Update for Publishers, some Opinions Sought

[Dextra]

Hi all,

Movement is progressing on the 2005 ENnies, including discussion on voting mechanics, increased advertising in industry magazines, improved relations with distributors and retailers, and better visibility at GenCon. Judge selection has begun, so please pop by the General RPG forum and feel free to cast your vote until the early morning of Monday, March 7th. Staff positions are being filled, and we're working on updating the web site as well.

While Morrus is busily updating the ENnies page, the rest of us ENnie types are defining the categories and designing an Entry Form. I thought I'd invite comment from those most affected- the publishers. In an effort to strike a balance between making each award mean something, time, and budget constraints, I think that 20 categories/awards is about ideal (plus the Peer Choice and Fan Choice and a possible Special Award). I'm trying to avoid dictating by what criteria each category is judged, so as to leave that to the judges (and I plan to encourage them to post them as soon as they determine what they are!)

Anyhow, this is what I've got thus far. Your suggestions are welcome (my comments are in italics).

CORE AWARDS
1. Best Cartography
-this is an award for an individual product containing the best cartography
someone please define cartography!

2. Best Art (Cover)
-this is an award for the book containing the best cover artwork
do we judge based upon the actual piece of art (so ask the publisher to submit the art), or based upon the final look of the cover, how the title and logos are incorporated, etc?

3. Best Art (Interiour)
-this is an award for an individual product containing the best collection of artwork between the covers.

4. Best Graphic Design & Layout
-this is an award for an individual product containing the best graphic design and layout throughout

5. Best Writing
-this is an award for the book containing the best prose and descriptive text (ie. "cream").

6. Best Rules
-this is an award for the book containing the best game design and mechanics Iie. "crunch").

7. Best Electronic Product
-this is an award for the best product released electronically (PDFs, software, etc)

8. Best Aid or Accessory
-this is an award for a product used to complement role playing game play.
someone please help better define what an aid or accessory is!

9. Best Fan Site
-a web site run by fans, for fans, ie. not by a publisher
should I specify that it should be not-for-profit?

10. Best Adventure
-this is an award for a product that is primarily an adventure. If under seven entries are received in this category, submissions will be considered for Best Setting Supplement or Best Writing.
man, I really need help with these definitions!

11. Best Campaign Setting
-this is an award for a product that describes a new? campaign setting. If under seven entries are received in this category, submissions will be considered for Best Writing or Best Setting Supplement.

12. Best Setting Supplement
-this is an award for a product designed for use in a specific campaign setting. If under seven entries are received in this category, submissions will be considered for Best Writing.

13. Best Rules Supplement
-this is an award for a product adding or modifying rules for the system under which it is released yeah, I know, I don't really like the description either, but it's a start... If under seven entries are received in this category, submissions will be considered for Best Rules.

14. Best Monster Supplement
-a product of which the majority is dedicated to the description of the creatures and monsters of the game. If under seven entries are received in this category, submissions will be considered for Best Rules Supplement, Best Rules, or Best Setting Supplement as warranted.

15. Best Free Product or Web Enhancement
-this is an award for the best free product or web enhancement.
A company's entire site could be nominated so long as there was considerable updates and content added during the judging period.

16. Best d20 Game
-this is an award for the best game that uses the d20 license. The Best d20 Game winner brings togther art, editing, layout, production values, writing, rules, feeling- everything that makes up a role playing game, rolled up and printed with a d20 logo on the cover.
Do we exclude stuff like Hackmaster so that it has to be d20 exclusively, or do we open it up to all OGL games?

17. Best Game
-this is an award for the best role-playing game. The Best d20 Game winner brings togther art, editing, layout, production values, writing, rules, feeling- everything that makes up a role playing game.
I'm having a hard time defining this one

18. Best Publisher
-This is awarded to a publisher whose body of work submitted from the year was deemed best overall, with other, often less tangible factors taken into consideration. Customer support, quality and frequency of updates of their web site, their accessibility and contributions to the EN and gaming-in-general community will be all part of the qualities of Publisher.

MUTABLE AWARDS
(Depends upon what was released in the previous year, the whims of the judges, etc).

19-20. Best ??? TBA
-2 awards that each year will be decided upon and defined by that year's judges, depending in large part by the quantities of submissions and releases that year. Some possibilities include:
-Best Licensed Product
-Best Periodical
-Best n00B (a newbie is defined as a nominee whose first work(s) appeared in the judging year)?
-Special Award (for outstanding contributions to role playing gaming- this could be another write-in option, and could be an individual writer, publisher, artist, setting, or web site)?


