Congratulations to the 2020 ENnies Winners!

In an online ceremony hosted by Robin D. Laws, Misha Bushyager, Kenneth Hite, Chris Spivey, and Mike Pondsmith, the RPG awards for 2020 were announced last night, with the gold award for Product of the Year going to MÖRK BORG by Free League Publishing (who also took home the gold for Best Game with their Alien RG).

Best Family Game / Product
Silver – Kids on Bikes: Strange Adventures Volume 2 (Renegade Games)
Gold – Jim Henson’s Labyrinth (River Horse)

Best Aid or Accessory
Silver – The Dungeon Books of Battle Mats (Loke Battlemats)
Gold – Deck of Many Animated Spells (Hit Point Press)

Best Online Content
Silver – RPG Writers Workshop (Scribemind)
Gold – The Monsters Know What They’re Doing (Saga Press)

Best Podcast
Silver – Red Moon Roleplaying
Gold – Asians Represent!

Best Monster/Adversary
Silver – Big Bad Booklet 1-6 (Hit Point Press
Gold – Mordenkainen’s Fiendish Folio, Volume 1: Monsters Malevolent and Benign (Wizards of the Coast)

Best Cover Art
Silver – The Ultraviolet Grasslands (Exalted Funeral Press)
Gold – Call of Cthulhu – Berlin the Wicked City (Chaosium)

Best Interior Art
Silver – Strata (Rowan, Rook and Decard)
Gold – The Ultraviolet Grasslands (Exalted Funeral Press)

Best Organized Play
Silver – Where Can She Be? (Robbie Pleasant)
Gold – Stygia Untamed (Greasy Snitches and Paul Gabat)

Best Free Game/Product
Silver – Tunnel Goons (Highland Paranormal Society)
Gold – TTRPG Safety Toolkit (Smooching Knife)

Best RPG Related Product
Silver – Session Zero (John C. Byram)
Gold – Absinthe in Carcosa (Pelgrane Press)

Best Electronic Book
Silver – Uncaged Volume III (Scribemind)
Gold – New Tales of the Miskatonic Valley 2nd Ed (Stygian Fox)

Best Layout and Design
Silver – A Pound of Flesh (Tuesday Knight Games)
Gold – MÖRK BORG (Free League Publishing)

Best Cartography
Silver – Jim Henson’s Labyrinth (River Horse)
Gold – Trilemma Adventures Compendium Vol 1 (Trilemma Adventures)

Best Rules
Silver – Zombie World (Magpie Games)
Gold – Thousand Year Old Vampire (Petit Guignol)

Best Writing
Silver – The Monsters Know What They Are Doing (Saga Press)
Gold – MÖRK BORG (Free League Publishing)

Best Adventure
Silver – Trilemma Adventures Compendium Vol 1 (Trilemma Adventures)
Gold – A Pound of Flesh (Tuesday Knight Games)

Best Setting
Silver – Arkadia – The Greek Setting for 5e (Arcana Games)
Gold – Call of Cthulhu: Berlin the Wicked City (Chaosium)

Best Supplement
Silver – Ironsworn Delve (Shawn Tomkin)
Gold – Delta Green: The Labyrinth (Arc Dream Publishing)

Best Production Values
Silver – Humblewood Box Set (Hit Point Press)
Gold – Thousand Year Old Vampire (Petit Guignol)

Fans’ Choice for Best Publisher
Gold – Free League Publishing

Best Game
Silver – MÖRK BORG (Free League Publishing)
Gold – ALIEN the Roleplaying Game (Free League Publishing)

Product of the Year
Silver – Thousand Year Old Vampire (Petit Guignol)
Gold – MÖRK BORG (Free League Publishing)

Judges’ Spotlight Awards
Sleepaway (Jay Dragon)
Glitter Hearts (Greg Leatherman)
Refractions in Glasston (Taylor University PWR Press, Sam Guinsatao, Carson Jacobs, T.R. Knight, Joy Lemont, Elijah Oates, Rayce Patterson, Emily Pawlowski, J. Tucker White)
Knarls Candy Compendium (Makenzie De Armas, Levi Phipps)
Hit the Streets, Defend the Block (Rich Rogers)

 

[Morrus]

I have to wonder what the point of Ennies is if their nominees and winners are so disconnected from the market?

