One thing I kept on doing while working on my entry was paste the data into a forum thread and hit "Preview" so that I could see how it formats and also cut and paste the content without tags into a word counter.
Each time I was worried that I would accidentally hit the "Submit Post" button.
Am I the only one who does that?
That was a habit I fell into as well. For what it's worth, I remember staring intently at the screen while my cursor was hovering over "Preview" just to make sure the button positions didn't spontaneously jump around.
In related news, this contest can make you a little bit crazy.
On books....
I just started "Kissing the Beehive" by Jonathan Carrol. I've been a fan of his for a while, but I haven't read everything he's written yet.
RPG Superstar 2014 Top 32
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Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7
aka Tamago
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I only spotted one minor thing so far after submitting my monster. Which, for something like this, is pretty good IMHO :-)
If I'm lucky, I can spend some time this weekend finishing "The Summer Prince", by Alaya Dawn Johnson. It's another dystopian YA novel, but this one is set in Brazil. Interesting concept so far, and gorgeous writing!
Phew, just submitted.
One can get oddly nervous when looking at the preview. "Am I missing something, I'm sure I'm missing something, aaaah! What if something goes wrong and the entry gets mangled?"
Oh good. I'm not the only one submitting ridiculously close to the deadline, then. Just put mine in.
Though staring at the preview paid of, otherwise I would have missed some missing stuff.
Well, to be sure. :P
I'm usually a bit terse, so I ended up close to the minimum word count...
Now I need the rules for the next round. What? I couldn't possibly just relax during the weekend! The design train needs to keep on rolling.
Craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaap that ability won't work at that CR. Have to redo it.
Two hours before deadline is a GREAT TIME for a major rewrite!
MORE CAFFEINE.
Submitted as well. Whew.
Almost forgot I had something to do today...
I think two years ago a couple person submitted just a few minutes before deadline. There's always someone. ;)
I just realized a stupid flaw in my creature that will probably cost me the competition. Oh well.
I've been feeling that dread for a couple days... I'm not sure whether I'm more afraid of getting lambasted in the feedback or going through this again with an encounter.
Dread mixed with relief of having submitted. :)
It's easier to doubt yourself and fret than to accept that you did the best you could with the time you had, and just relax while you wait for the comments.
RPG Superstar 2014 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32
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Dedicated Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8
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The dread is slowly replaced by relief, like Kalervo said. I for one am happy that, regardless of what the judges and voters think, I have some nasty critter stat blocks/concepts for my own home games, and some more design practice under my belt.
People who have made it in rounds past: Is it normal to feel a gripping sense of dread shortly after submitting?
You wouldn't be alive if you didn't feel that, for me it was worse right before the judges comments were reveled.
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32
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Dedicated Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8
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I figure I want to see the Judge's recommendations, and if they all hate my monster, then I can lay low and not expect to need to write an encounter. If they all love my monster, then I probably have a similar answer. However a couple of "weak keeps" and things get interesting, right?
There have been entries in the past which the judges have hated but the voters loved. So, don't despair! At least, not any more than you inevitably will by default... :)
You wouldn't be alive if you didn't feel that, for me it was worse right before the judges comments were reveled.
Yeah. Had a couple panic moments afterward but I'm feeling comfortable now. I know it's better than my last one, and have gotten good feedback so I'll just hope it's good enough. I'm sure I'll be sweating bullets Tuesday evening (which is going to be a long night at work too, with the State of the Union, so I probably won't even be able to look at all the competition).
I know before the Top 32 reveal my heart was really pounding. Thank goodness it settled down during the delay or there might've been another alternate in the Top 32.
RPG Superstar 2014 Top 32, 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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You wouldn't be alive if you didn't feel that, for me it was worse right before the judges comments were reveled.
Yeah all of this excitement is pretty normal. It just gets more and more tense.
RPG Superstar 2014 Top 32
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Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9
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It's been a rough week for me.
I had a fellowship application due at five as well (submitted this morning). I had most of my entry completed, but not polished. My wife needed help, which kept me out of the house until 3pm EST.
Regardless, it's submitted (and I'm sure with a few glaring errors) at 598 words. According to google, my original name was being used by an amputee lingerie model (I'm not sure which of those adjectives to put first!).
Good luck to you all, I'm going to go spend a few hours trying to calm down!
have a good weekend everyone, and good luck!
RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8
aka Jrcmarine
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Well I had expected to be home from work by 1pm with plenty of time to make my last revisions. But as we all know the best laid plans are of mice and men! I got hung up at work and succeeded not only in playing RPGSS too close but I also angered my very pregnant wife... I am not sure which is worse. J/K I don't like to anger my wife, nothing is worse than that!
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32
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Dedicated Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8
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Whew! Submitted with 2 minutes to spare. Man I hate being anal, a perfectionist and obsessive!
Bravo! I'll spare you the lecture I give to my students about deadlines. ;)
I wonder if everyone made it in. Last year someone (SKR?) posted to let the community know that all the entries (including alternates) had been received.
So how often are you folks checking your item thread to see if you've received any more comments?
I'm addicted to it.
Once or twice a day. Was hoping to see some of the addict critiquers going through and critiquing them, but that appears to have slowed down. That's sort of part of the "game" we're missing out on, and I enjoyed the critiques last year, and it seems cheesy to post one of the top 32 into the critique thread, because what are they gonna say? "it sucks?"
I know mine isn't perfect, and I'd like advice on what could use improvement. The judges comments were very terse, because they were really just looking for thumbs up or down on the items.
I'd love to go faster, but I want to give everyone a full review, checking construction, the works, which means 1 per day on a working week day. I promise more than 1 per day at weekend, please bear with me, I will get to you all :D
All in? Go, go, go and start your encounters!
* cracks whip *
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Whew! Submitted with 2 minutes to spare. Man I hate being anal, a perfectionist and obsessive!
Later than me by 2 minutes! Mine had a soundtrack of wailing children, since deadline time = temper tantrum time.
Already spotted two major errors, which I'm gonna chalk up as a win considering how much restructuring I had to do last-minute.
Now time to get back to writing that novella for an anthology due on the 31st that I haven't started, because I love the feel of cortisol in the morning.
Also time to go clean house and stop neglecting my children.*
*just kidding. No children have been neglected in the production of this Bestiary entry. One three-year-old has higher than normal Jake and the Neverland Pirates levels and one infant came equipped with an auto-sounding food, hygiene and cuddling alarm.
You did all preview and check the official word count before submitting?
*ducks and runs*
If you don't have round 3 rules in the next 12 hours, I will post my would have been for you to see who can find the most problems! Yes, there will be some, but will you find them?
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Dedicated Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9
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All in? Go, go, go and start your encounters!
* cracks whip *
Since Tuesday, I've only slept about 10 hours altogether. So I'm going to have to say that now it's time to rest and relax. I already spent some time thinking up encounter concepts that would work regardless of the twist and discussed the dos and don'ts of map design with my cartographer friend, and that's all I'm going to do about R3 this weekend. :P
Yeah, for fun, i will Pm all Top 32 on Saturday with my creature. Those then wanting to take part in, I think possibly, the first ever competition within competition in the guild hall can PM me back with as many problems you identified.
I'll score the results, pick a winner and let you know who it is. Not sure yet about a prize, I will have a think on that, but the winner will have some guild hall bragging rights ;)
People who have made it in rounds past: Is it normal to feel a gripping sense of dread shortly after submitting?
Oh yeah, that was my Round 2 experience. And my Round 4. Round 3, on the other hand, I was quite sanguine about.
Really glad to hear we all made it in! :D