Finally - my pick for the 2010 ENnies Judges' Award

I had an extremely difficult time choosing my which one of the fantastic products we received to recognize with my Judges' Award, so in the end I went with the most important criteria I could think of - which one provided the most fun at my game table. To that end I've decided to recognize Fiasco from Bully Pulpit Games. It's extremely well written, and the kind of game that makes you want to stop reading and start playing. In my case, it took a group of people who barely knew each other and had us playing and laughing together for nearly 4 hours without any hesitation or awkwardness. I don't know that there is a better test for a roleplaying game.

2010 Nominations

Best Adventure

* The Grinding Gear (Lamentations of the Flame Princess)
* Pathfinder AP #31: Stolen Land (Paizo Publishing)
* A Song of Ice and Fire: Peril at King’s Landing (Green Ronin)
* Trail of Cthulhu: The Armitage Files (Pelgrane Press)
* WFRP: The Gathering Storm (Fantasy Flight Games)
* HM: Trail of Cthulhu: Shadows over Filmland (Pelgrane Press)

Best Aid or Accessory

* Battlegraph Dry Erase Boards (Longtooth Studios)
* Campaign Coins (King of the Castle Games & Paizo Publishing)
* Gaming Paper (Gaming Paper)
* Hero Lab v3.6 (Lone Wolf Development)
* Pathfinder GM Screen (Paizo Publishing)
* HM: A Song of Ice and Fire Narrator’s Kit (Green Ronin)

Best Art, Cover

* Eclipse Phase (Catalyst Game Labs & Posthuman Studios)
* Pathfinder Bestiary (Paizo Publishing)
* Rogue Trader Core Rulebook (Fantasy Flight Games)
* Trail of Cthulhu: Rough Magicks (Pelgrane Press)
* WFRP: The Gathering Storm (Fantasy Flight Games)
* HM: Star Wars: The Unknown Regions (Wizards of the Coast)

Best Art, Interior

* Escape from Tentacle City (Willow Palecek)
* Pathfinder Core Rulebook (Paizo Publishing)
* Rogue Trader Core Rulebook (Fantasy Flight Games)
* Shadowrun – 20th Anniversary Ed. (Catalyst Game Labs)
* Warhammer Fantasy RPG (Fantasy Flight Games)
* HM: Hero 6th Edition (Hero Games)

Best Blog

* Critical Hits
* Gnome Stew
* Kobold Quarterly
* NewbieDM.com
* One Geek to Another
* HM: Sarah Darkmagic

Best Cartography

* Aces and Eights: Judas Crossing (Kenzer & Company)
* Dungeon of Terror Virtual Box Set (0one Games)
* Maps of Mastery: Swamp Caves (Maps of Mastery)
* Pathfinder City Map Folio (Paizo Publishing)
* Revenge of the Giants (Wizards of the Coast)
* HM: Death Frost Doom (Lamentation of the Flame Princess)

Best Electronic Book

* The Great City Player’s Guide (0one Games)
* Heroes of the Jade Oath BETA (Rite Publishing)
* To Kill Or Not To Kill (Rite Publishing)
* Pathfinder Society Scenario #29: The Devil We Know Part 1: Shipyard Rats (Paizo Publishing)
* Shambles (A Terrible Idea)
* HM: Fey Folio: The Unseelie Court (Alluria Publishing)

Best Free Product

* Advanced Players Guide Playtest (Paizo Publishing)
* Combat Advantage #15 (Emerald Press)
* Lady Blackbird (one.seven Design)
* Warriors Adventure Game (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
* Wayfinder #1 (Paizo Fans United)
* HM: Hexographer (Inkwell Ideas)

Best Game

* Dragon Age: Set 1 (Green Ronin)
* Hero 6th Edition (Hero Games)
* Pathfinder (Paizo Publishing)
* Shadowrun – 20th Anniversary Ed. (Catalyst Game Labs)
* Wild Talents 2nd Edition (Cubicle 7 & Arc Dream Publishing)
* HM: Labyrinth Lord (Goblinoid Games)

Best Miniature Product

* Alkemy Minis (Kraken Editions)
* D&D Minis (Wizards of the Coast)
* Fortress of Redemption (Games Workshop)
* Gaming Paper (Gaming Paper)
* Maps of Mastery: Swamp Caves (Maps of Mastery)
* HM: Battlegraph Dry Erase Boards (Longtooth Studios)

Best Monster/Adversary

* Aces and Eights: Rustlers & Townsfolk (Kenzer and Company)
* Hellfrost Bestiary (Cubicle 7 & Triple Ace Games)
* Pathfinder Bestiary (Paizo Publishing)
* Pathfinder: Classic Horrors Revisited (Paizo Publishing)
* Supernatural: Guide to the Hunted (Margaret Weis Productions)
* HM: Fey Folio: The Unseelie Court (Alluria Publishing)