"BONUS" AWARDS
1. Peer's Choice Award- voted upon by industry professionals including but not limited to those who submitted products for consideration.

2. Fan's Choice Award- this is the winner of the "write-in" category, and the only category in which a publisher/designer can win, even if they didn't submit their works for consideration... so anyone could be a contender. It has been suggested that we should probably automatically eliminate ENP and WotC from the running for fairness sake.

 

[GMSkarka]

11. Best Campaign Setting
-this is an award for a product that describes a new? campaign setting. If under seven entries are received in this category, submissions will be considered for Best Writing or Best Setting Supplement.

12. Best Setting Supplement
-this is an award for a product designed for use in a specific campaign setting. If under seven entries are received in this category, submissions will be considered for Best Writing.

Those are odd definitions, since most publishers and distributors I know of use "setting supplement" to refer to a supplement that details a setting....which is the definition you've provided for Campaign Supplement (which is pretty much the same thing).

Overall, it seems like this is a list where somebody decided on a certain number of awards, and then has scrambled to come up with that number. I think you'd be better served with about half of these removed.

 

[Dextra]

Those are odd definitions, since most publishers and distributors I know of use "setting supplement" to refer to a supplement that details a setting....which is the definition you've provided for Campaign Supplement (which is pretty much the same thing).

Overall, it seems like this is a list where somebody decided on a certain number of awards, and then has scrambled to come up with that number. I think you'd be better served with about half of these removed.

Which half?

Honestly, we cut a bunch of categories that were up for consideration!
I added best Rules and Writing (formerly known as Best Crunch and Best Cream) under the premise that if other aspects of putting together a book are being rewarded (such as art, cartography, etc), then the two main aspects of writing should be acknowledged as well.

Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing the Campaign Setting and Setting Supplement categories go- what do you have in mind?

 

[Monte At Home]

Cool. I like that 5 and 6 speak to the existence of 1-4.

I'd make sure that it was clear whether 7 was for an electronic only release, or for something also released electronically as well as in print.

8, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 almost start to feel redundant. In other words, you're already giving out "work" related awards (1-6), and so also doing product awards is strange. Especially so many. It's strange to have a "best rules" category and a "best rules supplement" category, for example. 11 and 12 seem particularly redundant with each other as well.

You could almost cut these down to "best product." Or--and this is a little weird--if you want to single out more than one product, you could make it the "best products" category, and give the award to three first places and three second places, or something like that, rather than the somewhat arbitrary rules/setting/monster/adventure distinctions. (A product we released, for example, Hyperconscious, is an adventure, a monster book and a rulebook.) This also speaks to the idea of mutable awards. Allow the judges the freedom to put together a large list without worrying about categories.

16. Best d20 Game
-this is an award for the best game that uses the d20 license. The Best d20 Game winner brings togther art, editing, layout, production values, writing, rules, feeling- everything that makes up a role playing game, rolled up and printed with a d20 logo on the cover.
Do we exclude stuff like Hackmaster so that it has to be d20 exclusively, or do we open it up to all OGL games?

There aren't very many d20 standalone games, and the distinction between them and OGL games is really only a legal one.

2. Fan's Choice Award- this is the winner of the "write-in" category, and the only category in which a publisher/designer can win, even if they didn't submit their works for consideration... so anyone could be a contender. It has been suggested that we should probably automatically eliminate ENP and WotC from the running for fairness sake.

I can hardly believe I'm writing this--because I've been very vocal in past years about the inequality of any awards system that tries to measure a 300 person company backed by a corporate giant with a single guy working out of his garage in addition to his day job--but I wouldn't put any restrictions on this one if there are no restrictions on the others. Let the fans really say who their favorite is. (I'm a big proponent of write-in fan awards. I really like the Pen and Paper system, for example.)

 

[Nifft]

Awards That I, Nifft, Would Like To See:

- Best Setting-Specific Critters / NPCs: The product that contains the most evocative enemies & allies.

- Best Plot: The product that would generate the best movie (if, say, Peter Jackson were to sit in on your campaign and make it into a movie).

- Best New Publisher: The publisher who was the best, of those who weren't around last year.

- Best Alternate Genre Product: The best stuff that isn't D&D-style fantasy.

- Best "Everycampaign" Critters / NPCs: The product that contains the most versatile & useful, yet generic, critters and/or NPCs.

