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You know what to do.
I voted for The Unsheathed Revolution, though I also liked the other three; The Scarlet God came close to getting my vote, but the need to shift the adventure away from Leng didn't help. Dustpawn also sounded nice, but the Galt adventure just groked better for me.
I voted for Dustpawn!
Scarlet God got my vote.
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Voted for The Unsheathed Revolution. Love the intelligent weapons angle, lots of RP advantages I think.
Scarlet God got my vote as well.
i voted for the scarlet god.
not because it was better than the other 3 - none of them were particularly interesting to me, but based on the overall strength of Tom's previous work vs the previous work of the other 3 contestants.
Marathon Voter Season 6
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Dustpawn here. I really liked Scarlet God, but learning that so much of the adventure would have to be changed lost my vote even though I thought Tom was more consistent during the course of superstar. Besides this could be our only chance for a old school nod to barrier peaks / adventure path around numeria we could see in a long time.
None. I read each proposal. I would not purchase any of these adventures.
I'm not sure having the public judge the final four submissions is the best way to determine the winner of the contest. I don't read enough adventure proposals in my life to be able to accurately judge how good any of these are. For all I know these proposals are better than the proposals for "Seven Days to the Grave" or "Souls for Smugglers Shiv". I have no idea how much massaging takes place from this rough draft form to the final published adventure, so I can’t judge how these proposals match up.
Of course I have the judges’ comments to aid in the decision process but what’s the point of letting them do the thinking for me? Just have them pick one, they do a much better job of seeing the diamond in the rough than the general public does anyway, I think.
I agree with this. None of the four really interested me to the extent of "I'd want to pick this up." In their final form, I could see any of them being interesting, but as currently stands, not so much. I might end up voting for Scarlet God, which was the one I think I liked the best in execution, but even then I wasn't amazingly enthusiastic, and I'm probably not going to bother given how much of a rewrite it would need.
I haven't really paid attention to the contest in prior years, so it's possible that this is normal, but comparing what the judges have said about prior year's submissions to what they said about this year's, I have the impression that this was a less than stellar set. I could be wrong, but on top of my own lack of enthusiasm about any of them, it feels accurate.
That being said, congratulations to the people who got this far. I'm impressed with your creativity, regardless of my opinion on the output. I'm certainly not imaginative enough to have managed it, and I highly respect those who can.
What accent!? We don't have any accents down here in Nawth Cackalacky, ya'll...
Nawth Cackalacky...
That's a great NPC name!
Just don't get him confused with his twin brother, Sowth Cackalacky.
Both Scarlet God and Dustpawn were the best submissions, but after a little thought, I voted for Dustpawn. I loved Tom's wondrous item, but things fell short for me after that. I just don't like how everything he's submitted has a dark, monstrous theme to it. When I think of the people I play with, their play styles, and abilities at 9th level, I'm fairly certain a large number of them would die in Scarlet God, but the same threat of a TPK doesn't exist in Dustpawn. Granted, Dustpawn would still be dangerous, but I can't help but think my friends and players would enjoy playing Dustpawn more than Scarlet God.
Considering that this game is all about having fun with friends, their enjoyment is the largest factor in my decision.
I didn't really like Unsheathed as I actually ran Seven Days to the GRave and I immediately picked up on the Urgathoa/coin plot. The whole 'non-magical swords with magical abilities' thing really made me break my immersion into the story. The swords, effectively, gain spell-like abilities, and I believe SPA register as 'magic' if someone uses Detect Magic, and if someone uses Arcane Sight, they know the person has SPAs if they don't have any other spells. At least I think so.
Steaming Sea felt too much like a section chopped out of an ongoing adventure path. There was clearly more backstory involved that we don't know about, and a definite sequel as well. I don't want to buy a module, only to find out I've got 1/4th of the story, unless it is advertised as part of a set, like the Price of Immortality trilogy is.
Over all, Dustpawn struck me as the most fun, for myself and the people I play with (whether I run it or not). It seemed challenging, without having a 'certain death' feeling that Scarlet God had. The plot was well thought out, a sense I didn't get from Steaming Sea, and things worked mechanically, something I disliked about Unsheathed.
I will say, I do admire the quality of Tom's submissions, and after reading Scarlet God, I've given more thought to purchasing the Ship of Fools module he co-wrote for TPK Games.
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This proposal is a demonstration of that content, and if you think Tom's demonstration was the most impressive, why wouldn't you vote for him?If you liked Scarlet God the best but didn't vote for Tom because the finished module will change due to circumstances outside of his control, you're just making it harder to see Tom's work on a 32-page Paizo adventure.
