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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Xath" data-source="post: 4397053" data-attributes="member: 17040">Gertie Barden has been enthusiastic about gaming since she entered the hobby over eight years ago. Like many gamers, she started out with Dungeons and Dragons, but quickly began to branch out into other systems. She's tried almost every system she could get her hands on, from Amber to World of Darkness, systems ranging from no dice to having too many dice to feasibly fit in her hands for one roll. Gertie became enamored with the ENnies when she first joined the ENWorld community in 2004. She was pleased as punch to be invited to be a part the ENnies staff for the 2006 award season, serving as Volunteer Coordinator and Stage Manager, as well as helping out in other areas as needed. Gertie has continued her work with the ENnies for the 2007 season as the Ceremony Coodrnator and 1st alternate judge. In 2008, she proudly made her debut as part of the judge’s panel, and enjoyed it so much, she hopes to continue on in the post for the 2009 season.Affectionately referred to by her current gaming group as "the library", Gertie has the ability to retain a massive amount of information regarding rule sets, descriptors and variants without cracking open a book. She also has an enormous organizational talent, due to her passion for Excel spreadsheets. These skills served her well in the 2008 ENnies season, and she hopes to improve her judging abilities even more through experience as a 2009 judge. Judge Questionnaire1. When did you join the RPG hobby and what inspired you to become involved and stay with it?I started gaming when I was 15, during the summer of my sophomore year of high school. I think it was inevitable that I would start gaming, as I’ve been deeply immersed into the science fiction and fantasy genres since before I can remember. I was practically raised on Star Trek and Tolkien. While on a school trip to Paris, I met someone who was later to become one of my best friends. We found out that we had a lot in common and he thought I’d be interested in gaming. From that point on, I haven’t been able to stop. I’m not that much of a writer, so I love being able to work with others to shape a story. I’ve been lucky enough to game with some fantastic groups over the years, and I’m sure I’ll be gaming for a very long time. 2. Since you joined the hobby, what roles have you played (e.g. vending, professional writing and publishing, freelancing, reviewing, convention organizing, homebrewing, playing, GMing, etc.)?Vending – Once I had been gaming for about a year, I found myself working for Wizards of the Coast retail. It was an incredible experience. I worked for WotC both before and after they were purchased by Hasbro. It was almost like working for two completely different companies, but both experiences were greatly rewarding. Working for pre-Hasbro Wizards, I was exposed to all manner of board games, card games, RPGs, etc. It really broadened my gaming horizons. That is when I first discovered White Wolf, GURPS, Rifts, and many other systems. After Hasbro purchased Wizards, I got to watch the company develop its own products more. I was lucky enough to be a league manager, and I got to play-test and help develop new leagues. Reviewing – I originally had great aspirations to be very involved in RPG reviews. I have great faith in my ability to review products, take copious notes, and evaluate it fairly. I’ve even written a few reviews of products I feel really passionately about. I’ve just realized I don’t have the drive to do it quasi-professionally. I choose, instead, to put my gaming energy into my games and the ENnies. Convention Organizing – In 2004, I worked with Old One and other members of the ENWorld community to organize the first semi-annual MD-DC-VA Game Day along with the University of Maryland gaming community. It was a rousing success, and I was heavily involved in the planning of the subsequent two game-days. Homebrewing – I love homebrews. My favorite campaign settings of all time have been home brews. For the past few years, I’ve been working on helping my boyfriend to expand and embellish his D&D homebrew. I’ve also been working on a near-future homebrew of my own for a Mutants & Masterminds campaign. Playing – This is definitely my favorite and most trafficked area of experience in RPGs, and is what got me into gaming in the first place. GMing – While I’ve had experience GMing, at the gaming table, my preferred role is playing. As a GM, I love world building and plot development, but my passion is in playing. I’m currently running a Mutants and Masterminds game set in a slightly home-brewed version of Freedom City. 3. The ENnies require a major commitment of time and mental energy. What resources do you bring that will help you discharge these responsibilities? Will your gaming group or other individuals be assisting you? Does your family support you?I really feel that I learned a lot through my experience as a judge this year. I now have a definite knowledge of how much time and effort are required, and due to some changes in my personal life, I feel as though I will be even more equipped to make the commitment that the ENnies demand. I’ve even learned a few tricks which I hope will help me streamline my judging process more. My gaming group has recently finished a four year campaign, and they’re itching to game again. I hope that I can use this to get them to playtest new products for the 2009 season. 