Hey, some of these entries are good.
Little baggie... your the one.
You make 'venturing... so much fun.
There are a group of static spells I have always wanted to play with. You did that you did that well. Nice job.
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Whoa! I currently have the awesome-ist item in this whole contest in my vote window. It is cool in so many ways, I just can't believe it. If it is not in the top 32 I will mount a small protest on the critique thread. Hold on, I'm going to go look at it one more time before I vote...
Ok. I may be a little biased. It's my item.
I've now seen it four times this year. Last year I reached Marathon before I saw my item a single time. I don't know if it is a bad thing that I've seen it so much this year or if it has no bearing on anything. I'll keep my fingers crossed, but I'm not holding my breath. I'm pretty sure I'm not even going to make the top 64 to be reviewed by the judges. Like last year's archetype round I think I failed to realize the voting public's preconceptions and preconceived opinions about certain aspects of my entry. Oh, well. If I don't make it, there is always next year.
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I keep stumbling upon this item. It does hardly anything at all compared to other items, but I find it very interesting and creative. I'd very much like to upvote this rather than some complicated item that no sensible character would use.
The hardest choices to make are those between really good items. I have had a number of these event turn up now, and each time I have had to further refine my views on each item. As a result these votes kinds of votes turn out to be the most informative in learning about magic item design.
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The hardest choices to make are those between really good items. I have had a number of these event turn up now, and each time I have had to further refine my views on each item. As a result these votes kinds of votes turn out to be the most informative in learning about magic item design.
When I stumble upon this issue, I solve it by figuring out which item would a player most likely want to buy. So far, this has solved most of those draws.
I haven't seen a new item in days, and I would like at this time to make an overall comment: the quality of entries is FAR superior over what came last year. Yes there were items that were as bad as anything we got in 2013, but that will happen every year. The quality overall showed that the voting system exposed more items to being critiqued and analyzed than just the voluntary after-the-fact system that was used before.
I know I learned a lot last year—and have learned even more this year—about magic item design. That makes me a better designer and a better GM. Overall, this is an excellent way to improve the game we love so much.
Well done everyone who entered and good luck next week!
Getting in a last few votes. Changing a last few rankings at the last minute. :-)
Oh, can someone pm me the 50 Shades item? I don't recall anything I'd put in that category (unless there's waterboarding in 50 Shades. Heh)
Star Voter Season 7
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Just saw a pretty awesome item on my BF's voting screen. It hasn't shown up for me, but I'd definitely vote for it... of course it's mine, but I still think it's pretty unique compared to everything else.
Anyway, I've seen some really awesome items that I might actually vote for over my own. Gratz to everyone who has written awesome items this year.
Yes, I'm talking about YOUR item, whoever you are. :P
Well gardening implement, once more your downtime-rules existence is better than your opponent...so I'm up-voting you!
Marathon Voter Season 7
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Now that voting is over, I would just like to say that I read half the items half as often as I would have liked and liked less than half half as well as they deserved.
Good job, all six hundred or so who entered this year, and good luck to the top 32 in the rounds that are to come.
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Well done everyone!
Voting was so much more fun this year than last and I can only put that on the strength of the items. :)
Marathon Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7
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This year's voting experience has been awesome. I couldn't devote as much time to it this year, but I enjoyed it more. There are some amazing design chops on display here this year, and I tip my hat to all of you who entered, all who voted, contributed to these incessant threads, and generally have made the beginning of this year's superstar one of the best so far.
Star Voter Season 7
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It's been a few years since I last participated, and I have to say, compared to 2010, I've noticed the differences. I wish I could have voted more and there were certainly some very good entries. Making the top 32 will be a challenge for anyone especially given the quality I saw while voting.
To the crew here, thanks for all the banter. It kept me interested and participating. Having this thread as opposed to the negativity of the other was very refreshing and did wonders for my appreciation of the competition. So thanks!
Good luck to all!
Dedicated Voter Season 7
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It's been a few years since I last participated, and I have to say, compared to 2010, I've noticed the differences. I wish I could have voted more and there were certainly some very good entries. Making the top 32 will be a challenge for anyone especially given the quality I saw while voting.
To the crew here, thanks for all the banter. It kept me interested and participating. Having this thread as opposed to the negativity of the other was very refreshing and did wonders for my appreciation of the competition. So thanks!
Good luck to all!
Yeah but the challenge was how to be negative and maintain the item's and creator's anonymity. Now that was the real test of our success on the other thread.
I must say though, that I'm kinda down on your negativity toward our negativity.
And we have you beat big time in number of posts (6000+>>500+) anyway.
So there...
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Dedicated Voter Season 7
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In all seriousness, I will repeat myself from another thread:
It has been thought and even said, but it still deserves repeating:
The atmosphere of this forum is fantastic...
The quality of the posts is remarkable...
