ENnie 2005- Judge Nominations

[alsih2o]

Talked with the wife, cleared my schedule and I am a go.

I am a gamer since '79 and a professional artist. I am used to critiquing work fairly but thoroughly. I have also been published a few hundred times, though never in game material.

I have been an avid and prolific poster for 3-4 years on this site. I made the physical trophies the last 2 years and can guarantee I will be at GenCon. I created (Monday) History In Your Game, Ceramic DM and helped run the server drive, so you know my style.

I think it is important that we have an artists on board, considering the number of art awards but feel I am also qualified to review the written material. I may be one of the few judges with this double threat.

Having been very involved in the Ennies the past two years I have a realistic picture of what is involved and a clear view of the process.

 

[MrFilthyIke]

I'd love to be a judge, but my only qualification, aside from my large collection, is familiarity with various gaming systems and a open mind to all genres. So, rather than self-nominate, I'd second Mixmaster. Sounds like Mixmaster would bring interesting insight to the judging.

 

[Umbran]

I, too, shall toss a helm onto the jousting field.

I've been an avid gamers for decades, spent lots of time on both sides of the GM's screen, with more systems than you can shake a stick at, in all sorts of genres. I'm a long-time participant here at EN World, have training in proofreading and editing, have done a bit of playtesting and game design, and, of course, I love the hobby, D&D, d20, and other systems.

All that could be said about any number of the candidates. On those terms, there are probably about a hundred people here who have good qualifications.

I haven't been an Ennies judge before, and I think that is a good thing. The tendency will be to go for tried and true, long-standing judges, and that's good. But each year, a little new blood on the board will help keep the judging from becoming stuck in a rut. Again, though, that doesn't set me apart from the pack. My great willingness to do service for the community, and perhaps the hobby, won't be unique.

What makes me different, I think, is intense curiosity about these products. The Ennies provide an opportunity to look at the gaming year and the products from a fairly unique perspective. I've a heck of an itch to sit down with the products, compare and contrast, and get to the root of what makes each a good thing.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Time to toss the old hat into the ring.

Let's see... last year was my first time as a judge. I learned a lot during that time as to what to look for and what I personally like in a product. I enjoyed the back and forth banter and different opinons which finally lead up to our list.

As for qualifications... I live in Chicago. Vote for me or I send the mob after you. Okay, not quite. How about...

Ennies Reviews: One of the things I've slowly tried to do is add a lot of the Ennies material I received to the database in terms of reviews. I heard too many people complaining that we were favoring small press publishers as opposed to just picking good products, so I tred to make sure that books like Poisoncraft were reviewed. I've also added reviews of many non-d20 products, but products that are useful and often asked about to the review database like the Chunky Dungeons.

Reviewer: While my main body of work appears on EN World in the review database as a staff reviewer where I have almost 400 reviews, I've also done stuff for Shadis when it was in print, Pyramid Online, RPG.net, Ogrecave, Gaming Frontiers (alas even the website seems gone now), and a few other off the wall sections like the magazine/PDF d20 Filtered.

Active Gamer: I'm not a outgoing person like some of the other candidates in that I go to a lot of conventions but when we have our local game day, I always bring some goods for the masses. Last time it was extra copies of A/State and Tome of Horrors 2. But more importantly than that though, I game. I'm involved in usually two games a week and find myself one of the people who helps bring the other goods that make d20 a little more fun like painted miniatures, Tact-Tiles, Wire Templates and other material. I get to play with new rules and variants all the time. I'm not afraid of mixing stuff like Black Company with Grim Tales to see what shakes out.

Opinonated: Well, I know I've gotten under the skin of several RPG professionals with comments that were "not appropriate" for a RPG reviewer to make but even when those companies cut off my supplies and I buy the stuff myself, I still talk about it. Take Mongoose. I've hated many of their books and have jumped on that bandwagon every time it comes around. That doesn't mean I don't think Conan is one of the better OGL games around or that there has been improvement (at long last) in their editing.

Game Experience: I'm not one of those people who started with the OD&D set. I started with Marvel Super Heros because I love super heroes and had at one point a comic collection past 10K issues. That has lead me to play games like Hero 4th/5th, Mutants & Masterminds, GURPS 3rd and many other games. I was brought int AD&D 1st edition by one of my friends, Fritz, who showed me how cool fantasy RPGs can be and have played Elric/Stormbringer, Runequest (almost the same engine at times), Fantasy Hero (the Western Shores forever!), Rolemaster, HARP and other games. I'm not afraid to get my 'system' feet wet and to judge a game on it's own merits. For example, I gave BESM d20 a five star review because even though it's not compatible with d20 standard games in almost any way shape or form, it does what it sets out to with a great degree of skill and finese.

