Having retired the RPGs That Time Forgot feature, I find myself translating the geek power of role-playing to more practical essays on the subject. You mind? Don't worry, Friday Night Fights is later today, bringing the comic book violence you actually crave back to the top of the page.This week, something I've mentioned once or twice already and which is a quasi-annual tradition here at Siskoid's House of Pancakes: The RPG Award Show. Every year (if possible), we like to get together and have a gala event in which prizes are awarded for Best Player, Best GM, Best Adventure, Stupidest Death, Best NPC, Most Memorable Event, and so on. It's a fun night of cheap thrills that helps reward players and GMs alike and imbed the games into our memories more solidly. Here's a quick guide.
Categories and voting
The first step is to once a year (or once every two years, or maybe when a particular campaign wraps up) send each of your gamers a ballot. On that ballot, they will find each category and a list of each nominee (include every possible candidate, not just 4 or 5). Their job is to rank each nominee from best to worst, skipping only things and people that occured in sessions they were not present for. When you get the ballot back, count up the points. Say there are 10 choices, the first choice gets 10, second choice gets 9 and so on. If a player missed a number of sessions, his or her top choice for Favorite Adventure might only score 8, while an assiduous player's might score 15.
Always allow write-in votes. In fact, you should also make an open call for nominations before composing the ballot, or better yet, encourage players to make nominations right after any given session, and keep a record. The ballot might also include silly little survey questions like "What game should be play next?" or "Which GM would you like to see in drag?", answers to which you will reveal at the gala.
Prizes
There are plenty of ways to make these, and you really should. They're fun keepsakes and add a lot to the upcoming proceedings. If you're artisticly inclined, you might make little trophies. A box of HeroClix might yield good awards statuettes for a Supers campaign. Golden dice stuck on a little cardboard plate? Why not? Personally, I like to grab pictures that represent adventures we've had, either scanned from scenarios used, like this James Bond RPG pic awarded for Best Player in 2005:
Or the inspiration for a scene, villain or other character. Like this Best Menace award from the same year:
The Event
The Awards Show itself can take as little as 20 minutes just before your actual role-playing session, or it can go for a couple of hours and stand on its own, if you like. The only component that must be respected is the reading of the best 4 or 5 nominees followed by the winner. Every winner should make a speech in character, including you and your NPCs. But you can add more to the night:
-The red carpet: As the players come in, play the interviewer that acosts them at the door (or have a pretty roommate do it, it's very disconcerting). Bring up gamer gossip and rivalries, talk about future plans. If you don't want anyone to miss a thing, wait til most have arrived, and while you wait for the usual latecomers (they know who they are), do the Ellen Degeneras thing where she goes down the alleys and sticks a microphone in celebrities' faces.
-Musical numbers: I like to book a band at these things. If you have players with musical talent, they might play "themselves" as the band and do a song or two, especially if they're silly or can improvize something gamer-y. The other way to do it is to find a band (or more than one) whose songs have some kind of revelance to your games, either in subject matter or because you've used them as part of a soundtrack. Role-play what they say on stage (usually dedicating the song to a certain player or moment or laughing at them) and press Play.
-PowerPoint presentation: Never used one as yet, but if you have a big enough screen, it could be fun to do the reveals that way, or throw in some webcam videos from players not present to receive their awards.
-The Oscar after-party: Once it's done, feel free to have a drink as a group, give more details about certain nominations to players who missed those sessions, plan the next campaign, remind everyone that YOU were named Best Player last year, and so on. Have a good time, that's why we play!
Throw a nice enough event, and the Award Show might feature among them Most Memorable Moments of the following year...
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