2006 ENnie Judge Nomination Thread

[Dextra]

Hello and welcome to the official 2006 Gen Con EN World RPG Awards Judge Nomination Thread. In this thread you may put forth your name for consideration. If you wish to suggest someone else for consideration, or wish to discuss the choices or ask questions of the candidates, please do so elsewhere.

Voting for the five judge positions for the 2006 ENnie Awards will start the morning of Saturday, October 1st. The judge selection will be conducted by a poll on ENWorld, the results of which will be hidden. Each user may vote once. The poll will close Sunday, October 9th no earlier than noon EST. Results will be officially announced Friday, October 14th.

Being an ENnies judge is a huge responsibility, and not one to take lightly. Please read some of the other threads (and this one too) to get a feel for the time commitment and sacrifices required for the job. Chances are if you become a Judge, some large, life-changing event will occur. Job, relationship, health issues and more tend to crop up in the middle of the evaluation crunch time. If you are the kind of person who can perservere through adversity and meet your commitment, we welcome your nomination.

Fortunately, it's not entirely thankless. As an ENnies judge, you receivea free weekend pass into GenCon Indy, a space in the ENnies block of hotel rooms for 3 nights, VIP status at the awards ceremony, notoreity, and of course, heaping piles of RPG books and products delivered to your doorstep (or mailbox as may be).

To officially announce your candidacy, please reply to this post and state your real name, affirm that you have read -and agree to abide by- the guidelines set forth by the Board of Directors, and state that you are of at least 18 years of age. If you are willing to act as Submissions Coordinator (USA residents only, please), state so and specify where you live. After that, you are welcome to elaborate upon why you should be selected as judge. No bribery or coersion will be tolerated.

The Role of the ENnies Judge

1. You will help the Board of Directors determine and define some of the categories in which products will be judged.
2. You will help the Board of Directors determine the eligibility of products in each category.
3. You will select the five finalists in each of the categories. In some cases, you may be responsible for selecting in which category a product is best placed (for example in cases where less than 7 submissions were received in a given category).
4. You will be consulted in aspects of ENnies planning- marketing, planning the ceremony, etc.

Guidelines/Rules of Engagement

1. The Board of Directors will confirm Judge selection, and reserves the right to make adjustments to the panel should any conflict of interest, confidentiality, or other factor detrimental to the continued success of the Awards arise.
2. As official representatives of the ENnies, Judges are required to act in a professional and impartial manner.
3. Judges must be at least 18 years of age as of October 1st, 2005 and able to enter into a legal contract.
4. Judges will sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement.
5. Judges may not have a professional relationship with any RPG publisher during the period of 2005-May 31 2006.
   • This includes being involved in the publication of a product whether the product was a free one, a charitable one, or whether they were paid for it or not.
   • If Judges have a relationship with a publisher in which they receive money, product, or special consideration in exchange for their services, they are considered to have a relationship with them that might influence their impartiality. Being paid for their reviews by a magazine constitutes a professional relationship with a publisher, and could disqualify them if said publisher produces RPG products.
   • Even though EN Publishing does not compete in the Awards, its "competitors" do, hence contributors to ENP's products(with the exception of the Ceramic DM book) may not be judges.
   • Involvement in the Ceramic DM product, or receiving free product in order to review it for a fan site are not as grounds for disqualification.
   • Playtesters and Volunteers who have run demos at conventions for their favourite RPG publisher and have received free product as a result constitute a grey area. Their eligibility will be determined on a case-by-case basis by the Board of Directors.
6. Judges must be able to read English and communicate clearly therein.
7. Judges must be able to commit to daily access to the EN World ENnies boards during the month of June and the first two weeks of July, and maintain regular (at least weekly) access and contact throughout the judging period.
8. If a judge is found derelict in his/her duties, or does not follow the guidelines, he/she will be asked to step down and will bear the responsibility of shipping any product already received to his/her replacement.
9. One of the judges in the Continental USA will be required to act as Submissions Coordinator, acting as a central mailing location to which the publishers can ship their submissions, and being responsible for sorting, packing, and shipping product to the other judges. When all the judges have been selected, if none of them has declared their intention to act as SC, the judge with the lowest number of votes will be eliminated and replaced with the next highest-vote-receiving candidate who did say they would act as SC. In the event that the majority of judges are not in the US, this policy may be altered.
10. Judges will be responsible for paying for any customs/duties on submissions.
11. If there is a funding shortfall, each Judge (except the Submissions Coordinator) will be expected to contribute $50 each by Gen Con Indy 2006.
12. Judges may dispose of received product as they see fit. While they are required to retain the product until the nomination period is complete, once this is done they may sell off, give away, use, or otherwise do what they will with the submitted product.
13. Attendance at GenCon Indy is not mandatory, but should a Judge attend, semi-formal attire at the awards ceremony is expected of all staff- judges included. If Judges avail themselves of the free passes, they will be required to work at least two hours (but no more than 6 hours) throughout the course of the convention at the ENnies booth.
14. The Board of Directors reserves the right to modify these Guidelines at any time.

