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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 3673830" data-attributes="member: 10079">Guess it doesn't hurt to have this in another place for people to see. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Graham JohnsonGraham first started gaming in Middle School with the WEG d6 Star Wars game. Hequickly moved to D&D 2e, and then, 3e as it was released. The more he played, the morehe became a dedicated player and soon moved to running games, himself. While themajority of his gaming was in the form of d6 Star Wars, and then d20 after it was released,Graham branched out to multiple gaming systems, such as World of Darkness and GURPS.Due to this, he has a great deal of knowledge and love for many different games, and itcurrently running a D&D 3.5e game, and two Star Wars d20 games, while playing in aMutants and Masterminds game and planning out various other games to run as soon as hecan.Though he is young compared to some, Graham has a great deal of experience fromnearly a decade in the hobby. He loves to read new material and especially enjoys seeingthe many pieces of art throughout the books, and believes that he can bring a differentperspective to the ENnies Judges.2008 ENnies Judge Questionnaire1. When did you join the RPG hobby and what inspired you to become involved andstay with it?I started gaming around 1998, pulled into a Star Wars d6 game by some friends who knewthe system fairly well. As I was, and still am, a huge Star Wars fan, I was immediatelydrawn in and despite loving the game, felt the need to try other things. D&D 2e was soon tofollow, and I played both games regularly before 3e was released and I finally startedrunning games, myself. When I started to run games, I found that I loved the idea ofbuilding worlds, telling stories through the games, and doing it all in a group atmospherewhere multiple people could contribute and it was impossible to predict where things wouldgo. That sense of mystery on where a game will go is probably the main force that has keptme playing for so many years.2. Since you joined the hobby, what roles have you played (e.g. vending,professional writing and publishing, reviewing, convention organizing,homebrewing, playing, GMing, etc.)?While I started as a player, it didn’t take long for me to start designing my own homebrewworld for D&D. I soon moved to GMing, and mixed that with world design to build evenmore. World building and homebrewing really only fit with D&D and the other more genericgames that I played, but I found just as much enjoyment in my love of Star Wars games,where I could use the entirety of an established galaxy to put the players in and set themloose.3. The ENnies require a major commitment of time and mental energy. Whatresources do you bring that will help you discharge these responsibilities? Willyour gaming group or other individuals be assisting you?I have a gaming group that will be glad to test material that requires it, such as trying outnew games to get an actual feel for the mechanics that can’t be had from simply reading. Asmy group is like me, a college student, we all have a great deal of free time to commit tothis. The main asset I have is simply that, a great deal of free time to read through themany, many books that have to be judged.4. What interests, experience and skills do you bring from outside the hobby thatyou think will make you a more effective judge?I am an avid reader, and so spend a great deal of my time that I have diving betweenmultiple books. I can keep up with all of them without being lost and usually have at leastthree books being read at a time, only limited by the amount of money I have to buy newones. Beyond this, I am attending college as an artist and take a great deal of interest inthat aspect of the hobby. I feel that many times great art is overlooked just because of thename that is attached thanks to bias against an artist or simply because the product doesn’thave a large amount of distribution. I think that, while not as important as the mechanicswithin the books themselves, the art should be greatly appreciated as it helps to stronglyset the tone for the information within the book.5. What styles and genres of RPGs do you enjoy most? Are there any styles orgenres that you do not enjoy? Which games best exemplify what you like?Even today, most of my gaming comes in the form of Star Wars. I simply love the universe,and also find myself gravitating towards Sci-Fi games that are much different in their feel,such as Traveler. But, like most gamers, I have a special love for the good, old fantasygenre, be it D&D’s form of unique fantasy or a more Tolkienesque game. In fact, I enjoymost all genres, be they more modern games, Victorian era games, and especiallysuperhero games. But the best game out right now, for me, is the newly released Star WarsSaga edition, which mixes my already stated love of Star Wars with an extremely wellwritten and fast-playing adaptation of the d20 system.6. What system do you think is best designed? Is it the one you play most?Now that I have had time to read over and even play a bit of the new Star Wars SagaEdition, I have to say that it is probably the best system I’ve seen in years. It is quick,elegant, and emulates the universe it is meant to portray with ease, while also being easilyadaptable to other games. Despite this, though, I still play far more d20 games. It is thesystem I have had the most experience with in my life, and one I feel is very, very welldesigned and can be used for many different styles of play.7. What games have you played in the past year? List up to 10 RPGs you haveplayed the most.D&D 3.5eStar Wars d20d20 ModernMutants and MastermindsCall of CthulhuParanoia XPExalted8. Briefly summarize the criteria you will use for judging products in the differentcategories. How will you deal with comparing products of vastly disparate lengths,medium (PDF vs. print), or mechanics to prose ratios? Will innovation andoriginality play a major role?The most important thing about a product is the amount of useful information within it.Obviously, there are production value differences between PDF products and print products,but how much something costs to make doesn’t mean its great. Short PDFs can containmore, and better, information than a long, expensive, print product. Mechanics areimportant, but a product needs a balance between than and prose to make it readable and,hopefully, enjoyable. Nothing is worse than boring mechanics that give me a headache fromreading without clear explanations. Innovation is, to me, very important, but not required. Bringing something new to the tableis almost always a good thing if handled well, but it can be handled badly. Sometimes, theold ways are best, and so innovation is really only important in a product if it actually makesthings better rather than complicating the game.9. How will you judge supplements or adventures for game systems whose corerules you are unfamiliar with or you believe are badly designed? What about forsystems that are out of print?Its hard to judge a system if you don’t know the rules, so in that case I would do my best topick up the core rules and get an understanding of the game, be it out of print(which couldbe more difficult, but isn’t impossible. I have a good gaming store nearby with a ton of outof print material) or simply something new that I haven’t ever played.Though there aren’t too many systems I feel are badly designed, in the case of running intoa product of that kind, I would do my best to put my own personal bias aside and judge thesupplement on its own merits.10. How would you like to see the ENnies change (categories, policies, etc)? Whatshould remain inviolate?The most important part of the ENnies, to me, is the fact that the judges are drawn fromthe community itself, and then the entire community gets to vote. This is about whatgamers think is best, not the people making the games. I think that has to be kept, andbeyond that much of the process has evolved to a very good point with the voting style andthe relative fluidity of the categories to accommodate new products that might not just fitinto one.BONUS: (optional) If you were an RPG, what would it be, and would you play it?Despite my love for Star Wars, I’d be Paranoia...dealing with the evils of the (enclosed)world and making sure everyone was happy, because that is mandatory, citizen.</blockquote>

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