How many products nominated for an ENnie do you own/are you familiar with?

[Justin D. Jacobson]

Here a funny turn of events. I used to be a fairly "accomplished" rpg purchaser (my wife would probably use a different turn of phrase). This year, I got into the publishing biz myself and found that my purchasing went way down, mostly because my free time to actually play went way down.

I'd say I have (or had an opportunity to review thoroughly) about 25% of the nominated products.

(P.S. - I have a coupon link to Poisoncraft posted on the publishers forum, if you were holding off because of the price.)

 

[MonsterMash]

I found a lot of categories I couldn't vote for anything in, not having seen the products. I own one, and have seen friends copies of another couple of products. The easiest one to vote on was the Cover Art as I've seen a lot of the products for that in games stores.

 

[Li Shenron]

I have none

edit: I have Armies of Abyss & Legions of Hell which make up for Book of Fiends, but I shouldn't vote because all the stuff has been updated for 3.5 and there's extra material as well. I have seen the BoEMs but not familiar enough to rate the Complete version (even if it's not 3.5 updated). I suppose I can only vote for the best website

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

There are several categories that can be voted on without actually owning anything.

Best Art (Cover)-it's not too hard to find the books, either in a store or on the publishers websites. Look at the covers, decide how well you like them, and rate them.

Best Official Website-This may be the easiest category to rate. Go to the websites, look around, see what they have to offer.

Best Publisher (Overall)-What did these publishers put out over the past year? Do they support the RPG ccommunity well? Look at their websites, read reviews of their products, read their messageboards.

Best Free Product or Web Enhancement-go download them! They are FREE! If you don't like them, you can always delete the files. There is no reason why you can't rate these (unless you are on a slow connection).

Best Fan Website-Again, another very easiest category to rate. Go to the websites, look around. What do they offer?

Anyone who is reading these boards should be able to vote in these categories. Sure, not everyone can vote for everything. We don't expect that you can. But the awards mean a lot to the publishers (and those of us who have spent a lot of time pulling the awards together), so please take some time and vote for what you can.

Thanks!

 

[Menexenus]

I only have 2 of the nominated products. And I have to admit to being somewhat disappointed. I am the biggest fanatic I know for purchasing d20 products, and so I am a little disappointed that even I don't know enough to make an informed decision. I'm afraid that the ENNIES have devolved into an award that can only be voted on *honestly* by A) full time reviewers, B) ENNIES judges, C) game store owners, and D) very rich people. These are the only people who could possibly have enough experience to make an informed judgment. It's sad that something like the ENNIES that started out so egalitarian have become essentially so elitist. (I'm not blaming anyone for this. It's just a sad fact that there's so much stuff out there today that a regular guy can't keep up enough to be honestly well-informed.)

And, btw, how come Wizards of the Coast keeps getting slighted by the ENNIES? Let's face it: Wizards puts out the best-quality products of any publisher - no contest. Wizards consistently puts out full color hardback books with the best art in the business and rules sets that have kept us all talking and talking for years. (Without Wizards there would be no ENWorld.) How come they never get any love from the nominators? Personally, I think Wizards' lack of nominations is scandalous.

 

[johnsemlak]

I only have 2 of the nominated products. And I have to admit to being somewhat disappointed. I am the biggest fanatic I know for purchasing d20 products, and so I am a little disappointed that even I don't know enough to make an informed decision. I'm afraid that the ENNIES have devolved into an award that can only be voted on *honestly* by A) full time reviewers, B) ENNIES judges, C) game store owners, and D) very rich people. These are the only people who could possibly have enough experience to make an informed judgment. It's sad that something like the ENNIES that started out so egalitarian have become essentially so elitist. (I'm not blaming anyone for this. It's just a sad fact that there's so much stuff out there today that a regular guy can't keep up enough to be honestly well-informed.)

And, btw, how come Wizards of the Coast keeps getting slighted by the ENNIES? Let's face it: Wizards puts out the best-quality products of any publisher - no contest. Wizards consistently puts out full color hardback books with the best art in the business and rules sets that have kept us all talking and talking for years. (Without Wizards there would be no ENWorld.) How come they never get any love from the nominators? Personally, I think Wizards' lack of nominations is scandalous.

I believe WotC didn't submit any products. Reasons for that have been hypothesized elsewhere.

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

And, btw, how come Wizards of the Coast keeps getting slighted by the ENNIES? Let's face it: Wizards puts out the best-quality products of any publisher - no contest. Wizards consistently puts out full color hardback books with the best art in the business and rules sets that have kept us all talking and talking for years. (Without Wizards there would be no ENWorld.) How come they never get any love from the nominators? Personally, I think Wizards' lack of nominations is scandalous.

You'll need to ask Wizards of the Coast that question. It was out of our hands.

 

[Menexenus]

Oops. Sorry. I didn't realize that Wizards didn't submit any entries.

 

[JoeGKushner]

I only have 2 of the nominated products. And I have to admit to being somewhat disappointed. I am the biggest fanatic I know for purchasing d20 products, and so I am a little disappointed that even I don't know enough to make an informed decision. I'm afraid that the ENNIES have devolved into an award that can only be voted on *honestly* by A) full time reviewers, B) ENNIES judges, C) game store owners, and D) very rich people. These are the only people who could possibly have enough experience to make an informed judgment. It's sad that something like the ENNIES that started out so egalitarian have become essentially so elitist. (I'm not blaming anyone for this. It's just a sad fact that there's so much stuff out there today that a regular guy can't keep up enough to be honestly well-informed.)

I hate to say it, but you may be right. However, what are the options for the Ennies? "No Blue Devil Games, despite the quality of Poisoncraft, no one knows about it so you can't enter it." Does it just become a contest between some like Green Ronin, Necromancer Games and Malhaoc?

I think that we've reached the point where there are more products coming out than the average person can wililngly pick up. I don't know what the solution is.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

I hate to say it, but you may be right. However, what are the options for the Ennies? "No Blue Devil Games, despite the quality of Poisoncraft, no one knows about it so you can't enter it."

Oh, for crying out loud. It's not 'elitist' just because you haven't seen some of the products.

Now, that doesn't mean that there aren't things that could be better with the ENnie process. Earlier nominations, and a month before voting opens, would give folks more time to see all the nominees.

Does it just become a contest between some like Green Ronin, Necromancer Games and Malhaoc?

The way the process works now, that's already a factor. The open voting portion becomes a popularity contest (which is fine, by the way).

Filtering out smaller companies' products during the Judging portion will only withold recognition from small publishers who need (and deserve) recognition.

And yeah, I'm one of them.

Wulf