-- N

 

[GMSkarka]

I added best Rules and Writing (formerly known as Best Crunch and Best Cream) under the premise that if other aspects of putting together a book are being rewarded (such as art, cartography, etc), then the two main aspects of writing should be acknowledged as well.

Except that those things aren't really separate. It's all writing, and often done by the same writers. Plus, since the writing is the focus of all of the product, it seems a little odd to award it when you're already giving out "best product" awards.

Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing the Campaign Setting and Setting Supplement categories go- what do you have in mind?

I'd trim your original list down to:

1. Best Cartography

2. Best Cover

3. Best Interior Art

4. Best Electronic Product

5. Best Aid or Accessory

6. Best Adventure

7. Best Supplement (includes Campaigns, rules sups, monster books, etc.)

8. Best Free Product or Web Enhancement

9. Best d20 Game

10. Best non-D20 Game

11. Best Publisher

 

[Dextra]

I've updated the list based upon comments here and in the ENnies forum, and will post it just after this.

We're trimming the categories all over now. Soon they shall bear the sleek look of a pricey topiary! Thank you everyone for speaking up- keep it coming!

To speak to some of your concerns:

The wording on the Electronic Product is proving to be tricky. I'd like to see it be for products released primarily and initially as electronic products, but don't want to punish a PDF publisher for scoring a print deal!

Got rid of the Best Rules Supplement category, and combined Campaign Setting and Setting Supplement. Personally I'm not really certain that they're all that necessary, but I respect how daunting it can be to put out a setting, and think that those brave souls making a go of it should get some props.

I'm struggling with the two Best Game categories, mostly because how hard it is to define. At the moment, I'm leaning towards redefining it as best game book. Since the awards started off as d20, we're going to keep the best d20 game award in addition to the best game award. I wonder, should we include a Best d20 Publisher category to keep those d20 purists happy?

I can hardly believe I'm writing this--because I've been very vocal in past years about the inequality of any awards system that tries to measure a 300 person company backed by a corporate giant with a single guy working out of his garage in addition to his day job--but I wouldn't put any restrictions on this one if there are no restrictions on the others. Let the fans really say who their favorite is. (I'm a big proponent of write-in fan awards. I really like the Pen and Paper system, for example.)

Personally, I think that ANY company, whether they submitted themselves for consideration or not, big or small, should be eligible for the Fan's Choice. However, since the beginning, Natural20Press and then ENPublishing have been excluded from the ENnies, so it seems to follow that we should bow out of all categories (sigh)... No comment on the degree of WotC's participation in this year's Awards until Charles Ryan and I have a chance to chat some more.

 

[Dextra]

I disagree about the cream and crunch not being really separate. Quite often a writer will excel in one area, and struggle with another. There've been books where the prose really stood out and evoked an emotional response- as good art should- but where the game mechanics didn't really sing out, and other books with brilliant game design concepts but nasty descriptive text. I'd like to be able to reward excellence in both fields, since both are integral parts of a quality product, just as cartography, art, design, etc are.

There's some concern about the Graphic Design & Layout category, that Joe Average Gamer doesn't tend to notice such things, and I notice you discounted it as well. Would you mind elaborating on that call, please?

I find the concept of amalgamating all the supplements and monster books into one "Best Supplement" category very appealing, although think that that's one category that would be absolutely swamped! I'm interested in hearing what others have to say about it.

I noticed you did without the Fan Site award. There's been some pressure to lose it, but I'm reluctant to do so. I like the idea of remembering our roots, and giving some deserved recognition to the people who put in so much time and effort into their sites.

BTW, I do really appreciate you taking the time to discuss this. This is an important part of the process. I know I'll never be able to please everyone, but hope that we can please enough and still make the awards worthwhile!

Except that those things aren't really separate. It's all writing, and often done by the same writers. Plus, since the writing is the focus of all of the product, it seems a little odd to award it when you're already giving out "best product" awards.



I'd trim your original list down to:

1. Best Cartography

2. Best Cover

3. Best Interior Art

4. Best Electronic Product

5. Best Aid or Accessory

6. Best Adventure

7. Best Supplement (includes Campaigns, rules sups, monster books, etc.)

8. Best Free Product or Web Enhancement

9. Best d20 Game

10. Best non-D20 Game

11. Best Publisher

 

[Dextra]

We've changed the wording on the Best Monster to be Monsters and Adversaries, so think that'll address the Critters / NPCs concerns. I think that breaking them down into setting-specific vs. not would split them too fine- besides, they'd be judged by basically the same criteria, no? I like your evaluation criteria for the critter books.

Best Plot seems very interesting, but I think might fall under Best Writing (or Adventure) quite nicely.

