Judge Incentives

I have an extreme dislike of formalized Judge rewards that add to a characters power level, I think the intentionally ludicrous posts on this thread have done well to highlight the slippery slope that comes with the possible rewards. There are good ways to reward Judges, but not add to character Powers.

Informal rewards for people that go above and beyond, thats a whole different story, if you get something because you are actually appreciated and people notice what you do it means an infinite amount more than some mechanical reward (just ask an invisible king)
If you have a person come to a convention, using their vacation time and paying their own travel costs, and then that person spends (in many cases) virtually the entire convention judging adventures for you, I would argue that this person is making a huge contribution to your campaign.

I realize that there are many people who live near conventions, but on average it costs me somewhere around $800 just to get to the door of the convention hall. Now, I’m a selfish guy and prefer to play modules at a convention instead of judging, but there are lots of people who travel a long distance and still spend a ridiculous amount of time judging.

As a player who appreciates having judges at a convention, I have absolutely no problem if that person receives a little extra for his own character, even if it does threaten the all mighty ‘power curve’. I know that if I devoted all that time to help PCI and only received a firm handshake and a pat on the back, I’d be a little put out.

Any convention needs a reliable group of judges, or the games don’t get run. Lets ensure that the rewards are worth it.

Akira I think you and I are coming at this from different directions, let me make clear some of the assumptions that I’m making.

– Large conventions have their own built in non character perks (Rooms/ Badges)
– One time events (LARPS/ BIs) have a full reward attached to them for the judges

now this are a bit trickier
– In a comunity its fair to take turns being the Judge (and eating the mod)
– Arcanis is a comunity
– people that spend more “effort” to get to the convention (in terms of time/money/effort) justifably should be more on the player side of the table
– Conversely, people that spend less “effort” should make up a larger percentage of the judges (and I find this to be true for the most part)

AND THIS IS THE TRICKIEST PART
– people that are swayed by “in character rewards” of the type that adds to a characters power level are not the people that I want as a judge.

– people that are swayed by character rewards that are cosmetic or provide alternate character base options (aka race / background / unique backstories) I am neutral on (ok I lean to favoring them, but I do so emotionally rather than logically)

– people that judge because they enjoy judging, are the ideal judges, helping people find this spot is a personal goal of mine, and every person has a differnt amount of preperation, rules familiarity (confidence?) and available spoons (see spoon theory) that makes for a good judging situation for them.

– people that are judging to get a free something, this is the staple of judges at larger conventions, sometimes they over extend them selves, sometimes they are just learning, not the best, but I’m still neutral

So in the context of those assumtions (and opinions) I restate: I dislike the idea of formalized judge rewards that add to a characters power level. I think there are other, better options if there is an insistance to incentivize judges. Rather I think there is a whole set of related questions that could be pursued that might get better results (depending on the refinement of the the original question)

the point of highlighting that particular slippery slope is not so that it can be avoided, but rather so that it can be managed. I point back at those intentionally ludicrous diversions, given a sufficiently accelerated set of rewards over the years (accelerated down that slippery slope) how soon would it take for rewards to look like people are playing the gods them selves?

I think the slippery slope you would run into here is the one where the campaign has sufficient judges for a couple of years…maybe even too many!

I haven’t seen any serious suggestions that people should get to play special characters for judging at a convention, but yes, if someone judges 6-8 slots at Origins, I wouldn’t have any issue with them receiving a pair of greaves, or a ring, or some other appropriate item from a list pre-approved by campaign staff. How many people do we have that judge that many modules? Half a dozen? Probably fewer.

I am skeptical that anyone who has no experience judging and no other motivation is going to sudden decide to GM an entire convention (and potentially miss out on a number of magic items from those modules) just so they can get X reward at the end, especially if the rewards are appropriate. Minor magic items, reputation perks, gp and xp bonuses are all reasonable, in my mind.

My favorite judge rewards came last year at Arcaniscon. I got one of John’s fabulous wooden “clocks” as the master to track ticks. And Tony took the judges who ate the Vault of Larissa and did a small online adventure with them. Both of those rocked.

Sean Molley, once legendary coordinator of the campaign, somehow conned his fiance to make dice bags for all the BI judges one year (I think the BI where the storm crushed Savona). I still have mine (its green and russet) and it’s grown in my mind over the years from a piece of cool swag to a reminder of the Arcanis BIs/campaign. Hey we had another special event at Savona this year! And the old dice bag now has a new rival because *somebody special* knit us dice bags in the shape of the Game of Thrones Dragon eggs! Gah!?! Which special dice bag do i use now???

The “real” stuff I’ve gotten as rewards has always been the more meaningful stuff to me. Someone took time and energy to do something cool. I continue to appreciate that.

I would agree with Josh that the judges whose tables I want to play at are the judges that *want* to be there. They aren’t looking to acquire a vorpal sword or the right to play Kassegore (think about it, “Tick 1, I eat their souls … Top THAT!”) They’re looking to run a mod so well it could blow my mind at some point. At the same time if it would motivate more judges I wouldn’t object to (minor) magic items going out.