ENnie Awards Blog

I have been tearing through the products that have been submitted and decided that it was time for another test-drive.  I kind of slacked off on these due to a combination of the holidays and poor health, but I’m set to get them going again.   This time I’m going to let the players choose what we go with.  I posted a thread on MontanaGamers.org to find out what local gamers are interested in giving a shot and decided to go with a Fantasy theme.

The products that are up for vote are:

Dragon Age: Dark Fantasy Roleplaying (Green Ronin)
It has been hundreds of years since the last Blight ravaged the world of Thedas. Many believe that it can never happen again, that the Dragon Age will pass without the rise of such evil. They are wrong. Beneath the earth the darkspawn stir. A new archdemon has risen and with it a Blight that will scourge the lands and darken the skies. The nations of Thedas need a new generation of heroes, but who will answer the call?

Earthdawn Third Edition: Players Guide (Redbrick Limited)
The world of Earthdawn is one of legend. Its people and places are larger than life, the stuff of song and saga. Heroes fight the monsters of this and other worlds; their bold exploits light a beacon of hope for the future, as word of their deeds spreads across the troubled, fearful land. Earthdawn is a world of high adventure, high magic, and terrible danger. Those dangers lurk not only within long-forgotten kaers, but also within the minds of people forever corrupted by the Horrors. To rebuild its heart and soul as well as its outward aspect after the devastation of the Scourge, the world needs heroes.

Swords & Wizardry Quick Start (Michael Shorten/Mythmere Games)
Swords & Wizardry is an approximate re-creation of the Gygax-Arneson original fantasy role-playing game and its several supplements as written in 1974.

This Quick Start book will get you started in a fantastic world of adventure and danger. It contains everything you need to play:

- Character creation
- Play and combat rules
- Game Referee Guidance
- A complete adventure – The Dungeon of Akban

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This poll will stay open until March 31 and I am looking at running whatever game is selected at Muse Comics in April. I’ll post an exact date at time once the game is chosen.

-J.

Justin ‘Jay’ Peters has changed his mailing address. The labels on the site have been updated to reflect this change. If you have already sent out material, you do not need to resend it. If you have not, but are planning to, make sure to download the new labels from here: http://www.ennie-awards.com/publishers/how_to_enter.asp

In the past few weeks, we’ve received questions regarding submitting PDF versions of documents that are also available in either hardcover/softcover format or print-on-demand (POD). In that regard, I thought it would be prudent to post our position.

In short, we will not accept submissions of products in PDF format if the product is also available in print/POD format. We will only accept the print/POD (printed out and bound) version.

However, if a publisher has a product available in POD format and 1) the POD version has sold less the 50 copies and 2) the PDF and POD versions are exactly identical, then the publisher may submit the PDF version.

Our reasons for this stance are thus:

1. We’re committed to evaluating the products that the public has in their hands and making sure that fans are voting for the same product the judges have nominated. Based upon discussions with publishers, 3.5 products in print have a deeper market penetration than their electronic counterparts and, therefore, would have an unfair advantage amongst voters who would base their votes upon the print version rather than the PDF that was submitted.
2. It is more difficult to judge production values in a PDF product versus its printed counterpart. What you see on the screen can look vastly different than what you see in a printed product. In some cases, it can look [I]better[/I] on the screen and might give a publisher an unfair advantage in that regard.
3. We cannot, and will not, treat different publishers differently. It is not fair to any publisher to force a larger publisher to send print products and allow a smaller publisher to send PDF only versions of a printed product. All publishers must follow the same guidelines.
4. The ENnie Awards is a non-profit entity. A vast majority of our funds come from the silent auction that is held prior to the actual ceremony at GenCon. Most people would be unwilling to bid the same amount for a PDF product than they would a print product. In order to maintain the same standards people expect from the ENnies ceremony, we must raise money somehow and we do not want to shortchange ourselves or the fans.

Please remember, if you are a publisher and have electronic versions only of a product, then this does not apply to you. You may continue to submit your products in electronic format using the steps laid out here: http://www.ennie-awards.com/publishers/how_to_enter.asp

With that said, we welcome feedback and any comments you have on the subject. We only ask that you keep it clean.

Tony Law

ENnies Assistant Business Manager

As Submissions Coordinator, one of my jobs is to keep in contact with the various publishers and make sure they keep up with the process. It can be quite a task. Have you ever stopped and thought about how many publishers comprise the RPG industry?

It’s a LOT.

Some of them are easy: Wizards of the Coast, Paizo, Fantasy Flight Games, Steve Jackson Games.

Some are not so easy: the people who make those little magnetic markers that go under your mini (Alea Tools), the people who make those kick-ass wood cut-out ships (Dragonfire Laser Crafts).

Depending on the type of gaming you do, some of these companies you may never have heard of. By the same token, you may know about companies that some of us who concentrate primarily on table-top fantasy RPGs aren’t familiar with.

And that’s where you can help the ENnies out. Over the course of the submissions process, we try to contact as many publishers as we can, and our list is pretty extensive (I have 100 publishers on the list I’m working on right now, with more being added as I do research), but inevitably, some are missed. There have been a few who approach us during the convention and say they weren’t aware they were eligible to submit products. To them, all we can do is apologize and offer our contact information for next year.