I like the idea of a best n00B award, but am receiving some reluctance on that front. But best new Publisher could be nice. We were all newbies at one point, right? I think that one'll remain one of the mutable awards that the judges can choose to award or not depending upon submissions.

As for the Alternate Genre, we've been deliberately steering clear of all genres deliberately. I don't want to draw those lines!

Awards That I, Nifft, Would Like To See:

- Best Setting-Specific Critters / NPCs: The product that contains the most evocative enemies & allies.

- Best Plot: The product that would generate the best movie (if, say, Peter Jackson were to sit in on your campaign and make it into a movie).

- Best New Publisher: The publisher who was the best, of those who weren't around last year.

- Best Alternate Genre Product: The best stuff that isn't D&D-style fantasy.

- Best "Everycampaign" Critters / NPCs: The product that contains the most versatile & useful, yet generic, critters and/or NPCs.

-- N

 

[Dextra]

latest version of the categories...

CORE AWARDS
1. Best Cartography
-This is an award for an individual product containing the best cartography (maps and charts, evaluated for look and usability).
someone please define cartography!

2. Best Art (Cover)
-This is an award for the book containing the best cover artwork. The overall quality of the cover is taken into consideration- the quality of the art, the final look of the cover and how the title and logos are incorporated therein.

3. Best Art (Interiour)
-this is an award for an individual product containing the best collection of artwork between the covers.

4. Best Graphic Design & Layout
-This is an award for an individual product containing the best graphic design and layout throughout.

5. Best Writing
-This is an award for the book containing the best prose and descriptive text (ie. "cream").

6. Best Rules
-This is an award for the book containing the best game design and mechanics (ie. "crunch").

7. Best Electronic Product
-This is an award for the best product released electronically (PDFs, software, etc). Products submitted for Best Electronic Product must have been primarily and initially released in electronic format.

8. Best Aid or Accessory
-This is an award for a product used to complement role playing game play.

9. Best Fan Site
-This is an award for best web site run by fans, for fans, ie. not by a publisher, not for profit.

10. Best Adventure
-This is an award for a product that is primarily an adventure, adventure ideas or seeds. If under seven entries are received in this category, submissions will be considered for Best Campaign Setting or Setting Supplement or Best Writing.

11. Best Campaign Setting or Setting Supplement
-This is an award for a product particular to a campaign setting. If under seven entries are received in this category, submissions will be considered for Best Writing.

12. Best Monster or Adversaries Supplement
-This is an award for a product of which the majority is dedicated to the description of the creatures or adversaries within the game. If under seven entries are received in this category, submissions will be considered for Best Rules, or Best Campaign Setting or Setting Supplement as warranted.

13. Best Free Product or Web Enhancement
-This is an award for the best free product or web enhancement. A company's entire site could be nominated so long as there was considerable updates and content added during the judging period.

14. Best d20 Game
-This is an award for the best book that uses the d20 license. The Best d20 Game winner brings togther art, writing, rules, feeling- everything that makes up a role playing game, rolled up and printed with a d20 logo on the cover. This is open to OGL, d20 Licensed games, and products with special D&D licenses.

15. Best Game
-This is an award for the best role-playing game book. The Best d20 Game winner brings togther art, writing, rules, feeling- everything that makes up a role playing game.

16. Best Publisher
-This is awarded to a publisher whose body of work submitted from the year was deemed best overall, with other, often less tangible factors taken into consideration. Customer support, quality and frequency of updates of their web site, their accessibility and contributions to the EN and gaming-in-general community will be all part of the qualities of Publisher.

MUTABLE AWARDS
(Depends upon what was released in the previous year, the whims of the judges, etc).

17-18. Best ??? TBA
-2 awards that each year will be decided upon and defined by that year's judges, depending in large part by the quantities of submissions and releases that year. Some possibilities include:
-Best Licensed Product
-Best Periodical
-Best n00B (a newbie is defined as a nominee whose first work(s) appeared in the judging year)?
-Special Award (for outstanding contributions to role playing gaming- this could be another write-in option, and could be an individual writer, publisher, artist, setting, or web site)?


"BONUS" AWARDS
1. Peer's Choice Award- voted upon by industry professionals including but not limited to those who submitted products for consideration.

2. Fan's Choice Award- this is the winner of the "write-in" category, and the only category in which a publisher/designer can win, even if they didn't submit their works for consideration... so anyone could be a contender. It has been suggested that we should probably automatically eliminate ENP and WotC from the running for fairness sake.