The ENnie Awards

 

 

Justin (Jay) Peters

  Justin (Jay) Peters

aka Kinetic, Blammo, Kinetic2501, Blammo2501, herostyle

Introduction
Many years have passed since I first found Champions, but my interest in the hobby has only grown with time. I am an avid roleplayer, even going as far as purchasing a local gaming store to ensure I could always have a steady stream of gamers and gaming around me.

These days I work in IT but I have dreams of one day working for an RPG developer that creates the next big thing. And hopefully I won't just be fixing their computers...

1. When did you join the RPG hobby and what inspired you to become involved and stay with it?
It was 21 years ago when I came across the Champions box set in a used book store. I bought it for $2.00 and immediately began reading. Before long I was running a game with friends, and from there things exploded. My friends and I would pool our allowances to buy new games, gravitating toward things like Marvel Super Heroes, DC Heroes (which became a fast favorite of mine), Werewolf the Apocalypse, and many others.

From there I became involved in AD&D and joined my first group at the age of thirteen. The game was run by my friend's dad, and the other players were my friend, his brother, his mother, and two of the family friends. Because of that group AD&D and retroclones will always have a place in my heart. I recently re-purchased my AD&D 2nd Edition collection after having lost it in a move (no idea where that box ended up...) and am working on getting my current gaming group to let me run a Dark Sun game.

When it comes to gaming today I can say that I have met some of the greatest people I've known through roleplaying. My best friend and I met through mutual friends over a game of Heroes Unlimited. I moved to Missoula, Montana in 2007 without knowing anyone here, but all of the friends I've made since, and my girlfriend, I met because of gaming.

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.)?
Since the late 80's I have played games, ran games, developed small homebrew games with friends (which never took off, but we all had a good time with them), and even owned a gaming store when an opportunity presented itself.

In 2010 I will be running a few games at our local convention, MisCon, and will be volunteering my time with them from here on out.
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 have no life, so all my time is yours.

In all seriousness, I mentioned that I work in IT which can require a lot of time. However, when I'm doing a server upgrade and I'm waiting on vendors I'll usually pop open one of my gaming books and start reading. This usually means an overnight shift with nothing but a copy of Mutants & Masterminds or Star Wars Saga Edition as company (unless you count the other people on the conference call). I have a regular gaming group, a regular local convention, and scattered game days throughout the year which all help to lend a hand if necessary. The convention and game days are two of the best places to slam a new game down on the table and have an entire group formed up in minutes to give it a whirl.

I also have an entire room devoted to gaming and I'm not above adding more shelves to the walls or picking up another bookcase. It might take some work, but my roommate doesn't have much in the way of shelves in his room... If there's not enough room, I'll make some.

I have a lot of local support and will absolutely be able to fulfill my role as a judge for the ENnies. Plus, it'll give me a whole lot of gamer street cred, and who wouldn't put on the gloves for a chance at that?
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?
Critical thinking and communication are two huge factors in what I do every day while troubleshooting problems or managing projects. The company I work for is large, with over 15,000 employees in several locations around the US. No one likes having time wasted, so making sure you look at an issue from every angle before rushing it up the chain is a must. Good communication skills are required as most of my work is done via conference calls and web meetings. Finally, if you have a problem with deadlines in this line of work you just won't last long.

Roleplaying is my biggest hobby, but I understand that the responsibility that comes with this position is a daunting thing. I have no problems with managing my time, using many of the same techniques I use at work to succeed with the ENnies. I have constant access to email and IM so I will never be too far out of touch, and will always be willing to help someone else if they need a hand. I'll treat this responsibility much like I treat my job, managing my time and maintaining my professionalism through the entire project. Except I'll be doing it with games, and that's awesome.
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”?
When it comes to favorite genre, supers wins hands down. It doesn't matter if it's golden age, iron age, bronze age, or post-modern, I am a huge fan of anything supers. Unfortunately I don't know many people that are willing to run this particular genre so my favorite genre that I've played in recently is sci-fi. If I can't put on my cape and stop evil-doers from terrorizing the world then I want to be in my spaceship exploring the galaxy.

