Ennies and recent favorite RPGs

Fellow role-players, as we continue to discuss our current games and what we might play next, don’t forget to vote for this year’s Ennies! Here’s how I voted:

• Best Adventure: Dead Rock Seven (Pelgrane Press)
• Best Supplement: Star Hero (Hero Games)
• Best Aid/Accessory: DungeonMorph Cards (Inkwell Ideas, Inc.)
• Best Website: Obsidian Portal, followed by Pathfinder Wiki
• Best Art, Cover: Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Beginner Box (Paizo Publishing)
• Best Writing: Panopticon (Posthuman Studios)
• Best Art, Interior: The One Ring: Adventures Over the Edge of the Wild (Cubicle 7)
• Best Blog: Gnome Stew
• Best Cartography: Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Jade Regent Poster Map Folio (Paizo Publishing) and Mass Transit III (Maps of Mastery)
• Fan’s Favorite Publisher: Paizo Publishing, Green Ronin Publishing, Posthuman Studios, and Goodman Games
• Best Electronic Book: Way of the Wicked Book One: Knot of Thorns (Fire Mountain Games)
• Best Free Product: Pathfinder Module: We Be Goblins! (Paizo Publishing)
• Best Game: Cosmic Patrol Core Rulebook (Catalyst Game Labs)
• Best Miniatures Product: Pathfinder Battles: Heroes and Monsters (Paizo Publishing)
• Best Monster/Adversary: DC Adventures: Heroes & Villains, Vol. 1 (Green Ronin Publishing)
• Best Podcast: Iron GM
• Best Production Values: Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Beginner Box (Paizo Publishing) and The One Ring: Adventures Over the Edge of the Wild (Cubicle 7)
• Best RPG-Related Product: Complete Kobold Guide to Game Design (Open Design)
• Best Rules: Bulldogs! (Galileo Games) and Lorefinder – The Pathfinder/Gumshoe Mashup (Pelgrane Press)
• Best Setting: Ashen Stars (Pelgrane Press)
• Product of the Year: Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Beginner Box (Paizo Publishing) and Star Hero (Hero Games)

While I haven’t played many of these, I own several, and I’ve looked at many more products and Web sites. I explain why I chose what I did below.

Fantasy

Standouts include Paizo and others’ continuing strong support for the Pathfinder system (a.k.a. “D&D3.75”) and Obsidian Portal, whose wikis our current face-to-face and telecom groups have been using.

I haven’t yet played The One Ring, but it has impressive production value, as do supplements such as DungeonMorph’s cards and the “Mass Transit” series of maps. Many of you have received the news and Game Mastering advice I’ve forwarded from Gnome Stew and EnWorld.org. I enjoyed Rich’s “Way of the Wicked” one-shot.

Modern and superheroes

I voted for DC Adventures: Heroes & Villains Vol. 1 (using D20/OGL Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Ed.) over the Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Basic Game even though we’re using the latter in Jason‘s “Glassworks” superhero miniseries. I thought Green Ronin’s relatively timeless approach to DC’s iconic characters was better than Margaret Weiss Production’s dice-intensive take on recent Marvel continuity. I’ll leave the various Cthulhu supplements to the horror authorities among us.

Science fiction

I’ve used various SFRPG supplements in developing the “Vortex” space opera, including Ashen Stars: Dead Rock Seven, Eclipse Phase: Panopticon, and Star Hero. Even though FATE 3e Starblazer Adventures/Mindjammer has been our baseline, Bulldogs! is a much clearer presentation of similar rules.

Publishers

I’m not sure that Wizards of the Coast’s polls are the best way to get feedback for “Dungeons & Dragons Next” (5e), and Mongoose still has too many errors in its rulebooks, even if I like that it’s keeping Traveller going. Cubicle 7 has let support for Starblazer Adventures and Legends of Anglerre slip, so I voted for the publishers of my other favorite supplements of the past year.

What were your favorites? In addition, don’t forget to vote for which of my campaigns you’d like to see for the face-to-face groups in the coming year! Happy gaming, -Gene