Indie RPGs

[derfos]

I thought I'd create a thread for Indie RPG lovers to post some their favourite games and give a little pitch. For example:

Spirit of the Century:
Based on the Fate roleplaying game (which in turn is based on the Fudge system - a d3-like system with special dice called fudge-dice). Takes about 10 minutes to get started and learn the rules. The concept of the game: Pulp Action. If you ever wanted to go through a Jackie Chan fight scene, this game is for you. With a simple system of traits, your character can put himself into very sticky situations and as a reward for his risk, earn fate points. These fate points can in turn be used to get the player out of the sticky situations he got in by following his traits. In the first 30 minutes of playing, I jumped onto a moving train that had been hijacked by AK47-bearing gorillas and fought my way to the main chamber only to find a velociraptor accelerating the train towards an indian reserve. Remembering that "I once flew an aeroplane" (one of my traits), I managed to stop the train in time.
If you want some realism-free action-packed light game, try Spirit of the Century. Find the free SRD at their website.

[Otogi]

Would any mention of indie gaming be complete without Risus?...I 'unno, it depends, I guess. But it deserves to be in discussion anyway! It's a simple, easy to learn, varied universal system that thinks outside of the box and deserves a lot of the love it gets and it's only second to M&M in my mind. It's funny, exciting and action packed, but you're able to make dramatic and heartwarming moments just as good! It can be used for almost any type of play and it can work, but for most part, it's used for a soda and pretzels game, and it really plays that part with flying colors!

[The Rose Dragon]

Define "indie".

For example, I'm sure Summerland and Pandemonium are indie, since they are literally the only RPGs created by their respective creators, but is Weapons of the Gods, an RPG created by two already-known RPG designers, indie? Is Qin: the Warring States, despite coming from a rather prolific company? Is Faery's Tale Deluxe indie for being created by a relatively unknown company, despite being published by Green Ronin?

EDIT: Also, Fudge dice are not d6s, despite having 6 sides. They are Fudge dice. You can certainly use a regular d6 as a Fudge die if you interpret two sides as -1, two sides as +1 and two sides as 0, but they are not the same.

[derfos]

Define "indie".

I don't want to. If you consider it to be indie, then put it here. The way I see it, my intention here is to get to know some cool games that are not well known. If it is a "fringe" game, one only played by a small minority in the roleplaying community, it is certainly appropriate for this forum.

EDIT: Also, Fudge dice are not d6s, despite having 6 sides. They are Fudge dice. You can certainly use a regular d6 as a Fudge die if you interpret two sides as -1, two sides as +1 and two sides as 0, but they are not the same.

I stand corrected, I'm just used to going with d6s. They are more appropriatly d3s.

[Eloi]

I play and make games using RPG Maker 1-3 software, does that count as 'indie'?

[GolemsVoice]

Oh yeah!

Unhallowed Metropolis

In 1905, a plague spread, and the dead started to rise, hungering for the flesh of the living. Most countries were simply overrun, the cities proving deathtraps, and the countrysides to thinly populated to mount any meaningful defence. Europe fell into a new dark age, and only Prussia managed to rise again.

Great Britain was luckier. As an island antion, they were shielded from the giant hordes of animates (as the ambulant dead were called), and many could be destroyed by abandoning the cities and shelling them, until only ruins stood. Slowly, ever so slowly, the animates were driven back, and the cities reclaimed. This became known as The Reclamation, ending in 1967, with the full reclamation of London.

But Britan is nowhere near safe. The Plague not only raised the dead, but it manifested in the land, blighting it, and soon, the Wasteland spread across Britain, leaving twisted vegetation unfit for any civilization.

The focus of the surviors turned backwards, to the "glorious" age of the Victorians, and idealized time of glory and conquest. Calling themselves the "Neo-Victorians", the society has fallen back into cultural stagnation.

In the year 2105, most cities are horrible beyond imagination. Little laws protect the working class, and so, poverty is rampant. Most toil away in misery, seldom seeing their 50th birthday. Others break under the strain, becoming murderers that compete for the headlines in the dailies. The aristocracy shuts itself off in their towering mansions, preffering not to see or hear anything they don't want to. Wealthy industrialists live on the blood of the poor, building dynasties of money that can rival those of blood easily.

Reanimation of the dead is a constant threat, and so, cremation is mandatory for all but the richest, and so, the air is always black with the ashes of the dead. Even so, some parts of the city are regularly overrun, and the reclamation takes many lives. Against outside threats, the cities are surrounded by 40 feet walls, manned by the Deathwatch and armed with terrible galavanic weaponry.

Science has taken a huge leap forward, especially in the field of galvanics, alchemy and medicine. Mad galvanists call down the spark of live, and industrious alchemists seek to create life from death.