Best Podcast

* All Games Considered
* Atomic Array
* NewbieDM.com Minicast
* Open Design
* Power Source
* HM: The Gamer’s Haven Podcast

Best Production Values

* Eclipse Phase (Catalyst Game Labs & Posthuman Studios)
* Pathfinder Core Rulebook (Paizo Publishing)
* Rogue Trader Core Rulebook (Fantasy Flight Games)
* Shadowrun – 20th Anniversary Ed. (Catalyst Game Labs)
* Warhammer Fantasy RPG (Fantasy Flight Games)
* HM: Mysteries of the Hollow Earth (Exile Game Studio)

Best Regalia

* Battletech: 25 Years of Art and Fiction (Catalyst Game Labs)
* Buried Tales of Pine Box, Texas (12 to Midnight)
* Cthulhu 101 (Atomic Overmind Press)
* Grind (Privateer Press)
* Three Dragon Ante: Emperor’s Gambit (Wizards of the Coast)
* HM: Best of All Flesh (Elder Signs Press)

Best Rules

* Atomic Highway (Cubicle 7 & Radioactive Ape Designs)
* BASH Ultimate Edition (Basic Action Games)
* Diaspora (VSCA)
* Hero 6th Edition (Hero Games)
* Wild Talents 2nd Edition (Cubicle 7 & Arc Dream Publishing)
* HM: Earthdawn 3rd Edition, Player’s Guide (RedBrick LLC)

Best Setting

* Day After Ragnarok (Atomic Overmind Press)
* Goblin Markets (White Wolf Publishing)
* Kerberos Club (Cubicle 7 & Arc Dream Publishing)
* Judge Dredd (Mongoose Publishing)
* Rome: Life and Death of the Republic (Cubicle 7 & Alephtar Games)
* HM: Shadowrun: Seattle 2072 (Catylst Game Labs)

Best Supplement

* Lucha Libre Hero (Hero Games)
* Mysteries of the Hollow Earth (Exile Game Studio)
* Nobis: The City-States (Pantheon Press)
* Player’s Handbook 3 (Wizards of the Coast)
* Rebellion Era Campaign Guide (Wizards of the Coast)
* HM: Cthulhutech: Damnation View (WildFire)

Best Website

* d20PFSRD.com
* Epic Words
* Obsidian Portal
* Pathfinder Wiki
* Pen & Paper Games
* HM: Hexographer

Best Writing

* Eclipse Phase (Catalyst Game Labs & Posthuman Studios)
* FantasyCraft (Crafty Games)
* How We Came to Live Here (Galileo Games)
* Kerberos Club (Cubicle 7 & Arc Dream Publishing)
* Victoriana 2nd Edtion (Cubicle 7)
* HM: Colonial Gothic (Rogue Games)

Product of the Year

* Doctor Who (Cubicle 7)
* Dragon Age: Set 1 (Green Ronin)
* Eclipse Phase (Catalyst Game Labs & Posthuman Studios)
* Geist the Sin-Eaters (White Wolf Publishing)
* Kerberos Club (Cubicle 7 & Arc Dream Publishing)
* Pathfinder (Paizo Publishing)
* Rome: Life and Death of the Republic (Cubicle 7 & Alephtar Games)
* Shadowrun – 20th Anniversary Ed. (Catalyst Game Labs)
* Warhammer Fantasy RPG (Fantasy Flight Games)
* Wild Talents 2nd Edition (Cubicle 7 & Arc Dream Publishing)
* HM: FantasyCraft (Crafty Games)
* HM: Savage Suzerain (Cubicle 7)

ENnies results

So, I'm absolutely certain that everyone who care to knows who the winners of the ENnies were by this point, but I didn't bring my laptop, so I wasn't able to post earlier.

Best Cover Art

Gold: CthulhuTech, Catalyst Game Labs

Silver: Pathfinder #19: Howl of the Carrion King, Paizo Publishing

Best Interior Art

Gold: Dark Heresy, Fantasy Flight Games

Silver: Mouse Guard, Kinoichi / Archaia Studio Press

Best Cartography

Gold: Pathfinder Chronicles Second Darkness Map Folio, Paizo Publishing

Silver: Star Wars: Scum and Villainy, Wizards of the Coast

Best Writing

Gold: Kobold Quarterly, Open Design

Silver: Don't Lose Your Mind, Evil Hat Productions

Best Production Values

Gold: Dark Heresy, Fantasy Flight Games

Silver: Mouse Guard, Kinoichi / Archaia Studios Press

Best Rules

Gold: Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Players Handbook, Wizards of the Coast

Silver: A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying, Green Ronin Publishing

