2013 Ennies

The nominations for the 2013 Ennies awards are now up.
http://www.ennie-awards.com/blog/2013-ennie-awards-nominees/

Here are some random thoughts.

Best Adventure
Achtung! Cthulhu – Three Kings (Chronicle City/Modiphius Entertainment)
Deadlands Reloaded: The Last Sons (Pinnacle Entertainment)
Enemy Within (Fantasy Flight Games)
Pathfinder: Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition (Paizo Publishing)
The Zalozhniy Quartet (Pelgrane Press)

Outside of Rise of the Runeloards I don't have any of these.

Best Aid/Accessory
All We Have Forgotten—Music for Ashen Stars (Pelgrane Press)
Night’s Watch (Green Ronin)
The One Ring Loremaster’s Screen & Lake-town Sourcebook (Cubicle 7)
Protodimension Magazine Issue 13 (Kinstaff Media LLC)
The Unspeakable Oath (Arc Dream Publishing)

Nothing here either.

Best Art, Cover
Champions Complete (Hero Games)
Iron Kingdoms (Privateer Press)
The Magnificent Joop van Ooms (Lamentations of the Flame Princess)
NPC Codex (Paizo Publishing)
The Whole Hole Volume 01: Keister Island (Mutha Oith Creations)

The OSR is represented in Raggi's adventure-not-an-adventure in Joop van Ooms.

Best Art, Interior
Ed Greenwood Presents Elminster’s Forgotten Realms (Wizards of the Coast)
Night’s Black Agents (Pelgrane Press)
Night’s Watch (Green Ronin)
Shadows of Esteren Book 1 (Agate Editions)
The Whole Hole Volume 01: Keister Island (Mutha Oith Creations)

First of only 2 products from WotC this year.

Best Blog
Gnome Stew
The Illuminerdy
Nerd Trek
Triumph and Despair
The Rogue Warden

Gnome stew is doing quite well this year!

Best Cartography
Ancient Temple Interior (DramaScape)
Deep Blues: Nautilus (0One Games)
Drake Starship Map (Blackwyrm Games)
The Lands of Ice and Fire (Random House)
Sprawl Sites: High Society and Low Life (Catalyst Game Labs)

Best Electronic Book
Curse the Darkness (Growling Door Games, Inc.)
Deadlands Reloaded: The Last Sons (Pinnacle Entertainment)
The Deadly Seven (paNik productions)
Experimental Paradigm of Cinematic Horror (EPOCH) (Imaginary Empire)
Hobomancer (Hex Games)

Best Family Game
Doctor Who: Adventures in Time & Space—11th Doctor Edition (Cubicle 7)
Hero Kids—Fantasy RPG (Hero Forge Games)
Mermaid Adventures (Third Eye Games)
Project Ninja Panda Taco (Jennisodes)
Wandering Monsters High School (Bold Pueblo Games)

I have all of these, all are great..

Best Free Game
Mazes and Perils RPG (WG Productions)
Phantasm (2010) (End Transmission Games LLC)
Nights of the Crusades (Aetheric Dreams)
Silent Memories (Morning Skye Studio)
Throwigames Simple Roleplaying System (Throwigames)

M&P is up for the OSR.  The 3rd Ed is an improvement over the 1st ed.

Best Free Product
Battletech: A Time of War Quick-Start Rules/Shadowrun Quick-Start Rules (Catalyst Game Labs)
EPOCH: Road Trip (Imaginary Empire)
Fools Rush In (Privateer Press)
Night in the Seyvoth Manor (Darklight Interactive)
Wayfinder #8 (Paizo Fans United)

The Shadowrun Quick start is my favorite of this list.

Best Game
Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea (North Wind Adventures, LLC)
Broken Rooms (Greymalkin Designs, LLC)
Champions Complete (Hero Games)
Iron Kingdoms (Privateer Press)
Night’s Black Agents (Pelgrane Press)

Best Miniature
Dungeon Command: Blood of Gruumsh (Wizards of the Coast)
Freeblades: Black Rose Bandits (DGS Games)
Pathfinder Battles: Shattered Star Gargantuan Blue Dragon (WizKid Games/NECA)
Pathfinder Bestiary Box (Paizo Publishing)
Spot of Bother Set One: Royal Highland Guards (Okumart Games)

I rather enjoyed both the Dungeon Command game (played at Gen Con) and the Pathfinder Bestiary Box.

Best Monster/Adversary
Champions Villains Vol. 3: Solo Villains (Hero Games)
DC Adventures Heroes & Villains Vol. 2 (Green Ronin)
Inner Sea Bestiary (Paizo Publishing)
Mutants and Masterminds Threat Report (Green Ronin)
NPC Codex (Paizo Publishing)

All of these are good.

Best Podcast
Atomic Array
Indie Talks
Haste: The Official Obsidian Portal Podcast
TableTop: Dragon Age
Transmissions from the Ninth World

I am only familiar with Atomic Array.

