TOP 16 FINALISTS ANNOUNCED FOR RPG SUPERSTAR 2015 GAME DESIGNER COMPETITION

From Paizo

REDMOND, WA (February 3, 2015): Paizo Inc., creator of the popular Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, announces today the Top 16 finalists for 2015’s RPG Superstar, the annual, worldwide open call for would-be game designers to have their talents discovered, and the chance at being published in an official Pathfinder RPG module.

Round Two required contestants to develop a single, one-page map, and the Top 16 Finalists were determined from the Top 32 Finalists announced in January. The Top 16 will move on to Round 3, with the task to develop a Monster and Stat Block.

RPG Superstar™ 2015 Top 16 Finalists and their Winning Map Designs

Gabriel Almer – Caverns of Steam, Near Dwimovel (Darklands, Sekamina)
Charlie Bell – Smokemount Hold
Russ Brown – Lost Water Gardens of Jalmeray
Brian Fruzen — Salvation’s End
Jeff Heikkinen — Inside the Glacier
David Higaki — The Gravepit Basin of Fallen Sercai
Dana Huber — Elven Guardpost on the Tanglebriar Border
Ben Iglauer — The Haunted Dinosaur Graveyard of Mediogalti Island
Jason Keeley — Leviathan’s End
Scott LaBarge — Shadde-Quah Shoanti Cliff Dwelling. Calphiak Mountains
Monica Marlowe — Firebrand’s Redoubt: Stronghold of Lady Delbera Axebringer
Kalervo Oikarinen — Ancient Cyclops Stronghold in the Icerime Peaks
Anthony Pennington — The Fancy Reefclaw Brewery
R Pickard — Town of Griffon Falls
Chris Shaeffer — Treant’s Crossing
Christopher Wasko — The Drowning Temple

Says Owen K.C. Stephens, Pathfinder RPG Designer, “We’re cranking up the pressure again with the Bestiary entry for round 3. We’re giving the tightest word count range we’ve ever required, and every monster has to be strongly tied to Nar-Voth, a subterranean realm within Golarion, Pathfinder’s game world.”

The deadline for Round Three entries is February 6, 2015, and public voting on the maps will end on February 16, 2015. For more information, visit paizo.com/rpgsuperstar.

Now in its 8th year, RPG Superstar receives thousands of entries from all over the world, which are reviewed by a panel of experienced game designers, and then voted on by the paizo.com community, who have cast millions of votes over the years.

The winner of the competition will have their adventure published by Paizo as a Pathfinder Module, a full-color, 64-page, high-quality softcover book, compatible with not only the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game (RPG), but also with any game published under the Open Gaming License (OGL). Also, three runners-up will win assignments to write adventure scenarios for Paizo’s Pathfinder Society Organized Play campaign, offering all four finalists professional writing contracts with Paizo Inc., and an opportunity to begin their game design careers by working on the world’s best-selling roleplaying game.

The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game is the world’s best-selling tabletop RPG, in which players take on the role of brave adventurers fighting to survive in a world beset by magic and evil. The Pathfinder RPG is currently translated into multiple languages, and the vibrant Pathfinder universe has been licensed for comic book series, graphic novels, miniatures, plush toys, and apparel, and is being developed into a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game.

About Paizo Inc.
Paizo Inc. is publisher of the world’s best-selling Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, the wildly popular Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, as well as Pathfinder Tales novels, board games, and gaming accessories. Paizo.com is the leading online hobby retail store, offering tens of thousands of products from a variety of publishers to customers all over the world. In the twelve years since its founding, Paizo Publishing has received more than 60 major awards and has grown to become one of the most influential companies in the hobby games industry. For more information, visit paizo.com.