Best of luck to all who enter! Let the campaigning begin! Don't forget to start off your post with
I, RealName Here am at least 18 years old. I have read and agree to abide by the Guidelines set forth by the ENnies Board of Directors. OPTIONAL: I live in Municipality, State, and am willing to act as Submissions Coordinator.

PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT THIS THREAD IS FOR THOSE SUBMITTING THEIR NAMES FOR CONSIDEATION ONLY. IF YOU WISH TO NOMINATE SOMEONE ELSE, ASK NOMINEES QUESTIONS OR DISCUSS ANY OTHER ASPECT OF THE ENNIES, PLEASE DO SO IN THE ENNIES DISCUSSION THREAD HERE

 

[Mixmaster]

I, Leslie Foster am at least 18 years old. I have read and agree to abide by the Guidelines set forth by the ENnies Board of Directors. I live in Matawan, NJ, and am willing to act as Submissions Coordinator.

I thank you all for supporting and participating in the ENnies. This is one of the aspects of EN World that I’m happy about, and its fun to see it continuing.

I have applied for this honor the previous 3 years (thank you for all the votes I've received so far [especially MrFilthyIke’s second from last year]. There weren't many, but I STILL DO greatly appreciates....).

I would bring a shot of diversity. I am 1/2 Cuban, 1/2 African American. I've been to many shows and conventions where I'm the only one of my color sitting down, but I've welcomed and been welcomed to many GREAT players and DM's).

Qualifications:

I’m a Role Player since 1977.
I’m a RPGA Judge since the beginning. Ghost Tower of Inverness was the first module I judged at a convention. Current Level - Master.
I’m a GenCon Judge since 1980. This year I judged Eberron (x2), D&D Open (x3), LKoK, and LG (Return to the Undercity). Having gone since 1978, I view GenCon as more than just a show, I plan my vacation around it. Also, I purchase numerous RPG books, modules and supplements at GenCon and Origins. My wife kids me about my “milk crate” of purchases.

Played and Judged many diverse systems (see below).
Fantasy: The above plus Basic D&D,AD&D, AD&D 2nd and D&D 3rd / 3.5 (Kalamar, Core, Eberron), Rolemaster
Sci-Fi: Traveller, Space Ace, Space Opera, Star Trek
Horror: Cthulhu, Chill, Stalking the Night Fantastic
Super Hero: DC Heroes, Marvel, Villians & Vigilantes
Modern/Future: Top Secret, Aftermath, Twilight 2000, Timemaster
Other: Boot Hill, Man Myth & Magic, Daredevils

I feel that these qualifications above show that not only I'm capable to read and consume many RPG's but, I am diverse and not settle for only one.

