Want An RPG Writing Contract With Paizo? RPG Superstar Is Back!

Paizo's annual RPG design competition is back! Owen K. Stephens takes over from Sean K. Reynolds as the host with K. as their middle name. Four finalists will win writing contracts with Paizo. Judges include Paizo staff, plus luminaries such as Green Ronin's Nicole Lindroos, and previous RPG Superstar winners. I was a judge last year, so I know how much work goes into the whole shebang.


Direct from Paizo -- "Never heard of RPG Superstar™? This contest spans the course of several weeks, with each round presenting our contestants with various design challenges. The first round is an Open Call where the community votes on their favorite entries from hundreds of submissions which our panel of judges will use to narrow down the best 32 entries. These top 32 will move on to compete to determine who will be the next RPG Superstar™. The overall winner of RPG Superstar™ 2015 will be announced on March 24, 2015!"

Three runners-up will win the opportunity to write Pathfinder Society Scenarios. The winner of RPG Superstar 2015 will win the ultimate prize, writing their own 64-page Pathfinder Module!

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The schedule involves five rounds - an open call, followed by a top 32, 16, 8, and 4. The schedule is below.

[TABLE="width: 100%, align: center"] [TR] [TD]Round
[/TD] [TD]Start
[/TD] [TD]Entries Due
[/TD] [TD]Voting Begins
[/TD] [TD]Voting Ends
[/TD] [TD]Winners Announced
[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Open Call: Design a Magic Armor, Weapon, Ring, Rod, or Staff
[/TD] [TD]9 Sep
[/TD] [TD]16 Dec
[/TD] [TD]18 Dec
[/TD] [TD]13 Jan
[/TD] [TD]20 Jan
[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Top 32: Create a Map
[/TD] [TD]20 Jan
[/TD] [TD]23 Jan
[/TD] [TD]27 Jan
[/TD] [TD]2 Feb
[/TD] [TD]3 Feb
[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Top 16: Create a Monster and Stat Block
[/TD] [TD]3 Feb
[/TD] [TD]6 Feb
[/TD] [TD]10 Feb
[/TD] [TD]16 Feb
[/TD] [TD]17 Feb
[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Top 8: Design an Encounter with a Map
[/TD] [TD]17 Feb
[/TD] [TD]20 Feb
[/TD] [TD]24 Feb
[/TD] [TD]2 Mar
[/TD] [TD]3 Mar
[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Top 4: Submit an Adventure Proposal
[/TD] [TD]3 Mar
[/TD] [TD]13 Mar
[/TD] [TD]17 Mar
[/TD] [TD]23 Mar
[/TD] [TD]24 Mar
[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

Owen K.C. Stephens tells us about it here:

It's that time of year again, we're beginnig to announce details for the next RPG Superstar™ contest! Every year, Paizo holds an annual open-call RPG design competition to give the best and brightest aspiring game designers a chance to show the world their talent. This year, we're going to be shaking things up a bit.

For starters, I'll be acting as your host throughout the contest. For those of you who have no idea who I am, my name is Owen K.C. Stephens and I was brought on as a developer by Paizo earlier this year. I work primarily on the Pathfinder Modules and Pathfinder Player Companion lines, and I have a long history of writing for Paizo on a number of products. Since the prize for winning RPG Superstar™ is an adventure we'll publish in one of our RPG Modules, I'm getting involved in the contest early and will be helping oversee it this year.

The contest itself is going to be ramping up the degree of difficulty in several rounds as a result of how consistently amazing the entries have been year after year. We're convinced the talent pool exists to make several of the stages tougher than previous years, and that the best contestants are going to thrive under the pressure. That shouldn't discourage anyone from entering! Instead, think of this as an even better test of your skills. Anyone who makes it to the last few rounds of this year's contest should be confident they have what it takes to get work in the tabletop RPG industry.

What won't change is the core concept and processes we've developed over several years of RPG Superstar™. We have some surprises for you, and some rounds will have new challenges, but things will seem very familiar to fans who have followed the contest for several years. Where things significantly change from previous contests, I'll provide extra guidance on how we envision the round going, and why we made the change.

