Ugh. Okay, egregious grammar mistakes will get you thrown out. Egregious spelling mistakes are even worse. Spell check exists, and it is not hard to put your item into Word before posting. Heck, most browsers have built-in spell check these days.
I am a trained copy editor and this is going to give me an aneurysm.
I am going "rule of cool" first. I am interested in what the idea is and whether it wow's me. Then readability. Formatting is a tie breaker. Price doesn't concern me so much cause that is something that can be learned.As "rule of cool" is frequently used as a cheap excuse to either break rules, or break balance, it gets little truck with me.
For me, rule of cool is used as a tie-breaker between two otherwise well-built items.
I understand what you are saying, but I really think you didn't understand me. When I say "rule of cool", I am not talking about power level at all. I am looking for submissions that made me feel like I did when I was 8 years old and my brother described an ogre charging my character for the first time. I am not looking at the submissions as finished products. I am looking at them to see who can make me say "Wow". An editor can help a new designer to follow the rules. An editor cannot help a designer have an amazing imagination.
How finished the submission is, is the tiebreaker for me.| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I think I'm alone here but if your item isn't formatted properly (no bold, italics, pieces missing such as cost or slot) I don't even read it. To me that says you didn't read the rules and submit what was asked which does not make for a good designer. Next I look to make sure that the item uses terms that actually exist in the game, after that I look for cohesive theme and symmetry. At that point I pretty much always have a winner.
I think I'm alone here but if your item isn't formatted properly (no bold, italics, pieces missing such as cost or slot) I don't even read it. To me that says you didn't read the rules and submit what was asked which does not make for a good designer. Next I look to make sure that the item uses terms that actually exist in the game, after that I look for cohesive theme and symmetry. At that point I pretty much always have a winner.
I don't disagree with you, and I think following the rules is important, but I guess I personally am looking for the inspiration that makes the rules feel awesome.
I think I'm alone here but if your item isn't formatted properly (no bold, italics, pieces missing such as cost or slot) I don't even read it. To me that says you didn't read the rules and submit what was asked which does not make for a good designer. Next I look to make sure that the item uses terms that actually exist in the game, after that I look for cohesive theme and symmetry. At that point I pretty much always have a winner.
It doesn't matter how awesome your item is, if there was no to minimal attempt at formatting it won't make the top 32, so why should I vote for something that has no chance of winning.
I think I'm alone here but if your item isn't formatted properly (no bold, italics, pieces missing such as cost or slot) I don't even read it. To me that says you didn't read the rules and submit what was asked which does not make for a good designer. Next I look to make sure that the item uses terms that actually exist in the game, after that I look for cohesive theme and symmetry. At that point I pretty much always have a winner.
You are not alone, but I read them if an attempt at formatting was made.
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
,
Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9
aka Boxhead
|
I'll give people the benefit of the doubt on formatting, and assume they used Word or something and are new to the boards. BBC code may be second nature to some people, but not all. This goes double with the short entry window this year. People might have assumed bold and italics would just copy over (like they do in virtually every other day-to-day task people do on computers these days.)
Missing parts of the template goes much worse, in my eyes. Not using the template at all (or using the Ultimate Equipment template) will be dinged severely.
When i say formatting I don't just mean bold and italic. I also mean things like aura, cl, etc are on there own lines, when they put a whole line of dashes between sections, putting in arms & armor. The sort of stuff that tells me you didn't look at the template or attempt to make it from the core rulebook.
How long is it? I've noticed an inverse relationship between length and awesomeness this year. Also the longer it is the more formatting issues I've noticed.
Is the formatting close? Alright formatting is super important but this is the internet and things happen. I'm not going to fail someone just for an HTML screw up.
Does the item work? Cool ideas are alright but if your item shows you have no clue how the base mechanics of the game work you are a pass -- we've had too much of that stuff happen already in the hobby.
Is the item well written? I'm not an English major but if your spelling makes me winch, and your grammar is atrocious you are going to get a pass.
Is the item made correctly? If you have a sword of magic missile and it requires grease to make it I'm going to be confused.
Is the item flat out cool? If so you can get a pass on some of the above.
How long is it? I've noticed an inverse relationship between length and awesomeness this year. Also the longer it is the more formatting issues I've noticed.
I've noticed no such relationship. The majority of extremely short entries seem to be below average. The same can be said for many of the longer entries. Those in the middle also run a gamut. I think it's less about word count and more about structure and flow.
Some longer entries seem like stalling walls of text. Others I can read through without hesitation. That's a definite sign of writing quality.
