For reasons not unrelated to massive deadlines and/or Chicago’s uncharacteristically perfect summer weather, we never really got around to an Origins Awards breakdown in this space. But although the weather remains perfect, I’ve carved out enough deadline time to break down the ENnie Awards nominations. Voting closes at midnight on August 1, so if you’re reading this before then, go vote!
As I used to do with the Origins Awards, I’m not discussing categories I don’t know anything about, as amusing as the contrary might be. (I’ve only seen the Monster Manual, for instance, so I can’t judge the Monster or Adversary category properly. Which is a shame, because I love that category.) I’m also not going to deal with the Fan Award For Best Publisher, as it’s a silly award. (Quick, what’s your favorite movie studio?)
Best Cover Art
I’m going with Paul Bourne’s magnificent cover for 3:16 Carnage Amongst the Stars, which almost alone among the nominees conveys a sense of action instead of “standing around portentously.” The arguable exception is the swell dragon-rider on the Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide, but spaceships beats dragons, and 3:16 beats FR.
Best Interior Art
In a walk, for Mouse Guard. David Petersen illustrates in the great tradition of fairy tale art with a splash of Audubon. The other nominees all convey their own style and feel, to be sure — Petersen just does it better.
Best Writing
Don’t Lose Your Mind is not Benjamin Baugh’s best work, and while Hot War has an excellent spare harshness to it, the great thing about Malcolm Craig’s game isn’t his prose. KQ and Hunter Horror Recognition Guide are mulligatawnies; some is wonderful, some isn’t. The noble Baron Munchausen, however, is by turns florid, clear, amusing, ironic, arch, and riotous — one imagines that editor James Wallis didn’t have to touch a syllable of it. My third easy vote in a row, for The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen RPG, Suppressed 1808 Edition.
Best Production Values
Again, Mouse Guard, although HELLAS gives it a run for its money.
Best Rules
This is the first hard choice I’ve faced so far this ballot. As games, I probably prefer Hunter and Starblazer Adventures, but D&D 4e is the ruleset that arguably is pushing the boundaries of the form more than either of the other two. An exceptions-based RPG, tuned for astonishingly fast and fun monster-whacking, with GM prep time calved down to a bare minimum. Despite a broken (but ambitious) skill challenge system and a wonky item economy (both call-backs to old-school D&D?), the core of the game — kick open the door and kill it — is better than ever. (Neither Song of Ice & Fire nor Dark Heresy particularly blew me away, although they’re both good games.) That said, if I wasn’t going to get a chance to vote for both Hunter and Starblazer Adventures farther down the ballot, I might hesitate even longer. But this one I’m giving to Mike Mearls, Rob Heinsoo, and their party.
Best Setting
This is another killer. Chad Underkoffler’s Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies is a fantastic Maxfield Parrish fun-scape, carefully crafted to hold your own internal Errol Flynn. Malcolm Craig’s Hot War is pure Wyndham-Wells, with just enough Nigel Kneale to keep my antennae aquiver throughout. Benjamin Baugh’s The Dreadful Secrets of Candlewick Manor is sheer Gorey genius, with extra-lemony Snicket to bring up the flavor. At least I only have to pick from three: Slipstream is grand Flash Gordon serial fun, but S7S beats it on that metric; Pathfinder is great for what it is, but my tolerance for Big Ole Fantasy Worlds isn’t what it once was. I could easily pick any of those first three, but I’m going with Baugh on a mordant whim.
Best Supplement
I mentioned above (and elsewhere in this space) how much I like Hunter: the Vigil. I especially like that it’s technically a supplement, so I can vote for it here with no regrets.
Best Electronic Product
This column is published and paid for by IPR, which is partially owned by Fred Hicks, head of One Bad Egg. So I can’t tell you what I voted for in this category.
Best Podcast
Or in this one.
Best Game
Stay with me here. Remember all those nice things I said upstairs about the excellent rules in Dungeons & Dragons 4e? And remember what I said about how I’d actually rather run Starblazer Adventures? And then when I deprecated Big Ole Fantasy Worlds? Can you see where I’m going with this? Starblazer Adventures, which is definitely getting a fuller review in this space, takes the FATE engine and blends it with British space-opera comics for a complete-in-one-book package of adventure with a truly engaging flavor. Or should that be “flavour”? Anyhow, I’m voting for Chris Burch and Stuart Newman’s fantastic feat; Starblazer Adventures it is.
Product of the Year
Again, the other worthy contenders (S7S, Hunter, D&D 4e, Starblazer Adventures) notwithstanding, the clear winner on all levels — story, theme, rules, world, art, production, game — is Mouse Guard. Hey, it beat my game for the Origins Award — it must be the best!
