Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Designing for RPG Superstar

No, I'm not posting my entry, I will post it after it's over.

But designing a wondrous item was hard enough when you were just trying to please the judges, go by the rules and post something special, which bends rules, shows creativity, and of course, is of Superstar quality. With the new "Voting" by Paizo members to get to Top64, followed by Judging to Top32. There's a whole new Paradigm. Now we have to design down to the layman, while designing up to the judges.

Once I found out the new shift, I instantly threw out two ideas, as they might not be close enough to what paizoans might vote for. If you don't make Top64, you're not going to make Top32.

1. Naming
This is in fact one of the hardest parts of the contest.

2. Design that bends and warps rules. My entry last Year, the Eye of Abendego, bent the rules, but maybe a little too much. I mentioned lightning bolts that could be shot from the necklace, but since they were derived from call lightning I used that damaged. This was off-putting to the judges. I tweaked the rules from hurricane force winds, halving them to produce a lighter wind around the character, but the judges thought it was awkward. (Strange though, now an item or spell in the Ultimate Equipment I noticed has the same effect...)

3. Pricing This is a true pitfall, my Ghostfire Torch, was innovative, rule bending, and though it was a single use item and priced that way.  With only a limited 10 minute duration, it's overall effect was thought to be worth more than 900gp. (900gp for a single use item it a LOT).

Overall, Designing for RPG Superstar is fun, challenging and frustrating all at the same time. Hopefully, I can make it to round 2 this year. 

1 comment:

  1. Good luck. I have not had any luck moving out of the first round either.

    ReplyDelete