The Goodie Awards: our annual Thank You to the community!
This week’s Goodie Awards were a star-studded affair featuring the best and brightest of the Goodman Games community! Each year we like to say ‘thank you’ to those individuals that go above and beyond to show their love for Goodman Games with the Goodie Awards — and you can still catch this week’s show over at the Goodman Games Official Twitch Channel.
You’ll want to check out the original show for all the details and stories about the many nominees, but we’ve also provided a complete list of the nominees, honorees, and winners below with some information about all the amazing work they do, across every facet of development, gaming, and community building — dedicated folks like this are truly at the heart of what we do, and to all of them we say both ‘congratulations’ and ‘thank you.’
Product Recognition
A new category this year — we can’t give each other awards (it’s against the rules!), but we’d like to acknowledge when certain plans, teams, or products have come together to result in something a cut above the usual. This category recognizes those outstanding efforts from our staff.
DCC Dying Earth Not every project executes as well as it could, but DCC Dying Earth is a terrific example of an RPG sourcebook that is true to the source material and is a beautiful product in its own right. At Goodman Games, we’ve been honored to see how well it was received – by the fans, by John Vance son of Jack Vance, and by everyone in between. It’s a great example of just a really well executed RPG product, with extraordinary writing that matches the source, great game design, new mechanics (like grudge tokens) that will be remembered in future designs, and brilliant art and graphic design. We doff our floppy wizard hat to the DCC DE team that saw the process through from conception to finish: Terry Olson, Julian Bernick, and Bob and Jen Brinkman.
DCC #100: The Music of the Spheres is Chaos Longtime members of the Goodman team Harley Stroh and Doug Kovacs have invested a lot of hard work over the past few years on a project that has only recently come to fruition. It wasn’t an easy or fast birth, but DCC #100 has finally arrived and now RPG fans have the chance to experience this unique dungeon experience full of novel mechanics and puzzles, for themselves. Great work, Harley and Doug!
Love Mutants of Castle Heartache Sometimes things just work. There is one recent project for which the stars aligned — the DCC Valentine’s Adventure: Love Mutants of Castle Heartache — the only Goodman Games project to be entered by our printer into an award show! To quote Joseph Goodman: “That book just came out perfect in so many ways.” Congratulations and well done to the entire team that made it happen: Brendan LaSalle, Stefan Poag, our printer Walsworth, Matt Hildebrand, Harley Stroh, Michael Curtis, Chuck Whelan, Joe Abboreno, Steven Gomex, Cliff Kurowski, Bradley K. McDevitt, and Colin Richards!
Goodie Award Nominees
The following are this year’s Goodie Award Nominees — to be nominated means an individual has distinguished themselves in the eyes of their peers in various community-building ways. It’s a sign of distinction, and worthy of congratulations! Some Nominees are past recipients, and hence are no longer eligible for a Medal.
Shane “Judge Kablooey” Madgett Shane is recognized for his inspirational dedication to the Road Crew, for organizing an impressive amount of public events, for creating and sharing his fantastic poster art with the community, and for his bold leadership of Gongfarmer’s Local #221.
Matt Gullett and Eddie Bartlett Matt and Eddie, here recognized for their exemplary stewardship of Long Con, a convention that offers so much to fans of Dungeon Crawl Classics, and for maintaining a standard of community excellence that we are extremely proud to be associated with, and for their contributions as third party publishers and contributors.
Jason Daniel Jason is recognized for his amazing online gaming work, running events at numerous online conventions each year, including our own Cyclops Cons, where his courage to let the dice dictate the PCs fate holds him in high regard—plus, he rides on an airboat for work, so … double cool!
Richard Gould Richard, our “Roll20 DCC PC-Sheet Steward” has created an excellent character sheet for use with DCC on Roll20, that thousands of players have used all over the world to play DCC online. Great work, Richard.
Gilbert Isla Gilbert is being recognized for his work as an editor for the fantastic Weird Frontiers, but perhaps even more for his help with the Reid San Filippo charity auction where he organized the event, tracked the items and bidders, and made sure that the winners were notified after the fact.
Christian Ovsenik, Steve Barnett, and Greg Burchell All are nominated for their Herculean efforts to convert DCC RPG products to Foundry VTT — thank you for transporting the tabletop experience of DCC to the virtual world, for so many players and Judges.