The Plague has also worn thin the barriers between the world of the living and that of the dead, and psychic phenomena, spirits and hauntings are very real, and frightfully common.


All in all, it is a victorian gothic horror setting turned to eleven, an dI love every part of it.

[Totally Guy]

My top game is Burning Wheel. It's great because it creates a lot of good game behaviour by following the rules.

It's got loads and loads of skills with a fair amount of overlap and that's often called a criticism. But suddenly you realise that it all makes sense. A zealot who has a high Suasion skill (a debating skill concerning religion) needs to find ways of relating his argument to religious matters in order to use that skill over the more traditional Persuasion skill. And that would be totally in character for such a personality!

The players have a lot of power in the realm of game direction. The GM is not always right here. The GM has the responsibility of challenging the character concepts, finding out who the character's really are. That experience changes characters, they develop and adapt their very essence just by playing.

We had one character, a knight trying to reclaim his honour and reclaim his past life change in unexpected ways. In the end got every "thing" he wanted, but had compromised his integrity and the core of his personality. It was beautiful and tragic. And it happened at the table. No one person saw it coming.

Also this game stopped me from hating elves. They're just so well done.

Downside is the learning curve. I've finally got the hang of it after studying it for 11 months.

But there's the final book in the set coming out next month. (We think it's the last one!) It's all about adventures and explaining all those complex further implications within the rules that you just can't quite see from the surface.

I'd like to try Burning Empires (which is BW in a sci-fi setting) but I don't think the group is ready for that.

[UserClone]

Mouse Guard RPG FTW, by the way. Better way to introduce burning wheel, as I'm told, since it's a pared-down version of the same rules. Plus it's a combination of The Secret of NIMH and LOTR.

[Cahokia]

I'm another big fan of Spirit of the Century. There's also an impressive amount of homebrew to be found for the system online, and it's very easy to learn quickly and introduce to people--especially those who've never gamed before.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Bliss Stage
I could make a pitch, but TV Tropes already has it covered

Unarguably the best RPG for Neon Genesis Evangelion & Mobile Suit Gundam -style games. And before you bring out some simulationist system, remember that neither anime was about geeking out over ergs, but about the psychological development of innocents thrust into war.

[Knaight]

I'm another big fan of Spirit of the Century. There's also an impressive amount of homebrew to be found for the system online, and it's very easy to learn quickly and introduce to people--especially those who've never gamed before.

Its a pretty good game, though I like Fudge better, and have seen other Fate 3.0 adaptations that are potentially more interesting, namely Diaspora.

If we are looking at Indie games, someone is obligated to point out Wushu, a fascinating little gem with very unique mechanics. Its free, so no need to say more than that. Then on the other end of the spectrum is Riddle of Steel, another interesting game with one of the most complex combat systems that has ever been made (and Burning Wheel still beats it in realism.), and in between someone is obligated to point out Ars Magica, though that might be too popular to qualify. 4e is free, 5e is not, again find it somewhere.

[Kaje]

Super Awesome Action Heroes

Designed by a friend of mine to be a sorta freeform game based on action movies and heavily utilizing action movie tropes.

Class-based, with Archetypes including Military, Haxor, Scientist, and Ninja.

Two character stats: Fitness and Sweetness. Three combat stats: Guns, Melee and Barehands.

The really awesome stuff is done via two different mechanics:
Give Me Five Minutes, which allows the character to automatically do lots of things their class would reasonably be able to do (wire a car to explode for Military, hack into a computer system for Haxor, etc.), as long as they're given about five minutes.

Sweet Move, which allows the character to do all kinds of super-awesome feats and stunts, as long as they describe it as awesomely as possible. All players then vote to determine the success of the Sweet Move.

One member of the party, the Primary Character, gets a +1 to every single roll. As does the Main Villain.

It's available online. Go find it!

[erikun]

Since it's already been mentioned, I'll talk about Faery's Tale Deluxe.

The system is intentionally simple. Each character has three attributes: Body, Mind, and Spirit. Essence is a mix of life energy and magical strength - spend or lose all your Essence, and you're taking a nap. Dice rolling uses a dice pool, with evens being a succes and 6s allowing more dice to be rolled. Each character begins with four Gifts, or special abilities: two from their type of faery, and two chosen by the player.

Rewards are not in the form of gold or experience, but as Boons. Boons are promises to aid and support the Faery, and in true Fae fashion, can be traded and exchanged. They can be used for in-game support from the NPC in question, can be used for increases in the character's attributes, or even to grant the character new Gifts and magical equipment.

There's also rules for Dark Fae and Dark Essence, if you wish to play that, along with a method for the players to directly influence the story: A character may recover Essence in-game by the player suggesting additional hazards for their character to overcome.

I will also second Mouse Guard / Burning Wheel as an excellent (and in Mouse Guard's case, easy to get into) system.

