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I only managed to get one article in on KQ #23 before it disappeared, and I had high hopes for another article....
So I started my own Midgard Fanzine!!!
[threadjack] Deadline for Submissions 31 October!!!
Theme: Dark Magic
Here is a LINK to the latest post on Yggdrasil submissions....
[/threadjack]
Seriously, I wish I had an article in this issue of Wayfinder, it really looks like the creativity went through the roof - I'm really looking forward to the pesh stuff and sandship article - one of the adventures I submitted to Midgard Tales featured some nice sandship action in Midgard's Siwali desert...
I technically had half an article in Kobold (my Tin Crown entry was printed in #23) and a second one that was slated to be in 24 was just printed by Gygax Magazine. Though it's not like I'm lacking places to publish things, Tim is just such a cool guy and Wayfinder is so awesome I can't resist contributing.
I had just started putting together something for KQ two days before the announcement that they were ending publication. Gotta love my exquisite sense of timing.
I queried two or three times, but never got in KQ :)
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Ok, this is going to sound really odd this request is...
Could we have a theme chosen soon for the NEXT issue, please?
The reason I ask is that we will soon be entering the annual time consuming fun known as RPG Superstar, so I would like the opportunity to think about the next Wayfinder while I still have some spare time - grin.
And just in case, "A pretty please WITH a cherry on top" to the request :D
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Ok, this is going to sound really odd this request is...
Could we have a theme chosen soon for the NEXT issue, please?
The reason I ask is that we will soon be entering the annual time consuming fun known as RPG Superstar, so I would like the opportunity to think about the next Wayfinder while I still have some spare time - grin.
And just in case, "A pretty please WITH a cherry on top" to the request :D
Prioritize!
Looking at previous years deadlines for RPGSS, unless you make it to a later round, you have no need to worry. If you do make it to a later round, you have plenty of time between submissions to work on something. If you are worried about voting, forum participation, and playtesting; draw a line in the sand and decide whether RPGSS or Wayfinder is more important to you.
Plus think of poor, poor Tim! He has to sort and select current articles and finishing up another superbly done issue of an Ennie Award winning fanzine before he should start contemplating future issues. He has to worry about content, art, and adverts without the additional bother of answering questions and pondering about #11.
Just jot notes as fancy strikes and play when possible. My ideas for my submissions come out of ideas from various games I participate in and not just PF. Even playing in PFS can show insights into gaps where items are lacking.
Lol, as much as I enjoy taking part in Wayfinder, I think Superstar wins hands down everytime. I do wonder how many prior contestants think there "is plenty of time between submissions" though - grin - I suspect not many :)
...I do wonder how many prior contestants think there "is plenty of time between submissions" though - grin - I suspect not many :)
I do. During the early runs through RPG Superstar, we had only 3 days to turn in our next submission. Today, they give you an entire week. So, you should have plenty of time still left on the table to do something for Wayfinder in between rounds.
In fact, I'm not even sure what the submission deadline would be for Wayfinder #11 yet, but in prior years there was usually enough time available following the final round of RPG Superstar to still whip up something and send it in before the window closed. And, honestly, if you're in RPG Superstar for the long-haul, you should have the chops to crank out a 750- or 1500-word submission for them in practically no time at all. Even more, if you're not in the competition all the way to the end, that just means you have that much additional time to meet WF's deadline while you keep honing your craft.
But that's just my two cents,
--Neil
Ouch, I didn't realize that would be so volatile :(
For those not knowing me, the reason I said Superstar would win, is every year I fully commit all my spare time to the competition, reviewing entries in detail, voting as much as possible and so on.
So for me, it's a personal choice and as Kilrex pointed out that I should prioritize my time, the response I gave was how I always prioritize my spare time during Superstar.
I certainly didn't even remotely consider that my post might offend or upset, so, if that is the case, to all who may have been affected that way, please accept my humblest apologies, it was not my intention.
There was zero offense taken, Anthony. Just manage your time accordingly. And I know that challenge quite well. Sometimes I need to take my own medicine on making sure I don't spread myself too thin. We all have only so much bandwidth to devote to all our interests. We've just got to prioritize and make the most of the time that's available to us, whether that be competing in RPG Superstar, supporting RPG Superstar, contributing something to Wayfinder, or tackling a series of freelance assignments.
