So far I've seen....

[James Casey]

That item is literally a SAK... I'm not the end all, be all of designers or creative thinking but I always read the rules beforehand and I try to read as much advice as I can...

[Brigg]

Okay, so I read this item and all I read is, "WWWAAAAHHHHHH!! My GM is so mean making us fight invisible, incorporeal stuff all the time! I need an item that completely bends the game over backwards to accomidate for my lack of creativity in dealing with invisible stuff! Then I'll horrendously underprice it!"

[Thomas LeBlanc]

I almost got over your silly name until you told me how to use this in other ways.

[Brigg]

Please, can the rift-cutting Dimension Door items stop. Please.

I am now at 17 different items that use Dimension Door, and 15 of them are bladed weapons that cut the door into existence.

These will not be getting my votes from here on out, unless there is something glaringly wrong with the other item.

[Aaron Miller 335]

mplindustries wrote:

I appreciate that. I believe it is clear, but not...explained in depth. In the pursuit of elegance, I simply stated the rule and avoided examples or directly stating the implications of what using that rule allows. My fear is that another item in the competition has similar implications and outright stated them. I think it comes across as clunky (and overpriced ;P),...

Oh some one will complain. I had lots of problems with my item last year, but concise explanation of mechanics wasn't one of the. But one of the complaints was not explaining how it worked.

[James Casey]

"Get over here!!!"..... Check in the box!

[TotalAnarchy]

Damn, I knew I should've submitted my Trantorian Armor instead, which is a nifty pink t-shirt created at the other end of the Worldwound that acts as a +1 cotton armor with a nanotiny nuclear power plant embedded into it. It is technically impenetrable unless hit head-on by a Far Star class battledragon. As with all such items, the +1 means that once per day the wearer can prepare breakfast in the left pocket microwave, as long as the wearer is not in a desert or a void.

Besides the usual requirements, the caster also needs to have the Improved Copyright Evasion ability, and the spells greater merchant brain and shield.

PS: This isn't hidden critique, just something that popped into my mind while voting. :)

[Brigg]

Unprepared Combatant is missing from your Construction Requirements. If you wanted to Channel Negative Energy instead of Positive Energy, you should have chosen that option when you made your Cleric.

Stop trying to undermine, bend-to-break, and circumvent the rules for class abilities with items that are clearly underpriced.

I am slowly growing intolerant of items that drastically distort class abilities.

[James Casey]

Hmmm... After seeing good stuff for most of the day, the dregs seem to be making a reappearance. sigh... :-(

[mplindustries]

Brigg wrote:

Please, can the rift-cutting Dimension Door items stop. Please.

I am now at 17 different items that use Dimension Door, and 15 of them are bladed weapons that cut the door into existence.

These will not be getting my votes from here on out, unless there is something glaringly wrong with the other item.

While I agree that it gets tiresome seeing them, the very fact that there were so many tells me there is a gap to be filled in the item catalog, meaning at least one of these blades should probably be let through.

I've voted for several of them several times, and several others never. There's a wide gap in quality between the best and worst. Indeed, I have what I consider to be the best version on my keep list, and have heavily considered adding one or two more except for some minor quibbles.

[Jeff Lee]

Here, Brigg, have a Snickers...

[Brigg]

Jeff Lee wrote:

Here, Brigg, have a Snickers...

*Eats Snickers*

num num num num num! ^.^!

[Moik]

If any weapon type was to be used to create a dimension door, it's obvious that rifles are the ideal candidate. If anything I'm more disappointed in the designers for missing that opportunity than anything else.

[Jeff Lee]

Brigg wrote:

Jeff Lee wrote:

Here, Brigg, have a Snickers...

*Eats Snickers*

num num num num num! ^.^!

Good. You get crankypants when you're a hungry Marathon voter.

[Jacob W. Michaels]

James Casey wrote:

xebeche wrote:

Constantine wrote:

Did Paizo get less entries this year? I swear I'm seeing the same items over and over again. I don't think I've voted THAT much...

I've only been wow'd once or twice, but I've seen a lot of neat items.

I imagine they may have gotten less item submissions because of the short period between announcement and submission.

