The Unofficial Top 32 Guildhall: End of the Mayan Calendar Edition

[Andrew Newton]

Alexander Bennett wrote:

Trying to think of ideas for the next round, pulled out my Dictionary of Mythology and picked something at random.

Dictionary of Mythology wrote:

palis - an evil gnome

These beings were said to kill those who slept in the desert by licking their feet to suck out their blood.

That was a sure-fire win! The little gnome probably needed some sleep attack to make sure they dozed off on watch, but otherwise it was too cool not to vote for.

[Eric Morton]

Andrew Marlowe wrote:

I keep sneaking peaks at the boards when I'm at work with my kindle but it's not easy to post from...besides it's work and I should't be such a slacker.

True story: I once quit a job for scheduling me to work a shift on Game Night.

[Jacob Trier]

Chris Shaeffer wrote:

.

Should I have picked one of my more wild ideas? Some of the ideas I didn't pursue were:

Some sort of Goblin organization (can't go wrong! :p)

Lol - My first idea was also a goblin organization. Everybody loves goblins, right?

[Mike Welham]

Jacob Trier wrote:

Chris Shaeffer wrote:

.

Should I have picked one of my more wild ideas? Some of the ideas I didn't pursue were:

Some sort of Goblin organization (can't go wrong! :p)

Lol - My first idea was also a goblin organization. Everybody loves goblins, right?

More than gnomes, I believe. :)

You run the risk of getting a goblin organization wrong, and getting a nasty visit from James Jacobs.

[Mike Welham]

Since I'll be on PTO starting tomorrow, I have to wrap things up at work. That means I'll (mostly) be away until the reveal.

Despite the fact that I may not advance, I hope all your organizations wow the judges and the voting public.

[N. Edward Lange]

Joshua Murphy wrote:

It's like being in a group of your favorite gamers, but not being allowed to roll any dice.

alright josh, roll initiative: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24 (i have Improved Initiative, lol)

ok, now where was i...
[/anxiously waiting for 2pm PST]
[/obsessively checking for early reveal]
[/stalking message boards]

EDIT: none of my tags are working...

[Mike Welham]

OK. I can't help but take a break and check (roughly) once an hour.

A little over 7 hours to go!

Initiative: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 1 = 11

I'm going last, probably.

[Jacob W. Michaels]

Initiative: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 2 = 12

True story: One of my organizations revolves completely around gnomes. It's the one I did the least work on -- still not even fleshed out to be a full first draft -- since I was running out of steam at that point, but I think it could have been pretty cool. I'm sure I'll post it once voting's over.

[Thomas LeBlanc]

Jacob '2 of 3' W. Michaels wrote:

True story: One of my organizations revolves completely around gnomes.

Not one based in the Steaming Sea, floating on a heap of garbage...

[Joshua Murphy]

Initiative 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 12
On my turn, I take 20 to spend the next week obsessively checking the boards.

EDIT Hah. As though I haven't been doing this for week already.

[Mike Welham]

Jacob W. Michaels wrote:

Initiative: 1d20+2

True story: One of my organizations revolves completely around gnomes. It's the one I did the least work on -- still not even fleshed out to be a full first draft -- since I was running out of steam at that point, but I think it could have been pretty cool. I'm sure I'll post it once voting's over.

A gnome organization with sufficient mojo would have been one of those, "I can't believe he did that, but it works!" things that gets you votes.

[Mike Welham]

Neil Spicer got my vote in 2009 when he created his villain lair for an "unworkable" villain concept.

[Jacob W. Michaels]

It's interesting; this is where being active really only on my PBPs hurts me. I'm not quite as up on how the general population of the boards views certain concepts.

I know my RL group, for instance, HATES halflings (I think in large part because they see them still closer to kender -- all of them are thieves).

I used that to make one of my all-time favorite characters, a racist, self-hating halfling ranger (who basically hated the stereotype of all halflings being thieves but even more hated halflings who fell into that stereotype).

I love ol' Tel Thorngage but don't think he'd work here because my impression is that most people don't have that kind of old-school attitude toward halflings (which especially don't seem to ring true in Golarion).

