1KM1KT Awards

[Chainsaw Aardvark]

I'd say the belated recognition would be wither the "Lazarus Trophy" or "From the Archives".

Speaking of archives, do you know a place to download the one page dungeons? I presume this year that would be a category or given a link somewhere on our site. I know roleplayingtips.com (which probably should be mentioned on the free RPG, blog now that I think of it) has a wonderful list of 5 room encounters as a PDF.

Not that we should be piling more work on our judges, but I'd probably say one category for game and one for product. After all, there is a difference in the effort and focus when designing cogent rules - and programing a online resource like "Open Gaming Table". Perhaps splitting off best setting as well. "Product" seems a bit too general to me.

[Dyson Logos]

[Dyson Logos]

[Thought]

It is a shame that this splendid idea hasn't received more discussion (and implementation). Hopefully I shall not incur anyone's wrath with a little necromancy...

For the Indie RPG scene in general, publicity is as good as gold, and better. It would seem, then, that if 1km1kt could partner with a few other institutions to merely award the best game recognition, it would be popular (and if done well, it would become popular with GMs as well as creators). For example, spicing things up could be said to be helping people have more fun at every session, so maybe Johnn Four over at Roleplaying Tips could be convinced to help out with it (a specific note in his ezine would really help some games gain popularity).

Now this would go against the premise of Free RPGs, but if this was also open to all RPGs, I think that there would be some significant interest. With a few carefully selected categories, this could allow free RPGs to ride the sentiment of the entire gaming community. A "Best Corporate Shill RPG," a "Best Independent Commercial RPG," "Best Free RPG," and of course the "Funky Monkey" award for the most original idea in an RPG.

Now one might baulk and say that it is unfair to put, say, a 24 hour rpg up against something like Nobilis, but keep in mind that the large gaming companies contribute only a few games to the entire industry. WotC, for example, would have had D&D back in 2008 but I can't find a full RPG that they've released in the past few years (just supplements, which wouldn't count). White Wolf does a bit better their World of Darkness setting, under which I am not sure if the individual games should count as separate or not. But, point being, by opening these awards (which I shall call "The Monkeys") to more popular classifications, one can draw in interest without too much risk to the little-guys getting trampled... or maybe I am just out of touch.

It could be bigger than the Academy Awards (well, probably not).

Just a,

Thought