You are probably correct. Between the short time frame for those who actually took the time to create something entirely different than their pre-existing wondrous item and those who decided to convert their wondrous item, we probably lost a lot of people.

Does anyone remember how many submissions there were last year? I think I heard that this year there are approximately 750-800 unique items prior to DQs.

They've never revealed the full count, though some people have tried to determine. The general belief was there were fewer items last year than the previous year, somewhere around 600 (after DQs). The general belief seems to be there are more items this year.

[Monica Marlowe]

Brigg wrote:

Unprepared Combatant is missing from your Construction Requirements. If you wanted to Channel Negative Energy instead of Positive Energy, you should have chosen that option when you made your Cleric.

Stop trying to undermine, bend-to-break, and circumvent the rules for class abilities with items that are clearly underpriced.

I am slowly growing intolerant of items that drastically distort class abilities.

This would be part of the conversation we will be having about the Cleric and other channeling classes when this contest is complete. I am disappointed in the items that don't understand the point of positive or negative divine energy.

[James Casey]

Ahh, well more entries is a good thing!

[Jeff Lee]

Lots of Ydersius-related items this year.

[Notsonoble]

Doesn't look like the cull has happened yet.

[Monica Marlowe]

Azouth wrote:

Moik wrote:

How long is it 'til critiquing can begin? Voting ends, or Winner's Announced?

It is usually a day after winners are announced.

Yup, we traditionally let the Top 32 have their moment on the day they are announced, January 20th this year. Congratulations and merriment are encouraged. Then they hit the books making something, maps this year, and the day after the announcement the left behind go to the critique my item threads and start tuning up our skills. So, January 21st is the day we begin discussing our own items, unless we placed in the Top 32.

[Monica Marlowe]

Notsonoble wrote:

Doesn't look like the cull has happened yet.

There would be an announcement if they cull.

[Alexander Bennett]

Two angelic armors and the one I liked better had too many technical mistakes.

[Thomas LeBlanc]

I totally just realized someone made a magic item for this!

[Maurice de Mare]

Marathon status = check

Item seen = nope

Come on, show me my item!

[frank gori]

Thomas LeBlanc wrote:

I totally just realized someone made a magic item for this!

I like that one

[Monica Marlowe]

I cannot tell if you deliberately spelled this word incorrectly or if you chose a strange name that looks sort of like a possibly misspelled word. Oh my brain hurts.

[Brother Fen]

Lots of nasty comments in this thread. As far as I know there was no grand collusion to create similarly themed items.

[Monica Marlowe]

STOP VOTING! End of Page 65 Shake It Off!

Remember, we're here to have fun and vote for some items, which may or may not be superstar quality.

It is easy to forget that there are real people behind the items you're seeing and it's super easy to say things that can be hurtful to those who are not yet ready to be game designers.

Get out of your chair, get a drink, take a walk, hug a human being and take a break. Get a Snickers bar. ;-)

[Jacob Trier]

Still seeing a lot of good out there,

However: Sesame Street called with a complaint that one of their costumes have been stolen and converted into armor. Unknown designer, what were you thinking?

[Jacob Trier]

Hello, ring. You don't seem to be the least bit marriage-related, despite your name. Please accept my upvote, since you happen to be better than the item you are currently paired with.

[Tripp Elliott]

TotalAnarchy wrote:

Damn, I knew I should've submitted my Trantorian Armor instead, which is a nifty pink t-shirt created at the other end of the Worldwound that acts as a +1 cotton armor with a nanotiny nuclear power plant embedded into it. It is technically impenetrable unless hit head-on by a Far Star class battledragon. As with all such items, the +1 means that once per day the wearer can prepare breakfast in the left pocket microwave, as long as the wearer is not in a desert or a void.

We make stuff like that on Terminus all the time.

[Jacob Trier]

My pledge not to vote for items with a price tag is tested. Fortunately, close examination of the opposing item found it to be worthy of the upvote, despite poor formatting.

[Jacob Trier]

Note to self, the designer of this bladed weapon and anyone else who cares to listen: While skimming through a text, the human mind tends to focus on the first and last letters of a word, filling in the middle parts with an estimated guess. For a moment there, that item name became something else and rather unfortunate (or amusing, depending on your sense of humor).