I personally don't doubt we'll see such a product, and that it'll show up sooner rather than later. But taking your vote away from Tom because of a future release he didn't know about?
That isn't helping Tom one bit.
I have to agree, it was a pretty Jerk/BS thing to do in the middle of a contest, no reason any of those comments about it needing revisions later that couldn't have come out AFTER the contest was over. If it'd been done to me, I'd have pulled my submission in disgust, or demanded extra time to revise it so it could be fixed so as not to disrupt future plans.
I voted for Doom Comes to Dustpawn.
I really enjoyed the premise behind Unsheathed, but thought it fell short in a few places. I also thought Scarlet God was a pretty well-thought through. It is unfortunate that his submission is running into problems with the Shattered Star AP. I am not a fan of the Steaming Sea submission (partly because an underwater adventure doesn't appeal to me and partly because I thought it had too many holes).
In the end though, I decided to vote for Dustpawn because it appealed to me the most. I thought it was very well-written and it looks like it would be a lot of fun. It was a pretty close call between Scarlet God and Dustpawn, and I chose the one I thought would be more fun.
I think we'll see both authors' names on works in the near future (and hopefully the other two as well). Good luck to all four.
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This proposal is a demonstration of that content, and if you think Tom's demonstration was the most impressive, why wouldn't you vote for him?
Because I'm not going into this voting for my favorite author; I'm not even sure if I have a favorite author in the bunch since I have liked different ones the best each round. I'm going into this based on voting for which module I'd most like to see published. I think that all of the authors in the last round here have the capability to pull off good work; I don't think that voting for any of them would saddle Paizo with a bad writer. In light of this, I think the specific material of the adventure in question is of more importance to my vote here. Therefore, since Crimson God's material is in a state of uncertainty, I'm swaying towards Dustpawn (which I liked nearly as much to begin with).
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Spoiler:EXPLODING RUNESPAWN!!
You sir, are a jerk. That's almost as bad as
I voted for The Unsheathed Revolution, because I think Galt is underexplored. Additionally, I actually liked the surface similarities to Seven Days to the Grave - makes me feel like the cult of Urgotha is evolving in their methods.
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Garrett, you have given me something to consider here. I do trust Sean and Clark in that the proposal will be turned into something that I'd like. I just worry that one of the more likely things to alter things to (putting the module into a pocket dimension that only ever gets seen in said module and doesn't further knowledge of a preexisting non-material plane) will happen; it's not that I don't think changes will happen to Dustpawn (I fully expect it to move somewhere, probably the Sodden Lands, and for it to be in a differently named town, for example), I just see the parts of that module that I most am interested in (mutated wizards returning from the stars and a Lovecraftian monster from outer space) are more likely to survive the editing process than the ones of Scarlet God that I most like (Scheming Lovecraftian entities allied with a spellcaster bringing about the return of a Great Old One in a planar destination that isn't just a brand-new pocket dimension). Nevertheless, I'll mull this over and may switch back over to voting for Scarlet God before the deadline tomorrow.
Get your final votes in folks! We're really coming down to the wire now. And the voting booth closes at 2PM PST time...or 5PM EST for all those on the east coast.
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Because I'm not going into this voting for my favorite author; I'm not even sure if I have a favorite author in the bunch since I have liked different ones the best each round.You were going to vote for Tom's proposal until you saw James' comments about Leng, so I'm guessing Tom's proposal was your favorite, and I'm also assuming Tom's proposal was your favorite because you liked the writing and design more than the others.
Tom was my favorite author; I voted for Mike's proposal because I liked the writing and design more than Tom's. It was a razor's edge, and the deciding factor was "which proposal would I rather play?"
Notably, I didn't ask "which module would I rather buy?", because proposals aren't modules.
So why didn't you vote for Tom's proposal? Because, apparently:
I'm going into this based on voting for which module I'd most like to see published. ... I think the specific material of the adventure in question is of more importance to my vote here. Therefore, since Crimson God's material is in a state of uncertainty, I'm swaying towards Dustpawn (which I liked nearly as much to begin with).I'm just not going to understand how not voting for the proposal you'd most like to see win RPG Superstar 2012 is voting for the module you'd most like to see published.
It's like a pro team drafting one embryo over another because a doctor said it might not grow tall enough to play quarterback.
You want to see the module "The Scarlet God" get published. It won't. So as a backup, you want to see "Doom Comes to Dustpawn" get published. Guess what? It won't. A module based on the proposal that goes through a year or so of development will get published; it might suck compared to what you imagine will come out of the proposal. It might be better! It might change its name, move to Nidal, and...
