There were a total of 57 pitches, and we've now narrowed them down to two dozen-ish that got at least one Keep or Weak Keep from us. We have few favorites that are almost certain to be included, but as Jacob said, it's going to be tough to select the ones we want to publish.
I don't have actual statistics yet, but I think the top 3 most popular classes were the mesmerist, alchemist, and very surprisingly, paladin. Rogues, bards, and clerics were also quite popular.
Glad to hear you guys are spoiled for choice! I've got my fingers crossed my pitch makes it through, but either way I'll be excited to see Villain Codex II as a GM.
RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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I ran some statistics, and the top three classes were actually rogue, bard, and cleric. Mesmerists, alchemists, and paladins were the 4th-6th most popular classes.
Picking a popular class might affect your chances of being selected, but if your pitch is very good, we'll do what we can to include your villain even if it's similar to another good pitch. That might involve some adjustments, such as changing the class to something slightly different or reworking some parts of the villain's description, but it's entirely normal that developers ask you to change something so it'll fit the product better.
We have 9-ish definite Keeps at the moment, but seeing that some people who submitted pitches have also made the top 32 in RPGSS, a slot or two may be freed up if those people decide to withdraw from this project.
I ran some statistics, and the top three classes were actually rogue, bard, and cleric. Mesmerists, alchemists, and paladins were the 4th-6th most popular classes.
Picking a popular class might affect your chances of being selected, but if your pitch is very good, we'll do what we can to include your villain even if it's similar to another good pitch. That might involve some adjustments, such as changing the class to something slightly different or reworking some parts of the villain's description, but it's entirely normal that developers ask you to change something so it'll fit the product better.
We have 9-ish definite Keeps at the moment, but seeing that some people who submitted pitches have also made the top 32 in RPGSS, a slot or two may be freed up if those people decide to withdraw from this project.
For the folks following at home / professional development, could you give a little insight into how you decide which pitches to include?
Whoa, dang, I wish I'd noticed this before now! Oh, well. Can't wait to see what you guys come out with!
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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For the folks following at home / professional development, could you give a little insight into how you decide which pitches to include?I ran some statistics, and the top three classes were actually rogue, bard, and cleric. Mesmerists, alchemists, and paladins were the 4th-6th most popular classes.
Picking a popular class might affect your chances of being selected, but if your pitch is very good, we'll do what we can to include your villain even if it's similar to another good pitch. That might involve some adjustments, such as changing the class to something slightly different or reworking some parts of the villain's description, but it's entirely normal that developers ask you to change something so it'll fit the product better.
We have 9-ish definite Keeps at the moment, but seeing that some people who submitted pitches have also made the top 32 in RPGSS, a slot or two may be freed up if those people decide to withdraw from this project.
I should probably write a reaaaally long blog post about it, but here's a short version:
1. Jacob and I read the pitches in the order they arrived and added all relevant info about the villains in a spreadsheet.
2. We also wrote some comments about the pitches, and added our votes/ratings. We had five categories: reject / weak reject / on the fence / weak keep / keep. Below are some of the things we looked at:
* Is he or she really a villain? (Or just a henchman or random bad guy?) Are his goals clear? Do his motivations make sense? Does his background explain his goals and motivations? Are the goals ambitious enough for his CR?
* Is he or she easy for the GM to include in an adventure? Does he have potential to be the main antagonist of a story (or just one combat encounter and that's it)?
* Is the background and other flavor text evocative? Does the pitch describe an interesting lair or other location that would be really cool to explore or fight in? Does he have interesting minions that the players enjoy fighting?
* Are the classes and other mechanics mentioned in the pitch likely to make the villain interesting both in and out of combat? Is the villain mechanically straightforward enough for most GMs to use? (Or does it involve a very complex combo of classes or abilities that may require many books and lots of prep time to use?)
* Is the quality of writing good, including grammar, spelling, flow of the text, and correct use of game terms? Does the author follow instructions and does the pitch include all the relevant information? (Or is the author likely to turn over a villain that takes forever to develop?)
* (Jacob, feel free to add any criteria you used.)
3. We sorted the villains. The ones with Keeps and Weak Keeps went to the top, Rejects sank to the bottom, and OTFs and villains with mixed votes stayed in the middle.
4. We started adding villains to our list of definite keeps which has two slots for each of the 6 CRs included in the product. The villains toward the top of the list were considered first, and any previously included villains affected our later choices, such as what classes, tropes/themes (e.g. pirates, nature boys, necromancers, urban villains, etc.), and combat roles we wanted to be represented. We discussed what adjustments would be necessary to include the villains we liked.
5. Some golden ticketing may happen if a villain really grabs me or Jacob despite overlapping themes or even if the other developer voted to Reject the villain.
