Voters' Incessant Praise

[Jacob W. Michaels]

Thanks for making this one, Cheapy. I think that other thread is getting to be a little too much, especially in terms of items being identified.

Antariuk wrote:

And this one terrain modifying item... not quite sure yet how to judge it, but it sure is very evocative and I would love to run an encounter with this.

If it's the one I'm thinking of, I really liked it too. Really neat.

[Matt Goodall]

Items that stay on theme. There's one item I'm really liking that has 5+ abilities but somehow it stays on theme, isn't overpowered, and doesn't feel like a swiss army knife. Well done to whoever wrote it.

[Lamontius]

I'm enjoying the voting a lot more than reading threads about voting.

[Curaigh]

Tokoz wrote:

There's one I've seen three times now that is really simple. It only does one thing and can't be used in combat, but it is so freaking cool I'd vote for it over my wife's entry, my son's entry, and even my own entry.

Cool I like that this is a family event :)

[frank gori]

I'd say the general quality is up from last year, though my top 32 is not yet filled.

[Garrett Guillotte]

So far in the Like/Keep list:

Cheap, low-level, disposable, efficiently written with tight mechanics and just enough flavor. Will probably get nuked in voting due to its name.

An utterly gonzo inversion of an RPGSS cliche that happens to be mechanically delightful and perfectly flavored. Will probably get nuked in voting due to tone, cost issues, and potential side-effects.

Fantastic visuals. Would be a blast to use as a PC and interesting but not incredibly taxing for a GM. Will probably get nuked in voting due to cost, requirements, and its gonzo nature.

Roleplay-enabling device that's also useful, if niche--but the concept is neat enough that a PC or GM could build at least a character around it. Will probably get nuked in voting due to its requirements and a lack of flavor.

Perfectly bonkers item that makes me wish some people could skip the item round and go straight to encounters. Will get nuked in voting because it's an artifact.

Combat-enhancing item that's powerful without being an autowin button. Good flavor. Will probably get nuked in voting because of formatting issues and cost.

Excellent flavor wrapped around a creative challenge of the SAK autoreject. Will probably get nuked in voting because of SAK autorejection kneejerks, for having a table in the description, and for having GM-headache consequences if the item's abused.

Great flavor; draws inspiration from non-Pathfinder tropes without copying them. Nice tiering of passive and active effects. Simultaneously practical and just a bit fantastic. Will probably get nuked in voting because of a dumb copy-paste mistake and a spelling error.

Makes grappling sound fun. Will probably get nuked in voting because of severe cost issues and because everybody hates grappling.

Absolutely hilarious, but not a setting breaker. Does a lot of fun things in very few words. Will get nuked in voting because it's too gonzo, has a gross-out first impression, and because of unfortunate BBCode mangling.

Best flavor and visuals I've seen yet. Low level, very functional, not many peers at what it does. Gets a lot across for its word count. I'll be very disappointed if it's not in the Top 32 or alternates. Will make an appearance at my table as soon as it can.

Good visuals, fun mechanics; a battlefield-control item that isn't overpowering is hard to make. Will probably get nuked in voting because it's in the wrong slot, wastes words, has cost issues, and reminds voters of a past Top 32 item.

Charming, almost whimsical concept and visuals. Excellent writing. Low level; costs a lot, but balances the cost with utility. Even as it applies a trope, it does a nice job representing a setting that even good items drown in cliches. Might get hurt in voting because it challenges an autoreject rule and is slightly tongue-in-cheek. I'll be pleasantly, and only slightly, surprised if this one makes the Top 32. It's in my Keep file for future use at my table.

Two borderline joke items that will be at my table this weekend. Will get nuked in voting because humor and RPGSS get together like oil and water.

Great imagery, a little lore for spice, sounds cool. Will get nuked in voting because it's a SIAC that grants an overly broad bonus too frequently.

[IcedMik]

Lamontius wrote:

I'm enjoying the voting a lot more than reading threads about voting.

Man, this post and your other one about liking the community less made me feel way worse about myself than when people pointed out the flaws in my item in the other thread.

Anyway, there's a few items I think are truly star quality. The ones that as a GM I think "Man, X player would really like that, and I can work it into my game really easily."

[Kiel Howell]

Ahh Garrett...Now I want to know your list! TEASE!

That said...I'm seeing a lot of new items in the past 2 hours for some reason and many of them have a LOT of creativity in the base.

[Oceanshieldwolf]

Garrett Guillotte wrote:

Excellent flavor wrapped around a creative challenge of the SAK autoreject. Will probably get nuked in voting because of SAK autorejection kneejerks, for having a table in the description, and for having GM-headache consequences if the item's abused.

Having a table in the description can be a good, good thing, if it is a great item..

And a good SAK is very very good...

