Congrats to Paizo Publishing

I didn't go to Gencon this year, but one of my favorite events is the "ENnie" industry awards, so I actually broke down and checked out their Twitter page to read the up to the minute results. Last year our fine friends at Paizo Publishing cleaned up and it looks like this year, they have done quite well again. Ol' Wizards of the Coast is definitely #2 according to the fans (the irony is I still play 3.5e not Pathfinder). Here is some particular highlights:

Best Podcast (Silver) Chronicles: The Pathfinder Podcast, d20 radio. Interesting. A lot of people even like to listen about Paizo stuff. I suspect my friends will take notice.

Best Interior Art (Gold) Pathfinder: The Inner Sea World Guide, Paizo Publishing.  This I can believe. Sarah Robinson is a great art director. They've attracted the best artists in the biz since their days on Dragon and Dungeon Magazine.

Best Cartography (Gold) Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea Poster Map Folio, Paizo, Cartography Rob Lazzaretti. This product, with its four quadrant mega-poster map of the setting is the heir apparent of Greyhawk's Darlene map. Rob has been mapping for Paizo a long time. Some might remember he did the huge four part map of Greyhawk for Dungeon Magazine which stands to this day as the last, best revision of that world map.

Judges Spotlight Award from Mark Green: Wayfinder #4: The Mwangi Expanse, Paizo Fans United. Imagine if the free fanzine Oerth Journal had been closely supported by TSR or Wizards back in Greyhawk's heydey. It would be as lauded as Wayfinder. I have a lot of respect for the fans and authors of this Pathfinder fanzine. Kudos go out to good friends on this product that I've chatted with or met in person, especially Liz "Lilith" Courts, Hugo "Butterfrog" Solis and Adam Daigle.

 

Best RPG Related Product (Gold) Castle Ravenloft Boardgame, Wizards of the Coast. I believe this was Wizards' (a subsidiary of Hasbro) only gold. A board game. I'm just saying...

 

Best Monster/Adversary (Gold) Pathfinder: Bestiary 2, Paizo Publishing. And the silver goes to Wizard's Monster Vault.

 

Best Setting (Gold) Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea World Guide, Paizo Publishing. And the silver goes to Dark Sun.

 

Best Adventure (Gold) Pathfinder Adventure Path #43: The Haunting of Harrowstone, Paizo Publishing. They just keep cranking out the adventures and paths. I don't think even TSR put out adventures at this rapid of a pace and with this much quality. Wizards meanwhile seems more content specializing in their D&D Encounters organized play events, which I don't know if the ENnies has found a category for yet.

 

Best Supplement and Product of the Year (Gold) Pathfinder: Advanced Player’s Guide, Paizo Publishing. Because Pathfinder players like their game advanced and can't get enough of it. The rumors of Paizo outselling Wizards for the first time this year is likely true if it's anything like the voting on the ENnies.

 

Best Game (Silver) Mutants & Masterminds Hero’s Handbook, Green Ronin Publishing. I do love Green Ronin and M&M as well. I feel bad that I've not ran their new edition though, I tend to cling to editions I'm comfortable with as long as possible. Did Paizo or Wizards win the gold? No! It was Evil Hat Production's Dresden Files RPG. Weird!

 

I'll spare you the rest. I can't wait for next year, even though the ENnie awards while fun, are starting to become, ahem, predictable. ;)

 

 Update 4/18/2021: Some of the links were broken, but Paizo does still support its products. It's crazy to see how Paizo took over as most popular during this era. Nowadays 5E is unstoppable, but as Ennies go, it's the small print companies who tend to win every year.