Post ENnies Judges thread

[Teflon Billy]

Hey folks,

Now that the ENnies have come and gone, we (meaning the Judges) had discussed posting some of our personal favorites that didn't "make the cut" due to differences in taste, differences in expectation, or just too crowded a field of good entrants.

This first post is entirely mine, but the others should be joining shortly. If you have any questions, please feel free to post.

Anyway, my favorite product that missed the voting round was MonkeyGod's Maze of Screaming Silence.

Had this been written in a sombre, doom-laden tone I would have accused it of being an attempt at wooing the V:tM crowd. As it is, I found it an interesting, well-written (if tongue in cheek) take on a Chaotic Evil society.

Some of the panel had issues with the fact that it was a "whole city of psychopaths", I have no problems with that at all, given that the epilogue ("Coming back and Killing Everyone") states that the city is virtually empty and unrecognizable should the pc's ever return. The city is not a stable socio-political entity. The adventure is a "moment in time" if you get what I mean.

I loved the tongue-in-Cheek "EEEVVVVIIILLL" elements as well (baby pit-fighting) and what can only be called the "odd bits" (The Dirt Eater, Bash-in-the-Face-Guy).

In structure it reminded me of one of my favorite old D&D modules, The Secret of Bone Hill...a nicely done "small" campaign setting.

The art (both cover and interior) was in my opinion great. This "Adventure" was a fun read, and the way my tastes run, I can't usually say that

More as they occur to me (or you ask about them)

edit: I misspelled "Tastes"? gah!

 

[ColonelHardisson]

I think 0one's "Goblin's Lairs" and "Deadly Ice" had stunning cartography.

Dungeon Magazine is still one of the absolute best buys in gaming.

More as I think of them.

 

[Teflon Billy]

Yeah, Dungeon got one of my supplementary votes (but it was just a brutally competitive category this year).

One of the judges commented that his vote concenring Dungeon might well have changed had he had a chance to see Iron Lords of Jupiter before voting, and I kind of have to agree. i thought that was an awesome little game.

I'm a total sucker for the mini games though. Loved Omega World

 

[d20Dwarf]

How the heck did Dire Kobold not get nominated for Best Electronic Product? It's the most innovative use of technology in gaming yet.

 

[Teflon Billy]

How the heck did Dire Kobold not get nominated for Best Electronic Product? It's the most innovative use of technology in gaming yet.

No Idea. I agree with you and voted accordingly.

direkobold was in a four-way tie for a spot, so at least it was close (and came down to a run-off)

 

[der_kluge]

TB, I would agree that MonkeyGod's module are underrated. I was the absolute first person to purchase their latest - Hellstone Deep (a brutal 18th-20th level module) at GenCon, and I intend to tie into my campaign setting. I am also using Black Ice Well, and the two have some story-line similarities that I can tie together easily.

Alternatively, I've never been very impressed with Green Ronin's stuff - it just doesn't appeal to me, but it seems to be very popular among the fans. Subsequently, I don't own any of their products.

 

[Teflon Billy]

TB, I would agree that MonkeyGod's module are underrated. I was the absolute first person to purchase their latest - Hellstone Deep (a brutal 18th-20th level module) at GenCon, and I intend to tie into my campaign setting. I am also using Black Ice Well, and the two have some story-line similarities that I can tie together easily.

Yeah, last year I was shocked by how good their stuff was, given that they were total newbies(Song of Storms, Tsar Rising and Scourge of Raftport are what I'm mostly talking about here), but I think that Maze of Screaming Silence tops my MonkeyGod list

Alternatively, I've never been very impressed with Green Ronin's stuff - it just doesn't appeal to me, but it seems to be very popular among the fans. Subsequently, I don't own any of their products.

Ahh, I part company with you here my friend I almost uniformly love Green Ronin's product. In particular Mutants and Masterminds and Freedom City.

The fact that M&M was as successful as it was in the awards--given the "Swords and Sorcery" leanings of most folks here-- is a pretty good clue (to me) that the awards basically work.

Which is not to say they couldn't use some tweaking here and there....

 

[malladin]

Not wanting to get too off topic and change this into a green ronin thread, but I can kind of see both camps here. Before M&M I was well in the 'I don't see it' camp about green ronin. For example, Book of the righteous, which if it is not currently top of the review charts currently, certainly has been in the past, never appealed to me. Whilst I could see that it was well done from the brief flick-throughs at my FLGS, it all seemed a bit too specific and a lot of money for what would be very little return for my own game.

That said M&M is fantastic. Its probably my favourite D20 purchase (although Nyambe probably comes a very close second). Not only does it look great and is a great supers adaptation, but it is probably the best version of the D20 core rules so far (and I can't see how anyone could improve on it). It just a shame that they've kept all the key features as PI. Ah well, I suppose I'll just have to try for an M&M Superlink licence .

Ben

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Monkeygod does put out an interesting variety of modules. I felt the quality of their entries this year was even better than last year's.

As I've mentioned here and there, I wish there was a way we could better convey that just because something wasn't nominated, doesn't make it crap. This is especially true, I think, of publishers in general. There are some companies that I feel simply don't get the nominations and wins that are commensurate with how good they are in general. They do good, solid work, but due to a number of exceptionally brilliant products from a few publishers, they get overshadowed. This isn't to say that there is anything wrong with the situation, just that I wish we had a better way of saying "hey, you guys do good work, even if you don't get nominated much." Companies like Mystic Eye, Bastion, and Necromancer come to mind. In any given year they might get nominated, but just don't get the number of nominations or wins they might have gotten at another time, due to the continuously changing landscape of the industry.

By the way, Dire Kobold is exactly the type of company that I'm talking about. The innovation they've shown is exceptional. As TB said, the competition was tight.

 

[der_kluge]

I guess M&M doesn't do much for me since I have no desire to play a superhero game. To each their own, I suppose. It is a nice looking product, just not my cup of tea.

At any rate, I remember walking up to the Monkeygod booth in 2002, seeing this huge rack of modules, and a sign that said "Ennie nominated" and saying "who the heck are you guys, I've never heard of you!" I mean, it was literally like they just popped up out of nowhere, published a dozen modules, and garnered an ennie nomination. Pretty impressive.