Keith Matthew Rosselle

Online Nickname(s): Kasual Keith

Introduction 

Hi y’all, my name is Keith. Like many others, I’m a life-long tabletop role playing enthusiast. Was first introduced to the hobby by my father when he brought home the 1981 D&D Basic Set. That box may not have survived my childhood, but my love for fantasy and the desire to explore worlds beyond the one we live in sure did. Ironically, my father wants nothing to do with any of the tables I run these days, much rather watch YouTube videos and play Far Cry or Dishonored, c’est la vie.

While getting my fill of heroic fantasy with B/X D&D and trying out my DM’ing skills with AD&D 1e/2e, I discovered that heroic fantasy can only get an enthusiast so far. Soon my limited allowance was stretched beyond the breaking point with systems such as Call of Cthulhu, Traveller, GW’s Judge Dread, Gamelord’s Thieves’ Guild, Marvel Superheros, Palladium’s Robotech and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Fantasy Games Unlimited’s Villains and Vigilantes, GDW’s Twilight:2000, Victory Game’s James Bond and numerous other systems. Looking back, that constant curiosity gave me an appreciation for the incredible variety of design philosophies, settings, and play experiences our hobby has to offer.

I stepped away from the tables for a good while, under the tragic guise of ‘building a life for myself’… I guess I succeeded but the draw of role playing games was always there, and eventually brought me back to the table to explore the magic of our hobby with my stepsons, hoping to pass along the same sense of imagination and wonder that captured me as a kid.

That lifelong curiosity is what I’d bring as an ENNIE judge. I enjoy exploring new systems as much as revisiting old favorites, and I appreciate games on their own terms rather than measuring them against a single style of play. Whether a game is a polished 7th edition or an ambitious indie release, I want to understand what it’s trying to accomplish and evaluate how well it succeeds.

Why do you play/run RPGs?

Honestly… because life is complicated, challenging, and everyone deserves to step into an alternate reality for a couple of hours every week and live a life ‘better lived’, or in some cases, cause ‘chaos incarnate’ without actually… you know, causing chaos in one’s natural life. Books, movies, and other forms of entertainment can transport us, but you know what’s even better? The act of a group of people coming together and forming their own story, living alternate lives, and reaching heights that many of us never dreamed of reaching in real life, all in the comfort of their living rooms or online with people half way across the globe that you would have otherwise never met.

At my core, I’m an explorer. RPGs allow me to discover new worlds, experience different perspectives, and imagine possibilities beyond the boundaries of everyday life. All it takes is a book, some imagination, and a group of people willing to create something together.

The ENNIES requires a major commitment of time and energy. What resources do you have that will help you discharge these responsibilities? Will your gaming group or other individuals be assisting you? Does your family support you?

Not to spill the tea, but recent changes in my schedule have given me more discretionary time to immerse myself in one of my favorite hobbies. What better way to use it than to support the hobby I love so much by sifting through all the latest offerings and finding the gems for others to transport them to faraway worlds of wonder and mystery.

I have the flexibility in my schedule to commit the time and energy required for the ENNIES judging process. In addition, I have several local and online gaming groups who I know would be excited to participate in playtesting and sharing their perspectives when appropriate. While the final evaluations and decisions will be my responsibility, having a variety of players and perspectives available will help me better understand how different offerings perform across different tables.

My family is also supportive of my involvement. They understand how much this hobby means to me and appreciate the opportunity to continue sharing it with others. Except my dad, he’s out, not interested, nope, not happening.

Judging requires a great deal of critical thinking skills, communication with other judges, deadline management, organization, and storage space for the product received. What interests, experience, and skills do you bring that will make you a more effective judge?

Professionally, I have built a modestly successful career in the IT field, where critical thinking, organization, communication, and problem-solving are part of the daily routine. Throughout my career, I have often found myself being the person others turn to when something needs troubleshooting, a solution needs to be found, or a project needs someone willing to see it through. Those experiences have taught me how to evaluate problems from multiple perspectives, communicate clearly with others, and remain dependable when deadlines matter.

I am comfortable managing large amounts of information, keeping track of details, and organizing materials. I have a dedicated space available for storing physical products, and I have the flexibility and discipline needed to manage the responsibilities and timelines involved with ENNIE judging.

Beyond professional experience, I bring a lifelong passion for tabletop role-playing games and a genuine curiosity about the many ways people play. I enjoy exploring different systems, settings, and approaches to gaming, and I believe that perspective helps me appreciate what a product is trying to accomplish rather than judging everything against my own preferred style of play.

Interests: a vast array of TTRPGs.

Experience: life and all its daily challenges.

Skills: In Traveller parlance: Admin-2, Carouse-2, Electronics (Computers)-3, Investigate-1, Leadership-2, Streetwise-1.

What styles and genres of RPGs do you enjoy most? Are there any styles or genres that you do not enjoy? Which games best exemplify what you like? Do you consider yourself a fan of a particular system, publisher, or genre?

Hands down, I’m a horror RPG guy, the visceral feeling of being up against the unknowable, the unbeatable and scared out of one’s skin yet still keeping your wits about you to possibly survive and experience it all again next week is the ultimate form of living life to the fullest. And if you cannot survive, at least take as many of the horrors with you as you can. I enjoy games where the stakes are high and the outcome is genuinely uncertain.

