I was surprised to see that SotC didn't garner more nominations, and in the year that BE won an origins award I expected to see a more indie-heavy presence at the ENnies, which are normally a better gauge of what's hot.

I hope it's not too immodest of me to mention it, but the WFRP Companion is up for Best Supplement, and I have a chapter in that, so I'm claiming a 10th of an ENnie nomination this year!

Does this lead to another thread called "Are The Ennies Bollocks?"

:^)

...if you'd like to start the thread I'd be happy to chip in! :-)

Congratulations Andrew! I think the WFRP books are of a very good standard indeed and I certainly have no quibble with the large number of Green Ronin/Black Library nominations. I hope they get publisher of the year too.

The podcast shortlist did look good to me, I thought that category was spot on.

Some of the other categories were a bit out of whack though, and I'm kinda disappointed too by Indie Gaming's reaction to be honest (if there is such as entity as Indie Gaming). Everyone seems to be patting the few games that got nom'ed on the back while staying silent on the (obvious, well to me) ommissions.

Perhaps it's not to sound like sour grapes?! Who knows?

I think all these things depend on what sort of people make the decisions. For instance, Chad U's Zorcerer of Zo was submitted but didn't get even an honourable mention, whereas in other awardy things it's been up at the top. I think I can see a "traditional game industry" slant to these nominations. Can't be bothered to check, but maybe a significant input from retailers?

Tim Gray
Silver Branch Games
www.silverbranch.co.uk

Well this is what surprises me a bit. There is no retailer input at all. The judges are just gamers who put themselves forward. ENworld members then vote on who should be the judges. None of the judges are writers, artists or whatever, so they're not connected to any of the entrants at all. They give up a good bit of their own time and get a copy of every entry to peruse and value. So they've all seen all the entered books.

The voting is taken seriously and then they cut it down to 5 plus and honourable mention. I guess that's why I'm really surprised that some books got on the list and others didn't.

I have Steve's copy of ZoZ in the house and it reads pretty well, actually.

Hey, maybe I should lighten up and take the line that the judges have seen every book when I haven't, but... I'm still bemused.

This is purest speculation, but I think that (in common with most awards nominations) a serious amount of horse trading must go on in order to arrive at a final list.

I know for a fact that one of the ENnies judges this year was solidly behind Cold City in a really big way. I half expected (perhaps) to maybe get an honourable mention. But know. I guess the game didn't spark off the enthusiasm of a majority of the other judges. Or, there are a lot of better games out there.

Awards mean one thing, and that's an increase in profile. Your name gets mentioned more when you are nominated. The nomination is, marketing-wise, the most significant part of the process.

Cheers
Malcolm

Contested Ground Studios

Well, last year a Judge was way into CriticalMiss.com (so much so that Jonny Nexus put his website forward for consideration, practically on the understanding that he'd be in the top 5) but it ended up with "only" an honourable mention while a website chock-full of stolen material was on the final list. I can't say we've moved on from then really, which is a shame.

I mean Justin D. Jacobson was a bit shocked that Helios Rising's cover art got nom'ed while another of his books (Passages, cover by Jennifer Rogers) was passed over.

I'm not sure if it's because I expect too much of the ENnies. Perhaps? Maybe it's grown too quickly and it can't be all things to all people.

Well I can't see the Origins awards taking over, despite Burning Empires' glorious victory, the other IPR games got nowhere. Even SOTC failed to get nominated!

I wonder if the Mu nomination has to do with feeling Sorcerer was overlooked previously. I hope Mu does really well but is a supplement for a six year old system really product of the year material?

Though well done to CGS for best publisher nomination.

I'll never play WHFR but hope Children of The Horned Rat wins everything because skaven are ace!

+++
JoE
+++

Prince of Darkness Games
Rock N' Role-Play....

Just to remind everybody that voting for the ENnies is now open. I wouldn't want to influence your votes, but a vote for Contested Grounds as best publisher and the WFRP Companion for best supplement is a vote for the Collective Endeavour!