If you know of a publisher who has produced a product you like this past year, please, contact them and tell them they should submit their excellent stuff for an ENnie (point them to this website for submission guidelines). Our judges can’t evaluate products that don’t get submitted (often, a response to angry message board posters crying about how X or Y didn’t get nominated is as simple as “It didn’t get submitted”…followed by “It was ineligible because it was products before/after the submission period.”). Many of you frequent message boards run by companies dedicated to your favorite games, so you have a way to talk to the designers of those games. Tell those folks you think they should submit their products. Some of them are so caught up in their work, the deadlines come and go without them realizing it. Eligible products range from books, gaming aids (such as dice and miniatures), and utility software, to blogs and podcasts. It’s a huge and diverse industry!

So, if you like something that came out this year, tell the publisher to submit it. And tell your friends to vote when the polls open. The more people that participate, the better the process becomes.

In order for people to feel a little more connected to the ENnies, we’ve decided to conducts interviews with each judge. Now, each judge already answered a list of questions when they were in the running to be a 2010 ENnies judge and you can read those answers here: http://www.ennie-awards.com/about/judges.asp

For this interview, we will ask more focused questions. We’ll come up with questions on our end but we also want to open the floor to questions from the fans. And that’s what this post is for. Feel free to comment below during the next week and we will pick the best five to 10 questions for the judges. Thanks in advance to everyone who asks questions.

Tony Law
ENnies Assistant Business Manager

We have had our first few website/blog entries, so I shall share some of the thoughts I have about the judging process for them.

First up, bear in mind that I’m a computer professional – and writing websites has for a long time been part of my trade. Indeed, some of you may be familiar with my RPG website (and there’s another equally-massive one about medals!). So, part of my analysis of submissions is technical: does the website work as intended, good design, clear navigation, and stuff like that.

Hmm. You don’t need to be a professional webhead to look at things like that, though. It soon becomes apparent to any visitor whether the site looks good and if the articles or information you want to find are easy to locate!

One thing I like to see in design is consistency. If I come across any page of the site – e.g. from a Google search – is it going to be recognisable instantly, oh I’ve found a page from that site? That doesn’t mean that every page is identical but it does mean that there is logic behind the way the design works. Good contrasts are important as well, however brilliant your commentary may be, dark text on a dark background or images under text rendering it hard to read make it difficult for us to appreciate the wisdom of what you have to say.

Naturally, however, content is all-important. However well-designed a site is, you don’t want to go there if it is not interesting! So I shall be looking for sites that have something interesting to say about role-playing – be it one system or many, be it about gamemastering or world/setting design or writing or whatever the site is about. Does it have a clear focus, know what it wants to say? If it includes a discussion – or blog-style comments – do the other contributors say sensible things or does the debate descend into abuse or silliness (that is not a downcheck to something intended to be humerous!)?

Are resources/downloads apposite and well-done? Videos well-made and showing whatever is intended, not the cameraman’s thumb? Sound tracks crisp and without distortion? All these contribute or detract from the visitor’s enjoyment of the site.

Marshall Mcluhan said “The medium is the message.” Not so when judging websites – content is king, although good clear design helps!

We are looking for good people volunteer their time at the ENnies booth at GenCon this year. We are starting the recruitment early to give people plenty of time to work out their GenCon schedule, especially since event sign-up doesn’t begin until April. We would like two people to work each shift and as many as want to help tear down the booth. When scheduling your time, please plan to show up 10 minutes before it starts.

Each volunteer should be ready to answer questions from passers-by about EN World and the ENnies. There will be a book at the booth with information such as when the ENnies ceremony will be held, the names of each judge, who the nominees are, etc. Also, some publishers may drop off materials for next years ENnies, so the volunteers will be required to have the publisher fill out a form and give the publisher a receipt. You also have to make sure nothing is taken from the booth, especially on Saturday and Sunday, after the ENnie winners are announced Friday night.

There will be a handy reference book for you to look through that will have all of the information you need to know.

Oh, did I mention the swag bag given to each volunteer?

Take a look at the list below and let me know which spot you want.

Great news via the Indy Star!

Gen Con, the annual convention for gamers and fans of science fiction and fantasy, has agreed to hold its convention in Indianapolis for four more years.The new contract runs from 2011 to 2015. This year is the last year under the old contract.

The growing four-day convention typically draws about 30,000 attendees — many clad in costumes or black T-shirts and carrying backpacks — who spend about $26 million at local shops, hotels, bars and restaurants.

Gen Con is the city’s fourth-largest convention and one it worked hard to keep.

Today, officials from the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association led visiting executives from Gen Con LLC on a hard-hat tour of the expanded Indiana Convention Center.

“Gen Con is an important example of a convention that has grown up here, continues to grow and needs the facilities to do so,” said Chris Gahl, a spokesman for the ICVA.

Starting today, publishers will now be able to use an online form for their submissions. Whether you’re planning on sending packages to the judges or submitting your products electronically, you can use the online form to let us know about your products. For more information, check out the “How to Enter” page on the ENnie Awards website: http://www.ennie-awards.com/publishers/how_to_enter.asp

Just a quick update to let people know that the Submissions page linked to above has been updated and is current as of today. Remember, if you don’t see your favorite publisher/product listed, contact them and get them to submit their material!