RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
,
Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9
aka JoelF847
|
Sean, after reading your comments on your entry, I think you second guessed yourself too much. This was the time to swing for the fences, and if some of your choices were polarizing, then at least you'd get 100% of the votes from one of the poles.
I think your proposal would have worked a lot better if it was a) set in the mana wastes and Alkenstar, and b) featured firearms prominently. Sure, something that's potentially "niche" and only some fans would like might split the vote, and for something like this Paizo would want to tread carefully, but sooner or later, they're going to go there. A 32 page module is the perfect place to did their toe in that pool, and as for them not wanting an "unknown writer" to write that adventure? You wouldn't be an unknown writer, but RPG Superstar 2011. Even if you don't have the name recognition yet, the title does. If you had written a proposal like that, and done a bang up job with it, and won the title, then you'd have already convinced a large portion of the fan base you could pull it off. Plus, the module would come out about 6 months after the release of Ultimate Combat, which would be a perfect time for something that would feature the gunslinger and firearm rules.
Hey, Sean, I just wanted to say I voted for you. You presented an idea I want to run, and if you win this, hopefully things can be ironed out about "where" it might fit in Golarion or whatnot... because, darnit, I want a fantasy-tech Pathfinder RPG module. Plus, I love much of what you've done so far this year, and I miss those little teeth-monsters from last contest!
Cheers!
Sean, thanks for your explanation. Very interesting.
I think you're right on a couple things. The world's fair is a very cool location for an adventure. You didn't quite get the adventure in this, as you noted, but it's a really neat location and certainly one I'd consider. (Could in fact be a great way to introduce firearms to a campaign if someone should want to do that.)
keep the planetarium & Pavorhu the deluded Lergeni astronomer poking a hole in the dark tapestry. Then build the rest of the adventure outwards from that central point.
That said, your alternate idea about the observatory sounds really cool. I could definitely have seen voting for that and in fact think I'm going to yank that for my campaign (which I'm sure is little consolation). One of my players is really into Lovecraft (far more than I am, in fact), so I think he'll really like it.
Well, I wasn't going to threadjack again, but three people replied to me...
Except that in this contest the Editor - by way of the rules - has made Golarion-specific content entirely optional. (Which doesn't shield people from critique when they use it incorrectly, of course.)True, making it fit seamlessly into Paizo's world is technically optional. But there is a difference between "trying to use Paizo names is optional" and "you don't have to make any effort to set it in our world, for example, feel free to have Aroden show up as an NPC cohort of one of the PCs."
If this round's rules seem shorter than previous rounds, it's because they are—these basic requirements are all a Superstar should need to get the job done.A Superstar would know to make their submission fit the world of the company that's running the contest and publishing the module. Or at least know that going against canon is going to cost them.
Absolutely. And my replies to Jim and to you were not designed to suggest otherwise. My reply to Jim was only intended to point out that the "Editor" had not made Golarion a requirement. I said nothing about whether or not it would be a good idea to avoid Golarion.
My reply to you was to address what I saw as a conflict between your statement that the contest is intended to be "Golarion superstar" and the rules which allow for a Paizo-noun-free proposal, which would not be something I'd expect to see in an actual "Golarion Superstar". Again, I offered no suggestion on whether that would be a good idea.
The competitors have been at this for three months now. The time for hand-holding is over.
I figured the time for hand-holding ended when you posted your last bit of Round One advice. :)
(I'm not knocking Sean's adventure here, I'm knocking the idea Erik's suggestion that because using Paizo nouns is optional, trying to have it fit the world is also optional.)
That was not my suggestion. My replies to you and Jim were only to note that the rules don't require Golarion. I offered no opinion on how far from Golarion an author might tread, nor did I offer an opinion on how a contestant should approach the round if they wanted to remain Paizo-noun free.
Although if you want to know my opinion, it is this: Use the setting, or expect to lose.
Thanks for taking the time to reply, Sean. It's been another great competition. (And it was nice to see the adventure proposal's 4th-level requirement. I'm a big fan of good low-level modules.)