Best Adventure

Gold: Pathfinder #19: Howl of the Carrion King, Paizo Publishing

Silver: P1 King of the Trollhaunts Warrens, Wizards of the Coast

Best Monster Supplement

Gold: Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Monster Manual, Wizards of the Coast

Silver: Dark Heresy Creatures Anathema, Fantasy Flight Games

Best Setting

Gold: Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting, Paizo Publishing

Silver: Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies, Atomic Sock Monkey / Evil Hat Productions

Best Supplement

Gold: CthulhuTech Vade Mecum, Catalyst Game Labs

Silver: Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Wizards of the Coast

Best Aid or Accessory

Gold: D&D Insider, Wizards of the Coast

Silver: Kobold Quarterly, Open Design

Best Miniatures

Gold: Game Mastery Flip-mat: Waterfront Tavern, Paizo Publishing

Silver: DU1 Halls of the Giant Kings Dungeon Tiles, Wizards of the Coast

Best Regalia

Gold: Battletech: The Corps, Catalyst Game Labs

Silver: Art of Exalted, White Wolf Publishing

Best Ebook

Gold: Collection of Horrors: Razor Kids, White Wolf Publishing

Silver: Tales of Zobek: An Anthology of Urban Adventures, Open Design

Best Free Product

Gold: Song of Ice and Fire Quickstart, Green Ronin Publishing

Silver: Swords and Wizardry, Mythmere Games

Best Website

Gold: Obsidian Portal

Silver: Kobold Quarterly

Best Podcast

Gold: All Games Considered

Silver: Order 66

Best Game

Gold: Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition, Wizards of the Coast

Silver: Dark Heresy, Fantasy Flight Games

Product of the Year

Gold: Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Players Handbook, Wizards of the Coast

Silver: Mouse Guard, Kinoichi / Archaia Studios Press

Fan Award for Best Publisher:

Gold: Wizards of the Coast

Silver: Paizo Publishing

And the results of the 2010 ENnies Judges Election:

1. Justin 'Jay' Peters

2. Jeramy Ware

3. Mark W. Green

4. Christopher W. Richeson

5. Megan Robertson

Still a bit exhausted from my trip, so it'll be a bit before I have a chance to talk about the con and next year's ENnies, but I wanted to say thanks for the incredible outpouring of support I've received this year, and for giving me one more year to do this thing that I enjoy so much.

I know a ton of stuff was entered at Gencon, but unfortunately I wasn't able to wait any longer for it to be divided up, but I'll post as soon as it ships.

Thanks again, and a special thanks to everyone who took time out at the cone to say hi, or congratulate me. More than anything it's the people I meet there that make me come back.

2009 ENnies Nominations

Best Cover

3:16 Carnage Amongst the Stars

Scion: Ragnorak

Howl of the Carrion King

Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide

CthluhuTech

Best Interior Art

CthluhuTech

Mouse Guard

Dark Heresy RPG

Hellas

M&M: Wild Cards

Best Cartography

Pathfinder Map Folio

Sellswords of Punjar

The Saltshacks

Modern Floorplans: Victorian Mansion

SW Saga: Scum & Villainy

Best Writing

Don't Lose Your Mind

Hot War

Hunter Horror Recognition Guide

Baron Munchhausen

Kobold Quarterly

Best Production Values

Mouse Guard

CthulhuTech

Anima RPG

Dark Heresy Core

Hellas

Best Rules

D&D 4e PHB

Dark Heresy RPG

Song of Ice and Fire

Starblazer Adventures

Hunter: The Vigil

Best Adventure

King of the Trollhaunt Warrens

The Rose Bride's Plight

Howl of the Carrion King

Land of Darkness: The Barrow Grounds

Purge of the Unclean

Best Monster/Adversary

Witch Hunter: Grand Tome of Adversaries

Night Horrors Grim Fears

Dark Heresy Creature Anathema

D&D 4e MM

Freedom's Most Wanted

Best Setting

Pathfinder Campaign Setting

Hot War

Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies

Candlewick

Slipstream

Best Supplement

Hunter: The Vigil

CthuluTech Vade Mechum

Dark Heresy: Disciples of the Dark Gods

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Scion: Ragnorak

Best Aid/Accessory

D&D Insider

Dwarven Sweatshop Dice Box

Hunter Horror Recognition Guide

Kobold Quarterly

M&M Deluxe GM Screen

Best Miniature Product

Alea Tools Neo Markers

Star Wars Clone Wars Starter Set

Fat Dragon: Cliffs and Mountains

Halls of the Giant Kings Dungeon Tiles

Paizo Game Mastery Flip-Mat: Waterfront Tavern

Best Game

D&D 4e

Starblazer Adventures

Song of Ice and Fire

Cthluhutech

Dark Heresy

Best Regalia

Worlds of Dungeons & Dragons, Vol 2.