Cory Welch Cory was justly nominated AGAIN for his amazing charity efforts regarding the Jerry Stefek Memorial Crawl for the Cure, and since he already received a Goodie last year, we just want to acknowledge that he’s still out there impressing the community with his acts of charity
Eric Daum Eric is an unsung hero at Gen Con, working or running games wherever needed, and maintaining a kind and helpful demeaner during the chaos of Gen Con.
Nick Baran Nick devotes a significant portion of his time to promoting DCC, encouraging new players and judges, and developing great content at an affordable price. Subscribe to Nick’s YouTube channel because he deserves to get more recognition for his amazing work, and of course check out his line of DCC-compatible supplements and adventures from Breaker Press Games.
Levi Combs Levi Combs of Planet X Games is a constant source of positive encouragement and support for the community. He goes out of his way to send emails and text messages, post encouragement on social media, and generally behave as an ambassador for our hobby. His enthusiasm is infectious, and his love is genuine thanks for all you do, Levi.
Brian Shutter Brian isn’t just being nominated for his work with his own company, Super Savage Systems, but also for adding lore and depth to Joey Royale’s Pizza Party, and just contributing an extra touch of weirdness to the world!
Bruce Cunnington Bruce is recognized for all of the amazing work he does over in the UK, from assisting us at UK Games Expo to being an early tester for the UK Store and his tireless support for all things Goodman at UK shows throughout the year—Bruce, we raise a pint to you!
Ian Kelley Ian Kelley and Stackup.org are being honored for their tireless efforts in bringing tabletop role-playing games to our active US military. Their orchestration of getting crates out to the troops is quite the logistics feat!
Troy Tucker “Big Troy” Tucker has been an ambassador to the DCC community, making great impressions at cons and FLGSs – both before and after the pandemic. He has brought many a new player into the fold who now accord themselves a veteran — great work, “Big Troy!”
Spencer Ellsworth Spencer has been independently reaching out to regional conventions along the west coast, requesting gaming tables specifically for DCC. This is what the Road Crew is all about and really helps grow the presence of DCC! Great work, Spencer!
Philippe Lepinard We here at Goodman Games are proud to recognize Phillipe Lepinard for not only his efforts to make DCC RPG available in French, but also his initiative in organizing a DCC adventure writing competition for international students. Well done and merci, Phillipe!
Devin Watkins We’d also like to recognize Devin Watkins for his organizing a DCC Club at his school and, in the words of one of his students, being “willing to help [his students], by sharing his knowledge of DCC, using his experience to lead [them] in the right direction with[out] giving too much away, and always being a lively, energetic judge.” Great job, Mr. Watkins (as your students call you)!
Daniel J. Bishop Daniel is a long-standing figure in the DCC community, and this year he’s been recognized not just for writing the Free RPG Day DCC RPG adventure, Piercing the Demon’s Eye, but taking time out to run that adventure module at a FLGS in Toronto for the event.
Trevor Stamper & Ed Stanek Trevor and Ed have provided an incredible service to the DCC third party publisher community with their show, The Scrivenery, where they offer a wealth of support and advice for new creators. Catch The Scrivenery every-other-week on Fridays, 7:30 pm EST, and catch up with their Youtube archive to kickstart your third party publishing journey.
Stefan Surratt Stefan releases an amazing amount of high quality DCC third party content, he is very active on both the official Discord and the fan-run DungeonCrawlers server, he’s half of the RAW (Rules As Written!) show on Twitch, and he’s friendly, helpful, and generous – plus he runs a ton of games!
Goodie Award Honorees
Our Goodie Award Honorees have earned a mark of distinction just short of a Medal — think of this roll call of worthies as our Silver medalists.
Ryan Moore Goodman Games honors the late Ryan Moore for his contributions to the hobby, for being a good father of a new generation of gamers, for his support of Dungeon Crawl Classics and thrid party games, and for all the great memories he leaves behind in the community that morns his loss.
Tim Deschene Tim is honored in 2023 for raising the standards of excellence in the Goodman Games fan community, for his many contributions as a third party creator, playtester, and supporter, for his unflagging dedication to the hobby, and his thoughtful and constant support of new people entering the hobby. Thanks for all you do, Tim!
