I had a couple of people reach out to me asking if I'd covered the 2019 ENnies winners on the blogside, and I hadn't - although I did give it a quick rundown on the Tavern Chat Podcast.
I snagged the list from the ENnies website, but the comments are mine alone ;)
Best Adventure
GOLD: Masks of Nyarlathotep (Chaosium Inc.) (Call of Cthulhu did very well this year, as did Chaosium overall - did they take a page from the Raggi Rulebook?)
SILVER: Mothership: Dead Planet (Tuesday Knight Games)
Best Aid/Accessory – Digital
GOLD: World Anvil Grandmaster Tier Worldbuilding & Campaign Management Platform (Both World Anvil and DUNGEONFOG are amazing products)
SILVER: DUNGEONFOG—Online Map Maker & Authoring Tool (I'll be back to using this to making more maps for personal and public consumption soon)
Best Aid/Accessory – Non-Digital
GOLD: Masks of Nyarlathotep Gamer Prop Set (H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society) (what I saw looked awesome if pricey)
SILVER: Dwarven Forge’s Dungeon of Doom Modular Terrain (Dwarven Forge) (good but pricey)
Best Art, Cover
GOLD: Call of Cthulhu – Terror Australis 2E (Chaosium Inc.) (there is a trend forming...)
SILVER: KULT: Divinity Lost, 4th Edition (Helmgast AB)
Best Art, Interior
GOLD: RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha Slipcase (Chaosium Inc.) (I'm a longtime RQ lover)
SILVER: Symbaroum Monster Codex (Free League Publishing)
Best Cartography
GOLD: Forbidden Lands (Free League Publishing)
SILVER: A New Map of Hot Springs Island (Swordfish Islands) (OSR representing)
Best Electronic Book
GOLD: Sly Flourish’s Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master (Last Word Audio)
SILVER: Fear’s Sharp Little Needles (Stygian Fox Publishing)
Best Family Game / Product
GOLD: Kids on Bikes (Renegade Game Studios/Hunters Entertainment) (or is that "Kids on Pikes?)
SILVER: Dinosaur Princesses (Ardens Ludere)
Best Free Game / Product
GOLD: Ironsworn (Shawn Tomkin)
SILVER: The Ultraviolet Grasslands (Hydra Cooperative) (and available for download)
Best Game
GOLD: Mothership: Player’s Survival Guide (Tuesday Knight Games)
SILVER: Dialect: A Game about Language and How it Dies (Thorny Games)
Best Layout and Design
GOLD: Symbaroum Monster Codex (Free League Publishing)
SILVER: The Black Hack 2nd Edition (Squarehex) (I've never gotten into the Black Hack, but nice to see the OSR represent)
Best Monster/Adversary
GOLD: Sandy Petersen’s Cthulhu Mythos for 5E (Petersen Games) (CoC again...)
SILVER: Creature Codex for 5th Edition (Kobold Press)
Best Online Content
GOLD: Seth Skorkowsky
SILVER: The Alexandrian
Best Organized Play
GOLD: Cypher Play Numenera Season 18-2: Building Amber (Monte Cook Games)
SILVER: Minsc and Boo’s Guide to Stuff and Things (Greg Marks)
Best Podcast
GOLD: Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff (ever notice this scripted podcast is always on this list? excellent production values, I think it's less the hosts and more the team behind them that makes the mark)
SILVER: Red Moon Roleplaying
Best Production Values
GOLD: Forbidden Lands (Free League Publishing)
SILVER: Invisible Sun Black Box (Monte Cook Games)
Best RPG Related Product
GOLD: Dark Adventure Radio Theatre: Masks of Nyarlathotep (H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society) (CoC...)
SILVER: Miskatonic University: Restricted Collection (Chaosium Inc.) (CoC and Chaosium)
Best Rules
GOLD: Call of Cthulhu Starter Set (Chaosium Inc.) (CoC and Chaosium. Excellent product too)
SILVER: Forbidden Lands (Free League Publishing)
Best Setting
GOLD: The Fall of DELTA GREEN (Pelgrane Press) (Oh my. Is this still CoC?)
SILVER: Call of Cthulhu – Terror Australis 2e (Chaosium Inc.) (I know this is CoC)
Best Supplement
GOLD: The Glorantha Sourcebook (Chaosium Inc.) (ah, RQ and Chaosium)
SILVER: The 7th Ed. Guide to Cthulhu Invictus (Golden Goblin Press) (ah, yes, CoC)
Best Writing
GOLD: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Core Rulebook (Cubicle Seven) (I still want to play this. I still need to fully read the rules)
SILVER: KULT: Divinity Lost, 4th Edition (Helmgast AB)
Product of the Year
GOLD: Masks of Nyarlathotep Gamer Prop Set (H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society) (CoC? Again?)
SILVER: Forbidden Lands (Free League Publishing)
Fan’s Choice, Best Publisher
Chaosium Inc. (Chaosium - who would have thunk? ;)
Judges’ Spotlight Award
The Stygian Library (Dying Stylishly Games)
Archives of the Sky (Aaron A. Reed)
Sigmata: This Signal Kills Fascists (Land of NOP LLC)
plot ARMOR (Mostly Harmless Games)
The Elephant & Macaw Banner: Player’s Guide (Porcupine Publishing)
Best of Those Left Off This List (as per The Tavern)
The Midderlands Expanded, MonkeyBlood Design & Publishing
Cartographer: Glynn Seal
Creature Codex for 5th Edition, Kobold Press
Authors: Wolfgang Baur, Dan Dillon, Richard Green, James Haeck, Jeremy Hochhalter, James Introcaso, Jon Sawatsky, Chris Harris
Questing Beast Podcast, Questing Beast
So, why do you think Chaosium / Call of Cthulhu did so well this year?
Speaking as someone who has that Masks prop set, it is worth every penny. So I’m not surprised it took a few awards.
ReplyDeleteI have to get the Stygian Library. PS - Kobold's Creature Codex is on their list?
ReplyDeleteHonestly, now that WotC and Paizo aren't really submitting things to the awards, Chaosium is now the big fish in the pond, so they tend to get the votes these days. I mean, they're great stuff, but they've got a starting advantage.
ReplyDeleteCthulhu and Chaosium always do well every year. If you look at '18, Chaosium won gold for their Runequest Quick-start Rules and Reign of Terror, two gold medals for Khan of Khans, and silver for Down Darker Trails. They put out a lot of product every year with the sort of sexy production values the voters and judges eat up and across a wide array of categories.
ReplyDeleteAnd Delta Green was also all over the place in '18, picking up four silver and three gold.
Cthulhu Mythos for 5E - really? I got my printed vrsion only 1 week ago but this is allready no. 1 in the Ennies for Best Monster/Adversary? Yeah, it's a good read but could have played an adventure / a whole campaign with it before voting for it?
ReplyDeleteSeems... like a lot of fanboy voting in the Ennies. Again.
Warhammer is an absolute blast. We just finished our first campaign and are turning around to start another. Now that we understand the rules better our characters are much better prepared for their short, grimdark lives. I really wish they had more materials in print for the game. I get this sense they are scrambling to produce things for the game and their website was a mess when the game first launched and there was crucial information there. And don't forget to grab the errata!
ReplyDeleteMothership best game well earned but also it has graphic design of the highest calibre matched with illustration that stands head and shoulder above much other. The way of drawing is hard to make work in that type of publication yet it does excellently in a tantalising way which forces the imagination which is absolutely necessary in RPGs.
ReplyDeleteAn extremely good well tied balance of game mechanics content, graphics content, and illustration content. Top notch in all those departments.