ENnie nominations announced

Courtesy ENWorld

The 2009 ENnie Award Nominations have been announce at ENWorld.  Voting opens July 24 to the web-voting public and runs until August 1. Some thoughts on just some of the categories and their entries.

Best Interior Art: CthulhuTech is on the list, but really, the art that makes CthulhuTech great wasn't reproduced well in the actual book. Graphics were shrunk down, oddly placed, or otherwise reduced in clarity. The originals were gorgeous, but the book didn't reflect that.

Best Writing: I wrote a review of the Hunter Horror Recognition Guide. What's interesting is that guide is actually a collection of fiction, so it's inclusion against other role-playing games both sets it apart and muddles the category a bit.

Best Production Values: CthulhuTech is here too? Maybe I just have an old edition…

Best Cover Art: This is one of the few categories that can be judged with little knowledge of the actual product. My money's on CthulhuTech. You can review each of the covers yourself:

Best Rules: Dungeons & Dragons is the eight-hundred pound gorilla in this category, but I've heard good things about Dark Heresy.

Best Aid or Accessory: The Horror Recognition Guide was nominated for this category too, and it makes sense here. It's up against D&D Insider however, another very overweight gorilla.

Best Miniatures Product: I have Neo Markers from Alea Tools and love them. The problem is that it requires modifying the base of miniatures so that they're magnetic. This changes the height of some of the miniatures (especially if you start stacking effects), and for purists this can be bothersome when your elf is towering over a giant because she's got six spell effects on her. It's still an incredibly useful tool, but mileage will vary according to the group's adherence to visual accuracy on the battlefield vs. practicality.

Best Regalia: What the heck qualifies as role-playing game "regalia?" According to the site, Best Regalia is "awarded for the best product which, while it does not complement role playing game play, does enhance the lives of RP gamers. RPG Fiction, RPG Video Games, Videos, RPG Board Games, miniature painting accessories, etc. are all possibilities for entries in this category."

Best Electronic Book: Razor Kids, from the Horror Recognition Guide, was nominated – a good thing too, as it was one of the better stories in the book. In this case, the story has been fleshed out as a "story kit" with a collection of tools for the Storyteller. Sixteen of these story seeds complete with accessories for $19.99 is a good deal. I'm tempted to buy it for my D20 Modern Delta Green game…

Best Free Product: Another product that newcomers can easily judge, check them out yourself online:

Best Website: Like Best Free Product, you can check these out yourself: http://www.critical-hits.com, http://www.dungeonaday.com, http://www.koboldquarterly.com, http://www.madbrewlabs.com, and http://www.obsidianportal.com. I'm a big fan of two of the creators of DungeonADay.com: Monte Cook of all things third edition D&D and Ed Bourelle of SkeletonKey Games who makes fantabulous map tiles. The two of them together is like Batman and Superman teaming up; they're going to be tough to beat.

Best Game: CthulhuTech and Dark Heresy, meet 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons. 4ED&D, meet lunch.

Product of the Year: 4ED&D meet…ah, that joke's getting old already.

Finally there's the Fan Award for Best Publisher.  My work has been published by Goodman Games, Reality Deviant Publications, Highmoon Media, Paizo Publishing, Privateer Press, and Wizards of the Coast, so I have plenty of options to choose from. Nominations are still open; publishers have until July 19 to be nominated.