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Evil Hat Productions

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Evil Hat Productions
Company typePrivately held company
IndustryRole-playing
Headquarters
United States
Key people
Rob DonoghueandFred Hicks
ProductsFate,The Dresden Files Roleplaying Game,Blades in the Dark,Thirsty Sword Lesbians
Websitewww.evilhat.com

Evil Hat Productionsis a company that producesrole-playing gamesand othertabletop games.They are best known for the freeindie RPGsystemFate,Blades in the Dark,andThirsty Sword Lesbians,all of which have won multiple awards.

History

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Fred Hickshad been working with Lydia Leong,Rob Donoghue,and others to runLARPsat AmberCon NorthWest starting in 1999, and came up with the name Evil Hat for themselves.[1]: 421 While on a trip to Lake Tahoe, friends Hicks and Donoghue developed a new game based on a conversation about running anotherAmbergame and fixing some problems withFUDGE;the result wasFatewhich Hicks and Donoghue would publish under the name Evil Hat.[1]: 421 Donoghue and Hicks released a complete first-edition ofFatethrough Yahoo! Groups (January 2003) then cleaned up the technical writing and slightly polished the system for a second edition (August 2003).[1]: 421 Hicks and Donoghue began work on the licensedDresden Files Roleplaying Gamein 2004, but publication was held up because they decided to useSpirit of the Century(2006) to introduce theFate 3.0system instead.[1]: 423 While working on these other games, as a side-project Hicks worked onDon't Rest Your Head(2006), which would be Evil Hat's first published game.[1]: 423 Don't Rest Your Headwas critically acclaimed and quickly sold through Evil Hat's shortprint-on-demandprint run.[1]: 424 

In 2005, the company began producing a series of commercial role-playing games using an updated version of the Fate system, each focusing on a different genre. These include the 1920spulp adventureSpirit of the Centuryand the hard sci-fiDiaspora.In 2010, they releasedDresden Files Roleplaying Game,based on theDresden Filesseries of novels by authorJim Butcher.[2]The FATE system had also been licensed toCubicle 7 Entertainmentwho used it forStarblazer Adventures,based on the BritishStarblazercomic.[3]

Evil Hat Productions is a part of the Bits and Mortar initiative and was one of the original founding companies in August 2010.[4]

In January 2016, Evil Hat Productions announcedprint-runsfor some of itsFate Core Systemgames such as[5]Venture City(2014)[6]andDo: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple(2011).[7]The company then announced in September 2016 that they would be bringing bothBlades in the Dark(2017) andKarthun: Lands of Conflict(2017) to trade in 2017; both games were funded via successfulKickstartercampaigns in 2015 and 2014, respectively.[8]

In October 2018,ICv2reported that Evil Hat was scaling back with "a total of a dozen projects [...] postponed or cut in the immediate future" along with staff reductions such as the Head of Marketing Carrie Harris and the Head of Business Development Chris Hanrahan leaving that month and Senior Art Director Brian Patterson beinglaid off"at the end of 2018".[9]

In 2019, Hicks revealed that the role-playing gameMonster of the Week(2015) had a surge in sales after being featured onThe Adventure Zonepodcast in 2018. Hicks informed ICv2 that "interest in that same month surged to a level similar to our initial product release spike; in practically every month since, sustained interest in the game has vastly outstripped what we were able to achieve ourselves. Only one month, October 2018, dipped below the highest interest level we saw immediately following release in 2015, and was promptly followed by November 2018 where we saw our strongest sales-month ever for the product (possibly due to retailers stocking up for the holiday gifting season)".[10]Hicks highlighted that whileFate Core System"achieved a big sales surge" after being featured in May 2017 onGeek & Sundry’sTableTop"the impact was shorter than it was forThe Adventure Zone"impact onMonster of the Week.[10]

Awards

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Don't Rest Your Headwas a runner-up for Indie Game of the Year at the 2006Indie RPG Awards,losing to Evil Hat'sSpirit of the Century.[1]: 424 In 2007, Evil Hat won a silverENnie Awardfor Best Rules and an Honorable Mention for Best Game, both forSpirit of the Century.[11]In 2008, the game supplementDon't Lose Your Mindwon the Indie RPG Awards for Indie Supplement of the Year.[12]In 2009,Don't Lose Your Mindwon the Silver ENnie for Best Writing andSwashbucklers of the 7 Skieswon the Silver ENnie for Best Setting; both games were also nominated for Product of the Year.[13]

The company won twoOrigins Awardsin 2010 forThe Dresden Files Roleplaying Game:Best Role-playing Game and Best Supplement for two books in the line. In 2011, the same game won gold ENnie for Best Game, Best New Game and Best Writing, and silver ENnies for Best Production Values and Product of the Year.[14]The company also won the silver ENnie for Fan Favorite Publisher in 2012.[15]

The company was nominated for the 2014Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming;the committee wrote that:

Ever since the release ofFateas a free RPG in 2003, Evil Hat Productions has aimed at two usually difficult goals: skill and elegance in game design, and professionalism and transparency in publishing. Honesty and openness about business realities, and excitement and perfectionism about game possibilities, built the Evil Hat audience from a corner of the Internet to a loyal horde numbering in the tens of thousands. [...] By co-creating Bits and Mortar, Evil Hat pioneered PDF-retailer cooperation; using the Open Game License and Creative Commons, Evil Hat built on a tradition of trusting players and designers to build better games. In 2013, Evil Hat hit both its design goals and its deadlines withFate Core:five books Kickstarted, printed, and delivered, and over 60,000 copies sold. AndFate Coreis still a free RPG.[16]

Also in 2014, Evil Hat'sFate Core Systemnearly swept the ENnies, with Gold awards for Best Game and Best Rules and Silver for Product of the Year, while the relatedFate Accelerated Editionwon Gold for Best Family Game and the supplements and accessoriesStrange Tales of the Century,theFate System Toolkit,theFate SRDandEldrich Fate Dice,won silver ENnies for Best RPG Related Product, Best Supplement, Best Website and Best Aid/Accessory, respectively.[17]

In the Best Family Game category, the company won the silver ENnie in 2015 for theAtomic RoboRPG[18]and the gold ENnie in 2017 forBubblegumshoe.Designers & Dragons: A History of the Roleplaying Game Industrywon the gold ENnie for Best RPG Related Product in 2015, and theDresden Files Cooperative Card Gamereceived the silver ENnie in the same category in 2018.

Evil Hat won "Best Setting" in both the 2018 and 2019Indie Groundbreaker AwardsfromIndie Game Developer Network,forAreciboandThe Way of Pukona.[19]

In 2022, the team of six writers for the role-playing gameThirsty Sword Lesbianswon theNebula Awardin the "Best Game Writing"category; it was the first tabletop game to win a Nebula Award.[20][21]The game also won the 2022 ENNIE Awards[a]for "Best Game"[22]and for "Product of the Year".[23]

Publications

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Role-playing games

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Books

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Fiction:

  • Beyond DinocalypseISBN978-1-61317-016-8
  • Dinocalypse NowISBN978-1-61317-003-8
  • Don't Read this BookISBN978-1-61317-012-0
  • Khan of MarsISBN978-1-61317-018-2
  • King KhanISBN978-1-61317-019-9
  • Sally Slick and the Steel SyndicateISBN978-1-61317-063-2

Non-Fiction:

Board and card games

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  • Race to Adventure[citation needed]
  • Zeppelin Attack!(2014)[40]
  • Don’t Turn Your Back(2015)[41]
  • The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game(2017)[42][43]
  • Kaiju Incorporated Card Game(2017)[26]
  • Greedy Dragons(2018)[44]

Notes

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  1. ^Previously stylized as the ENnie Awards.
  2. ^First edition was produced byMongoose Publishing.[38]