How long is it? I've noticed an inverse relationship between length and awesomeness this year. Also the longer it is the more formatting issues I've noticed.I've noticed no such relationship. The majority of extremely short entries seem to be below average. The same can be said for many of the longer entries. Those in the middle also run a gamut. I think it's less about word count and more about structure and flow.
Some longer entries seem like stalling walls of text. Others I can read through without hesitation. That's a definite sign of writing quality.
Yeah the extremely short aren't 'better' it's just the really long ones aren't either.
There have been some really nice long ones, but I yeah, I don't need a full wall and description of how the item is supposed to be made, or a break down on what it is called in a specific culture of a specific world.
I mean if it's a single line and quick I don't mind it but get to the item.
The "sweet spot" on text seems to be between 120~180 words. Though of course some are longer and some are shorter.
And the point that I fought so much at first, everything is relative.
I'll give people the benefit of the doubt on formatting, and assume they used Word or something and are new to the boards. BBC code may be second nature to some people, but not all. This goes double with the short entry window this year. People might have assumed bold and italics would just copy over (like they do in virtually every other day-to-day task people do on computers these days.)
Missing parts of the template goes much worse, in my eyes. Not using the template at all (or using the Ultimate Equipment template) will be dinged severely.
I am similar.
How long is it? I've noticed an inverse relationship between length and awesomeness this year. Also the longer it is the more formatting issues I've noticed.I've noticed no such relationship. The majority of extremely short entries seem to be below average. The same can be said for many of the longer entries. Those in the middle also run a gamut. I think it's less about word count and more about structure and flow.
Some longer entries seem like stalling walls of text. Others I can read through without hesitation. That's a definite sign of writing quality.
Yeah the extremely short aren't 'better' it's just the really long ones aren't either.
There have been some really nice long ones, but I yeah, I don't need a full wall and description of how the item is supposed to be made, or a break down on what it is called in a specific culture of a specific world.
I mean if it's a single line and quick I don't mind it but get to the item.
The "sweet spot" on text seems to be between 120~180 words. Though of course some are longer and some are shorter.
And the point that I fought so much at first, everything is relative.
Agreed.
A lot of the longer entries that are like that are disregarding advice that SKR gave in the early years of RPG Superstar. It's about the item, not the backstory. No one cares about the trials and travails of some wizard who created the first of these items. They care about the item, and what it does.
If a longer item is longer because the item has some complex mechanics that need to be explained, then I'm all for it.
I also don't need apologies, voting pitches, or explanations of the materials and how the base mundane item works. Just give me a description, then tell me what the item does.
I agree with everyone else on the formatting though. My main concern with that is:
1. Are the proper fields in the proper places?
2. Are the fields filled properly?
The correct use of bold or italics are good, but as said above by others I'm not going to kill someone over BBC code unless I have to.
Though in the "mental points" of one over the other if I'm having trouble and your item is fully and correctly formatted and the other person's isn't you probably just got the pass.
On grammar and the rules:
It's less of if I like the mechanics or think your use is balanced and more of, "does this person get how these specific mechanics are used, and is the use of this item going to require more paperwork than it is worth?"
If you say, "If the victim passes a reflex save with a DC of 12 the damage is halved" compared to "A reflex save (DC 12) halves the damage" tells me the same thing. I might like the second one better but hey I know the first person also understands the rules. The grammar and formatting of such phrases matter, but not as importantly as being sure to include all the needed information.
I'd say that I do see a relationship between length and potential. On both ends though...there is a sweet spot for me of around 200-230 words that seems to be the best. Of course there are exceptions but definitely the 80/20 rule applies.
The really short ones end up being SiaC while the longer ones often have a lot of excess backstory.
I think these types of items are bound to at least a middle length, you need to tell me what the item is (i.e. +1 frost longsword) before you can tell me how this one is special (i.e. also hurls icicles at foes [stats for icicles]).
Huh. I should have submitted that...
-X
(1) I forgive a few errors, but downvote if it's too riddled with errors, unless the item on the other side is sillier (see (3) below).
(2) If it's an option I'd like to see in play, especially one that gives characters choices (not necessarily "power", but "choice") then I'm all for it.
(3) If the item has too many powers or feels like it is trying skirt a rule, then I usually downvote it - I'll usually do this even if the other object isn't really that great. Because like some guide somewhere said - if everybody wants it, it's too good.
-CS
(I also downvote anything that I would not want to adjudicate at the table. That's actually my biggest reason to say "no". On the other hand, if it's something that feels more like story and less like power, that's my biggest "yes").
(3) If the item has too many powers or feels like it is trying skirt a rule, then I usually downvote it
-CS
I like this point - I get disappointed when I read an item that looks like it is clearly just trying to get around an obstacle a GM or writer designs into an encounter. Its a bummer as a GM when the party breezes through something you put a lot of time and effort into, but it happens occasionally. But when they can just spend X gold on an item of "bypass the GM's designed encounter", that's just annoying.
