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1a. What is an "Indie" Role Playing Game (RPG)?
1b. What sort of RPGs are eligible for these awards?
2. How many awards will there be?
3. Will all Indie games be accepted for this award?
4. What about second editions and the like?
5. How many games or supplements can one person register for the awards?
6. What about the difference between free and commercial RPGs?
7b. What is the voting schedule?
8. Why are only game designers allowed to vote?
9. Does it cost anything to register my game for the award?
11. What happens in the case of a tie?
12. There was a "d20 Category" Last year. What happened?
14. Are the Indie RPG Awards affiliated with The Forge?
15. Why are you hosting these awards?
"Indie" is short for Independent, meaning, "independently created and owned". There is no ontological definition for "Independent RPG", but we came up with a definition for the purpose of these awards:
Here is a quick-and-dirty guide. First, check the copyright. If the copyright goes to the author of the game, odds are high that it's an indie RPG. If the copyright goes to a company, and that company is run by the game's author (or the company consists solely of the author), odds are high that it's an indie RPG. And if you're not sure if your game qualifies, please ask me through the Feedback page!
In the advent of several publishing licenses from different RPG companies and organizations, I've made a handy guide that should answer some questions.
To be eligible, the game has to meet our above definiton of "Indie RPG". It must have been produced or sent to market between January 1st and December 31st in the year of the awards. The game must have been released in English. Though we love having RPGs released in other languages, the voters are primarily English-language speakers and cannot adequately review and compare games in other languages.
There is one major award: Independent RPG of the Year. This sole award is the focus of the awards ceremonty. There are, however, a number of Sub-Awards. They include the following:
The definitions above are not black-and-white, nor are they air-tight, so there will be some games and creators that will fall into the grey area when it comes to consideration for the awards. Anyone who registers their games to be considered for the awards will have their games looked at on a case-by-case basis. If the game coincides with the above definition, it will be accepted.
This awards ceremony is not a general industry award. It is meant to celebrate the small- press RPG publishers -- people who sit down to write their own games from scratch, hammer out their own rules, go through the joys and pains of the process of design and publishing, and in the end try to get their praxis (in the "unalienated labor" sense) out to other fellow game lovers. If the game answers to the spirit of this award, it will be accepted.
This award is not meant to oppose the overall commercial RPG industry, rather to direct a little light at works that might not otherwise receive recognition.
Second editions of games published in earlier years, or upgrades to a PDF RPG (like 1.0 to 1.5, 2.0, etc) do not count for the purposes of these awards. However, this can be a grey area. If an RPG's second edition were to be a complete overhaul of the rules to a completely new system, or it includes 50%+ more original material/design that completely reforms the game, it may be considered for these awards.
A creator can submit up to two full games for the award. A creator can submit another two supplements for the supplement-oriented sub-awards as well.
For the main awards, there is no difference. A free RPG has as fair a chance of winning the award as a commercial RPG. However, free RPGs are also eligible to win the Free RPG of the Year award.
Essentially, in a move away from all the other RPG awards out there, most of these awards (all of them except the "People's Choice Award") will be voted on only by RPG peers, and not by the general public. We tried to find every small press and indie RPG designer who released a commercial game in the past few years to help vote for the awards.
During voting, the voters will receive three weighted votes: a 5 point vote, a 3 point vote, and a 1 point vote. They will put one of each of these votes in for the game of their choice in each category. At the end of the week, we tally the points and the highest point toal wins. The four runners up receive special recognition for coming close.
Because of the extended "research time" available, plus the fact that the peer voters come from all different backgrounds and experiences, we are confident that these awards will be as fair and nonbiased as possible. No "agenda" dominates the awards; rather we see about 100 different designers with 100 different backgrounds and interests pulling in 100 different directions -- and this friction and pulling tends to level the playing field. In other words, just because a game is sold at RPGNow, or often discussed on RPGNet, or has a following at The Forge, does not mean that it stands a better chance of winning. Because of the "100 Designers, 100 Different Directions", the games that are chosen were chosen because they were universally recognized as exemplary.
Registration is generally in the spring, while peer voting is in the week prior to GenCon Indy. See the Important Dates page for details.
To make sure that this award isn't a popularity contest, but rather a true peer award.
No.
No.
If the tie occours in the finals, both games will win the award and split the prizes equally. If there are more than two winners (a three or more way tie), the potential winners will each be handed a shiv -- last one standing claims the prize.
The practical reality is that we don't have the time, energy or resources to host d20 and d20-based OGL games. The Ennie Peer Awards do exactly what I intend to do with these awards here, but solely for d20 and d20-based OGL publishers in a much grander fashion anyway. At the time, there were a mountain of submissions to wade through, which overwhelmed the other games. However, in the 2005 awards, one of the sub-award winners was a game which derived from the d20 rules -- Levi Kornelsen's Perfect20. Games released under the OGL are still eligible, but we are not making special recognition of them. If you are a small press publisher with a d20 game or supplement (or one based on d20, like "XYZ OGL"), please consider registering for the Ennie Awards.
Disclosure. In the end, after the awards are given, the final tally of votes per game, here. This is in the interest of keeping these awards fair, open, and to look on voting practices to see if the system can be improved for following years.
No. While many ideas regarding Indie RPGs and these awards came from discussions on The Forge (www.indie-rpgs.com), there is no affiliation with The Forge or other sites/groups. These awards, and their administration, are the original brainchild of Andy Kitkowski and have no relation to the Forge, or the sole sponsorship of the designers who frequent The Forge.
I'm a big fan of Small Press RPGs, although not a game designer myself. This was the best way I could give back to the community.
If you have any questions, please contact me through the Contact Page.