The Gaming Den

Posted: **Sun Aug 02, 2015 8:16 pm**

Dont know if people around here saw it, but this years Ennies results just came out. Zak S got a bunch of awards (congratulations Zak !), D&D 5e won lots of awards too, and Mutant: Year Zero got one award.

I got particularly surprised at "A Red and Pleasant Land" which I had not heard until then and by the little I've read now, looks pretty interesting.

So, what do you guys think ? Any game deserved more praise ? Any new game that appeared out of nowhere and surprises you positively ?

I'm transcribing the full awards below:

Best Adventure
Silver: A Red & Pleasant Land (Lamentations of the Flame Princess)
Gold: Horror on the Orient Express (Chaosium)

Best Aid/Accessory
Silver: Black Green Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition RPG Dice Set (Q-Workshop)
Gold: Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Masters Screen (Wizards of the Coast)

Best Cover Art
Silver: Achtung! Cthulhu: Terrors of the Secret War (Modiphius Entertainment Ltd)
Gold: Rise of Tiamat (Wizards of the Coast)

Best Interior Art
Silver: The Strange (Monte Cook Games, LLC)
Gold: Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual (Wizards of the Coast)

Best Blog
Silver: Gnome Stew
Gold: ConTessa Tabletop Gaming by Women for Everyone

Best Cartography
Silver: The Guide to Glorantha (Moon Design Publications)
Gold: Ninth World Guidebook (Monte Cook Games, LLC)

Best Electronic Book
Silver: Ken Writes About Stuff Volume 2 (Pelgrane Press)
Gold: Basic Rules for Dungeons & Dragons (Wizards of the Coast)

Best Family Game
Silver: Atomic Robo The Roleplaying Game (Evil Hat Productions)
Gold: Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set (Wizards of the Coast)

Best Free Product
Silver: 13th Age The Archmages Orrery (Pelgrane Press)
Gold: Basic Rules for Dungeons & Dragons (Wizards of the Coast)

Best Game
Silver: The Strange (Monte Cook Games, LLC)
Gold: Dungeons & Dragons Players Handbook (Wizards of the Coast)

Best Miniatures Product
Silver: Pathfinder Pawns Inner Sea Pawn Box (Paizo Inc.)
Gold: Dungeons & Dragons Icons of the Realms Elemental Evil Boosters (WizKids)

Best Monster/Adversary
Silver: Achtung! Cthulhu: Terrors of the Secret War (Modiphius Entertainment Ltd)
Gold: Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual (Wizards of the Coast)

Best Podcast
Silver: Miskatonic University Podcast
Gold: Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff

Best Production Values
Silver: Horror on the Orient Express (Chaosium)
Gold: Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set (Wizards of the Coast)

Best RPG Related Product
Silver: Temple of Elemental Evil (WizKids)
Gold: Designers & Dragons: A History of the Roleplaying Game Industry (Evil Hat Productions)

Best Rules
Silver: MUTANT Year Zero The Roleplaying Game (Modiphius Entertainment Ltd)
Gold: Dungeons & Dragons Players Handbook (Wizards of the Coast)

Best Setting
Silver: The Strange (Monte Cook Games, LLC)
Gold: A Red & Pleasant Land (Lamentations of the Flame Princess)

Best Software
Silver: HeroLab (Lone Wolf Development)
Gold: Roll20 (Roll 20)

Best Supplement
Silver: Pathfinder RPG: Pathfinder Unchained (Paizo Inc.)
Gold: Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Masters Guide (Wizards of the Coast)

Best Website
Silver: Tabletop Audio
Gold: The Escapist

Best Writing
Silver: D&D Player’s Handbook by Jeremy Crawford, James Wyatt, Robert J. Schwalb, Bruce R. Cordell (Wizards of the Coast)
Gold: A Red & Pleasant Land by Zak S (Lamentations of the Flame Princess)

Fan’s Choice for Best Publisher
Silver: Paizo Inc
Gold: Wizards of the Coast.

Product Of The Year
Silver: A Red & Pleasant Land (Lamentations of the Flame Princess)
Gold: Dungeons & Dragons Players Handbook (Wizards of the Coast)

Posted: **Sun Aug 02, 2015 9:08 pm**

Browsing the list and doing the research, I can confidently say that I don't give a flying flamingo about most entries or the awards at all, but I saw that an unofficial Mass Effect RPG was disqualified due to copyright issues, and went to check that out instead.

Still reading, thanks for the indirect link, I guess.

Posted: **Sun Aug 02, 2015 9:49 pm**

Yep, Ive heard good things about that Mass Effect rpg too. Is it nice ? Whats the rules like ?

Posted: **Mon Aug 03, 2015 2:59 am**

The Ennies have never meant shit. It's basically a circlejerk of people congratulating their friends. Why in the flying fuck would you give a damn about it? This is basically the MTV Movie Awards of TTRPGs.

Posted: **Mon Aug 03, 2015 8:45 am**

DL'ed the Mass Effect RPG

Posted: **Mon Aug 03, 2015 9:04 am**

Enworld blows goats. I have proof.

Posted: **Mon Aug 03, 2015 3:05 pm**

So, what products should have been praised in your opinion ? What's the best that came out in the last year in the hobby ?

