2012 ENnie Nominees Announced

I am the Warden!!

These are the nominees for the 2012 ENnies!!

As with every major award ceremony, there is a dominant nominee and this year it seems to be Pelgrane Press with 8 nominations, including multiples in certain categories (they're up for 3 in Best Adventure alone). Major congrats are in order to them.

As I had hoped and expected, the Marvel Heroic RPG got a nod for Best Game and Best Rules and I have no shame in sharing my vote for this game.

Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple has also received a nomination for Best Game. I have to admit, I'm hearing so much about this game that despite it being a bit out of my norm, I'm seriously considering giving this a look over.

This is the first year in quite a while in which I haven't clicked to this list eagerly waiting to see if any of my products were nominated (I did have the good fortune for the 2010 awards to see Combat Advantage #15 listed under Best Free Product). With Killshot literally days away from its release, I can return to that anxious state once more at this time next year.

Online Roleplaying Sucks!

I am the Warden!!

Read the title again and prepare yourself for a bitch fest. I hate playing my RPGs online. Hate, despise, loathe, dread, rue, and curse all at the same time. And when I say my RPGs, I mean my regular weekly games where I am but one player in a party.

For close to two years, I've been stuck with using Skype as my only means of continuing the quests in my D&D, Pathfinder, and monthly independent games. That's right, the accident. And while I'm physically and (mostly) mentally able to make the trip to Ottawa, my driveway does not have a car to park and neither do I have one to make the commute to Ottawa. So I use Skype, but it's just not the same as sitting at the table as part of a group.

Traumatic events in your life give you a lot of moments to reflect and can eventually teach you a lot about who you truly are and what gives your life meaning. While I already knew how much I loved playing and running these games, I had no idea how valuable they were as my social outlet. Everything I avoid and deny in everyday life - hanging out in large crowds, meeting strangers - is easily corrected when RPGs are involved. I won't even wait in a line of more than 5 people because I think it's too crowded, but happily walk into any convention with hundreds, if not thousands, of people. In the past two years, I've learned the value of these games to my well-being and so have my doctors and therapists who prescribed RPGs to assist with my recovery. I shit you not.

Attending these games is the problem and so I must resort to the Internet to fill the gap.