4. Judging requires a great deal of critical thinking skills, communication with other judges, deadline management, organization, and storage space for the product received. What interests, experience and skills do you bring that will make you a more effective judge?As I mentioned above, I have a bit of a passion for Excel spreadsheets. I found them highly useful in keeping me organized this year. You can see the details of my judging system<a href="http://www.circvsmaximvs.com/blogs/viewblog.php?userid=16&entry=1221" target="_blank"> here.</a>  Regarding storage space, I recently purchased two more giant bookshelves for my new apartment, freeing up an entire book shelf for the ENnies, if needed. And on a personal level, I bring a deep rooted interest in science fiction and fantasy, and a highly active imagination. 5. What styles and genres of RPGs do you enjoy most? Are there any styles or genres that you do not enjoy? Which games best exemplify what you like? Do you consider yourself a particular system’s, publisher’s or genre’s “fanboy/girl”? I’ve yet to find an entire gaming genre that I don’t enjoy. My favorite genres mostly lie in fantasy, as I have a deep-rooted love for interesting and innovative magic systems. Last year, I said that I didn’t enjoy playing in games with too much of their own backstory attached (for example, Rebellion Era Star Wars). I’ve since been proven wrong. I’m currently playing in a RE Star Wars Saga game, and the GM is doing a fantastic job at having us play an important role in the story, while still maintaining cannon. So I’ve found that with the right group, and the right GM, I can enjoy any gaming system or genre. 6. What system do you think is best designed? Is it the one you play most?I think system design is dependant on what you want to do with it. For example, I think D20 works great for D&D, the system meshes well with the genre. But I don’t think it’s applicable to all situations. I don’t think D20 Modern works particularly well as a system, and depending on the tone of the game I’d be more likely to use Unisystem or Hunter. The system I play the most is D&D 3.5, as that is what my gaming group prefers. However, now that our campaign has ended, I’m really going to try to get the group to branch out and try new systems. 7. What games have you played in the past year? List up to 10 RPGs you have played the most.Dungeons & Dragons 3.5Changeling: The LostDreadMutants and MastermindsStar Wars SagaExalted 2eHollow Earth ExpeditionParanoiaD20 Modern8. Briefly summarize the criteria you will use for judging products in the different categories. How will you deal with comparing products of vastly disparate lengths, medium (PDF vs. print), or mechanics to prose ratios? Will innovation and originality play a major role?Well I can’t truly know how I’ll evaluate a product until I have the product in front of me. Length of a product isn’t as important as the overall quality of production. You can have a 50 page .pdf full of pure baloney and a 300 page book with wonderful writing, ideas, and production value and vice versa. I’ve seen companies sink tons of money into a book that’s unmitigated crap, and I’ve seen low budget .pdfs that are incredibly innovative and well written. Innovation and originality are definitely important, but they’re not the only defining factors. 9. How will you judge supplements or adventures for game systems whose core rules you are unfamiliar with or you believe are badly designed? What about for systems that are out of print?I have a certain budget set aside to pick up the core systems for supplements I am unfamiliar with. I find it kind of unlikely that a supplement would be released for a system that is out of print, but if that happens, there’s always borrowing from a friend or Ebay. And if I believe a system is badly designed, I’ll still evaluate the product fairly. But part of being a judge is evaluating whether or not a system is poorly designed, no?10. How would you like to see the ENnies change (categories, policies, etc)? What should remain inviolate?I think one of the best things about the ENnies is that they continually evolve to follow the industry. When new types of products are released which enhance the gaming environment, the ENnies add a new category to evaluate those products. When certain types of products aren’t produced or submitted, their categories go away. I like that the ENnies are flexible to the industry, rather than forcing the industry to shape itself to them, and I very much hope that trend continues. BONUS: (optional) If you were an RPG, what would it be, and would you play it?Hrm…I don’t know if I’d like to be an RPG. Role playing is like an escape from the everyday, and being an RPG would make using it as an escape tool kind of useless. And besides, if I were a role playing game, would it really be role playing?</blockquote>

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