Tenkar's Tavern: Should ENWorld be Endorsing Ennie Nominations?

Monday, July 10, 2017

Should ENWorld be Endorsing Ennie Nominations?

Tip of the hat to Venger Santanis for pointing me in the direction.

Sean Fannon's Picks of the Week for July 8th. Its a regular column that is also posted on Sean's own blog, but of course, ENWorld is what drives the traffic.

and so on for categories such as:

Best Electronic Book
Best Writing
Best Setting
Best Rules

I'm sure I'm going to surprise many when I say I don't fault Sean for his picks nor posting them at his own blog. Heck, I made picks of my own.

The issue here is that by posting this on ENWorld, the company / site that is the force behind the ENnies (as well as lending its name to them) this sure as hell comes of as picking ENWorld favorites for certain categories. This NEVER should have gotten past Morrus or anyone else that might do the editing (if there is such) at ENWorld.

As the organization running the ENnies, ENWorld should be above reproach. Ethically, they should not give the appearance of endorsing any nominations and they sure as hell look like they are doing so.

This is ground ball shit. Simply another reason to hope that there is some transparency to the ENnies process in the near future.

12 comments:

Jack of ShadowsJuly 10, 2017 at 4:27 PM
I don't know... I mean.
Every award I know in the industry (not just the RPG ones, even the Essen Spiele Game of the Year...) have some big Gremlin.
Be it something like this, or a juror who is ALSO an author for one of the publishers running for the award, or... Well. I've seen things.
Maybe we should just run polls for the awards.
On second thought... I've seen that too, and it didn't work :\
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Jack of ShadowsJuly 10, 2017 at 7:26 PM
That, in the specific, I haven't seen.
But usually, "poll for the award" means that the strongest community, not the best game, wins.
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Venger SatanisJuly 10, 2017 at 8:01 PM
I think the OSR needs its own award... very badly. If I have to get involved in order to see this happen, I will. Despite being busier than a flea with three dogs!
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Ragnar HillJuly 10, 2017 at 8:07 PM
I'm with Venger.
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UlairiJuly 10, 2017 at 8:18 PM
I think the OSR should be a category for the Origin Awards.
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Cross PlanesJuly 10, 2017 at 11:05 PM
Don't forget how close Sean is with with Gareth Skarka.

Maybe the OSR just needs their own awards. The Tenkar ;)
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WeldonJuly 11, 2017 at 11:23 AM
Sigh, when will ENworld and the ENnies just go away... the site and the awards are a shame, just there to boost the ego of Morris..
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Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

Believe me when I say I have them all in dead tree format. I have OSRIC in full size, trade paperback and the Player's Guide. I have LL and the AEC (and somewhere OEC, but I can't find it at the moment). Obviously I have Basic Fantasy RPG. Actually, I have the whole available line in print. Way too much Castles & Crusades. We all know my love for the DCC RPG. I even have Dark Dungeons in print, the Delving Deeper boxed set, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. BOTH editions of LotFP's Weird Fantasy and some dead tree copies of the Greyhawk Grognards Adventures Dark & Deep

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls

So, out of all that, why Swords & Wizardry? Why, when I have been running a AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk am I using Swords & Wizardry and it's variant, Crypts & Things, for the second campaign? (Actually, now running a S&W Complete campaign, soon to be with multiple groups)

Because the shit works.

It's easy for lapsed gamers to pick up and feel like they haven't lost a step. I can house rule it and it doesn't break. It plays so close to the AD&D of my youth and college years (S&W Complete especially) that it continually surprises me. Just much less rules hopping than I remember. (my God but I can run it nearly without the book)

I grab and pick and steal from just about all OSR and Original resources. They seem to fit into S&W with little fuss. It may be the same with LL and the rest, but for me the ease of use fit's my expectations with S&W.

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 52, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)

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Monday, July 10, 2017

Should ENWorld be Endorsing Ennie Nominations?

12 comments:

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