The meme ... 2014 edition

[zylphryx]

OK folks, what are we seeing as the meme items of this year so far?

Last year we had a variety of item types as well as descriptive terms that seemed to pop up again ... and again ... and again ... and maddeningly again ...

For this year, I can knot come up with any yet. ;)

[Joseph Kellogg]

Some themes I've noticed:

-Author's notes, explaining the item or apologizing for errors.

-Bonuses to Profession skills (as if you'd still be doing menial labor when you can afford thousands of gp)

-Blood, gore, and mutilation

[zylphryx]

hmmm ... blood and gore or filigree ... hard call ;)

[Orthos]

Eyes

Scabbards

Frogs

Turtles

Legend of Zelda

Torcs

Stuff commanding the GM to do extra work

[Anthony Adam]

Because I fell into the same trap last year, I am probably noticing more than others an abundance of single class items...

It's not bad per se, but you end up only garnering votes from those that play that class >.<

[Kryzbyn]

Out of curiosity, how many submissions do ya'll get overall that get whittled down
to 32?

[Feros]

I'm currently at 447 and climbing in distinct items seen. I think last year it was close to 900 after the cull.

[Anthony Adam]

Estimates tend to say around 1100-1200 on average. So that's 3 in every 100 make the top 32 on average.

The old traditional meme is in great abundance this year - the word "of" in the item names ;)

[frank gori]

Torc-ing like Miley Cirus

Items that play with dead things

The aside (like GM notes, apologies, or footnotes)

Theme or Background music

Dirty Vegas items (cards, dice, trick coins, Gambler's bla bla)

[Andrew Black]

A phrase I have seen a lot ..."the size of a fist"... or some variation.

[Anthony Adam]

Andrew Black wrote:

A phrase I have seen a lot ..."the size of a fist"... or some variation.

I remember "Tales of the Arabian Knights" cartoon! I think it was that one, where one of the characters used the phrase "size of a ...." to become that thing.

Whatever you do, don't pull the donkey's tail :P

[Garrett Guillotte]

GM_Solspiral wrote:

Torc-ing like Miley Cirus

But thankfully few Foam Fingers of Unwanted Innuendo.

[RonarsCorruption]

Sadly, I've seen too many figurines of wondrous power already, and I've only seen a dozen or so items so far. *sigh*

[Perish Song]

Torcs are definitely big this year.

I agree with the figurine thing. Some of them are cool, but it needs to really shine to distinguish itself.

[Whiskey Jack]

I have become slightly afraid each time the page loads with new items that one of them will be a "Torc Scabbard".

[Illeist]

Items that turn the wearer into a skeleton. I've counted three so far.

[Amy Gillespie]

I've seen several overly complicated item names to sound more interesting entries.

[James Casey]

I am waiting to see the fist-sized scabbard of undead gambling torc-er

[owenstreetpress]

I've seen two umbrellas already, and I've only read like two dozen, maybe?

[Jerett Schaufele]

I'm seeing lots of food items. Was everybody hungry over the holidays?

[James Casey]

Lotsa marbles also

[Saint Caleth]

Forgetting to italicize spell requirements.

Also all sorts of wacky things put into the construction requirements.

[Lightminder]

Tons of cloaks
Lots of marbles,
Buckets of coins
Lots of pay for it two ways, pay gold and get pierced, cursed, die early etc... Items.

[Lightminder]

The pay two ways is a memetic reflection of our consumer realities buy stuff you know will make you sick, get spied on by the NSA or die young from.

[Oceanshieldwolf]

Runes. And sigils. Lotsa Runes.

[Kayland]

SPell turning...more spell turning...hey look...something that's spell turning.

[Tripp Elliott]

Lots of food items, to be sure. And a lot of gruesome items I'd expect to see in a Clive Barker or Stephen King story!

Also a lot of items that lead me to believe I play the game entirely wrong. Why ever would a PC want to do to themself some of the things these items do?

[Pan]

Lots o' gold teeth...

[Cheapy]

Garrett Guillotte wrote:

GM_Solspiral wrote:

Torc-ing like Miley Cirus

But thankfully few Foam Fingers of Unwanted Innuendo.

Hmph! Speak for yourself!

[Jeff Lee]

Pan wrote:

Lots o' gold teeth...

Murderhobo gots ta have the bling, yo!

[Thomas LeBlanc]

I feel bad for people who get short shifted due to being caught up by the meme. Some of the items that are part of the meme are really innovative and are well done. I just hope people pay attention and keep the good while tossing out the dross.

[pH unbalanced]

Thomas LeBlanc wrote:

I feel bad for people who get short shifted due to being caught up by the meme. Some of the items that are part of the meme are really innovative and are well done. I just hope people pay attention and keep the good while tossing out the dross.

Agree completely.

[TimsterMon]

greater major SLOT thing? huh? lol

[Lightminder]

seeing more similar theme pairings- a glove vs. a glove etc..
good opportunity to vote on the writing and formatting.