Dear Sean,
Congratulations on making the top four. The voters have now spoken, and they've said that they'd rather not see this produced as a module, but they'd like to see you write some stuff for Pathfinder Society instead.... or they've said something like that, anyway.
I've been going back over your presentations in this contest, and I find that last year you gave us that annoying clockwork monkey (honestly, it would have been better if tastefully dressed and without the cheek-pawing - Daria was so freaked out when that started that she threw the test-sample you sent her on the ground and smashed it) and the swarm of rather undead skulls which in my opinion do not (no matter what you might protest) make good pets. Not even for necromancers. The whole cannibalism aspect to them rules that Quite Out.
This year you gave us an annoying brass bowl which makes monastic aesthetics even more annoying (albeit more effective), a one man (or woman) social plague who Just Will Not Stop Talking about his faith (except when he's singing or shouting about it), a Summoner notably more deranged than the norm (even by Summoner standards), a decaying manor in a land gripped by perpetual winter, and of course the present clockwork fairground. There's a sort of lopsided symmetry in all of this, I note. You started with a clockwork cymbals-clashing monkey, and finished with a derelict clockwork exhibition.
Will we see the exhibit you showed us here again? From what various learnéd authorities and sages at Paizo have indicated, that apparently depends on whether it is a Travelling Show. It may not have made much impact in the vicinity of Korvosa, but if it were to perhaps turn up Somewhere Else...
Hoping that you have found these posts thoughout the contest Particularly Helpful.
Yours,
Ask A RPGSupersuccubus.
That was not my suggestion. My replies to you and Jim were only to note that the rules don't require Golarion. I offered no opinion on how far from Golarion an author might tread, nor did I offer an opinion on how a contestant should approach the round if they wanted to remain Paizo-noun free.
Stop being reasonable. WE MUST BATTLE!
Stop being reasonable. WE MUST BATTLE!
See, this is just my luck. A call to battle and I miss it by four days. But if it's battle you want, I'm game.
As long as it's not a physical battle. I'm kinda frail.
Or a battle of wits. I'm not really equipped for that either.
And it shouldn't require too much typing (weak wrists).
From your perspective it might feel more like a light warm up than an actual battle. Like stretching before the main event.
We should probably just call it Pre-Battle Calisthenics.
(Is there time to add that to Ultimate Combat? Pathfinder's stretching rules are woefully inadequate and don't really reflect how people stretch in the real world. If you guys made some better rules for properly warming up before combat, PCs could avoid serious injury. And you could finally address the Trip loophole where players just ignored the muscle strain that is likely to occur when being knocked prone.)
|
Among the Gears of Madness is an adventure for 4th level characters who should advance to 5th level by the adventure’s end. It is set near Korvosa, but can be placed near any city without issue.
Adventure Background
Twenty years ago, two cities joined hands across continents, hoping to awe the world. The Grand Duchy of Alkenstar sought to open its markets by displaying the possibilities of its engineering prowess to nations everywhere. The Mana Wastes being an uninviting location, however, they wished to stage this display somewhere accessible to the rest of the world. Korvosa, hungry for recognition and long wishing to promote its own standing on the international field, offered to host. Not as grand a locale as Alkenstar had hoped for, but many major cities were unwilling to provide land or funding. Acres of arid land a day’s ride from the city were cleared, fairground construction done, and the Exposition of Progressive Wonders was born.It ran for months, a miniature city showcasing Alkenstari design, displays glorifying Korvosan history, and arrayed entertainments. Ultimately, in spite of fairgoers traveling from across Golarion, it was a tepid success, at best. Visitors considered the clockwork and steam displays only amusements, and left without thinking Korvosa more than a backwater with cosmopolitan delusions. Profits barely recouped construction expenses; in the end, dismantling and transporting all exhibits back to Alkenstar was deemed cost inefficient. The place was abandoned whole, with numerous displays left intact within.
It still stands, a crumbling ghost town not thirty miles from civilization. Built on rocky ground, farmers and settlers never bothered to reclaim it, but it is far from deserted. On the outskirts of Varisian soil, any abandoned structure is a beacon for monstrous squatters, and given the size of the fairgrounds, various tribes of humanoids and other beings have come to reside here. While these uninvited...
+1