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Grog d'Or 2021

This year again, a roleplaying game was awarded the most covetted prize from outer space : the Grog d'Or. Every month, the Grog offered a game of the month, elected amongst other topical roleplaying games. To celebrate its 21st birthday, the whole crew voted to award one of these games the Grog d'Or for the best rpg in 2021.

Nominees were:

and here are the results:



Le Cabinet des Murmures

received the Grog d'Or 2021

Barbarians of Lemuria got 2nd place and received the Grog d'Argent.


(Art by David Lihard)

A word from the Komrade President on this list

Every time the crew vote, it's always a dilemma to choose between a new game that looks promising or even appealed to us, or an old one whose quality grows with each supplement. And this year's GRoG d'Or voting was clearly marked by this dichotomy. In the games of the month selection alone, there are six game lines that have lived for a few years, and six new games. It's one thing to see our favorite games get even better with time, it's another to explore new horizons, to try new experiences.

And this dichotomy was also reflected in the second round. The choice between the two finalists was made between two of the qualities that make a role-playing game come alive: on the one hand, the quality of the scenarios and their writing for Barbarians of Lemuria, on the other hand, the originality of a universe and a system that allows you to play in a different way for Le Cabinet des Murmures.

There were those who played "Le Dieu Voilé" campaign, and were full of praise for its plot covering all the themes dear to Sword & Sorcery. A plot served by descriptive texts particularly well calibrated to be read as is around a table, and thus offer players an inspiring vision of the scene. And more than anything, it is the pedagogy of this supplement that marks the GMs, accompanying them throughout this saga to limit the preparatory work to a minimum, and adapting in the best way to the heroes' inevitable exits.

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And then there were those whose curiosity was stirred by this strange game that proposes to play all together in the same body. Admittedly, the concept had already been visited - in the humorous Everyone is John, or in the very dark Bluebeard's Bride. But beyond the concept, Le Cabinet des Murmures plays with it to sublimate the meta-game that exists around a table, whether by integrating into its mechanics the principle of alternating the lead role between players, of allowing permanent back-seat for those who are not in the front, or of justifying the absence of characters when the player is not at the table or is busy reading a clue. It gathers the players around a single body sheet that is passed from hand to hand, and playfully plays up the character dynamics within a group by bringing in that large Tree of Life board on which players must optimize their position and movement to act in concert, or play it out to reflect conflicts within the group.

The GRoG crew decided in favor of the latter, wishing it the same quality campaigns as the former.