The first big change: entries for Open Call are not wondrous items, as they have been in every other year of the contest. Instead we're asking contestants to create a magic item from one of the following categories: armor, shield, weapon, staff, ring, or rod. As always, the magic item should conform to the rules and format given in the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook for items of that type. In the case of a magic suit of armor, shield, or weapon, it should be an example of a specific armor, shield, or weapon, rather than one created by adding magic special abilities. Think breastplate of command and life-drinker, rather than a +1 ghost touch chain shirt or +1 keen flaming bastard sword. Further if you decide to do a magic staff make sure you have a concept that elevates it above a "spell-in-a-can" with multiple spells. We are, after all, looking for Superstars!

We're making this change to the first round for a number of reasons. First, we want to strongly encourage contestants to create something new, rather than re-submitting an item they've used in previous years (even if they've modified it since then). Secondly, we want to see how well people can do with a surprise and a tight deadline. Writing in the RPG industry is often done with short schedules and sometimes the needs of a project change after you've already started working on it. By shaking things up in the first round, we'll get finalists who know they can handle the chaos and pressure of writing for RPG projects in real-world conditions.

Open Call is otherwise very much as past years. The open call begins today, and you need to have your entry in by December 16 at 2:00 PM Pacific time. We'll be maintaining public voting for these initial entries as we've done for the past 2 years. So your magic item will initially be judged by being presented to voters along with another randomly determined item. That means if you submit a magic ring it'll be compared to many items that aren't rings, so be sure you present something that can stand up to competition in any form. The top 32 items will be determined by the community along with feedback and oversight from our judges for this round, and those 32 competitors will face other game design challenges in the remaining rounds of the competition!

So loosen up your creative muscles, start crafting a magic item, and get ready to be the next RPG Superstar™!
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[VengerSatanis]

Unlike the OSR Superstar competition organized by Tenkar and company, Paizo becomes the sole owner of everything submitted to them. Not a deal-breaker but definitely something to consider before submitting an entry.

VS

 

[Morrus]

Unlike the OSR Superstar competition organized by Tenkar and company, Paizo becomes the sole owner of everything submitted to them. Not a deal-breaker but definitely something to consider before submitting an entry.

I think they're between a rock and a hard place there. I don't know if they tend to use the entries - I imagine not - but they're in a similar situation to other companies which run contest based entries. Kobold Press does the same with its contests, for example. I myself have done, although in recent years stopped doing it because I've taken a public stance against artists (in which I include all creative types) working for free.

The problem - as I see it - is that with a big, sprawling system like Pathfinder, the chances of one of your developers or freelancers making items very similar to one or more of the hundreds that get submitted to the competition are incredibly low. It's going to happen. And at that point, if you entered the contest, didn't get the contract, and then an item or feat or monster similar to yours pops up in an adventure a year later, Paizo are at risk of looking bad.

There's no upside to taking that risk, especially if the majority of entries will be small and not be of sufficient quality to make it though to the finals. Even more so if the entries are based on an OGL system like Pathfinder and so have to be OGL themselves by definition anyway. And triply so if they might include references to non-open Paizo IP. So Paizo could use them if they wanted anyhow.

Anyhow. I don't actually know the reasoning behind it, but that would be my best guess at what Paizo's thinking. I could be way off there!

 

[arjomanes]

They don't intentionally use anything that doesn't make the top 32, and if you're a top-32 contestant, then they will credit you if they publish any of your work. I had a magic item published by Paizo in Kobold Quarterly back when I was in the top 32. The article was Magic Items of Golarion or something like that and it was kind of a plug for the contest.

There's nothing nefarious going on; they just have to include that clause because otherwise they'll be accused of stealing IP from contestants when their designers accidentally create something similar.

Edit: Also, I think the risk is pretty small since it's a single 300 word entry. And technically it is OGL so if you don't get into the contest and want to reuse it, just remove anything considered Paizo's IP.

 

[gamerprinter]

I've participated in 3 different RPG Superstars and never made it past round 1, although I figured if I ever did the subsequent challenges would be easy for me. Making it through the starting round by creating a magic item that has the flavor, uniquely fits a specific niche, that is useful enough and creative to impress the judges is the hardest part.

