Kingbeast's Lair

Here is a list of the 2012 ENnie Award winners in gold and silver. I’ll put my picks in italics.

Best Adventure

Dead Rock Seven (Pelgrane Press)
Invasive Procedures (Pelgrane Press)
Madness at Gardmore Abbey (Wizards of the Coast)
Streets of Zobeck (Open Design)
The Rending Box (Pelgrane Press)

Best Aid/Accessory

DungeonMorph Cards (Inkwell Ideas, Inc.)
GameMastery Chase Cards (Paizo Publishing)
Masks: 1,000 Memorable NPCs for Any RPG (Engine Publishing)
Mutants and Masterminds GM’s Kit (Green Ronin)
Shadowrun Runner’s Toolkit (Catalyst Game Labs)

Best Art, Cover

Black Crusade: Core Rulebook (Fantasy Flight Games)
Cthulhu by Gaslight (Chaosium Inc.)
Mutants and Masterminds Gamemaster’s Guide (Green Ronin)
Neverwinter Campaign Setting (Wizards of the Coast)
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Beginner Box (Paizo)

Best Art, Interior

Book of Drakes (Open Design)
Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple (Evil Hat Productions)
Dragon Age: Set 2 (Green Ronin)
Legend of the Five Rings, Fourth Edition: The Great Clans (Alderac Entertainment Group)
The One Ring: Adventures Over the Edge of the Wild (Cubicle 7)

Best Blog

Campaign Mastery
Gaming as Women
Gnome Stew
Roving Band of Misfits
Sly Flourish

Best Cartography

Harker Asylum – Virtual Boxed Set (0One Games)
Madness at Gardmore Abbey (Wizards of the Coast)
Mass Transit III (Maps of Mastery)
Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Jade Regent Map Folio (Paizo)
The Shadowlands Conversion Guide (BlackStar Studios)

Best Electronic Book

Advanced Encounters: Terrain Toolbox (Sneak Attack Press)
Cthulhu Apocalypse: The Apocalypse Machine (Graham Walmsley & Pelgrane Press)
GURPS Social Engineering (Steve Jackson Games)
Spookybeans: The Gothic Comics RPG (Chapter 13 Press)
Way of the Wicked Book One: Knot of Thorns (Fire Mountain Games)

Best Free Product

Black Crusade: Broken Chains (Fantasy Flight Games)
Dragon Age Quickstart Guide (Green Ronin)
The One Ring: Words of the Wise (Cubicle 7)
The Shadowlands Conversion Guide (BlackStar Studios)
Pathfinder Module: We Be Goblins! (Paizo)

Best Game

Cosmic Patrol Core Rulebook (Catalyst Game Labs)
Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple (Evil Hat Productions)
Hollowpoint (VSCA Publishing)
Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Basic Game (Margaret Weis Productions)
Savage Worlds Deluxe (Pinnacle Entertainment Group)

Best Miniatures Product

Dungeons and Dragons Dragon Collector’s Set (Wizards of the Coast)
Monster Medallions Set 1: Deadly Encounter Groups (Fiery Dragon Productions)
Pathfinder Battles: Heroes and Monsters (Paizo)
Serene Fist Set Four: Katana Schoolgirls vs. Zombie Furries (Okumarts Games)
Steam Tower (Mayhem in Paper)

Best Monster/Adversary

DC Adventures: Heroes & Villains, Vol. 1 (Green Ronin)
Deathwatch: Mark of the Xenos (Fantasy Flight Games)
Hacklopedia of Beasts (Kenzer and Co.)
Hunter Sheets Issue Two—An SLA Industries Supplement (Nightfall Games)
Monster Vault: Threats to the Nentir Vale (Wizards of the Coast)

Best Podcast

Haste – The Official Obsidian Portal Podcast
Iron GM
Jennisodes
Law of the Geek
Role Playing Public Radio

Best Production Values

Hacklopedia of Beasts (Kenzer & Co.)
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Beginner Box (Paizo)
Smallville High School Yearbook (Margaret Weis Productions)
The One Ring: Adventures Over the Edge of the Wild (Cubicle 7)
Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition (CCP Games/White Wolf Publishing)

Best RPG Related Product

Carnival Arcane (Midnight Syndicate Soundtracks)
Complete Kobold Guide to Game Design (Open Design)
Cthulhu Wrapping Paper (Gaming Paper)
Lords of Waterdeep (Wizards of the Coast)
Tales of the Far West (Adamant Entertainment)