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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For those not knowing me, the reason I said Superstar would win, is every year I fully commit all my spare time to the competition, reviewing entries in detail, voting as much as possible and so on.
Obsess much? :)
Last year I created something for every round to see how it would affect my scheduling and to see if I could creatively handle it. My round 2 archetype has been expanded for an upcoming Rite Publishing project, round 3 monster was submitted for Wayfinder #10, and rounds 4 & 5 were used for my PF game.
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Obviously, I shouldn't judge others by the standards I set for myself ('cause that way lies sociopathy), but a 750-1500 word article or any of the earlier Superstar submissions (like a magic item or monster or Archetype or classed NPC, not the adventure + map stuff, obviously!) shouldn't take more than a couple of hours, tops.
Then let it stew for a day (or two) to let the initial terribly wrong-headed notion that it is perfect as is get out of your bloodstream, then go back and rewrite it, which should probably take another hour (and the usual hand-wringing that comes with murdering one of your babies to make something even stronger out its remains, which perhaps explains why 3PP writers have made a dozen books on necromancy, and none of abjuration, since killing weak prose to make stronger prose from what remains is at the core of what writers do).
Dreaming up an idea worthy of inclusion takes whatever time it takes. Couple be minutes, could be all year, with a thousand false starts between. *But since you've got a whole year between Superstars,* that's not really an issue, is it? I don't think anybody who isn't new to the idea of Wayfinder or Superstar should be waiting until the timer clicks to start thinking up an idea for a magic item or submission... That's just crazy!
Since I never got past Superstar round 1 (heck, I never even got feedback in the feedback threads, my ideas were so stone-cold terrible!), my ideas for later rounds have had five years to percolate. :)
Anywho, I like Wayfinder better, because it's an actual product I can take home (and sometimes even see my name in), and not an internet contest with a dangly carrot to attract folk to participate.
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I can't get anywhere in Superstar, either.
I love the challenges for round 2 and beyond, and think I'd have a blast in those.
Regardless of whether I actually progress to later rounds, I find creating NPCs, new monsters, new classes/PrC/archetypes, and plot threads, etc fun, and without blowing my own trumpet, I believe I've made improvements to published adventures that make more sense, and engage my players more than what was written.
But find the perennial round 1 magic item contest to be the least interesting and most frustrating of them all. Mainly because there seems to be a disconnect between what the judges and audience actually want. You're advised not to make a Spell-in-a-Can, priced exactly by the CRB formula, then you get dinged for not making a Spell-in-a-Can, priced exactly by the CRB formula.
<headdesk>
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I also haven't made top 32 - but Superstar isn't just about competing for me, like submitting for Wayfinder, it's the taking part. After the round 1 reveal, I spend a LOT of time looking at each selected item, reviewing it, assessing why it was voted for, why it was selected, comparing to my own work in the hope the quality of my submissions to Wayfinder improve as a byproduct of this self assessment and review period.
@Snorter, most of the pricing advice seems to be that it is a mystic art. Try to use the CRB formula as a starting point - I am currently collating all this advice, my own notes, etc., into a one stop pdf for the competition - the current draft is here- check out page 58 onwards for some worked examples on methods for pricing an item. I hope it helps.
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But find the perennial round 1 magic item contest to be the least interesting and most frustrating of them all. Mainly because there seems to be a disconnect between what the judges and audience actually want. You're advised not to make a Spell-in-a-Can, priced exactly by the CRB formula, then you get dinged for not making a Spell-in-a-Can, priced exactly by the CRB formula.
<headdesk>
It can be a bit of a head-scratcher. I'm not gonna name names, 'cause that's just rude to some submitter who no doubt tried hard, but of the ones that made it past the voting this year, there was one that stood out as being very out of place. I'm used to a few squeaking through that have solid mechanics, but a kind of mundane idea, or have an evocative idea, but boring mechanics, or even the occasional one that's brilliant but could have better formatting or grammar or whatever. But there was one that was just bad on all fronts, and I could not imagine how it made it through so many side-by-side comparisons when I remember seeing many dozens of much better ideas (and / or better executions) during my own voting.