Art of Exalted

Planet Stories: Infernal Sorceress

Battletech: The Corps

Hunter Board Game

Best Electronic Book

Hard Boiled Armies

The Death Mother

Tales of Zobek

Collection of Horrors: Razor Kids - CCP

Blood of the Gorgon

Best Free Product

Battlerun

Hunter Quickstart: The Hunt

SoIaF Quickstart

Sword & Wizardry

Trial and Terror: SVU

Best Podcast

All Games Considered

Order 66

Return to Northmoor

Brilliant Gameologists

Voice of the Revolution

Best Website

Dungeon-A-Day

Critical Hits

Kobold Quarterly

Mad Brew Labs

Obsidian Portal

Product of the Year

D&D 4e PHB

Mouse Guard

Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies

Song of Ice and Fire

Hunter the Vigil

Dark Heresy Disciples of the Dark Gods

Don't Lose Your Mind

Star Wars Clone Wars

Scion: Ragnorak

Starblazer Adventures

Best Publisher nominations are open

Fan nominations for Best Publisher are now open. Just go to: http://tinyurl.com/mf9oya and fill out a very simple form.

Nominations are done

Well, the judges' meeting is over, and we have our final list of nominations. One way or another these will be out on Monday.

In the mean time, tomorrow starts the fan part of the nomination process, the Best Publisher award. This will be using a whole new system this year that should make tracking much better.

As for the nomination process itself... It was more painful than I expected. The list is good. Really, really good. As always however I didn't get everything I wanted. That sort of goes with the territory. The hardest part was the loss of a new category I advocated which I thought was pretty much a done deal.

Final List of categories:

Best Cover

Best Interior Art

Best Cartography

Best Writing

Best Production Values

Best Rules

Best Adventure

Best Monster/Adversary

Best Setting

Best Supplement

Best Aid/Accessory

Best Miniature Product

Best Game

Best Regalia

Best Electronic Book

Best Free Product

Best Podcast

Best Website

Product of the Year

19 categories.

Last time we did it via message boards. This year we did it by chat. Both have their strengths. Chat feels more confrontational, less wheeling and dealing, more 'getting it done.' This is good because it make a three day process three hours. It's bad because it can make someone with a temper like me unreasonably hot.

Still, it felt right, and these guys did a really great job. Everything on those lists absolutely belongs there, and when you get five people with such divergent tastes, that's hard to do.

My hat is off to those other judges, who did an outstanding job, and even managed to put up with me even when I got pushy. Can't wait to see everyone at GenCon.

Best d20/OGL commentary

In some ways judging the d20 products was very easy for me, even though it required a lot of work. The reason is simple of course, I'm already extremely familiar with the underlying mechanics. It's certainly a lot easier to judge a game when you can tell at a glance how it all fits together.

It's a lot of work, however, because a huge percentage of what we received was d20 based. I don't have my notes or anything, but I'd guess something like 2/3 to 3/4 of the entries used d20-ish mechanics I say "ish" because I'm lumping in things like True20, Passages, and Mutants & Masterminds.

Here is one area where I definitely can't complain about the outcome. I don't usually share my votes for fear of betraying how other judges voted, but on this one it seems safe, since every vote I cast ended up on the list. Here at least you can see exactly how my tastes line up.

The choices I made here fell into place pretty easily. Like other categories I find myself wishing that there was room for a few more outstanding products, especially taking into consideration how many d20 products we received, but when it comes down to it the products that were selected were nothing short of amazing.

The Warlords of the Accordlands series was likely the most pleasant surprise of the entrants this year. I hadn't heard much about it going in, and most of what I did hear wasn't very flattering. I don't know anything about the CCG it's based on and of course I didn't have to put up with the delays that I know tend to frustrate fans, which left me a bit more open to enjoying the game for what it was, rather than what it wasn't. What it was is an incredibly good read, providing everything that a GM might need to run a campaign in a very compelling world. It offers some neat, new mechanical tricks, provides large amounts of world information, offers great cartography and art, and includes an interesting mega-campaign to take characters from first level all the way to 20. We combined all four of these books into one product for the purposes of the award, but any one of those books would make a great addition to this list.

Etherscope- Upload: Etherpunk is another one that I was only peripherally aware of before the awards, yet hits on every cylinder. It shouldn't be any surprise really, since Goodman Games is continuously churning out good products, but the Etherscope line in total has proven to be exceptional at every turn. I wish I had it with me so I could go into a bit more detail, but it takes the d20 Modern ruleset and tunes it in some very interesting ways. Even leaving off the great mechanics, you still find a fascinating world that cries out to be played in, compelling adventures, and strong reenforcement of its themes at every turn. No one should think of Goodman as just a company that has managed to bottle up the "old school" vibe and sell it. These products prove they have a lot more to offer.