Best Rules

Bulldogs! (Galileo Games)
Hollowpoint (VSCA Publishing)
Lorefinder—The Pathfinder / GUMSHOE Mashup (Pelgrane Press)
Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Basic Game (Margaret Weis Productions)
Spellbound Kingdoms (T. Shield Studios)

Best Setting

Ashen Stars (Pelgrane Press)
Cthulhu Apocalypse: The Apocalypse Machine (Graham Walmsley & Pelgrane Press)
Cthulhu Britannica: Shadows Over Scotland (Cubicle 7)
The Investigator’s Guide to Occult London (Pelgrane Press)
Unhallowed Metropolis, Revised (Atomic Overmind Press)

Best Supplement

Agents of Oblivion (Reality Blurs)
Cthulhu by Gaslight (Chaosium Inc.)
Dungeons and Dragons Player’s Options: Heroes of the Feywild (Wizards of the Coast)
GURPS Horror, Fourth Edition (Steve Jackson Games)
Star Hero (Hero Games)

Best Website

D&D Insider
Obsidian Portal
Pathfinder Wiki
See Page XX – The Pelgrane Press Webzine
RPG Geek

Best Writing

GURPS Horror, Fourth Edition (Steve Jackson Games)
Panopticon (Posthuman Studios)
Stealing Cthulhu (Graham Walmsley)
The Investigator’s Guide to Occult London (Pelgrane Press)
Your Whispering Homonculous (Open Design)

Product of the Year

Cthulhu Britannica: Shadows Over Scotland (Cubicle 7)
GURPS Horror, Fourth Edition (Steve Jackson Games)
Hacklopedia of Beasts (Kenzer and Co.)
Hollowpoint (VSCA Publishing)
Madness at Gardmore Abbey (Wizards of the Coast)
Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Basic Game (Margaret Weis Productions)
Masks: 1,000 Memorable NPCs for Any RPG (Engine Publishing)
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Beginner Box (Paizo)
Star Hero (Hero Games)
Stealing Cthulhu (Graham Walmsley)

My Take
I picked a lot of the winners. 🙂 When looking at the list I think my biggest complaint is that Do did not take any awards. Travesty. 🙁

Here are the award winners for fan favorite publishers and a new category for Judges’ Sportlight Award. I think having that category is cool.

Fan’s Favorite Publisher

Evil Hat Productions 
Paizo Publishing 

My Take
I voted for Evil Hat Productions out of the huge list of publishers so I was really glad to see them take one of these coveted awards. The transparency that Fred Hicks brokers is refreshing.

Judges’ Spotlight Award

Designers & Dragons (Mongoose Publishing)
Edge RPG (Outrider Studios)
Honor + Intrigue (Basic Action Games)
Shelter In Place (Galileo Games)
Technoir (Cellar Games LLC)

My Take
I have Technoir and Designers & Dragons. Both are really fantastic products. Highly recommended. 😉

GAME ON! 😀

-== What is it? ==-

Nobles, Knights, and Necromancers (NKN) is a villains books for Fantasy Hero. The focus of the book is on humanoid adversaries where Monsters, Minions, And Marauders focuses more on classic fantasy monsters. It was written by Steve Long and published in September 2006 by Hero Games.

NKN has a color cover and an entirely black and white interior. The book is 8.5” x 11” and is 175 pages in length. I am reviewing a print copy that I bought. I have used some of the underlying plot threads in my Fantasy Hero campaign but I have not used any of the entries directly as written. When doing reviews I always read the product cover-to-cover.

-== What I Like ==-

NKN is split into three sections. The first covers Lords Of Evil (aka mastermind type villains), the second covers Fiendish Organizations, and the last covers Solo Adversaries.

The Lords Of Evil section is not bad. Most of the entries have useful bits and are well developed. I think the artwork by Sam Kennedy for Thorg Split-Chin is excellent.

The Fiendish Organizations section in NKN is very well done. I particularly like the Baragon Coven, Kal-Turak’s Lieutenants, and the Sarresharan Regency. The Sarresharan Regency section is particularly rich with plot seeds. For GMs running a campaign with court politics this section would be well received.

-== What I Don’t Like ==-

The Solo Adversaries section in NKN is very hit or miss. There are some great entries but there are some not so good ones as well.