Alex Kurowski We’d like to honor Alex for his work running Twenty Side to Every Story, a Twitch channel that hosts many (a we mean many!) GMG product playthroughs. In addition, he has contributed to many GMG products as a writer, such as the new Against the Thieves Guild module that is part of the Grimtooth’s Old-School Traps campaign and which Alex will be running as an ongoing live play. He is currently working on a fun project not yet announced.
Loz the Eye-Wizard Loz the Eye-Wizard is always posting homebrew created DCC/MCC crafts that make everyone jealous. He has been an excellent advocate for Goodman Games overseas, and a great ambassador to the brand, the game, the lifestyle, and community. He is very active in social media, offering advice, support, info/education, and just fun and humour. He’s a canonical character, both as the Eye-Wizard, and as the person behind the persona. He’s what DCC is about, and a great first point of contact when folks enter the community, and for all of that we are pleased to honor the Goodie-worthy Loz!
Alex Coggon Alex is an artist with a shedload of skills. She works amazing detail into both black & white and color pieces. Whether fantastic faux-Egyptian fashions or portraits of mutated wizards and horrible monsters, she can draw it all in record time. Alex adds another dimension to the artwork in Goodman Games products, and a diverse point of view to old-school — yet modern — fantasy illustration.
Tom Colley Tom has been running games on and off the books at Gen Con, Gary Con and GameHole for years. He’s run games at DougCon for several years (including Catastrophe Island, Inferno Road, and Meat Planet). He helps with getting Doug’s art show into and out of the Lucas Oil stadium. His van runs on klartesh and green crystals from the Purple Planet. He also plays DCC and was part of the team that won the 2022 Gen Con tournament! He is kind and generous, a great judge, player and an outstanding representative of the brand.
Louis (“Lou”) Hoefer Goodman Games is honoring Lou for all of the help provided at Gen Con this year. Con work is very demanding in both time and energy, and Lou jumped in to fill vacant judge spots and to relieve our staff for breaks. He then surprised us by staying with us during the booth tear-down (which, as some of you can attest to, consists of some of the worst working conditions!). Total rock star.
Ross Jackson Ross is being honored for his efforts above and beyond to make his DCC RPG games entertaining and encouraging diversity in the DCC community. Ross is, in the words of those who nominated him, “the ultimate Road Crew Judge” who runs games at stores, conventions, online, and in private homes. In addition to his awesome homemade ziggurat for Pits of Lost Agharta, he also is running both a 3-year long DCC Lankhmar campaign and an all-woman, all-halfling table of brand-new RPG players simply because they thought it looked cool and wanted to join in the fun. Congratulations, Ross Jackson!
Jessica McDevitt Jess has been a part of the Goodman Games team for many years, both officially and unofficially when she was Brad’s tag-along way back when. The general public hasn’t seen much of her for the last year while she’s dealt with some health issues. We’d like to recognize her perseverance and optimism, even in the face of challenges, and encourage fans to support her GoFundMe as she continues to heal. We’re all pulling for you Jess!
Aaron Kreader Aaron is a jack of all trades, and a helluva nice guy. He can do maps, black and white illustrations, color covers — he even writes his own adventures! Aaron is also a publisher who can run his own Kickstarters. Aaron is always keen to share his knowledge and experience with other publishers and developers and is a great asset to the community.
Jim Kitchen Goodman Games honored Jim last year but, if ever a rule was meant to be broken, we’ll break it and honor him again this year! Jim has done so many positive things for so many people in the community. This year in particular we’d like to recognize his continued work utilizing his fast-talking auctioneer skills to run charity auctions for those who need help the most. Thanks again, Jim!
Goodie Award Medalists
The following are the medalists for this years Goodie Awards — Congratulations one and all!
Casey Coyle Casey is a GM for Twenty Sides to Every Story. He runs many Goodman Games adventures as live playthroughs, frequently during our crowdfunding campaigns to help spread the word. His entire Dark Tower campaign live play, which also including the Sunken Temple of Set and the Chosen Sons of Set, lasted over 1 year and spanned 35 episodes — a feat most worthy of a Goodie Award!
Mihailo Tesic Mihailo not only extensively playtests many Goodman Games products, but he of course also writes both 5E and DCC content (as well as conversions from one system, to another). Mihailo is the single voice for DCC RPG in his home country of Serbia (and one of the loudest voices for 5E). He is always willing to jump on a live-stream in the middle of the night to promote our products! Thank you, Mihailo!