Mutants and Masterminds: Ultimate Power has been nominated over and over again, so I guess it shouldn't be a surprise that it made it here as well. Everyone who knows d20 knows that Green Ronin consistently puts out some of the best products that the industry has to offer, and yet even in this year of very strong entries from their camp, Ultimate Power shines through. This book takes the already incredible Mutants and Masterminds second edition rules and really opens them up to the players. It makes power creation easy, quick, and comprehensive. I'd challenge anyone to find something it doesn't allow you to do.

Five Fingers: Port of Deceit got my vote first and foremost because it was quite possibly the single best book I read. Sure there are some books that do certain things better, but this one really grabbed me across the board. It's extremely well written, entertaining, visually appealing, and though it contains few rules, those that are there are short, easy to understand, and could pop right into any d20 game. I absolutely loved it.

I saved Helios Rising for last because I was asked to go into a bit more detail on why I liked it so much. Let me start by saying that this book is huge, and it's packed from beginning to end with gaming goodness. It doesn't waste any time jumping right in either. From the time you open it up you're getting advice on how to use it and what kind of campaigns to run. What really makes this book work for me though is the way it's laid out. Besides the fact that it's a good read to start with, or the fact that it provides excellent rules for playing everything that it presents, it's just so darn easy to find exactly what you need for the setting you're playing in. Each chapter is like a mini sourcebook with the history, geography, rules, and hooks you need to slip it right into your game. In short, the book takes everything that's great about the already fantastic Dawning Star setting, expands it, and makes it better. Any chapter in this book would make an excellent purchase, and as a whole it's phenomenal. Even if you don't use the Dawning Star setting, or don't even play d20 Modern, I'd say this would be a good buy. There is enough information and adventure ideas here to easily find inspiration for any number of sci-fi games.

I guess in retrospect that's not huge amount of extra detail, but I suppose that if anyone is interested I'll make a bit more effort when I get to work on the next series of blogs I'll be doing.

So, what didn't make the list, and why? The why part is easy really, and I already touched on it above. The things that were nominated were absolutely amazing. Even though some of the products that didn't make the list were amazing as well, the quality of the competition here can't be stressed enough.

Still, there are a few things that I can think of right away that need to be mentioned. First and foremost is the Honorable Mention, Ptolus. The vast majority of complaints that I heard this year revolved around how few nominations Ptolus received, particularly in this category. First I suppose I should point out that Ptolus did actually do very well for itself in every category where its strengths were really allowed to shine. It received nominations in Production Values, Setting, Cartography, and even Product of the Year, though it didn't fair quite as well in this category. Part of the reason for that is that Ptolus is really a setting book, and though it does present its setting very well, it already got a nomination for that. It's huge, and it's pretty, but it got a nomination for that as well. It's full of densely packed information, and among the best products released this year, but it got the nod for that as well. Hopefully everyone can see that it wasn't overlooked, it's just that, in the d20 category, we were looking for different criteria, and at it's heart Ptolus was built to tie existing d20 material together into a cohesive whole, not expand it in any meaningful way. It's a great book, and it deserves the place it got on this list every bit as much as it deserves the actual nominations that it received, but it just couldn't quite make the final list.

Another neat product was Passages, also brought to us by the same company that produced Helios Rising. This one is almost unique among d20 derived games in that it completely deconstructs the ruleset and rebuilds it until it's almost unrecognizable. Believe me when I say that I mean that in a very good way. The authors didn't bother with preserving the sacred cows, instead they took the clay it was built from and molded it into the form that fit their creation. Passages takes chances, it goes out on a limb, and throws out all of the old d20 stereotypes. It gives you the unexpected at every turn, and almost challenges you to call it "just another d20 game". Based on some of the finest literary works that the world has to offer, this book makes you a passenger in some of the greatest stories ever told. Any element of this book, its rules, setting, or writing, would make an excellent purchase. As a whole it is nothing short of extraordinary.

There are a lot more products that really deserve some spotlight time here, but I've been at this for two hours already, and I have work that needs to get done. Instead I'm just going to mention the next series that I'm going to do on this blog. I have one or two commentaries left in me, but beyond that I think I'm going to move on to a simple spotlight format. Breaking down each individual category always leaves me wishing I had taken the time to mention just a few more things, and the actual reviews I used to do were a bit too time consuming. Instead I think that I'll start putting out a post whenever I have the time with the highlights of a few products that I think deserve a second look. It won't be much, just a paragraph or two, but hopefully it'll allow me to share my thoughts in a less structured way. Let me know if there's anything you'd like to see me start with.