The dedication of the posters is unsurpassed...
All in all I give this place and you guys my highest accolade:
Epic...
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Star Voter Season 7
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Yeah but the challenge was how to be negative and maintain the item's and creator's anonymity. Now that was the real test of our success on the other thread.
I must say though, that I'm kinda down on your negativity toward our negativity.
And we have you beat big time in number of posts (6000+>>500+) anyway.
So there...
I can see the challenge, but I'd go for quality over quantity every day and its no less challenging to keep things positive, or at least constructive. :P
I must admit I got bored quickly among the 6000+ posts, while I found good value in most of the fewer 500+ posts found in the positivity zone. Too much chaff in the negative zone for this guy, and then when I'd find something that may be interesting, it's all negative in that it's nonconstructive - that's all.
Don't be down, it's better to be up! Upbeat that is! And kudos on the dual-participation in both polarized forums.
Holy cow. I just noticed I made Star Voter! Cool! Wow, I really voted 100+ times? Huh!
Since others have contributed, I'll chime in too - I saw my own item twice, I made the culling and I was lucky enough to see my item once last night, about 16 hours before the end. So now I just have to make it into the upper tier and maybe.....anything's possible!
Sleep tight people! It's all up to the three judges now! Just think of the angst they will feel by all of us putting all the tough choices in front of them! I don't envy their job this year!
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It was definitely entertaining.
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I can see the challenge, but I'd go for quality over quantity every day and its no less challenging to keep things positive, or at least constructive. :PI must admit I got bored quickly among the 6000+ posts, while I found good value in most of the fewer 500+ posts found in the positivity zone. Too much chaff in the negative zone for this guy, and then when I'd find something that may be interesting, it's all negative in that it's nonconstructive - that's all.
Don't be down, it's better to be up! Upbeat that is! And kudos on the dual-participation in both polarized forums.
It was a monster thread and has quite a bit of snark particularly in the first 30 pages or so but progressively gets more positive comments mixed in with the negative. I particularly enjoyed some of the vs comments.
As a writer, I adore positive feedback even though it does very little to help me. Negative feedback isn't much better in that regard but it can be more truthful at times. Constructive criticism is ideal, but it is not always what's available.
Just my 2 copper.
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The Ramble thread was a venting place. We can't really comment as we would like; we can't even give a constructive criticism, as that would result in revealing information about an item. It's kind of frustrating, and that was where we let off steam.
It was definitely NOT the place to go to find out about your item or to learn how to improve your item making skills. That comes later. Many of the negative things I expressed were for items that I would sometimes up-vote! It was no indication of quality or how we really felt about anything. Just a release.
Some people didn't take it that way, and that's fair: mass negativity can be really disheartening if you—for whatever reason—are unable to connect with where it is coming from. This thread was a magnificent idea to encourage and reward those brave enough to actually submit an item. They're all to be congratulated on a job well done. The improvement in quality over last year was very noticeable.
I have stated before and I will again: I think a thread like this and a thread like the other one should be started every year, with a heads up warning in the first post of each thread of what can be expected. That way those who don't need to vent can steer clear of the Ramble posts.
Aside from that one thread, the attitude and mood has been very positive and encouraging. We want people to enjoy entering the competition and work on improving their item making skills. I love the fact that when the negativity was mentioned, we didn't just say "go away, it's fine," the community began addressing the issue with positive posting and statements. We got it. We understood that some people weren't happy with where we were headed and tried to include them. That speaks highly of the community, the camaraderie, and the quality of the people posting on these boards.
So congratulations to us all and here is to doing it again next year! :D
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Though it appears from the database my item made it past the cull (woo-hoo!), I only saw it once during voting, and fortunately it was paired against an item I didn't feel too poorly about voting down. But there were a number of submissions I would have felt bad about voting against, as they were truly better than my own. (Oh, I would have, anyway; not ready for sainthood here.)
So kudos to all the entrants, and thanks for allowing me to expand my own private collection of magickal goodies with which to confound, annoy, and enthrall my players with. I'm envisioning the party wandering into "Bomble's Bits and Baubles" with, alas, their handy dandy Detect Magics disabled, and looking at all these lovely items, saying, "what the heck does this do...?"
... and lovely mayhem ensues.
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Dedicated Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9
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...their handy dandy Detect Magics disabled, and looking at all these lovely items, saying, "what the heck does this do...?"
... and lovely mayhem ensues.
Identification spells do indeed ruin much of the fun. While using unidentified equipment with static bonuses may cause problems with keeping track of your stats when you don't know the exact effects, some use-activated or command-word items would be particularly entertaining if the players/characters would have to figure out what they do through trial and error.
I love items that somehow hint at the item's function in the description .. it gives even the most magic-deprived parties a chance to guess what an item does.
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Star Voter Season 7
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@Feros: All great points. Overall I agree with everything you've said, and thanks for the clarifications.
