Impatiently Waiting

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Best of the beasts

With their Round 2 work done 10 days ago, the Superstar competitors have been focused on monsters for a while now. Even if they don't know the exact rules, they should have been practicing, and coming up with ideas for Round 3.

For the rest of us, though, now that voting on the maps is over and the Top 16 to be revealed shortly, it's time to turn out attention that way ourselves.

Monsters have long been a staple of Superstar, having apparently permanently supplanted villains in 2012 (which makes sense; while villains are also a staple of gaming, constructing an NPC with class levels isn't quite as challenging as making a monster from scratch). That means there are a lot of monsters to look back at.

The Monsters are Coming

RPG Superstar's round 2 map-only challenge is a great way to display, assess and judge the creative talents of the contestants. Those following the contest already know that conceiving and presenting an interesting location in a clear and concise fashion is a critical component of putting together a great module. And, as a voter, it's fun to visualize and imagine adventuring in the cool surroundings and environments submitted by the contestants.

That being said,

Map keys

One of the interesting things whenever RPG Superstar introduces a new round (which has happened a lot for Round 2, with the challenge including archetypes, organizations and now maps) is the sense of the unknown.

For the challengers, while they've certainly seen maps from encounter rounds and published works, there's no sense of scope of what the maps will look like. Garrett Guillotte wrote a great blog post about the type of maps we can expect, but no one knows for sure. I think a contestant would be taking a huge risk by mapping out Arcadia, for example, but it could pay off. Still, I'm expecting largely location/encounter maps, at a scale where combat can occur.

Even for the voters, there's a sense of unknown in terms of what we're looking for. After years of designing magic items, for example, voters have internalized some of the past critiques: Joke items aren't going to do well, keep history out of your magic items, etc. etc. Here, I honestly don't know exactly what maps are going to earn my votes.

I do know it won't be based on artistic talent. I've posted my concern that that's what people will base their decisions on (in part because I know I have no artistic talent, but I've never had complaints about my own map turnovers). Maps have to be a lot of things, but it's the cartographer's job to make them look like they do in the final products; it's the freelancer's job to make something the cartographer can make into a piece of art.

Consider this post that former Superstar host Sean K. Reynolds made back in 2010, to show contestants what he expected for the maps. Look at his A- map. Are you back? Consider, that's an A- map. Now, SKR notes it wasn't A- for content, which is of course what we should be largely judging on, but I want to keep in mind that this is RPG Superstar, not Cartography Superstar. Just because someone makes a map that looks as good as Pedro Coelho's doesn't mean they're guaranteed my vote.

So what will I be looking for when the maps are revealed?

Notes on judging Round 3

Round 3 is fast approaching, and I've started planning how I intend to review the 16 monster entries. Below is a sort of a checklist I'm going to use, though of course it doesn't cover everything, just the most obvious things. So don't be surprised if I comment on something not specifically mentioned below.

Missed Shot

Now that the top 32 have been revealed in RPG Superstar, I know I missed my shot. Am I disappointed? Yes. Am I upset? No. Why?

Congratulations, Superstar

After weeks of writing, voting and finally waiting, the Top 32 will be revealed today. For those of you who don't make it, please remember to stay involved in the contest. For those of you who do, here's some of my best advice:

Interview with a Champion Voter: Azouth

And here's the last of the six Champion Voter interviews: Azouth!

Interview with a Champion Voter: William Ward

The fifth Champion Voter I'm interviewing is William Ward. Like myself, he's a member of the Freelance Forge, a community of freelance designers.

Map-making advice: The one-look principle

I originally intended to write a three-part series about map-making. In fact, I nearly finished the second part and meant to post it before the top 32 reveal in RPG Superstar. But then it dawned on me, there's one single piece of advice that in my humble opinion trumps any other advice I could give.

Interview with a Champion Voter: William Adley (WinterWalker)

The fourth Champion Voter interview is with William Adley, who's known as WinterWalker on the boards.

Interview with a Champion Voter: Thomas LeBlanc

Today's interview is with Thomas LeBlanc, who was one of the Top 32 finalists in 2012, when Jacob W. Michaels (one of A Sword for Hire's writers) and myself were also finalists. Like Feros, whom I interviewed the other day, Thomas is one of the very few three-time Champion Voters.

