
![]() |

Thomas LeBlanc wrote:I just had 2 items I couldn't decide which I liked more. The deciding factor was a single comma italicized in the requirements.... and we all worriedly hurry to check our saved item submission documents to make sure we didn't accidentally italicize our commas...
Whew. Wasn't me. :)
No need to worry anyway, both have received many upvotes prior.

![]() |
4 people marked this as a favorite. |

frank gori RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Marathon Voter Season 9 aka GM_Solspiral |

frank gori RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Marathon Voter Season 9 aka GM_Solspiral |

frank gori RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Marathon Voter Season 9 aka GM_Solspiral |

frank gori RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Marathon Voter Season 9 aka GM_Solspiral |

frank gori RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Marathon Voter Season 9 aka GM_Solspiral |

GM_Solspiral wrote:Just had a thought... my almost ran item's doppelganger might make top 32. if that happens I'm going to never stop kicking myselfUnless you make top 32 as well. :)
That would almost be like winning twice... It's really the same darn item if I ran it thru a few more edits.

Cthulhudrew Star Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 |

Now here's a perfect storm on hard mode - can you assemble a Top 32 of items from all different types and slots, to be wielded and worn by a single character to epitomize a single theme...?
I can think of a suit of armor, a shield, a weapon, and a rod that would work together along one theme. I'm sure I've seen at least one staff that would probably fit, but I'm not so sure about a ring.

![]() |
2 people marked this as a favorite. |

mamaursula wrote:That is where I'm at on a mini-scale on the way to Marathon.sigh I am somewhere deep in the over 2500 votes but I don't keep track, so I have no idea where I am, but now I feel driven to get to Champion.
~excerpt from "Confessions of a Nerd"
You can make it to Marathon! You just have to vote for 8 hours over the weekend! You can do it! You're half way there!

Eric Morton RPG Superstar 2009 Top 16, 2012 Top 32 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Marathon Voter Season 9 aka Epic Meepo |

Drejk |

Drejk wrote:Gary, are you sitting by the server's console chuckling at our feeble attempts to vote?Gary insists that it's all random, but I think he's inadvertently put us on the path to Skynet.
Has anyone actually seen Gary recently anyway? You know, not through internet avatar that might be under the server's control anyway?

![]() |

Feros Champion Voter Season 6, Champion Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Champion Voter Season 9 |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |

Cleanthes wrote:Is it okay to talk about stuff and reveal authorship after voting closes, or do we have to wait until the results are revealed?NO NO NO DON'T DO THAT! You have to wait until the Top 32 is revealed on the 20th, you could disqualify yourself. (Sorry, didn't mean to scream.)
Yes you did. Just admit it and you will feel better. :)

Feros Champion Voter Season 6, Champion Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Champion Voter Season 9 |

Feros Champion Voter Season 6, Champion Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Champion Voter Season 9 |

Feros Champion Voter Season 6, Champion Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Champion Voter Season 9 |

Feros Champion Voter Season 6, Champion Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Champion Voter Season 9 |

Feros Champion Voter Season 6, Champion Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Champion Voter Season 9 |

Feros Champion Voter Season 6, Champion Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Champion Voter Season 9 |

Feros wrote:Ever read Asimov's The Machine That Won The War?quibblemuch wrote:Surprisingly that was how I settled the matter. :)Feros wrote:AHHHH! Keep vs. Keep! I hate when that happens!Time to resort to numismal binarian arbitration?
Yes, a long time ago. :)

Feros Champion Voter Season 6, Champion Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Champion Voter Season 9 |

quibblemuch Dedicated Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8 |

My only concern is all the talk about "pit crews".
If I know the name of all my friends items, and we are rolling 10 deep, that's a circle of 10 people each voting for our friends items over and over when they pop up.
Meh. I'm pretty sure the randomness and overall voter pool size contrive to mitigate any effect of something like that.
To give you some idea, both years I've entered, none of the people who knew which item was mine even saw it, in the entire voting period. I gather this is not anomalous. I'd crunch the likely probabilities, but I'm feeling lazy.
(In addition to a Gaming Intern to vote according to my criteria till I reach Champion, I apparently also need a Math Intern to solve these kinds of problems.)

Clay Clouser RPG Superstar 2014 Top 32 , Star Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Marathon Voter Season 9 aka Ixxix |

quibblemuch Dedicated Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8 |

My only concern is all the talk about "pit crews".
If I know the name of all my friends items, and we are rolling 10 deep, that's a circle of 10 people each voting for our friends items over and over when they pop up.
Also - you have 10 friends? Like, real ones and stuff? Are you, like, a celebrity or something?
:)

Feros Champion Voter Season 6, Champion Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Champion Voter Season 9 |

My only concern is all the talk about "pit crews".
If I know the name of all my friends items, and we are rolling 10 deep, that's a circle of 10 people each voting for our friends items over and over when they pop up.
Well, for example, I now have to choose between mamaursula's item and one of my keeps.
...
I'm thinking...