Garrett - there's two things you're forgetting.
1) Every developer who gets to this stage could end up writing for Paizo or a 3pp. This is regardless of whether they actually win or not.
Bottom line: You don't have to win the competition to win as a freelancer with Paizo. You just have to make the most of the next opportunity they give you. Based on your showing here, they now know what you're capable of. And, when they need someone to pitch in on a new product, they'll have each of you as a resource. Just make sure you're available when that call comes. And, once you commit, make sure you deliver on it. You do that and you'll go as far as you want to go.
Jason Nelson is a great example of this - he didn't win his year, but he's still been involved with creating material for Paizo. See the rest of that thread for examples.
2) The prize itself:
7. The Grand Prize is a paid commission to write a 32-page adventure for Paizo Publishing's Pathfinder Modules line. The Winner must sign a contract to write an adventure as prepared and accepted by Paizo Publishing. The final adventure must be written in the English language, following the Pathfinder RPG rules set, and must be written with proper spelling and grammar. The Winner must fulfill their obligations to write an adventure acceptable to Paizo Publishing before getting paid for their work. Winning the RPG Superstar contest does not guarantee the Winner payment if they don't fulfill their obligation to write the adventure or can't deliver an adventure that meets Paizo Publishing's quality standards.
8. The other three Finalists gain a paid commission to write a 16-page adventure scenario for Paizo Publishing's Pathfinder Society. The Finalists must sign a contract to write an adventure scenario as prepared and accepted by Paizo Publishing. The final adventure scenario must be written in the English language, following the Pathfinder RPG rules set, and must be written with proper spelling and grammar. The Finalist must fulfill their obligations to write an adventure scenario acceptable to Paizo Publishing before getting paid for their work. Being an RPG Superstar Finalist does not guarantee the Finalist payment if they don't fulfill their obligation to write the adventure scenario or can't deliver an adventure scenario that meets Paizo Publishing's quality standards.
The intention is to publish the module outlined in the submission, so make sure what you present is not only popular with the general audience, but also publishable by Paizo. Paizo reserves the rights to make changes to the adventure during the editing phase, and will work with the chosen RPG Superstar to develop the best possible adventure product.
In short, this very much is a vote on which module we want to see, and very much not a vote on who we want to have create something for Paizo. We might not get the module that was proposed here, but it is the default assumption that we will. Thus when that default assumption changes drastically, it's only fair to inform the voters ahead of time. Otherwise, you would have a huge number of people saying "This isn't what we voted for!"
I voted for the Scarlet God.
1. Talk about Tom being in sync with Paizo, holey moley.
2. Based on the full body of work presented, I think Tom's work was consistently the most inventive and interesting.
Heck, he might have done even better if he'd have used the setting of Eightfinger's Tomb, but I like that he instead did something altogether new.
And I second Eric Morton's comments - the fact that we'll have no idea what's in the actual published module is also cool, and given what Tom's done so far, I have no doubts he'll come up with something as awesome as the pitch and as Eightfinger's Tomb that is not dependent on Leng.
Edit: I find it interesting so few people are posting their vote here. I really doubt so few people are voting, so I think the end result is unlikely to match what we see here.
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Champion Voter Season 6, Champion Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Champion Voter Season 9
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I've made my decision. I vote for a tie between Tom Phillips and Mike Welham.
I don't see a button to vote for a tie...
Edit: I find it interesting so few people are posting their vote here. I really doubt so few people are voting, so I think the end result is unlikely to match what we see here.
Indeed. I can already tell you more people have voted in this year's final round than last year's final round. And, in general, the exit polls have never been good indicators of voter turnout.
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I'm finding out just how bad a habit nail-biting is...
That's why you need to flavor them.
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This year has been interesting for me. Normally round 4 boilds down to one good submission and runners up with one or more serious flaws. But this year had two really good submissions. Scarlet God speaks to my love of Howard and Wagner, Doom Comes to Duskspawn speaks to my love of Expedition to the Barrier Peaks and Lovecraft. It was close, but Doom Comes to Duskspawn got my vote.
Does that make you a cannibal?I'm finding out just how bad a habit nail-biting is...
Only if you bite other people's nails. :D
I've voted! You all did a stellar job, and I know that no matter what, good things are in store for us from you guys. Good luck, and thank you!
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Does that make you a cannibal?I'm finding out just how bad a habit nail-biting is...
Yes, it's a terrible habit! I've been eating Mike's nails too.