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Look to the skies, for there are monsters coming!
Here Be Monsters III: From Beyond the Stars, the third season of the annual Pathfinder RPG monster design contest from Swords for Hire Development, begins Nov. 9!
We're calling on game designers to create a single monster with the theme "From Beyond the Stars" —Cthulhu-ian horrors, alien aberrations, despotic robot invaders or whatever your mind may envision. Entries will be judged by the Swords for Hire team, consisting of Paizo contributor Mikko Kallio, accomplished freelancer Jacob W. Michaels, and RPG Superstar Mike Welham.
The Top 5 entries will go on to be judged by special guest judge Adam Daigle, a Paizo developer who has designed and developed hundreds of Pathfinder monsters, before going on to a public vote to determine the grand winner.
In addition to invaluable feedback from Adam and the other judges, the Top 5 contestants will each receive copies of Swords for Hire's Villain Codex I: Foes for Fledgling Heroes and Villain Codex II: Adversaries for Advanced Heroes, published by Outland Entertainment; as well as any one PDF of a Legendary Games monsters product (Mythic Monsters or Beasts of Legend).
The grand prize winner will receive even more stuff! Our generous Third Party Publisher sponsors have agreed to provide the following:
* Legendary Games: A signed Mythic Monster Manual.
* Rusted Iron Games: PDFs of the Spooky Gardens: Autumn Special and Frozen Gardens: Winter Special.
* Zenith Games: A PDF copy of the Colossal Creatures Bestiary.
* And finally artist Hugo Solis has agreed to provide a sketch of the winning monster.
* Also, special thanks to sponsor Tommi Salama, who has again provided Here Be Monsters' contest logo.
Nov. 9: The contest begins NOW!
Nov. 26: Submissions are closed at 2 p.m. Pacific standard time. Our judges (Mikko Kallio, Jacob W Michaels, and Mike Welham) convene to determine the top 5.
Dec. 7: The top 5 entries are revealed along with comments from Adam, Mikko, Jacob, and Mike. Public voting begins.
Dec. 14: The voting ends and the winner is revealed shortly after!
Contest entries must adhere to the following rules.
* Your monster must be 590-610 words.
* Each entrant may submit one monster.
* Your monster must be designed for the Pathfinder RPG, and you must use the monster template (you can find it here for Microsoft Word or Open Office).
* Your monster entry must be appropriate for the contest theme From Beyond the Stars. (See the FAQ below for more details.)
* Your monster may not have class levels or templates.
* Your monster must be setting-neutral.
* Your monster's CR must be at least 1 and may not be higher than 20. Please note that you only have 600 words, and higher-CR monsters may eat up all your words with describing special abilities, which could leave you limited space for describing it.
* Your monster may use feats, spells, and other resources available in Paizo's Pathfinder PRD. Your monster may not, however, have mythic ranks.
* You must submit your monster via email to monster.design.contest@gmail.com before the deadline 2 p.m. PST Nov. 26. Include the monster's name in the subject line of the email.
Additional Judging Criteria
Following the guidelines presented below maximizes your chances of winning.
* Your monster's concept is something new and creative or puts an interesting spin on a classic theme.
* Your monster's name and read-aloud text are evocative.
* Your monster's stat block is correctly formatted. Use any recent Pathfinder RPG bestiary product published by Paizo as your style guide.
* Your monster's statistics are balanced against other creatures of the same CR. Refer to the Monster Creation chapter in the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary for instructions.
* Your monster has interesting new special abilities with reasonably simple and elegant mechanics.
* Your monster entry includes compelling lore about the monster which helps GMs use the monster in adventures and campaigns.
Q: Who's allowed to submit a monster?
A: Anyone! It doesn't matter if you've never made a monster before or if you're a well-known builder of beasts—you're eligible to enter. Also, the contest is international, so you're eligible to enter regardless of your location (PLEASE NOTE: International competitors may need to pay shipping costs for any print products they win in the contest).
Q: What kind of monsters are you looking for?
A: How you interpret the From Beyond the Stars theme is up to you; consider Iron Gods, Strange Aeons, and what is known about Starfinder at this point good sources for inspiration, though of course, the mechanics should be compatible with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the monsters should be setting-neutral, as mentioned in the rules (and below).
You may also get some insight from the judges' comments on previous monsters, which you can find at the A Sword for Hire blog. Mikko, Jacob, Mike W. and Adam all judged the top contenders of Here Be Monsters 2, while the original contest (you can find it in September 2014 in the older posts sidebar on the right side of the blog) featured Mikko and Jacob along with Mike Kimmel and Sean K. Reynolds as the judges.
Q: Can I set the monster in Golarion or another campaign setting?
A: No. We do not have the rights to use anyone's intellectual property. Monsters should be developed to be setting neutral.
Remember that Lovecraft's works are in the public domain, so references to mi-go or the starspawn of Cthulhu are fine, but references to creatures like Stargate SG-1's replicators are NOT.
Q: Where will my monster be published/shown?
A: The top 5 monsters will be revealed on Mikko Kallio's A Sword for Hire blog.
Q: Do I get to see the judges' comments if I don't make the Top 5?
A: Only comments on the Top 5 monsters will be revealed; Jacob typically offers to share his comments with any contestant who asks (this will happen AFTER the winner is revealed so as to not detract attention from the Top 5). Other judges may make the same offer.
