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Like everyone else, I've seen a few items with some mistakes: back story, wrong coding, etc.
However, I've also already seen a few cool items with some neat mechanics. I've got a couple I've copied and pasted into my own file I'm keeping. I don't think either are perfect, but I could easily see tweaking them to make them something I'd throw into a game to see how it went. I don't want to say anymore obviously, but I did want to sound an encouraging note.
This is a blast so far, even if it may end up with me fired as I spend more time paying attention to it than my job.
There are some seriously good entries. I started voting to see what the competition would be like, and some people really brought their A-game.
Now it's just really fun, so here I am voting over and over.
not to be negative but i've been surprised by how many bad entries there are too though. some of them could not possibly have even read the rules much less the very prominent posts about 27 rules to making your item...
there have been too many times where i've shrugged and said 'well, this FIAC is properly formatted and without egregious spelling errors, i guess it beats this SAK SIAC...'
my griping aside, i have seen some really interesting ones as well. i think they started this system so that we could sort of clear out a lot of the junk and spare the judges that mental fatigue so they're better able to judge the good items that do come in.
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Yeah, we're definitely separating the wheat from the chaff.
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After a handful of ones that were suspect for various reasons, I finally seem to be getting into a patch of some really well thought out submissions. Some of them could use a little polish, but in no way are they bad.
I, too, might have to start jotting down ideas I come across that I might want to take a put my own spin on the next time I run a Pathfinder game.
It's neat seeing all the interesting ideas people come up with. Though I'm a bit of a format-nut, several times now I've voted for an interesting concept with several errors over a properly formatted SIAC. I agree with focusing on the good; if nothing else it can jumpstart your own idea engine.
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A lot of my decisions have frankly been "this is less bad". I've created a sort of hierarchy of sins: I can't understand what he meant; it's broken overpowered; it's thematically inappropriate, and others.
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"This is less bad" and "this is more awesome" are perfectly valid distinctions.
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That's going to happen, but I will say that I ran into one wickedly simple item that I have fallen head over heels in love with.
I can't really say more than that, but I will say I am noticing myself favoring some interesting and well presented "low cost/powered" items.
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There are definitely some lower powered items worthy of consideration. At the same time, there are people that don't realize that "more expensive" does not equal "superstar."
The ones that get me are the ones where the concept is awesome, but the delivery is sub-par. They just come across as half-baked. One has to wonder how they'd fare if the author had taken a couple more days to work out the kinks.
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There are definitely some lower powered items worthy of consideration. At the same time, there are people that don't realize that "more expensive" does not equal "superstar."
The ones that get me are the ones where the concept is awesome, but the delivery is sub-par. They just come across as half-baked. One has to wonder how they'd fare if the author had taken a couple more days to work out the kinks.
I find that I often prefer items with one single very well-defined and thought-out ability, rather than items with multiple abilities, even if the abilities are all thematically consistent. The more bells and whistles there are to something, the harder it becomes to adjudicate and, on top of that, the more it starts resembling a staff rather than a wondrous item.
"This is less bad" and "this is more awesome" are perfectly valid distinctions.
In a way I feel slightly unworthy of voting, making most of my decisions by instinct.
I think I'd like to be able to have a reject button with an explanation drop down menu; SIAC, SAK, etc... This way I could remove the more obvious things we've been told aren't Top 32 material and move on to the superstar items.
I hope this method works out as it is. I suspect the large time frame for voting is to increase variance (Is that even the right word?) based on the random exposure to competing items... Did that make sense?
Now, maybe I've been judging fewer items than the rest of you, but I really haven't noticed a slew of really bad items. SIAC, a few. SAK, one or two. But I've seen ten good ones for each *really* bad one.
The competition is looking really fierce this year.
There is some good stuff a SAK won me over with its coolness.
I think I'd like to be able to have a reject button with an explanation drop down menu; SIAC, SAK, etc... This way I could remove the more obvious things we've been told aren't Top 32 material and move on to the superstar items.