That detailed enough?
Yeah, thanks! That's a great overview. I would love to read a reaaaally long blog post about it in the future, too.
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I'd say Mikko mostly hit the priorities I use as well.
For me, "Is he or she really a villain?" is a big one -- probably the main thing that gets me excited about a pitch regardless of all the other aspects. There's a difference between a villain and an antagonist or even just a cool NPC who may not be the nicest person. The latter two are important in a game, but this is a VILLAIN codex. The character's motivation plays a big role in that -- is it actively doing something villainous or are just sort of a nasty person? -- along with the other questions Mikko noted in his first point.
What else?
I think about how memorable the villains will be, plus how much of a chance with the players/PCs get to actually know his/her story. If the PCs are just going to encounter someone, kill him and never get to know the back story, what's the point of having all of it?
Lastly, crunch can be a big deciding factor. It won't take someone from a reject to a keep, but it might push a good pitch over the edge. The NPC Codex has every core class from levels 1-20, so to me having a straight core class build is less valuable for a GM (even though obviously there are plenty of different builds).
I get excited as a developer about pitches with classes where it's harder to find a ready stat block whenever I need it. Seeing something from the ACG or Occult Adventures adds more value, and we want these books to be as useful as possible. (As Mikko said, we'll sometimes ask you to make those changes -- we had a designer turn a villain pitched as a wizard for Villain Codex I into an arcanist, for example).
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As we noted, we had a lot of excellent submissions, but after careful consideration and a lot of back and forth, we've made our picks for the Villain Codex II.
Some of these details may change slightly in development, but please give your congratulations to (in order of their villains' CR):
* Nick Wasko (Minaela the Kelpie Queen, changeling witch)
* Chris Wasko (Ferracyr, elf wizard)
* Steve Johnson (His Eminence Nagasorko the Unblinking, nagaji mesmerist)
* Luis Loza (Bimsen Malfilex, tiefling skald)
* Robert Thomson (Rhikka Verminclaw, ratfolk alchemist)
* Matthew Morris (Julia "Foxglove" Apalla, halfling unchained summoner)
* James McTeague (Prof. Laeroth Rydel, elf occultist)
* Phoebe Harris (Gordakash Saltenclaw, dwarf cleric)
* Rep Pickard (Lucretia Tropin, human investigator)
* Thor Loutzenhiser (Madison Grand, elf psychic)
* Stephen Stack (Hanne Bullard, human paladin)
I'm happy to give feedback again to those who didn't get picked, but with all the submissions this time, I'm going to ask people to request it instead of just sending it to everyone. Please send me an email (motteditor at gmail) if you're interested; bonus points if you include your pitch again instead of making me search for it. It may take me a little while to get back to everyone, as I'm also trying to comment on Superstar entries and working on some other projects.
Congratulations! Some very weird-sounding combinations this time—I can't wait to see what comes up.
Congrats folks!
Congratulations! Looks like an awesome array of villains.
I'm glad we got a Paladin in there.
As we said earlier, there was clearly a lot of interest in a paladin villain and we wanted to respond to that. Stephen gave us one that we felt managed to live up to being a paladin and a villain at the same time, which is a very tricky feat.
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32
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As we said earlier, there was clearly a lot of interest in a paladin villain and we wanted to respond to that. Stephen gave us one that we felt managed to live up to being a paladin and a villain at the same time, which is a very tricky feat.
The key is to give your paladin villain the Very Tricky feat from Ultimate Scumbag. ;)
Yeah, but that's not OGL. *shakes head sadly*
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16
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Some of these details may change slightly in development, but please give your congratulations to (in order of their villains' CR):
* Nick Wasko (Minaela the Kelpie Queen, changeling witch)
* Chris Wasko (Ferracyr, elf wizard)
* Steve Johnson (His Eminence Nagasorko the Unblinking, nagaji mesmerist)
* Luis Loza (Bimsen Malfilex, tiefling skald)
* Robert Thomson (Rhikka Verminclaw, ratfolk alchemist)
* Matthew Morris (Julia "Foxglove" Apalla, halfling unchained summoner)
* James McTeague (Prof. Laeroth Rydel, elf occultist)
* Phoebe Harris (Gordakash Saltenclaw, dwarf cleric)
* Rep Pickard (Lucretia Tropin, human investigator)
* Thor Loutzenhiser (Madison Grand, elf psychic)
* Stephen Stack (Hanne Bullard, human paladin)
Wanted to find out how many of the authors will be at GenCon this year? Also, interested in the same info on Ger Curti and Pedro Figue. And of course, most of all, any chance Jacob and Mikko will be there?
I believe Mikko will. I will not unfortunately. Not enough vacation days. :(