The Dark shadow tabletop role-playing game took home the top prize at this year’s Ennie Awards. And that’s not all! A panel of experts gave the old school inspired RPG three other gold medals, including Best Game, Best Layout and Design, and even Best Rules. That’s what creator Kelsey Dionne and her team at The Arcane Library about the biggest Gen Con awards show you can imagine.
Dark shadow was a bit of a slow burn among dedicated fans of the TTRPG genre, making a name for itself largely through word of mouth in the years following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. But it took a high-profile Kickstarter campaign in 2023 to really bring the game to the public, where it grossed nearly $1.4 million — a hefty sum for a TTRPG of any kind, let alone a throwback like this. It’s a rules-light system that works well for players who’ve sunk their teeth into Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. It’s perfect for Game Masters and groups looking for more open-ended, less linear experiences.
While physical copies of Dark shadow are currently sold out, you can pre-order one of the next edition for $59. If you do, you will also get immediate access to a PDF version of that content. There is also a free quick startwith slim booklets for both players and game masters. It comes with a beginner’s dungeon crawl titled Lost Citadel of the Scarlet Minotaur.
The ultra-violent Eat the Empire also won multiple awards this year, with gold medals for Best Art, Cover and Best Art, Interior and Best Adventure – Short Form. It’s easy to see why: The TTRPG puts players in the role of powerful vampires who are “thrown into the coffin” in occupied Paris with the sole purpose of “drinking all of Adolf Hitler’s blood.” It was written by Grant Howitt, of Honey theft fame and illustrated by Will Kirkby, who has worked with Critical Role and Image Comics, Dark Horse Comics and Boom! Studios.
Here at Polygon, we love the Ennie Awards for their unique format. The judges are volunteers from the NL World community that follows a useful set of ethical guidelinesand are asked to pledge not to enter into a professional relationship with any RPG publisher in the run-up to the awards. Guidelines like these help ensure that the Ennies aren’t just a popularity contest, but a more grassroots survey of the best the TTRPG industry has to offer. You can find the full list of nominees and winners in each category on the Ennie Awards website.