The 2011 Lair Awards
Summary
Welcome to the second annual Lair Awards. It is again time to pick through the rough cuts to uncover some diamonds. This year I will be adding a fourth category, Best Session.
Here is how the 2011 Lair Awards will work. There will be four categories: Best Anime, Best Read, Best RPG, and Best Session. To be eligible for an award the product must have been reviewed in the calendar year by me on the blog. There were a TON of great products released in 2011 but if I did not review them they don’t count. Also note that I often review products that are quite old. A product is eligible for an award if I reviewed it in 2011…period…it does not matter when the product was actually released. 😉
The envelopes please! 😀
Best Anime – Samurai 7
Picking the winner for this category was by far the most difficult. This year I watched then reviewed a LOT of really intriguing anime. Here is a brief list of some that really stood out with some comments. These are presented in alphabetical order.
- Batman: Under The Red Hood – Great story, excellent animation, and a kick butt Jonah Hex short.
- Batman Year One – Thrilling storytelling, good voice acting, and nice animation.
- Gankutsuou – Fantastic retelling of a wonderful story, excellent voice acting, and stunning artwork.
- Le Chevalier D’Eon – Strong characters, amazing intrigue, lush historical setting, and a powerful ending.
- Samurai 7 – Amazing main cast of characters, well paced action story, and a crisp animation style.
Out of this stellar list two entries stood out for me…Batman Year One and Samurai 7. I’m going to give the nod to Samurai 7 this year.
Best Read – Asterios Polyp
Like 2010 the Lair Award for Best Read is the easiest to give. Asterios Polyp should be listed as one of the greatest graphic novels of all time. The story is out of this world and the artwork is just fantastic. Asterios Polyp is a book that belongs on everyone’s shelf. This is the only review I gave out in 2011 that earned a 10 out of 10. 😀
Best RPG – No Winner
After perusing my RPG reviews for 2011 I was really disappointed. I reviewed some really marginal products this year. The highest rating I gave for an RPG product was a 5 out of 10! OUCH! Thus I decided not to give out the award for Best RPG this year. It is my award so I choose not to give it out. 😛
If I were to give out an award for presentation then the Bookhounds Of London Limited Edition would take it hands down. I also had a GREAT time with the series of blog posts on My Gaming Kit.
Best Session – Spirit Storm Session #29
Even though I did not post an RPG review worthy of a Lair Award I did take part in some awesome gaming sessions. In 2011 my Spirit Storm campaign logged sessions #22 through #33. I fondly reviewed the session logs then decided that Session #29 gets the award. In this episode there was so much wonderful drama. Cillian is a Dragon?!? His mother is who!?! That session will stay with me for quite some time.
There are my picks! Please reply if you have any comments. 🙂
