OF Day Awards 2024: OC edition
Posted on 15 Aug 2024 @ 8:36am by Commander Calliope Zahn
The Fleet held an awards ceremony over this summer 2024's Obsidian Fleet Day. These awards go from summer to summer, so the writing considered is from roughly July '23 to June '24. To see the winners announcement for the ceremony you can visit the fleet's discord and find the channel for Obsidian Day '24 under the Events drop down and scroll to the end. It had been my hope that by now, as suggested in the discord live hosted awards ceremony, there would be an official compilation of nominations on the website for me to simply point to, but it has not happened. I hope it will still happen, as it would be fun to read the nominations across the sims of the entire fleet. Even most of the winners who were announced were not also given their nomination text... but I digress.
Anticipating this situation, I at least saved all of the nominations that I made (and one that Sep made) for our players and here they are below. Though most went unelected, they all still deserve to be celebrated and recorded, so I'll be entering the contenders for individual player awards into player accounts on nova as "Nomination Commendations" the award category made especially for unelected fleet and inter-fleet awards.
The OF Day Awards were judged by kind volunteer readers from outside of the fleet, providing an impartial outside opinion. They had a lot of reading as there were roughly fifty nominations, and I have a lot of gratitude and respect for the judges!
We did have one elected nomination among all of the below awards- congratulations to Sep on his Golden Padd for Funniest Character Moment!
Remember, we do awards all the time. If you enjoyed a post (even a JP that you also have a writing credit in) you can always recommend it for our sim's regular monthly announced awards and if you want to see it recognized on the Group/ TF level, there are awards we can submit there as well at any time: for a post, or a set of writing, or a player in general. Contact me (nikki/ Zahn) any time and I'll make sure they are put up for an award. It also helps me to see what others have enjoyed when I reflect back and try to pick samples for the Obsidian Fleet and Khitomer nominations. It's difficult to review a whole year's worth of posts, but having player recognized selections from our own monthly awards helps me to quickly narrow down which posts to use to highlight our game!
Without further ado, please enjoy the OF Day Obsidian Command Nominations (so far as I have a record of!)
NOMINEE Golden PADD for outstanding creativity (Overall Sim)
OBSIDIAN COMMAND
Obsidian Command is a vast sim setting with a big cast of characters… but just a modest number of members writing it all! Players maintain ongoing character stories illustrating their careers and personal lives, patrol ships go on a variety of wild rides into neighboring systems, diplomatic scenes unfold in faraway empires, and much more.
Any sample of the sim’s posts can only give a flavor of these diverse stories, but here’s a short list you might encounter if paging through a year of OC’s posts! Intrigue runs in the background as secrets are kept from the Admiral by persons under his command. A murder mystery plays out as the Security Chief recollects a vexing case in his past. A doctor is surprised to learn that he is a new father when he is left holding the baby. A Ferengi art dealer is constantly caught between making profits or making friends while his grandmother threatens to cut him out of her will. The Chief Diplomat shows himself willing to employ dirty tactics to arrange better outcomes. Survivors of enemy captivity try to build new lives. An investigator seeks out an undercover Orion Syndicate mark hiding among refugees on Planet Obsidian. Junior officers come together for one another when one of their friends becomes a casualty. Pirate raids on supply ships lead to risks taken to protect citizens and crew…
Sample 1: “All Aboard”
http://command.obsidianfleet.net/index.php/sim/viewpost/652
In this post, multiple writers pitch in on a scene brimming with unique and varied npcs that will be taking up important roles, many of them recurring for months to come and still being written presently! They board a small slipstream ship in orbit of earth which will ferry the VIPs overnight to Obsidian Command.
Sample 2: “Refractions: Taking a Lickin’”
http://command.obsidianfleet.net/index.php/sim/viewpost/811
While trying to cover for their away team hidden in the icy rings of a gas giant, the Pathfinder has to hold out until help can arrive. Commander Zahn trades shots and quips with Syndicate member, Revana Nazar, while ducking through the icy rings until Pathfinder’s rear shields can’t take more damage and it’s time to turn and face the enemy.
Sample 3: “Better to Give”
http://command.obsidianfleet.net/index.php/sim/viewpost/733
A family scene in the spirit of Christmas where each member receives a present, and the giver garners more joy than anyone else from having selected the perfect gifts.
NOMINEE Golden PADD for outstanding creativity (Individual)
Brek by Spiral of Obsidian Command
Allow me to introduce you to Brek, the finest fine art deal this side of the alpha quadrant. Owner and Proprietor of Timeless Treasures Art Gallery, conveniently located on level three of the Obsidian Command promenade.
Playing a civilian on a Starbase isn’t always the easiest task for any player. With no real tether to the mission at large, and no stake in the Starfleet aspect of the game, it becomes all-too-important for the player to develop their own plots, storylines and angles to keep themselves occupied in the game when the rest of the crew is engaged in the mission. Brek (played by Spiral) does that magnificently by crafting stories that both entangle her character in the most unique way possible and ensnare the reader into her stories, eager to read the next post and see what she has in store for Brek.
To be able to build complex and creative storylines, characters and to do so without any tether to the mission at hand around her I believe makes Spiral an outstanding choice for the Golden PaDD Award for Outstanding Creativity - Individual.
"More Than Meets the Eye"
http://command.obsidianfleet.net/index.php/sim/viewpost/823
"Shortcuts"
http://command.obsidianfleet.net/index.php/sim/viewpost/727
"Make it Yours. And Then Make it Mine"
http://command.obsidianfleet.net/index.php/sim/viewpost/762
NOMINEE Golden PADD for outstanding Post
Dr. Hannah Wagner by Sara - Obsidian Command
Aided by some piano music attuned to support her thinking processes, Doctor Wagner considers the trouble with Ibis’ telepathic centers and the atrophy that has caused the patient to lose the use of telepathy. A colleague with experience in treatment for Betazoids presents additional options to aid with treatment.
