2009 ENnies Judge Selection

[JoeGKushner]

Here's one ~
Since the ENnies are no longer just focusing on roleplaying (as long as publishers submit product), what are your thoughts on non-roleplaying games - board games, strategy, wargaming, etc. and what experience do you have in these areas? (just to cover the bases.)

Depends on the game.

For example, I've written several reviews on various board games at the old RPG.net. Many of those I enjoyed. One of my favorites was the old shadows over camelot. Some great game play options there. My other reviews of board games.

For card games, I tend to prefer the non-collectible ones like Gloom, Munchkin, and the various b-movie spoofs. Anarchorism was another favorite of mine, playing historical characters fighting each other. Reviews Looking back, I'm shocked that I forgot about Torches and Pitchforks. Wish Green Ronin would update that with a 'modern' pack where you hunt down variants of Aliens, Predator, Terminator, etc...


For miniatures, I'm more a fan of painting and collecting than actually playing but I've enjoyed some 500 point games of Warhammer, and Confrontation 3.5 is actually one of my favorite games, which I consider almost more a board game. A great campaign can also get me excited to play a game but I still haven't had the armies to play in Summer Rampage yet.

 

[The_Universe]

Here's one ~
Since the ENnies are no longer just focusing on roleplaying (as long as publishers submit product), what are your thoughts on non-roleplaying games - board games, strategy, wargaming, etc. and what experience do you have in these areas? (just to cover the bases.)

I love board, card, and wargames.

As I mentioned above, I actually came to the hobby via Milton Bradley's HeroQuest, and cut my teeth on the maddeningly arbitrary WANDERING MONSTERS you more often than not received as "treasure" in that game (I also love FFG's Descent, primarily because it reminds me of HeroQuest). I own a half a dozen different versions of Risk, I've played Settlers, Carcosonne, and Puerto Rico, and probably hundreds of others that are generally considered part of the nerd core.

I play card games like Munchkin (and I've tried M:tG), collect HeroScape figs, and purchase and paint minis for all sorts of wargames, including Warhammer, Warmachine, Confrontation's Ragnorak, and Reaper Warlords.

Just like the ENnies, though, I tend to view these things as a supplement to my main hobby: tabletop RPGs. As such, I evaluate them, even in the course of normal life, in terms of what they can add to my game table.

I don't necessarily see the awards increasingly emphasize these categories, but I do think the "regalia," "miniatures product," and "aid/accessory" categories are here to stay. As long as they're evaluated in terms of what value they can create in association with the RPGs sites like this are dedicated to, they belong here, too.

 

[Crothian]

Here's one ~
Since the ENnies are no longer just focusing on roleplaying (as long as publishers submit product), what are your thoughts on non-roleplaying games - board games, strategy, wargaming, etc. and what experience do you have in these areas? (just to cover the bases.)

The focus is still on RPGs. I think these other areas need other people to do awards for them. People and communities that are tied into them and for all I know there could be board game specific awards out there already. The Origins awards covers everything and we see how they do. The ENnies still needs to focus on what it knows and what it does. We are not in a position to branch out yet.

To also answer the question I play board games and card games. Not so much the mini games these days. I know about the new stuff but I don't have the time or resources to buy it and get it played.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

Here's one ~
Since the ENnies are no longer just focusing on roleplaying (as long as publishers submit product), what are your thoughts on non-roleplaying games - board games, strategy, wargaming, etc. and what experience do you have in these areas? (just to cover the bases.)

As far as experience, I started gaming with Avalon Hill and SPI, and came to RPGs through that. I still have a lingering feeling that if I don't have a 50 page rulebook with lots of charts and a couple thousand counters I'm not getting my money's worth That early experience definitely influenced me in terms of RPGs; I really like tactical combat elements, for example, and miniatures. It wasn't uni-directional, though, as we quickly found role-playing elements creeping into the board games, whether it was just naming leader counters, or as complicated as grafting on experience rules or making hybrid games of our own.

I don't play the hard-core stuff much any more; the time and space committment makes it impractical. But I've gotten a lot of enjoyment out of some of the lighter stuff (eg Runebound, OotS, Zombies!) in recent years, as they've become a good way to get a gaming fix when jobs/life/etc makes running a regular RPG campaign difficult. And I have a lovely copy of Twilight Imperium sitting on the table staring at me right now as I'm going to be playing it at GenCon and need to bone up on the rules.