Indeed, thanks to the 'reading submissions fatigue' I get, I tend to read less and less as the contest goes on. Neil Spicer's dedication to his mini-reviews is commendable, but inhuman. He's the Endzeitgeist of RPG Superstar! :)
I also haven't made top 32 - but Superstar isn't just about competing for me, like submitting for Wayfinder, it's the taking part. After the round 1 reveal, I spend a LOT of time looking at each selected item, reviewing it, assessing why it was voted for, why it was selected, comparing to my own work in the hope the quality of my submissions to Wayfinder improve as a byproduct of this self assessment and review period.
That's a great attitude to have, and probably a lot better than participating in the hopes of 'winning' something! Definitely use the Superstar contest to improve your craft, and perhaps even get some good feedback on your submission!
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holy CRAP! 100+ pages! Adam, this is quite a resource even as it currently stands. I can hardly wait to see what the final version looks like.
Yeah, it fills my spare time quite well - at the moment, anything beyond round 1 is just a collection of links, but eventually, I hope to cover all rounds and learn deeply about all design aspects as a result.
I hope it's of use to you though for round 1 at least. It's a long term project freely shared as my contribution back to my favorite hobby, so I am hoping to get the rest of the links in place for this year and then it's just a matter of filling the gaps as time goes by.
If it helps just one person, "Job done!"... as a certain Warcraft grunt might say. :D
When I look back on my Wayfinder so far, I think I can see improvements in my craft as I go (but that might be wishful thinking too >.<), so fingers crossed... (fyi, my Wayfinder run so far is - Inflamed Stitcher, issue 8, Darklands Scout, issue 9 - and hopefully my side/trek encounter gets picked this issue to continue this pseudo superstar rounds run :P)
For number 11, I am going to have a real diversion from games design tasks and try my hand at some short story writing, to try and get better at writing and expand my flexibility as a design/freelance resource.
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For number 11, I am going to have a real diversion from games design tasks and try my hand at some short story writing, to try and get better at writing and expand my flexibility as a design/freelance resource.
That's a good way to stretch yourself.
I write fiction all the time, for other stuff, but Pathfinder fanfiction has yet to get its hooks into me, which is very odd, since I usually get carried away with that sort of thing, to a much greater degree than mechanical or rules 'crunch.'
So much of it feels like 'let me tell you about my character!' stuff that I want to make sure that when I do get into it, I don't fall into that trope (one way to do that would be to write about one or more of the Iconics or extant setting NPCs, so that I'd at least be presenting a story with someone else's characters). Other stuff that I'd love to write about (like a Red Mantis type or a Kalistocrat or a Nexian), I just don't know enough about to pull off.
It's a weird inconsistency on my part, how I'm perfectly willing to read any number of novels or watch any numbers of shows involving new characters, but when a new character shows up in a piece of RPG fiction, I feel like I'm at a convention, trapped against a wall, looking at my watch, while some earnest young person is telling me about their character.
I blame Drizzt, obviously. :)
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It's a weird inconsistency on my part, how I'm perfectly willing to read any number of novels or watch any numbers of shows involving new characters, but when a new character shows up in a piece of RPG fiction, I feel like I'm at a convention, trapped against a wall, looking at my watch, while some earnest young person is telling me about their character.
It's never the hot cosplay babe, inviting you to look closer at her extensively-researched full-body tribal tattoos, and describing in detail how her costume fits in all the right places, is it?
isn't it amazing, you have an idea long after the end date that just begs to be developed >.<
Imagine if you will an oasis, quite harmless looking.
Now look at it this way...
This oasis is actually a monster half based on the Star Wars desert pit (Sarlacc or something like that) crossed with the deep oceans angler fish.
The Lure is the water.
The muddy edge is it's lips.
The pair of date filled palm trees are it's "feelers/eyes".
Go for a drink and it yums you up, go for a swim and well, swallow whole anyone?
I rather liked the idea of the scenery itself being the monster!
Ah well, next time I suppose.
