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Neil Spicer Contributor, RPG Superstar 2009, RPG Superstar Judgernaut |
![Silver Dragon](http://cdn.paizo.com/image/avatar/SilverDragon7.jpg)
I should also say Neil and Sean are rules machines. They absolutely tear up the stat blocks (despite what Sean says, above, he digs in deep). Unless you become a professional freelancer for Paizo, you will literally never get this kind of feedback anywhere else. I'm just glad to be able to provide my few thoughts. Their stat-fu is totally out of this world....You guys are in for a real treat.
Just FYI for everyone, in most cases I let didn't the missteps in stat-block execution influence me too far in my decision to recommend for or against anyone's monster. The spreadsheet Paizo provides their freelancers helps auto-correct for a lot of the errors I discovered, and it guides you through the process with a lot of quirky pop-up commentary from Sean's demented mind. But the spreadsheet is extremely helpful in ensuring Paizo's developers get consistent turnovers from their freelancers.
Even so, I thought it was important to identify and call out anything that wasn't presented the way it should be in the stat-block. When I was growing up, calculators had just started to become all the rage. But, inasmuch as a calculator can automatically compute a variety of things for you, I think it's still important to understand the math that underlies all those calculations. Likewise, in game design, Paizo's spreadsheet can automatically do a lot of things for you, but it's important to understand the reasons behind it. That's what helps you better understand the mechanical foundations of the game, allowing you to preserve game-balance in your designs.
So, don't take my commentary around stat-block execution as anything overly critical. It's meant to sort of gage where your technical skills are right now. And, by pointing out some of these things for you, it's my hope you'll be spurred to go back and re-study those elements of the game again, thereby becoming a stronger overall designer in the long-run.
Lastly, I'll also echo Clark's comments. There's a lot of good stuff this round. There were several entries where one judge might recommend against a design, but another judge would totally be won over by it. So, many of you did very well in this round. And that's pretty cool. Unfortunately, only 8 of you can advance. The voters should have their work cut out for them this go-around.
Best of luck in the voting,
--Neil
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Jacob Trier RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8 |
![Kobold](http://cdn.paizo.com/image/avatar/d1_avatar.jpg)
You'll get used to cruelty in this industry. If I've learned anything, it's that your developers like to tease you. Your fellow freelancers like to tease you. Even the fans and reviewers tease you. It comes with the territory...
** spoiler omitted **
I'm not overly worried about cruelty here. If anything, the judges hints have me fairly excited to see my feedback, to say the least. In fact, the only thing I'm somewhat concerned about is...
EXPLOSIVE RUNES!
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Chris Shaeffer RPG Superstar 2015 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16 , Dedicated Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka Hodge Podge |
![Austrailan Diver](http://cdn.paizo.com/image/avatar/13_austrailan_col_final.jpg)
Dammit Jacob, I'm ending this once and for all!
Now that that's over with...
Let me just say, I scared myself half to death looking at the universal monster rules last night, because it tells you to put a certain ability in one place, while I had put it in another. So I was freaking out until I looked into it further and realized that the UMR were wrong in this case. Tears of joy. :'D
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![Griffon](http://cdn.paizo.com/image/avatar/gryphon.jpg)
Dammit Jacob, I'm ending this once and for all!
** spoiler omitted **
Now that that's over with...
Let me just say, I scared myself half to death looking at the universal monster rules last night, because it tells you to put a certain ability in one place, while I had put it in another. So I was freaking out until I looked into it further and realized that the UMR were wrong in this case. Tears of joy. :'D
When the voting closes I'd love to know which monster rule that is.
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Jacob W. Michaels RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Dedicated Voter Season 9 aka motteditor |
![Kobold](http://cdn.paizo.com/image/avatar/d1_avatar.jpg)
Chris, sounds like a mistake of that nature won't be a huge error, though. Even if the judges hadn't just said that, my feeling from looking at previous years is the voters would be likely to let something like that slip if that's all that's wrong, unless it was particularly egregious. I think people have shown over the last five years to care a LOT more about the big idea than anything else. Give them something that fires up their imagination and they're willing to say, "well, the stat block problem is why they have editors, to fix that sort of thing."
Obviously a big enough failure in execution will come back to bite us, though. (See poor Matthew Morris' "Lost Winery.")
Still, I'm glad to hear we've all apparently managed to please the judges and stepped up our game from Round 2. IIRC, if we advance this time, so at least we're sort of going out with a bang. I sure hope I'm not one of the B-"mineses*", though.
* My new girlfriend and I have been watching "Arrested Development," and just got to the one where George Michael and Maeby bring home their report cards. Man, I can't wait until that show's back.
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Chris Shaeffer RPG Superstar 2015 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16 , Dedicated Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka Hodge Podge |
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Jacob W. Michaels RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Dedicated Voter Season 9 aka motteditor |
![Kobold](http://cdn.paizo.com/image/avatar/d1_avatar.jpg)
LOL, Chris. I'm very excited about her. It's actually her birthday today too. On a much sadder note, however, her father's dying, so she's really upset obviously. No real celebrations this year.