Best Setting commentary

Best Setting is definitely one of those categories where you can't help but notice that things are missing. So much work and creativity is poured into the various game settings that they are easy to latch on to, and they form the core of many of the games and products that we reviewed. Everyone has their favorite setting, or some element of a game world that appeals to them, and seeing it missing from the list brings up the question of why.

Figuring out how to judge a game setting is tough. Rules are easy. Most long time gamers can look at a set of game rules, maybe play through them a bit, and see what makes them tick. Settings on the other hand are pure art, and art is hard to judge. Especially when the subjects are so different. Personally I think that measuring a city book like Five Fingers against a core setting like Qin is basically impossible to do fairly. That's why it's so important to judge each book on its own merits, rather than trying to compare them to one another. It's easy to read Five Fingers and see why it deserves the nomination, but it's much harder to figure out if it is "better" than something like Qin, which has to explain large sections of the world while leaving room for actual rules.

Unfortunately that does lead to some regrettable results sometimes. Every nomination in this category is a d20 product. That's a bit disappointing, and comparing products as a group might correct that a bit, but it would also mean that one of these very worthy products would have to be dropped to make room for something else for no reason other than it's system, which really shouldn't come into consideration in this particular category.

So, why these products and not some of the other great entries?

Mostly it falls back to the old excuse: there's only room for five. When it came down to it we had to pick the five settings that we felt were the absolute best based on their own merits, and the list we came up with was a good one. I may be a bit biased though, since there is only one product from my personal list of 5 that didn't make the final list, and in retrospect, I think that it may have been a bad choice anyways.

For me, these work well because, though they share a common system, they are all presented differently. Each really exemplifies a different design philosophy in a way that many other games just couldn't match. There were plenty of great settings entered, but in my view these made the cut because they weren't just great, they each did at least one thing in some extraordinary way. Who could deny that Ptolus is the most thorough setting book ever produced? It's well thought out, cohesive, and contains everything you will ever need to play for years on end. Five Fingers is a bit more open, choosing to instead paint itself in broad strokes, giving all the central information you need in a concise, entertaining fashion without weighing itself down with tiny details. On the other side of the scale, Helios Rising does an excellent job of presenting an entire star system and its inhabitants, giving GMs and players alike a ton of material to work with, and a variety of worlds to explore.

I guess the only really defining thing the nominees have in common is that they present real, living worlds, complete with enough information to sit down and put it all right to work.

That's not to say that they are the only ones who did that, however, they just did it in some way that made the five of us agree that they belonged as the top 5. There were a number of other exceptional entries, and though I don't have time to detail them all, I'd like to touch on a few:

I'll start with Burning Empires and go into a bit more detail here, since was the game that I originally put up that didn't make the list. I don't usually talk about my votes, but I think this is one that I have to mention, because I think it was wrong. Don't misunderstand, the setting for Burning Empires is fantastic, and very few games make you just want to sit down and see what you can come up with the way it does, but it doesn't really fit this category well. Sure, it has an overarching setting, but the real meat of the game is the setting the group itself makes. That's where the heart of the product lies, and though it deserves the nod because it makes that so easy and illustrates what can be done so well, stuffing BE into this category is like shoving a square peg into a round hole. You can't make it fit without shaving off a lot of what makes it unique. The setting provided for BE is fabulous, but that's not what makes it exceptional. It's the tools that help you make your setting that make it stand out.

Dictionary of Mu was another one that didn't quite make it in this category. Likewise things like Thieves' World, Qin, Tuala Morn, Golden Age, and Castlemorn were bandied about. The books themselves are fantastic, and do an excellent job of painting a picture of the world and the kinds of adventures that await the PCs, but they just didn't quite make it.

Also, since the role of PDFs in other categories was questioned I thought I'd point out that two products which received serious consideration were Fort Griffin and the Last Free City, which were both incredibly good products, but failed to make the list by a slim margin. Both make extremely good examples of how well a PDF can compare to print products in any category.

Well, I'm late heading home so I'm going to end this here. I know it was short and a little abrupt, but I'm still a bit exhausted from my vacation. If anyone has any questions feel free to ask and I'll go into a bit more detail.

Next up: Best d20/OGL.

Urgent!

If you voted for the Enies already please go vote again. An error made the earlier votes invalid.

Go vote!

This is it. The voting booth is up. Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the products, and then go vote.

I'm off now to do it myself.

Best Game commentary

I've been dreading doing this one, but I'm going to go ahead and get to it.

Best Game is an easy category. Best Game is tough as hell. Both statements are true.

I'm sure that I said Best Game came easily to me at some point along the way, and I meant it at the time, but in retrospect that is a dirty, rotten lie.

I love games. Game systems are perhaps my absolute favorite thing to read, and so most of these entries went right to the top of the list. That made it easy. What made it hard was finalizing the choices.

