Well, since we already know the Round 2 twist, I figure we can spend some of the next week speculating on the Round 3 "twists."
Last year, the monster had to be CR 7 and couldn't be a construct, dragon, ooze, or outsider.
In 2010, the entry had to use another competitor's Top 16 monster entry and be less than CR 6. You could also do a template, which IIRC was not allowed last year.
In 2008, it was three thematically linked monsters (though, man, look at that word count!).
(For Round 3 in 2011, which was to design a villain, they had 32 portrairs to base their entry on; had to use an archetype from the previous round; and had to be CR 9 or level 10, whichever was lower.)
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I assume it'll have to be a Golarion monster as I think that's been standard for Round 3 for the last three years. I'd imagine we'll have a CR restriction as well (though I do wonder if they'll take advantage of the Advanced Race Guide and have us make a "monster" that's defined by its class levels).
Guess that means I need to start reading the ARG. Could be android based with the Inner Sea stuff and the ARG. Or it could be demon linked with Wrath of Righteousness on the horizon.
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16
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I'm not expecting the ARG to make an appearance in the round 3 rules.
I wouldn't be surprised to be given a mid range CR and either a region of Golarion to work in and/or forbidden monster types.
Of course my guesses last year were pretty much all wrong.
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What would be delightful would be if it were limited to CR 3 or less. Something low. That would really stretch the ol' design chops, making a creature memorable and innovative with those restrictions.
The twist will most likely involve something that a freelancer might be asked to do. Here is the art we ordered: make something fit. Here is a mini that got munched in casting but came out cool: make something fit. Here is what a previous author started (R2?): make something fit. The new AP is set in the Diaspora: make something fit.
I thought about ARG where the 'monster' would have to also be a playable race, but since the ARG spells that out it might not be the best test (& they would have to give away the chapter, to make sure all contestants were on equal footing). Not that I am ruling that out :)
I feel the twist this time will be another country themed one.
The twist will most likely involve something that a freelancer might be asked to do. Here is the art we ordered: make something fit. Here is a mini that got munched in casting but came out cool: make something fit.
I kinda hope this happens. The 'make an NPC based on one of these portraits' round in 2011 was quite fun. Seeing people skin a monster based off of some random art? Funner.
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The twist will most likely involve something that a freelancer might be asked to do. Here is the art we ordered: make something fit. Here is a mini that got munched in casting but came out cool: make something fit. Here is what a previous author started (R2?): make something fit.Here is a screenshot of a monster from Pathfinder Online: make something fit.
Here is a sword - *stab* - look, it fits! :)
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I feel the twist this time will be another country themed one.
Comin' up next, folks!
- My Heart's Sore, 'Cause Your Teeth Are In It
- Darling, Won't You Please Tell Me Your CR
- Your Prismatic Sphere Is Giving Me The Blues
- We'd Be Identical, Except Your Tentacle
- My Baby Left Me (For My Doppelganger)
My two cents
- Shall be CL 4
- Shall have swallow whole
- Shall have a regurgitation attack as an immediate action after swallow whole
- Shall be able to shallow whole three times per round as a full-attack action, all of which must be on the same target
- Shall lay eggs in fallen party members (which are quite edible, yum!)
- Shall have a threat display by dancing provocatively (save vs Seduction DC 28)
- Shall bleed a smokey, yet sweet ale of fine quality (Dwarves save vs the above Seduction test at -2)
- Shall have trilobite parasites which coo jelously when others are near
- Shall enslave and force party members to dance and juggle if victorious in combat
- Shall groom and clean parasites from sleeping party members
- Shall ride a giant toucan as a mount
I'm guessing CR6-7 like last time because this is a very good point in CR progression that allows some room for interesting new powers/abilities but retains a tightness that makes it hard work to shine.
Area? Likely not River Kingdoms - the judges want to see a gamut of variety in your skill set, so I think some other environment will be chosen, possibly Mountain/Desert/Jungle.
I think it will be kept core too, no templates, probably no constructs, oozes, slimes, swarms, molds.
Possibly size restricted to no larger than Large.
I really hope that RPG Superstar 2013 doesn't become "RPG Cross-Promotion For The New MMO-star 2013", with nothing but River Kingdoms twists in each round. =\
The twist will most likely involve something that a freelancer might be asked to do. Here is the art we ordered: make something fit. Here is a mini that got munched in casting but came out cool: make something fit. Here is what a previous author started (R2?): make something fit.Here is a screenshot of a monster from Pathfinder Online: make something fit.
yeah I thought about the MMO after I posted. Quite possibly a tie in :)
Nicely played SB. Nicely played AA :)
*slow claps* Well done Standback.
I really hope that RPG Superstar 2013 doesn't become "RPG Cross-Promotion For The New MMO-star 2013", with nothing but River Kingdoms twists in each round. =\
I don't necessarily forsee this being an issue, but at the same time, it's smart to draw inspiration for twists and things like that from what's fresh off the presses. There tends to be more design room to encourage Superstars to strut their stuff, and well...from a business standpoint, cross promotion is almost always a good thing. Plus, if you win, it's entirely possible you'll be contracted to design supplemental material for something new, so why not see what entrants do with it?
That said, if the twist for every round is "This - BUT IN THE RIVER KINGDOMS!!" people would catch on and it would ruin the whole idea of having a twist in the first place (keeping people on their toes).
Personally, I like the portraits idea and I think the ARG twist could be interesting. I know there are a lot of good reasons why it probably won't happen, but I'd love to see a low CR challenge.
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If you look at how things have played out somewhat in the past few years and in what they published following annual RPGSS --- they are getting a chance for a lot of new ideas and starting points for upcoming publications.
