RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Dedicated Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9
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Vote for the better item....Vote for the better designer.
Better designers make better items.
(If you can divine somewhat accurately whose maps or adventure pitches are going to rock, well congratulations, your mojo sense is better than mine. Monsters on the other hand, that's a wee bit easier because monsters and items have a lot in common. But still, it's mostly guesswork.)
That was somewhat tongue-in-cheek as I can barely detect mojo (let alone adventures, maps or monsters) in an item. I specifically used the negative, so one can honestly vote for one's item if they fail to see [awesome future]. :)
Dear Sword,
You have an amazing effect that is cinematic, visual, and really fun. You are expensive, but I'd buy you and make you my characters "schtik".
That said, you really really needed a workshop. Some of your sentences run like the foes facing down your mighty powers.
All snark aside, there are some really cool items entered this year. I've got 11 slots filled in my personal Top 32. I'm interested to see how my list compares to the actual winners.
I've got 20 items that I liked enough to write down, and that's longer than my keep list from last year.
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I'm at 9 I think.
I'm not as impressed this year as last year, but I think it's because the entries don't have the Rods, Staffs, Rings, etc.
Wondrous Items are okay I guess, but I like the other things better.
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Marathon Voter Season 9
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OK, I saw your name on the list of items when the voting first started, and I was hoping you'd be good. I finally saw you for the first time today...
...and you are excellent. You not only live up to your name, you also managed to surprise me with what you do, which perfectly fits your theme. I think I managed to cobble together a decent solid item this year, but you are better, easily so, and I dread a head-to-head vote off... because my item will lose. If you are not in the Top 32, then the spambots must have voted you down.
I'm curious, PM?
I'm curious, PM?OK, I saw your name on the list of items when the voting first started, and I was hoping you'd be good. I finally saw you for the first time today...
...and you are excellent. You not only live up to your name, you also managed to surprise me with what you do, which perfectly fits your theme. I think I managed to cobble together a decent solid item this year, but you are better, easily so, and I dread a head-to-head vote off... because my item will lose. If you are not in the Top 32, then the spambots must have voted you down.
I'm kinda curious now, too.
I'm kinda curious now, too.I'm curious, PM?OK, I saw your name on the list of items when the voting first started, and I was hoping you'd be good. I finally saw you for the first time today...
...and you are excellent. You not only live up to your name, you also managed to surprise me with what you do, which perfectly fits your theme. I think I managed to cobble together a decent solid item this year, but you are better, easily so, and I dread a head-to-head vote off... because my item will lose. If you are not in the Top 32, then the spambots must have voted you down.
Me too me too :D
Me too me too :DI'm kinda curious now, too.I'm curious, PM?OK, I saw your name on the list of items when the voting first started, and I was hoping you'd be good. I finally saw you for the first time today...
...and you are excellent. You not only live up to your name, you also managed to surprise me with what you do, which perfectly fits your theme. I think I managed to cobble together a decent solid item this year, but you are better, easily so, and I dread a head-to-head vote off... because my item will lose. If you are not in the Top 32, then the spambots must have voted you down.
well, if the cool kids are doing it
Just PM the person your request directly, guys.
Just PM the person your request directly, guys.
That's too much work! Couldn't you just PM him our requests and then PM his response back to us? It would certainly make it a whole lot easier for everyone involved, barring you.
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Oh Item, from the first time I saw you I knew you were dangerous! You have the moves, you have the footwork, you could go all the way.
You could be a contender.
You are definitely the most dangerous thing... Competition!
Gosh you make this fun, thank you excellent item designer. I would be shocked if we do not get to see your mapping skills.
Best of luck, and if we meet in the second round, :-).
Prepare for a battle!
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
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Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9
aka CalebTGordan
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Oh you. You have such a good name and a cool visual but you make me feel like the crazy subway ghost guy in the movie Ghost. Lamenting about how he can't use the cigarettes he so desperately want. If only your mechanics were better, I could use you.
Oh Item, from the first time I saw you I knew you were dangerous! You have the moves, you have the footwork, you could go all the way.
You could be a contender.
You are definitely the most dangerous thing... Competition!
Gosh you make this fun, thank you excellent item designer. I would be shocked if we do not get to see your mapping skills.
Best of luck, and if we meet in the second round, :-).
Prepare for a battle!
There's only a week left until my contract expires. Just gotta survive one week. Please don't kill me...
There are, like, some groovy items still in the running, man. I was just sizing them up with my ruler, and, like, woah! Dude, even my white teeth can't compare to their sparkle!
Those two items, though, they're far out, man. I really dig them.
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Hypothetical Ethical Question for the Contestants who vote.