As a rule most games do things their own way. It makes them interesting to read, but can make them hard to judge against one another. How do you measure the extreme coolness of something like Spirit of the Century against the fabulousness of Burning Empires? How do you measure the high-flying wuxia of Qin against the two-fisted action of Hollow Earth? I'll let you know if I figure it out.

So, failing any kind of objective measure, you go with your gut. Best Game is about the whole package, but focusing more on game play than the little details, that's what Production Values and the Art categories are for. It's easy because, honestly, who doesn't have one or two favorite systems? It's hard because there is just so much that it takes to make a game tick. This is the category where I did by far most of my playtesting, and I still felt like I needed to give things a bit more of a go before I was done. It's... complex.

How complex? Half way through the process I decided I hated a game that I had been advocating for weeks. I still owe the other judges an apology. Every time I played it I fell a little bit more out of love.

Week by week my top list changed. I liked this game, but that game over there has this really cool mechanic... Here's a little secret. See how all the categories have an Honorable Mention? Look at Best Game. It has two. That's right. We simply couldn't narrow it down any further. The only other category allowed two is Product of the Year, and that's only because it represents such a wide assortment of products. Best Game has two because there was no way one more would drop in any kind of timely fashion.

In the end I managed to take a deep breath, compare my notes, and lget down to business. The final list I came up with was strong, and though it was missing some of my favorites, everything on there was a credit to the hobby.

Here's where we get to the dread part, and I know this'll cost me some of the kudos I've gotten from a long time reader, but I feel like I'm partially responsible for Spirit of the Century not quite gaining a nomination. Don't get me wrong, I gave it a much-deserved vote, but I never really backed it the way I should have. It's a great game, brilliant even, but to be honest, I liked Don't Rest Your Head better. It simply fit my personal style more, and I concentrated on it more early on instead of backing the horse with better legs.

I mentioned once before that Paul Tevis made me fall in love with a game. That game was Don't Rest Your Head. I read it the first time at the end of a long night, and thought, "Cool, a game about insomniacs with interesting powers." Then I set it aside. A few weeks later, while working on the Podcast category, I heard Paul talk about a game he participated in, and it sounded incredible. So I sat down and read the whole thing again. I was hooked.

Publishers, never doubt the power of the podcasting community. Have Games, Will travel has sold me an RPG and two board games (and I'm not a board gamer). Godzilla sold me on two more RPGs, and Gamer the Podcasting sold me one. By sold I mean I literally ran out and bought the books as soon as possible. It would probably have been more, but I have a very extensive collection already, and let's face it, I had just gotten 239 of the best products the industry has to offer sent to me.

Ok, so tangent aside, here are my thoughts on a few of my favorite picks that didn't make it. I don't have my books or notes with me, so bear with me if I forget something you want to hear about. Let me know, and I'll be glad to discuss it.

I'll start with Cold City because it was the only game I published a review on with a perfect score. I absolutely loved this book, but it just didn't garner enough support. If you care about my thoughts though, feel free to read my review here. I'd link it, but I can't access my blog at work.

Next, I'll briefly mention Don't Rest Your Head. I already went over my unnatural love of this book, so I won't hit this in any kind of great detail, but it is so much more than I can convey with any kind of simple description. I'm a sucker for neat mechanics, and the system here is simple, but subtly powerful. Tough player choices result in a steady descent toward disaster. Players buy their own doom in the best tension-building mechanic I've ever seen. If you really want something badly enough you have these great little exhaustion dice to give you just the boost you need, but as the number of dice grows you have to wonder, "Is it worth it?" Ok, enough. Great setting, great system, crazy judge, you get the point.

Finally I'm going to touch on Burning Empires. There were a number of really great games entered that didn't get the nod, but this one stands out for so many reasons that I'm just going to take the easy way out and point out the the winner of the Origins award for this category didn't get a nomination from us. That doesn't mean we didn't like it. Far from it really. It was, after all, nominated in two categories, and it received votes in several more. This is one loss that surprised me as much as anyone else. It's a fantastic book, and I think it mostly just suffered at the hands of the other strong competition. I think that, with this being the most competitive category, it got lost as everyone tried to shore up support for their own favorite products. Perhaps more than in any other category this one felt to me like we all had a game or two that we really wanted to succeed, and anything that wasn't someone's absolute favorite just couldn't find room in the top 5. I'll likely touch on this subject again when I go over the Products of the Year, but this is a book very worthy of an award, it just couldn't get in among all the other worthy competition.

Best Electronic Book commentary

First and foremost, Best Electronic Book is a weird category, and for me at least it was one of the hardest to judge. You get a lot of different products that qualify, and many of them are of completely different types. It's really like a mini Product of the Year category, none of the other categories even come close to this level of diversity.