For instance, a number of wondrous items from years past have made it into the Ultimate Equipment hardcover. And not all of those were just the winners' items.
That said, the way I am at least considering it, is that in Round 2 you could be pitching an archetype for some future mod to classes in Pathfinder Online.
One of those legal agreements you agree to when you sign up is that you handover all rights, so even if you present a good idea but with a bad mechanic you may spark something that will end up published somewhere.
So, speculation for Round 3... Mythic Monster! Or maybe that would be a hope. (those rules may be too new and untested)
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Mythic twist?
Oh man, I hope not. I am not excited about the Mythic stuff and haven't been impressed. I don't know what the twist will be but that is the one I want the least. The odds of me making it that far are quite slim, but I'm so unimpressed by the Mythic Stuff, that I think it would rob my enjoyment of watching the best competitors.
I'd love to see a low CR Monster. Low CR would be tremendously challenging. Now that would show some chops.
I'd rather see a higher CR monster that isn't another dragon/tane/new category of outsider...
Meteor Baby.
As your party is traveling through the wilderness you witness a falling meteor shower in the distance.
Remembering how valuable star metal is your party makes a beeline towards the impact site.
Tiny rampaging baby in blue with a red cloak and a Sowilo rune on his chest has just defeated the Tarrasque.
Thankfully he is susceptible to the Sleep spell and other magic.
Mythic twist?While it is possible I rather doubt it since Mythic is still in playtest.
I think so to. A lot of competitors may not have read the playtest material and it is rather large to drop on them when still in playtest.
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RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16
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Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9
aka Locke1520
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I think so to. A lot of competitors may not have read the playtest material and it is rather large to drop on them when still in playtest.Mythic twist?While it is possible I rather doubt it since Mythic is still in playtest.
I'm guessing we're still looking at a low to mid CR with certain types excluded. Although "make a monster from this art" is also very possible and could be a lot of fun to see what people produce.
I hope it's art based. That sounds super cool!
Art-based also sounds really interesting. Other twists which I think would be fun:
- The monster must have a certain special quality. Who can make their monster stand out when they all have similar abilities?
- The monster must be of a certain subtype.
- Create a hybrid of two existing creatures? Ehh... maybe not for RPG SS. Still a fun exercise though!
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Does anyone else want to make a monster called a Voteraka? ;-)
Does anyone else want to make a monster called a Voteraka? ;-)
No. :) But I did have to wonder why every item I saw was "X of the Y Words".
I'm not sure what the twist will be, but I can't wait to find out. I had archetype ideas jotted down before they announced the round 2 twist this year, but they were all pretty bland. When they told us it had to be set in the River Kingdoms I was not happy at first. But after I read some River Kingdoms details, the ideas I came up with were way better than what I would have come up with if there was no limits put upon me. Constraints spawn creativity, and I love that.
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I am just going to HAVE to post my archetype somewhere. I love it, and I want it critiqued so I can tighten it.
Also, the same for the next rounds. I hope in the Blazing 9 that we do each round.
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32
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I'm new to this contest, but I'd be surprised if they gave us another geographically based restriction. Unless this is something they've done in previous years (kept the whole contest to a specific theme) I would imagine something else out of left field.
Either way I hope I get that far! I've never worked with archetypes before so this round of the contest was unfamiliar ground for me.
I don't think we'll be getting the R3 rules out today. Ultimate Campaign + Mythic Adventures + the next book have eaten all my time this week.
R3 is still monsters, though. :)
I'm new to this contest, but I'd be surprised if they gave us another geographically based restriction. Unless this is something they've done in previous years (kept the whole contest to a specific theme) I would imagine something else out of left field.
Agreed. Either that or the twist will have something to do with the Inner Sea or the River Kingdoms, because I doubt they want to give away 16 more PDFs.
Create a monster based on the folklore of the American Indians at a cr appropriate for the creature you select. Although it is from real world folklore, write such that would be a fabled terror or legend for an area of Golarion, weaving it into you chosen area's lore.
No templates, swarms, oozes, molds, jellies, jelly babies, chocolate buttons or constructs allowed.
Will that be challenging enough? :P
Sorry, they are way to yummy to be excluded - the question is - have you? I tried it and it was surprisingly weirdly yum!
...Constraints spawn creativity, and I love that.
A writing professor put this "you can't play tennis without a net".
Best example ever and to take her advice one step further: R3 monsters must be Saturnian.
The round 3 twist is... there is no twist. 600 words. Anything goes.
Probably not.
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Round 3 rules: "Monster must be a variant gelatinous cube."
But.... but.....!?
In all seriousness, I wouldn't be surprised by another CR limitation along with some restrictions on the creature type. Some sort of Golarion tie-in (even if it's as generic as "must be a Golarion monster") seems likely as well.
Whatever it is, I'm sure it won't be what any of us expect!
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20 HD monster with 10 Mythic levels!
Yeah, but I believe last time they said a Distant World monster wouldn't count as a Golarion monster.
Though I think you could do something from a Distant World that's STRANDED on Golarion. And they could of course be less stringent in that rule.
I wonder if they could do something like create a monster that could be represeted by either a Pathfinder Battles miniature (http://paizo.com/
pathfinder/battles) or a Pathfinder Pawn (http://paizo.com/
pathfinder/pawns). Though that would seem like a pretty big limitation to me.
I suspect that we will learn the round 3 rules today or tomorrow. Or maybe the twist will be a minor surprise limitation, but we only have a day to submit after learning what that is. That would be a killer twist. Or how about they assign each contestant a different assignment. They would have to be somewhat similar in CR at least. And they would be judged by how well they filled the assignment. And their coolness, of course.