Congratulations to the 2017 Gen Con EN World RPG Award Winners!

This is the first year I'm actually pissed about the outcomes.
I get Tales from the Loop was a smash hit.....I just don't know how Savage Rifts or Polaris didn't get any love......and Wizards = Best Publisher? Seriously???

Desh-Rae-Halra said:

This is the first year I'm actually pissed about the outcomes.
I get Tales from the Loop was a smash hit.....I just don't know how Savage Rifts or Polaris didn't get any love......and Wizards = Best Publisher? Seriously???

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Gotta agree with that last comment. I find it a little bizarre that a game company that has no actual games that won any awards and that doesn't plan to have meaningful presence at Gencon would, nevertheless, take the Best Publisher award, for games, at Gencon.

JonM said:

Gotta agree with that last comment. I find it a little bizarre that a game company that has no actual games that won any awards and that doesn't plan to have meaningful presence at Gencon would, nevertheless, take the Best Publisher award, for games, at Gencon.

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Everybody has their own voting criteria. Not that I would want to try to second guess why people voted the way they did, this category would encompass things like their comprehensive Organized Play program (DDAL), their player outreach, their community interaction and growth, the many shows and events they put on, the charity events they do, etc. It’s a category which isn’t just about a single product, unlike the other categories.

But each person votes according to their own voting criteria. Which may or may not be the same as yours.

Who wins or who should win is always grounds for debate with any award ceremony. Thinking positively it strikes me as a great list of products to try out! Let's give a round of applause to everyone who won and was nominated and cheer this wonderfully creative hobby!

Well, Wizards is the big name. The Ennies are , more or less, a popularity contest. Even if Wizards, this year, couldn't qualify in the products categories (and it's what it should have been: remember when 5th edition came out and the Monster Manual - usually considered a functional product at best - won the gold in the bestiary category?), there's nothing unusual for it to get the best publisher, simply through the sheer numbers of voters. People vote only in the categories and for the products they know and, quite sadly, the majorities of RPG players only know about D&D and Wizards of the Coast.
Having said that, I agree it's a senseless won, as Wizards certainly wasn't the best RPG publisher in the last year. And that analyzing the thing through the most objective criteria. Wizards is the giant of the industry and yet they still managed to keep an almost invisible footprint.

Well I'm pretty proud how many tiny tiny tiny OSR things with a fraction of the mileage behind them that mainstream products have managed to win this popularity contest.

Feels like Call of Cthulu was a pet favorite...

Well deserved win by WOTC and the other winners. I especially liked SPetersons field guide and I am glad to see it recognized.

Morrus, I get it....
Its just that as someone who has gamed a long time, I just look at how Pinnacle/ (and our own Sean Patrick Fannon) took Rifts, (fantastic setting, maybe would win for most horrible rules) and turned it on it's head to be so good for Savage Worlds. He put a shot of adrenaline in a dying franchise.....
Maybe there needs to be a new award category....the Ennies Lazarus award for resurrecting a franchise/IP from the dead. If you make this, SPF needs to win retroactively.