Top 16 of RPG Superstar Will Advance to Round 3

Sixteen amateur game designers have advanced to Round 3 of Paizo Publishing’s RPG Superstar, the largest open-call tabletop roleplaying design contest in history. 2009 RPG RPG Superstar 2012 Superstar champion Neil Spicer joined celebrity judges Clark Peterson, Ryan Dancey, and Sean K Reynolds to critique 32 original organizations designed by Round 1 finalists. In this round, fan votes determine who advances to Round 3, in which the Top 16 will design original monsters with full game statistics. All finalist submissions, complete with judge and reader commentary, are posted to the paizo.com messageboards.

The Top 16 finalists for RPG Superstar 2012 and their winning entries to date are:

Will Cooper - Stormsworn Company
Adam Donald - The Red Bastards
Bob Drouin - Fear, Fist and Flame
Andrew Marlowe - Andoran Mercantile League
Jacob Michaels - The Unfettered
Steve Miller - Arcadian Interceptors
James Olchak - Cold Hearth Lodge
Tom Phillips - Sisters of Chana-Zhol, Sam Polak, Riders of the Black Steppe
James Raine - Besmara�s Chosen
David Ross - Dreamstitchers
Daniel Rust - Anointed Choir of the Rapture
Chris Shaeffer - The Pure Line
Jacob Trier - The Maidens of Veiled Vengeance
Russell Vaneekhoven - The Foulgrip Rangers
Mike Welham - Monster Reformation Alliance

The Top 16 will now be required to design Pathfinder Roleplaying Game statistics for an original monster concept and submit their complete monster write-up by 2:00 PM Pacific time on Friday, February 10. On February 14, Paizo will reveal judge comments on all 16 submissions to the general public, who will then get to discuss the entries and vote for their favorites. Voting ends on February 20, and the Top 8 (by votes) will move on to Round 4.

The ultimate winner of RPG Superstar, announced April 3, 2012, will write a Pathfinder Module to be published in early 2013. The 2011 RPG Superstar champion module, Sam Zeitlin’s The Midnight Mirror, releases in April 2012.

For a complete schedule of RPG Superstar, including rules and a FAQ, visit paizo.com/rpgsuperstar.