Best Production Values
Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea (North Wind Adventures, LLC)
Doctor Who: Adventures in Time & Space—11th Doctor Edition (Cubicle 7)
Iron Kingdoms (Privateer Press)
Rimward (Posthuman Studios)
Shadows of Esteren Book 1 (Agate Editions)

AS&SH another OSR book. And a great looking one at that.  Doctor Who though is just fantastic.

Best RPG Related Product
Edition Wars (Gamer Nations Studios)
Eighth Day Genesis: A Worldbuilding Codex for Writers and Creatives (Alliteration Ink)
The Express Diaries (Innsmouth House Press)
Kobold Guide to Wordbuilding (Kobold Press)
The Lands of Ice and Fire (Random House)

Best Rules
Champions Complete (Hero Games)
Dungeon World (Sage Kobold Productions)
Experimental Paradigm of Cinematic Horror (EPOCH) (Imaginary Empire)
Iron Kingdoms (Privateer Press)
Night’s Black Agents (Pelgrane Press)

Another set of good choices.  I didn't play any of these though.

Best Setting
Broken Rooms (Greymalkin Designs, LLC)
Magnimar: City of Monuments (Paizo Publishing)
Menzoberranzen: City of Intrigue (Wizards of the Coast)
Midgard Campaign Setting (Kobold Press)
Mythic Iceland (BRP/Chaosium)

Make that 3 noms for WotC.  The Mythic Iceland book is fantastic.

Best Software
The Crawler’s Companion (Purple Sorcerer Games)
Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia (E-book Edition) (Arc Dream Publishing)
Dice & Dragons – 3D Dice Roller (simpleFun)
PCGen (PCGen)
Roll20 (The Orr Group, LLC)

I didn't use any CharacterGEn or gaming software all year.

Best Supplement
Dark Roads & Golden Hells (Kobold Press)
Doctor Who: The Time Traveler’s Companion (Cubicle 7)
Night’s Watch (Green Ronin)
Menzoberranzen: City of Intrigue (Wizards of the Coast)
Shadowrun 2050 (Catalyst Game Labs)

The Time Traveler's companion is very good.

Best Website
Adventure-A-Week
The Escapist
Gnome Stew
Modus Operandi
See Page XX

Not sure what separates something from being the Best Blog or Best Website (other than the obvious) but Gnome Stew made both lists.

Best Writing
Doctor Who: The Time Traveler’s Companion (Cubicle 7)
Kobold Guide to Worldbuilding (Kobold Press)
Never Unprepared: Guide to Session Prep (Engine Publishing)
Night’s Black Agents (Pelgrane Press)
Wolsung Steam Pulp Fantasy (Kuźnia Gier/Studio 2 Publishing)

Product of the Year
Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea (North Wind Adventures, LLC)
Broken Rooms (Greymalkin Designs, LLC)
Champions Complete (Hero Games)
Doctor Who: The Time Traveler’s Companion (Cubicle 7)
Experimental Paradigm of Cinematic Horror (EPOCH) (Imaginary Empire)
Iron Kingdoms (Privateer Press)
Menzoberranzen: City of Intrigue (Wizards of the Coast)
Night’s Black Agents (Pelgrane Press)
NPC Codex (Paizo Publishing)
Shadows of Esteren Book 1 (Agate Editions)

This one is always a hard call.  Nice to see AS&SH there.

Judges’ Spotlight Winners
Hooper - Leviathans (Catalyst Game Labs)
Matthew Muth - School Daze (Sand & Steam Productions)
Jakud Nowosad – Deniable Asset (Random Encounters)
Megan Robertson - Killshot: Director’s Cut (Broken Ruler Games)
Kurt Wiegel – Eldritch Skies (Battlefield Press, Inc.)

Nice to see Eldritch Skies get a nod.  I read through the drafts of it for Cine Unisystem content.

Looking to Buy, Sell or Trade RPGs or Minis?

Well then there is a new Facebook group for you.  And by new, I mean just a few hours old.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/roleplayinggamestradesell/

Created by Keegan Reid the group's aim is to connect gamers to trade, sell & barter RPGs and Minis.  Pretty much exactly what it says on the tin.

Join the group to see what is going on.

I love June

Doing some late end of the month analysis out at the pool and noticed that June was my best month of sales since October.

That is really awesome.

I am working on a few more books and hope to get them out to you all soon.  Not just OSR, but Gaslight, Pathfinder and more.

I have also had a couple requests for for a hardcover version of the Witch.  Any more takers on that?

Zatannurday: 1887 Cover from SCCC 2013

Here is the finished version of Michael Dooney's Zatanna 1887.





Zatanna1887 cover SDCC 2013 by *MichaelDooney on deviantART


He has a bunch of 1887 super heroines on his Deviant Art page as well.

