The Unofficial Top 32 Guildhall and Haunted House

[Crystal Malarsky]

Congratulations to my fellow Top 16 contenders. To those who didn't make it, you guys did amazing and offered truly inspiring work. This was such a hard round and everyone should be very proud of themselves for stepping up to the challenge. You're all superstars in my book :)

[Wren Brown]

Congrats to those who made Top 16! Looking forward to the monsters!

[william collins]

Congratulations, Top 16! I am honored—and dumbfounded—to count myself among you.

[Monica Marlowe]

Bring on the monsters!!!

[Rose Stack]

So, since I'm new to this position, maybe someone here can help me out with a question I have...

What do I do if I was looking over everyone's comments on the maps again, and I suddenly am overcome with another map idea???

[Jacob W. Michaels]

Sketch it up and save it for next year (or another project that it could work for during the year).

[Jarrett Sigler]

Save EVERY IDEA you have!

[Chris Shaeffer]

Hey everybody! It looks like we have a deserving top 16! Congratulations!

About things on my end:
I had an ill-timed business trip, so I didn't get to spend as much time as I would have liked on the entire map making process. I was already too invested in the map by the time I realized I was getting too visually detailed with not enough meat. It would have riled people's sensitivities to have a weird mix of artistic and crude, so I just kept going on the path I found myself on to make things look as good as possible.

I'm pretty relieved though. I'm still on my trip, and I would probably would not have had the time or resources to make a proper monster.

So thus ends the saga of Chris as an RPGSS contestant! I'll stick around and participate in discussion, but I'm going to try taking my time and designing well thought out content on my own from now on.

I have limited internet while I'm here, so I'll check back in on the 24th when I get back. I expect some good monsters! Good luck and fight on! :)

[Adam Daigle]

For the previous contestants: (Sorry current contestants, I'm not sure if responding would be against the rules or at least against decorum, so I ask that you refrain unless I hear otherwise from Owen.)

I'm getting ready to judge and review your monsters this weekend, and I was reviewing my judging method from the past couple of years. It got me wondering how it was received by y'all? For those that might not remember, I basically went through the item like I would be marking it up for further development, pointing out the things I'd fix while doing my normal job. I worried at some point that this method might hurt feelings, but I'm mainly wondering if it made sense to folks and if you found it helpful. I'd love to hear what y'all think.

[Jacob W. Michaels]

I thought your comments were both fair and helpful.

I really liked the conclusion about what it would take to develop the monster for print; I thought that got right to the core of what voters should be considering. I also liked your initial reactions to the names, since I think that's something that gave additional insight into how people react to our designs.

I think you were straight to the point, without being mean. Not sure what else a designer could ask for.

[Taylor Hubler]

I know you said you didn't want me to respond but I don't feel this relates to my entry directly.

I liked your comments. I found them helpful. Do more of that.

[Walter Sheppard]

I have a silly question, but one that will eat away at me if I don't throw it out there.

Rule #2 of Round 3 wrote:

Monster must be native to, and appropriate for, Golarion.

I can have an extraplanar creature as my entry, right? We're not talking about the "native" monster subtype, are we?

Apologies for the silly question, but I am a silly man. :P

[Anthony Adam]

I find your development process feedback extremely helpful and informative... Those of us not in the contest need feedback like this to learn from and so improve our own skills. I wouldnt fret about it Adam, I rather suspect its not much different to feedback you provide to in house designers and freelancers who submit their work to you, so we all need to be able to take such feedback on the chin and keep on working and learning.

[Mark Griffin]

Walter Sheppard wrote:

I have a silly question, but one that will eat away at me if I don't throw it out there.

Rule #2 of Round 3 wrote:

Monster must be native to, and appropriate for, Golarion.

I can have an extraplanar creature as my entry, right? We're not talking about the "native" monster subtype, are we?

Apologies for the silly question, but I am a silly man. :P

I read that line as no outsiders, but we'd need word from Owen to be sure.

[Walter Sheppard]

Would native outsiders be OK, I wonder...

