“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” — Theodore Roosevelt
The Idea
Here’s an idea I’d like to float past folks. A combination of New Years Resolutions, a Bucket-List, and a home-brewed Industry Award where we each look at how to achieve our ‘personal best’ for gaming, and have a bit of fun doing it. I want this to be fun, and if at any point it gets to be a pressure thing or introduces stress, let’s find ways to change the awards or even skip them altogether. Friendship first! We’ll also have some additional fun-awards not listed below for things like “Most outrageous Native-American Bard”, etc. Anyway, here’s how it will work.
The Process
Setting Goals: In January each year, each participating Dicehaven member comes up with a list of things they’d like to improve on (either as a player or a GM), or things they’d like to experience.
Types of Awards
Some of these awards you’d only get once; others you can get each year.
Personal Challenges
In some cases (in good spirit and friendship) we might challenge each other to a specific award, maybe to encourage people to shine or move a bit out of their comfort zone. Folks can decline of course.
Granting the Awards
Next January we’ll have a game club dinner where we’ll grant the awards. A small team will caucus beforehand on which awards we’re giving out. Stan will create certificates for award winners.
What the Award Is
I’m thinking it’s a nice printed document (5×7″ or 8.5×11″) which lists all the individual awards (achievements) from the year in one document. Optionally we can mount and display them in my gameroom.
Example Awards
Here are some initial ideas for awards. Brainstorm on other ones you might like to see. I’ve listed tags to show how many times you can get the award (One-Time or Recurring) and who might get the reward (GM, Player, or either).
10 Minute Prep Game
GM runs a game in a previously announced setting based on parameters of players choice at the beginning of a game. The GM has 10 minutes to prepare, and away you go!
[su_label type=”success”]One-Time[/su_label]
[su_label type=”info”]GM[/su_label]
Amazing Accent
Player or GM masters an accent which they could not previously do before (such as French or German).
[su_label type=”success”]One-Time[/su_label]
[su_label type=”info”]GM or Player[/su_label]
Campaign Stalwart (for ‘X’ Campaign)
Player has more than 80% attendance in a particular game.
[su_label type=”success”]Recurring[/su_label]
[su_label type=”info”]GM or Player[/su_label]
Clear Voice
Player or GM improves their voice to be significantly better for podcasting (stopping Smacking Sounds, or hiding a cough, or stopping fidgeting noises).
[su_label type=”success”]One-Time[/su_label]
[su_label type=”info”]GM or Player[/su_label]
GM ‘X’
Gamemaster has run ‘X’ games during the calendar year (rounded down to the nearest 5). A GM who ran 23 games in a year would get the ‘GM 20’ award.
[su_label type=”success”]Recurring[/su_label]
[su_label type=”info”]GM[/su_label]
Laser Focus
Player has a laser focus on the game and doesn’t have side conversations, doesn’t play games on their phone, and doesn’t routinely text or take calls during a game.
[su_label type=”success”]Recurring[/su_label]
[su_label type=”info”]Player[/su_label]
New GM
Players GM’s for the first time!
[su_label type=”success”]One-Time[/su_label]
[su_label type=”info”]GM[/su_label]
Rules Master
Player or GM selects 5 rules they struggle with and masters them.
[su_label type=”success”]Recurring[/su_label]
[su_label type=”info”]GM or Player[/su_label]
Run from a Notecard
GM runs a game with nothing more than a 3×5′ or 4×6′ notecard (not counting rules or monster stats).
[su_label type=”success”]One-Time[/su_label]
[su_label type=”info”]GM[/su_label]
Time Control
GM routinely starts and ends his game within 15 minutes of the planned start and end time.
[su_label type=”success”]Recurring[/su_label]
[su_label type=”info”]GM[/su_label]
Stan’s Personal Goals
Here’s what Stan’s is hoping to achieve in 2018:
- Clear Voice — Overcome smacking sounds and speak clearly on the podcast.
- GM 50 — Run 50 games in a year!
- Rules Master — Master a few niggling 5e rules that I keep forgetting.
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