Lastly:

I bring new players into the fold almost every year. Our hobby must continue to bring in “fresh blood”. I am currently an active player in a Rolemaster campaign and I run D&D campaigns 2 times each monthly. One is Kingdoms of Kalamar and the other is Eberron. I accept and use third party publisher material. I don't have a bias for or against any given setting. I also run LG adventures for local conventions/game days in the Tri-State Area. I have another group of board gaming enthusiasts that meets monthly.

Thank you for reading. It may be a lot, but I wanted the community to see that I'm serious about this, that I'd be humble in doing this and would give every ounce of time and energy to the effort.

 

[Teflon Billy]

I, Jeff Ranger, am at least 18 years old. I have read and agree to abide by the Guidelines set forth by the ENnies Board of Directors.

...and I'm throwing my hat in again

I've been a judge for as long as there has been an ENnie awards (my custom ttile is "ENnie Judge Tmeplate, courtesy of PC)

I haven't cocked it up too badly up to this point, surely that counts for something

Anyway, I have a Certificate of Technical Communication (which is basically manuals and instruction writing, so I can be expected to have some clue as to what a rulebook should look like).

I'm a Barber, which means that I have a lot of time in my day to read...it's practically in the job description.

I love the work and take it very seriously.

I'm a staff reviewer here, and I will be attending Gen Con.

So please vote for me again...early and often

Edit: In another thread, Rasyr asked the judges to list the systems they are familiar with. It's a big list, but here goes...

• D20
• M&M
• HERO
• GURPS
• HARP
• Storyteller
• BRP (Cthulu mostly)
• Tri-Stat
• Hackmaster
• Unisystem
• Savage Worlds
• Ars Magica
• Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (old & new)
• Conan OGL
• A Game of Thrones OGL
• Fireborn
• Castles and Crusades
• Burning Wheel
• Capes
• Serenity
• Feng Shui
• D&D 1E
• D&D2E
• Traveller
• Villains and Vigilantes
• Shadowrun
• Star Wars D6
• Twilight 2000
• Tri Tac (Fringeworthy mostly)

That's all that come to mind, but I'll add as I think of others.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

I, Graham Johnson, am at least 18 years old. I have read and agree to abide by the Guidelines set forth by the ENnies Board of Directors.

This is my first year tossing in my hat to be a judge. I've thought about it before, but this year will be the first time when I actually would have the time to do it.

To be honest, I'm young. At 19(20 by the time of next year's ENnies), I'm likely to be one of the youngest ones to apply to be a judge. By spreading out the ages of the judges, though, I feel there will be a wider and more open perspective on the products that are submitted, and that can't be a bad thing.

Just because I'm younger doesn't mean I don't have experience with games, though. I started roleplaying back around '97 with the old West End Games Star Wars d6 system. Since then, I'm played(well, run mostly) D&D 2e, D&D 3e and 3.5e, Star Wars d20, Call of Cthulhu(BRP and d20), Top Secret, Marvel Roleplaying Game, Vampire, Werewolf, Shadowrun, Hero, and Traveller. Most all of my experiences with these games has been in the roll of GM, and I love learning and trying out new systems.

I am in college, an art major, so I also have some idea on graphic design, layout, and overall artwork. Of course, this also means I have a good amount of free time on my hands to do the reading and other work necessary for being a judge.

Sorry if that was rambling. Hopefully that nailed the main points and hopefully I'll at least get one or two votes.

 

[trancejeremy]

I, Jeremy Reaban, am at least 18 years old. I have read and agree to abide by the Guidelines set forth by the ENnies Board of Directors.

I think I've entered every year but last, when I forgot. Usually I get around 20 votes or so.

Qualifications: Pretty much the standard bio of a person who started gaming as a kid in the 70s. Also have written lots of reviews, both here and RPG.net and occasionally elsewhere.

Heh, most RPG companies/authors already hate me, so I wouldn't have to worry about that.