Cool! Fingers crossed it gets selected for you.
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I think there were already two 'oasis monsters' from what Timitius mentioned upthread.
I had a bunch of thoughts that just didn't fit neatly into 750 words or whatever, and I didn't feel like hitching to another orphaned idea and make into some sort of conjoined twin.
For example;
Desert Warrior (Modular Archetype for any armor wearing class)
The brutal heat common to a Qadiran summer is unforgiving to warriors who wish to wear full metal armor, and some instead train to remain more mobile, eschewing such encumbrances.A member of any class that has one or more armor proficiencies as a class feature can choose to forsake the use of armor to gain a dodge bonus to armor class, choosing one, two or all three options at 1st level. Other classes (or a feat) may restore armor proficiencies, but the bonuses of these archetype features require the character to remain lightly armored or even unarmored.
Unencumbered (Ex): You gain a +1 dodge bonus to armor class and a +1 competence bonus to Reflex saves when you are not wearing heavy armor, wielding a tower shield or heavily encumbered. This replaces heavy armor proficiency and proficiency with tower shields.
Unburdened (Ex): You gain a +1 dodge bonus to armor class and a +1 competence bonus to Reflex saves when you are not wearing heavy or medium armor, wielding a heavy or tower shield, or bearing medium or heavy encumbrance. This replaces medium armor proficiency and proficiency with heavy shields.
Unslain (Ex): You gain a +1 dodge bonus to armor class and a +1 competence bonus to Reflex saves when you are not wearing heavy, medium or light armor, wielding a tower, heavy or light shield, or bearing medium or heavy encumbrance. This replaces light armor proficiency and proficiency with light shields.
Competence bonuses to Reflex saves do not stack with each other.
A character who has selected both Unencumbered and Unburdened gains an additional +1 dodge bonus to armor class at 3rd level, whenever he qualifies for the bonus of the Unburdened feature.
A character that has selected Unencumbered, Unburdened and Unslain gains an additional +1 dodge bonus to armor class at 5th level, whenever he qualifies for the bonus of the Unslain feature.
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It's only 325 words, and I didn't have any other stuff that fit thematically with it to create an article with, so it's pretty much just chaff blowing off of the pile of stuff I did submit. :)
I like the idea of Archetypes usable by more than one class, in this case, by any class that has armor proficiencies built in, and Archetypes that, like 3.5's Alternate Class Levels, can be taken in chunks, and don't have to be swallowed whole.
Naming the third option 'Unslain' was obvious pandering to Erik Mona, creator of Ostog the Unslain. :)
Erm, i'm pretty sure i send a monster a bit like that anyway
I think there were already two 'oasis monsters' from what Timitius mentioned upthread.
Hehe, the second one would be coming from my imagination.
Ruyan.
I toyed with the idea of an "oasis monster" as well.
My version of the idea was to have a Div representing deceit, corruption, and pestilence. The Div would create a oasis via the Grove of Respite spell to lure in it's victims. The Div would hide itself and wait for it's victims to settle in, and lower their guard. Then while the victims were at rest the Div would start corrupting the oasis transforming it into a total nightmare, poisoning the water, summoning a insect plague, or a plague storm.
Idea would be to basically treat the oasis like a miniature haunted house, with the Div replacing the ghost.
Wayfinder, PaizoCon Founder
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Wow. Quite the discussion going on here!
Currently, Paris and I have found ourselves in work up to our eyeballs, so Wayfinder article selection has been slowed and delayed. We do hope, however, to make those selections by the end of October, and to get the Wayfinder editing machine running for November. Art too.
As for #11, I do have a fairly good idea of what the theme should be, but I'm not committing to it for another month or so.
I am flattered that some fans consider Wayfinder preferable to RPG Superstar...I've always said Wayfinder is like Superstar, only a hell of a lot easier to be selected. Both serve the same purpose, though: to find new talent for the Pathfinder RPG. Superstar is looking for a bright, up-and-coming freelancer to add to the ranks. Wayfinder is looking for ALL types of talent...writers, developers, artists, editors, and layout artists.