P.s. still upvoted it.

[Hidari]

I hope I get to see my item before the cull, who knows if it'll make the cut.

[Alexander Bennett]

Brother Fen wrote:

Lots of nasty comments in this thread. As far as I know there was no grand collusion to create similarly themed items.

You missed the meeting?

The 'nasty comments' come from us seeing [x] items that do basically the same thing and thinking "I've never considered that as a viable answer to any problem in game. Why did [x] people think it would make for a Superstar item?"

And then there are the things that people are specifically told not to do... like filigree, intellectual property violations, 'prized by', 'created by', complete ignorance of the template, etc.

[Drejk]

Who is a wovely-cutie wing?! You awe!

[Monica Marlowe]

Alexander Bennett wrote:

Brother Fen wrote:

Lots of nasty comments in this thread. As far as I know there was no grand collusion to create similarly themed items.

You missed the meeting?

The 'nasty comments' come from us seeing [x] items that do basically the same thing and thinking "I've never considered that as a viable answer to any problem in game. Why did [x] people think it would make for a Superstar item?"

And then there are the things that people are specifically told not to do... like filigree, intellectual property violations, 'prized by', 'created by', complete ignorance of the template, etc.

And yet they are still people, people who might have missed the first 7 RPG Superstars, weren't privy to the conversations that occur on the dozens of threads leading up to the contest or just might not have what it takes to be a SuperStar, but we're still going to treat them like human beings because we are kind and decent people. Or at least I hope that is the case.

[Allana Sliwinski]

Maurice de Mare wrote:

Marathon status = check

Item seen = nope

Come on, show me my item!

Seen mine once right after hitting marathon and not again since then :-/

[James Raine]

mamaursula wrote:

And yet they are still people, people who might have missed the first 7 RPG Superstars, weren't privy to the conversations that occur on the dozens of threads leading up to the contest or just might not have what it takes to be a SuperStar, but we're still going to treat them like human beings because we are kind and decent people. Or at least I hope that is the case.

I appear to be a grippli. Am I excused?

[Monica Marlowe]

James Raine wrote:

mamaursula wrote:

And yet they are still people, people who might have missed the first 7 RPG Superstars, weren't privy to the conversations that occur on the dozens of threads leading up to the contest or just might not have what it takes to be a SuperStar, but we're still going to treat them like human beings because we are kind and decent people. Or at least I hope that is the case.

I appear to be a grippli. Am I excused?

It's only an issue if you cannot treat your fellow entrants with the respect you seek to be treated with yourself :-) I think you have it in you to be a kind grippli.

[Cthulhudrew]

James Raine wrote:

I appear to be a grippli. Am I excused?

It's not easy being green.

[Monica Marlowe]

It is getting super ugly in here. Voter fatigue is setting in and some of you need a break in the worst possible way. We're not solving world hunger or creating cold fusion here, this is a game and you're electing to play it. If you aren't having fun playing this game, please walk away, no one will know if you take the night off or the rest of the voting for the Top 32.

Neil Spicer even warned you, the words you type up and post here are seen by a lot of people, people that will pay you money to design gaming stuff. Do you really want prospective publishers seeing you act like this?

I know it's frustrating - how dare they not have formatted their item using the template; that is someone else's intellectual property; or the audacity of 15 people to have the same design idea, the very nerve of them! Well, no one is making you stay here to vote. This isn't your job. If you aren't enjoying yourself, please take a moment to figure out what the "you" problem is here and decide how to fix it.

You are all awesome people who bring great things to the conversation, please stop bringing the pointed vitriol and nearly rule breaking commentary about specific items to the boards. You can type whatever you like into the little blue box, but no one said you had to post it. Self censorship is a crucial skill.

[James Raine]

Cthulhudrew wrote:

James Raine wrote:

I appear to be a grippli. Am I excused?

It's not easy being green.

I was actually thinking about this.

[Monica Marlowe]

James Raine wrote:

Cthulhudrew wrote:

James Raine wrote:

I appear to be a grippli. Am I excused?

It's not easy being green.

I was actually thinking about this.