To reward excellent creators for their work.

 

[Eltab]

I found The Monsters Know What They Are Doing at my public library. I am giving serious thought to buying my own copy.

It's been so long since I could just wander into a hobby shop, I did not recognize much of anything else.

 

[reelo]

One thing's certain: Fria Ligan/Free League is the next big player after WotC, Paizo, and Chaosium. They have a very solid lineup of games: Forbidden Lands, Tales from the Loop, Alien, The One Ring, Symbaorum, etc... All top-notch stuff!

 

[imagineGod]

Almost no one has, which is what makes this so incredibly bizarre. The number of RPG players who could name anything on this list is probably vanishingly small.

I have to wonder what the point of Ennies is if their nominees and winners are so disconnected from the market? They can't even make the claim that they're "Introducing titles to the RPG masses" because they're so disconnected from the RPG masses that there's pretty much a 0% chance the average RPGer is going to think the Ennies are anything they should bother watching/reading.

Looking over their page, it's worse than I thought. Not only all of the above, but their judges are a list of people no one knows and no real reason why they should, and their hosts are a list of people who aren't going to generate any excitement.

Just seems like a top to bottom mess.

Probably because anything and everything that expects greater adoption by the common player demographic is being made with the D&D 5th Edition OGL.

I just heard that the old award winning Midnight RPG is getting a new release, but the company, Edge Entertainment, that took over the Genesys ruleset will not be using Genesys, but instead opted for, you guessed it, D&D 5th Edition.

D&D 5E - Midnight: Legacy of Darkness announced at GenCon Online

After more than a decade out of print, the "what if Sauron won" 3E setting Midnight is coming back in 2021 for 5E as Midnight: Legacy of Darkness, Edge Entertainment announced Thursday, July 30, at GenCon Online: In its heyday, Midnight was one of the biggest RPG successes in Fantasy Flight's...

www.enworld.org

So in a way, I am happy that Free League won an ENnie for their Alien RPG, since it uses a different d6 dice pool called the Year Zero Engine, which is perfectly fine tuned for the Alien RPG experience (try it if you have not yet had the chance).

 

[imagineGod]

One thing's certain: Fria Ligan/Free League is the next big player after WotC, Paizo, and Chaosium. They have a very solid lineup of games: Forbidden Lands, Tales from the Loop, Alien, The One Ring, Symbaorum, etc... All top-notch stuff!

And their recently delivered Vaesen (based on dark Nordic horror stories) and newly announced Twilight 2000 reboot.

Start - Free League Publishing

frialigan.se

 

[Morrus]

I just heard that the old award winning Midnight RPG is getting a new release, but the company, Edge Entertainment, that took over the Genesys ruleset will not be using Genesys, but instead opted for, you guessed it, D&D 5th Edition.

Well, to be fair, it was originally a D&D setting.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

.

 

[SavageCole]

I have been DMing for decades, and The Monsters Know What They're Doing has been invaluable for me, especially when dealing with veteran players who are definitely going to wreck the monsters otherwise. The description of tactics and the culture and personality they imply are great.

While I’d seen the title mentioned, seeing that this book netted an Ennie and seeing your comments and others, I went ahead and bought this book today.

These awards are not the Nobel prize, but they DO mean something. I know people who look to these awards to guide them in navigating the glut of RPG products out there. To separate the wheat from the chaff. Most years, I‘ve already owned a few of these games before the nominations even come out (this year no exception). There’s one way I see Ennies impacting my buying decision. They usually tip me over the edge to go ahead with a buy. You see, at any time there are like a dozen gaming products that I’m interested in that I don’t buy — unless something gives me that little extra nudge. That can be a sale, a great review, actual play performance, or an award like this one.

 

[Maggan]

I have to wonder what the point of Ennies is if their nominees and winners are so disconnected from the market? They can't even make the claim that they're "Introducing titles to the RPG masses" because they're so disconnected from the RPG masses that there's pretty much a 0% chance the average RPGer ...

If we set the bar at ”most people aware of product” only D&D would win anything. Which is a totally different flaw in an awards process.

 

[MNblockhead]

Just bought The Monsters Know What They're Doing, look like just what I need as I DM for veteran players.