We are NOT in competition, though, so I encourage everyone to try their shot at Superstar, and then come on back to Wayfinder, and contribute that energy to our issues.
Tim
Good to here your selection is as toughly competed for as Superstar places!
I have a really good feeling about this issue (Al Qadim was one of my old school favorites, so this issue is already eagerly anticipated).
The monster idea I was working on with mythic I just couldn't get working in time, so here is the precise of the core idea for everyone's enjoyment.
Core Monster Idea : The monster is the desert itself!
Precis: It is a living sand that can form itself into a humanoid form for attacking the unwary and unsuspecting.
It's special attacks included
- spraying jets of sand that erode armor, flesh, bone
- making a throwing motion with it's arms when in humanoid form to launch it's "fists" as a bludgeoning short range missile attack.
It's mythic ability was a "dune wave" attack. This attack was a third special attack that had both a normal result and a mythic empowered result.
The sand creature would rise up forming a hammer shape, the head of which would then crash back down onto the sand causing a ripple of sand waves to push out.
Without spending mythic, you could be knocked prone by these waves, but with mythic empowerment, you would be buried and the dunes would become large enough that repeated waves could bury small settlements - one way of explaining so many lost settlements being discovered beneath the sands.
Defenses would include the inevitable DR against slashing and piercing - they pass almost harmlessly through its sandy body.
Unfortunately, my inexperience with monster design and the cruel hands of the clock prevented me getting a working version together, that I was happy with, in time for submission.
If any expert wants to have a go at taking this idea and running with it, I would love to see how it should have been done to learn from.
Bumping... anyone hear anything yet about your submissions making it in?
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I learned beforehand twice... Because editors were asking me about things. It hadn't anything to do with having insider contacts! Really!
I think Tim had some power outage issues over the weekend.
There were a lot of high winds in the state this weekend, and yeah, Tim was without power for at least a day.
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Wayfinder, PaizoCon Founder
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Yes, the winds took our power away for 15+ hours on Saturday. Paris and I sat down on Skype with our Google Drive spreadsheet of all the submissions, and figured out our line up.
So, WE HAVE PICKED THE ARTICLES.
Paris will be assigning them this week, I believe. I, however, am looking down the barrel of a report due by Friday, and it will be taking up every spare minute. I will not be getting to the art assignments until this weekend, I'm afraid.
Yes, the winds took our power away for 15+ hours on Saturday. Paris and I sat down on Skype with our Google Drive spreadsheet of all the submissions, and figured out our line up.
So, WE HAVE PICKED THE ARTICLES.
Paris will be assigning them this week, I believe. I, however, am looking down the barrel of a report due by Friday, and it will be taking up every spare minute. I will not be getting to the art assignments until this weekend, I'm afraid.
I will keep refreshing my email till I get a response :D
*crosses hands and feet too*
Yes, the winds took our power away for 15+ hours on Saturday. Paris and I sat down on Skype with our Google Drive spreadsheet of all the submissions, and figured out our line up.
So, WE HAVE PICKED THE ARTICLES.
Paris will be assigning them this week, I believe. I, however, am looking down the barrel of a report due by Friday, and it will be taking up every spare minute. I will not be getting to the art assignments until this weekend, I'm afraid.
Let me know if you need any editing help. I didn't get anything written for this issue, so it'd be fun to try that side of the process as well.
So, WE HAVE PICKED THE ARTICLES.
*cough* Nothing to look on!
Oh boy!!
Yeah :)
Well, if it is dull you won't die of blood loss...
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Well, if it is dull you won't die of blood loss...
But the bruising, Drejk, the bruising!!!!
@ulgulanoth ... Let me preface this with a disclaimer ... If Tim decides to run with Orision (and nothing as far as I know is set in stone as yet), there are sooooo many options as to be mind numbing.
Off the top of my head:
- curses
- environmental hazards
- the aftermath of the Spawn of Rovagug and it's remaining shell (as well as a cult presence)
- pyramid traps
- spells specific to the region
- differences in internal culture (desert/river influences)
- secret societies (we're talking ancient secret societies)
- and so much more
(Tim, thus ends my initial post #10 submission period pitch for #11 ;) ).