Posted: **Mon Aug 03, 2015 3:24 pm**

The Ennies are flawed on first principles.

The problem is that RPGs are not videogames or movies.

This is the major releases of videogames in the month of June:

Massive Chalice (Xbox One, PC) - June 1
The Escapists (PS4) - June 2
Heroes of the Storm (PC) - June 2
Lord of Magna: Maiden Heaven (3DS) - June 2
Skulls of the Shogun: Bone-a-Fide Edition (PS4) - June 2
Super Exploding Zoo (PS4, Vita) - June 2
Adventures of Pip (Wii U, PC) - June 4
Wander (PS4, PC) - June 4
You Must Build a Boat (PC, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android) - June 4
D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die (PC) - June 5
Steamworld Dig (Xbox One) - June 5
The Swapper (Xbox One) - June 5
The Elder Scrolls Online (Xbox One, PS4) - June 9
Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy (Vita) - June 9
Kholat (PC) - June 10
Alone in the Dark: Illumination (PC) - June 11
Dr.Mario: Miracle Cure (3DS) - June 11
Lego Jurassic World (Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Wii U, Wii, 3DS, Vita, PC) - June 12
Payday 2: Crimewave Edition (Xbox One, PS4) - June 16
Canvaleon (Wii U) - June 18
Batman: Arkham Knight (Xbox One, PS4, PC) - June 23
Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition (Xbox One, PS4, PC) - June 23
Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward (PS4, PS3, PC) - June 23
Planetside 2 (PS4) - June 23
Ride (Xbox One, 360, PS4, PS3, PC) - June 23
Tales from the Borderlands Episode 3: Catch a Ride (Xbox One, 360, PS4, PS3, PC, iOS, Android) - June 23
Art Academy: Home Studio (Wii U) - June 25
Astebreed (PS4) - June 25
Fort Meow (PC, iOS) - June 25
Never Alone (Wii U) - June 25
Shiftlings (Wii U) - June 25
Sonic Runners (iOS, Android) - June 25
Toukiden: Kiwami (PC) - June 25
Lego Minifgures Online (PC, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android) - June 29
Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth3: V Generation (Vita) - June 30
J-Stars Victory VS+ (PS4, PS3, Vita) - June 30
Red Goddess: Inner World (PS4) - June 30
Rogus (PC) - June 30
Samurai Warriors Chronicles 3 (3DS, Vita) - June 30
Whispering Willows (PS4) - June 30

These are the movies released in the month of June:

Pigeon
Spy
Entourage
Insidious: Chapter 3
Wild Horses
Patch Town
Police Story: Lockdown
The Cokeville Miracle
Love & Mercy
Testament Of Youth
Larry Gaye: Renegade Male Flight
Jurassic World
Vendetta
Madame Bovary
Set Fire to the Stars
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
The Wolfpack
The Yes Men Are Revolting
Inside Out
Dope
Burying the Ex
The Overnight
Set Fire to the Stars
Manglehorn
Eden
Infinitely Polar Bear
Max True Story
Ted 2
Glass Chin
Big Game
Escobar: Paradise Lost
The Little Death
A Little Chaos
Batkid Begins: The Wish Heard Ar...
Fresh Dressed

How many RPGs or RPG books were released in the entire year of 2014? Was it even as many as movies or games released in one month?

The concept of a yearly awards show that gives out 20 awards makes tons of sense when you have 200 movies to sort through. It makes no sense at all when you have 20 TTRPG games that year.

Posted: **Mon Aug 03, 2015 3:31 pm**

Got your point, and agree. It would make more sense if the awards were bi-annual ? Or perhaps reducing the number of awards to just 1 or 2 ?

Anyway, do you have any cool game that got released this last year, even if it didn't make into the Ennies ? I think one thing that makes these lins of awards useful to me is getting to know games I've never heard about (that was the case with A Red and Pleasant Land for me).

Posted: **Mon Aug 03, 2015 4:40 pm**

silva wrote:Got your point, and agree. It would make more sense if the awards were bi-annual ? Or perhaps reducing the number of awards to just 1 or 2 ?

Anyway, do you have any cool game that got released this last year, even if it didn't make into the Ennies ? I think one thing that makes these lins of awards useful to me is getting to know games I've never heard about (that was the case with A Red and Pleasant Land for me).

There have so far been zero TTRPGs in 2014 or so far in 2015 that I would consider worth spending even one cent on. Ennies should be performed every decade, so they can look back at the life of the games and see which ones were actually worth anything. Or at least, if they were supposed to be about awarding good products. But instead they are about shilling people's stupid shit this year, so they happen annually and give enough awards to tag all the people who want to sell their garbage.

Posted: **Mon Aug 03, 2015 5:59 pm**

Korwin wrote:DL'ed the Mass Effect RPG

Anyone wanna share? I'm curious but the files seem to have all been taken down.

Posted: **Mon Aug 03, 2015 6:23 pm**

TheFlatline wrote:
Korwin wrote:DL'ed the Mass Effect RPG
Anyone wanna share? I'm curious but the files seem to have all been taken down.

Just checked, there was some trouble, but the creator seems to have fixed the download.

Posted: **Mon Aug 03, 2015 6:27 pm**

So, any details ? What's the rules like ?

The Gaming Den

So, the Ennies 2015..

So, the Ennies 2015..