Branstorming for ENnies 2003 -- improvements, changes, etc

[Ghostwind]

The most important thing however I think this needs to stay fan oriented in some way don't turn it into another Origins Awards run by industry insiders who have their own agendas and sometimes snobbish opinions of what quality really is. I'm tired of hearing about obscure books nobody bought or cares about winning just because so called experts say it is excellent.

I agree that the awards should stay fan oriented, but you can still have the industry involved without comprising the fan factor. I think industry involvement may be the balancing key that folks feel is necessary given this year's results. Exactly how they should be involved will most likely be the subject of long discussions (most probably heated) and may never amount to anything. But while the Origins awards definitely have political implications in the aftermath of each year's awards, there are indeed several really good books worthy of winning despite not being the most popular or best known. It's easy to judge and be critical of who was given an award, but if you haven't read that "obscure" product, then condemnation should be avoided until you can make a better informed opinion other than those of "sour grapes". This year's ENnies even have a reflection of that based upon comments made here and elsewhere...

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Btw Coln, thanks for backing me up on this. Lord of the Iron Fortress was alright but it's not what I'd call evocative.

Don't thank me too fast! I thought LotIF was a strong secind-place contender. I liked it a lot.

 

[Krug]

Don't thank me too fast! I thought LotIF was a strong secind-place contender. I liked it a lot.

Well the fans voted, and it's one area where everyone could have checked out the covers if they took the trouble to, so democracy wins the day.

 

[Krug]

Changes:
PDF cats? But should it be restricted to PDF-only product?

Best newcomer?

Best Prestige Class and so on would be too minute categories.

As for small companies, almost everyone else is small besides WotC. Even Green Ronin is a 2 person setup with freelancers.

 

[Ghostwind]

Changes:
PDF cats? But should it be restricted to PDF-only product?

I think pdf categories should fall under three or four nominations only and they should be restricted to pdf only status. This would eliminate products that are released initially as a pdf and then followed a few months later with a print version (such as Malhavoc). As far as suggested pdf categories, I propose:

Best pdf rules supplement or campaign setting
Best pdf adventure
Best pdf overall art (interior and cover)
Best pdf product

I also think that an award that singles out the best new talent would be an asset. This could be similar to country music's Horizen award where a new talent is chosen because of recent success in the market. This could be divided into two categories (art and writing) or kept as a single. The awards would be given to the individuals and not the company.

Likewise an award acknowledging the publisher that has made the most impact in the industry within a single year would be a promising idea.

I do agree that breaking the awards down into best new rule or prestige class (or the like) would be too minute of a category...

 

[DPGDarrin]

Changes:
As for small companies, almost everyone else is small besides WotC. Even Green Ronin is a 2 person setup with freelancers.

Exactly my point... except that Green Ronin uses a lot of freelancers from WotC.

In many ways this reminds me of the debate from the last couple summer Olympics games. Supposedly the Olympics are for yet-to-be professional athletes, yet the basketball team looks more like an all star NBA team. When they cream all the other countries that don't have professional leagues, can't afford to recruit quality athletes, or don't have the knowledge to train younger athletes, we puff our chests out and brag about how awesome we are. Of course no one said that the Ennies were for up and coming talent... sigh.

An idea. There is a distinct difference between D20 products and D&D products. Under D&D, we have the official WotC stuff, and the Kingdoms of Kalamar stuff. In addition to this there are WotC licensed settings like Ravenloft and soon Dragonlance. The official D&D licensed worlds are held by larger, more established companies for the most part. Why not seperate the categories between D&D and D20 (having the worlds that have been licensed out by WotC count in this category)?

Then, in addition to this, make it so that a smaller publisher can choose to enter into the higher category. I can see why Green Ronin or Malhavoc Press would choose to do this. Setting it up in this way would be similar to boxing. You have the heavyweights and the lightweights, but in this case the lightweights could choose to go up against the heavyweights. Yes, this would still put D20 companies against White Wolf, but I think that might be a little more of a fair match.

 

[drothgery]

I wouldn't be all that quick to change the rules, though adding some pdf-only categories, and splitting Best Adventure into short adventures and mega-adventures might be a good idea. And as a general anti-tackyness precaution, I'd say the same company/individual can't win with the same product in two consecutive years (this mostly applies to the web site categories, and categories where magazines are viable entries).

In any case, WotC almost certainly will win fewer awards in 2003 under the exact same rules. d20 Modern will be WotC's only new d20 game; this year they had three (d20 WoT, d20 CoC, Star Wars Revised). I don't think they're launching a campaign setting at all, or even a borderline product like OA; they've sold off Dungeon/Polyhedron (also eliminating WotC's entry in the Best Aid/Accessory category), and there isn't a new setting in the works outside of the setting search.

 

[Glyfair]

Our paper has something called the "People's Choice Awards." Originally they used to have all the readers vote for their favorite restaurants in various categories. It's changed a lot from the original incarnation, however, I liked the original form the best.

What they used to do is have to lists. The first was the Critic's Choices. He would list his top 5 in the category. Then they had the People's Choices which would list the publics top 5.

Maybe the Ennies could do something like this. Keep the overall award as the true "Ennie" to determine who won the award. However, have a "Critic's Choice" winner for whom the judges would have selected.

Another variation would be to have another round of voting by the judges after the final votes are in. You exclude the winners and have them vote for a "honorable mention" choice.

This will allow the smaller publishers some recognition for putting out a great product, even though they may not have the market penetration of other publishers.

Glyfair of Glamis

 

[Geist]

damn WOTC won way to much *sighs* stealing alot of recognition from people who deserve it more...


also some people only buy wotc so that can tilt things.....



my suggestions for next year:

LIMIT THE NUMBER OF CATEGORIES ANY ONE COMPANY CAN ENTER!!!!!!!


say like 3? that way a company just chooses its best stuff where it wants to or thinks it can win..


also then our poor panel guys dont get overworked...



Other suggestion is to give aide's to the panel members.. (for instance i could be teflons aide and help him by bringin him coffe)

 

[KingOfChaos]

Personally, I think Wizards of the Coast shouldn't even be allowed to be nominated in the ENnies for several reasons.

1. They have too much an advantage over other D20 companies. They have better marketing, and better exposure because of it. Basically they won, in my opinion, because of their name and not for the quality of their products. Don't get me wrong, I love their books. However, I believe some of the competition deserved the awards they got.

2. Most of their products aren't OGL and don't contain any OGC material whatsoever. I don't consider most of them true D20 producst because of this, they are 3E Books. Now, if the PHB, DMG, MM, and the PsiHB had been up for awards, I wouldn't have had a beef with them winning.