That said, horror is far from the only genre I enjoy. Heroic fantasy, science fiction, political intrigue, superheroes, historical settings, espionage, post-apocalyptic worlds are all situations I love exploring. If a game presents an interesting world, meaningful choices, and an engaging experience, color me interested.

I can’t honestly say there are any genres I actively dislike. Some games and design philosophies have resonated with me more than others, and there have certainly been a few that took longer to ‘click’ with. Even then, I try to appreciate them on their own merits rather than expecting every game to deliver the same experience. One of my favorite gaming memories is playing in The Power Behind the Throne from The Enemy Within campaign. A politically charged chapter filled with scores of competing NPCs, unknown alliances, and intrigue was a nightmare for some players; to me, it was an absolute delight.

As for favorite systems, publishers, or genres, I try not to become overly attached to any single one. I’m a fan of games that encourage exploration, whether that’s discovering entirely new worlds, revisiting familiar ones from a fresh perspective, or imagining alternate histories and realities. More importantly, I appreciate publishers who treat both the hobby and the people who make it possible, the players, creators, and fans, with respect and dignity.

List (up to 5) games you’ve played in the last 2 years. What drew you to playing them? Which did you like best and why?

Alien RPG… see above. A beloved Universe set into a rules-lite system, easy to learn, easy to run, we all know how this is going to turn out yet we continue to fight until the last critical injury. That’s the right amount of fun for me.

Call of Cthulhu, the original horror OG is always a fun-filled time with eldritch horror to show us how small we all are on a cosmic scale.

The One Ring, both the original Cubicle 7 edition and the newer Free League offering. This beloved settings was one of the first epic tales I ever read, and its blending of heroic fortitude juxtapositioned against moral corruption and overwhelming odds is what I consider peak adventure.

Monster of the Week, just good campy fun. Fifteen seasons of Supernatural couldn’t be wrong.

City of Mist, I loved the wrapping of classical legends and gods into a coming of age story, ripe for exploration and discovery.

Of the five, The One Ring is probably my favorite. Tolkien’s themes of hope, sacrifice, and perseverance have stuck with me since I first read The Hobbit, and I think both editions capture that spirit beautifully.

Have you been a game master in the past 2 years? If yes, what games have you run? What made you decide to run those games?

I’ve run both Alien RPG and The One Ring over the last couple of years. To me, they both embody the concepts of courage, hope, and fellowship, and how those qualities can overcome the overwhelming darkness that often surrounds us. While they approach those themes from opposite ends of the spectrum, one through xenomorphic horror and the other through epic fantasy, they both ask the same question: what will ordinary people do when faced with extraordinary circumstances?

That’s what drew me to run them. They’re games where the journey matters every bit as much as the destination, and that resonates with me every time we sit down at the table.

Summarize the criteria you would use to determine if a game deserves to be nominated for Best Game.

I don’t think there is a universal checklist that makes a game worthy of Best Game. Horror shouldn’t be judged by the standards of heroic fantasy, nor should a narrative-focused game be expected to resemble a crunchy simulation. The first question I’d ask is, “What is this game trying to accomplish?” From there, I’d evaluate how successfully it delivers on that promise.

Does the setting, mechanics, artwork, and writing all work together to create the experience the designers intended? Is the game approachable without sacrificing depth? Does it inspire me to gather friends around a table, handle scheduling (ugh!) and tell tales? Does it leave me wanting to know what these characters can get up to next week?

Innovation is wonderful, but I don’t think a game has to reinvent the hobby to deserve recognition. Sometimes the best game is one that takes familiar ideas and executes them exceptionally well. Ultimately, I believe the best games are the ones that transport us somewhere else for a few hours and make us eager to return for seconds and thirds.

How will you judge supplements or adventures for game systems whose core rules you are unfamiliar with or you believe are badly designed?

Every game deserves to be evaluated on its own merits, not on whether it aligns with my personal preferences or preferred game mechanics. If I’m unfamiliar with a system, my first responsibility is to understand what it’s trying to accomplish before I begin evaluating the supplement or adventure built for it. For all I know, it may become my favorite new system, but I’ll never know unless I give it a chance.

For supplements and adventures, I’ll consider how well they support the core game they’re written for. Do they expand the setting in interesting and thoughtful ways? Do they provide new and expansive concepts or memorable adventures? Do they capture the tone and themes of the system? Most importantly, would they make me want to break out the vacuum, clean the house and gather a group to play?

If I happen to think a system’s core rules are poorly designed, that shouldn’t prejudice my opinion of a supplement or adventure. My job as a judge isn’t to rewrite the underlying system, it’s to evaluate how successfully the product accomplishes what it set out to do within that system. Not every game has to be made for me. My job as a judge is to evaluate whether it is a good example of what it is trying to be, not whether it is the kind of game I’d normally pull off my shelf.

How would you like to see the ENNIEs change? What should remain inviolate?

I’m not applying because I have a list of changes I’d like to make to the ENNIES. They’ve become one of the hobby’s most recognizable ways to celebrate the creativity and hard work of publishers, designers, writers, and artists, and I’d rather contribute to that tradition than criticize it.

In my ‘striving for the impossible’, it is my hope to increase the visibility given to smaller publishers and first-time creators. The RPG hobby thrives on new ideas, and the ENNIES are in the GM’s chair to introduce players to games they might otherwise never discover.

What I hope remains inviolate is the integrity of the judging process. Accolades only have value if people trust that nominees are selected fairly, thoughtfully, and on their own merits.