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A new monster design contest begins today, on the 23rd of August! We've got on board as a guest judge. We've got five awesome sponsors and--you guessed right--a veritable dragon's hoard of treasure we'll give to the finalists! The finalists will also be interviewed on the A Sword for Hire blog.
See all the details by clicking one of the links below:
- Text-only version of the announcement on paizo.com. Got questions? Ask them there!
- Full version of the announcement at A Sword for Hire.
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Ooooo!
Dotted for great justice.
Interesting.
There are some really great prizes here, including the critiques. I said a few times as we were planning this that I wanted to be able to enter myself...
Looking forward to seeing everyone's entries.
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/me goes into dark cave to see what new monster he can bring out...
Curiosity question - aside from Mr. Reynolds, who all is judging?
Curiosity question - aside from Mr. Reynolds, who all is judging?
As stated in the announcement (see the links in the op), the judges who choose the top 5 are Mikko Kallio, Mike Kimmel and Jacob W Michaels. Each of the three are prolific freelancers and repeater RPG Superstar finalists.
Sean comments on each of the top 5 entries, after which the winner is determined by public voting.
Any disqualification for being an FF member? :)
Any disqualification for being an FF member? :)
Anyone is eligible to enter, regardless of your experience or location--or Freelance Forge membership. Only the judges are ineligible.
Please also read the announcement (see links in the op). A lot of questions are answered there!
Cr500cricket -- we didn't discuss that one, actually. Let me check with Mike and Mikko, since otherwise people could go in just to request a monster they want to do. We'll get back to you ASAP.
Maybe a cutoff date - nothing suggested after yesterday, perhaps?
Official ruling
If you requested a specific monster, then no, you can't stat that up. (Sorry, cricket.)
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I do love a contest...
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I see a lot of things in the Bestiary 5 thread that I'd like to see in the next volume myself. But just because it'd be a useful or nice fit, doesn't yet make it a contest-winning spectacular one. I still have a lot of thread to read.
And is it me, or is there a handful of people that really dominates the postcount in that thread?
RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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I see a lot of things in the Bestiary 5 thread that I'd like to see in the next volume myself. But just because it'd be a useful or nice fit, doesn't yet make it a contest-winning spectacular one. I still have a lot of thread to read.
As one of the judges, I very much agree that just being "useful" is not enough to win the contest. Utility is important, but I also want to see compelling flavor that the GM can easily use to integrate the monster into a story or even weave a story around the monster. And I also want to see mechanically interesting & thematically appropriate abilities that cause interesting complications. Every once in a while, it's good to push the PCs out of their comfort zone (without completely shutting them down). Beating/surviving encounters where you have to think outside the box are the most rewarding ones, I think.
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I thought the appeal for really big non-dinosaur animals was a good example; useful for druids who want alternatives for their top-end wildshape, and perhaps an opportunity to sneak in a more impressive bear AC (that actually grows Large at some point). But that's hardly the sort of thing to win a contest with. Even so, I too hope they'll make it into B5.
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Here's a rules clarification about picking an unnamed monster:
With regard to rule 3, does the monster have to be one named, or can it instead be one that is described?
Yes, you can pick a monster that's only described. If you do so, please mention the post number in which the monster was described. When you click the link that has the date on it, the url changes in the address field so that you can see the post number. Oh, and remember to give your monster a cool name! I hope that helps!
Many thanks Mikko - I don't yet know what I'm building, but wanted clarification because some of the posters on that thread have extremely generic descriptions (such as a 0HD player race, a request for more plant-based races, a diminutive or colossal monstrous humanoid and other very open descriptions) which seems to mean we can pretty much submit anything.
Good point! One of the reasons we included the twist is that it tests the author's ability to capture the essence of a monster concept (and work with limitations). It may be harder to do so if the requested monster is very, very generic. But if you build a very cool monster using a very generic concept, you can definitely get away with it. Creativity is king!
Note however, that 0 HD creatures are not allowed because the monster must not have class levels.
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I see a lot of things in the Bestiary 5 thread that I'd like to see in the next volume myself. But just because it'd be a useful or nice fit, doesn't yet make it a contest-winning spectacular one. I still have a lot of thread to read.
And is it me, or is there a handful of people that really dominates the postcount in that thread?
yeah....
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So let it be written, so let it be done.
Edit: Well, once I have time to wade through this wish-list thread...