[Joshua Murphy]

Jacob W. Michaels wrote:

I know we all still have a week but I think the hardest part of not advancing won't even be the fact that there's no potential published gaming credit but that all the energy (and emotion) I'm suddenly putting into the contest will suddenly be sapped out. Obviously I'll still be gaming and following along with everyone's items, but it's going to feel like I've suddenly been dumped, I think...

Well, if your ARE getting dumped, then you'll be in some great company. When I entered last year, I was crushed when I didn't crack the Top 32. My item was flawed, I made mistakes, and frankly, there were lots of items better than mine. I didn't feel dumped, I felt turned down for the first date. It hurt, yeah, but after I had some time for perspective, I realized this actually the very best thing to happen.

Look, comedians get booed off stage when they start out, artists starve before they're famous, this is the sacrifice we make for art. Every designer has put a piece of themselves into their designs, and we take very personally how they are received. But they are not us, and we are not being accepted or rejected as people. We're just designers. We're submitting designs. And while I'm pretty confident that everyone in this thread takes their designs seriously, the response isn't personal.

Here's three things to remember.

1. Rejection is a part of the career of any writer or designer. You WILL be rejected at some point, and learning to deal with it is a sign of a professional.

B. You made it to the Top 32! You got a ISWG pdf (if you didn't already have one)! Thousands of people are reading your work! You got Paizo's attention! And most important, obviously, you get a (RPG Superstar 2012....) title after your name on the boards. Wealth, success, love, these things come and go. Thread cred is forever!

III. You've made more friends. Life keeps on showing me that friends are a consistently undervalued commodity. And seriously, isn't sharing the experience of tabletop with friends what makes gaming fun?

[Dan Jones]

I'm also having organization remorse. I think I probably should have gone with my 2nd choice. Oh, well.

Good luck to everyone!!!!

Only 6 more hours.....

[Andrew Marlowe]

Inititative: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14 Note: that +2 doesn't come from Dex but is the result of the Reactionary trait.

Jacob W. Michaels wrote:

I love ol' Tel Thorngage but don't think he'd work here because my impression is that most people don't have that kind of old-school attitude toward halflings (which especially don't seem to ring true in Golarion).

I'm not sure I would call "halflings = kender" old school but maybe that's because I'm really old school. I remember a time before kender when halflings had to walk uphill to breakfast both ways. Sure Bilbo Baggins was a thief but he wasn't the nuisance to the party that kenders became. Back then halflings were chubby (if not fat) hairy footed folk who happened to be a little roguish. Then with Dragonlance we were introduced to Tasslehoff Burfoot and suddenly the halflings I would run into in Faerun and Oerth were no longer stuffing their faces but instead stealing my crap. A lot of that nonsense has settled down but I guess not all of it.

**Edit: Somewhere in there too the halflings started shaving their feet and wearing boots. I'm glad to see someone has curbed that fad and let Lem go barefoot.

[Mike Welham]

I think Belkar is informing the current view of halflings.

[Jacob Kellogg]

Dan Jones wrote:

I'm also having organization remorse. I think I probably should have gone with my 2nd choice. Oh, well.

Good luck to everyone!!!!

Only 6 more hours.....

This. I'm 27 and I'm going to be all gray-headed by the time voting opens, let alone closes. Oy.

[Andrew Newton]

I'll be in bed come 10pm as I'm getting up stupidly early tomorrow, so I'll have to wait until the commute into work to check the feedback. Unless I just sneak a look, and then get no more sleep. I'm actually quite glad we can't comment on our organisations just yet...

I'm not getting organisational remorse though. My backup was a group of Buddhist clerics of Rovagug, who wander around destroying things and killing people out of compassion. It does make sense philosophically (the god of impermanence, cessation of craving because we smashed the thing you craved etc) but it would take some thinking about. :-)

[Andrew Marlowe]

Mike Welham wrote:

I think Belkar is informing the current view of halflings.

Belkar certainly has an influence but he's kinda not stereotypical halfling...I mean he's a blood thirsty killer, outside of Darksun's barbarian halflings I don't think I've ever seen a halfling quite like Belkar...but to be fair I don't get out much these days. Those dang kids aren't gonna chase themselves off my lawn after all.

[Jacob W. Michaels]

Joshua Murphy wrote:

A great pep talk...

Oh, I completely agree with that, and while I'm sure it'll hurt for a bit if I don't advance, I'll get over that.

