Animator Monty Oum (b.1981) died on February 1 from an allergic reaction. Oum created the series RWBY and also worked in the gaming industry for Midway Games and Namco Bandai Games, often as a combat designer. He began working for Rooster Teeth in 2010. Prior to working in the gaming industry, Oum created on-line videos using character models he was able to extract from various games. He won a Steamy Award and an International Academy of Web Television Award for RWBY.
Ralph H. Baer (b.1922) died on December 6. Baer is best known for creating the Magnavox Odyssey, widely regarded as the first home video game console, in the 1960s. The unit went on sale in 1972. He also created the first light gun, which was the first peripheral for a home video game. In late late 70s, he helped develop the game Simon. Baer was born in German and was expelled from school at 11 due to his Jewish ancestry. His family fled Germany in 1938.
Game Designer Brianna Wu, who was forced from her home earlier this month after threats related to GamerGate, has announced that she is forming a legal fund for women targeted by Gamergate. Wu is currently looking for legal advice to ensure that the fund meets all legal and tax requirements.
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The ENnie Awards were presented at GenCon on August 15. Founded in 2001, the awards honor the best in Role-playing publishing.
- Best Adventure: Trail of Cthulhu: Eternal Lies
- Best Aid/Accessory: Numenera Creature Deck
- Best Art, Cover: Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Mythic Adventures
- Best Art, Interior: Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea Gods
- Best Blog: Gnome Stew
- Best Cartography: Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Wrath of the RIghteous Poster Map FOlio
- Best Electronic Book: Player’s Guide to Emerald City
- Best Family Game: Fate Accelerated Edition
- Best Free Product: Fate Accelerated Edition
- Best Game: Fate Core System
- Best Miniature Product: Pathfinder Battles: Wrath of the Righteous
- Best Monster/Adversary: Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bestiary 4
- Best Podcast: Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff
- Best Production Values: Numenera Corebook
- Best RPG Related Product: Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Rise of the Runelords Base Set
- Best Rules: Fate Core System
- Best Setting: Numenera Corebook
- Best Software: Roll20
- Best Supplement: Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Ultimate Campaign
- Best Website: RPG Geek
- Best Writing: Numenera Corebook
- Product of the Year: Numenera Corebook
- Judges’ Spotlight Winners: Hooper, Hobomancer Companion; Kayra Keri Kupcu, Deep Magic; Stacy Muth, Rocket Age RGP; Jakub Nowosad, The Demolished Ones; Kurt Wiegel, Weird Wars Rome
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MineORama, an unofficial Minecraft convention scheduled to be held in Manhattan on July 12-13, has been cancelled because of lack of financing. Event organizers claim that the event will be rescheduled for a later date and tickets purchased for the original dates will be considered valid. They have not provided information about refunds
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A group of video gamers, led by Larry Hryb and Howard Scott Warshaw, have discovered trashed copies of Atari’s infamous E.T. videogame in a landfill in New Mexico. After the game failed, Atari dumped as many as 750,000 copies of the cartridges in the landfill in Alamagordo, NM. Hryb, who helped design the Xbox, and Warshaw, who designed the E.T. game, set out to prove the urban legend concerning the disposal of the games to be true.
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Author Aaron Allston (b.1960) died on February 27. Allston collapsed earlier in the day while attending VisionCon. Allston began his career at Space Gamer magazine and served as editor before becoming a freelance game designer in 1983. He went on to write the Dungeons and Dragons Rules Cyclopedia and published his first novel, Web of Danger in 1988. Writing several more original novels, some in collaboration with Holly Lisle, Allston eventually turned to writing Star Wars tie-in novels, beginning with X-Wing: Wraith Squadron.
The Diehard GameFan website has announced their awards for 2013 tabletop gaming.
- Best Board/Card Game: Magic: The Gathering–Theros
- Best Gaming Magazine: Gygax Magazine
- Best Tabletop Based Fiction: Shadowrun Returns Anthology
- Best Art: Shadows of Esteren: Book 2–Travels
- Best Old School Renaissance Title: Codex Celtarum for Castles & Crusades
- Best Re-Make/Re-Release: Werewolf: The Apocalypse: 20th Anniversary Edition
- Best New Game: Numenera
- Best Free Release: Better Than Any Man for Lamentations of the Flame Princess
- Best Miniatures Line: Reaper Miniatures: Bones
- Best Supplement: Christina Stiles Presents: Waysides: Didjer’s Crab House
- Best Sourcebook: The God Machine Chronicle
- Best Adventure (Solo): Castles & Crusades: To Kill a King
- Best Adventure (Collection Or Campaign): The Island of Ignorance: The Third Call of Cthulhu Companion
- Best Campaign Setting: Dungeons & Dragons: Murder in Baldur’s Gate
- Best Core Rulebook: Mummy: The Curse
- System Of The Year: The Storytelling System (New World of Darkness)
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Editor Anthony J. Bryant (b.1961) died on December 25. Bryant served as the fifth editor of Dragon Magazine from issue 222-229 in 1995 and 1996. Bryant also was a specialist on Japanese military history, publishing four volumes on the Samurai period.
The ENnie Awards were presented at GenCon on August 17. Founded in 2001, the awards honor the best in Role-playing publishing.
- Best Adventure: Pathfinder: Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition
- Best Aid/Accessory: Night’s Watch
- Best Art, Cover: Iron Kingdoms
- Best Art, Interior: Shadows of Esteren Book 1
- Best Blog: Gnome Stew
- Best Cartography: The Lands of Ice and Fire
- Best Electronic Book: Deadlands Reloaded: The Last Sons
- Best Family Game: Doctor Who: Adventures in Time & Space—11th Doctor Edition
- Best Free Game: Mazes and Perils RPG
- Best Free Product: Wayfinder #8
- Best Game: Iron Kingdoms
- Best Miniature: Pathfinder Bestiary Box
- Best Monster/Adversary: NPC Codex
- Best Podcast: TableTop: Dragon Age
- Best Production Values: Shadows of Esteren Book 1
- Best RPG Related Product: Kobold Guide to Wordbuilding
- Best Rules: Dungeon World
- Best Setting: Magnimar: City of Monuments
- Best Software: Roll20
- Best Supplement: Shadowrun 2050
- Best Website: Gnome Stew
- Best Writing: Kobold Guide to Worldbuilding
- Product of the Year: NPC Codex
- Judges’ Spotlight Winners: Hooper, Leviathans; Matthew Muth, School Daze; Jakud Nowosad, Deniable Asset; Megan Robertson, Killshot: Director’s Cut; Kurt Wiegel, Eldritch Skies
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