As is the way of such things, the 37th Annual Origins Award winners were announced this weekend at the Origins Game Fair in Columbus, OH. As many roleplayers expected, Evil Hat’s Dresden Files RPG did very well this year, winning both Best RPG and Best RPG Supplement. Wizards of the Coast’s Castle Ravenloft took the prize as Best Board Game, while Back to the Future: The Card Game from Looney Labs won the Best Traditional Card Game category, and Zombie Dice by Steve Jackson Games won Best Family, Party or Children’s Game. Click through to the full list of winners below for more details.
37th Annual Origins Awards results:
Best Roleplaying Game
DC Adventures (Green Ronin Publishing)
Dragon Age, Set 1 (Green Ronin Publishing)
The Dresden Files RPG (Evil Hat Productions)
Fiasco (Bully Pulpit Games)
Gamma World RPG (Wizards of the Coast)
WINNER: The Dresden Files RPG
Best Roleplaying Supplement
A Song of Ice and Fire Campaign Guide for A Song of Ice and Fire RPG (Green Ronin Publishing)
The Dresden Files: Our World for The Dresden Files RPG (Evil Hat Productions)
Advanced Player’s Guide for Pathfinder RPG (Paizo Publishing)
Sixth World Almanac for Shadowrun RPG (Catalyst Game Labs)
Sunward: The Inner System for Eclipse Phase RPG (Posthuman Studios)
WINNER: The Dresden Files: Our World
Best Board Game
Castle Ravenloft (Wizards of the Coast)
Defenders of the Realm (Eagle Games)
Fresco (Queen Games)
Lords of Vegas (Mayfair Games)
Nuns on the Run (Mayfair Games)
WINNER: Castle Ravenloft
Best Traditional Card Game
Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer (Gary Games)
Back to the Future: The Card Game (Looney Labs, Inc.)
Hecho (Glowfly Games)
Hex Hex XL (Smirk & Dagger Games)
Railways of the World: The Card Game (Eagle Games)
WINNER: Back to the Future: The Card Game
Best Family, Party or Children’s Game
Ligretto Dice (Playroom Entertainment)
Telestrations (USAopoly, Inc.)
Wits and Wagers Family Edition (North Star Games)
Word on the Street Junior (Out of the Box Publishing)
Zombie Dice (Steve Jackson Games)
WINNER: Zombie Dice
Best Gaming Accessory
Color Primer: Dragon Red (The Army Painter)
Adventurers Tiles (Battle Bunker Games)
Battlefield XP Swamp Tufts (The Army Painter)
Cthulhu Dice Bag (Steve Jackson Games)
BattleTech Hex Pack: Lakes & Rivers (Catalyst Game Labs)
WINNER: Cthulhu Dice Bag
Best Miniatures Rules
Adventures in the Lost Lands (Two Hour Wargames)
BattleTech Technical Readout: 3085 (Catalyst Game Labs)
DC HeroClix Blackest Knight Starter Game (WizKids/NECA)
Hordes: Primal MK2 (Privateer Press)
MERCS Games Rule (MERCS Miniatures, LLC)
WINNER: DC HeroClix Blackest Knight Starter Game
Best Historical Board Game
Warlords of Europe (GameBuilders)
Conflict of Heroes: Price of Honour Poland 1939 (Academy Games)
Catan Histories – Settlers of America: Trails to Rails (Mayfair Games)
Panzer General: Allied Assault (Petroglyph Games, Inc.)
WINNER: Catan Histories – Settlers of America: Trails to Rails
Best Play by Mail or Play by Email Game
Fate of a Nation
Cruenti Dei
The One Ring (A Legends Module)
Battle of the Five Armies
Heldenwelt
WINNER: The One Ring
Best Game-Related Publication
No Quarter Magazine (Privateer Press)
Hamlet’s Hit Points (Gameplaywright)
Family Games: The 100 Best (Green Ronin Publishing)
Shadowrun: Spells and Chrome (Catalyst Game Labs)
World at War: Revelation (Lock ‘n Load Publishing)
WINNER: Shadowrun: Spells and Chrome
Hall of Fame
Alex Randolph, Twixt
Erick Wujcik, Amber Diceless Roleplaying
Sid Sackson, Acquire
Go FATE go. It was a big year, there are a lot of good games here.
It’s always amusing to me that the nominees for “Best Gaming Accessory” usually include not just a paint but a *color* of paint. I realize that it’s more a vote for their entire line of primers, but it seems as if they’re asking judges “What’s your favorite color this year?” (“… oh, Dragon Red? Heck yeah, dude, that paint is seriously red. The reddest.”)
It’s also interesting to see how many “repeat games” are here – Gamma World, Ravenloft, Panzer General, Battletech, etc… Might be nice to have a “Most Innovative” award. I wonder if there would be enough nominations each year or not…