To soon to start thinking about next year?


RPG Superstar™ 2012 General Discussion


So... yeah. I admit I posted my wondrous the night before the deadline and I didn't put nearly enough into it (time, effort, thought, love, your choice). I did so mostly at the urging of my gaming group who I thank for their support and effort to push me into the competition. I really didn't think much about the competition after the submission, you'd think things would slow down a little more in the retail world after Christmas. I did think I submitted an interesting item but I am hardly surprised not to find it in the top 32. The interesting point in all this (which I hope you fought through the above bit to get to) is that I am really excited for the competition next year. I'm not sure why but all of a sudden I find myself thinking of dozens of other ideas that I should have refined and submitted. I want to thank Paizo and all those involved for the work they put into this competition, and certainly hope that it continues with such fantastic support from both sides. I want to congratulate all the top 32 finalists and I will make sure to continue with the competition. Now, I did have a question or two I hope someone out there could answer for me.

While reading the judge's comments I see the abbreviations SIAC and SAK, from context I guess they refer to effects that duplicate an existing ability, but could someone captain dummy talk it for me and break it down?

Does Paizo ever make the threads of the non winning contestants available? I ask knowing that there must be thousands of threads and this may be a bit of an undertaking with very little point for most people and actually a problem considering future entrants now that I think about it.

That aside, I am eager to watch how this year unfolds. I've been using Paizo products since Rise of the Runelords and had never seen this competition until this year so I'm glad I get to see one start to finish for once.

Scarab Sages

I'm pretty sure SIAC stands for "spell in a can" (which is just an item that replicates a spell, basically). I'm not sure of SAK off the top of my head. As far as I know they never make their comments available, unfortunately. But I saw someone say that there will be a Critique thread we can post our items into for getting some feedback from other people like ourselves at some point :) Glad you participated (heck, I'm glad I participated even though I didn't get very far, lol) and good luck with next year's contest! Cheers!


SIAC = Spell In A Can (this item duplicates a spell)
SAK = Swiss Army Knife (this item has a bunch of unrelated/barely related effects)

You can find a more detailed explanation of both in Sean's Consolidated Advice thread

Also, the threads of non-winners are never shown, but if you would like feedback from the judges, you can post your item in the Critique My Item thread (when it opens). And no, it's never too soon to start thinking about more Wondrous Items. :)


Thanks for the info from both of you.

Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 9

It's never too early to start thinking about next year.

Why, between submitting my item and now, I've had three other ideas for cool wondrous items. Always keep the kettle on, as it were.


I have already started writing up one item and brainstorming for others. Just waiting for Neil or another judge to carve up this year's item on the critique thread. Which I would encourage everyone to do. Neil was brutally honest about the mistakes I made with my submission and it helped me to make a better submission for this year's competition.

Last year Neil slashed up my item, The Everseeking Compass, and gave me huge insights on mistakes I made. Hopefully this year he or someone else does it again so I can learn from this year's mistakes.

Legendary Games, Necromancer Games

Its never to early to start thinking about next year for those who didn't make it.

Come on in the critique my item thread and join the community there. You'll learn a ton. And do some research on the boards. We run a pretty transparent process here. Heck, we even did a seminar (audio of which is available online, someone link the man please) about how Neil went about crafting his winning entry. Oh, and did I mention the 4 ACTUAL JUDGES were there and ran the seminar and we, the actual judges, told you what we were looking for and things to avoid and things to do, etc.?

So join the community, get involved, study up and come back strong next year!

Dedicated Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8

From a first time participant, many thanks to all who make this a great contest and for the wealth of information provided on the process. The seminar at PaizoCon last year was great, it's an amazing amount of time you guys put into this and I really appreciate it. Looking forward to another chance in 2013.

Sczarni RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32 , Champion Voter Season 6, Champion Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Champion Voter Season 9

Post on the Suggestions/House Rules/Homebrew board. I occasionaly post stuff for my home games there and get lots of great feedback. Eric Morton has been running a couple of my favorite threads there for a while. The General Discussion and Rules Questions subforums under the Pathfinder RPG forum are good resources as well.


Never too early, but... you don't have to wait until next year!

There are many things you can be doing now to practice.

Offer to review an upcoming product. (Or just review one that's published. One caveat: I'd make any criticism constructive. Not that you can't include criticism, but if you've got nothing but negatives to say or you can't make your feedback constructive your time is better spent on a another product.)
Offer to edit an upcoming product.
Offer to playtest.
Send a proposal for an adventure, mini-sourcebook, etc.
Do 10-20 related magid items and put them out as a free pdf. (Maybe go through DriveThru for experience in the process, exposure, and
Do 4-5 mini encounter areas as a free/cheap pdf.

Most of those focus on the idea of working with new/small publishers who are often very receptive to someone offering to help.

Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 9

Sowel, those are some great suggestions. I'll be keeping those in mind this year, I assure you.

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