I think its good to have a place to vent for all the voters. I also think its good to call out the goodness in the entries. Doing it in two places is ideal.
Personally, being a Project Manager by day, I have a tendency to look for high value low noise statements in general. Cross that penchant with a 20 year background in market research and well, you can see why I gloss over noise. I cannot help it.
Little time + lots of noise = abandon thread!
I did find a ton of value in last year's commentary and I even went back further looking for trends, don'ts, etc. SKRs "27" was very helpful and made me very aware of things to avoid as I constructed my entry. Even when I may have approached the edge of a cliff with one or more of the items I drafted, it gave me pause to ask the question, "Is there a sound design reason, stylistic reason or theme for doing things this way? Is there a better way to do it so I don't cross the line too often?" Etc.
I also compared my current entry to my last in 2010. Night and day difference. I can even see how I have changed as a gamer in that time. My earlier attempt was a good concept poorly executed. This time honestly, I am very happy with my item. I scoured the threads looking for hints of anything in the commentary. Nada negative and a few possible in the positives. Which means I am either in the middle of the pack and not worth mentioning either way or at the top. I guess I'll know for sure in a week.
Either way, this was a good experience for me this year and if I fail to make the cut, I will be sure to post my item for public critique. I'll be most interested in something other than hand-picked private feedback among local friends which is all we can manage today.
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The Ramble thread was a venting place. We can't really comment as we would like; we can't even give a constructive criticism, as that would result in revealing information about an item. It's kind of frustrating, and that was where we let off steam. ...
I have stated before and I will again: I think a thread like this and a thread like the other one should be started every year, with a heads up warning in the first post of each thread of what can be expected. That way those who don't need to vent can steer clear of the Ramble posts.
...Aside from that one thread, the attitude and mood has been very positive and encouraging....
So congratulations to us all and here is to doing it again next year! :D
I disagree. I do agree that venting is necessary. However, and this is just my opinion, venting should be done in private. A thread here is not private. Praise on the other hand is and should be public.
I totally agree with the second part of your post: the community is very awesome. :)
I do want to give kudos to the rambling thread for containing the negativity. After it became clear that is what was happening, I stopped looking at it and I didn't see that negativity pop up anywhere else. :)
RPG Superstar 2014 Top 32
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Marathon Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 9
aka Netopalis
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The Ramble thread was a venting place. We can't really comment as we would like; we can't even give a constructive criticism, as that would result in revealing information about an item. It's kind of frustrating, and that was where we let off steam. ...
I have stated before and I will again: I think a thread like this and a thread like the other one should be started every year, with a heads up warning in the first post of each thread of what can be expected. That way those who don't need to vent can steer clear of the Ramble posts.
...Aside from that one thread, the attitude and mood has been very positive and encouraging....
So congratulations to us all and here is to doing it again next year! :D
I disagree. I do agree that venting is necessary. However, and this is just my opinion, venting should be done in private. A thread here is not private. Praise on the other hand is and should be public.
I totally agree with the second part of your post: the community is very awesome. :)
I do want to give kudos to the rambling thread for containing the negativity. After it became clear that is what was happening, I stopped looking at it and I didn't see that negativity pop up anywhere else. :)
I think that the ramble thread is important to potential entrants. I learned a lot from participating in it this year, including that many voters hate items with attunement periods (something which isn't in SKR's list or found anywhere else), that many voters dislike undead items (I didn't make one, but I didn't think this would be a trend) or that many voters prefer "cinematic" items to items which provide interesting mechanics.
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My big problem with the negativity thread was it became far too obvious what some of the items were that were being talked about. I didn't think that was fair to those designers. I know I flagged a number of posts that I thought went too far.
Saying "knot vs. knot" or "weight gain vs. weight loss" is no big deal. Saying "All these koala bear items are ludicrous" was breaking the spirit of the contest. That's all IMO, of course.
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I think that the ramble thread is important to potential entrants. I learned a lot from participating in it this year, including that many voters hate items with attunement periods (something which isn't in SKR's list or found anywhere else), that many voters dislike undead items (I didn't make one, but I didn't think this would be a trend) or that many voters prefer "cinematic" items to items which provide interesting mechanics.
It is true that if you have a thick skin, the Ramble thread can be helpful in that regard. But for nervous first timers, I can understand where Curaigh is coming from. And it was getting a bit out of hand there. Items were beginning to be described in ways that made them fairly easy to identify, as Jacob just said. I even put a post in there—and here—about it.
Then some people began to complain and this community did three amazing things: first, it toned down the negativity. Second, it started other threads such as this one and contained the remaining negativity to the Ramble thread. And third it began to add more positive comments to the Ramble thread. It was quite astonishing and almost spontaneous without being asked for by the moderators.
That will always be what I took away most from the whole thing.
