Congratulations to the 2015 ENnies Nominees!

Hearty congratulations go out to the 2015 nominees for the Gen Con EN World RPG Awards! The winners will be announced at Gen Con on Friday, July 31st, after a public vote which will open on July 4th. And don't forget, you can nominate yourself as a 2016 judge before July 2nd, and nominate a Fan Favourite Publisher before the same date.

Thanks also go to this year's sponsors, DriveThruRPG and Campaign Coins. Nominees can find web-suitable nominee badges here.

Note that the 2015 nominations have been updated following the disqualification of one product in three categories.

[h=4]Best Adventure[/h]
A Red & Pleasant Land (Lamentations of the Flame Princess)
Horror on the Orient Express (Chaosium)
Hoard of the Dragon Queen (Wizards of the Coast)
Cake Walk (Fabled Environments)
East Texas University: Degrees of Horror (Pinnacle Entertainment Group)

[h=4]Best Aid/Accessory[/h]
DungeonMorph Dice: Explorer Set (Inkwell Ideas)
D&D Dungeon Master’s Screen (Wizards of the Coast)
Syrinscape’s Rise of the Runelords Mega SoundPack (Syrinscape)
Black-green Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition RPG Dice Set (Q-Workshop)
Pathfinder Cards: Deluxe Harrow Deck (Paizo Inc.)

[h=4]Best Art, Interior[/h]
D&D Monster Manual (Wizards of the Coast)
Interface Zero 2.0: Full Metal Cyberpunk (Gun Metal Games)
Trail of Cthulhu: Dreamhounds of Paris (Pelgrane Press)
The Strange (Monte Cook Games, LLC)
Iron Kingdoms Unleashed Core Rules Hardcover (Privateer Press)

[h=4]Best Art, Cover[/h]
Iron Kingdoms Full Metal Fantasy Monsternomicon (Privateer Press)
MUTANT: Year Zero – The Roleplaying Game (Modiphius Entertainment Ltd)
Freeport: The City of Adventure for the Pathfinder RPG (Green Ronin Publishing)
Achtung! Cthulhu: Terrors of the Secret War (Modiphius Entertainment Ltd)
Rise of Tiamat (Wizards of the Coast)

[h=4]Best Blog[/h]
ConTessa – Tabletop gaming by women for everyone!
DMDavid Blog
Gnome Stew
House Rule Gaming
NERD TREK

[h=4]Best Cartography[/h]
MUTANT: Year Zero – The Roleplaying Game (Modiphius Entertainment Ltd)
The Guide to Glorantha (Moon Design Publications)
Distant Outposts Deluxe Poster Map Set (Christopher West’s Maps of Mastery)
Horror on the Orient Express (Chaosium)
Ninth World Guidebook (Monte Cook Games, LLC)

[h=4]Best Electronic Book[/h]
Dragon Age Core RuleBook (Green Ronin Publishing)
Basic Rules for D&D (Wizards of the Coast)
Ken Writes About Stuff Volume 2 (Pelgrane Press)
Cake Walk (Fabled Environments)
Valiant Universe RPG Digital Initiative (Catalyst Game Labs)

[h=4]Best Family Game[/h]
Atomic Robo: The Roleplaying Game (Evil Hat Productions)
D&D Starter Set (Wizards of the Coast)
Infestation, An RPG of Bugs and Heroes (Third Eye Games)
Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space – Limited Edition Anniversary Rulebook (Cubicle 7 Entertainment Ltd.)
Adventure Maximus RPG Starter Set (Eden Studios)

[h=4]Best Free Product[/h]
Valiant RPG Digital Initiative (Catalyst Game Labs)
Basic Rules for D&D (Wizards of the Coast)
Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space – Arrowdown (Cubicle 7 Entertainment Ltd.)
13th Age: The Archmage’s Orrery (Pelgrane Press)
East Texas University: Redneckromancer (Pinnacle Entertainment Group)

[h=4]Best Game[/h]
D&D Player’s Handbook (Wizards of the Coast)
The Strange (Monte Cook Games, LLC)
Firefly Roleplaying Game (Margaret Weis Productions)
MUTANT: Year Zero – The Roleplaying Game (Modiphius Entertainment Ltd)
Atomic Robo: The Roleplaying Game (Evil Hat Productions)

[h=4]Best Miniatures Product[/h]
Gen Con Adventurer’s Tavern – Painted (Games and Gears)
D&D Icons of the Realms: Elemental Evil Boosters (WizKids)
Fantasy Pirate Goblin Lieutnant 28mm Miniature (Via Ludibunda)
Pathfinder Pawns: Inner Sea Pawn Box (Paizo Inc.)
Iron Kingdoms Unleashed Roleplaying Game Adventure Kit (Privateer Press)

[h=4]Best Monster/Adversary[/h]
D&D Monster Manual (Wizards of the Coast)
13th Age Bestiary (Pelgrane Press)
The Strange Bestiary (Monte Cook Games, LLC)
Iron Kingdoms Full Metal Fantasy Monsternomicon (Privateer Press)
Achtung! Cthulhu: Terrors of the Secret War (Modiphius Entertainment Ltd)

[h=4]Best Podcast[/h]
Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff
Miskatonic University Podcast
Translating the Strange
NPC Cast
Grim Dark Podcast

[h=4]Best Production Values[/h]
Horror on the Orient Express (Chaosium)
D&D Starter Set (Wizards of the Coast)
The Guide to Glorantha (Moon Design Publications)
Iron Kingdoms Unleashed Roleplaying Game Adventure Kit (Privateer Press)
Shadowrun: Runner’s Toolkit: Alphaware (Catalyst Game Labs)

[h=4]Best RPG Related Product[/h]
Designers & Dragons: A History of the Roleplaying Game Industry (Evil Hat Productions)
Chicks Dig Gaming: A Celebration of All Things Gaming by the Women Who Love It (Mad Norwegian Press)
Shadowrun: Crossfire (Catalyst Game Labs)
Temple of Elemental Evil (WizKids)
Doctor Who: The Card Game 2nd Edition (Cubicle 7 Entertainment Ltd.)

