For the most part, the voting in of ENnies judges is like a popularity contest, except I'm sure more of us don't know who the fuck most of these people are. Allow me to help and point out who should be popular and why:
- Kiel Cheiner runs the awesome blog Dungeons and Donuts and has already proven he's good at reviewing and discerning excellent material.
- Harald Wagener is someone I've seen around on G+ and seems like a generally cool guy.
One thing you might want to keep in mind is who the incumbent judges are. This is good in case you want more controversies about unlicensed fan hacks becoming Product of the Year. The incumbents are:
- Jakub Nowosad
- Kayra Keri Kupcu
- Stacy Muth
- Kurt Wiegel
- Honorable Mention: Hooper, who had been a judge until 2014.
Seriously, if you want the ENnies to regain some dignity, don't re-elect these people.
Onto the fun stuff! Here are my picks for products in the various categories.
- Best Adventure: Red and Pleasant Land. Hands down the best product to come out this year. It should win every category it was nominated for and also some it wasn't.
- Best Aid/Accessory: DungeonMorph Dice: Explorer Set. These dice are a super cool way to make random dungeons.
- Best Art, Interior: Interface Zero or D&D Monster Manual.
- Best Art, Cover: Mutant: Year Zero. Look them all up yourself, but I think that Mutant is a step above the rest.
- Best Blog: Contessa. An excellent blog about women in gaming.
- Best Cartography: Ninth World Guidebook. I'm a bit ignorant on this category, but I have seen samples from Ninth World Guidebook and they were gorgious.
- Best Electronic Book: Basic Rules for D&D. Could use some more art, but the content of the text (the best new game for free) makes up for that.
- Best Family Game: Doctor Who Adventures in Space and Time. This game needs more love. It's a solid game and would be accessible for younger gamers.
- Best Free Product: Basic Rules for D&D. See above.
- Best Game: D&D Player's Handbook. It might seem strange voting for the big name over the underdogs, but D&D 5e is a seriously good game. The best I've seen published this year.
- Best Miniature: Pathfinder Pawns. I like cardboard minis like this. We should encourage their creation.
- Best Monster/Adversary: D&D Monster Manual. Great art, great selection of monsters and the format of the entries are all excellent.
- Best Podcast: Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff. It's Kenneth Hite and Robin Laws talking about stuff, usually interesting stuff. Obviously the best podcast possible.
- Best Production Values: Red and Pleasant Land, but since it wasn't nominated, Horror on the Orient Express is a good alternative.
- Best RPG Related Product: Chicks Dig Gaming.
- Best Rules: D&D Player's Handbook. See above.
- Best Setting: Red and Pleasant Land. See above.
- Best Supplement: D&D Dungeon Master’s Guide. The best DMG I've seen for D&D yet.
- Best Software: Fuck if I know. I live in the distant past.
- Best Writing: Red and Pleasant Land. See above.
- Best Website: Age of Ravens. Lowell's histories of RPGs are the bomb.
- Fans’ Choice for Best Publisher: Lamentations of the Flame Princess and Goodman Games both had amazing years.
- Product of the Year: Red and Pleasant Land. Without a doubt, this is the defining product of 2015. It should become the gold standard of RPG books.