On a much more amusing note: I posted this in an advice thread, but I don't think I posted it in the Superstar forum. I obviously told her about the contest, which was the first time I'd mentioned gaming to her. She wants to give it a try, which I think is really cool.
However, she's had some trouble remembering the game's name. She gets very excited whenever she does remember it, but previous attempts have included dubbing it "Plantation" and "Paradigm." I've kind of started thinking of it as P&P, which sounds just like that game I USED to play. : )
All right, and I think this is some serious thread drift, so back to being disappointed in us. Or not after Round 3.
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Steve Miller RPG Superstar 2012 Top 4 , Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 9 aka MillerHero |
![Father Zantus](http://cdn.paizo.com/image/avatar/A15_Father-Zantus.jpg)
Let me just say, I scared myself half to death looking at the universal monster rules last night, because it tells you to put a certain ability in one place, while I had put it in another. So I was freaking out until I looked into it further and realized that the UMR were wrong in this case. Tears of joy. :'D
This happened to me a lot during the monster writing time. I'd look for precedence on where a certain ability/sense/quality should show up in the stat block and I found multiple inconsistencies between the Bestiary, B2, & B3. In the end I decided the highest level of correctness started with B3, then B2, and finishing with Bestiary. We'll see if the stat-fu judges agreed.
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![Boggard](http://cdn.paizo.com/image/avatar/PZO9034-Boggard.jpg)
You'll get used to cruelty in this industry. If I've learned anything, it's that your developers like to tease you. Your fellow freelancers like to tease you. Even the fans and reviewers tease you. It comes with the territory...
Spoiler:...as do explosive runes!
Fixed that for you. :P
Can I brag that I've been married for 21 years?
Only if I get to brag about my adorable one-year old daughter.
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Tom Phillips Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16, 2011 Top 32, 2012 Top 4 |
![Skull](http://cdn.paizo.com/image/avatar/B3_Troglodyte_warp_final.jpg)
James Raine wrote:
Mike Welham wrote:Only if I get to brag about my adorable one-year old daughter.Can I brag that I've been married for 21 years?
I'm good with that (and that was a lifetime ago for me, since my "baby girl" is 15 years old). Maybe we should move it to the other thread. :)
Heheh. I'll pile on here and brag about my 4-month old little girl. ;-)
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Steve Miller RPG Superstar 2012 Top 4 , Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 9 aka MillerHero |
![Father Zantus](http://cdn.paizo.com/image/avatar/A15_Father-Zantus.jpg)
Mike Welham wrote:Heheh. I'll pile on here and brag about my 4-month old little girl. ;-)James Raine wrote:Mike Welham wrote:Only if I get to brag about my adorable one-year old daughter.Can I brag that I've been married for 21 years?
I'm good with that (and that was a lifetime ago for me, since my "baby girl" is 15 years old). Maybe we should move it to the other thread. :)
I refuse to post about my 12-week-old son in a thread titled: Disappointing.
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Ambrosia Slaad Dedicated Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8, Marathon Voter Season 9 |
![Phomandala](http://cdn.paizo.com/image/avatar/PZO9036-Phomandala.jpg)
You wouldn't say that if you were on this side of things. Reviewing 16 monsters in a single weekend is rough.
Doubly so if you're running a fever. :-(
Yes. As always. Wild horses couldn't drag me away.
Nor rain, sleet, or snow... ;-)
{contacts Kamino for pricing on a clone army of 501st Mail Carriers based on the DNA of Jango Spicer}
And +1ing the "get well soon" wishes.
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Anthony Adam Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Dedicated Voter Season 9 |
2 people marked this as a favorite. |
![Efreeti](http://cdn.paizo.com/image/avatar/39_Efreeti.jpg)
Just FYI for everyone, in most cases I let didn't the missteps in stat-block execution influence me too far....
Template fu suddenly wakes up, scenting that rarity of judges weakness...
He notices it's Neil and feeling sorry for him, commits an act of extra special kindness: regurgitating part digested wondrous item points for Neil to eat and feel better so he can stop word swapping in his feedback sentences.
Deary me, Neil must be feeling pretty rough.
Grin.
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Chris Shaeffer RPG Superstar 2015 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16 , Dedicated Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka Hodge Podge |
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John Bennett RPG Superstar 2011 Top 8 , Dedicated Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8 aka John Benbo |
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RonarsCorruption Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 9 |
![Ring](http://cdn.paizo.com/image/avatar/Plot-ring.jpg)
Looking forward to see some monsters. Last year, the 3rd round villains crashed the website for a couple of hours. Let's see what havoc the 16 monsters cause!
With each round's release I've noticed the site grow more and more sluggish as that critical moment draws near. I doubt this round will be any different.