The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the game industry. They are presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for the previous year, so (for example) the 1979 awards were given at the 1980

Origins Origin(s) or The Origin may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics and manga * ''Origin'' (comics), a Wolverine comic book mini-series published by Marvel Comics in 2002 * ''The Origin'' (Buffy comic), a 1999 ''Buffy the Vampire Sl ...

. The Origins Award is commonly referred to as a

Calliope In Greek mythology, Calliope ( ; grc, Καλλιόπη, Kalliópē, beautiful-voiced) is the Muse who presides over eloquence and epic poetry; so called from the ecstatic harmony of her voice. Hesiod and Ovid called her the "Chief of all Muse ...

, as the statuette is in the likeness of the

muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in ...

of the same name. Academy members frequently shorten this name to "Callie".

History

Originally, the ''

Charles S. Roberts Award The Charles S. Roberts Awards (or CSR Awards) is an annual award for excellence in the historical wargaming hobby. It was named in honor of Charles S. Roberts the "Father of Wargaming" who founded Avalon Hill. The award is informally called a "C ...

s'' and the Origins Awards were one and the same. Starting with the 1987 awards, the Charles S. Roberts were given separately, and they moved away from

entirely in 2000, leaving the Origins Awards as a completely separate system. In 1978, the awards also hosted the 1977 '' H. G. Wells awards'' for

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal ac ...

s and

miniature wargaming Miniature wargaming is a form of wargaming in which military units are represented by miniature physical models on a model battlefield. The use of physical models to represent military units is in contrast to other tabletop wargames that use ...

Hall of Fame

Members

Aaron Allston Aaron Dale Allston (December 8, 1960 – February 27, 2014) was an American game designer and author of many science fiction books, notably ''Star Wars'' novels. His works as a game designer include game supplements for role-playing games, severa ...

* Dave Arneson *

Richard Berg Richard Harvey Berg (1943 – July 26, 2019) was a prolific American wargame designer. He was inducted into the Charles Roberts Awards Hall of Fame in 1987. Early life, army, student and lawyer Richard Berg was born in New York City. ...

* Jolly R. Blackburn * Larry Bond * Gerald Brom * Darwin Bromley *

Bob Charrette Robert N. Charrette (born 1953) is an American graphic artist, game designer, sculptor and author. Charrette has authored more than a dozen novels. His gaming materials have received many Origins Awards. Charrette was inducted in the Origins Hall o ...

* Frank Chadwick * Vlaada Chvátil * Loren Coleman * Greg Costikyan * Liz Danforth *

James F. Dunnigan James F. Dunnigan (born 8 August 1943) is an author, military-political analyst, Defense and State Department consultant, and wargame designer currently living in New York City. Career Dunnigan was born in Rockland County, New York. After high s ...

Larry Elmore Larry Elmore (born August 5, 1948) is an American fantasy artist whose work includes creating illustrations for video games, comics, magazines, and fantasy books. His list of work includes illustrations for ''Dungeons & Dragons'', ''Dragonlance'', ...

* Mike Elliott * Don Featherstone *

Nigel Findley Nigel D. Findley (July 22, 1959 – February 19, 1995) was a Canadian game designer, editor, and an author of science fiction and fantasy novels and role-playing games (RPGs). Biography Nigel Findley was born in Venezuela in 1959 to Canadian par ...

* Richard Garfield * Don Greenwood *

Ed Greenwood Ed Greenwood (born July 21, 1959) is a Canadian fantasy writer and the original creator of the '' Forgotten Realms'' game world. He began writing articles about the Forgotten Realms for '' Dragon'' magazine beginning in 1979, and subsequently so ...

Julie Guthrie Julie may refer to: * Julie (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the name Film and television * ''Julie'' (1956 film), an American film noir starring Doris Day * ''Julie'' (1975 film), a Hindi film by K. S. Sethumadhav ...

* E.