The artwork in NKN is extremely hit or miss. I like the work from Sam Kennedy but many of the pieces are not that great and some are very poor. The cover is just a collection of interior pieces by Mack Sztaba that have been colored and put into a police lineup.

-== Summary ==-

NKN is a book that has some nice material for GMs running a campaign with a heavy humanoid influence. I did not find a ton of value in the product but I did enjoy reading the entries and using some of the juicier bits for my campaign. If you can find NKN used or for a good price AND you are running a humanoid centered campaign that I would buy it.

You can get copies of the book at Amazon for $26.99 at this URL. Noble Knight has the book at this URL for $15.00. The PDF is only $9.49 at DriveThruRPG at this URL.

I give it 6 out of 10 paws.

-== What is it? ==-

The Widening Gyre is best described by its byline, “Steampunk Roleplaying For The Hero System.” It was written by Bill Keys (aka Teh Bunneh on the forums) and imprinted by Blackwyrm Publishing. The first edition was released in July 2011.

Widening Gyre has a color cover and an entirely black and white interior. The book is 8.5” x 11” and is 159 pages in length. I am reviewing a print copy that I purchased. I have not run a session using Widening Gyre but I have read the product cover to cover and have a fair amount of knowledge with the Hero System. 🙂

-== What I Like ==-

Widening Gyre opens by describing the setting. Bill describes the setting in a lot of detail and provides information on how it can be played during various time periods starting at 1861 and ending around The Great War in 1918. I particularly like the story of The Gyre on page 8.

Bill does a fantastic job explaining the different roles that the PC can take in the setting. Some games do a very poor job of this…in fact some don’t do it at all. Each time period defined in Widening Gyre has a section specifically on roleplaying in that period.

In one section Widening Gyre lists 19th century sciences. I thought this section was fun and informative.

Bill presents several Packages in Widening Gyre. These are well thought out and broad in their coverage. Packages include entries like the tech savvy Savant, Detectives, Air Pirates, and even Clockwork Men. At the end of the section Nikolai Tesla is presented as a sample character. Although I gushed at having stats for Tesla I was disappointed because he does not use the Savant Package as presented in the text. In my opinion it would have been better if whatever sample character was presented used the packages as presented.

Gear and vehicles are covered next. The vehicles presented in Widening Gyre are particularly fun. They range from steam powered carriages to the time machine from H.G. Wells.

After the gear section is a sample adventure. The sample adventure involves a car race with an hidden secret. I thought the sample adventure in Widening Gyre was actually pretty creative and unique. Often sample adventures are pretty boring but this one was nice. As an added bonus there are more cool vehicles. 🙂

The highlight of The Widening Gyre is the Steampunk Sourcebook section. This section has a TON of great thoughts on the Steampunk aesthetic and how it can be used in gaming. I particularly liked sections on Genre Settings, Genre Moods, and Conventions. Fantastic stuff.

Near the end of the book is a section called Putting It All Together that really wraps up the book nicely. Often books have tons of great data then don’t explain what you can do with it. Bill has it covered in Widening Gyre.

I really like the covers by Curtis Craddock, Bill Keyes, and Jonathan Wyke. I think the front cover conveys the attitude of the setting really well. On the back cover is a poster called Notre Dame De Vapeur that I really love. I want it on a poster! 😀

-== What I Don’t Like ==-

There is some very brief information in the book about running the setting without magic but I would have liked to see more. My expectation is that steampunk does NOT include demonic magic.

One minor complaint that I had with Widening Gyre is that there were a LOT of quotes in the sourcebook section. At times it almost felt like there were too many.

I think my biggest gripes are around layout issues. First the text is pretty small. I’m not sure if it is the font selection or just the font size but I found it difficult to read at times. Background coloring in Widening Gyre can also be quite dark. With a dark background the text can be hard to read. The Packages are formatted with a very dark background and are especially tough to read.

Unlike the cover artwork the interior artwork is very hit or miss. There are lots of photos and several marginal drawings.

-== Summary ==-

Overall I was VERY surprised by The Widening Gyre. I guess I did not expect the amount of coverage that this genre book provides. The quality of the writing is so high that it feels like a book that Steve Long might have produced. (FYI, this is very high praise in my book.) I think Bill has written THE steampunk sourcebook for Hero with Widening Gyre.

You can get copies at Amazon at this URL for $24.95. DriveThruRPG has is for $11.95 at this URL in PDF format. Of course Noble Knight has print copies at this URL for $21.95.

I give it 8 out of 10 paws.