Fabula Ultima wins Gold Best Game and Silver Best Product at Ennies 2023!

Hi, everyone!

This is an important post, and I decided to start things off with a video - the one I recorded so that I could give my thanks to the GenCon2023 Ennies Awards audience, had Fabula Ultima managed to win any awards (I was unable to attend personally due to excessive travel and stay costs, which put the publisher in a rough spot).

Now, what I certainly didn't expect, especially in the context of a competition where community vote matters so much, was for the game to score not one, but two awards, and for those awards to be Gold and Silver at that. After all, despite its success on DriveThruRPG, Fabula Ultima certainly isn't a juggernaut of a brand, and for the publisher, Need Games, this was the first year with a booth at GenCon.

...I guess you proved me wrong ⊙_⊙

Fabula Ultima has won two awards: Best Game (gold) and Best Product (silver). While both are important and prestigious, I admit the 1st place for best game is what matters the most to me: it means people have played the game, and have found it good enough to warrant the attention and time required to vote for it in a very specific category.

There is a loooooooong list of people to thank for this result, so let's start.

First of all, I need to thank all the people in this community, who supported the difficult process of creating the game and gave me advice, criticism, and most importantly, enthusiasm. On patreon, during conventions, within a variety of different Telegram chats... it was all important. It is, still, fundamental, as Fabula Ultima is an ongoing project and is also not the only game I'm working on. Before the prizes, before the conventions, before the collaboration with Need Games was even an hypothesis, before the playtest, when it was just an idea... you trusted me. You were intrigued. And that, is what gave me the energy to push through even when, frankly, wiser minds would have done otherwise.

Then, I must thank all the creators who poured love, effort and attention into creating Fabula Ultima. While the writing, game design, graphic and logo design of the core game were my doing (and about that: stay tuned for location, artifact and villain designs from many other excellent people in the upcoming Atlas expansions!!!), Fabula Ultima would lack its soul without the cover and Class arts by Moryo, the chapter, bestiary, and interior illustrations by Catthy Trinh, the vibrant pixel arts from Sascha Naderer, the colorful chibi portraits by Lorenzo Magalotti, and the landscapes by Susu Nonohara and Christian Benavides. Many of the icons used in the game, too, came from the works of Lorc on GameIcons.net.

Another artist I want to thank, even if he didn't directly work on the book, is Paolo Farina, alias SonOfaDie: he created the official soundtrack for Fabula Ultima, Aetherea Melodias, which can also be used during streams on twitch and youtube (contact him so he can enable your channel to use the music without trouble).

Obviously, my thanks go to the team at Need Games as well; they shouldered the burdens of logistics, production, publicity, and many other duties - and in Italy, they have also gone through the effort of creating a spinoff Fabula Ultima experience, Fabula Chronicles, which allows for one shots and organized play, effectively hacking parts of the system to fit this formula.

Another person I want to thank, specifically, is Marta Palvarini, who provided sensitivity advice and went through my work, pointing out problematic bits, and all in all helping to make sure the text sent the message it meant to send (again, you'll se this more explicitly in the upcoming books, especially the Techno Fantasy Atlas).

And finally, I ought to thank all the artists, designers, programmers, and dreamers whose visions inspired the making of Fabula Ultima. From Squaresoft-era Final Fantasy titles to the more recent Bravely series, from the hopeful smiles of Atelier protagonists to the war-torn lands of Xenogears, from the fantastical regions of Tales of Arise to the dystopian space of Xenosaga, countless creators have told stories of rebellion, justice and hope - the same sentiments that brought Fabula Ultima into being.

A drive for dialogue, cooperation, and communication, the only way we can build true alliances and thwart the plans of those who believe the world cannot be changed for the better... or who reap benefits from society's sorrows.

A call for people, and not just characters, to be like the members of a JRPG party. To find beauty in each other's quirks, to seek truth, and to cling together and fight side by side against terrible odds; to confront the shadows within so we may shed light on the shadows without.

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Last but not least, and speaking of shadows within and without, allow me this little bit of final commentary.

I've already seen people talk about Fabula Ultima as "the Italian game which..." and, please, no.

Do not do that.

Fabula Ultima was made by an Italian person, and published by an Italian company, yes, but this is by mere chance; and I try my best to involve more and more people within it, from all over the world, in as many stages of creation as possible, to make it a project that bridges borders, certainly not a tool for celebrating a particular nation (and what would we celebrate about this nation of ours, exactly? Our ruling class fits the early chapters of Final Fantasy 7 to a T, and the last thing I wish for is stoking the fires of nationalist rhetoric).

This game is just that, a game made by humans - I strongly condemn using it to boost national ego or create competitions with designers from other nations, or even discourage new designers from approaching the craft.

Fabula Ultima is a game made by some people who live in this world, for all the other people who share this same world, and that... is all that matters.

Ultimately, thank you, for choosing to tell your stories and share your feelings through Fabula Ultima. I hope its path will prove comfortable enough, though not without twists - believe me, I've struggled with this game's rebellious soul firsthand, and for a long time - and that it will spark in you a newfound trust for your creativity and passion, as well as those of others.

This is, after all, our story.

And we better take good care of it, and of each other too.

- Emanuele