[Jarrett Sigler]

I would interpret that as no outsiders, and no planar creatures what-so-ever.

So that's actually kind of a big restriction. That's neat! Good luck everyone!

[Mark Griffin]

Native outsiders seems okay? They could definitely be from Golarion. I'm not actually planning an outsider of any type, but it would be nice to see some official word on that for those that need it. Maybe PM Owen or put it in the round 3 rules thread.

[Charlie Brooks]

Hm...if the no outsiders speculation is the case, would that also preclude the use of fey? Do they count as Golarion natives or First World natives?

[Owen K. C. Stephens]

The rule is "Native to Golarion."
Use that as your guideline.

[Neil Spicer]

Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:

The rule is "Native to Golarion."

Use that as your guideline.

Now comes that crucial moment where a freelancer is faced with having to correctly interpret the guidelines as given by their developer. Yet another test in the crucible of RPG Superstar. ;)

[Jarrett Sigler]

Neil Spicer wrote:

Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:

The rule is "Native to Golarion."

Use that as your guideline.

Now comes that crucial moment where a freelancer is faced with having to correctly interpret the guidelines as given by their developer. Yet another test in the crucible of RPG Superstar. ;)

I love how this answers the question in such a way as that it makes SURE that the competitor knows exactly what's going on.

This is the kind of thing I would sweat over.

[Jeff Hazuka]

For what it's worth, as a voter, I'd say "ooh, neat outsider" and vote for it before I say "Cool monster, bro, but RAW IS LAW," and vote for something else.

[Isaac Volynskiy]

It's a DQ criteria I believe. I don't think the risk is worth it, but that's for each contestant to decide for themselves.

[Walter Sheppard]

Hah! I love that every round I've had a question like this. Looking forward to seeing the monsters folks have--wonder if any will be extraplanar :P

[Taylor Hubler]

Alright, I am going to take a break for next couple days. I will be playing some Splatoon, doing homework, dating my wife, napping, and learning the Star Wars: Edge of Empire system.

Good luck to everyone, I hope to have some really tough competition this round.

[Monica Marlowe]

Adam Daigle wrote:

For the previous contestants: (Sorry current contestants, I'm not sure if responding would be against the rules or at least against decorum, so I ask that you refrain unless I hear otherwise from Owen.)

I'm getting ready to judge and review your monsters this weekend, and I was reviewing my judging method from the past couple of years. It got me wondering how it was received by y'all? For those that might not remember, I basically went through the item like I would be marking it up for further development, pointing out the things I'd fix while doing my normal job. I worried at some point that this method might hurt feelings, but I'm mainly wondering if it made sense to folks and if you found it helpful. I'd love to hear what y'all think.

All feedback is valuable, I felt that your comments were politely presented and useful. Pointing out both things that you would change in developing and things that are good as they are is helpful for future monsters for Daigle :-)

[Robert Thomson]

Time to relax and take some time to breath.

Who am I kidding...time to brainstorm more encounter ideas and hope something fits whatever the rules for that round are in case I'm lucky enough to advance.

[Philip Tucker]

Question:

On the rules page it says, "Entries must be submitted through the submission tool at paizo.com/rpgsuperstar by 11:59 AM Pacific time on Thursday, September 17, 2015."

On the front page with the schedule however it says 11:59 PM.

Which is it?

[Isaac Volynskiy]

Philip, that is terrifying and I can't believe I didn't notice it earlier.
I would think that the submission deadline is standardized at PM, but I'm not willing to take that chance.

[Adam Daigle]

Thank you to the folks who answered my question upthread. It certainly helped me in tuning my judging approach again this year.

As for the deadline question Phillip asked, I'll make sure to point this out to Owen in the morning to get a clarification.

[Walter Sheppard]

Philip Tucker wrote:

Question:

On the rules page it says, "Entries must be submitted through the submission tool at paizo.com/rpgsuperstar by 11:59 AM Pacific time on Thursday, September 17, 2015."

On the front page with the schedule however it says 11:59 PM.

