[Information] Meet the Judges

[Bhelogan]

We have a wonderful panel of judges this year, many of them are new faces to the organizational side of Outplay.

Each judge will introduce themselves and give you an idea of what they are looking for. I have asked our judges this year to score each participant for every round using the following matrix:

• Enjoyability and Creativity - 10 points (How well did you like the content)
• Clarity, Formatting, and Technical - 10 points (Was the post clear, easy to follow, Used these system rules correctly)
• Grammar and Writing - 10 points (No obvious spelling errors or grammatical blunders, how was the quality of writing?)
• Moved the Plot / Acted true to Character - 10 points (Did posts move things forward, and fit the theme of the character doing them?)
• Mechanical Success - 10 points (Each individual round this year will have a clear-cut objective, and defined scoring metric)

(Yes, the Mechanical score will still be part of it, but not 1/2 of the score as the last couple of years. The score will be determined by the rounds GM, and included in all judges matrix)

[Bhelogan]

I'm Bhelogan. I am not planning on GMing this year (unless unforeseen situations demand it), but I will be judging and facilitating the event. I like engaging posts that move the plot along, develop your character, and help develop the other characters you interact with. Although this is a competition with a winner, I love to see good team play. It's a well-documented fact that walls of text can be a bit scary for me, I much prefer quality over quantity. I am an Engineer, not an English major. If I am seeing typos and spelling errors, then your post probably has some major issues in that department. I also encourage you to interact with everyone outside of the game threads, make some friends and have a good time. This is a celebration of our hobby as much as it is a competition. Good luck!

[GleefulNihilism]

Howdy! Let's be honest, you knew I'd be around somewhere. :P

I got into the hobby relatively late in life, not until College and DnD 3.5e. Some friends tried to pull me in so that they could have a Healer. Accidentally made one of the best Anti-Undead builds in the RAW rules at the time. True story. Had an Emo phase, De-Emo'd, and had all sorts of adventures in between. I've seen the Rise and Fall of 4e, the Rise of Pathfinder and Mutants and Masterminds, the Insanity of Shadowrun, even dabbled in World of Darkness. I keep threatening to get a "Don't Rest Your Head" game going, and Friend Computer watches above all.

Been on the Site since it's previous name, so old I don't remember but the site will tell you 2007 so I'll go with that for now. Heh. I am one of the Ancient Ones, here when the old magic was written and probably will be for quite a while longer. For a long time I had the distinct honor of being the winner of "The Great Player's Competition", the prototype contest that eventually evolved into Outplay but only officially counted as "Outplay 0" last year. In my head I've been calling myself "The Lost Judge" because of it because I'm corny like that it seems.

As A Judge I'm looking for (Roughly in Order)

• Enjoyability and Creativity - I am a Sucker for a Good Story. Always have been. Dazzle Me! I love a creative character, subversions of tropes and all that.
• Moved the Plot / Acted true to Character - A very close 2nd and only because I like getting to know a character more than knowing them immediately. Drizz't Clones will be punishable by Death. I want to feel the pulse of the story and of your character, I want to root for them rising above their challenges and watch them grow.
• Clarity, Formatting, and Technical - I like solid functionaity in design, but if working right this should be uplifting everything else.
• Mechanical Success - I've been stung by bad rolls too often to really hit hard with this, but this will break ties for me.
• Grammer and Spelling - As long as it's clear what you meant you'll do fine.

[Retry]

Hey folks! Pleasure to be here again! My name is Retry and I'll be one of your judges for this year's Outplay competition.

I started getting into RPGs fairly recently back in late '18 and have been hooked ever since, especially to this wonderful site. I run numerous games and have played in just as many. I proudly serve as a volunteer GM for our New Player Solo Games for both the DND5e and CoC7e queues, to help introduce folks to the play-by-post format.

As mentioned, this is my second year acting as a judge. My experience from last year has left me older, wiser, and more prepared; so I can provide the best feedback possible to serve you as you possibly move forward in the competition.

I will be on the lookout for posts that are easy to read and find a happy balance between handling the situation, providing hooks for others, and not being too long. It can be a difficult task, I know this first-hand. I have faith in you though!

Best of luck, chummer!

[The Rat Queen]

Hi everyone! Glad to be here!

This is my first time as a judge, so I'll be following the lead of the others for the most part...at least as far as procedure goes.

I've been playing Shadowrun for about a year or three, starting right here on RPGX. I'm just beginning my foray into the world of GMing/judging, but my philosophy as a judge is pretty much the same as a player. I like descriptive posts that other players can react to, posts that allow others to engage and build upon. Teamwork works better than trying to do it all yourself, and I love characters with depth!

Bonus points if you can make me giggle while reading your post!

[Imveros]

Who am I you ask? I am but a humble fixer who has helped built a shadow community at RPG Crossing.

I've been gaming for almost twenty years now. My obsession with Shadowrun came along during my college years when my roommate insisted I read the old novels. Thus an addict was born! We used to play fourth edition from 5p to 5a twice a week. Ah, the good old days.

We moved to fifth as soon as it dropped and never looked back! Since college, I've done what it takes to keep up with my addiction. I ran weekly PUGs at my LGS for more than a year. I was also incredibly active on Catalyst's official forums, under the same SN with the same avatar if you frequented those parts back then.

Once the LGS closed down, I moved my efforts to Roll20. I'm no master of the widgets and functions, but it's a great way to track encounters and store sheets. Across those years I've run the entirety of season 4 twice, the first mission five times, and Food Fight more times than I can count.

As a GM, I want to see creativity and I'd like you all to showcase just what makes Shadowrun so special. You won't be hampered by convoluted and poorly edited rules this year, so show us what you've got! The matrix is easy now, martial arts are cool again, there are no best in slot items, and opportunity cost is a thing of the past! You'll win my heart by solving a problem in a way that never crossed my mind while behaving as organically as possible. Slang doesn't hurt either. Feel free to use these resources as you play!

Use the new system to your advantage to tell a story with your fellow contestants. Last year, my highest marks went to the characters that worked together and did something awesome as a team. Keep that in mind as you build. How will this signature move/gear/spell help me tell an astonishing collaborative story no one has ever seen/heard/read before! I know, I'm not asking for much here...

Lastly, remember to have fun! I know it's a competition and all, but if you have fun, we'll have fun too, and then everyone wins! I look forward to running the shadows with you chummers. <3

[Marshmallow]

Hello!

My name's Marshmallow, you might recognize me from events such as [we can't talk about that], [You can't plug that product in an Outplay Meet-the-Judges introduction] & [Why did you drink so much wine]. I'm most often running systems from the magical, orange realm of [OTHER] or making way too many applications for Shadowrun games. I've been playing in the Shadowrun setting for a good couple of years now, so I know my chummers from my drekheads & I'm more interested in characters as individuals and personalities than builds or statistics. I'll be keeping an eye out for well-written posts that convey character, personality, and actions appropriate to who they've written out to be by their players.

So... I guess the too long didn't readtl;dr is to play your character in a way that's believable to their personality as you've presented it to us and there shouldn't be any reason for me to not sway in your favor.

As a judge I'm looking for:

• Well written & formatted posts
• Believable characterization and actions
• A E S T H E T I C, I'll be judging the Shadowrun side of things so bring some style!