[IcedMik]

There's a really cool rope-like item that I think has really cool style. Only useful if you don't have flight available, and with that cost, you probably would.

[Zerri]

I also want to know Garret's list.

I've seen a bunch I liked as well, including some new ones that only showed up recently. I really should create a list of these to throw into my own campaigns...

[Garrett Guillotte]

Oceanshieldwolf wrote:

Having a table in the description can be a good, good thing, if it is a great item..

And a good SAK is very very good...

If it had a tighter focus, it'd be a strong keep for me.

[cwslyclgh]

Quite a few of these items are mad creative, even if they are poorly executed sometimes. Although I haven't put as many items into my keep file to use in my own games as I did last year, on the whole I'd say that quality of items is up over all this year compared to last.

[Feros]

There is a very cool item that does modify terrain quickly that has a very dramatic visual I like. I prefer items that do one thing, though they might use that one thing in different ways. Some really great imagery amongst many items.

You know mechanics really are a secondary thing for me. I love flavour above all else. To all of you who created a very beautiful or dynamic image of your item in use, my thanks! :)

And thanks Cheapy, this was a great idea! We may need to vent, but having a place where we can encourage is more important for the contest as a whole.

[Anthony Adam]

I think this years crop is a massive upsurge in formatting quality over last year, it is a joy to read and vote, even after two days of voting!

Absolutely everyone should pat themselves on the back even if you didn't use the bb code, the general layout and completeness of the template is fantastic!

This means I might not make marathon this year as I am spending much more time assessing a lot more pairings with very little gut reaction voting.

Whoever the Top 32 are, they will have earned their slot AND will be in a major creativity war to progress further.

[Tokoz]

I only have five on my list so far. Maybe I'll come up with a real list tomorrow before my brain gets numbed from voting.

[Eric Morton]

I'm seeing plenty of items that I'm up-voting consistently despite formatting, spelling, and copy-paste errors. I'm also up-voting plenty of items that fall into various overcrowded categories, or that include various overused words/phrases.

[Treyson]

I've been taking screenshots (thanks Snipping tool!) of every item I've come across. In the beginning, I got a lot of terrible/unnecessarily disgusting items. This disheartened me. As of now, I've amassed a collection of 515 unique items. From those, I've seen some items that are incredibly well executed. A good dozen of them are in my Top 32 Wish List. Looking forward to seeing them in the real Top 32.

Even if they're not, I plan on finding the submitters as best I can, just to congratulate them on what I find to be a great submission.

[Eric Morton]

And there, in my first two votes of the evening, were two keepers in a row.

One of them was even a skill bonus/spell-in-a-can.

[Orcus Of Undeath]

I've seen some pretty good items. That's all the praise I can muster for now.

[Matt Morris]

Developing an incredible appreciation for tightly-written items. Some great example of simplicity and clarity.

[Tokoz]

Speaking of over-used phrases: I thought some might enjoy this little tidbit from the Fiend Folio. It left me wondering if the author ever got out at all.

Caryatid Column wrote:

A casual glace will reveal nothing more than this decorative piece of stone-work which will perhaps stand with an identical partner either side of the entrance to a chamber, chapel or throne-room. Closer inspection will reveal that the column is not, as would be expected, radially symmetrical about it's longitudinal axis and has the very slender shape of a human female."

Did he have to closely examine everything to tell?

[R Pickard]

Thanks for this thread, it is classy and helps keep things in perspective. Seriously!

This is very vague, but I am seeing some neat things that invoke abilities that are really hard to recreate in any other fashion in the game, which is what a superstar item should do. Some of these may not make the final cut because of a few implementation issues but all such people should be proud of what they've done and keep trying to perfect their art.

[Rich Malena]

Garrett Guillotte wrote:

So far in the Like/Keep list:

If it isn't too much trouble, I'd love to see to this list compared to the top 32!

[Treppa]

I have my own list of favorites that I think are tight, cool, evocative, balanced....

... and, based on prior years' results, I don't expect many of them to be on the final 32. I've been astonished at how little my taste coincides with the professional judges in any way, shape, or form.

But rest assured, even if you don't make the top 32, your item will probably be used in games around the country.

[Matt Banach]

Cheapy wrote:

Let's get some positivity goin', eh?

Thank you, Cheapy.

One thing I'd like to point out is that I can tell that a lot of entries were made by first-timers who love Pathfinder, are excited about the game, and want to contribute to it. They've taken that monumental first step of daring to submit something of theirs to this great big crazy contest, and the simple fact of their participation in the endeavor is something to be celebrated. Regardless of technical foibles or other critiques, everyone who contributes this year - and comes back to contribute again next year - is doing something super.

Huzzah to every single damn person who got up the guts to submit this year. Thank you, and I wish you luck.

