Star Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 9
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I am looking to set up a writers group to look at potential items before we submit for criticism and improvement. Before I do that, what warnings do I have to give to people to avoid disqualification.
Right now, my intro read like this--
This is a review and support group for people wishing to design items for the first round of the RPGSuperstar competition.
Note: This is writers group. We are writing for an RPG and so this is no less a writers group. The job is to give constructive criticism. That sometime means harsh criticism like you might get in a writers group. If you can't take it don't join. On the other hand all such criticism must be polite and aimed at the work and only the work. Trolls will be banefully polymorphed into rodents and fed to my cats
I need to spell out is where not to go in order to get your item disqualified.
I would look at the RPG Superstar rules from last year, as well as the R1 rules and R1 FAQ from last year, as I believe this sort of question has come up before in the context of collaboration.
The most pertinent point, IMHO, is that the group must be private (i.e. not publicly accessible), and that re-posting any material from the group elsewhere is prohibited. This is both to maintain the anonymity of submissions, and to respect Paizo's ownership of submissions.
Obviously, the actual rules of the contest are also pretty helpful :P
If you formalise item review in this way, you must be really honest with yourself if you participate.
RPG Superstar is about what YOU can do, what your potential is. Therefore you absolutely must consider your item if you work as a group - how much feedback was there, is it really all your own work anymore?
The sort of feedback that is informal, showing friends, family, your fellow gamers is expected and oft times encouraged, but once you get down to the sorts of levels of feedback like that found in the 9 blazing months practice thread you might be crossing into the realms of "group consensus item".
Yes, this might improve your chances to get top 32, but if the group potential exceeds personal potential, the next round will more than likely show this.
Reviews and feedback before entering can be a fine line to cross, so be very, very aware of how much your review process affects your own work and style. Only post that item if you really consider it all your own work.
I would, at most, get informal feedback from friends. If they edit your work, is it really your work? I'd say no, it is not. It's not "TeamWriter SuperStar."
I'm speaking only as me, Clark, a guy who has been involved in this process. I don't speak for Paizo.
Sean, I can't find the discussions you referenced. And I don't think that stuff was in R1 rules last year but I might be mis-remembering. It HAS been discussed before. If someone finds it, please link to it.
I think what I'm remembering is something Vic said, but I don't have a specific link, either. :)
On the question of outright collaboration -- that is, submitting on behalf of a pair or a team -- Erik Mona wrote:
One entry per person.
If you want to use a consultant or whatever, fine. If you want to playtest your stuff, fine. If you want to ask your friends what they think of the submission before you submit it, whatever.
But one entry per person. We are looking for the RPG Superstar, not the RPG Superstar(s).
On the specific issue of getting feedback for your entry, there was this thread I'd Like To Phone a Friend, Regis. Neil gave an answer to that one here.