The reason for this is that other categories all have a theme. For Best Writing I look at text, for Best Rules I look at mechanics, For Best Game or Best Supplement I look at playability. Best Electronic Book has to take all of that in consideration. In my opinion that makes it one of the hardest awards to get, and I really think it should be up there with Product of the Year as being representative of some of the best that gaming has to offer. It tends to get a bad rap because many are put together without the same production standards as many top of the line print books, and that serves to keep them from being exceptionally competitive in the other categories (though at least one came very close), but really these things have to compete on a lot more levels than the printed products in other categories. Never assume that just because a product is a PDF it doesn't have great production values. There are some extremely well laid-out and attractive PDFs out there. The strengths of PDFs are different, not worse..

So, what makes the cut and why? That's the tough part, and it relates a bit to what I said above, Most of the products that got my vote were basically competitive in as many categories as possible. Good production values, exceptional writing, interesting mechanics, etc. That unfortunately means that several products that may have really stood out in one or two areas tended to get overlooked in favor of those that had a bit more to offer across the board. It's the same argument I make for why Ptolus got nominated for Product of the Year, but not Best d20. It hits on so many different levels, but when it comes down to the more specific playability categories it falls just a tiny bit short of the products that don't try to be everything. That's not a universal truth, and it may not be what the other judges were looking for at all, but that's what I was going for in nearly every case.

Of course, the hardest thing to justify is that some products just didn't grab me. There are two books in particular that I'm thinking of by the same company that were beautifully made, with great art and good writing, but they seemed... a bit formless. I don't know any other way to put it. One made my personal first list, but I just couldn't find room for it in my short list because I never managed to define it. I know I'm being vague, but it's intentional. I'm not a reviewer. It's not my place to condemn entries. People submitted their products hoping that we would share the best of what they had to offer, not point out every little flaw. The judges already provided the only judgment we had to offer that really means anything.

That's not to say that everything that didn't make the final cut was flawed in some way. In fact, before I posted my final 5/7 I had the list narrowed down to 9 products, and I couldn't figure out how I was going to decide which to drop. In the end it was a combination of the other judges' lists and what few online discussions I could find that narrowed it down for me. I already said I wouldn't give out my actual votes, but because a couple of products were asked about specifically I'll talk about some of my favorites that didn't make it.

In Harm's Way is a fascinating game based on naval warfare in the Napoleonic era. It's fantastically written, and contains tome great evocative text from a period source, which I loved. It actually made my list as an alternate, but it dropped off because its narrow scope aimed at (and squarely hit) a single, very specific type of roleplayer. If it's your type of game I whole-heartily recommend it, but I just couldn't find room for it in the top 5.

Blood & Guts: In Her Majesty's Service 2 is one that I'm not entirely sure why it didn't make it. I wasn't the only one with it on my list, so I suspect it only lost out because the five that did make it were just too hard to displace.

E-RPG is one that fell victim to that lack of theme for this category that I spoke of earlier. Mechanics and writing aside, it's very straight forward and to the point, not allowing much room for things like art and layout concerns. That doesn't make it a bad book, but it can hurt it when stacked up against some of the other great entires.

Finally, there's the Echoes of Heaven, which is another one that came within a hair's breadth of garnering a nomination, and I can only guess that it didn't get it because of the other strong entries in this category. This is going to sound a bit like pandering, especially since the author himself asked me about it, but let me say that if I had to recommend one single line that didn't make the list, this would be it. This line does a whole lot right, and I can't believe I didn't mention it earlier in the blog. I would say that my favorite part is that it is written for four different systems, meaning those who hate one particular game don't have to do the conversions themselves, but that wouldn't be true. I loved the setting. Besides, this product doesn't really rely a lot on rules to make its impression. It's all about comprehensive description, interesting concepts, and great writing. This is a product that would have gotten a nomination any other year. In fact, had Battletech not entered its line as a single product, or had this line been entered together, I think it would have made it easily this year.

Really that's something I should have thought about under advice for publishers. If you have a strong line of products that all tie together well, enter them together and let them feed off each others' strengths. It might cost you the ability to get multiple nominations in the same category, but it really reinforces the strength of the combined entry.

Well, I guess that's about it. I've been writing this thing for three hours now, trying to remember everything without access to my CDs. If you ever want to know why I make a better judge than writer, there it is. I can read a 256 page sourcebook in 3 hours, but it would take me years at the rate I type to write one.

The entries that made the list deserve their slots. They're well-rounded, yet exceptional in their own way. That's not to say that everything that deserved an award made the list however. It just means that we were limited in our number of choices, and the things that are there mostly represent things that we couldn't imagine not making the list. Had I included Echoes of Heaven on my list and left off Nevermore or Shadowcrag I'd be here lamenting their loss just as loudly.