The Ennies being a tabletop RPG award, of course. The full list is here, and I actually have some stuff to say about the Best Game category. For once I’ve got opinions on most of the entries.
- Tales from the Loop – Roleplaying in the ’80s That Never Was (Free League Publishing) Kickstarted this one, have yet to play. Fun concept, excellent art. It’s definitely something that you want to run if you want to play no-fooling kids dealing with supernatural menaces, but in a retro-Eighties style where there’s an upper limit to how bad things get.
- 7th Sea: Core Rulebook (John Wick Presents) Running a campaign in it right now. The combat is still tough to get used to; but it’s definitely all about buckling that swash. Strengths of the new version: the rest of the world beyond Europe is being worked out from the start. Weaknesses: I’ve already had to tweak the setting a bit to make it a little more Renaissance European, and a little less Self-Congratulatory Modern. But it’s a fine game all the same.
- Timewatch (Pelgrane Press) This is Pelgrane’s temporal travel GUMSHOE game, and I want to run a session at WashingCon… if I have the time. Hyuck hyuck hyuck… seriously, though, it looks promising.
- Bubblegumshoe (Evil Hat) Did run this at WashingCon last year: it’s very good (Girl Detective Sleuthing, essentially). Do check it out.
Sins of the Father (Third Eye Games) This is the only one I don’t know. It must be good, though; all the other ones are excellent choices for nominations, so it almost has to be.
Also: Unknown Armies Deluxe Set should pretty much just be given ‘Best Writing’ now, and be done with it. All love to the other entries, but the writing in UA is just consistently pitch-perfect.