The 2012 ENnie Award nominations are out, if you haven’t heard. Just as in previous years, here’s my thoughts on some of the nominees, particularly the ones that I’ve read or played. Critical Hits didn’t enter anything this year, but both Chatty DM and I both worked on Marvel Heroic Roleplaying which is up for several awards this year, so we’re very proud of that. And as has been the case for the past 2-3 years, there’s plenty of great games that have come out this past year that are worthy of your attention.
Thanks to the ENnie Award website for the list.
Best Adventure
Dead Rock Seven (Pelgrane Press)
Invasive Procedures (Pelgrane Press)
Madness at Gardmore Abbey (Wizards of the Coast)
Streets of Zobeck (Open Design)
The Rending Box (Pelgrane Press)
While I haven’t played any of the three (!) in this list, Pelgrane Press is writing some of the best adventures out there with their GUMSHOE system across multiple genres.
Madness at Gardmore Abbey may stand as the only adventure of the 4e era that is considered a classic, combining good production values, an open sandbox for the adventurers to play around with, and most importantly, The MFING Deck of Many Things is everywhere!
Best Aid/Accessory
DungeonMorph Cards (Inkwell Ideas, Inc.)
GameMastery Chase Cards (Paizo Publishing)
Masks: 1,000 Memorable NPCs for Any RPG (Engine Publishing)
Mutants and Masterminds GM’s Kit (Green Ronin)
Shadowrun Runner’s Toolkit (Catalyst Game Labs)
We have previously reviewed Masks: 1,000 Memorable NPCs for Any RPG, but it is a completely great product that I’ve used for a few games since it was released. It is still helpful for populating towns and helping to plan adventures, as well as being a joy to read on its own because of the injokes and mini-stories: no small feat for a reference of this kind.
Best Art, Cover
Black Crusade: Core Rulebook (Fantasy Flight Games)
Cthulhu by Gaslight (Chaosium Inc.)
Mutants and Masterminds Gamemaster’s Guide (Green Ronin)
Neverwinter Campaign Setting (Wizards of the Coast)
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Beginner Box (Paizo)
Best Art, Interior
Book of Drakes (Open Design)
Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple (Evil Hat Productions)
Dragon Age: Set 2 (Green Ronin)
Legend of the Five Rings, Fourth Edition: The Great Clans (Alderac Entertainment Group)
The One Ring: Adventures Over the Edge of the Wild (Cubicle 7)
Best Blog
Campaign Mastery
Gaming as Women
Gnome Stew
Roving Band of Misfits
Sly Flourish
Believe me, these are all websites you want to check out. Campaign Mastery was originally a spin-off of the Roleplaying Tips newsletter that has become a fully fledged campaign advice storehouse. Gaming as Women is a newer blog that nonetheless has come on strong and provides a variety of voices that have sadly been traditionally underrepresented in our hobby. Gnome Stew, as we’ve said on multiple occasions, is THE go-to place for GM advice of all kinds. Roving Band of Misfits is a great D&D-centric blog that has done a number of great series on maps, terrain, and closest to my heard, all kinds of Gamma World content. Finally, Sly Flourish is the big name in 4e blogging, hands down, between his weekly advice-focused posts, a variety of tools to help DMs on the fly come up with monsters, and he literally wrote the book on epic level play from years of experience.
These are all worthy blogs, and as my favorite category, I cannot be happier at this list!
Best Cartography
Harker Asylum - Virtual Boxed Set (0One Games)
Madness at Gardmore Abbey (Wizards of the Coast)
Mass Transit III (Maps of Mastery)
Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Jade Regent Map Folio (Paizo)
The Shadowlands Conversion Guide (BlackStar Studios)
Best Electronic Book
Advanced Encounters: Terrain Toolbox (Sneak Attack Press)
Cthulhu Apocalypse: The Apocalypse Machine (Graham Walmsley & Pelgrane Press)
GURPS Social Engineering (Steve Jackson Games)
Spookybeans: The Gothic Comics RPG (Chapter 13 Press)
Way of the Wicked Book One: Knot of Thorns (Fire Mountain Games)
Best Free Product
Black Crusade: Broken Chains (Fantasy Flight Games)
Dragon Age Quickstart Guide (Green Ronin)
The One Ring: Words of the Wise (Cubicle 7)
The Shadowlands Conversion Guide (BlackStar Studios)
Pathfinder Module: We Be Goblins! (Paizo)
Best Game
Cosmic Patrol Core Rulebook (Catalyst Game Labs)
Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple (Evil Hat Productions)
Hollowpoint (VSCA Publishing)
Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Basic Game (Margaret Weis Productions)
Savage Worlds Deluxe (Pinnacle Entertainment Group)
Now here’s a heavy-weight category all around. Cosmic Patrol is Catalyst’s space pulp adventure game. Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple is a delightful storytelling game inspired by Avatar: The Last Airbender that I have had several fun-filled sessions playing. Hollowpoint is a game about fast and furious violence that I have overheard games of and sounds like a blast. Marvel Heroic Roleplaying is my favorite game about super-powered punching that I have ever worked on. Savage Worlds Deluxe is the newest version of the venerable Savage Worlds engines, able to power action packed games of all genres.
All are very worthy of your vote, but more importantly, you owe it to yourself to try and play all of them.
Best Miniatures Product
Dungeons and Dragons Dragon Collector’s Set (Wizards of the Coast)
Monster Medallions Set 1: Deadly Encounter Groups (Fiery Dragon Productions)
Pathfinder Battles: Heroes and Monsters (Paizo)
Serene Fist Set Four: Katana Schoolgirls vs. Zombie Furries (Okumarts Games)
Steam Tower (Mayhem in Paper)
The Dragon Collector’s Set is a mix of new and old (but hard to get) dragon minis, all in one place to provide all five chromatic dragons without difficulty. The best part? Putting them all onto the table during one encounter.