Item A) Pretty good solid item.
vs
Item B) Your item. About equal stands with other item.Is this an acceptable (Nay I say, only real ethical time) to hit the bad shame-don't-do equally good or bad item?
I mean, voter bias is a thing here... And clearly one would be more inclined to vote for one's own item? Could we potentially use that button as a "My item is one of the two, so I don't feel comfortable voting." Button?
didn't want to start up another forum, I figured this would be the next best place?
I always go by the philosophy of "don't bet against yourself" although I never expected it to be quite so literal. On the one hand if you don't have enough confidence in your item to vote for it how can you expect other people to? On the other hand is one vote really going to make a difference? And if you do win do you want it to be because your item was the best or because you used strategic voting?
Stuff about ethical votingI always go by the philosophy of "don't bet against yourself" although I never expected it to be quite so literal. On the one hand if you don't have enough confidence in your item to vote for it how can you expect other people to? On the other hand is one vote really going to make a difference? And if you do win do you want it to be because your item was the best or because you used strategic voting?
The question more wasn't about the quality of the item: I will say my item is a significant improvement over last year's;
However there ARE items that are better.But more importantly: Should the fact that I wrote the item disqualify me in voting on it due to self interest.
The idea was to find out if there was a possible use for that dreaded third button that most everyone says DO NOT USE.
Which begs the question: why is it there?
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Stuff about ethical votingI always go by the philosophy of "don't bet against yourself" although I never expected it to be quite so literal. On the one hand if you don't have enough confidence in your item to vote for it how can you expect other people to? On the other hand is one vote really going to make a difference? And if you do win do you want it to be because your item was the best or because you used strategic voting?The question more wasn't about the quality of the item: I will say my item is a significant improvement over last year's;
However there ARE items that are better.But more importantly: Should the fact that I wrote the item disqualify me in voting on it due to self interest.
The idea was to find out if there was a possible use for that dreaded third button that most everyone says DO NOT USE.Which begs the question: why is it there?
It is there so sadistic people can force others to make the tough decisions and/or see the same joke items over and over and over.
Star Voter Season 8, Dedicated Voter Season 9
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Stuff about ethical votingI always go by the philosophy of "don't bet against yourself" although I never expected it to be quite so literal. On the one hand if you don't have enough confidence in your item to vote for it how can you expect other people to? On the other hand is one vote really going to make a difference? And if you do win do you want it to be because your item was the best or because you used strategic voting?The question more wasn't about the quality of the item: I will say my item is a significant improvement over last year's;
However there ARE items that are better.But more importantly: Should the fact that I wrote the item disqualify me in voting on it due to self interest.
The idea was to find out if there was a possible use for that dreaded third button that most everyone says DO NOT USE.Which begs the question: why is it there?
As always, for those who don't know how to differentiate or don't want to :-/
It is an easy exit, but it leads to the Dark Side of the Vote.Vote for the best item. Whether it is yours or not should not matter. Downvoting your item just because it is yours is no better than upvoting it for the same reason.
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Star Voter Season 8, Dedicated Voter Season 9
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This excellent anti-incorporeal item is an automatic Keep. Even better, it opens a whole new vista of potential variants I would welcome in my game. Indeed it makes me want to give one to my players just to see what they do with it. Really great job, mysterious designer.
Never thought I would add this kind of item to my list. But here it goes ;-)
Two new, good items paired up against each other. Choice wasn't that tough about which was better, but it was fun seeing some new items and having them both be strong. Thanks, culls.
And then back to the old standbys I've seen a half a dozen times each.
I saw you for the first time today. You are the least disgusting blood themed item I've seen. Complicated, but not vomit inducing. I approve.
Dedicated Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8, Dedicated Voter Season 9
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I've been curious about you ever since I first saw your name on the list.
And you were worth the wait. An interesting item that does a few things I didn't expect, and one of the very view teetering near the word limit that actually needed all those words.
Having said that, you are still a little bit too fiddly. I'd love to see what you would look like with streamlined mechanics and another editing pass.
My first new keep in a while, and a joyful upvote.
97 v. 106 words.
Not a single wasted one among them. Well done both.
To me that's a lot of wasted words. If I tell you a 6 page limit I expect 5 at least 5 if you give me 2 pages I'm scrambling.
Dedicated Voter Season 8, Marathon Voter Season 9
aka Jayson MF Kip
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To me that's a lot of wasted words. If I tell you a 6 page limit I expect 5 at least 5 if you give me 2 pages I'm scrambling.97 v. 106 words.
Not a single wasted one among them. Well done both.
I will politely disagree. I don't need three lines describing the color of the tassel beads, two detailing the stitching and three more detailing the runes along the blade.