[h=4]Best Rules[/h]
D&D Player’s Handbook (Wizards of the Coast)
MUTANT: Year Zero – The Roleplaying Game (Modiphius Entertainment Ltd)
Mindjammer – The Roleplaying Game (Transhuman Science-Fiction Adventure in the Second Age of Space) (Modiphius Entertainment Ltd)
At the Hands of an Angry God (BlackWyrm Games)
Monster of the Week (Evil Hat Productions)

[h=4]Best Setting[/h]
The Strange (Monte Cook Games, LLC)
The Guide to Glorantha (Moon Design Publications)
MUTANT: Year Zero – The Roleplaying Game (Modiphius Entertainment Ltd)
A Red & Pleasant Land (Lamentations of the Flame Princess)
Trail of Cthulhu: Dreamhounds of Paris (Pelgrane Press)

[h=4]Best Software[/h]
Roll20 (Roll 20)
D&D Complete Core Monster Pack for Fantasy Grounds (SmiteWorks USA LLC)
Hero Lab (Lone Wolf Development)
Syrinscape’s Rise of the Runelords Mega SoundPack (Syrinscape)
Eclipse Phase: Singularity Character Generator (Posthuman Studios & Snow Dog Labs)

[h=4]Best Supplement[/h]
D&D Dungeon Master’s Guide (Wizards of the Coast)
Pathfinder RPG: Pathfinder Unchained (Paizo Inc.)
Savage Worlds Science Fiction Companion (Pinnacle Entertainment Group)
Doctor Who – The Fourth Doctor Sourcebook (Cubicle 7 Entertainment Ltd.)
Shadowrun: Run Faster (Catalyst Game Labs)

[h=4]Best Website[/h]
Tabletop Audio
Adventureaweek
Age of Ravens
The Escapist
The Illuminerdy

[h=4]Best Writing[/h]
Ken Writes About Stuff Volume 2 by Kenneth Hite (Pelgrane Press)
D&D Player’s Handbook by Jeremy Crawford, James Wyatt, Robert J. Schwalb, Bruce R. Cordell (Wizards of the Coast)
The Strange by Monte Cook, Bruce R. Cordell (Monte Cook Games, LLC)
A Red & Pleasant Land by Zak S (Lamentations of the Flame Princess)
Designers & Dragons: A History of the Roleplaying Game Industry by Shannon Appelcline (Evil Hat Productions)

[h=4]Product of the Year[/h]
MUTANT: Year Zero – The Roleplaying Game (Modiphius Entertainment Ltd)
The Strange (Monte Cook Games, LLC)
Horror on the Orient Express (Chaosium)
A Red & Pleasant Land (Lamentations of the Flame Princess)
The Guide to Glorantha (Moon Design Publications)
D&D Player’s Handbook (Wizards of the Coast)
Iron Kingdoms Unleashed Core Rules Hardcover (Privateer Press)
Designers & Dragons: A History of the Roleplaying Game Industry (Evil Hat Productions) Firefly Roleplaying Game (Margaret Weis Productions)
Mindjammer – The Roleplaying Game (Transhuman Science-Fiction Adventure in the Second Age of Space) (Modiphius Entertainment Ltd)

[h=4]Judges' Spotlight[/h]
Each judge chooses one product which they feel deserves highlighting. These are not ENnie nominations, but they are products which deserve recognition.

Annah Madrinan: Dragons in the Stacks: A Teen Librarian’s Guide to Tabletop Role-Playing (Libraries Unlimited)
Stacy Muth: Wicked Lies and Alibis (Imaginary Empire)
Jakub Nowosad: Posthuman Pathways (Genesis of Legend Publishing)
Kayra Keri Kupcu: Firefly Echoes of War: Thrillin’ Heroics (Margaret Weis Productions)
Kurt Wiegel: East Texas University (Pinnacle Entertainment Group)

 

[prosfilaes]

There are, for example, some absolutely AMAZING "fan", non-commercial movies I can watch in HD via Youtube and the like -- some of which are put out by people who also work professionally in the film industry. However, how do you think the film studios would react if those movies were nominated alongside their own in the Oscars? The mere presence of such films would harm their branding as a studio -- in layman's terms, it would "hurt their name." And do you think that would improve if the fan movie won?

For around $5000, you could rent a theater for a showing a day for ten days in LA, and be put on the eligible movie list. Given the cost of making a movie, that's not huge. And then somehow you have to get someone to nominate it...

If a fan movie can win the Oscars, then the movie studios need to fix what they're putting out. I'm not imagining that anyone on a shoe-string budget can beat the big guys. The Hurt Locker is one of the lowest-budget, most indie movies ever to win the Best Picture, and they were still hardly a fan-work. Did The Hurt Locker winning hurt the studios? Should they have excluded it from the Oscars to give Avatar a chance?

So, when they submit something for a given general category and don't make the cut but a non-commercial product does, that does not exactly boost their product or company branding favourably. Nor does it provide them an incentive to keep submitting. The proper way to handle such a concern would be to either create fan specific categories or an additional, separate fan-based award process.

With the existence of DriveThruRPG and Kickstarter, the line between a fan publication and a commercial publication is pretty thin. Anyone wanted to move between categories wouldn't have much of a problem. Commercial publication have the money to hire artists, which gives them a big advantage over any fan who has licensed all his material.