Some of my favorite games are Mutants & Masterminds and Hero System, though would kind of consider myself a fanboy of M&M. I used to be a devout Hero supporter but M&M definitely pulled me away. Star Wars Saga Edition has really grabbed my interest and won't let go when it comes to the science fiction games, and while I used to keep anything Star Wars at arms length I have fully embraced this one now.
6. What system do you think is best designed? Is it the one you play most?
The answer to this one is going to be kind of muddled, as every system I have ever tried has had at least one good thing and I think this answer is greatly dependent on what you are wanting to do with your game.

I honestly love UniSystem. There are critics of this particular system, but I have found that it works very well for every game I have played in or ran. I wouldn't say that I play this the most, but I jump at the chances to get in on these games. This system is the best I have found for one-shots, requiring very little time for prep and adapts to almost every genre I have tried. However, I haven't tried a supers game with it because the amount of work it would take to build that sort of setting is just daunting, and there are other games on the market that handle supers games very, very well already.

The system I am most familiar with is Hero, and because of this it has been my go-to system for years. I am starting to break away from it a little now because of my infatuation with Mutants & Masterminds, but I still think that Hero System is great and worthy of acknowledgment.

Between these two systems you have one that is quick and easy and one that is often deemed "too crunchy" for some tastes, which really just goes to show that it's more about the game determining the system than the other way around.
7. What games have you played in the past year? List up to 10 RPGs you have played the most.
Below is a list of what I have played in the last year. I may have forgotten a couple of one-shots here and there, but this should get most of them:

Hero 5th Edition Revised
Exalted 2nd Edition
Dark Heresy (FFG)
Mutants & Masterminds 2nd Edition
Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition
Don't Rest Your Head
All Flesh Must Be Eaten

Upcoming, I expect to play:
Star Wars Saga Edition
Savage Worlds
Bash Ultimate Edition - In the interest of full disclosure, I am currently a playtester for this one.
8. 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?
This would vary a little from product to product. I have seen fantastic, low page count .pdfs and textbook sized gaming manuals that lacked any sort of quality so the size of the book and the format it's published in doesn't really come into play at all. Things I would pay close attention to are the mechanics, the settings, and how well the product conveys the game. I would judge each product based on the overall quality, taking spelling mistakes and art into account, as well as the level of immersion found in whatever I was reading. Finally, innovation and originality would definitely have a huge impact on how I judge things.
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?
When judging supplements or adventures for systems I might be unfamiliar with, I would spend some time trying to familiarize myself with those rules. I have a gaming budget that I would definitely use to pick up necessary materials for this purpose. If I am unable to, then I would judge the supplement or adventure solely on its own merit.

For example, if an adventure has a very well written story with some devious plot twists and seems to convey the theme of the game without the assistance of the core book, then those are all huge selling points of that adventure. If the adventure relies too much on a core book then, from a GM's standpoint, I would get annoyed having to cross-reference or look up references in another book when I am trying to run the game. It adds a lot of prep work and, in some cases, frustration when you have to have three additional books to run one pre-printed adventure for a group already familiar with the game.

If it is a supplement, then I would be more forgiving in this regard. Supplements are supposed to add to, and draw from, the core books so having to reference other materials is expected. However, if the supplement has some very well thought out ideas that are conveyed well on paper then it would get high marks from me. If I was left feeling unsure of what I just read because the material is so paper thin without the core rules, then I wouldn't regard that supplement as highly as I might have. Examples of well written supplements are the sourcebooks for Star Wars Saga Edition. You will lose out on the basics from the core book, but each book is written well enough that you understand what you are reading and how it can apply to the main game.
10. How would you like to see the ENnies change (categories, policies, etc)? What should remain inviolate?
One thing that should remain inviolate is the relationship between the ENnie's staff and the fans. The communication and enthusiasm is fantastic, and I'm glad that the walls are down, so to speak, to allow for this relationship. I also think that the open criteria the judges use should remain the same. As far as the actual policies, categories and participants, I think the ENnies do a fantastic job already.
BONUS: (optional) If you were an RPG, what would it be, and would you play it?
I like being me, and keeping my hobby separate but... I would totally be "Don't Rest Your Head." Why? Stay up too late the night before work playing games, then work a ten hour shift, go home for two hours and then perform a server upgrade that goes bad at six o'clock in the morning (but not because of anything you did) and see if your Discipline starts shifting to Madness.

But contrary to the game, sleep deprivation doesn't really help with certain tasks...

And yes, I would play it.

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