Interview with a Champion Voter: Feros

This time I interviewed one of the few triple Champion Voters, who goes by the name Feros on the Paizo boards. Thanks for the interview, Feros!

Ambush at Copper Gorge

When I gm or play Pathfinder, I like to imagine the action from eye level, which helps me stay immersed in the game. Sometimes, the stats, rules, dice and paper can encroach upon or even eclipse the fantasy and role-playing aspects of the game. When that happens, I turn to my camera and miniatures to get my imagination going.

Interview with a Champion Voter: Frank Gori (GM_Solspiral)

While everyone is waiting for the Top 32 reveal in RPG Superstar (and hopefully sending in their Detect Mojo lists!), I decided to interview some of this year's Champion Voters.

The first Champion Voter I'm interviewing is Frank Gori, who is publisher at the Flying Pincushion, a Pathfinder-compatible publishing company.

Update on the Detect Mojo contest

Just a reminder to everyone who compiled a Top-something list: Remember to trim it down to 20 (post-cull) items so you can calculate your mojo rating!

I wish to interview some of the people with the highest mojo ratings (maybe a Top 3, depends on how many people participate), but to make sure the ratings are equitable, please send your list of 20 items to ContestASFH@gmail.com so that an impartial judge can go through your list and calculate your rating.

In your message, please include either your legal name, your messageboard name, or an alias you want to go by. I'll only post the names and ratings of the Top 3 publicly, so if your mojo sensors still needs some calibrating, don't worry, no-one will know your rating unless you post it here yourself.

If you don't want to be interviewed, you don't have to do anything just yet! Just wait until the reveal, then post your rating here or in the thread dedicated for that purpose on the Paizo boards.

Please note, the email address won't be monitored prior to the Top 32 reveal. So if you have any questions, please post them in the comments section!

If you can't be a Superstar, be a Superstar Supporter

Superstar voting ends today. In one week, the Top 32 will be announced, leaving hundreds of hopefuls disappointed.

That's the nature of the beast, but in the last couple years, we've been seeing a lot of those people taking their ball and going home (or, rather, going to the annual critique thread to get feedback on their item and then going home), at least based on comments on competitors' entries.

Last year, the Top 32 averaged 29 comments each*. The number of comments ranged from 10 to 42, meaning the item with the fewest comments had just five people talk about it other than the author and three judges.

That 29-comment average is a 40 percent drop from the previous year, when items averaged 46.8 comments. It would be easy to dismiss that as a one-time aberration — 2013's Round 1 comments were actually right between the number in 2011 (47.6) and 2012 (45.9) — but digging deeper into the numbers, we can see that's not really the case. 

Crunching the numbers on the monster rounds shows the number of comments dropped by a similar 40 percent from 2012 (43.5) to 2013 (25.4) and then dropped even more in 2014 (22.5).  

Moving on to Round 4, in 2010, the encounter round threads averaged 63 responses (ranging from a low of 52 to a high of 84); In 2011, they averaged 54 responses (ranging from 31-76); in 2012, they averaged 45 responses (31-62); and then plummeted the last two years, when they averaged 22 (ranging from 15-29) and 22.25 (10-39) responses. That last number means only SIX people beyond the judges commented on one of the entries.

Now, I think there are various reasons those numbers have dropped, but at the moment they're  not important. What is important is that we offer Superstar support, and here's why.

And Now For Something Completely Different: Encounter calculator with a GUI

First, my apologies for not posting anything recently. Most of my time went to finishing an assignment. Thankfully, Jacob and Joe have been able to post some interesting stuff while I've been busy.

Because I didn't have time to write a second part for series of articles about map design, this week I'll instead show you something I designed to make my freelance work easier: An encounter CR calculator with a very visual interface. Let's have a look!

Champion Voter?

I've been casting a lot of votes in the RPG Superstar contest, and reached Marathon Voter status (1000 votes) early in the voting. I haven't kept track of my total, however, so I have no idea how close I am to reaching Champion Voter (5000). Last year, I was certain I wouldn't, and didn't. This year, I'm not so sure. The extended voting period may have put it within reach.

