RPG Superstar contest at Paizo

[CASTLEMIKE]

RPG Superstar 6 round contest going on at Paizo for anyone not aware of it.

Initial entry is create a wondrous items for the contest with a deadline of Nov 14.

Edit: 32 winners will be picked by a panel of judges and go on to the next phase of designing a country which will be by popular vote for the next 3 phases.

Top 16 will make the cut to design a villain.

Top 8 will make the cut to design three themantic monsters.

Top 6 will design an encounter.

Top 4 will design a full adventure proposal.

Final winner will be announced Feb 20.

Could be a nice way for someone to get published:

http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards...#v5748eaic9ktd

[Zherog]

Slight correction. The 32 best wondrous items will be selected by the panel of judges. Those 32 will design a country, etc, etc.

[Fax Celestis]

Awesomesauce. I'm all over this like the New England Patriots over a golden football.

[PhallicWarrior]

Do you think they'd accept my Heavenly Sword? Or would the boys at Sony sue my pants off?

[Zherog]

You'd get tossed, because it's not a wondrous item.

[CASTLEMIKE]

Slight correction. The 32 best wondrous items will be selected by the panel of judges. Those 32 will design a country, etc, etc.

Thanks for the catch. Amended post. Good luck to all.

[Grynning]

Thanks for the heads up! It'll be a tough challenge to come up with a wondrous item that hasn't already been done, somewhere, but it should be fun. Good luck to all Playgrounders, hopefully some of us will make it through round one.

[Not Dice]

Could be a nice way for someone to get published:

What it is, is a nice way for Paizo to get freelance copywriting for nealy zero overhead. every submission belongs to Paizo. Even if just the minimum 32 people sumbmitted entries, Paizo will have generated enough copy for free to publish several canned adventures and possibly a small supplement.

Of course, breaking into any industry requires some amount of work done at cost to the creator and it's more true in the publishing industry than most. It probably is a great way for an unknown to break into the industry, but it's worth being made aware that Paizo isn't exactly doing this out of the kindness of their hearts. Entrants are getting a chance. Paizo is getting a guarantee.

That said I will probably submit an entry as well, because I enjoy writing and I'm willing to forfeit ownership of a few pieces of work in order to get a crack at the RPG copywriting business.

[CASTLEMIKE]

No arguements with any of your points but it could still be a nice break for some talented amateurs and not just the finalist.

On the flip side Paizo is accepting submissions from unknown amateurs for review. This is a golden opportunity for many aspiring authors and designers. Paizo is not only opening the door they are ensuring someone with the power and authority to say Yes will be reviewing your work. 32 people will get the chance to make the first cut. Out of all the material that is submitted to Paizo day after day I doubt that most of it gets through Erik Mona's door for his personal review no matter how good it is. Lot of good material proably goes to the circular file without being forwarded to him.

Paizo in particular would probably be more receptive to future material from authors or designers who can make it to the final rounds particularly if things are pretty close in those final rounds. If nothing else future material from that author would probably get a first look pass at Paizo instead of being killed at the door if that was mentioned in the cover letter submission.

Becoming a finalist could be a nice bullet for anyone interested in pursuing some kind of career in the gaming industry or trying to get some of their material into print.

Another nice bullet would be if some of it was eventually published and credited to the author.

At worst a contestant is out a little bit of time and a single wondrous item ideal which they might possibly be credited with creating some time in the future which they can still use in their own games. For most amateurs that would be a nice little ego stroke just seeing some of your own work in print sometime in the future. It was the main reason I made a submission. Good luck to all.

[Zherog]

Out of all the material that is submitted to Paizo day after day I doubt that most of it gets through Erik Mona's door for his personal review no matter how good it is. Lot of good material proably goes to the circular file without being forwarded to him.

Paizo doesn't accept submissions at all right now, except for these contests. All their material is contracted out.

Even when Paizo ran the magazines, they wouldn't accept a submission without a query first.

[AKA_Bait]

Am I the only one that sees this as a way for Pazio to get an entire free campagin setting? x magical items. 32 countries. 16 villians. 24 thematic monsters. 6 encounters. 4 adventures.

Sounds like with minimal work they get the entire potential structure of a setting for the cost of some bandwith. Very shrewd move. Given the whole V.P. project, I will not be submitting anything.