Feros Champion Voter Season 6, Champion Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Champion Voter Season 9 |

Feros Champion Voter Season 6, Champion Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Champion Voter Season 9 |

Jacob W. Michaels RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Dedicated Voter Season 9 aka motteditor |

Quibblemuch is right. I've voted more than 1,000 times and seen my item twice. I've seen one of my crew's item maybe a dozen times, but most I've seen only once or twice.
Also, to be completely honest, it's not an automatic vote. Granted, the fact that I have the person looking at my own item means I respect their opinion, which means their item will probably be strong, but if I like the other item, I'll vote for it. It definitely happened this year.
And as I recall, per the stats last year, even the Champion voters didn't have *that* much influence on the voting. Plus, the most the voters can do is get something in the top tier where judges look at it. It's still on the judges to decide whether something's good enough to be in the Top 32.

![]() |

My only concern is all the talk about "pit crews".
If I know the name of all my friends items, and we are rolling 10 deep, that's a circle of 10 people each voting for our friends items over and over when they pop up.
As long as they didn't design the items by committee...
As long as that group of friends didn't all hit Champion voter, there shouldn't be much of an effect. The judges still have the final vote.

Feros Champion Voter Season 6, Champion Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Champion Voter Season 9 |

Quibblemuch is right. I've voted more than 1,000 times and seen my item twice. I've seen one of my crew's item maybe a dozen times, but most I've seen only once or twice.
Also, to be completely honest, it's not an automatic vote. Granted, the fact that I have the person looking at my own item means I respect their opinion, which means their item will probably be strong, but if I like the other item, I'll vote for it. It definitely happened this year.
And as I recall, per the stats last year, even the Champion voters didn't have *that* much influence on the voting. Plus, the most the voters can do is get something in the top tier where judges look at it. It's still on the judges to decide whether something's good enough to be in the Top 32.
This. I have seen mamaursula's item about nine or ten times through my voting. I usually vote it up because it is well made. But there are occasions where I vote the other way.
Those of us who can vote a lot and do tend to take our voting very seriously and try not to let loyalties cloud our judgements. So we aren't voting as a block and even then we couldn't change the overall opinions of the voters. This system has been designed to keep that sort of ballot stuffing from happening.

Nickolas Floyd RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka Phloid |

My only concern is all the talk about "pit crews".
If I know the name of all my friends items, and we are rolling 10 deep, that's a circle of 10 people each voting for our friends items over and over when they pop up.
I expressed my concern about this on another thread as a possible negative of such a deep cull. I can't say if it is truly a concern, but the judges and the number crunchers on the other side of the screen might be able to glean this information. I'd like to think that most voters would vote on on the merits of the design and not personal bias, but voters are human. I'd likely give preference to a friend's item and I'm sure I would for my own. Will this effect the items at the top? I don't know, but it is something to look into and if seems like it might have had an effect, avoid culling more than half of the entries in one shot in future years.

frank gori RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Marathon Voter Season 9 aka GM_Solspiral |

Thunderfrog wrote:My only concern is all the talk about "pit crews".
If I know the name of all my friends items, and we are rolling 10 deep, that's a circle of 10 people each voting for our friends items over and over when they pop up.
As long as they didn't design the items by committee...
As long as that group of friends didn't all hit Champion voter, there shouldn't be much of an effect. The judges still have the final vote.
My crew was really strict, comments only no changing text or writing suggestive text.
I tend to favor my crew but it's also a situation where they are all very good designers. I've seen their items across multiple personal keep lists. Bear in mind even 10 Marathon+ voters are a ripple in the pond compared to the overall number of votes.
If prior years remain indicative of the voting we're looking at a small minority that post and even achieve beyond star voter

quibblemuch Dedicated Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8 |
14 people marked this as a favorite. |

Those of us who can vote a lot and do tend to take our voting very seriously and try not to let loyalties cloud our judgements. So we aren't voting as a block and even then we couldn't change the overall opinions of the voters. This system has been designed to keep that sort of ballot stuffing from happening.
HYPERBOLE THEATRE PRESENTS: THE VOTING CABAL
"Thank you all for coming. As you know, RPGSS starts tomorrow."
"Brubarubarubaruba!"
"Settle down, settle down. Now we've all shared items and we know whose is whose. What I need each of you nine friends to do is spend the equivalent of a 30 hour a week job over the next month clicking voting buttons in the hopes of randomly seeing a fellow Cabal member's item and upvoting it."
"Brubarubarubaruba!"
"Quite. As you know, using your annual holiday to sit in front of a computer screen clicking one of two buttons for hours on end will ensure an slightly greater than average chance that at least one of the Cabal's items will, through nepotistic voting, rise an increment or two in the overall rankings."
"Bruabrubarubaruba!"
"Indeed! Our masterful plan could then marginally affect the judges' opinions of said item, leading to it receiving an immeasurably smaller advantage over the general non-Cabal pool of items, when time comes for selection of the Top 32!"
"MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
*curtain*

Feros Champion Voter Season 6, Champion Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Champion Voter Season 9 |

Feros Champion Voter Season 6, Champion Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Champion Voter Season 9 |

frank gori RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Marathon Voter Season 9 aka GM_Solspiral |

Feros Champion Voter Season 6, Champion Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Champion Voter Season 9 |