Best Monster/Adversary
DC Adventures: Heroes & Villains, Vol. 1 (Green Ronin)
Deathwatch: Mark of the Xenos (Fantasy Flight Games)
Hacklopedia of Beasts (Kenzer and Co.)
Hunter Sheets Issue Two—An SLA Industries Supplement (Nightfall Games)
Monster Vault: Threats to the Nentir Vale (Wizards of the Coast)
Monster Vault: Threats to the Nentir Vale took the absolutely amazing Monster Vault and expanded on it by placing all the monsters in almost a mini-campaign setting, complete with encounters, hooks, battle maps, and of course, a huge pile of tokens for every single one.
Best Podcast
Haste – The Official Obsidian Portal Podcast
Iron GM
Jennisodes
Law of the Geek
Role Playing Public Radio
Haste is a weekly burst of gaming news in one quick podcast. Jennisodes is a charming and insightful interview show covering all aspects of gaming. I have appeared on both, and would highly recommend both!
Best Production Values
Hacklopedia of Beasts (Kenzer & Co.)
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Beginner Box (Paizo)
Smallville High School Yearbook (Margaret Weis Productions)
The One Ring: Adventures Over the Edge of the Wild (Cubicle 7)
Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition (CCP Games/White Wolf Publishing)
The Pathfinder Beginner Box is one of the best starter products produced for an RPG, period. Smallville High School Yearbook is designed, well, like a yearbook, down to the signatures of the cast wishing you a good summer. Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition is the cumulation of 20 years of feedback, revisions, and compilations to produce one gorgeous, massive tome of all the Vampire rules you’ll ever need.
Best RPG Related Product
Carnival Arcane (Midnight Syndicate Soundtracks)
Complete Kobold Guide to Game Design (Open Design)
Cthulhu Wrapping Paper (Gaming Paper)
Lords of Waterdeep (Wizards of the Coast)
Tales of the Far West (Adamant Entertainment)
The Complete Kobold Guide to Game Design is a compilation of the multi-volume RPG design advice guide from big names of the RPG industry, and a must-read for would-be (and current) RPG designers. Lords of Waterdeep is one of my favorite board games of the year, combining the play of a “euro-style” game (and a very compelling one at that) with the rich history of D&D in the Forgotten Realms.
Best Rules
Bulldogs! (Galileo Games)
Hollowpoint (VSCA Publishing)
Lorefinder—The Pathfinder / GUMSHOE Mashup (Pelgrane Press)
Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Basic Game (Margaret Weis Productions)
Spellbound Kingdoms (T. Shield Studios)
Bulldogs! is a FATE game (the same base engine that powers the excellent Dresden Files RPG) for science fiction/action games. I’ve heard it described as “the RPG where everybody is Han Solo” and that’s pretty accurate, plus great rules and great setting.
Best Setting
Ashen Stars (Pelgrane Press)
Cthulhu Apocalypse: The Apocalypse Machine (Graham Walmsley & Pelgrane Press)
Cthulhu Britannica: Shadows Over Scotland (Cubicle 7)
The Investigator’s Guide to Occult London (Pelgrane Press)
Unhallowed Metropolis, Revised (Atomic Overmind Press)
Ashen Stars is the science fiction take on GUMSHOE, where investigators go to alien worlds to solve mysteries. My favorite implementation of GUMSHOE so far, and I think it’s really great to see so many different science fiction books among the nominees this year.
Best Supplement
Agents of Oblivion (Reality Blurs)
Cthulhu by Gaslight (Chaosium Inc.)
Dungeons and Dragons Player’s Options: Heroes of the Feywild (Wizards of the Coast)
GURPS Horror, Fourth Edition (Steve Jackson Games)
Star Hero (Hero Games)
Best Website
D&D Insider
Obsidian Portal
Pathfinder Wiki
See Page XX – The Pelgrane Press Webzine
RPG Geek
D&D Insider, Obsidian Portal, and RPG Geek are all part of my daily browsing: Insider for the daily D&D articles (and the character builder), Obsidian Portal to help me manage my campaigns, and RPG Geek to see what games are trending and help manage my collection.
Best Writing
GURPS Horror, Fourth Edition (Steve Jackson Games)
Panopticon (Posthuman Studios)
Stealing Cthulhu (Graham Walmsley)
The Investigator’s Guide to Occult London (Pelgrane Press)
Your Whispering Homonculous (Open Design)
Stealing Cthulhu is a collection of essays on how to run more effective Cthulhu games, a genre that is oft-used in RPGs but not always executed well. I’ve lent this book to several of my Cthulhu-aficionado friends and it gets the tentacled seal of approval.
Product of the Year
Cthulhu Britannica: Shadows Over Scotland (Cubicle 7)
GURPS Horror, Fourth Edition (Steve Jackson Games)
Hacklopedia of Beasts (Kenzer and Co.)
Hollowpoint (VSCA Publishing)
Madness at Gardmore Abbey (Wizards of the Coast)
Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Basic Game (Margaret Weis Productions)
Masks: 1,000 Memorable NPCs for Any RPG (Engine Publishing)
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Beginner Box (Paizo)
Star Hero (Hero Games)
Stealing Cthulhu (Graham Walmsley)
And the big one! Tons of goodness here. Of course, I want you to vote for Marvel, but at the very least, check these titles out for some of the best offerings in RPGs.
Voting opens next Friday, July 20th, and winners will be announced at Gen Con on Friday, August 17th.
(By the way, this was my 900th post, which seems fitting in a way.)