If you were to ask most gamers about RPG awards they would probably mention the Origin Awards or the Ennies. If they’re in a certain segment, they might mention the Indie awards or the Golden Geek awards. But if they mention the Diana Jones awards, then you can be sure that they’re a big freaking nerd.
The Diana Jones award may be the most mysterious of the RPG awards. A secretive council of gaming luminaries (no, I don’t know who they are) hash out a short list of nominees, then give the award to one of them at Gencon. There are no categories, and no particular limits on what might be nominated. Most of the nominations are for games, but they can be for stranger things – ideas, projects, podcasts, organizations, people – anything related to gaming is on the table. It’s not a popular award, or a structured award, and I’m not even sure whether it can be neatly summarized. In the way that some actor’s are “an actor’s actor”, the DJA feels like the deep geek’s deep geek’s award.
Every year, the Diana Jones shortlist seems like a summary of what has been great and interesting in the past year. Running back through the shortlists of years past provides a snapshot of each year in turn and a sense of what sort of fantastic things have been going on. This year, Evil Hat made it onto that list with The Dresden Files RPG.
As ever, the rest of the list is fantastic as well. Sorencrane’s Freemarket, Bully Pulpit’s Fiasco, Catacombs from Sands of Time and Escape from the Aliens in Outer Space, from Cranio Creation. Now, coming clean, I don’t know Catacombs or Aliens, but their mere presence on the list is enough to encourage me to go correct that.
All of which is to say – wow. It’s amazing to be on that list. I am utterly blown away.
Well deserved, Rob. The Dresden Files is a fantastic game, one of the best I’ve ever read / played, and the whole Evil Hat crew should be justly proud of it. Thanks for the great game, and congratulations!
One small correction. The DJA is not just for RPGs. I *think* it’s all tabletop games (so RPGs and board games), but it may be a bit broader than that, even.
I have not played Catacombs either, but Escape From the Aliens in Outer Space is great. If you are going to be at Origins we’ll play; you can rock it in half an hour.
DJA is for all hobby games, I believe: board, card, roleplaying, story, whatever.
I would love to get in on some of that Escape action as well!
If you can find your way into a game of Catacombs, I heartily recommend it. It’s by far the best implementation of a board game dungeon crawl I’ve ever played. The theme is incredibly strong, which might seem surprising since it involves flicking little wooden discs at other little wooden discs.
I echo your sentiments, Rob. Regardless of who wins, it’s a great crowd to stand with.