ENnie 2005- Judge Nominations

[CRGreathouse]

I'll put my name in again as well.

I've been an ENnie judge twice before.

I have quite a bit of gaming experience, both in D&D and a large number of other systems.

I'm a perfectionist, which helps to find errors. I'm not fanatical about it, though.

I've been an ENnie judge before, but this year I don't think I can dedicate the time to judge. I would have nominated Darkness if he hadn't beaten me to it. He has excellent rules sense; he plays a wide variety of systems; he's fair in his judging. He represents a point of view that often isn't fully represented in the ENnie judging.

Finally, he loosens the American stranglehold on the positions.

 

[Teflon Billy]

Finally, he loosens the American stranglehold on the positions.

I'm Canadian Charles :\

 

[CRGreathouse]

(mods: feel free to move if needed)

I'm Canadian Charles :\

1. I think we've had 4/5 or 5/5 US judges each year (not sure; I'd have to check), which seems out of proportion with the makeup of these boards.
2. I think of Canadians as Americans... both in the loose sense of cultural/historical similarity and continental affiliation ('American' coming, of course, from the North America comprised of mostly the US and Canada).
3. The comment was tongue-in-cheek, thus the smiley.

I have further thoughts on the matter which likely aren't appropriate here. Feel free to email me (my user name @yahoo.com will work) if you're curious.

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

Hello, I'm Rich Miller, known on ENWorld and elsewhere as Cthulhu's Librarian.

In 2004, I was an ENnies judge. The experience was exciting, eye opening, and at times exhausting. I would welcome the opportunity to be a judge again.

I have a long background with RPGs and books, which I feel qualifies me to take on the role of ENnies judge. I began roleplaying in 1982 with the D&D Basic Set, and never looked back. Roleplaying games, science fiction, and fantasy have played a huge role in my life as far back as I can remember.

I have always loved working with books, which has directed my career choices from bookselling in college and several years afterwards, to publishing, and now to a library. I worked as an editor at HarperPrism (former SF/Fantasy imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, now called EOS) for several years, working with authors as diverse as Terry Pratchett, Robert Silverberg, William Shatner, and Clive Barker. After leaving HarperCollins, I worked for several years doing layout and design for a major medical publisher, SilverChair. I currently work in both the reference department and as computer support for the University of Virginia Library.

I bring a wide variety of skills and perspectives to judging roleplaying books. As a former editor, I am critical of sloppy editing and unclear rules. As a former layout and book designer, I enjoy reading and working with books that have effective and innovative art and design choices. As a member of a major university library reference staff, I know how to quickly and effectively evaluate material for content and usefulness.

My gaming background includes playing and running a wide variety of games and genres: Dungeons & Dragons (all editions), GURPS, Call of Cthulhu, Star Wars (WEG and d20), Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Unisystem, Marvel Super Heroes, d20 Modern, DC Heroes, Villains & Vigilantes, Vampire, HERO, Rolemaster, HARP, Paranoia, MERP, Talislanta, Savage Worlds, Mutants & Masterminds, and many d20, OGL, and other games.

As an ENWorld member, I have gone out of my way to meet and game with as many people from this community as possible at GenCon, several Game Days, and in regular weekly games. I feel this community has provided me with the opportunity to meet and interact with many great gamers, publishers, and friends, and I would like to put in another years effort as an ENnies judge to give something back the community. Being a judge is a lot of hard work, and I can speak to that from personal experience. I can do the work necessary, and more. Thanks! *



*And this year, I promise not to get married right before the judging begins!

 

[Truth Seeker]

Last year, I didn't vote, now this year, I can. But the choices are hard...wait, maybe this can help me.

Judges of 2004.

*Study the photo in detail*

 

[Dextra]

Warlord,

I tried to PM or email you, but you've got it set so I couldn't, so this reply'll have to be public.

I'm sorry to have to do this, but we're going to have to limit judges to those who are at least 18 years of age as of March 15th, 2005. Mostly it's a legal thing- judges have to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement, and to enter into a legal contract you need to be at least 18.

I don't want to be ageist, especially since I started playing D&D at age 12, and now play with my kids all the time, but we have to cover our asses legally.

I hope you'll still help out in the ENnies in some other function, and submit your name for consideration for the ENnies of 2007!

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.

 

[Mixmaster]

Warlord,

I hope you'll still help out in the ENnies in some other function, and submit your name for consideration for the ENnies of 2007!

And when you do, You've got my vote! We should be diverse in as many ways as possible.
I know, I know: With only 5 judges, how diverse can it be?

