Indie RPG Awards: Theme Feedback

[Andy Kitkowski]

Paying money for voting rights.

People PAYING for the opportunity to vote alongside the artists.

Man, that's low. That's beyong low, that's just...

IT. WOULD. WORK.

And a damn fine idea at that!

For the second time today, Steve blows my mind.  Now I have to go back and rethink a thing or two :)

-Andy

[Jason L Blair]

My vote for bitchingest theme for the Indie Awards is...marzipan bunnies frolicking on a chocolate plain.

Also, word of advice, don't ask for advice on "themes" from people who have little, if any, sense of spatial and visual aesthetic. If you're hosting/coordinating the awards then pick a few people whose work you like/respect and get *their* opinions.

[Enoch]

I like ninja.

I KNOW!  How about ninja Japanese school girls!

What?  Err... yeah.  I like Japanese school girls more than I like ninja.

::Cough::

Move along.

-Joshua

[John Wick]

Andy,

Anything - ANYTHING - but ninjas.
I beg you.

Pink pastel elephants in tutus.
Androgenous superheroes in jello-suits.
Jared in a thong.

Anything but ninjas.

(Seriously, I don't mind. It's your show and you run it the way you want. But no ninjas. Or you die. A lot.)

[Ian Freeman]

Speaking as me... the slickest award for something like this would be a version of the work in question. Something really nuts like (if you have lots of money) a hardback copy of the game, on ultra glossy paper with stainless steel covers.

The stainless steel covers would (naturally) have an award image somehow embossed into them.

And if you have way too much money, higher an uber-good professional artist to do a piece of cover art for the book that the winner can put on all their future products. Have the cover art on the stainless-steel book as well (you can paint cars, I'm sure you can put a piece of art on a steel cover).

[Enoch]

I like Ian's idea.  That would be pretty nifty.

-Joshua

[Andy Kitkowski]

Actually, for this first year of the award, I think I'm going to go straight with the "Cheap Certificate Plus Ph4T Pile of Ca$h" for the winner. If, somehow, donations exceed $800 or so, I might go ahead and do something special (have an award made, engraved shot glass, a copy of "Indie Games Monopoly", a hockey Jersey with "I HEART RPGs" on it, etc).

Right now I'm debating whether to go with 100% of the money for the winner, or something like 80% of the money to the winner, and the last 20% to be divided among the other category winners (It'd probably come out to about $5 each, but hey, that's like 2 burritos at Taco Bell!)

-Andy

[Rod Phillips]

Hi Andy,

I'll volunteer my services here to be the Wet Blanket (TM)  and offer up a few points for thought (I'm a bookkeeper for a non-profit agency in Real Life, so please forgive me):

1. I love the idea of the Indie RPG Awards.

2. Cash prizes. Hmmmm... on the surface it sounds great, but I wonder if you're not opening Pandora's box with this one. One of the things that I've found to be great about the community here at The Forge over the past few weeks is the sense of comeraderie and neighborliness. I worry that when the promise of $$$ starts floating around there may be a cooling of the openness and collaborative spirit that really define these boards and the indie RPG scene as a whole. I'd hate to see everyone get paranoid about sharing their ideas and advice.

I am certainly not saying that this would definitely happen, just that it could. That would be a real shame.

I am more in favor of modest prizes of the "blurb & logo for your website/cover and a nice certificate" type. Or maybe a silly hat to wear to your next game convention.

3. Ninjas are fun, but it all seems a little "1983" for my tastes. Ron makes a good point above about the "cheese" factor.

4. I agree with everyone who has pointed out that the bottom line of this discussion is "It's your show; do what you want to with it."

All that being said, I am very impressed by your passion for this project, and the initiative you've already taken to try to make it happen. More power to you!

take care,
Rod

[Eric J.]

As for prizes: I woudn't go too far.  I'd say a 50-30-20 relationship, and I'd recomend not more than 150$ in prizes total (Unless I'm on the voting panel =] ). JMHO.  You can give the rest of the donations on charity.  This would make each participant feel like he/she's earned something while also limiting the elitest attitude that it could generate.

[Mike Holmes]

2. Cash prizes. Hmmmm... on the surface it sounds great, but I wonder if you're not opening Pandora's box with this one. One of the things that I've found to be great about the community here at The Forge over the past few weeks is the sense of comeraderie and neighborliness. I worry that when the promise of $$$ starts floating around there may be a cooling of the openness and collaborative spirit that really define these boards and the indie RPG scene as a whole. I'd hate to see everyone get paranoid about sharing their ideas and advice.

I woudn't be too worried. As Eric points out you can keep the prizes in such a range that they aen't likely to affect anyone's behavior. This leaves more money for runners-up, which means less competition again, as each is likely to get something comparable.

I am more in favor of modest prizes of the "blurb & logo for your website/cover and a nice certificate" type.

Where would this go? Remember, The Forge is in no way associated, technically, with the award so as to remain neutral.

Or maybe a silly hat to wear to your next game convention.

De rigeur.

3. Ninjas are fun, but it all seems a little "1983" for my tastes. Ron makes a good point above about the "cheese" factor.

Yeah, but...You know when we were at GenCon we touted ourselves as Indie-RPG Ninjas. Even on the signage. And the "cheese" seems somehow very in tune with the Indie Spirit (B Movie presentations, and gonzo attitude). And the idea of being stealthful as in operating under the radar. Works for me on several levels.

Perhaps more tailored an image, however. A little Ninja wielding a Pen? Or with Throwing Dice in hand?

Just some random thoughts.

Mike

P.S. You know, John, there probably is something better than Ninja. But did you hafta put that last image in my mind for cripes sake in order to make your point? You know until now I've avoided needing therapy; I think you may have just put me over the edge. Shud-d-d-d-er.

[Jared A. Sorensen]

[quote="Mike Holmes]P.S. You know, John, there probably is something better than Ninja. But did you hafta put that last image in my mind for cripes sake in order to make your point? You know until now I've avoided needing therapy; I think you may have just put me over the edge. Shud-d-d-d-er.[/quote]


My hiney and I are duly offended.

[Andy Kitkowski]

I'm going through all my Indie RPG Awards-related threads and letting everyone know who subscribed to them that we're live!

http://www.rpg-awards.com

If you released a game last year, REGISTER IT!

If you released a game in the last two years, REGISTER TO VOTE!

If you haven't released any games, PLEASE HELP GET THE WORD OUT at other RPG forums, newsgroups, etc.

Thanks for helping me start this up, guys.  I really appreciate it.

-Andy