Yeah, so, sometimes things sneak up on you.

I was out at a movie when it happened. When I left the theater I found 10pm voicemail from Rob on my phone, which never happens, and wondered what emergency I’d missed. Checking the details, Google Voice hilariously mistranscribed his message as “If it is silver, ladies and be cistercian order’s going to call. Other than something D on fire. But you need to check the any and a whole.”

That “silver” keyword was all I needed to realize something was up with the ENnies.

I’d had hopes for Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple, which didn’t win in the ENnies but did turn out to take the Indie RPG Awards by storm (Game of the Year, Best Production Values, and Most Innovative, go Daniel!), but it didn’t seem that that’s what Rob was talking about. But what else could we have won for?

Turns out it was the Fan’s Choice for Best Publisher silver. I’m gobsmacked. Gold went to Paizo (of course!) but after years of hoping for a win in this category, I never expected that in this — a fairly slow product year for us — we’d find our win. Especially here, in this category, where so often there are dozens of competitors for the top two slots.

But win we did, and that tells me something about you.

It tells me that you’ve got our back.

It tells me that you’re sticking with us as we’re pushing ourselves into new directions, new shapes, new games.

It tells me that we’ve worked our way into your gaming life more profoundly than I had really ever realized, and that you’ve welcomed us with enthusiasm and your own passion for games.

When we win something like this, when we learn these things about you, it drives us more than ever to deliver the best games and stories we can. You’ve shown us how much you’ve enjoyed what we’ve done, and how much faith and hope you’re bringing to us for everything we’ve yet to do. We will do our best to live up to that. You deserve it.

Thank you.