Which is it?

Noticed that too! Submitting by noon tomorrow :P

[Owen K. C. Stephens]

The deadline for round 3 will be 9/17/15 at 11:59 pm PST, as noted on the main page of the Superstar contest, and NOT 11:59 am PST, as noted in the official rules.

We apologize for the confusion, and feel using the later of the two deadlines is the only fair and equitable action.

[R Pickard]

I'm late in replying to you Adam, so I'm sorry I didn't help, but I want to agree I liked your specific feedback as well as general style of praise and critique.

[Taylor Hubler]

Wasn't there a post Owen made that previews the whole contest and gave little spoilers for each round? Am I remembering that wrong? I'm looking for anything that can help people know how to prepare for the next round.

[Jacob W. Michaels]

The only spoiler I recall about R4 was that the maps would be provided, though I could be forgetting something.

That could be one of the R2 maps, certainly, but could also be a flip mat or some other specific option (I still really liked the villain round where designers had to choose the appearance from a handful of avatar pics). Chances are the monsters will be from R3, but that's not always been true either.

[Isaac Volynskiy]

I'm guessing Round 2 maps for Round 4. Just a feeling.

[Robert Thomson]

Maybe it will be designing old school (Gygax style) and the challenge is how to create a logical encounter with 100 orcs in a 10x10 room?

[Isaac Volynskiy]

Robert Thomson wrote:

Maybe it will be designing old school (Gygax style) and the challenge is how to create a logical encounter with 100 orcs in a 10x10 room?

99 of the orcs are wall paintings by one very bored orc!

[Taylor Hubler]

It would be funny if everyone was assigned the same map to use. I don't think it would be a good idea, but I certainly would chuckle at the twist.

Too bad we can't go and look at the rules for past years. That would be pretty helpful in preparing for a future round.

[Philip Tucker]

Agreed. It's either hubris or precaution to want to start prepping for the 4th round, but I find that with my monster submitted my mind is already straying to encounters. Without parameters, though, it's a fruitless exercise.

[Jacob W. Michaels]

Philip Tucker wrote:

Agreed. It's either hubris or precaution to want to start prepping for the 4th round, but I find that with my monster submitted my mind is already straying to encounters. Without parameters, though, it's a fruitless exercise.

I'd not call it hubris; I'd say it's smart to plan ahead.

I'd be thinking not only about encounters but also about adventures as the latter especially will be upon you before you know it (note that you only have three days instead of the usual 10 this year, with the extra week now for R4 voting).

If you're not working on encounters, start brainstorming and outlining several possible ideas for adventures.

[william collins]

I just submitted my monster (this round was quite difficult for me), so I think I'll take a break from competition-related stress and return to good ol' school- and life-related stress.

For the weekend, at least.

[Jason Evans]

I've submitted! Now to watch some football and stress out about a different fantasy competition.....

[Charlie Brooks]

The worst part about the submission process is clicking that little "Submit" button and realizing you can't run back and change anything.

[Robert Thomson]

I click and forget. I make sure not to look back at any copies of my item/map/monster after submitting just so I won't agonize over something I find.

[Adam Daigle]

I've been reviewing submissions since they started coming in. I've been liking a lot of what I'm seeing. Good job everyone!

[Walter Sheppard]

Glad to hear Adam! Now back to my regularly scheduled life, and hopefully semi-regular sleep schedule.

[Adam Daigle]

Well, I haven't read *yours* yet...

*induces a bit of panic*

... I'm only up to the ones that came in before I left work today.

Just joking around, Walter. :) I'm sure your submission will entertain me. It's a monster, right. I love monsters.

Fun fact—the first monster submission came in on Tuesday. I bet myself $5 that the first submission would come in by the time I went to sleep on Monday... and I lost the bet.

[Mark Griffin]

When you lose a 5 dollar bet with yourself, where does the money go? Do you just set it on fire? If you win do you steal 5 bucks from Owen?

[Taylor Hubler]

I am looking forward to the judges comments on Monday!