As we approach the end of voting for round 1, let me say thank you to all of the entrants who took the time and effort design an item. I have enjoyed every minute of voting and looking at all of your creative entries.

Superstar surprise: Staves

I'm pleased to see that almost all of my favorite items have survived the dreaded Cull — when Paizo winnows out some of the least supported items from the first weeks of voting — though disappointed that one favorite hasn't yet appeared on the community-compiledlist of entries. I can't say I'm totally surprised as it uses some more niche rules, but I'm hoping it just hasn't put in an appearance yet.

What surprises me most though is that staves are the No. 3 most popular entry. It's no surprise that weapons are No. 1 — Almost everyone in Pathfinder carries a weapon; even a primary spellcaster often has one as a backup, just in case of emergency (at least mine do) — or even that armor is No. 2, but I hadn't expected staves to be the third most popular category. (They were fourth pre-cull, but a lot of rings didn't make the cut.)

Part of my surprise is that staves were dubbed "hard mode" early on. Because they are by definition spells in a can, staff designers were going to have to make sure whatever other abilities their item had really knocked the voters' (and judges') socks off. I think people took that as a challenge, and many of them met that challenge.

The other part, though, is that to my recollection I've never had a single character, dating back some 30 years of gaming, actually use a staff. 

Crossing the Ífingr

I hope you enjoy these three variations of a miniature frost giant on a miniature ice floe. That is real ice, real water, and a figure that I've used in my tabletop games. In 90 percent of my photos, the miniatures are still attached to their bases. Occasionally, if one comes loose as a result of normal wear and tear, I take that opportunity to set up shots that would be difficult to get with the base still attached. You can see the other two below, plus a bonus animated GIF.

Looking back at my 2014 as a freelancer

Jacob's post about new year's resolutions inspired me to look back at my 2014 and write a bit about how my freelancing career started, both the ups and downs of it.

Superstar resolutions

As we sit here on New Year's Eve, lots of people are probably thinking about their resolutions for the coming year. For a number of people hoping to compete in Superstar, those resolutions likely include becoming a professional game designer (which includes freelancing, as far as I'm concerned).

Superstar is, on one hand, one of the best ways to do that. If you manage to be in the less than 5 percent of contestants who get into the Top 32, you're going to have Paizo and plenty of Third Party Publishers aware of your name and a ready forum to show them your work. If you make the Top 4, you have a guaranteed contract with the biggest name in the business.

That said, it's also one of the worst ways to do that.

Workin' in the Coal Mines

Here are 3 variations showing an orc in a subterranean corridor. The walls and ceiling are hand-painted plaster, cast from hand-modeled clay. When I play Pathfinder, I often become very immersed, and imagine all of the action at eye level. Do you picture the action in such an immersive way, or do you stick to the stats, rolls, and mechanics?

Thoughts about Map-Making: The Player's Perspective

In this three-part series of articles, I'll discuss maps based on my (admittedly limited) experience from RPG Superstar and freelancing. In the first part, I'll be looking at maps from the player's perspective.

I don't know the specifics of the map round challenge in this year's RPG Superstar yet, but I'll discuss encounter maps because that's the type of maps that I'm most familiar with.

The Best of Superstar

With five days since voting opened, Paizo's RPG Superstar contest is in full swing. The messageboards are humming — more than 2,500 votes in this year's "ramble" thread alone —as voters sort the hundreds (at least) of items into rankings for the judges. Among them are 32 that will earn their creators entry into the contest, and others that won't survive the annual cull of the lowest-ranked choices.

If you want to be a designer — and I assume you do if you're participating in the contest and reading this blog — I highly recommend voting: There are plenty of lessons to be learned about good game design. That said, it can also be a frustrating process too, as you wade through some items that aren't ready for prime time, some of which keep coming up again and again.

As a little refresher, I thought it might be fun to take a look back at some of the other finalists. Here are a handful that have stuck in my memory over the years, the first ones I think of when I think of the contest:

Detect Mojo mini-contest begins!

To keep voters entertained and make voting more interesting, I'm announcing a mini-contest: Detect Mojo! The point of the contest is to encourage fans of RPG Superstar to vote tirelessly but also to vote responsibly instead of just clicking away without thinking.