Well, if you want to go home, you're excused. ;-)

[Alexander Bennett]

mamaursula wrote:

It is getting super ugly in here. Voter fatigue is setting in and some of you need a break in the worst possible way. We're not solving world hunger or creating cold fusion here, this is a game and you're electing to play it. If you aren't having fun playing this game, please walk away, no one will know if you take the night off or the rest of the voting for the Top 32.

Neil Spicer even warned you, the words you type up and post here are seen by a lot of people, people that will pay you money to design gaming stuff. Do you really want prospective publishers seeing you act like this?

I know it's frustrating - how dare they not have formatted their item using the template; that is someone else's intellectual property; or the audacity of 15 people to have the same design idea, the very nerve of them! Well, no one is making you stay here to vote. This isn't your job. If you aren't enjoying yourself, please take a moment to figure out what the "you" problem is here and decide how to fix it.

You are all awesome people who bring great things to the conversation, please stop bringing the pointed vitriol and nearly rule breaking commentary about specific items to the boards. You can type whatever you like into the little blue box, but no one said you had to post it. Self censorship is a crucial skill.

Most of the negative comments ended awhile ago, most of the comments have gone to "These items again?" or "I swore I wouldn't vote for that, but now I have no choice!"

Yes, someone coming in and not knowing this is the venting thread might be insulted, but if they can't take criticism this isn't the contest for them (even if it's tongue-in-cheek criticism since we can't do anything more complex without mentioning the item).

Considering how you're snipping at other posters for trying to make light of the situation, maybe you're the one who need to take a step away from the thread.

[Jeff Lee]

Creepy, but cool. You have walked a fine line and been upvoted.

[Alexander Bennett]

I did not expect that from the item's name. That's an interesting idea.

[Monica Marlowe]

Alexander Bennett wrote:

mamaursula wrote:

It is getting super ugly in here. Voter fatigue is setting in and some of you need a break in the worst possible way. We're not solving world hunger or creating cold fusion here, this is a game and you're electing to play it. If you aren't having fun playing this game, please walk away, no one will know if you take the night off or the rest of the voting for the Top 32.

Neil Spicer even warned you, the words you type up and post here are seen by a lot of people, people that will pay you money to design gaming stuff. Do you really want prospective publishers seeing you act like this?

I know it's frustrating - how dare they not have formatted their item using the template; that is someone else's intellectual property; or the audacity of 15 people to have the same design idea, the very nerve of them! Well, no one is making you stay here to vote. This isn't your job. If you aren't enjoying yourself, please take a moment to figure out what the "you" problem is here and decide how to fix it.

You are all awesome people who bring great things to the conversation, please stop bringing the pointed vitriol and nearly rule breaking commentary about specific items to the boards. You can type whatever you like into the little blue box, but no one said you had to post it. Self censorship is a crucial skill.

Most of the negative comments ended awhile ago, most of the comments have gone to "These items again?" or "I swore I wouldn't vote for that, but now I have no choice!"

Yes, someone coming in and not knowing this is the venting thread might be insulted, but if they can't take criticism this isn't the contest for them (even if it's tongue-in-cheek criticism since we can't do anything more complex without mentioning the item).

Considering how you're snipping at other posters for trying to make light of the situation, maybe you're the one who need to take a step away from the thread.

I am not snipping at you, I'm trying to remind you that you are on stage here. If my words don't apply to you, then there is no reason to be concerned.

[Jeff Lee]

I really want to like this item, but the author forgot to give the basic stats before moving on to the cool mojo part. "This +# [type]," tacked onto the description would have been sufficient. Better luck next year.

[Alexander Bennett]

Mamaursula - you are also on a stage and you're not necessarily snipping at me. I'm talking more about James' comment and your response, which felt like you wrote and posted without realizing it was intended to be lighthearted (something I'd forgive more in person than online, but either way is a mood killer).

You now have a couple comments here complaining to the entire thread about how we're being inappropriate and insulting which is borderline abusive itself.

Leave the moderating to the moderators.

If you see something inappropriate, flag the post so it can be reviewed. I've yet to see someone from Paizo coming in here to warn us away or telling us we're getting too close to the line.