Gary Gygax Ernest Gary Gygax ( ; July 27, 1938 – March 4, 2008) was an American game designer and author best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') with Dave Arneson. In the 1960s, Gygax created an ...

Tracy Hickman Tracy Raye Hickman (born November 26, 1955) is an American fantasy author. He wrote the ''Dragonlance'' novels with Margaret Weis. He also wrote role playing game material while working for TSR and has cowritten novels with his wife, Laura Hick ...

* John Hill * David Isby * Steve Jackson (US) *

Jennell Jaquays Jennell Jaquays (born Paul Jaquays, October 14, 1956) is an American game designer, video game artist, and illustrator of tabletop role-playing games (RPGs). Her notable works include the '' Dungeons & Dragons'' modules '' Dark Tower'' and '' Ca ...

Reiner Knizia Reiner may refer to: *Reiner (crater), a crater on the Moon, named after Vincentio Reiner *Reiner Braun, a fictional character in the anime/manga series ''Attack on Titan'' People with the given name Reiner *Reiner Knizia, a board game designer *R ...

Wolfgang Kramer Wolfgang Kramer (born 29 June 1942 in Stuttgart) is a German board game designer. Early life As a young child, Wolfgang Kramer used to play games with his grandmother, and said he developed a positive attitude about games because "she always use ...

* Eric M. Lang *

Rick Loomis Rick Loomis (August 24, 1946 – August 23, 2019) was an American game designer, most notable as the founder of game publisher Flying Buffalo, which he managed until his death. Career Early years Richard F. Loomis was born and raised in Scott ...

* Rodger MacGowan *

Tom Meier Tom Meier is a sculptor, a founding partner of Ral Partha Enterprises, and the winner of numerous awards for the design and sculpture of historical, fantasy and science fiction gaming miniatures. Meier began sculpting professionally at the age of ...

* Marc Miller * Dennis Mize *

Alan R. Moon Alan R. Moon (born 18 November 1951) is an author of board games, born in Southampton, England. He is generally considered to be one of the foremost designers of German-style board games. Many of his games can be seen as board game variations on ...

Sandy Petersen Carl Sanford Joslyn "Sandy" Petersen (born September 16, 1955) is an American game designer. He worked at Chaosium, contributing to the development of ''RuneQuest'' and later creating the acclaimed and influential horror role-playing game ''Call ...

* Michael Pondsmith *

Alex Randolph Alexander Randolph (4 May 1922 – 27 April 2004) was a Bohemian-American designer of board games and writer. Randolph's game creations include ''TwixT'', '' Breakthru'', '' Hol's der Geier'', '' Inkognito'' (with Leo Colovini), ''Raj'', '' ...

* Charles Roberts *

Sid Sackson Sid Sackson (February 4, 1920 in Chicago – November 6, 2002) was an American board game designer and collector, best known as the creator of the business game ''Acquire''. Career Sackson's most popular creation is probably the business game ''Ac ...

* Duke Seifried * Tom N. Shaw * Redmond Simonsen * Kenneth St. Andre *

Michael Stackpole Michael Austin Stackpole (born November 27, 1957) is an American science fiction and fantasy author best known for his ''Star Wars'' and ''BattleTech'' books. He was born in Wausau, Wisconsin, but raised in Vermont. He has a BA in history from ...

Greg Stafford Francis Gregory Stafford (February 9, 1948 – October 10, 2018), usually known as Greg Stafford, was an American game designer, publisher, and practitioner of shamanism. Stafford is most famous as the creator of the fantasy world of Gloranth ...

Lisa Stevens Lisa Stevens is an American editor, CEO and founder of Paizo Publishing, and COO of Goblinworks. She began her career in games in the 1980s, working with Jonathan Tweet and Mark Rein•Hagen to help produce the tabletop roleplaying game ''Ars ...

Klaus Teuber Klaus Teuber (born June 25, 1952) is a German former dental technician and designer of board games. He is best known for designing the strategy board game Catan. Career Teuber won the Spiel des Jahres ("Game of the Year") award four times: for ...