I more meant the time constraints; as in when you're dumped, suddenly your nights are free and you're wondering what the heck to do with all that time you used to spend with your SO. For the last week, I've been pretty much spending every waking moment when I'm alone (and probably some when I'm with other people) thinking and researching about the contest and game design and what I want to do next.

It's been awesome and while obviously I'll keep thinking about gaming and what I want to do next in the games I'm running, it definitely won't be with quite the same fervor because there are no deadlines, specific challenges, etc.

[Mike Welham]

Well, having gamed with my son and his friends, I definitely see that as an influence. Very few of them have any idea what a kender is, let alone read the source material.

[Andrew Marlowe]

Andrew Newton wrote:

I'm not getting organisational remorse though. My backup was a group of Buddhist clerics of Rovagug, who wander around destroying things and killing people out of compassion. It does make sense philosophically (the god of impermanence, cessation of craving because we smashed the thing you craved etc) but it would take some thinking about. :-)

Now I'm thinking about it. That's a concept I may have to take a crack at for one of my games. You don't mind if I plunder that do you?

[Mike Welham]

I'm currently blowing off a PbP (with the blessing of the GM) and I've been given a little grace on a freelancing assignment (although, I made absolutely sure I turned in some vital pieces before the top 32 announcement). Along with the aforementioned job interview (and potential move to Toronto if things go well), I'll be plenty busy if things don't work out here. Of course, I'm really hoping that I have the "problem" of juggling RPG Superstar with everything else. :)

[Andrew Newton]

Andrew Marlowe wrote:

Now I'm thinking about it. That's a concept I may have to take a crack at for one of my games. You don't mind if I plunder that do you?

Feel free, it was more of a mental exercise than anything else. The only problem I could find with the logic was why they would care enough to go to the trouble instead of just chilling out and watching the world change. I guess the existence of Rovagug answers that one as he leads by example.

[Chris Shaeffer]

Initiative: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (6) - 1 = 5
(I'm screwed!)

Hang tough guys!

[Andrew Marlowe]

Andrew Newton wrote:

Feel free, it was more of a mental exercise than anything else. The only problem I could find with the logic was why they would care enough to go to the trouble instead of just chilling out and watching the world change. I guess the existence of Rovagug answers that one as he leads by example.

I'm thinking of a group who don't worship Rovagug precisely but see the deity as the ultimate inevitable end and are actually dedicated to a twisted philosophy of mercy. The line between worship of Rovagug and the tenants of their philosophy are too subtle for most outside the order to grasp. I'll need to think on this seriously when the competition ends so I can implement it on my players*.

I'd say "unsuspecting" but we're discussing this on a public forum and my players only ever pay attention to the stuff I want them to forget or ignore. ;)

[Andrew Newton]

Andrew Marlowe wrote:

I'd say "unsuspecting" but we're discussing this on a public forum and my players only ever pay attention to the stuff I want them to forget or ignore. ;)

Yep, I want to write an encounter that has surprises and a module proposal that's a murder-mystery (in part at least), but I'm doing it on an open forum. I may have to rethink those aims.

[Daniel Rust]

Hi folks. Apologies, but I have not had time to get around to finishing my reviews. I hereby solemnly pledge that every item will be reviewed if it's the last thing I do.

*ceremonial salute*

[Alexander Bennett]

Init = 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14
1) Yes, I was have been trying to figure out to work out foot licking gnomes. I think combining swallow whole rules and blood drain rules would work.
If the pilas starts the round in a grapple, as a free action it may remove it's victim's boots and begins to lick the blood out it their feet.

2) I played a ranger that hated halflings (he thought they destroyed his hometown). Even though my character concept was explained to the rest of the group, they always got creeped out when I started to roleplay him (he screamed about vengeance against the halflings a lot). This is why my org doesn't revolve around hatred of halflings. People don't understand it.

3) From another thread

Ryan Dancey wrote:

Oh - and if you think Round 1 was Bizzaro World, wait until you see what Round 2 delivered.

Is this a good sign or a bad sign?

-Xander

[Mike Welham]

Alexander Bennett wrote:

3) From another thread

Ryan Dancey wrote:

Oh - and if you think Round 1 was Bizzaro World, wait until you see what Round 2 delivered.