Lisa Doyle While she isn’t technically part of the DCC scene, Lisa Doyle has been crucial to the Goodman Games team at Gen Con! We are absolutely lucky to have Lisa as the maitre d’ for our DCC tournament and the Lucas Oil Stadium overall. What the casual onlooker may not realize is that Lisa has taken some of the most time-consuming parts of our Gen Con prep and somehow tamed it into an easily-followed roster of tables and judges. This summer she carried the majority of the Stadium setup for us — something that is even more appreciated considering the timing of Gen Con 2023 in relation to our warehouse move! We are very grateful for Lisa’s professionalism and ingenuity, and every single judge, player, and member of the Goodman Games staff have benefitted from her assistance!
Cory Gahsman ( DM Cojo) The Road Crew’s Cory Gahsman, aka DM Cojo, is a long time supporter of Goodman Games. He wins a Goodie for all of the amazing work he does — such as his role in fostering discussions about our hobby, for his continued participation in every level of Goodman Games fandom, for helping to raise the next generation of great gamers, for his contributions as a creator, for being an inaugural member of the Road Crew Advisory Board, and for his great friendship.
Jim Meyers Jim’s continued and ongoing support for the annual Jerry Stefek Memorial Crawl for the Cure, would be more than enough for a Goodie Award, but of course Jim also brings excellence to his roles as gamer or DCC Judge, his continued assistance with playtesting new adventures, a strong dedication to the Road Crew, and he goes out of his way to raise the standards of our community. (And a big personal thanks from Brendan for Jim’s huge support of Xcrawl over the years).
Christopher Willett Goodman Games is proud to award Christopher Willett with a 2023 Goodie Award for his contributions and commitment to both the DCC RPG community at large and those impacted for the better by it. Chris teaches at-risk high school students during the day, and uses his teaching background at night to create fresh and, dare we say, educational material for DCC. He has produced at least six different DCC ‘zines, most notably AEON: Ancient Greece, a series of publications that brings DCC to the Bronze Age and adapts the game to a setting inspired by both Greek myth and Steve Reeves’ movies.
Jeremy Shuman “Father Goose” receives a Goodie Award for his tireless dedication to DCC RPG and his spread of his love for the game far and wide. Jeremy has been introducing DCC RPG to his local community through public library get-togethers, collaborating with fellow gamers, spreading the word at his FLGS, being active online on both Discord and his bi-monthly Twitch stream (Father Goose and the Fabulators), as well as creating an impressive amount of content for ‘zines. Jeremy epitomizes the perfect DCC community member with his passion and devotion to the game and the fanbase at large. In the words of his wife, Amanda, “he can’t go one day without Goodman Games, DCC or the like coming from his mouth or from his posts online.” We commend Jeremy for his devotion . . . and apologize deeply to Amanda.
Aaron Koelman Aaron has been a part of DCC from the beginning, as one of the first people to throw themselves into the maelstrom as it began to coalesce as a community. Aaron was a constant presence at early games at Gary Con, where he was a warm, friendly presence who brought decency and fairness to whatever game in which he happened to find himself. He came to Gen Con, a tall Minnesotan whose unflappable nature never buckled under the harsh sun of central Indiana. As the community grew so did the reputation of this ambassador for the game all of us love.
The last few years though have been a struggle for Aaron. When he first informed us of his condition we were horrified, but the grace and serenity that Aaron possessed in speaking about his illness was inspirational. He knew he was in for a fight, one with long odds. Like any true DCC acolyte he rolled his dice, spent his luck, and moved forward. The ‘paralysis of analysis’ isn’t in Aaron’s lexicon, he simply does what he needs to do.
Aaron is an exemplar of the spirit of the DCC community. Where some may be short or foul tempered, he has been considerate. Where others curse fate or dice, he sagely holds his council, waiting for things to turn around. Aaron’s generous nature is second to none and his desire to help others, even when terribly afflicted himself, is as humbling as it is inspirational. If Hugh were to step out of the pages of DCC it is Aaron’s hand that he would clasp in friendship and recognition. In an endless number of realities, each different from our own, it is our Aaron that is the best of all of them in soul and in deed.
Word came from Aaron a week ago that his cancer has spread to his stomach and other internal organs, his final days numbering weeks, not months. Goodman Games is honored to be associated with Aaron Koelman, a Goodie Award winner who embodies the best of who we can be and who we can aspire to be.