+1(million)
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Why isn't it good enough to be able to vote against that type of item?
my problem (and it sounds like i'm not alone) is that i have, on multiple occasions, encountered a pair of items that are both so guilty of those types of issues that i don't want to vote for either...
please don't take this as complaining (@ross)- i think its really cool that you guys put this together. one of the things that i love about paizo is the way you listen and respond to the fan/customer community to constantly 'playtest' and refine. that's the spirit in which i enthusiastically agree with the drop down menu for those types of critiques. i also think that it would be really helpful for people to improve each year if there were some function whereby we could leave comments for people that either only they would see or that could only be viewed after voting closed (though I'm sure that would make for more work for you guys).
I have had to depressingly vote for the least bad of to really flawed items a few times. However, on the whole I have generally seen a mediocre item paired with a great one or a mediocre item paired with a terrible one.
I am also getting a sense of what the weirdly common tropes are this year.
There are some interesting trends this year....
I don't know if mentioning them is being too specific, but I have seen one reasonable trope so far and one frankly quite baffling one.
I find if both items aren't very well written technically, I vote for the shorter one.
While I've seen quite a few that are SAK or SIAK I'm not auto-rejecting them. As SKR pointed out in Advice no. 27 these are just more general guidelines. There have been a couple of SIAK items that I've liked and given them the nod and there are other items that don't appear to fail any of the obvious auto-rejects that I've voted against simply because they look a lot like a desperate player's attempt to make his favourite character a battlefield god. Surely their DM 'must' allow their item if it makes it into the Top 32!
I often get two bad, two mediocre or two good items. Why I can't get one good and one bad more often?
I've yet to use the "neither" button, and I'm proud of that. Sometimes I've had to go on a knee-jerk "keep/reject" feeling...and some of them have taken me a long time to decide which one has more potential or whatever else... but I've declared a victor every time.
I've also gotten the satisfaction of having an item that I "kept" but didn't feel was Superstar quality come up again against something that I liked far, far better.
Still haven't seen my item yet. Ah well.
I've yet to use the "neither" button, and I'm proud of that. Sometimes I've had to go on a knee-jerk "keep/reject" feeling...and some of them have taken me a long time to decide which one has more potential or whatever else... but I've declared a victor every time.
I've also gotten the satisfaction of having an item that I "kept" but didn't feel was Superstar quality come up again against something that I liked far, far better.
Still haven't seen my item yet. Ah well.
That makes two of us, but I've only seen (checks) 250 items. So I suspect I've got a ways to go unless I'm lucky, since I'd be willing to bet there's well over a thousand entries.
i just saw mine :)
i wasn't keeping track but i've voted a lot...
seeing it was a mixed blessing though- it was reassuring to know that it's in the queue, and it was nice that it was, in my opinion, clearly superior to the one it was paired against, but i noticed things i would love to change/have done differently now that i've been inundating myself with item write ups. oh well, its gonna be a long month.
Still looking for mine as well ....where are you, you little slice of awesome....
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I saw mine, but after convincing myself I was only seeing things that had been rejected, I got depressed about it. Oh well, I know it got at least one vote.
I saw mine, but after convincing myself I was only seeing things that had been rejected, I got depressed about it. Oh well, I know it got at least one vote.
Look at it this way, Jacob. At least you know your item wasn't automatically disqualified. I've been searching for hours upon hours for mine and still nothing, and now I'm second-guessing myself as to whether or not I let a grievous error in my submission slip by unnoticed ><
This is nerve wracking!
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I saw mine, but after convincing myself I was only seeing things that had been rejected, I got depressed about it. Oh well, I know it got at least one vote.Look at it this way, Jacob. At least you know your item wasn't automatically disqualified. I've been searching for hours upon hours for mine and still nothing, and now I'm second-guessing myself as to whether or not I let a grievous error in my submission slip by unnoticed ><
This is nerve wracking!
*nod*
*hug*I know how you feel, just over 700 items seen and still have not seen mine.
I admit my nervousness.
Good Luck.
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Found an item that made me think; Wow. This is really cool!
Yay!
Found an item that made me think; Wow. This is really cool!
Yay!
Seeing more and more of these. Also some that make me go "Oh...that's clever. Perhaps not entirely Superstar, but still clever."
There are a lot of creative, talented people out there.
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Just wanted to bump this thread. With all the venting and banter, it can be easy to lose sight of all the really good items out there. Lots of strong ideas with flaws in the execution and mechanics. Lots of solid items that are a bit on the boring or obvious side. A fair amount of really top-notch superstar items.
Good job, everyone.