* Don Turnbull *

Jonathan Tweet Jonathan Tweet (born 1965) is an American game designer who has been involved in the development of the role-playing games '' Ars Magica'', ''Everway'', '' Over the Edge'', '' Talislanta'', the third edition of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' and '' 13th ...

* Jim Ward *

Margaret Weis Margaret Edith Weis (; born March 16, 1948) is an American fantasy and science fiction author, of dozens of novels and short stories. At TSR, Inc., she teamed with Tracy Hickman to create the ''Dragonlance'' role-playing game (RPG) world. She is ...

Jordan Weisman Jordan Weisman is an American game designer, author, and serial entrepreneur who has founded five game design companies, each in a different game genre and segment of the industry. Biography Weisman graduated from Francis W. Parker High School, ...

Loren Wiseman Loren Keith Wiseman (March 7, 1951 – February 14, 2017) was an American wargame and role-playing game designer, game developer and editor. Career Game Designers' Workshop After graduating from Illinois State University, Loren Wiseman co ...

* Reinhold Wittig *

Erick Wujcik Erick A. Wujcik (January 26, 1951 – June 7, 2008) was an American designer of both pen-and-paper and computer role-playing games, and co-founder of Palladium Books. Gaming career Wujcik started off as head of the gaming society at Wayne S ...

Lou Zocchi Louis Zocchi is a gaming hobbyist, former game distributor and publisher, and maker and seller of polyhedral game dice. In 1986, he was elected to the Charles Roberts Awards Hall of Fame. Career Lou Zocchi was one of the first editors for Av ...

Games and publications

* '' Ace of Aces'' * ''

Acquire ''Acquire'' is a multi-player mergers and acquisitions themed board game. It is played with tiles representing hotels that are arranged on the board, play money and stock certificates. The object of the game is to earn the most money by developi ...

'' * ''

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Several different editions of the '' Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy role-playing game have been produced since 1974. The current publisher of ''D&D'', Wizards of the Coast, produces new materials only for the most current edition of the ...

'' * * '' Amber Diceless Roleplaying'' * ''

Apples to Apples ''Apples to Apples'' is a party game originally published by Out of the Box Publishing Inc., and now by Mattel. Players start with a hand of seven "red apple" cards, which feature nouns. A player is selected to be the first judge, and that judg ...

'' * ''

Axis & Allies ''Axis & Allies'' is a series of World War II strategy game, strategy board games. The first version was initially published in 1981 and a second edition known colloquially as ''Axis & Allies: Classic'' was published in 1984. Played on a board d ...

'' * '' Battletech Mechs & Vehicles'' * ''

Berg's Review of Games ''Berg's Review of Games'' ( ''BROG'') was a publication started by game designer Richard Berg. The magazine, which featured reviews of video wargames and board wargames, debuted in 1991. Content In 1980, Richard Berg, then working as a game de ...

'' * ''

BoardGameGeek BoardGameGeek (BGG) is an online forum for board gaming hobbyists and a game database that holds reviews, images and videos for over 125,600 different tabletop games, including European-style board games, wargames, and card games. In addition ...

'' * '' Call of Cthulhu'' * ''

Champions A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, a ...

'' * '' Chivalry & Sorcery'' * ''

Cosmic Encounter ''Cosmic Encounter'' is a science fiction–themed strategy board game designed by "Future Pastimes" (collectively, Peter Olotka, Jack Kittredge and Bill Eberle, with Bill Norton) and originally published by Eon Games in 1977. In it, each player ...

'' * '' The Courier'' * ''

Diplomacy Diplomacy comprises spoken or written communication by representatives of states (such as leaders and diplomats) intended to influence events in the international system.Ronald Peter Barston, ''Modern diplomacy'', Pearson Education, 2006, p. ...

'' * ''

Dragon Magazine Dragon Magazine may refer to: * ''Dragon'' (magazine), an American magazine for ''Dungeons & Dragons'' players * ''Dragon Magazine'' (Fujimi Shobo), a Japanese light novel magazine {{disambig ...

'' * ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TS ...

'' * * ''

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

'' * '' Fire & Movement Magazine'' * ''

GURPS The ''Generic Universal RolePlaying System'', or ''GURPS'', is a tabletop role-playing game system designed to allow for play in any game setting. It was created by Steve Jackson Games and first published in 1986 at a time when most such systems ...

'' * ''Illuminati'' play-by-mail game * ''

Mage Knight ''Mage Knight'' is a miniatures wargame using collectible figures, created by WizKids, Inc, and is the earliest example of what is now known as a collectible miniatures game (or CMG). The game was designed by founder Jordan Weisman along with ...

'' * ''

Mage Knight Board Game ''Mage Knight Board Game'' is a cooperative board game for 1 to 4 players designed by Vlaada Chvátil and released in November 2011. It is based on the related collectable miniatures game, ''Mage Knight.'' It has been rated as one of the top s ...

'' * ''

Magic: The Gathering ''Magic: The Gathering'' (colloquially known as ''Magic'' or ''MTG'') is a Tabletop game, tabletop and Digital collectible card game, digital Collectible card game, collectable card game created by Richard Garfield. Released in 1993 by Wizards ...

'' * ''

MechWarrior 2 ''MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat'' is a vehicle simulation game developed and published by Activision, released in 1995 as part of the '' MechWarrior'' series of video games in the ''BattleTech'' franchise. The game is set in 3057, and is pla ...

& 3'' * '' Middle-Earth Play-By-Mail'' * ''

Mythos Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrati ...

'' * '' Nuclear War'' * ''

Paranoia Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy co ...

'' * ''

Risk In simple terms, risk is the possibility of something bad happening. Risk involves uncertainty about the effects/implications of an activity with respect to something that humans value (such as health, well-being, wealth, property or the environm ...

'' * ''

The Settlers of Catan ''Catan'', previously known as ''The Settlers of Catan'' or simply ''Settlers'', is a multiplayer board game designed by Klaus Teuber. It was first published in 1995 in Germany by Franckh-Kosmos Verlag (Kosmos) as ''Die Siedler von Catan''. Pl ...

'' * ''

Squad Leader ''Squad Leader'' is a tactical wargames, tactical level board war game originally published by Avalon Hill in 1977. It was designed by John Hill (game designer), John Hill and simulates on infantry combat in Europe during World War II. One of th ...

'' * '' Star Fleet Battles'' * '' Strategy & Tactics'' * '' Traveller'' * ''

TwixT TwixT is a two-player strategy board game, an early entrant in the 1960s 3M bookshelf game series. It became one of the most popular and enduring games in the series. It is a connection game where players alternate turns placing pegs and ...

'' * '' Vampire: The Masquerade'' * '' StarCraft'' * ''

Warhammer Fantasy Battle ''Warhammer'' (formerly ''Warhammer Fantasy Battle'' or just ''Warhammer Fantasy'') is a tabletop miniature wargame with a medieval fantasy theme. The game was created by Bryan Ansell, Richard Halliwell, and Rick Priestley; it was publishe ...

'' * ''

Warhammer 40,000 ''Warhammer 40,000'' is a miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop. It is the most popular miniature wargame in the world, and is particularly popular in the United Kingdom. The first edition of the rulebook was published in September 1987, ...

'' * ''

Yahtzee Yahtzee is a dice game made by Milton Bradley (a company that has since been acquired and assimilated by Hasbro). It was first marketed under the name of Yahtzee by game entrepreneur Edwin S. Lowe in 1956. The game is a development of earlier ...

'' * - ''

'' and ''

'' were deemed different enough to be inducted on separate occasions.

References

External links

*
Boardgamegeek — List of winners from 1990 to 2018
{{Origins Awards Game awards

History

Categories

Hall of Fame

Members

Games and publications

See also

References

External links