Why should you vote for me: Well, you'd probably get rather different results than previous Ennies. (Not that the previous Ennie nominees were incorrect, exactly, just that I have seemingly much different taste than previous judges.)


Hmmm, if I've ever insulted you, I probably didn't mean it. So try not to hold that against me. (Unless, I'm on your ignore list, then I probably did mean it. (Joke))


Definitely won't be going to Gencon, since I'm usually broke. Which is actually my main motivation for entering as a judge, to give me stuff to write reviews on, since my attempts to weasel review copies from publishers are only sporadically successfull

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

I, Richard J. Miller am at least 18 years old. I have read and agree to abide by the Guidelines set forth by the ENnies Board of Directors. I live in Charlottesville, Virginia, and am willing to act as Submissions Coordinator.

I am a two time ENnie Awards judge, in 2004 and 2005. These experiences were exciting, eye opening, and at times exhausting. Each year brought it's own set of challenges and triumphs, and I would welcome the opportunity to be a judge again.

I have a long background with roleplaying games and books, which I feel qualifies me for the role of ENnies judge. I began roleplaying in 1982 with the D&D Basic Set, and never looked back. Roleplaying games, science fiction, and fantasy have played a huge role in my life as far back as I can remember.

I have always loved working with books, which has directed my career path: bookselling during and after college, publishing, and now in a library. I worked as an editor at HarperPrism (former SF/Fantasy imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, now called EOS) for several years, working with authors as diverse as Terry Pratchett, Robert Silverberg, Poppy Z. Brite, William Shatner, and Clive Barker. After leaving HarperCollins, I worked for several years doing layout and design for a major medical publisher, SilverChair. I currently work in both the reference department and as computer support for the University of Virginia Library.

I bring a wide variety of skills and perspectives to judging the ENnie Awards. As a former editor, I am critical of sloppy editing and unclear rules. As a former layout and book designer, I enjoy reading and working with books that have effective and innovative art and design choices. As a member of a major university library reference staff, I know how to quickly and effectively evaluate material for content and usefulness.

My gaming background includes playing and running a wide variety of games and genres: Dungeons & Dragons (all editions), GURPS, Call of Cthulhu, Star Wars (WEG and d20), Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Unisystem, Marvel Super Heroes, d20 Modern, DC Heroes, Villains & Vigilantes, Vampire/Werewolf/World of Darkness, HERO, Rolemaster, HARP, Paranoia, MERP, Talislanta, Savage Worlds, Mutants & Masterminds, Warhammer, Burning Wheel, Capes, Ars Magica, and many d20, OGL, and other games.

As an EN World member, I have gone out of my way to meet and game with as many people from this community as possible at GenCon, several different Game Days, and in regular weekly games. I feel this community has provided me with the opportunity to meet and interact with many great gamers, publishers, and friends, and I would like to put in another years effort as an ENnies judge to give something back the community. Being a judge is a lot of hard work, and I can speak to that from personal experience. I can do the work necessary, and more. Thank you for your consideration.

 

[Crothian]

And here we go again.

Ya, I'm a bit over 18 and we'll leave it at that. I also agree with the rules and guidelines.

The ENnies are a unique experience. I have had the privilege to be a judge for the past three years and while this is some of the hardest work I have ever done it is also so of the most rewarding. I have a passion for role playing games and this is a great way I can use that passion to thank and showcase the many people in the industry who do a fantastic job.

My day job is in banking, and I'm lucky enough to have a boss who realizes people have a life outside of work. So, I have no problems taking half and full days off to devote to the ENnies. And I have had to do that each of the previous years.

I am also a Staff Reviewer of EN World and that evaluation process for reviews has really helped me learn how to read a book for evaluation. It can be a bit different then just reading it. I also run the Review Project. It is based out of EN World and serves to encourage more people to write reviews.

