Ennie Which Way But Loose: A Rundown Of 2022 Ennie Categories

by Anton Kromoff

Welcome to the table.

With the 2022 Ennie nominees being announced it’s high time your old pal Anton dives into some of the nominees, and I will in upcoming articles, but before I get into the thick of it some of you may be wondering what the Ennies are in the first place. When trying to describe the Ennies to my non-gamer friends, I tend to try and use an analog that is universally understood, something like “the Ennies are the Oscars of tabletop gaming.”

Now I don’t know much of anything about the Oscars honestly other than there is a lot of hullabaloo made about them and there are cool trophies and people get dressed up and it is a big deal. I could say that they were like a lamp that looked like a leg in fishnets… a major award… if you know you know… but that may be lost on people and “Oscars” seems to evoke the whole “Big Deal Award Thing” to everyone so that is what I lean into.

To be accurate, the Ennie Awards are an annual fan-based celebration of the best of the best in tabletop roleplaying games. They give game designers, artists, writers, podcasters, and those who live and breathe in our community much deserved recognition and they are awarded by “the people” not some arbitrary board of shadowy figures who are being paid to say what is “cool” and what is not.

Currently, the Ennies have 22 categories as seen below…

1. Best Adventure

2. Best Aid/Accessory – Digital

3. Best Aid/Accessory – Non-Digital

4. Best Art, Interior

5. Best Art, Cover

6. Best Cartography

7. Best Electronic Book

8. Best Family Game / Product

9. Best Game

10. Best Layout and Design

11. Best Monster/Adversary

12. Best Online Content

13. Best Organized Play

14. Best Podcast

15. Best Production Values

16. Best RPG-Related Product

17. Best Rules

18. Best Setting

19. Best Supplement

20. Best Writing

21. Fans’ Choice for Best Publisher

22. Product of the Year

It’s a lot, right? I love that time and consideration are being given to these categories, and that the community that I have seen grow so much over the last few years is really taking its place as more than the “basement dweller / magic missile into the darkness” joke in the pop culture arena. It’s being given such a wide platform to shine on. I know that a golden age normally indicates a fall if The Doom That Came to Sarnath has taught me anything, but this really does feel like we are living in a golden age.

You can check out a full list of the 2022 Ennie nominees at this link and I will be doing my best to cover what I think are the standouts from this year’s selection. Get your votes in before July 24, 2022, and stay tuned to various social media platforms ( and this space ) as the winners are set to be announced at GenCon on August 5th at 8 PM EST.