I'm finding my voting habits beginning to shift to be less tolerant of improper formatting. If I can't answer a question at a glance for one item, but I can for the other, my vote seems to be go to the easy item more often.
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
...you need to tell me what the item is (i.e. +1 frost longsword) before you can tell me how this one is special (i.e. also hurls icicles at foes [stats for icicles]).
Huh. I should have submitted that...
-X
Do you wanna build a snowsword?
Would you use it when you play?Don't know where in the world you are,
But for Superstar
The deadline was Tuesday!!!!!
I do not care how "awesome" your item is. I do not care about its history or how many spell effects you can cram into one thing. I do not care about the rules you made up to accommodate the effect you wanted. I do not care about your item that costs way more than its effect is worth (even if you calculated it perfectly and legally). I do not care about your item that costs WAY too little for what it does (there are WAY too many armors in the 10-15k range with amazing continuous effects).
I basically look for the following:
1) Do you know the rules of the game you want to design for? I don't mean "Oh, this should really be 7th level" or "you accidentally halved the base weapon cost, too" I mean stuff like "I'm making up spells!"
2) Do you understand how the game you want to design for is balanced? No perfection needed, but a low cost item that can raise the dead or steal souls or something is insane.
3) Is your item actually usable? Does it fill a useful niche? If someone found it, would they end up just selling it? If they saw it in a store, would they actually buy it?
4) Can you write in English? I'm not going to pick on a spelling error or two, or misplaced commas, but if I have to concentrate to understand what you typed, that's a problem.
5) Simplicity! If you can fit your awesome idea in 100 words, I'm much more impressed than if it took you 300.
6) Bonus points if your item actually solves a real problem in the game. For example, if your item makes Rogues more awesome, that's a plus. If Monks using it actually get their advertised mobility, I'm on board. If your sling or crossbow makes me as useful as an archer, I'd vote for you in a second.
Overall, I think I'm much too picky, because I've seen no items that made me say, "YES! I love this!" I've seen only a scant handful of pairs where I was voting for the better item--the vast majority of the time, I was voting for the (slightly) less bad item.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I'm actually feeling a preference for items that exceed 100 words compared to items below 100 words. Often, with the less than 100 worders, I feel I get either a spell-in-a-can, a something that already exists, a something I can literally put together in 10 seconds or just generally a something that really ought to have gotten the extra attention of going to at least half the allowed word count.
Oh, there's great items at under 100 words. But they are rare and not really symptomatic of great writing so much as of brief writing.
Not that I haven't voted on less than 100 word items.
On the other hand, 290+ words items get me looking for things that are OBVOIUSLY missing, because they might have been combed ruthlessly rather than going over word count and in the process have deleted vital information, which would significantly annoy me. I nearly did this in my own before a thorough edit changed it.
Also, I'm not too fond (oddly) of items that use Latin or Greek specifics. I get this "just because I understand that word, it doesn't mean that half of everyone else will - and is it really appropriate to use it on a fantasy setting? Couldn't you have gone through the effort of finding one that is just a touch more neutral?". This hasn't decided any votes (yet), but it has made me feel annoyed with items that I kind of wanted to like.
Oh, and I'm subconsciously distinguishing between good and bad use of rhetoric devices. Bad rhetoric devices feel forced (typically overdone alliteration or rhyming attempts go here - especially if the word do not actually alliterate or rhyme correctly). Good ones make me smile and want to go read some Cicero. That's a good thing. Bad for my voting dedication, but good for reading more Latin, which means mostly good. And unlike many, I don't see any problem with elegant rhetorics.
Names are also increasingly decisive. A bad name has decided more than one vote for me. I just don't like bad names.
RPG Superstar 2015
,
Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9
aka mamaursula
|
Generally the items lacking formatting aren't as creative as those with. But with that said I've voted for the more creative item even though it lacked [b] and [i] formatting. Formatting can be corrected, creativity isn't so easy to teach.Now not following the template is a more egregious action, and that usually gets the opposing item up voted
I am surprised by the number of items that do not have bold or italics this year.
It's like it's testing me to see how much I don't like things I don't like...
Since it's come up so many times now, I feel like I'm really being asked to sort my priorities for "bad" a lot. I've decided that this means I should be more forgiving in any area that isn't "the game mechanics".
Well remember we are just 'weighing' the list -- the judges are still going to go through and do what they do.
Any time I get to the point where I'm like, "Yuck" I remind myself that it's not the end of the judgement (or even really the beginning) and step out for a bit.