The first ever GLOGGIES!

    After a while of working with a talented council of GLoGGers, I'm happy to announce the very first GLOGGIES! This is intended to be a sort of community showcase of some of our favorite hacks, specifically to guide people to what we perceive to be exemplars in their particular fields. Keep in mind that all of the results are just out opinions, and the GLoGscape is much too large for us to comb through all of, so if you have any contenders you also like that we've overlooked, please pop them in the comments below for other people to peruse! I've tried to link and pay lip service to every hack that was nominated, as to make sure to spread the love and include as many people as possible.

Here are the staff of the GLOGGIES review board:

PHLOX, Architect of the Vain Sword, He Whose Measure God Could Not Take

WALFALCON, He Who Cries “YAGH!” In Battle, Herder of the Mall Rats, Marine Japanese Translator

MERGO-KAN, Captain of the Ship of Theseus, Illusionist of Immersion

SUNDEREDWORLDDM, Biter of Bone Marrow, Collector of Sundry Shields and Shillings

S: “I'd like to stay away from Orthodox GLoG and MRoS because they get enough attention. If this is to be a community showcase, perhaps we shouldn't be putting medals on the mainstream titles.”

P: “Maybe the standard for what qualifies for a GLOGGY should be that we should be able to cite the hack in question. The content doesn’t necessarily have to come from the same document, just be traceable.”

BEST CHARACTER CREATION: MIMICS AND MISCREANTS (HONORARY MENTION: SPWACKHACKS)

M: “Mimics is so clean, so efficient, and provides so many options. If I still had a printer this would be sitting on my kitchen table for next game night. Its ease of use and legibility leaves my formatting brain stunned. GLAIVE is very legible and solid as well, but Walfalcon compared it to Maze Rats and I have to agree. It's basically a massive improvement on that, but it's not really standing out on its own in terms of character creation.”

S: “I feel like we can group the SpwackHacks as a runner up, but generators for character creation feel like cheating.”

P: “I think in most cases that’s true, but the Spwackhacks are so tied to generators as to make them a Main Thing. They are the core of the game, and if we are considering Die Trying what is there to consider when the generators are removed? Just my two cents.”

S: “Fair enough, let’s give them an Honorary Mention.”

BEST NON-CASTER CLASS: ZOUAVE

P: “In this case, what do we mean by “best”? Is a class the best because it’s super-solid, or because it revolutionizes things?”

S: “I think the idea (in my mind) is one that toes the line between them. A novel element, executed cleanly and concisely.”

Though we collectively nominated *deep breath* the Shaman, the Crew, the Martial, the Berserker, the Traveller, the Butcher, and the Amazon, we ultimately decided on the Zouave because it most closely fit the established criteria of a solid, well-executed concept, and because it already had a lot of renown as a popular Fighter archetype in GLoG circles, for good reason.

W: “The Zouave has very strong flavor without relying on too many major setting prerequisites. The flavor is malleable enough that you don't have to include anything way specific, while still being a very specialized class.”

BEST CASTER CLASS: CALLIGRAPHER

While a couple of strong casters like the Draconic Disciple and Alchemist were nominated, the Calligrapher was on most of our lists before we even came to discuss. The simplicity and flexibility of the main casting mechanic was too good to pass up, and the really concise flavor didn’t hurt its odds at all. It definitely deserves the GLOGGY!

BEST ANCESTRIES/RACES: CRAWL INTO A HOLE AND FUCKING DIE

P: “CIAHAFD is marked by splashy, strong advantages and debilitating weaknesses.”

M: “Like that Gnoll, and that Orc! They’re really good.”

W: “There’s a number of cases, though, when abilities are vague when they should bring more specific data to the table, like the Lizardfolk and the Tiefling. I tend to prefer to not have rules that are ‘incomplete’- like, if it hints that you can do something, I'd like there to be either rules for that, or some clear way that the given rules extend to cover it. But I understand that some people are fine with rules that "evoke" more rules. I'm just getting it out of the way that that's where I'm reading these from. But my critique of a hack is not proportional to how much I like it; I think it narrowly beats out the competition.”

P: “I would be comfortable giving it the crown.”