[Fax Celestis]

And I've submitted my item--the earring of larceny. Oh holy jeez am I nervous.

[RTGoodman]

Can anyone that knows how to navigate the Paizo website answer a few questions for me? I'm apparently too dumb to figure out where things are on there...


First, when it says to use the format like that in the SRD, is that talking about using the exact format (as in, don't do it the Magic Item Compendium way)?

Secondly, does that also mean no flavor text or whatnot? Just the name, description, and little stat block at the bottom?

[Fax Celestis]

Can anyone that knows how to navigate the Paizo website answer a few questions for me? I'm apparently too dumb to figure out where things are on there...


First, when it says to use the format like that in the SRD, is that talking about using the exact format (as in, don't do it the Magic Item Compendium way)?

Secondly, does that also mean no flavor text or whatnot? Just the name, description, and little stat block at the bottom?

The first question is a yes. The second question is a no.

[AKA_Bait]

Eh. Changed my mind about entering since I came up with something on the train on the way home. The Mage Knot is no longer my property. Those 25 mins bettween creating and owning it were sweet though.

[Holocron Coder]

I actually can't find how to submit my entry I fail

EDIT: Found it... wow, I should look harder

[CASTLEMIKE]

Just saw a post by one of the three judges less than an hour old. Looks like he has only reviewed 50 - 60 items from his post. Figuring an equal amount of entries to review that puts total entries under 200 so far. Still time for a top 32 entry. Contest ends on Wednesday and 32 will move on to the next round. Something to consider if you have a litlte free time before then.

[Kioran]

I´ve submitted some nifty "plates of attraction" - impromptu traps or devices of locomotion.......Good luck to everyone here.

[RTGoodman]

If anyone else is still interested, I think there's something like 22 hours left in the open call for the RPG Superstar contest.

On second thought, no more entries - that way I've got a better shot at getting selected!

[CASTLEMIKE]

Today is the last day for the contest.

3 PM Eastern contest deadline passed.

I submitted Bracers of Summoning based on the Summon Monster Spells keying them to alignment for -30% to market cost (Good for Celestials and Evil for Fiends) along with a skill check Spellcraft - 1 for another -10% to the cost. Basic variant to the Bag of Tricks.

Said a little over 850 entries were submitted.

[adanedhel9]

I submitted mine last night. I'm not really happy with it; I thought I'd have had more time to work on it. Alas, I can't control business trips.

[RTGoodman]

In case anyone has forgotten, the 32 selected contestants in Paizo's RPG Superstar contest will be announced today at 3:00pm EST (I think - I remember reading somewhere that it's at noon Pacific U.S. time).

Best of luck, ladies and gents, and if you've been selected, come back and tell us all!

[Holocron Coder]

I submitted something, but no idea how well I did We'll see soon (4 hours!...)

[adanedhel9]

I'm in!!! Heeeheeeheee! I'm so pepped up right now!!!

I pretty much threw the entry together in about an hour with only access to the SRD, so I wasn't expecting much to begin with. The judge's critic of my item (the torch of solidity) pretty much matched my own thoughts - the thing is way underpriced, but otherwise pretty cool. I just didn't have the time or resources to make a good decision on the cost by the deadline.

[RTGoodman]

Congrats! I didn't make it (guess they didn't like my Eldagor's Enchanting Effigies, which are basically just little toys that move around with prestidigitation), but I'm not that say - some of the entries were pretty awesome.

I particularly like your torch, the nausea pill, the Kraken crown, and the beacon of hope. Some, though - they didn't impress me at all.

[AKA_Bait]

Congrats! Mine failed to make the cut.

I would have liked it if they opened the threads of the losing creations as well, so we could see the judges comments. I guess they didn't like the Mage Knot I submitted. A magical gag just isn't cool enough I suppose. Shucks.

[Matthew]

Congratulations to those who were selected and commiserations to those who were not!

[Cruiser1]

For another GiantITP member that made it in, my Blindspot Orb is one of the top 32. Wheeee!

[Fax Celestis]

Congrats to you both. I, for one, did not make the grade. That's alright, though. I'll try again.

[CASTLEMIKE]

Congratulations and good luck in the following rounds. Looking forward to seeing your country.