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Posted By: nem ENNIE Awards 2023 - Wed 16/08/23 14:57 UTC
The awards have been announced and I'm really glad to report it's a far more interesting smorgasbord (imo) than last year's winners.

Have a quick look through and let us know what you think. And I'll write more later! grin

https://ennie-awards.com/2023-nominees/
Posted By: Gypsy Re: ENNIE Awards 2023 - Thu 17/08/23 10:48 UTC
WOW! So much! And not that many repeats in different sections. grin
Posted By: nem Re: ENNIE Awards 2023 - Thu 17/08/23 18:11 UTC
OK, here are my highlights! grin

Decuma: The R&D for Your RPG is a custom-designed card set that functions like a Tarot deck, answering setting questions as you play. This would be very useful if you were playing a game like 13th Age, Ironsworn or Hillfolk, where you define much of the setting yourself. Even if you were playing Forgotten Realms, it would help tailor it to your own game as the group discusses how to interpret the revealed card.

Blade Runner RPG Starter Set is for a game and licence that doesn't appeal to me. I think Blade Runner is one of the greatest films ever made but playing a Blade Runner or rogue android? Seems a bit one note to me. Having said that, if you want to try it out, check out this starter set: It is absolutely stuffed with play aids! It might be worth buying just as a one shot. Is $40 too much for an afternoon's gaming though?

Barkeep on the Borderlands is a clever idea for generating a series of fantasy adventures and similar to one I've worked on myself. Dungeoncrawl meets pubcrawl. After all, most of my (mis)adventures irl have spun out of pubcrawls and I think the same could be said for many of us. jk

The Wildsea has lovely art and an intriguing premise. Taking the scientific notion of jungles having different layers, if you blanketed a world in giant jungle, would their layers be like layers of an ocean? At the canopy, you have light and life and is where civilisation exists, but down at the roots is dark and mysterious and hostile to life. It complete this analogy, the setting has flying ships. Always a favourite of mine! Another thing I really like about the book is that it's landscape orientated, not portrait. Novel and allows for novel layouts.

Finally, Seven Sinners. I know little about this one at present but it looks very similar to Sins of the Father RPG, another ENNIE nominee with a clever premise and card system that unfortunately died on the vine. Warrants a closer look.
Posted By: Pandemonium Re: ENNIE Awards 2023 - Thu 17/08/23 18:29 UTC
Very cool!

Grabbed Decuma, because I love the idea!

Not sure I will ever play, but Seven Sinners, and Sins of the Father have been added to my reading list.

Dang Nem, you make my e-shelf grow with every post!

Love it!

Thank you!
Posted By: Pandemonium Re: ENNIE Awards 2023 - Thu 17/08/23 18:32 UTC
Oh and to share:

Picked up Vaesen (the original which the Mythic Britan supplement was released and listed above).

I also picked up a couple of Gumshoe variants that I think I will have to run or play some day.

Time Watch and Swords of the Serpentine. Both look really cool.
Posted By: Vryx Re: ENNIE Awards 2023 - Thu 17/08/23 19:03 UTC
The Claw Atlas guys are from my city and are super nice. Attended some of their events at a library. Happy they're finding success with Beak, Feather, Bone.
Posted By: Pandemonium Re: ENNIE Awards 2023 - Thu 17/08/23 19:18 UTC
Interesting Vryx! Hadn't heard of that one.
Thanks!
Posted By: Pandemonium Re: ENNIE Awards 2023 - Thu 17/08/23 19:22 UTC
Oh and this just came across my space.

Playing Vampires during WWII stomping Nazis. Ok so I am a sucker! I backed it. grin

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gshowitt/eat-the-reich?ref=8hpfnr
Posted By: nem Re: ENNIE Awards 2023 - Fri 18/08/23 07:34 UTC
Good find, Pandemonium. I'm always entertained by weird wars games.

Vryx, I can see why Beak, Feather, & Bone has been a success. It's an ingenious, fun way to create your own fantasy town/city, and it's good to know that homebrewing your own setting is still so popular.
Posted By: Saph Re: ENNIE Awards 2023 - Sat 19/08/23 03:22 UTC
I haven't got Seven Sinners yet, but Mana Project are one of my favourite Italian game studios. Which is an oddly broad field, even in English.
Posted By: nem Re: ENNIE Awards 2023 - Sat 19/08/23 09:28 UTC
I haven't read Seven Sinners yet but had great fun running Sins of the Father for Gypsy and co. The system uses a standard deck of playing cards for each player and the GM, with categories of abilities twinned with the suits. It's worth reading just for that, even if extremely impractical for a DreamLyrics game.