[Sulaco]

Andrew Black wrote:

A phrase I have seen a lot ..."the size of a fist"... or some variation.

Next year I'm going to describe something as "the size of a baby's arm holding an apple".

[Lightminder]

rope, rope, knot, string, thread, rope, laces, rope, rope rope...

[Lightminder]

lots of plastic surgury, doppleganger, nd mirror illusion. must be those late night plastic surgery reality shows seeping into our minds.

[Lightminder]

eyes, glasses, spectacles, monacles, visors

[Lightminder]

swirling small objects, flocking small objects, circling flying small objects.

[Lightminder]

terrain changing effects.

[Tripp Elliott]

Ok, today I had two nearly identical cloaks to vote on. I mean, they do the same thing, basically the same name.

Is that a meme? Maybe not, but still, what are the odds?

[Sean McGowan]

Zahir ibn Mahmoud ibn Jothan wrote:

Ok, today I had two nearly identical cloaks to vote on. I mean, they do the same thing, basically the same name.

Is that a meme? Maybe not, but still, what are the odds?

Last year I distinctly recall getting a voting pairing of two items I'd seen and voted on repeatedly and had never really realized they weren't the same item:

The Assassin's Cloak vs. The Cloak of the Assassin.

I'm pretty sure I know the ones you're talking about for this year; haven't had them up against one another yet, but it took me separately voting for each one a few times before I'd realized they were different items. And once again, it's a case of X of the Y vs. X's Y.
That said, their very similar powers fit the name and theme of the item, so it's not surprising that they're near-identical in function. Nevertheless, I can imagine the two designers have had minor conniptions if they've been voting regularly and saw the other item before their own...

[Samuel Stone]

Tork's Torc of Torque
Aura strong torcomancy; CL 5th
Slot neck; Price ZZ gp; Weight 2 lbs.
Description
Originally designed as a party trick at wizardry parties by the great wizard Tork, Submitter's Original Character and Owner of the Hundred Word Backstory, this neckpiece allows the wearer to quickly spin his head around in a full circle. Activation of the torc is a free action that grants the user all-around vision, rendering the wearer immunity to flanking.

The effects of the torc's torque are quite dizzying, and the wearer must succeed a DC 10 Fortitude save while the torc is in use. For every successive round the torc is used, increase the save DC by 1. Failure to save results in the torc's wearer dropping prone as he vomits due to motion sickness, and the torc ceases to function for 24 hours. The wearer may stop the torc's torque as a swift action, at which point he loses the all-around vision ability and the save DC resets.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wonderous Item, ki leech; Cost ZZ gp

Got a couple of this year's memes in there.

And yes, the misspell is intentional.

[Brian L Clark]

Saint Caleth wrote:

Forgetting to italicize spell requirements.

Also all sorts of wacky things put into the construction requirements.

In defense of the first-timer, the italics are in in the Pathfinder requirements section (among other places), but the provided format template in the Open Call rules didn't have the tags for italics so some of them (not me, or anything) may not have had enough knowledge of this particular message editor to assume that it was possible.

I, of course, know everything and if I didn't properly italicize a spell it was purely an artistic statement.

[Lightminder]

Samuel Stone wrote:

Tork's Torc of Torque

Aura strong torcomancy; CL 5th
Slot neck; Price ZZ gp; Weight 2 lbs.
Description
Originally designed as a party trick at wizardry parties by the great wizard Tork, Submitter's Original Character and Owner of the Hundred Word Backstory, this neckpiece allows the wearer to quickly spin his head around in a full circle. Activation of the torc is a free action that grants the user all-around vision, rendering the wearer immunity to flanking.

The effects of the torc's torque are quite dizzying, and the wearer must succeed a DC 10 Fortitude save while the torc is in use. For every successive round the torc is used, increase the save DC by 1. Failure to save results in the torc's wearer dropping prone as he vomits due to motion sickness, and the torc ceases to function for 24 hours. The wearer may stop the torc's torque as a swift action, at which point he loses the all-around vision ability and the save DC resets.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wonderous Item, ki leech; Cost ZZ gp

Got a couple of this year's memes in there.

And yes, the misspell is intentional.

the Torc should be decorated with a filligree outlining a sTork

[BQ]

Torcs and Soups were a common occurance in the first few days. Had a lot of items that gave bonuses to knowledge skills too.

[Drejk]

Torc of soup?

[Mikko Kallio]

I've seen at least three items that make it easier to retrieve scrolls.

[pH unbalanced]

Mikko Kallio wrote:

I've seen at least three items that make it easier to retrieve scrolls.

And at least as many making it easier to drink potions.

[Tripp Elliott]

Mikko Kallio wrote:

I've seen at least three items that make it easier to retrieve scrolls.

Which is quite different than the 5 items last year that made it easier to scribe scrolls.