ShadowRun and the Deep Web / Undernet

I was talking to my wife last night about ShadowRun in hopes I would have a review ready for you all today.

That didn't happen.

Instead she distracted me with something she had found out about the Deep Web.

I still want to get a ShadowRun 5 review up soon.  It is pretty cool.

Darwin's Guidebook of creatures, Mythical and Mundane for the Gaslight RPG

So I have been quietly working on this:

Art by Nolan Segrest

Darwin's Guidebook of creatures, Mythical and Mundane for the Gaslight RPG.

It is the first Victorian age monster book I have ever done.

The Gaslight RPG is a late Victorian Age Setting for d20 and Savage Worlds from Battlefield Press.
The Second Edition game will be out soon. along with another book I co-wrote, Dr. Challenger's Guide to the Unknown.  I did a whole bit on the Hollow Earth which was wicked fun.

Darwin's Guide was fun, but a lot harder than expected.
The design goal was easy enough.  Write a monster book with some common monsters, do it for the Victorian age, but write it in the style of Charles Darwin.

Since I am a fan of Darwin I went back to his most popular works, "The Voyage of the Beagle", "On the Origins of Species" and "The Descent of Man".  I also read his autobiography and a couple biographies.
Darwin was an interesting man and soon it became obvious there is no way he would have accepted a world that had magic in it.  He was too rational, too ordered.
Soooo I had to cheat. A lot.

In the end I hope the book is pleasing for Game Masters and players.  I hope that through this book you pick up one of his books.

Not sure when this will hit the shelves.  The publisher is in control of it now.
But expect a lot more from me on it when it comes up.

White Dwarf Wednesday #71

White Dwarf 71 takes us to November of 1985. The cover art is another one by Alan Craddock. I would say it is a cavalier and a barbarian in honor of the newly released Unearthed Arcana, but I have nothing to back that up.
Ian Livingstone is still at the helm here talking about Game Day and looking forward to more success with Judge Dredd.

Of the bat we go into Open box with two books from the Way of the Tiger. These books seem something in between an RPG and a choose your own adventure sort of book.  Chris Elliott gives it 8/10 but I can't exactly figure out way in reading his article. He says it is fun, but something like AD&D with Ninjas and Kung-fu.  We get a new Paranoia book, Vapors Don't Shoot Back (7/10), a review of the almost legendary Masks of Nyarlathotep (9/10) and Thrilling Locations for the James Bond game (9/10).  Interestingly enough this is the first Open box in a long while that does not have any D&D related material.

The Face of Chaos is another look at alignment in AD&D.  Frankly even then I was tired of alignment discussions. Still am.

RuneRites gives us a couple of water-based creatures; the Frostgrim and Neried.

Cults of the dark Gods is the start of what promises to be a new feature on a "translation of ancient texts" for Call of Cthulhu.  This one deals with the original order of assassins and the Knights Templar.  I have often said you can't have a proper conspiracy theory unless it somehow involves the Knights Templar.

An ad for the D&D Masters game.

A Box of Old Bones is an AD&D/Dragon Warriors adventure for starting characters. Five pages with map, it looks like it could be a good starter adventure or better yet a good starter adventure for someone familiar with one of the games and learning the other.

Starbase covers Avionics failures.  Honestly I thought something like this was already in rules.  Of course the biggest issue is not that, but the assumption that you could have complete failure like this with out backup systems.  Plus today we would call these Sensors and not Avionics (which are in aircraft).

Two pages of Letters this issue.  I think this was around the same time Dragon had less letters.

Tower Trouble is an adventure for 3-6 Traveller characters. It is also quite long at 6 pages.

Monsters Have Feelings Too, Two is a follow up to the article in WD38 about playing monsters as intelligent opponents and not as walking collections of XP.

Fiend Factory is back, but it only has one D&D monster, a Psychic Vampire, and a weak one at that.

Treasure chest has treasure this time, with two magic items for divination and prophesy. A card and "tellstones".  Interesting ideas that I don't think work as well on the game table as they do on paper.

Gobildegook is still a full page. The newsboard/rumor page talks about an update finally to T1.

We end with ads including full page, full color ads for Unearthed Arcana, Marvel Super Heroes and Talisman.

This issue feels bigger than the last one, though I am not sure and don't want to grab #70 to find out.  It feels larger and that is what matters when buying it at the store. Speaking of which I am pretty sure that this was the time that all my local, and not so local, book stores stopped carrying White Dwarf.  It would not be till I got to college in 87 before I would find back issues of WD on the shelves next to back issues of Heavy Metal.

A solid issue with a lot of material, just nothing that jumped out at me.  Of course my apathy was also pretty high at this time and I was strictly AD&D and nothing else from late 85 to 87.  The great thing is that this is really my first time going through these issues in depth since I got them, so really everything is new to me.