What really sold me on it is how you play characters whose forebears have sold your soul to a dark lord. Your character has special abilities tied to their greatest flaw/weakness (their greatest sin). So in play you try to avoid giving in to this weakness but if you do, you're very potent at it.

"Wrath" is a classic. It's your flaw, you don't want to loose your temper but if you do you're a human killing machine. Since the game is set in the real world, killing people has dire conquences and when you find yourself in deep trouble because you succumbed to your flaw, who do you turn to to bail you out? Your dark lord. angel

The game encourages you to play multiple generations and that's what we did when we played it. Iirc the first game was 1920s England, the second 1930s pre-war Morocco, the third 1940s post-war Hollywood. (I had planned a 1950s, Pentagon cold war scenario but we never got around to it.)
Posted By: Pandemonium Re: ENNIE Awards 2023 - Sat 19/08/23 18:22 UTC
Originally Posted by nem
The game encourages you to play multiple generations and that's what we did when we played it. Iirc the first game was 1920s England, the second 1930s pre-war Morocco, the third 1940s post-war Hollywood. (I had planned a 1950s, Pentagon cold war scenario but we never got around to it.)

That is such a cool idea!

I love it!
Posted By: Gypsy Re: ENNIE Awards 2023 - Mon 21/08/23 13:45 UTC
As a player, loved Sins of the Father! grin
Posted By: Saph Re: ENNIE Awards 2023 - Wed 23/08/23 13:16 UTC
Originally Posted by nem
I haven't read Seven Sinners yet but had great fun running Sins of the Father for Gypsy and co. The system uses a standard deck of playing cards for each player and the GM, with categories of abilities twinned to the suites. It's worth reading just for that, even if extremely impractical for a DreamLyrics game.

What really sold me on it though is how you play characters whose forebears have sold your soul to a dark lord. Your character has special abilities tied to their greatest flaw/weakness (their greatest sin). So in play you try to avoid giving in to this weakness but if you do, you're very potent at it.

So Wrath is a classic. It's your flaw, you don't want to loose your temper but if you do you're a human killing machine. Since the game is set in the real world, killing people has dire conquences and when you find yourself in deep trouble because you succombed to your flaw, who do you turn to to bail you out? Your dark lord. angel

The game encourages you to play multiple generations and that's what we did when we played it. Iirc the first game was 1920s England, the second 1930s pre-war Morocco, the third 1940s post-war Hollywood. (I had planned a 1950s, Pentagon cold war scenario but we never got around to it.)

That sounds fabulous. I really like the idea of the generational aspect -- that's what drew me to Legacy: Life Among the Ruins as well. Added the books to today's DriveThruRPG order! grin
Posted By: nem Re: ENNIE Awards 2023 - Sun 22/10/23 12:51 UTC
I skimmed Seven Sinners today btw. It's not at all like Sins of the Father. It's just a monster supplement for OSRIC or 5e that stats out some Catholic demon lords and what their cultists would be like. It's not terribly interesting tbh. Thematically you already have analogues in the standard D&D setting.
Posted By: Pandemonium Re: ENNIE Awards 2023 - Sun 22/10/23 19:33 UTC
Thanks for the quick look Nem.

I didn't find the initial description as interesting as I had hoped, so haven't bothered.

Now I know I made the right choice!
Posted By: nem Re: ENNIE Awards 2023 - Sun 22/10/23 20:05 UTC
Aye, I'm surprised they bothered when D&D already has the Lords of the Nine Hells. Basically the same thing.
Posted By: MikeD Re: ENNIE Awards 2023 - Mon 23/10/23 11:45 UTC
There =are= quite a few 'gamers' that are 'brand centric' <shrug>
Posted By: nem Re: ENNIE Awards 2023 - Tue 31/10/23 12:43 UTC
That's true. Has anyone ever used D&D's demon and devil lords in their games? I never have tbh. As my big bads I prefer dragons and giants, or at a push the Far Realm.
Posted By: Zeim Re: ENNIE Awards 2023 - Tue 31/10/23 12:44 UTC
Nep and I have. A few times.
Posted By: Pandemonium Re: ENNIE Awards 2023 - Tue 31/10/23 15:44 UTC
I have used Demons and Devils over the years, though not that particular supplement. Balrogs were a big bad for us for a long time ... Lord of the Rings influence. grin
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