Developer
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Dedicated Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9
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I have a question for voters and contestants regarding how I should format my comments.
When going through the entries I had a spreadsheet with the names, CRs, creature types, subtypes, size, ranking, etc. and I also had a Word doc where I was making notes as I read through the entry. The notes read pretty much exactly like a first pass through one of the four or five monsters that I develop at work every month.
I was thinking it might be more helpful (to contenders and GMs and freelancers as a whole) to share that kind of information instead of writing a little synopsis, but I was worried it might seem too clinical and could be construed as negative.
What do y'all think?
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I have a question for voters and contestants regarding how I should format my comments.
When going through the entries I had a spreadsheet with the names, CRs, creature types, subtypes, size, ranking, etc. and I also had a Word doc where I was making notes as I read through the entry. The notes read pretty much exactly like a first pass through one of the four or five monsters that I develop at work every month.
I was thinking it might be more helpful (to contenders and GMs and freelancers as a whole) to share that kind of information instead of writing a little synopsis, but I was worried it might seem too clinical and could be construed as negative.
What do y'all think?
I think the objective of this whole contest is to try to build better game designers, so I for one would appreciate that kind of clinical analysis! That doesn't mean you can't include a tiny blurb about your overall thoughts and reaction too if you think the spreadsheet alone would seem too negative, though.
I second Christopher.
I don't think I'd have a problem with that. Stream of consciousness is often how I review things. If that's how you do it with your actual freelancers, it's probably a good learning experience for us as freelance hopefuls.
RPG Superstar 2013
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Dedicated Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9
aka Steven T. Helt
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I think not only would I love to see what a publisher/developer has to say about the designs, but also there are other judges that will give a different kind of input. Your critical, clinical eye for each entry would help contestants and voters, but probably everyone out there who wants to design monsters for you.
Spoiler:
Please give the stream of consciousness! We will learn a professional's critique process, how to develop thick skin, and the insights from the format will be invaluable!
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Adam, given that you've already put together that info, and it would be useful to the authors, I say... go for it!
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Also, in my role as host, it's my responsibility to throw out some snippets about the monster round submissions!
Including the alternates, we have (give or take):
2 CR 1s, 10 CR 2s, 14 CR 3s, 10 CR 4s
3 aberrations, 3 constructs, 4 dragons, 9 fey, 1 humanoid, 2 magical beasts, 2 monstrous humanoids, 2 oozes, 5 outsiders, and 4 undead
21 evil, 3 good, and 11 neither good nor evil
This will be an interesting round. :)
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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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2 CR 1s, 10 CR 2s, 14 CR 3s, 10 CR 4s
3 aberrations, 3 constructs, 4 dragons, 9 fey, 1 humanoid, 2 magical beasts, 2 monstrous humanoids, 2 oozes, 5 outsiders, and 4 undead
Veeeeery interesting. Thanks for the sneak peak!
The urban dragons sound promising.
2 CR 1s, 10 CR 2s, 14 CR 3s, 10 CR 4sThat's 36! One of those numbers needs a revision.
The other two stats added to the appropriate 35.
Like I said... give or take. :)
Sean, could we get a breakdown of alignments on the submitted monsters?
You kids and your crazy demands! :)
CE x11
CG x2
CN x5
LE x2
LN x2
N x4
NE x8
NG x1
Good luck, everybody! If you're anything like me, the nailbiting's going to continue well past Tuesday.
By then we'll hopefully be busy designing for the next round. :)
(Okay, sure, obsessing about the comments as well)
The urban dragons sound promising.
Agreed, the single humanoid sounds interesting as well what with strix & gillmen (& more) unique to the setting. Hopefully a playable race. :)
I have a question for voters and contestants regarding how I should format my comments.
When going through the entries I had a spreadsheet with the names, CRs, creature types, subtypes, size, ranking, etc. and I also had a Word doc where I was making notes as I read through the entry. The notes read pretty much exactly like a first pass through one of the four or five monsters that I develop at work every month.
I was thinking it might be more helpful (to contenders and GMs and freelancers as a whole) to share that kind of information instead of writing a little synopsis, but I was worried it might seem too clinical and could be construed as negative.
What do y'all think?
If you did this on a freelancer's submission, how would you feedback?
Maybe treat the winners the same way as that is what they will experience should they pursue freelancing after the competition?
Thanks for the responses, folks!
Brain blurts it is! :)
Looking forward to reading those. I would like it if you could end each one with a short summary, with a clear recommondation whether or not to vote for the designer, and a few words of advice about what the designer should work to improve if they advance.
I hope the one humanoid one is a playable race. Has anyone ever submitted a 0HD playable race?
Will you be able to vote for more then one of these guys?
Why hasn't the restrictions/guidelines of this monster round been mentioned?