References

[edit]
  1. ^abcdefgShannon Appelcline (2011).Designers & Dragons.Mongoose Publishing.ISBN978-1-907702-58-7.
  2. ^"Evil Hat Productions - Home".Retrieved2011-02-03.
  3. ^"Starblazer from Cubicle 7 Entertainment Ltd".Archived fromthe originalon 2011-02-07.Retrieved2011-02-03.
  4. ^"Bits and Mortar".Archived fromthe originalon 2014-08-01.Retrieved2013-09-07.Publisher Coalition Forms Pro-Retailer Pro-PDF Initiative Bits and Mortar
  5. ^"Evil Hat Expands 'Fate Core' Offerings".icv2.com.January 14, 2016.Retrieved2022-08-07.
  6. ^Tremaine, Kate (2022-05-25)."10 Best Quick-Start Fate Adventures, According To DriveThruRPG.com".CBR.Retrieved2022-08-07.
  7. ^Harnish, M. J."An In-Depth Review of Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple".Wired.ISSN1059-1028.Retrieved2022-08-07.
  8. ^ab"Evil Hat Brings Successful Kickstarter RPGs to Trade".icv2.com.September 13, 2016.Retrieved2022-08-07.
  9. ^Bunge, Nicole (October 3, 2018)."Evil Hat Dials Back New Publishing for 2019".ICv2.Retrieved2022-08-07.
  10. ^abc"'The Adventure Zone' Bump -- Sales of Little-Known RPG Surge ".icv2.com.February 3, 2019.Retrieved2022-08-07.
  11. ^"2007 Noms and Winners".ENnie Awards. 2015-08-01. Archived fromthe originalon 2015-12-11.Retrieved2015-12-20.
  12. ^"Indie RPG Awards".
  13. ^"2009 Noms and Winners | ENnie Awards".www.ennie-awards.com.Archived fromthe originalon 2013-04-27.
  14. ^"2011 Noms and Winners".ENnie Awards. 2011-02-26. Archived fromthe originalon 2019-03-12.Retrieved2015-12-20.
  15. ^"2012 Noms and Winners | ENnie Awards".www.ennie-awards.com.Archived fromthe originalon 29 August 2019.Retrieved15 May2022.
  16. ^"The 2014 Award".The Diana Jones Award.2015-05-23.Retrieved2022-08-07.
  17. ^"Announcing the 2014 ENnie Award winners".ENnie Awards. 2014-08-16. Archived fromthe originalon 2019-04-09.Retrieved2015-12-20.
  18. ^"Congratulations to all the 2015 ENnie Award Winners!".ENnie Awards. 2015-08-01. Archived fromthe originalon 2015-12-12.Retrieved2015-12-20.
  19. ^"Previous Award Winners".Indie Game Developer Network.Retrieved2023-03-28.
  20. ^"Thirsty Sword Lesbians Wins Nebula Award for Best Game Writing".ComicBook.com.May 23, 2022.Retrieved2022-08-06.
  21. ^"Sapphic and sharp tabletop RPG Thirsty Sword Lesbians wins Nebula Award for best game writing".Dicebreaker.2022-05-23.Retrieved2022-08-06.
  22. ^ENNIE Awards [@ENnies](August 5, 2022)."Best Game Silver goes to: Root: The RPG Gold goes to: Thirsty Sword Lesbians"(Tweet).RetrievedAugust 6,2022– viaTwitter.
  23. ^ENNIE Awards [@ENnies](August 5, 2022)."Product of the Year Silver goes to: Call of Cthulhu Classic Prop Set Gold goes to: Thirsty Sword Lesbians"(Tweet).RetrievedAugust 6,2022– viaTwitter.
  24. ^"'Dresden Files RPG: The Paranet Papers'".icv2.com.March 10, 2015.Retrieved2022-08-07.
  25. ^"'Dresden Files Accelerated' Printing Errors ".icv2.com.July 3, 2017.Retrieved2022-08-07.
  26. ^ab"Evil Hat Takes on Giant Monsters in 'Kaiju Incorporated'".icv2.com.September 16, 2016.Retrieved2022-08-07.
  27. ^Wieland, Rob (November 26, 2018)."Roleplay as Scoundrels In Space In SCUM AND VILLAINY".Nerdist.Geek & Sundry.Retrieved2022-08-07.
  28. ^"Indie Boards & Cards Dystopian Universe is Now an RPG".icv2.com.March 30, 2018.Retrieved2022-08-07.
  29. ^"Origins Award Nominees".icv2.com.May 1, 2019.Retrieved2022-08-07.
  30. ^"Evil Hat Presents 'Band of Blades'".icv2.com.January 31, 2019.Retrieved2022-08-07.
  31. ^Rochlin, Jason (2020-01-22)."Fate of Cthulhu Tabletop Game Sparks Controversy".Game Rant.Retrieved2022-08-07.
  32. ^"The 'Fate of Cthulhu' Looms".icv2.com.April 24, 2019.Retrieved2022-08-07.
  33. ^Carter, Chase (2022-05-23)."Sapphic and sharp tabletop RPG Thirsty Sword Lesbians wins Nebula Award for best game writing".Dicebreaker.Retrieved2023-04-21.
  34. ^Meehan, Alex (2021-11-10)."Advanced Lovers & Lesbians first expansion for Thirsty Sword Lesbians RPG".Dicebreaker.Retrieved2023-04-21.
  35. ^abIsrael, Cecily (May 18, 2009)."Sequential Tart: Spirit of the Game (Volume 12 Issue 5, May 2009)".Sequential Tart(Interview).Archivedfrom the original on August 2, 2021.Retrieved2022-08-07.
  36. ^Wieland, Rob."Monsters Save The World In The Apocalypse Keys RPG".Forbes.Retrieved2023-04-03.
  37. ^Carter, Chase (2023-01-19)."7 most anticipated new tabletop RPGs coming out in 2023".Polygon.Retrieved2023-04-03.
  38. ^"Expanded 'Designers & Dragons'".icv2.com.September 17, 2012.Retrieved2022-08-07.
  39. ^"Expanded 'Designers & Dragons' Four-Volume Set".icv2.com.August 6, 2014.Retrieved2022-08-07.
  40. ^"'Zeppelin Attack!'".icv2.com.July 7, 2014.Retrieved2022-08-07.
  41. ^"New Dark and Gritty Deck-Building Game from Evil Hat".icv2.com.May 6, 2015.Retrieved2022-08-07.
  42. ^"Preview: 'The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game'".icv2.com.January 13, 2016.Retrieved2022-08-07.
  43. ^"Review: 'The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game' (Card Game)".icv2.com.May 19, 2017.Retrieved2022-08-07.
  44. ^"Split the Hoard in Evil Hat's 'Greedy Dragons'".icv2.com.January 19, 2018.Retrieved2022-08-07.
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