[Treyson]

Matt Banach wrote:

Huzzah to every single damn person who got up the guts to submit this year. Thank you, and I wish you luck.

Huzzah!

I'm a first time contributor. I waited, waited and waited some more for Paizo to announce this year's competition. Glad to see such a tremendous turnout.

[Garrett Guillotte]

Treppa wrote:

I've been astonished at how little my taste coincides with the professional judges in any way, shape, or form.

Me too. Only a couple of items in my Keep list last year got into the Top 32; I didn't see a lot of the Top 32 during voting, either, but I don't vote nearly enough to see everything. Two of my three favorite archetypes didn't advance, either.

[Eric Hindley]

I've definitely seen plenty of neat ideas so far, I think the overall readability is way up from last year. A handful of really neat ideas I hope to see in the top 32, for sure.

[Matt Banach]

I'm seeing a lot of items with really neat ways to activate them. Stuff a lot more creative and evocative than a mere command word or 'you turn it on' - not to say that sometimes a simple activation isn't perfectly fine, most of the time it is. Some of the activations are pretty wild, but I'm getting a lot of 'wow, I can immediately picture this being used, and it is cool'. Lots of physical action, lots of dramatic flair.

[Tokoz]

I can think of one big reason the judges aren't the same as a lot of us: we all get jaded in different ways.

I've seen a gazillion variations on how to do shredding damage and try to avoid penalties in my group. And let's not even touch time stop.

I've been gaming long enough enough too that things that might seem new and different most people, are really just a rehash of something that might have been decades ago. tempus fugit anyone?

So I have no doubt that something that seems shiny and new to me, will be old and tired to someone like Sean who's seen at least 10x as much as I have. And something that seems different, but not necessarily cool to me might be the first thing he's seen EVER that does that.

If you did a top 100 based on being clearly written, with correct mechanics, and good utility, I'd be willing to bet that 90% of the final ones are on your list.

Some geek out there is going to do the math and realize what I just said. =P

[Googleshng]

Garrett Guillotte wrote:

So far in the Like/Keep list:

*various vagueries*

This is the problem with this thread really. It's a lot easier to pick on submissions without naming names ("check out all these broken bold tags!" etc.) than to point out the good ones without getting specific.

I rather dig that one thing that does all the stuff, these boots that do this crazy thing, these other boots that do this other crazy thing, and oddly enough that one useless obvious joke item which nevertheless manages to be a very well-written joke item and makes me want to see what that person will do if they move on.

But... when I say that, it's pretty darn hard to tell what I'm actually talking about with any of that.

[Thomas LeBlanc]

So very nice consumables! I have seen quite a few twists using CRB spells to provide nifty benefits that make me smack my head and say D'oh!

[Garrett Guillotte]

Googleshng wrote:

Garrett Guillotte wrote:

So far in the Like/Keep list:

*various vagueries*

This is the problem with this thread really. It's a lot easier to pick on submissions without naming names ("check out all these broken bold tags!" etc.) than to point out the good ones without getting specific.

That's why a similar thread petered out last year. It's still worth noting that the items are, in general, better than the forums suggest, and to mention that some people are doing neat things even if we can't be specific.

FWIW, I wish the rant thread was more vague. Some specific items are getting piled upon so much that it's off-putting.

[bugleyman]

Treppa wrote:

I've been astonished at how little my taste coincides with the professional judges in any way, shape, or form.

You and me both...I'm never even close.

[cwslyclgh]

I think only 3-4 of my 'top 20' or so items from last year ended up in the official top 32.

[thunderspirit]

I've liked several items that have turned simple ideas into creative visuals. They've made me go "huh, never thought of things that way" and that's always a Good Thing [tm]. :-)

[Mike Welham]

Thanks for starting this thread, Cheapy!

There have been a couple of items that jumped out at me right away. I like cinematic descriptions, and a few items have fit that bill. Admittedly, I come to this with biases, and some items tweak those biases. "Gross out" items have a lot of work to convince me to vote for them, but I have encountered a couple that do so.

I'm glad I've continued voting, because there have been at least three items that I initially downvoted, but, with a different perspective, I have come to discover something wonderful about the item.

One item I really appreciated was one that, sure, replaced a character class, but the author went one step further and detailed an appropriate benefit to a character belonging to that character class.

[Jelloarm]

Tokoz wrote:

Sometimes, I think seeing your own idea again is a good thing. It means you at least hit on something that another person feels is needed.

I was kind of happy to read an entry that does about what mine does. The presentation was decent and it seemed like a good attempt to balance was made.

I think my presentation was better. (But of course I understand perfectly what I wanted.)

Same thing happened to me - except I may have liked the other one better. Haven't examined the pair against each other, but I went 'D'oh!' when I saw how the other person did their item.

I did find my item eventually - and I definitely did a better job than the person I was head-to-head with, IMO. So that felt good.