Robert, looks like there are three good-aligned creatures.
Dragon78, I don't think anyone has submitted a 0HD playable race for Superstar before, but I could certainly be forgetting one. There were people who wanted last year's caliban to be a playable race, but Nicholas Herold said he never intended that.
Almost assuredly you'll be able to vote for more than one, though I don't think they've given us the total number pf votes this round yet. It will likely be 8 or 16, based on previous years (since we're cutting from 32 to 16 votes).
The restrictions were revealed a bit ago. It's that the monster must be urban and CR1-4, along with the usual details about being a Golarion monster and not using templates, etc.
Considering the bestiary entry for a 0hd race generally includes a lvl1 warrior version or some such and we're not allowed to use class levels...
No class levels allowed, well so much for any more 0HD races:(
So it is urban monsters this time well at least we get 9 fey and 4 dragons. Though I am surprised to get this many fey for an urbin monster entry.
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Though I am surprised to get this many fey for an urbin monster entry.
I'm not - gremlins are fey, and they fit perfectly into the urban niche. I would be surprised if there wasn't a handful different gremlins among the submissions.
I was just reviewing my entry and noticed a typo that totally changes the meaning of a sentence and makes it sound like I don't know what I'm talking about.
Maybe I don't.
I should stop looking before I find more mistakes.
It will be interesting to see if among these fey and dragons if there will be any parallel designing.
It will be interesting to see if among these fey and dragons if there will be any parallel designing.
If by interesting, you mean absolutely terrifying.
*furiously bites fingernails*
Marathon Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7
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Though I am surprised to get this many fey for an urbin monster entry.I'm not - gremlins are fey, and they fit perfectly into the urban niche. I would be surprised if there wasn't a handful different gremlins among the submissions.
My thoughts exactly, since that was the type I was working on before the top 32 reveal/
Parallel design? What are the chances of that happening? It would be like two designers using the same word in their monsters' names and ... Oh, wait...
Yeah, that's no fun.
Two of the monsters having the same name would be amazing if one of them was some kind of doppelganger.
Well hopefully there will be more variety of fey then just mostly gremlins.
I don't know when I think of urban monsters I think of humanoids, vermin, some animals, shapechangers, oozes, some undead, and maybe monstrous humanoids.
The Urban challenge is really going to show off the TOP 32 design skills. Not just anything will fit in the Urban scene and make sense. The ones who show us how the monster fits into "ecosystem" of the city are going to be the ones that get my vote.
The Urban challenge is really going to show off the TOP 32 design skills. Not just anything will fit in the Urban scene and make sense. The ones who show us how the monster fits into "ecosystem" of the city are going to be the ones that get my vote.
Agreed. This is going to be at the top of my voting criteria.
Why does this monster need to be urban? And on the flip side, how does it survive as an urban creature?
A lot of pitfalls on both sides of that equation.
The Urban challenge is really going to show off the TOP 32 design skills. Not just anything will fit in the Urban scene and make sense. The ones who show us how the monster fits into "ecosystem" of the city are going to be the ones that get my vote.Agreed. This is going to be at the top of my voting criteria.
Why does this monster need to be urban? And on the flip side, how does it survive as an urban creature?
A lot of pitfalls on both sides of that equation.
Also how does it interact with other urban creatures and the civilized population in Golarian.
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Though I am surprised to get this many fey for an urbin monster entry.I'm not - gremlins are fey, and they fit perfectly into the urban niche. I would be surprised if there wasn't a handful different gremlins among the submissions.
Gremlins Toot toot, the 'Za Lord's General and his army. :)
Funny considering the monster I had online and ready to go was also a fey (though not a gremlin). Might have to hold onto it for next year's Monarch of the Monsters.
That there is only a single humanoid entry seems surprising, though with an urban category I can see the early rejection of that type. "Humanoid? Nah, everyone will be doing a humanoid. That's too easy."
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9
aka Boxhead
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Funny considering the monster I had online and ready to go was also a fey (though not a gremlin). Might have to hold onto it for next year's Monarch of the Monsters.
That there is only a single humanoid entry seems surprising, though with an urban category I can see the early rejection of that type. "Humanoid? Nah, everyone will be doing a humanoid. That's too easy."
The tough part is being a humanoid without class levels.
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And my judgments are now complete! Can't wait for y'all to see the critters contestants came up with. :D
The tough part is being a humanoid without class levels.Funny considering the monster I had online and ready to go was also a fey (though not a gremlin). Might have to hold onto it for next year's Monarch of the Monsters.
That there is only a single humanoid entry seems surprising, though with an urban category I can see the early rejection of that type. "Humanoid? Nah, everyone will be doing a humanoid. That's too easy."
Doesn't seem to be a problem for the dark folk.