The 2026 ENNIE Awards Best Game results are in. Daggerheart Core Set from Darrington Press won gold, and Legend In The Mist – Core Book from Son of Oak Game Studio won silver. The other three nominees were Coriolis: The Great Dark Core Rulebook, Sickest Witch Core Rulebook, and Thieves of the Tome. The ENNIEs award only gold and silver, so those three finished as nominees.
Medals aside, the more useful question is which game matches the kind of session your group wants next: science-fiction exploration, collaborative fantasy, flexible setting creation, folk horror, or an inventive book-powered one-shot.
Quick chooser
| What your group wants | Game to start with | Likely scope |
|---|---|---|
| Expeditions, intrigue, ruins, and a crew-facing science-fiction campaign | Coriolis: The Great Dark (nominee) | Campaign or solo exploration |
| Character-focused fantasy with shared worldbuilding | Daggerheart (gold) | Campaign or episodic fantasy |
| A flexible fantasy engine shaped heavily by table invention | Legend in the Mist (silver) | Campaign built around your setting |
| Grounded folk horror and a coven-centered story | Sickest Witch (nominee) | Campaign with deliberate tone work |
| A playful magical heist where real books become spellbooks | Thieves of the Tome (nominee) | Two-to-four-hour one-shot or short run |
2026 Best Game results
| Game | Publisher | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Daggerheart Core Set | Darrington Press | Gold |
| Legend In The Mist – Core Book | Son of Oak Game Studio | Silver |
| Coriolis: The Great Dark Core Rulebook | Free League Publishing | Nominee |
| Sickest Witch Core Rulebook | Severed Books | Nominee |
| Thieves of the Tome | First Pancake Studios | Nominee |
Both medalists picked up more than one award. The official 2026 results also list Daggerheart with silver for Product of the Year and its Sablewood Messengers quickstart with gold for Best Free Game. Legend in the Mist took gold for Best Interior Art. Coriolis: The Great Dark was also a Product of the Year nominee.
What an ENNIE win means, and what it does not
The ENNIE Awards are a fan-voted celebration of tabletop roleplaying games. A Best Game medal or nomination is a useful signal that a title stood out in the awards process, but it does not make the game universally beginner-friendly, right for every group, or necessarily a good replacement for the system you already enjoy. Treat the shortlist as a reason to investigate a game, then check its actual rules, starter materials, cost, access, and content expectations.
1. Daggerheart (gold)
Daggerheart is a fantasy TTRPG from Darrington Press built around Duality Dice: one Hope die and one Fear die. Its official materials describe cards, character options, shared worldbuilding, and a character-focused fantasy approach. When Hope is higher, players gain Hope; when Fear is higher, the GM gains Fear to introduce pressure and complications.
Choose it for
- Fantasy groups that want players involved in building the world and its details.
- Tables that enjoy a result changing the story’s emotional direction, not only whether an action succeeds.
- Players who appreciate tangible cards for ancestry, community, subclass, domain, and other character options.
Plan your first session around
Use the opening worldbuilding questions seriously. Establish a home, a threat, and a relationship between the characters before the first danger scene. The game is best served by a table willing to add fiction together rather than waiting for the GM to reveal every fact.
Think twice if
Your group wants tightly specified tactical procedures at every step or prefers the GM to control all setting creation. Read the official overview and try introductory material with your actual group before buying in.
2. Legend in the Mist (silver)
Legend in the Mist is Son of Oak’s fantasy engine. The publisher presents it as a tabletop RPG that can support a fantasy setting, or another setting, using its own flexible structure and core material. It is a strong candidate for groups that want their campaign’s places, problems, and characters to emerge from play rather than arrive as a fixed setting package.
Choose it for
- Players who like descriptive character concepts and creative solutions.
- A GM who enjoys adjudicating a flexible narrative engine and asking productive questions.
- Groups that want to make the campaign’s folklore, community, and threats feel personally theirs.
Plan your first session around
Agree on the kind of fantasy you mean: hearthside mystery, dangerous travel, village politics, looming myth, or something else. The more clearly the table shares its desired tone, the easier it is to use a flexible engine with confidence.
Think twice if
Your table wants every unusual action settled by a narrow procedure or finds collaborative interpretation tiring. Flexibility is a feature only when everyone wants to use it.