S: “The fact that Robot is a playable option is the cherry on the cake.”

Rise Up Comus wrote a small set of race-as-classes. Ultimately, we couldn’t find a source hack for this one, but we liked it so much we wanted to at least mention it in the post. 

S: “I like how they treat humans as a full race-as-class. The two classic markers of humanity: xenophobia and being tall. Halflings are good, psychic gnomes are phenomenal, elves and dwarves are meh as ever.”

W: “There's just so much more there compared to the other non-race-as-class options. It's not perfect for every situation, but it almost feels like it should be an honorable mention for volume alone. I liked the elf and dwarf classes, actually. They’re fairly orthodox, to be sure, but the execution is rather good, I think. Why do you find them meh?”

S: “When compared to the gnome and human, I found their novelty lacking. Though you’re right, the execution is very solid!”

Other remarkable nominations included Vain the Sword, MARROW, this Animal People post, The Mountain from GROG, and the Knife Hawk as a joke. If Nuclear Ooze still had a working link, it would have also been on the table.

BEST ART: RUNAWAY PRINCESS (HONORABLE MENTION: GLAIVE)

Though Amulets and Eclipses, Moonhop, and Mall Rats all do have great accompanying art, Runaway Princess is chock full of flavorful and fantastical illustrations that go above and beyond to convey the whimsical, romantic feeling of the game without sacrificing quality or readability. Check it out, it’s truly a feast for the eyes.

S: “To be fair, Runaway Princess is not original art, though there is a good amount of alteration, plus the graphic design I think adds to the aesthetic intent meaningfully.”

P: “It was certainly well chosen, and I won't lose sleep if we choose RP over something with original art, though I do think it's a better example of good presentation more than anything. I also feel like we have to give GLAIVE points for having original art. Even stripping the art from the design and just looking at it in a slideshow, I think it really stands out.”

W: “I agree, let’s make it an honorable mention for original art.”

An intermission.

P: Remind me the difference between "best graphic design" and "best presentation/information design”?

M: Graphic design meaning like, header designs, good fonts, logos, etc. Presentation and Info design means legibility, formatting, and/or ease of use with things like bookmarks.

BEST PRESENTATION/INFORMATION DESIGN: SALTY GOO

M: “My main vote for info presentation is Salty Goo. I think having a whole website dedicated to the rules is really useful!”

Mergo was ultimately right- though contenders like Catacomers, Freeform Space Jazz, and G20 all made good use of the page, Salty Goo’s website was instantly easy to navigate, and very intuitive in a way that a stagnant PDF or doc really couldn't be. Though there was some tough competition, Salty Goo deserves its place at the top.

BEST GRAPHIC DESIGN: MALL RATS

W: “wat?”

P: "It would probably be something different if they were all in print, but Mall Rats is a nice read on my laptop."

There was a lot of overlap between art, info design, and graphic design. Salty Goo, M&M, and GLAIVE all got repeat mentions. Nothing Ventured and YAGH were two strong new contenders, but Mall Rats got it because of its awareness of medium and how well the layout and design supports not only the clarity of the rules, but the “feel” of the game.

BEST OVERALL: BONEPUNK

I have a secret: I’ve been omitting one nomination from the lists above. The reason for that is that it popped up over and over again. It was up for BEST ART, BEST CHARACTER CREATION, BEST GRAPHIC DESIGN, even BEST ANCESTRY, for crying out loud! And boy does it deserve it. The visual design is incredible, the game design is really focused, and the world and gameplay are really fun- I’ve had the opportunity to play it, and it’s great fun, I highly recommend it. The other nomination for best overall was BE SILENT, another phenomenal game with some truly inventive mechanics.

M: “BONEPUNK is just hard to beat! It's got a ton of thought put into it, and the mechanics involved are really creative. So much flavor.”

I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as we enjoyed reading and discussing these hacks! It was a lot of fun- If you have any favorites or exemplars we missed, please leave them in the comments below, or make your own post and hand out some GLOGGIES yourselves! It’s a great way to show appreciation and good vibes, and having more voices and perspectives saying what they like in hacks really helps out and encourages designers too. Thanks for reading, and happy gaming.