The ENnies have come and gone, with much discussion and reaction to them. Overall, while awards things like this are a matter of fashions, taste, and similar subjective feelings, they’re better than nothing – and I’m sure the impact of them is felt by the winners and nominees. And this year, I think they’re a really great overview of the breadth and variety in the hobby – winners and nominees from a range of play styles, approaches, and sizes.

While you’re reading this, I should tell you about my Patreon. Patrons get access to content 7 days before they hit this site, the chance to request articles or content, and the chance to play in one-shot games, for a very reasonable backer level of £2 per month. If you like what you read, want to support the blog, and have the funds for it, please consider supporting here. Telling people about the blog, and sharing links/retweeting is much appreciated also – thanks!

So, here’s what I think of some of the winners. I’ve restricted myself, as usual, to products I’ve actually used at the table in play, and stuck to winners fo brevity – so here goes:

Journeys Through The Radiant Citadel absolutely deserves it’s Silver Best Adventure – it’s probably the best product I’ve seen for 5e D&D, a selection of adventures with a lightly-sketched setting attached to each one, easily one-shotted, easily adaptable, clever structures but still approachable to run. Each adventure is set on a mini-setting inspired by diverse real-world cultures, and this really showcases how different D&D can be.

Many of the settings make me want to run whole sequences of games in them. All excellent, here’s hoping for more of this, either from Wizards or third parties. I’ve run two of the adventures as one-shots at conventions and they play really well.

It won’t surprise you that I’m a big fan of Brindlewood Bay – I’ve run a few one-shots, reviewed it here and blogged about adapting to a one-shot format here. The Brindlewood mystery system is one of the most innovative developments I’ve seen in the last few years, and it’s set to change a lot of approaches to mysteries in a way that’s really to my tastes.

Similarly, Trophy is well deserving of it’s best game silver – it’s actually two games, and the narrative steps it takes (adding a smattering of extra rules to Cthulhu Dark to make it more of a ‘game’) lead to reliable play at the table. I’ve run a two-session Trophy Gold game and a few one-shots of Trophy Dark. Also, more games, like Trophy Dark, designed for one-shot play with options for ongoing, please. They’re excellent.

Avatar: Legends is an interesting one. I ran a campaign of this, blogged about it here, and while it was fun, I’m not sure if we really clicked with the rules. Or, more specifically, the combat rules. The rest of the game was excellent, values-led PBTA, and each character’s balance track really worked to bring the drama. But the combat system felt a bit too fiddly for what it provided. We might have missed something, and I’d definitely try it again with a few tweaks to my approach, but I felt like I might have missed it – any ideas gratefully received!

I’ve played a few sessions of Wildsea, and the writing is indeed great. It’s a setting that deserves lots of attention, being really interesting and definitely original (I played a beverage specialist, essential on any tree-sailing ship). 

But for me the real winner, and one of the games I’m most excited about overall, is Fabula Ultima. Fantastic that this has won Gold for Best Game, from a relatively small production company who’ve taken a genre and produced an excellent resource. The rules (adapted from Ryuutama) emulate JRPGs like Final Fantasy really well, and play fast and fun. It’s also got the single best quickstart I’ve ever seen, with scenes gradually unlocking bits of the character sheet as it teaches the rules – great work and a model for how to run new games at conventions, too.

So, the ENnies – lots to love in these games, and a really healthy sign for the hobby that we’re so diverse and varied. And while obviously Seth Skorkowsky isn’t a podcast, and Swords of the Serpentine isn’t a supplement, they’re both really good, so who cares? Owlbear plushies all round!