Dedicated Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7
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Especially since The Culling, I have seen a number of neat, cool and even some awesome ideas. I've only had one pair where they were both great and well-formatted and balanced and potential superstars...took me a long time to finally cast my vote. (Good luck to both of those authors!)
In a general accounting of the good, I have seen:
-Some items that do an excellent job of incorporating Golarion-specific flavor.
-Some items that do specific races proud.
-Several items that I would buy for one of my characters or drop as loot for my players.
-At least a couple of items that do something useful well enough that I have said, "Duh, what a good idea! Why didn't I think of that?"
There are some other positive comments I could make, but not without calling out specifics. Mad props to some of you!
I saw mine, but after convincing myself I was only seeing things that had been rejected, I got depressed about it. Oh well, I know it got at least one vote.Look at it this way, Jacob. At least you know your item wasn't automatically disqualified. I've been searching for hours upon hours for mine and still nothing, and now I'm second-guessing myself as to whether or not I let a grievous error in my submission slip by unnoticed ><
This is nerve wracking!
*nod*
*hug*I know how you feel, just over 700 items seen and still have not seen mine.
I admit my nervousness.
Good Luck.
Take heart I believe that is a very good sign from all the voting I have done. In the first few days when initial ranking began A > B > C > D > E > F > G > H it may have already broken out into the Top 32 and maintained it's position.
Speaking of good: Eric and Erik (aka Epic Meepo and Boxhead) I am rooting for you (and your items anonymously :)
Only one person has three tags after their name so far and I hope the two of you can tie with Tom Phillips. :) Conversely, I hope neither of you has a chance to break his record.
I know a number of other previous Top 32s are still in the running, so good luck to you as well. May your second tag be your last :)
I'm assembling my personal Top 32 as I vote. Since the culling the list has 18 items on it.
Like everyone else, I've seen a few items with some mistakes: back story, wrong coding, etc.
However, I've also already seen a few cool items with some neat mechanics. I've got a couple I've copied and pasted into my own file I'm keeping. I don't think either are perfect, but I could easily see tweaking them to make them something I'd throw into a game to see how it went. I don't want to say anymore obviously, but I did want to sound an encouraging note.
This is a blast so far, even if it may end up with me fired as I spend more time paying attention to it than my job.
A good and thoughtful reminder. We all have our own criteria for what we think will make a Superstar Item and everyone who entered this year has put THIER best item up to be scrutinized. They deserve the respect of having their item looked at and judged fairly. Everyone should be thanked and praised for making an effort even if the item dose not match our own parameters of greatness.
I just got two of the items from my "interesting" file (I suppose it's my initial keeper folder, though I'm not sure how many I'd consider Top 32 but that may just be me being overly critical/cautious) paired up against each other.
It was kind of a nice dilemma to have, though tough choosing. I kind of feel like if I were to see them paired up again I could easily go the other way the next time.
Oooh, and just saw another cool item. I've added two new things to my keep folder just in the first hour today. Thank goodness for the cull.
Joel Flank is also in the 'two tags heading for three.' Sorry I missed you earlier Joel, but here is to you tieing for most RPGSS Top X tags. :)
Did I miss any other two timers? Good luck!?
Speaking of good: Eric and Erik (aka Epic Meepo and Boxhead) I am rooting for you (and your items anonymously :)
Only one person has three tags after their name so far and I hope the two of you can tie with Tom Phillips. :) Conversely, I hope neither of you has a chance to break his record.
I know a number of other previous Top 32s are still in the running, so good luck to you as well. May your second tag be your last :)
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
,
Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9
aka Boxhead
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Speaking of good: Eric and Erik (aka Epic Meepo and Boxhead) I am rooting for you (and your items anonymously :)
Only one person has three tags after their name so far and I hope the two of you can tie with Tom Phillips. :) Conversely, I hope neither of you has a chance to break his record.
I know a number of other previous Top 32s are still in the running, so good luck to you as well. May your second tag be your last :)
Thanks for the well-wishing, though to be fair it's Eric and Eric (curse you Ultimate Equipment!!).
I hope we see a good mix of new and familiar faces in the top 32 this year, myself.
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I have seen some really good items. Having the ability to see the work of others has been interesting and, I am confident, will benefit my games. I really like this approach this year and hope others are benefitting as I know I am.