Q: What happens with my monster after the contest?
A: We'll be using hold monster spells to keep your monsters contained for judging, but afterward we'll be releasing them back in to the wild (i.e. you keep all rights to your creations).
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Awesome. Looking forward to seeing it, Belabras.
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Yay, a new contest! Time to start brainstorming!
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...
* And finally artist Hugo Solis has agreed to provide a sketch of the winning monster. ...
Make that a large color illo ;)
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Oooo, and I have the perfect idea! Yip yip yip!
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Oooh, thanks, Hugo! (My apologies for getting that wrong; fixed now in the blog post.)
I've been in the sci-fi mood lately...
Monsters in spaceeeee!
After receiving a request, we've decided to allow Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Horror Adventures to the list of allowed sources, even though it's not on the PRD.
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{bumps like a creepy hissing from somewhere indistinct in the dimly lit ship corridor}
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I do love a contest...
Contributor
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I just discussed monsters with someone who'll probably also submit a monster, and I thought it's fair to share my advice here.
The contest announcement mentions Lovecraftian cosmic horrors (and Strange Aeons) as possible sources of inspiration. I wanted to note however that "space" and "from beyond the stars" are the theme this year, so if you create a monster that would feel at home in the Cthulhu mythos, make sure that it also fits the theme. In other words, the monster must be from space, from another planet, solar system, or galaxy. I suppose creatures built in this world using alien tech, or hybrids of aliens and terrestrial creatures would be ok, but don't stray too far from the theme of space.
For example, Deep Ones are very iconic monsters in the Cthulhu mythos, but they're aquatic monsters and have little to nothing to do with space or distant worlds beyond the stars. Mi-go, on the other hand, are decidedly extraterrestrial. So make sure that your monsters, too, have something in their write-up that makes them space monsters.
I hope that helps!
Hey all, if you can send your monsters in the body of your email -- not as an attachment -- I'd appreciate it (to those who've already sent it, don't worry about it).
If you do send it as an attachment, please do NOT send a .docx; my Microsoft Word strips random spaces out of such documents for some reason. Files in the .doc format are fine.
Thanks!
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I just sent my monster, and good luck to everyone else.
I've sent a monster as well, good luck to everyone! (Can't wait to see what people have submitted.)
Do you get a confirmation email once you submitted your monster? (Well, I didn't, but my email may bug sometimes...)
There is no automated email response. I typically send a thanks to let people know it's been received, but sometimes it takes me a little while (especially if I'm distracted with baking desserts and getting ready for the holiday). :)
Sorry to hear. I hope everything's OK.
For those still thinking of entering, you've got a little more than 24 hours left to get those monsters ready!
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I just submitted the winning entry... I don't mind showing its inspiration: AMAZING SPACE ALIEN
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2012
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I just submitted the winning entry... I don't mind showing its inspiration: AMAZING SPACE ALIEN
Strong keep! I don't care what Mikko and Jacob say.
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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I just submitted the winning entry... I don't mind showing its inspiration: AMAZING SPACE ALIEN
You, good sir, are mistaken! For my entry shall be the winningest one. After all, I watched Arrival on Thanksgiving Day and it gave me enough inspiration to surpass your tepid bid (whatsoever it may be). Good sci-fi movie inspiration trumps gag inducing sci-fi movie inspiration any day of the week...
Submitted! Was afraid I wouldn't finish in time, there was so much that had to be cut for the word limit.
I certainly wish Starflight was a bestiary mechanic that needed no further explanation.
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Yeah, I was surprised starflight wasn't in the UMR. I assume it will be once Starfinder is finished, but I guess we're not at that point yet.
Lots of entries pouring in in the last hours. Looks like I'm going to have a busy couple days going through them all.
Starflight speed varies from creature to creature, is one thing (that I discovered when looking it up)
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Lots of entries pouring in in the last hours. Looks like I'm going to have a busy couple days going through them all.
That's how it usually works, I guess. As I recall, in Season 1 and 2, more than 50% of the entries came in within the last 48 hours before the deadline. It looks like we'll get roughly the same number of monsters as in Season 2, which is very good.
I look forward to reading the 10 or so monsters I haven't read yet, and I think we'll get some interesting statistics on the monsters. We'll post CR, alignment, and type statistics on the blog within a few days.
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That was pretty darn fast!I'm finished with my reviews. Many of the monsters had spiffy space-themed abilities or flavor, and it was great to see how many different directions entries went with the theme.
All those years playing Sonic the Honey Badger finally paid off.
And now I'm done too. Now we need to get together and figure out which ones will make the Top 5.
From my initial glance at our spreadsheet, it looks to me like we've got nine in contention, with three almost certainly locks (meaning there are six monsters vying for the last two spots).
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For those of you who are into stats, here's a look at some of the details from the entries.
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Contributor
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For those of you who are into stats, here's a look at some of the details from the entries.
I'm into stats. And tables, as Jacob's blog post reveals. :D
Anyway, I think we've chosen our Top 5. Can't wait to see who designed the monsters!
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RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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For those of you who are into stats, here's a look at some of the details from the entries.
Tried to leave a comment on the blog post, but it keeps gettin' ate!
Surprised a couple phantoms were submitted...
I like their concept and think they are pretty cool.