When you're voting, whenever you see an item you think is going to make the Top 32, add it on your list. It's good to remember that sometimes "what I like" and "what I think will advance" are not the same thing. Try to guess what other voters are likely to vote for, and what the judges are likely to choose.

To make the task a little less arduous and because it's quite impossible to see every single item in the voting, you don't have to pick 32 items—only 20. That way it's also easier to calculate your mojo percentage.

How to play Detect Mojo

All you need to do is make a list of up to 20 magic item names you have seen in the voting. Once the Top 32 is revealed, you can calculate your score (see below) and post your score along with your list of items on the Paizo boards. I'll make a thread for the contest sooner or later.

Note: Do not post your list anywhere publicly before the reveal!

Deadline: No deadline as such, but voting ends at 2 PM Pacific time on 13 January 2015.

Eligibility: Basically anyone (except RPGSS judges) can join in on the fun.

Contest prizes: I don't have any fancy prizes this time, but the winner earns the title "Master of Mojo". There are no official referees to check your list before the reveal. I originally planned something like that but decided to go with a more unofficial and relaxed contest. So, the honor system is used.
 
Scoring

Each item on your list that makes the Top 32 or comes close nets you a number of points as detailed below.

• Top 32: +5%
• Alternate: +4%
• Top 100: +2%

In other words, the maximum score is 100% (20 × 5%).

• Note: If an alternate later joins the top 32, your score won't be updated - only the initial ranking matters. 
• Note: The top 100 category may be something else this year. It's really up to the round 1 judges if they want to reveal which entries almost made it.

Example

Last year there was no Detect Mojo contest, but I did compile a list of 21 items which I'll use as an example. Since the list should have no more than 20 items on it, I'll leave out the last one.

• Abiding Light
• Boots, Tower
• Boulder Thrower's Kit (Top 100)
• Crown of Webs (Top 100)
• Ever Beating Heart
• Fetish of the Frog Queen (Top 32)
• Gauntlet of Earth Shattering and Elevating (Top 100)
• Gloves of the Aura Thief
• Goblet of Liquified Cognition (Top 32)
• Groundbreaker Cloak (Top 32)
• Harbinger's Knock (Top 100)
• Linebreaker's Sabatons (Top 100)
• Planar Rift Spike (Top 100)
• Poltergeist Knot (Top 32)
• Scatterstone (Top 100)
• Slaying Shroud (Top 100)
• Specter Net (Top 100)
• Spellmason's Mallet (Top 100)
• Star Cinder (Top 32)
• Tactician's Go-Ke

That's five Top 32 entries (+25%), no alternates, and ten Top 100 entries (+20%) for a total of 45%.

Playtesting a Staff

It's been a busy week, so today's post is a photo only—I hope you enjoy it. Watch for an animated version in a future post. And yes, those are the sprouts of a sweet potato.

Discuss

• Help me with some captions or speech-bubble text—bonus points if it references RPGSS in a clever way.
• Could this be a new magic item in action, or a spell? How would it work mechanically?

RPG Superstar: Mapping the Way to Victory

By now, you've submitted your item if you're participating in RPG Superstar, which means it's time to start thinking about the next challenge.

Unfortunately, the map round is ironically a little bit of unknown territory. Previous Superstar rounds have certainly involved making maps, but they've always been part of a larger challenge, the penultimate round that also typically required designers to create a location and an encounter. My guess is this round will end up requiring a map and Golarion location, since the latter will also allow contestants to show off their knowledge of the setting as well as creativity and writing ability, but I'm going for focus for the moment on just the map part.

Mikko plans to give some general map-making advice soon (and I recommend looking back at his post about his Round 4 entry in 2014), but there are lessons to be learned too from previous years. Just as you don't want to repeat a magic item in Round 1, it's important to know what past contestants have mapped out so you don't do repeat them.

Here are a half-dozen of my favorite maps from over the years of the contest. I'm trying to focus very specifically on the map itself, so my choices don't necessarily include other aspects of that round's submissions (otherwise Tim Phillips' Eightfinger's Tomb would certainly be included here). I'll go back and look at other aspects of the encounter rounds as we get closer to this year's Round 4.