That said, despite having not made any headway with RPG Superstar, Paizo Publishing still has already given me a past writing/map making contract - having designed the map of the City of Kasai, and written some of the City of Kasai gazetteer for the Empty Throne module of the Jade Regent Adventure Path with the credits of being a contributing author (and the pay).

I am sure that I'd get more steady work from Paizo if I'd managed to get in the top 3 spots of RPG Superstar. Which is to confirm that you don't actually have to win, but at least make the top 3 spots - and you'll get work from Paizo. You'll have more opportunity if you win, but even if you're close to a win, its good enough to get you work.

 

[Kramodlog]

They don't intentionally use anything that doesn't make the top 32, and if you're a top-32 contestant, then they will credit you if they publish any of your work. I had a magic item published by Paizo in Kobold Quarterly back when I was in the top 32. The article was Magic Items of Golarion or something like that and it was kind of a plug for the contest.

There's nothing nefarious going on; they just have to include that clause because otherwise they'll be accused of stealing IP from contestants when their designers accidentally create something similar.

Edit: Also, I think the risk is pretty small since it's a single 300 word entry. And technically it is OGL so if you don't get into the contest and want to reuse it, just remove anything considered Paizo's IP.

For the 2013 competition the winner got to select items he liked from the Open Call and include them in his module. He chose my item and it was pulished in the Tears at Bitter Manor module. Someone at Paizo sent me an email asking if I was ok with them publishing it.

Maybe it was just cortesy, but I think it would be safe to publish a submission elsewhere (if Paizo didn't publish it already). Just email them to make sure.

 

[TarionzCousin]

I enjoy seeing all the entries for this contest every year. I'm glad Paizo does it.

Good luck to all the competitors!

 

[crinosg]

I made my entry, hope people like it. This is my first time entering.

 

[Jester David]

I'm glad they changed the first round. People knew it would be a wondrous item for months before the contest each of the last few years, so you were often fighting against people who had spent twelve months tweaking and thinking about their item. I know I hung onto an item for the better part of a year before the 2014 Superstar.
This twist means everyone is on the same footing, both newcomers and old. And it's better reflective of actually designing when you don't have 50 weeks to poke away at 300 words.

Dunno if I'll enter this year.
I'm a decent designer and a fair writer. I can string a sentence together and have some rudimentary knowledge of grammar and the English language. I've even got some adventure writing experience, having done a module for Living Greyhawk. But... the competition has gotten fierce. Especially with Paizo as big as they are. The prestige of the award has grown so much that you're often competing against other freelance game designers with years of experience hoping to increase their presence. And without Dragon and Dungeon magazines and so many other game companies shrinking, this is not just the best way to break into the industry, it's one of the only ways. You can't just walk in and bring your A game, you need to bring your A+ game and be the best.
I'm good, but I don't think I'm that good, not good enough to compete with people who have dozens or writing credits. At this point you can write an awesome, well received, mechanically perfect entry and still not get anywhere near the top 100.

 

[Shemeska]

Dunno if I'll enter this year.
I'm a decent designer and a fair writer. I can string a sentence together and have some rudimentary knowledge of grammar and the English language. I've even got some adventure writing experience, having done a module for Living Greyhawk. But... the competition has gotten fierce. Especially with Paizo as big as they are. The prestige of the award has grown so much that you're often competing against other freelance game designers with years of experience hoping to increase their presence. And without Dragon and Dungeon magazines and so many other game companies shrinking, this is not just the best way to break into the industry, it's one of the only ways. You can't just walk in and bring your A game, you need to bring your A+ game and be the best.
I'm good, but I don't think I'm that good, not good enough to compete with people who have dozens or writing credits. At this point you can write an awesome, well received, mechanically perfect entry and still not get anywhere near the top 100.

It doesn't matter if you doubt yourself or think that you don't have the talent to win the contest versus folks that might have written for a 3PP a few times.

If it's something that you -want- to win, then you should enter it. At the very minimum the experience will make you better, and if you get into the higher rounds, Paizo will take notice of folks that have talent and names that popped up in the top 32 have invariable gone on to do stuff for Paizo and various other publishers. It's a wonderful way to get yourself out there for notice.