 

[Xath]

Well, I don't know that I compete with the rest as far as gaming experience goes, but since Warlord isn't able to speak for the youngins' I'll throw myself into the pot to add to the diversity theme. My actual name is Gertie and I'll be 20 by the time the con rolls around. I'm a sophomore theatre/linguistics double major at the University of Maryland, College Park, and I've been gaming for about 5 years now.

The systems I play most often are D20 (D&D3.0, 3.5, Modern, Future, Mutants and Masterminds, Grim Tales, Wheel of Time) and White Wolf (Exalted, Mage). I've also dabbled in other variants (Paranoia, Decipher's LotR, D6 Star Wars), and my retail life at WotC gave me a knowledge base in many other systems.

I don't have any fancy resume credits to fluff here, rather the viewpoint I would present as judge would be that of the regular Joe/Mary who enjoys gaming in the recreational sense. Aside from the slashing of texts that will occur from the editor/designer's standpoint, I think it's important to have a perspective that is more withdrawn from the professional aspect of gaming, and can analyze content for its enjoyment value, rather than its technical perfection.

(If I'm not selected to be a judge, I'd still like to help out.)

 

[BSF]

I am going to go ahead and volunteer here.

I don't have any previous publishing/editing experience, so I don't have an "insider's perspective" on how a product is put together and published. What I do have is a gamer's perspective on how it is used. Admittedly, most everyone here on the boards can offer that advantage.

OK, I have been gaming since 1980. I began with the classic red basic book. I moved on to the Expert book, then to 1st Ed AD&D. I picked up the first copy of the 2nd Ed Player's Handbook at Wargames West here in Albuquerque. I fully confess to having abandoned 2nd Ed. I renewed interest in 3.0 when it was released and I have moved on to 3.5. This is not to say that I only have D&D experience. Over the years I have played Top Secret, Star Frontiers, Gamma World, MERP, Rolemaster, Marvel SuperHeros, Villians & Vigilantes, Other Suns, Cyberpunk, Batman, Twilight 2000, James Bond, Lords of Creation, Traveller, Paranoia, Star Wars, MechWarrior and multiple genres of HERO. There are even a couple of game systems I have neglected to mention. I am also versed in a variety of board games and wargames. I have copies of FFG's Horizon games series as well as material for Darwin's World, HARP, Call of Cthulhu and D20 Modern, but have not had the opportunity to play those games yet. None of these are a compelling reason to vote for me. They are simply to demonstrate that I am not solely tied to D&D.

I am currently an active player in one D&D campaign and I run another D&D campaign 3 times a month. Both games are homebrews and accept third party publisher material. I don't have a bias for or against any given setting. I have another group of board gaming enthusiasts that meets twice monthly. As well, I am a steady contributor to EN World. I have competed in Ceramic DM, but I have stayed out of the contest when I know I won't be able to commit to the deadlines. That is to say that I am an active gamer and I try to treat time commitments responsibly.

I am a prolific reader and have been known to devour novels in a night. I read Science Fiction, Fantasy, Dark Fantasy and Horror. I work as a Network & System Administrator where attention to detail is a must to do my job well. If you have read my posts in the past year and a half, you have a strong idea of how I think and approach gaming.

There are other great candidates for judging here. Like each of them, I will treat judging as a serious endeavor and try to give each product a fair evaluation. EN World is a great community and the ENnies are a wonderful extension of how much we all love to game.

 

[Dextra]

The story thus far...

Currently in the running we have:
-alsih2o
-BardStephenFox
-Crothian
-Cthulhu's Librarian
-Darkness
-die_kluge
-JoeGKushner
-Macbeth
-Maldur
-Mixmaster
-Nisarg
-omokage
-Piratecat
-Teflon Billy
-Umbran
-Xath

Nominated, but not accepted (yet) we have:
-diaglo
-Psion
-Rel

I'm glad to see a return of some familiar faces as well as new blood. I'm very excited about the international contingent making an appearance, the age ranges and game experience represented, and hope that some of the fairer sex will consider joining in as well. Thank you all who have put themselves forward or accepted nominations. As for anyone else considering, there's still time to throw your hat into the field!

When I originally said I'd start the polling at 6am, I had assumed I would be at my home (from which I have to leave for work at 6:15). But since I'm staying in the city overnight, I might get to sleep in as late as 7, so the poll may go up a little later than originally advertised, for which I apologize now. Please be advised, however, that nominations will only be accepted up until the original cutoff time of 6am EST.

The poll will have its results hidden until the voting period is over. You may vote only once, but may vote for multiple judges, although I'd suggest only picking five would be best!