[
I do want to give kudos to the rambling thread for containing the negativity. After it became clear that is what was happening, I stopped looking at it and I didn't see that negativity pop up anywhere else. :)
I think that the ramble thread is important to potential entrants. I learned a lot from participating in it this year, including that many voters hate items with attunement periods (something which isn't in SKR's list or found anywhere else), that many voters dislike undead items (I didn't make one, but I didn't think this would be a trend) or that many voters prefer "cinematic" items to items which provide interesting mechanics.
I can agree in a small way, the problem with this is that 'potential entrants' can't see such a thread until after they have entered. So potential means next year's entrants which can just as easily read the 'critique my item' threads from current & previous years.
Attune periods are not a necessarily a killer in the competition, but a new voter will see someone poo-poo them and (not having read SKR's 27) assume it is bad design (I am not arguing it is good design fwiw). There were quite a few things that are not auto-reject being taken as auto-reject in that thread (which is when I stopped reading it. :)
But since this is the kudos thread: I want to say congratulations to the two items I saw working similar to mine. I think you did your homework and discovered a great opportunity for creativity. I voted for you both!
It is true that if you have a thick skin, the Ramble thread can be helpful in that regard. But for nervous first timers, I can understand where Curaigh is coming from. And it was getting a bit out of hand there. Items were beginning to be described in ways that made them fairly easy to identify, as Jacob just said. I even put a post in there—and here—about it.
Then some people began to complain and this community did three amazing things: first, it toned down the negativity. Second, it started other threads such as this one and contained the remaining negativity to the Ramble thread. And third it began to add more positive comments to the Ramble thread. It was quite astonishing and almost spontaneous without being asked for by the moderators.
That will always be what I took away most from the whole thing.
my emphasis
Well said Champion.
Here's how the ramble thread is valuable, negativity or no.
It gives insight into what the voters are thinking, *as they vote*.
The auto-reject info is valuable, obviously, but it's what the judges are thinking.
The voters are voting long before that point even comes around. If there are things voters don't like that the judges might pass (and there definitely are), it's helpful to know that. That is pretty much by definition going to be negative information, but that doesn't make it any less valuable.
My item this year was definitely shaped by voter reactions to my item last year. I wasn't happy hearing about it then, but it helped me this time around.
Of course, this year I saw comments I'm pretty sure applied to my item in a way I didn't imagine at first, but that's a lesson too. :-)
I agree, of course, that comments that make it very clear which item was under discussion were inappropriate. Trends, general likes/dislikes, cool. Specific items, not so cool.
Here's how the ramble thread is valuable, negativity or no.
It gives insight into what the voters are thinking, *as they vote*.
I totally agree. Since I don't play as much as I'd like to and I don't get to travel to cons on any regular basis to meet other gamers, I have very little insight into the general thoughts of the gaming community. I could try to keep up with it throughout the year on the forums, but I don't have time for that either. After reading the first half of the the Ramble thread, I got some idea of what kind of items NOT to submit to further RPGSSs (and maybe I regret my entry for this year).
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Dedicated Voter Season 7
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I hope I wasn't misunderstood when I replied in a somewhat snarky way to Ramicus. I was truly kidding. So there...
In all seriousness, I will repeat myself (again) from another thread:
It has been thought and even said, but it still deserves repeating:
The atmosphere of this forum is fantastic...
The quality of the posts is remarkable...
The dedication of the posters is unsurpassed...
All in all I give this place and you guys my highest accolade:
Epic...
I did not see a lot of overly negative posts and I tried very hard to refrain from actually demeaning a specific entry at all, but did vent about trends. I learned a tremendous amount from the negative critical thread both from the amount of time spent voting as well as from the comments from others who obviously have more experience than me. I found their comments very helpful and saw very clearly how my own shortcomings could be improved. This would not have happened if all I ever heard was "My how nice your item is... it's so... round..."
I read some of the Judge's comments which were on public display after the first round last year. We do not do each other any favors by coddling ideas that need work. Now that can be done in a damaging and negative way, without a doubt, but let's get a grip folks. If the folks at Paizo didn't think some things just shouldn't progress (or maybe even flat out suck) everyone would get a trophy and they would call it the Top 503, not the Top 32...
Again, you guys are great and I really love hanging out in these forums (not kidding at all on this one)...
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Dedicated Voter Season 7
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I am rating my own submission as a solid 6.5 on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest).
From the other thread I surmise the following regarding my item (if I am guessing correctly at the vague comments):
Mechanics were pretty good, but kinda "meh". Fair and accurate criticism, I would say.
Cinematics and mojo were the best part of my submission (the positive as well as the critical was stated, even on the "negative" thread), but that may not be enough.
I can do better and have already begun 4 or 5 new items with the characteristics that I think will actually qualify for Superstar status.
I get it. Only a week late though!