The Writer leverages medical treknology and an npc character of her own invention in support of her efforts which makes for a convincing scene to read and helps to explore the medical problem at hand, deepening the mystery of it, not to mention avoiding the pitfall of quick fixes in an all too easy age of scientific hand waved miracles. Some problems require more research and longer treatment than others.
“Practicum in Neurology”
http://command.obsidianfleet.net/index.php/sim/viewpost/718
NOMINEE Golden PADD for outstanding Post
Spiral of Obsidian Command - "Inconvenient Truths"
T’Sheng is a reliable, honest, and forthright Vulcan who can be nothing but doggedly, logically, faithful to the cause to which she is assigned. In this post, we see her in personal moments conversing with her daughter via subspace. A well crafted scene of a mother and daughter and the tension and care that exists, even under so much repressed emotion.
http://command.obsidianfleet.net/index.php/sim/viewpost/685
NOMINEE Golden PADD for outstanding Post
David K. - "Runaway: Duped"
Part of a series being unfurled over time, this post reads like a book, switching between settings and timelines to establish the internal and external conditions that leave us ready to read the messy situation that is sure to follow… We can’t look and we can’t look away.
http://command.obsidianfleet.net/index.php/sim/viewpost/839
NOMINEE Golden PADD for outstanding Storyline (Character)
Maj. Porter Wallace by David K. of Obsidian Command
After being shipwrecked and enslaved for the better part of a decade, Wallace is trying to make a new life. He’s proposed to Ibis, and the kids who survived with them have become their non-biological family. Everyone in the Wallace household is adjusting to a modern life on the station; but before they can fully get their feet under them, the rug is pulled out again…
His own brother turns up to challenge his guardianship of Ikemba, and he also has to consider what his future might look like for his new family if he goes back to active duty as a Marine, a role which has served as his identity since the Dominion War.
"Wallace Wallace & Shearing"
http://command.obsidianfleet.net/index.php/sim/viewpost/793
"Family Strife"
http://command.obsidianfleet.net/index.php/sim/viewpost/801
"The Future Unwritten"
http://command.obsidianfleet.net/index.php/sim/viewpost/833
NOMINEE Golden PADD for outstanding Storyline (Character)
Brek by Spiral of Obsidian Command
After many trials and follies in Young Brek’s past, He finds himself scraping the very bottom of the barrel. Formerly an underpaid hireling, he becomes practically enslaved, proffering his services as an accountant to a Ferengi mobster. His prospects in life having gone up in smoke, the young Ferrengi is driven to desperation… and considers enlisting in Starfleet as a way to escape his mean fate.
“The Age of Innocence”
http://command.obsidianfleet.net/index.php/sim/viewpost/722
“Fenix Corps First Day”
http://command.obsidianfleet.net/index.php/sim/viewpost/737
First Thoughts on Starfleet”
http://command.obsidianfleet.net/index.php/sim/viewpost/755
NOMINEE Golden PADD for outstanding Storyline (Game)
OBSIDIAN COMMAND
Obsidian Command has been running a ‘swing mission’, the sort that allows for the unspooling of some time in the lives of the characters and the unpacking of events that have transpired. Although it won’t be possible to sample all of the amazing character development that this mission has afforded, the primary thread of this mission follows the knock on effects of the previous mission, where a planet was discovered under the enslavement of a race called the Pyrryx who are encroaching on Federation (and Romulan) borders and who have no such thing as a Prime Directive, only a brutal system of subjugation. (Entire mission link: http://command.obsidianfleet.net/index.php/sim/missions/id/9)
1- The Korinn (an aquatic race from the previous mission) seek to be accepted as a Federation Protectorate world, but doing so may be biting off more than they can chew for the Federation. Deliberations are held and testimonies are given concerning the planet and the enemy forces enslaving it.
Sample of this part of the storyline: http://command.obsidianfleet.net/index.php/sim/viewpost/736
2- Diplomatic pressure against the naming of Korix as a protectorate world is strong, and those who would want the Federation to cast their lots in for the planet have to find creative ways to go about it. But even the Diplomats working together for Korix clash in their approaches.
Sample of this part of the storyline: http://command.obsidianfleet.net/index.php/sim/viewpost/831
3- The resolution of the previous mission came with the revelation of a black ops SF Intel assigned ship, but the encounter was sealed and all records of it scrubbed, leaving the officers who had been witness to the vessel bound to secrecy, even against their own Admiral Sepandiyar (Flag Officer on the station). But the smell of it is still in the air, prompting suspicions among other officers, including the Admiral himself. What happens when the genie gets out of the bottle?
Sample of this part of the storyline: http://command.obsidianfleet.net/index.php/sim/viewpost/854
WINNER Golden PADD for the funniest character moment
Sepandiyar/ Markus - “Corvus’ No Good Rotten Day”
"Corvus’ No Good Rotten Day” is a post in three scenes comprising a day-in-the-life of Captain Corvus DeHavilland. …being the ranking officer isn’t going to help her, this day.
http://command.obsidianfleet.net/index.php/sim/viewpost/795
NOMINEE Golden PADD for the funniest character moment
David K. - “Just the Orion I was Looking For”
A fun post where a character finds himself roped into a job he has been doing his best to avoid. Tropes are played with and flipped around for fun little payoffs for the reader.
http://command.obsidianfleet.net/index.php/sim/viewpost/827
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