One of the great things the ENnies has embraced is the non d20 games and I have made sure I am very familiar with as many games on the market as I can be. I know all the new World of Darkness games, HARP, Hero, Buffy and Edens other Unisystem games, the new Warhammer, Exalted, Unknown Armies, Feng Shui, Sorcerer, Polaris, and many other games both big and small.

Last year I also choose to be the Submissions Coordinator and that was a lot of hard work and increased my stress level quite a bit. This year if I am lucky and privileged enough to be voted a judge I doubt I will volunteer for this position. But I will be able to talk to whom ever does it and try to help them through something I didn't get.

Thanks EN World without all of you the ENnies would not be possible.

 

[Umbran]

Is it just me, or are people much more slow to volunteer than in previous years?

I, Arnis Kletnieks am at least 18 years old. I have read and agree to abide by the Guidelines set forth by the ENnies Board of Directors.

I've been a steady gamer since 1981, serving more hours than I could count on either side of the GM's screen, using more systems than one can shake a stick at - including, but not limited to: 1e, 2e, and 3.xe D&D, Marvel Superheroes, Shadowrun 1st and 2nd Edition, the various White Wolf Storyteller and WoD 2.0 games, Original Deadlands, d6 Star Wars, Twilight 2000, Tunnels and Trolls, Doctor Who, Star Trek, GURPS and Paranoia. I've also been known to play, write, and run the occasional Live Action RPG. I've collected and read more gaming material than one person could ever really use because, like everyone else here, I love the stuff. Been around here for years for the same basic reason. I love the stuff, and the place.

I'm a scientist, teacher, and technical writer by training and trade. Spending hours and hours reading and reviewing materials would by no means be a new activity for me.

My main motivation for applying is, like before, an intense curiosity. Second to gaming itself, I have a love of chewing over game materials and ideas, and the Ennies provide a unique opportunity to compare and contrast and learn from a larger collection of products, with more breadth of coverage than is available to anyone on a normal income. Add to that the fact that I feel it's a way I can serve the community, and hopefully repay in kind for helping me get more our of my gaming time.

 

[Dextra]

Attention all Would-Be Candidates

Please be advised that this thread will be closed Friday, September 30th at midnight EST. If you wish to announce your candidacy, you must do so in this thread before then.

I'm pleased to see so many old faces and new participate, and look forward to even more ENWorlders throwing their hat into the ring!

 

[Tarondor]

I, Scott Nolan am at least 18 years old. I have read and agree to abide by the Guidelines set forth by the ENnies Board of Directors. I live in Fairfax, Virginia, and am willing to act as Submissions Coordinator.

I have been playing and GMing RPGs since 1977, and have been attending Gen Con since that year. I have played and enjoyed a broad spectrum of role-playing games and role-playing game products over the years, and have been a frequent reader of products that have ranged from the abysmal to the sublime. I believe that I am not only a good judge of RPG products, but that I am well-qualified to do the hard and time-consuming work involved with this volunteer position.

RPGs are one of my passions. Like many here, I own more gaming products than I could ever name, much less use. The main reason I would be interested in acting as a judge is because I would love to see that the best gaming materials are recognized and brought to the attention of my fellow gamers.

I am an attorney, and have been both a writer and a technical writer in the past. Systematically reviewing a large amount of written material is part of my daily routine. The difference is that with the Ennies material, I know I'll enjoy the work! I believe that a product's value is not only in the interesting ideas contained within it, but in the clear presentation of those ideas, including professional-level editing and layout.

I believe that the Ennies are important to the gaming community because the past judges and others involved have managed to bring excellent products to light, to point out the fine work of the industry's best writers, new and old. I also believe that they are important because they have included both excellent d20 products and other fine game systems which might otherwise be ignored by a public leery of spending money on something less well known.

The best service an Ennie judge can perform is to divest himself from his own favorites and those things with which he is familiar and evaluate each product as if coming to each with no expectations. I believe that I can do this fairly and consistently. Thanks for reading this!

Scott Nolan