Well, I think that about covers it. As others have said, vote early and vote often. And don't forget, the Mob is watching...

 

[Macbeth]

Don't stand a chance agianst the 'big names,' but I'll offer my services:

Qualifications:

Active on ENWorld since March 2003 and I've enjoyed every minute of it.

SAT 800 Verbal, AP English (Literature) 5: Just to show that I know the language

Active Gamer: I play D&D every friday with BardStephenFox in Albuquerque, an hour drive from where I live. I also play GURPS, d20 Modern, Call of Cthulhu, Paranoia, In Nomine, and even Changeling ocassionally, with a group of my friends from High School whenever I'm back home. Also when I'm home, I run a D&D game and throw in one shots of Mutants and Masterminds, Paranoia, Spycraft, and other systems as the mood suits me.

Author: I have a number of projects that I've written (all written in late 2004, but none released, so I should be good to judge if I read the rules correctly).

Reviewer: I review d20 products for fun, and you can see one of my reviews here (Mutants and Masterminds Annual 1). Also lok for my review of Hamunapatra later this week. I know what I like, and I'm not afraid to tell others about it.

Almost Ceramic DM: Participant in several Cermaic DM tournies with one appearance in the finals. To see some of the good stuff, follow the link in my sig.

No Previous Juding Experience: I've never been an ENnies judge before, so I think I could add a new point of view, and add a voice for some younger gamers (I'm 19 years old).

GenCon: 75% likely to be at GenCon as part of a big summer trip this year, and looking forward to meeting more EN Worlders in person.

 

[loki44]

I'd like to nominate diaglo. He's about as consistent in his evaluation of d20 products as is humanly possible.

 

[Mark]

I nominate Psion.

 

[pensiv]

While I admit that it's been some time since I've had the time to say anything on the boards, I am interested in being an ENnies judge this year.

I've been doing a lot of writing and illustrating and reviewing of all sorts of things, not the least of which being RPGs.

Most of my time lately is being spent as Editor-in-Chief of OPi8.com which is a art/comics/fiction/music site. Being EIC exercises my critical skills immensely, since I field a lot of submissions (out of the dozens of submissions I get each month, only a few ever make it past me onto the site). As you may be able to tell from the site, this also includes art critcism, which I understand is in short supply with the ENnies.

I'm also currently doing some work for Talisman Studios, writing the game master's chapter of a sci-fi RPG that will be released at Origins this summer (after the cutoff date for the ENnies). This involves drafting rules, campaign templates, and creating story elements.

I went to college to study interactive media and spent a lot of that time focusing on game theory. I've also been a usability engineer for 6 years, which basically means that my critical skills extend to evaluating how a person interacts with a product, both in terms of computer interfaces and in terms of game and print design.

I've been game mastering various game systems for about 13 years, which not only includes having used published modules and systems, but designing my own adventures and game mechanics.

I'd be coming into this as an editor (in the realms of both submissions and manuscript editing), a critic, and a creator. I've worked in all of those fields professionally and as a hobby and would love to offer my skills to the EN World and general gaming community as an ENnies judge. I pride myself on my impartiality, and of course I am highly analytical

 

[warlord]

I nominate myself. My qualifications: active gamer of multiple systems and I know the value of a good gaming product it has to make you think. Also I think the ENines needs a diverse judge group so having a younger guy(16) would help get the teen veiw on RPG products.

 

[Li Shenron]

I would have really really liked to be a canditate myself (I was last year, but got only about 20 votes ), but the mandatory knowledge of non-d20 systems disqualifies me miserably I could have provided a solid grasp on 3ed and d20 rules, a balanced approach between rules and flavor, a very critical mind, a strong customer-defensive attitude, bla bla, but the only other systems I've used are older editions of D&D itself, and only with a quite limited experience. Too bad.

Anyway, I don't have anyone specific to nominate for this rally, or rather I would have quite too many But I want to strongly advocate and support the absolute NEED of ENnie women judges, the lack of whom has been scandalous and outrageous! I'll support all women candidates to challenge the old mummies who always win!!! (no harm intended, those old mummies also always do a great job )