I'd love to see a boardgame component to the ENnies. I think they're an important part of gaming, and I think they share a significant audience with RPGS. I'd think there'd need to be some logistics changes if it became a reality. I'd think we'd have to consider two slates of judges if that were the case, for example, as the workload is by all accounts already pretty hefty. And I don't think it would be something that should be done by half-measures; either do it right with appropriate categories or don't do it at all. A 'boardgame ENnie' that lumped beer & pretzels games in with hardcore wargames wouldn't be credible in my opinion.

 

[Xath]

Here's one ~
Since the ENnies are no longer just focusing on roleplaying (as long as publishers submit product), what are your thoughts on non-roleplaying games - board games, strategy, wargaming, etc. and what experience do you have in these areas? (just to cover the bases.)

I think the primary focus of the ENnies is still on roleplaying. This year, we did open a new product for Regalia, to show our support for the various other products that RPG companies produce. I consider all of the other accessory categories to still be an integral part of the roleplaying process.

That being said, I do have a love for all games, not just the RPGS. My favorite board games include the Catan series (especially with Cities and Knights expansion), Risk, Talisman, Monopoly, Scrabble, and quite a few others. My strategy games are mostly board or electronic. I'm currently revisiting Age of Empires II, an old favorite of mine. I don't have experience with playing war games, but I do love painting minis, and I do purchase minis that are made for war games to use in my RPGs.

However, if the ENnies ever stopped focusing on RPGs (which I doubt it ever will), I don't think I'd be the most qualified person. I like games of all kinds, but my passion and my knowledge-base goes mostly into tabletop RPGs.

 

[Psion]

Here's one ~
Since the ENnies are no longer just focusing on roleplaying (as long as publishers submit product), what are your thoughts on non-roleplaying games - board games, strategy, wargaming, etc. and what experience do you have in these areas? (just to cover the bases.)

To sound like a broken record, but the focus of the ENnies is, and will probably continue to be, Role Playing Games. That definition might get fuzzy at times, but I don't think the ENnies is interested in that much overlap with the Origins Awards.

I do think that there is a circulation of ideas to and from other sorts of games, just as there is with literature and film. Though the scale of gaming tends to be different between RPGs and tactical, board, and family games, some interesting mechanics can be shared between them to good effect. Witness the recent splash that Dread made!

As for my background with other games, I developed wargaming and boardgaming as a parallel hobby when I was younger, playing the likes of Star Fleet Battles, Silent Death, Axis & Allies, Warhammer Fantasy Battle and 40k. I also had a fondness for computer strategy games, especially so-called "4x" games like Master of Orion and Alpha Centauri. I was even a tournament Magic the Gathering player. Roleplaying has evolved to become my primary hobby, however, though I still pull down Settlers of Catan or HeroScape every once in a while to play with the family!

 

[HellHound]

Here's one ~
Since the ENnies are no longer just focusing on roleplaying (as long as publishers submit product), what are your thoughts on non-roleplaying games - board games, strategy, wargaming, etc. and what experience do you have in these areas? (just to cover the bases.)

The other nominees have it right - the awards remain RPG awards, with one award given to RPG-related materials (paraphernalia) where games that are RPG related could be and have been submitted.

That said, I live in a house of gamers of all kinds. I came in second place in the 2002 Gen Con RISK 2210 tournament (there's still an old photo of me on the Hasbro site for that somewhere). I've got boxes upon boxes of board games, strategy games, and tile-laying games. I've also been playing WarHamster 40k on and off since Rogue Trader was released, as well as a majority of the other games set in the 40k universe (Space Hulk, Adeptus Titanicus) and still break out Necromunda on occasion.

I've also been a semi-competitive Magic player (who dabbled in a few other CCGs, mostly Illuminati New World Order and Doom Trooper) who prefers casual play environments with "fun decks" with a minimum of 100 cards instead of 60.

 

[madwabbit]

Today is August 7th -- at what time does balloting for the judge nominees go live?

 

[madwabbit]

~crickets chirping~

 

[Crothian]

Unknown at this time.