List of Winners
Presented at Origins 2000
Best Abstract Board Game of 1999
Button MenCheapass Games
Designer: James Ernest
Best Action Computer Game of 1999
MechWarrior 3Microprose, Inc.
Designers: Graham Kays, Michael Mancuso, Erol Oms, Rob Sears, George Sinfield, Brian Soderberg
Best Amateur Game Magazine of 1999
Alarums & ExcursionsLee Gold
Publisher: Lee Gold
Best Card Game Expansion or Supplement of 1999
7th Sea: Strange VistasAlderac Entertainment Group
Designers: Dan Verssen, Rob Vaux, Kevin Wilson
Best Game-Related Novel of 1999
Delta Green: The Rules of EngagementPagan Publishing
Author: John Tynes
Best Game-Related Short Work of 1999
Just a Tad Beyond InnsmouthChaosium, Inc.
Author: Stanley C. Sargent
Best Graphic Presentation of a Board Game of 1999
Button MenCheapass Games
Designer: James Ernest
Best Graphic Presentation of a Card Game or Supplement of 1999
7th Sea: No Quarter!Alderac Entertainment Group
Designers: Dan Verssen, David Williams, John Zinser
Best Graphic Presentation of a Roleplaying Game, Adventure, or Supplement of 1999
Dark*MatterWizards of the Coast
Designers: Wolfgang Bauer, Monte Cook
Best Historical Board Game of 1999
Great War at Sea: 1904-1905, The Russo-Japanese Naval WarAvalanche Press
Best Historical Figure Miniature Series of 1999
German Assault SquadEasy Eight Enterprises
Best Historical Miniatures Rules of 1999
Armies of AntiquityWarhammer Historical Wargames
Best Ongoing Play-by-Mail Game of 1999
Middle-earth PBM Fourth Age, circa 1000Game Systems, Inc.
Designers: William B. Feild, Jr., Peter G. Stassun
Best Professional Game Magazine of 1999
Knights of the Dinner Table MagazineKenzer & Company
Developers: Jolly Blackburn, Brian Jelke, Steve Johansson, David Kenzer
Best Roleplaying Adventure of 1999
Beyond the Mountains of MadnessChaosium, Inc.
Designers: Charles Engan and Janyce Engan
Best Roleplaying Computer Game of 1999
Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword CoastInterplay Productions
Best Roleplaying Game of 1999
7th Sea Role-Playing GameAlderac Entertainment Group
Designers: John Wick, Jennifer Wick, Kevin Wilson
Best Roleplaying Supplement of 1999
Delta Green: CountdownPagan Publishing
Designers: Dennis Detwiller, Adam Scott Glancy, John Tynes
Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Board Game of 1999
Orcs at the GatesJolly Roger Games
Designer: Jim Dietz
Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Figure Miniature of 1999
Togashi YokuniAlderac Entertainment Group
Designer: Chaz Elliot
Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Miniatures Rules of 1999
DiskwarsFantasy Flight Games
Designers: Tom Jolly, Christian T. Petersen
Best Strategy Computer Game of 1999
Sid Meier's Alpha CentauriFiraxis
Designers: Sid Meier, Brian Reynolds
Best Trading Card Game of 1999
7th Sea: No Quarter!Alderac Entertainment Group
Designers: Dan Verssen, David Williams, John Zinser
Best Traditional Card Game of 1999
Chez GeekSteve Jackson Games
Designer: Jon Darbro
Best Vehicle Miniature of 1999
Babylon 5 StationAgents of Gaming
Sculptor: John Winters
Adventure Gaming Hall of Fame
Champions
Hero Games
Champions was first released in June of 1981 and quickly became the best-selling superhero roleplaying game, a category which was largely ignored until Champions. Champions pioneered or popularized a number of roleplaying innovations: creating characters by point allocation, character disadvantages, designing the effects of powers, and creating character backstory. Champions was able to represent the feel of superhero combat with simple rules (such as knockback) which have been widely imitated by other superhero RPGs, but never bettered. Today, despite many competitors over the years — including licensed games based on popular comic book universes — Champions continues to be acknowledged as the leading superhero roleplaying game.
Champions has sold well over 300,000 copies of the core rules since its release, and over 1,000,000 copies of supplements have been sold. Champions was named the #1 RPG of all time by Inquest magazine in September 1998. Champions is one of the oldest RPGs in continuous publication, and its design has influenced many other RPGs. A new edition of Champions will be available in 2000, along with a new edition of the now separate Hero System rules.
GURPS
Steve Jackson Games
GURPS was designed by Hall of Famer Steve Jackson. Its roots are in two of SteveÕs earlier efforts for Metagaming, Melee and Wizard, which inspired The Fantasy Trip, which in turn inspired GURPS.
First published in 1986 as a boxed set from Steve Jackson Games, GURPS (short for Generic Universal Role-Playing System) was one of the first games to tackle the ambitious task of being a rules system that could be used in virtually any setting. The GURPS system has gone through three editions and several revisions. More than 1,000,000 copies have been sold over the course of the game's life, and over 150 supplements for the game have been made.
No game system has come close to tackling as many different genres as GURPS, truly making it the most universal system in print. Past products detailed topics like fantasy, space, swashbucklers, Discworld, supers, autodueling, The Prisoner, and more. Even other games have been converted to GURPS, including Vampire: The Masquerade and Traveller, and GURPS editions of new hits like Deadlands: The Weird West and Conspiracy X are on the way.
Greg Costikyan
Greg has designed nearly thirty different games, many of which are considered classics. These include Barbarian Kings, The Creature that Ate Sheboygan, Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, Star Trek: The Adventure Game, Paranoia, Toon, and -- most recently -- Violence: The Roleplaying Game of Egregious and Repulsive Bloodshed. These days, he also does computer game design. His latest project in that industry is Fantasy War for Sony Online Entertainment.
He has designed games for Victory Games, Avalon Hill, Steve Jackson Games, West End Games, Prodigy, Crossover Technologies, and the Discovery Channel. He has also had published four novels and a number of short stories. He has won several Origins Awards: for Best Roleplaying Game of 1987 for Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, for Best Roleplaying Game of 1984 for Paranoia, for Best Historical Boardgame of 1985 for Pax Britannica, for Best Pre-20th Century Boardgame of 1984 for Web & Starship, and for Best Fantasy/Science Fiction Boardgame of 1979 for The Creature that Ate Sheboygan.
Larry Elmore
Larry came to TSR in the early 80s, and he immediately brought a whole new level of quality to the cover and interior art of the company's products. Over the years, the name Elmore has become synonymous with fantasy roleplaying and fantasy fiction, despite his easily recognizable style. He left TSR many years ago and went on to grace the products of many other companies with his amazing covers.
Larry has painted the covers for dozens of games and novels, including the best-selling Dragonlance series, Shadowrun, Dark Conspiracy, and many others. HeÕs even become the creative force behind Sovereign Stone, a handsome, brand-new fantasy roleplaying game for which he painted the cover and drew all of the interior artwork.
We can't list Larry's Origins Awards here for one good reason. There hasn't been a way to directly recognize artists in the past. The Hall of Fame is the only way right now, and no artist has made it yet. Larry certainly deserves to be the first.