Filling space with unimportant filler text gets an item nowhere. Tacking on seven loosely affiliated abilities also ruins an item for me. I understand your item is wolf-themed, even without referencing Pack Tactics, getting a bonus to trip, being activated by howling, growing a thin layer of white fur, granting you six teamwork feats (because you're a PACK!), summonning a van beneath you to go street surfing and causing the full moon to appear in the sky regardless of what time of day it is.
Respectfully disagree GM. Every word the publisher saves on crunch gives them more room for fluff, story, GM guidance and more crunch!
In a pay by word market, I want the tightest submission possible.
I guess the difference is in your wording. The contest didn't ask for 300 words. They asked for up to 300 words. Those 2 little words make a big difference.
To defend GM_SolSpiral, not that he can't. I think I can see where he's going with this. Please, correct me if I'm wrong.
GM_SolSpiral states that if he ASKS you for 6 pages, and he's trying to fill a book. He expects you as a writer, who is being tasked with writing, to fill those six pages.
The example he gave, "If you give me 2, I'm scrambling" indicates, that he is expecting you to produce content. The quality of said content can be argued, worked on, expounded upon, and cut as needed. But I suspect, if he is giving you a 6 page limit, with the expectation of 5. It's so he can place it into a book, that is already tight on page and word constraints, make room for images and possibly use back up material that's been sitting on the back burner.
I can, without much difficulty, see both sides of this argument.
This is where clear expectations between publisher, editor, writer and designer need to be clarified.
This is my humble opinion. My two-cents on the matter.
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Star Voter Season 8, Marathon Voter Season 9
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I've been curious about you ever since I first saw your name on the list.
And you were worth the wait. An interesting item that does a few things I didn't expect, and one of the very view teetering near the word limit that actually needed all those words.
Having said that, you are still a little bit too fiddly. I'd love to see what you would look like with streamlined mechanics and another editing pass.
My first new keep in a while, and a joyful upvote.
Might you be willing to share in a PM? Curious which wall of words you speak of.
Brevity is highly appreciated in any sort of writing, and almost everyone needs a good editor to produce their best work, but as a freelancer, I have to agree with Tothric here -- if someone asks you for a page, or 500 words, or whatever, then it's best to come as close to that as possible.
I'm not entirely sure if that applies to this contest, at least not directly. The best entries I've seen have been in the vicinity of 200 words -- less, and they often feel anemic, more and they tend to be confusing, verbose, or both.
As a developer/publisher I've had to deal with both overly wordy and overly concise. I prefer trimming to trying to coax more out of a writer personally. The latter always feels like hand holding.
Rule #1 of being a writer: WRITE.
Feel free to disagree.
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@GM_Solspiral: So if you gave a freelancer an assigment to write 2 pages (say 1,000 words) on magic items. Would you care if that 1,000 words was 1, 2, 4 or 10 items - as long as it was about 1,000 words?
I'd care about the word count and the quality of the submission.
For the purpose of the contest you have 300 words to show me who you are as a designer. If you make an item under a 100 words you REALLY should consider doing a different item that needs more word count.
Less is not always more and it's something I see people state a lot on these forums.
I think I remember reading (maybe from Mikko's blog) that a good rule of thumb is try to stay within 10% under of targets given by publishers. But, for this contest, use whatever word count is necessary within the limit. For an assignment try to be within 10% under.
Just remember that if go to either extreme for this co test then the voters (I know at least I) will be looking harder at the item. Too low and I'll be poring over it to see if it's I interesting. Too high and I'll be poring over to see if it's in need of editing or has tacked on too many powers or has attempted to handle something that shouldn't be in 300 words.
So as to not feed the tangent:
Dear _______, I have voted against you so many times. Until you grew on me. I don't know if it's Stockholm's but I see you as a unique snowflake. Or other thing, fluttering in the air. Well played. I haven't seen my own item but I have seen you no less than 30 times. Again, well played.
(Item's Wordcount Withheld because seriously, this is an interesting discussion but mayhaps it needs it's own thread rather than turning this into a Undoing Praise thread)
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My bad on the derail... Kudos to the designers that try to make mundane equipment interesting. It doesn't always work but it's a superstar move to try and spice up different areas of the game.
Ah you fancy footwear that isn't boots. I consistently vote you up, even though I think your success will shrink my success. All things being equal I should vote you down, but all things are never equal and that is because you are so much better. Nice work.
You get bonus points for using one of my favorite words in your name. Not that you need them: you're already my top pick for RPG Superstar and if you don't make the top 32 I will eat my own shoes in bewilderment.
Sure, they're camping items, but they are really good camping items.