1999

List of Winners

Presented at Origins 2000

Best Abstract Board Game of 1999

Button Men
Cheapass Games
Designer: James Ernest

Best Action Computer Game of 1999

MechWarrior 3
Microprose, Inc.
Designers: Graham Kays, Michael Mancuso, Erol Oms, Rob Sears, George Sinfield, Brian Soderberg

Best Amateur Game Magazine of 1999

Alarums & Excursions
Lee Gold
Publisher: Lee Gold

Best Card Game Expansion or Supplement of 1999

7th Sea: Strange Vistas
Alderac Entertainment Group
Designers: Dan Verssen, Rob Vaux, Kevin Wilson

Best Game-Related Novel of 1999

Delta Green: The Rules of Engagement
Pagan Publishing
Author: John Tynes

Best Game-Related Short Work of 1999

Just a Tad Beyond Innsmouth
Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Stanley C. Sargent

Best Graphic Presentation of a Board Game of 1999

Button Men
Cheapass 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*Matter
Wizards of the Coast
Designers: Wolfgang Bauer, Monte Cook

Best Historical Board Game of 1999

Great War at Sea: 1904-1905, The Russo-Japanese Naval War
Avalanche Press

Best Historical Figure Miniature Series of 1999

German Assault Squad
Easy Eight Enterprises

Best Historical Miniatures Rules of 1999

Armies of Antiquity
Warhammer Historical Wargames

Best Ongoing Play-by-Mail Game of 1999

Middle-earth PBM Fourth Age, circa 1000
Game Systems, Inc.
Designers: William B. Feild, Jr., Peter G. Stassun

Best Professional Game Magazine of 1999

Knights of the Dinner Table Magazine
Kenzer & Company
Developers: Jolly Blackburn, Brian Jelke, Steve Johansson, David Kenzer

Best Roleplaying Adventure of 1999

Beyond the Mountains of Madness
Chaosium, Inc.
Designers: Charles Engan and Janyce Engan

Best Roleplaying Computer Game of 1999

Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast
Interplay Productions

Best Roleplaying Game of 1999

7th Sea Role-Playing Game
Alderac Entertainment Group
Designers: John Wick, Jennifer Wick, Kevin Wilson

Best Roleplaying Supplement of 1999

Delta Green: Countdown
Pagan Publishing
Designers: Dennis Detwiller, Adam Scott Glancy, John Tynes

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Board Game of 1999

Orcs at the Gates
Jolly Roger Games
Designer: Jim Dietz

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Figure Miniature of 1999

Togashi Yokuni
Alderac Entertainment Group
Designer: Chaz Elliot

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Miniatures Rules of 1999

Diskwars
Fantasy Flight Games
Designers: Tom Jolly, Christian T. Petersen

Best Strategy Computer Game of 1999

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
Firaxis
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 Geek
Steve Jackson Games
Designer: Jon Darbro

Best Vehicle Miniature of 1999

Babylon 5 Station
Agents 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.