3. Coriolis: The Great Dark (nominee)
Coriolis: The Great Dark is Free League’s exploration-and-intrigue science-fiction game. The publisher frames the characters as Explorers working around Ship City, traveling toward dangerous ruins and the mysteries around the Great Dark. The core book includes campaign-facing material about crews, expeditions, travel, and discovery, as well as tools for solo play. The hardcover is on the Free League shop, and the PDF is sold on DriveThruRPG.
Choose it for
- A group that wants science fiction to feel like an expedition rather than only a string of tactical fights.
- Players who enjoy a shared crew identity, strange discoveries, and political complications around an exploration hub.
- A GM who likes preparing locations, factions, and mysteries that a crew can approach from different directions.
Plan your first session around
A clear crew reason to take an expedition, one promise of discovery, and one problem back in Ship City. Give every Explorer a reason to care about the job beyond money. That lets travel, discovery, and intrigue all pull on the same campaign thread.
Think twice if
Your group wants a familiar fantasy ruleset, a low-prep one-shot, or no interest in a setting-rich science-fiction premise. If you know the earlier Third Horizon game, see our Coriolis page for that one. The Great Dark is a separate game.
4. Sickest Witch (nominee)
Sickest Witch is a grounded folk-horror game from Severed Books. Its official materials describe a coven-focused game with a core rulebook, player aids, and adventures that reveal more of the world as the coven develops.
Choose it for
- A group looking for deliberate folk-horror atmosphere rather than broad heroic fantasy.
- Players interested in a coven identity and the consequences of power, place, and community.
- A campaign that can grow through connected adventures and accumulating relationships.
Plan your first session around
Start with session zero. Decide what folk-horror themes the group wants, what material is off limits, and how the coven relates to its community. The game’s tone becomes more compelling when the group has chosen what it is willing to put under pressure.
Think twice if
Your group wants light, consequence-free fantasy or does not enjoy discussing content boundaries. Horror needs active consent, not an assumption that everyone reads the genre the same way.
5. Thieves of the Tome (nominee)
Thieves of the Tome is a downloadable TTRPG about thieves reclaiming magic from wizards. Its standout procedure is physical: players bring real books and turn them into spellbooks for one another. The game’s itch.io page presents it as a two-to-five-player-plus-GM experience that can run in a two-to-four-hour one-shot using books, character and spell sheets, and D6s.
Choose it for
- A group that wants a memorable one-shot with a clear hook and a material game object at the center.
- Players who enjoy improvising from the books at the table and turning constraints into magic.
- A GM looking for a self-contained session that can be prepared around the books everyone brings.
Plan your first session around
Tell players in advance that books will be part of the game. Confirm what handling or writing is expected, choose the table’s tone, and ask everyone to bring a book they are comfortable using. The best session prep is a good prompt for why these thieves need to steal magic now, not a giant plot.
Think twice if
Your group does not want physical books involved or needs a long-form campaign system. This is the shortlist’s clearest “play it next game night” candidate, not necessarily the longest campaign commitment.
How to pick one without buying five games
- Choose whether your next need is a campaign or a one-shot.
- Ask whether the group wants a defined setting or the freedom to create one together.
- Decide how much tonal intensity the table genuinely wants.
- Read the official quickstart, sample, or product page for your finalist.
- Schedule a short trial with the same people who would play the real campaign.
- After play, ask whether the procedures made the desired kind of session easier.
This is more reliable than buying a game because it won an award. A game earns its place on your shelf when your table wants to play it again.
More award-winning games
For more systems with award credentials, browse our award-winning TTRPGs or the full list of TTRPG categories.
FAQ
Who won the 2026 ENNIE for Best Game?
Daggerheart Core Set from Darrington Press won gold. Legend In The Mist – Core Book from Son of Oak Game Studio won silver.
Who were the 2026 ENNIE Best Game nominees?
The 2026 ballot listed Coriolis: The Great Dark Core Rulebook, Daggerheart Core Set, Legend In The Mist – Core Book, Sickest Witch Core Rulebook, and Thieves of the Tome.
Did the other nominees place?
No. The ENNIEs give only gold and silver in each category, so Coriolis: The Great Dark, Sickest Witch, and Thieves of the Tome finished as nominees.
Which nominee is best for a one-shot?
Thieves of the Tome explicitly presents a two-to-four-hour one-shot format. The other nominees may support short sessions, but their public material emphasizes broader systems or campaign play.
