs, and boardgames with more than 100 pieces.
- I'm currently engaged, and will be married by the end of this competition. Life's just crazy like that!

---

I got into gaming via LARPing. Boffer-larping specifically. (NERO if anyone's heard of it.) Soon thereafter, I got into AD&D. I starting DMing within my first year of gaming. I ran NERO stuff in backyards and parks. Great way for a dozen or so people to look like fools. :-)

For some strange reason there was no organized D&D club at my college, so I started my own. Had semi-annual convention on campus to draw more students into the game.

Judging by my bookshelf, I have pretty broad taste in RPGs, but I seem to favor the World of Darkness. I only started subscribing to Paizo APs when Kingmaker came out, but I've since backpurchased quite a few more.

Right now I'm only GMing one game, and PCing in another. (Kingmaker and Rise of the Runelords, respectively.) Usually I homebrew quite a bit more (rarely, even rules systems!), but the Paizo APs are hot, hot, hot with my friends right now. And it looks like Carrion Crown will also draw quite a bit of attention. (Did I mention that I love gothic horror?)

---

I'm super excited about this contest. I am stoked to compete, and to learn new skills. And the idea of getting published absolutely puts stars in my eyes. It's unlikely, I know, there's some great competition out there - I'll have to bring my A-game to even tread water.

I just created an avatar, because I guess people are supposed to be able to track who people are. (I was the voice-stealing-butterfly-guy if you forgot.) So, yea, that's a little about me.

[Tom Phillips]

Hi gang!

This is my 3rd year entering, and my second time making the Top 32. I'm very humbled and excited for the opportunity to compete with such an amazing and creative bunch. This is going to be fun!

My Profile has a bit more infomration on me if you're interested.

Good luck, Class of 2011!

[ryric]

Erik Freund wrote:

I got into gaming via LARPing. Boffer-larping specifically. (NERO if anyone's heard of it.) Soon thereafter, I got into AD&D. I starting DMing within my first year of gaming. I ran NERO stuff in backyards and parks. Great way for a dozen or so people to look like fools. :-)

Ooh! I play NERO too. Well, rarely anymore - I don't have the motivation to drive all over everywhere anymore, so I play locally about 2-3 times a year.

Did you ever play at Midwest? If so, we might have been at the same event. I used to travel up there a couple times a year. Never made it up to Chicago for an event.

[Erik Freund]

Joseph LaMothe wrote:

Did you ever play at Midwest? If so, we might have been at the same event. I used to travel up there a couple times a year. Never made it up to Chicago for an event.

Indeed! "Midwest" was a much better chapter in my opinion, so I made the extra haul down there. I played Motti, an elven rogue: his garb was somewhat native-american-esque, fought with two short swords, and acted fairly childlike/cowardly. Ring any bells? I wasn't exactly a mover-and-shaker. I came more for the atmosphere and trading stories in the tavern than I did for finishing any of the quests.

[K. Patrick Barley]

Hi! I'm Patrick, 29, and I grew up all over. I'm a Marine Corps brat from mostly East coast bases, and started RPing in middle school with the old Robotech game. After that I picked up some Vampire and Rifts stuff before attending my first Con in and getting wrapped up in Living City. Rolled into LG and was pretty into the Geoff region before moving to FL to go to school (Go Gators!) Now I've got a degree in Linguistics and am living in the middle of nowhere freelancing and engaged to a beautiful Online content producer for the NY Times. Getting married this year, and hopefully getting more gaming writing credits too. Did alot of work in the tail end of The Principality of Ulek modules, and have been working on perfecting my style between paying (non-gaming) gigs, and tutoring local kids.

GL everyone!

[ryric]

Erik Freund wrote:

Indeed! "Midwest" was a much better chapter in my opinion, so I made the extra haul down there. I played Motti, an elven rogue: his garb was somewhat native-american-esque, fought with two short swords, and acted fairly childlike/cowardly. Ring any bells? I wasn't exactly a mover-and-shaker. I came more for the atmosphere and trading stories in the tavern than I did for finishing any of the quests.

Nope, sorry, don't remember you. Maybe you were there at the same time - I'm horrible with names; also, I haven't been up there since about 2002. I play Ryric, a human celestial scholar(fully broken with sword/board and alchemy 3). My costume is reminiscent of Sorcerer's Apprentice - red shirt, black pants, wizard cone with stars and moons. My most active play time was 1998-2003, so maybe we were temporally unaligned.

I really liked the Midwest camp though - that bridge had some awesome battles.