Is this a good sign or a bad sign?

-Xander

I'm going to go with "maybe".

[Daniel Rust]

Yeah, I wonder. Is it the judge's comments or our crazy organisations that will bamboozle the voters?

[Jacob W. Michaels]

Chad, it's part of the bbc code. If you type [ dice]1d20+2[ /dice] --but remove the space before each of the two opening brackets -- it'll roll for you (and you can use whatever dice value and modifier you want).

[Mike Welham]

Chad Bartlett wrote:

How are you guys doing that whole initiative roll thing?

{dice}d20 + 1{/dice}

Replace the '{' and '}' with '[' and ']', and you're set.

Ninja'd by a Jacob!

[Andrew Marlowe]

I was jut excited until someone *cough* Alexander *cough* had to pull that quote from Ryan Dancey out...now I'm back on the nervous turn of this emotional roller coaster. Two and a half hours. . . .

I hope it was good sign.

[Mike Welham]

Andrew Marlowe wrote:

I was jut excited until someone *cough* Alexander *cough* had to pull that quote from Ryan Dancey out...now I'm back on the nervous turn of this emotional roller coaster. Two and a half hours. . . .

I hope it was good sign.

Clark's latest post does not inspire confidence...

[Jacob W. Michaels]

Man, I was feeling pretty confident I had a good, solid organization, but now I'm totally second-guessing all of my decisions...

We few, we happy few:

Rather proclaim it, Superstars, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.'
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words --
The Great Gygax, Dancy and Mona,
Spicer and ol' Clark, even the Succubi --
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in Paizo now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

[N. Edward Lange]

mike- what did clark say? link please?

why are there still 92 minutes til reveal >:o

will save to avoid losing it... 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (13) + 9 = 22(i'm a 9th level cleric with 16 wisdom- see profile for more details)

EDIT:whew, freak out averted...

[Jacob Kellogg]

Hm, I'd better make a Will save too (but unfortunately I'm INT based rather than WIS based, but at least I'm a caster):

1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24

[Mike Welham]

N. Edward Lange wrote:

mike- what did clark say? link please?

why are there still 92 minutes til reveal >:o

will save to avoid losing it... 1d20 + 9(i'm a 9th level cleric with 16 wisdom- see profile for more details)

EDIT:whew, freak out averted...

I think this was more in the context of the first round, but it also made me wonder if there was a dogpile on some of our organizations. :)

[Alexander Bennett]

Will save? But... but... I'm a rogue!
1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22
Ooo high roll. Lucky.

[Mike Welham]

1d20 - 1 ⇒ (15) - 1 = 14

Just barely made it. The DC was 14, right?

[Thomas LeBlanc]

I am expecting at least 3 gonzo organizations. Maybe 1 that seems like a joke. 5+ based on obscure one line references from the ISWG. A few Tian Xia, since that is the rage atm. Based on the product scheldule, praying for one that would be applicable to the upcoming Distant Worlds. And at least 2 pirate orgs for th upcoming AP.

[N. Edward Lange]

lol, sorry mike DC=20... do you have Slippery Mind?

otherwise, you're panicked for 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3 minutes

[Mike Welham]

N. Edward Lange wrote:

lol, sorry mike DC=20... do you have Slippery Mind?

otherwise, you're panicked for 1d4 + 1 minutes

I'll just ignore the strange looks from my neighbors.

[Neil Spicer]

A reminder for everyone here: Remember, once these organizations get released and open to the viewing public, it's time to clam up. You guys have had it easy so far here in the period between Rounds 1 and 2. But the game changes at this point. Make sure you don't discuss anything that can potentially sway the voters. We'll be watching for that kind of thing. And there has been a disqualification for it in the past. So, I'm serving fair warning here now before anyone who's new to the contest puts their foot in their mouth. Or, actually, put your foot in your mouth. It'll ensure you can't talk while the voting is going on.

[Jacob Kellogg]

One hour left.

[Mike Welham]

Neil, we can weigh in on everyone else's organizations, right?

[Jacob Kellogg]

Neil Spicer wrote:

Make sure you don't discuss anything that can potentially sway the voters.

To clarify: is this only referring to comments discussing our organizations, or are we also prohibited from (for example) "Vote Jacob 2012!" and similar?