The Diana Jones Award committee is pleased to announce the winner of its 2023 award is Coyote & Crow, a roleplaying game by Connor Alexander, published by Coyote & Crow.
Coyote & Crow is an RPG created by Cherokee designer Connor Alexander. In the game Alexander shrewdly imagines an alternate universe that exists outside of the horrors of colonialism. The game foregrounds the traditions and cultures of Native American people in its world, encouraging players to imagine stories that challenge the Western canon of storytelling that is today ubiquitous in RPGs. Coyote and Crow challenges us to tell different stories with the games we play and encourages us to imagine worlds beyond that which we know. It is a new high-water mark for storytelling in role-playing games and a triumph of imagination in world building.
Learn more on the Coyote & Crow website.
From a long and eclectic collection of nominees, the committee of the Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming selected five finalists that it believes best exemplified “excellence” in the field of gaming for its 2023 award. They are:
LINDA CODEGA
A journalist focusing on tabletop gaming
Published on io9 and Gizmodo
Linda Codega is a queer, nonbinary journalist and critic focused on tabletop gaming, as well as a speculative fiction writer and tabletop game designer. Their investigative reporting for io9 of Wizards of the Coast’s proposed deauthorization of the Open Gaming License led to widespread reexamination of open gaming. As a result, Wizards released the core rules of Dungeons & Dragons under an irrevocable Creative Commons license and opened a new dialog about the future of the game with fans and creators.
Read Linda’s work on Gizmodo.
COYOTE & CROW
A roleplaying game by Connor Alexander
Published by Coyote & Crow
Coyote & Crow is an RPG created by Cherokee designer Connor Alexander. In the game Alexander shrewdly imagines an alternate universe that exists outside of the horrors of colonialism. The game foregrounds the traditions and cultures of Native American people in its world, encouraging players to imagine stories that challenge the Western canon of storytelling that is today ubiquitous in RPGs. Coyote and Crow challenges us to tell different stories with the games we play and encourages us to imagine worlds beyond that which we know. It is a new high-water mark for storytelling in role-playing games and a triumph of imagination in world building.
Learn more on the Coyote & Crow website.
JOURNEYS THROUGH THE RADIANT CITADEL
A Dungeons & Dragons sourcebook
Published by Wizards of the Coast
Journeys through the Radiant Citadel is a collection of thirteen short, stand-alone Dungeons & Dragons adventures set in wondrous lands connected to the Radiant Citadel, a bastion of hope floating against the unending mist of the Ethereal Plane. Created by a diverse team including nearly fifty creators of color, this book is a celebration of vibrant settings never before seen in D&D history. This groundbreaking anthology transcends typical Eurocentric fantasy with authentic, complex, and emotionally rich stories infused with the cultures and lived experiences of their writers, inviting gamers of all backgrounds to explore new places and perspectives.
Journeys through the Radiant Citadel is written by Justice Ramin Arman, Dominique Dickey, Ajit A. George, Basheer Ghouse, Alastor Guzman, D. Fox Harrell, T.K. Johnson, Felice Tzehuei Kuan, Surena Marie, Mimi Mondal, Mario Ortegón, Miyuki Jane Pinckard, Pam Punzalan, Erin Roberts, Terry H. Romero, and Stephanie Yoon.
Find out more on the Wizards of the Coast website.
ROSENSTRASSE
A roleplaying game by Moyra Turkington & Jessica Hammer
Published by Unruly Designs
Rosenstrasse, by Moyra Turkington and Jessica Hammer of Unruly Designs, is a tabletop freeform scenario with a strongly defined historical story weaving the lives of four pairs of men and women bound by love under the tightening chokehold of Nazi Germany. Players work through two characters to deeply explore two of these relationships as the clock ticks towards WWII and the Final Solution. Ideologies are challenged, marriages are tested, personal losses are grave, and the characters must hold together tightly to see it through. The stories of these eight people converge in a historic moment of terrifying civic defiance. This game has innovative mechanics, is well-researched, and treats the topic with deep respect.
Learn more on Unruly Designs’ website.
COLE WEHRLE
A game designer, creative director at Leder Games, and co-founder of Wehrlegig Games
Cole Wehrle is a game designer, the creative director at Leder Games, and a co-founder of Wehrlegig Games. From largely commercial work — like Root and Oath — to his work on Pax Pamir and other historical games, Wehrle is doing some of the finest work that’s ever been done in board game design. The delivery of John Company, Second Edition once again shows how broad his ambitions have been over the years, and how well he continues to surpass all expectations.
Follow him on Twitter.
The 2023 Diana Jones Award ceremony was held in Indianapolis on Wednesday, August 3rd, at our annual gathering of tabletop games industry professionals, the unofficial kick-off of Gen Con, the world’s largest tabletop games convention. You can watch the entire presentation below.
Many thanks to the sponsors of this year’s event for their support. Our key ceremony sponsors are:
Our other ceremony sponsors are:
- Peter Adkison
- Anthony Gallela
- Beach House Games
- Clint & Jodi Black
- Calliope Games
- Cephalofair Games
- The Corner of Story and Game
- Gaming Paper
- Gen Con
- Gen Con TV
- Jim Kitchen
- Marvel Entertainment
- Onyx Path Publishing
- Pelgrane Press
- Renegade Games
We’d also like to thank our board members: Peter Adkison, Matt Forbeck, Michelle Nephew, and Camdon Wright.