[Akinra]

As I vote today, I am becoming more and more a lover of spelling and grammar. Most all of the entrants did an fine job, but it just makes the little errors of others scream at me.

I also like the items that let me tweak abilities in subtle ways. The thing I love most moving from ADnD to 3.0 and then to Pathfinder is the level of customization I have over my character through feats, spells, race, etc. Adding a little more customization is just dandy!

[Pamela Elizabeth]

I really like some of the consumables! One of the healing ones had a really nice flavor, while being short, sweet and to the point.

[Pandora's]

I know banners aren't popular, but one of them this year makes me laugh, has great visuals, and is useful, albeit really specific.

[Mikko Kallio]

Garrett Guillotte wrote:

So far in the Like/Keep list:

Cheap, low-level, disposable, efficiently written with tight mechanics and just enough flavor. Will probably get nuked in voting due to its name.

An utterly gonzo inversion of an RPGSS cliche that happens to be mechanically delightful and perfectly flavored. Will probably get nuked in voting due to tone, cost issues, and potential side-effects.

Fantastic visuals. Would be a blast to use as a PC and interesting but not incredibly taxing for a GM. Will probably get nuked in voting due to cost, requirements, and its gonzo nature.

Roleplay-enabling device that's also useful, if niche--but the concept is neat enough that a PC or GM could build at least a character around it. Will probably get nuked in voting due to its requirements and a lack of flavor.

Perfectly bonkers item that makes me wish some people could skip the item round and go straight to encounters. Will get nuked in voting because it's an artifact.

Combat-enhancing item that's powerful without being an autowin button. Good flavor. Will probably get nuked in voting because of formatting issues and cost.

Excellent flavor wrapped around a creative challenge of the SAK autoreject. Will probably get nuked in voting because of SAK autorejection kneejerks, for having a table in the description, and for having GM-headache consequences if the item's abused.

Great flavor; draws inspiration from non-Pathfinder tropes without copying them. Nice tiering of passive and active effects. Simultaneously practical and just a bit fantastic. Will probably get nuked in voting because of a dumb copy-paste mistake and a spelling error.

Makes grappling sound fun. Will probably get nuked in voting because of severe cost issues and because everybody hates grappling.

Absolutely hilarious, but not a setting breaker. Does a lot of fun things in very few words. Will get nuked in voting because it's too gonzo, has a...

Heh, nice list. Vague enough but keeps you guessing whether an item or another is yours. I might do a similar list once I have more Keeps.

[Samuel Stone]

First off, I wanted again to give a shout out to anyone and everyone on the tech team for doing work on a holiday when they realized there were issues with the voting. Thanks, you guys are awesome!

On to the items:
I've been quite impressed with the creativity and solid ideas that went into a lot of these items. Even items that had formatting problems or obviously "new users" have had some nice themes, and I would love to see some of them come back in subsequent years with a more solid grasp on the rules and game balance. There are a good number of items that really just lack in one area (game breaking, inclusion of backstories, misunderstanding of rules, etc.) that have so much potential.

I did want to give props to everyone who made a mythic wondrous item; I don't think I've seen a poor one yet, and one of my current favorites is mythic.

[PathlessBeth]

I liked an item with a bunch of footnotes and stuff...it'll probably get critisized over the formatting, though.

The daemonic themed stuff is nice...

But the best moment was when I got two mythic items paired against each other.

[Magical_Beast]

Very nice inexpensive consumable. Useful with good imagery and cost-appropriate effect.

[Tokoz]

The worst I can say about any item is that I've seen a variation of it attempted before. Formatting and spelling and grammar aside.

There's obvious work in all of them, some even might have had some alcohol contribute as well. =P My list is growing. I'm up to eleven that are well above average. Some not, "I want to have your wondrous item's baby for it" good, but still very admirable.

[Thomas LeBlanc]

I must say, the whetstones are better this year and filigree has been used correctly.

[Monica Marlowe]

I want to echo Erik's words and share some of the conversations we have here voting - the items this are leaps and bounds better than even last year's items. The "worst" items I have seen have been better constructed, formatted, spell checked, and more engaging than what we voted through last year. There are still several unfortunate entries that would have benefitted greatly by following the rules and basic guideline as well as unpredictable parallel design items. But all in all, whoever makes into the Top 32 has got their work cut out for them because the competition seriously stepped up their game and it's going to be awesome to watch!

[Treppa]

I know there are a lot of detailed things that have to be right for Paizo to want to work with an author, and I do look for rules understanding, formatting, spelling, grammar, etc. But frankly, the real judges will be doing all that better than I can.

I look for those things that make me want to read more from the author, whether it's for flavor, humor, imagination, or sheer deviltry. Items that make me want more get the upvote.

Happily, there are quite a few of those.