[Balain]

I have forgotten more RPGs than a lot of people on here.

Is toon Indie?

How about Necroscope..Okay actually no that one probably isn't since it's gurps with cards.

Bunnies and Burrows

Bushido

James Bond

Ghostbusters...The simplest RPG I have seen. You have 3 stats, or maybe it was 2 and equipment, that's it.

Witchcraft, The same company did Buffy the vampire RPG.

There was one I forget the name you play Mormons or in an altered/fantasy Utah that used card instead of dice.

The most Indie games are the various ones individuals in our group have made up.

[erikun]

There was one I forget the name you play Mormons or in an altered/fantasy Utah that used card instead of dice.

Dogs in the Vineyard?

[GoodbyeSoberDay]

Dogs is one of those games that's great in theory but poor in execution. It's not that the Dogs system lacks good ideas... I guess what I'm saying is I'd like to see a Dogs 2.0 with more mechanically sensible character creation and group task resolution.

Also, the designer seemed to take the setting very seriously. It's Mormon cowboys. It's begging for a humor adaptation.

Right, indie systems... Is Savage Worlds indie?

[Samurai Jill]

Dogs in the Vineyard?

DitV uses dice pools. You may be thinking of the poker metaphor it uses for scene resolution based on raises and sees.

Dogs is one of those games that's great in theory but poor in execution. It's not that the Dogs system lacks good ideas... I guess what I'm saying is I'd like to see a Dogs 2.0 with more mechanically sensible character creation and group task resolution.

What did you find not-sensible about those?

I don't see anything more inherently silly about Mormon Exorcist Cowboys than, say, Colonial Gothic, Shadowrun, and gods-know-what-other RPG settings you could name.

[Delta]

Bliss Stage
I could make a pitch, but TV Tropes already has it covered

Alright now THIS got my attention :) I think I'll need to have a closer look at this.

[GoodbyeSoberDay]

What did you find not-sensible about those?

Having to buy flaws felt oddly restrictive in such a broad game, and being outnumbered in anything, including a discussion, seemed like an utterly crippling disadvantage (if no one wanted to give up). I'm also not the biggest fan of hugely abstract systems in general.

I don't see anything more inherently silly about Mormon Exorcist Cowboys than, say, [...] Shadowrun...

Not saying much.

[Innis Cabal]

Having to buy flaws felt oddly restrictive in such a broad game, and being outnumbered in anything, including a discussion, seemed like an utterly crippling disadvantage (if no one wanted to give up).

This. The game felt as if you were on a slope made of gravel that was constantly falling out from underneath you. It didn't matter the decisions you made in character creation. It didn't matter if you made a character for Situation X. You were going down.

There was no winning. There was just sucking less each and every time you had to do something. Damage was crippling, making losing all the worse. Death was a near constant terror looming ever closer, and there was no way to avoid that. Death is all well and good in a narritve setting. But when I play a game, I'd like not to lose each and every step of the way. Thats called Life and I play that 24/7 365. I want an escape, I want to be able to do something, and triumph at it. I don't play games to lose.

Team work seemed to work even less well then the above, faulting you for daring to commune with your allies, and thrusting your face into the proverbial pile of dog crap when you inevitably failed.

The rules of interaction, character creation were less rules and a unintelligable mess. It was not that the game was complex. Because its not, it is as systems go fairly easy to grasp and learn. You simply gained nothing from the expenditure, and were left where you begin, at the starting point.

It dosn't matter what the fluff was, because a system shouldn't be balanced on the game world its packaged with. A system should be able to be used no matter what you want to play. Thats why its a system and not a world setting. The System of DitVY....sucks. Period.

[Delta]

A system should be able to be used no matter what you want to play.

I'm sorry if that's going way into OT, but this statement is very, very wrong, at least IMHO.

A system can very well be suited for one specific style of game, and that's not a bad thing at all. In fact, most of the systems I consider good give the reader a very clear picture of what kind of game you'll play with them.

[Somebloke]

A/State. The rules are very light (percentile skills, very vague hit point system) and not designed for combat (one unlucky- not very unlucky- roll can kill you) but the setting is by far one of the most evocative I have ever come across- a blend of every urban distopia ever conceived in a single, massive, isolated city that no-one can ever leave and may or may not be the last human settlement in existence. The players have to spread hope in one of the most intelligently grimdark settings I've come across, roaming gaslit streets of crumbling brick and armed with batons and sparklock pistols, jumping at shadows that may contain the mysterious, inhuman Shifted. It runs the gamut from cyberpunk to steampunk with a hefty dose of the X-files by way of Condemned:criminal origins and is worth getting for the background alone.

The creators have a website set up- http://www.contestedground.co.uk/astint.html

[Somebloke]

I thought I'd create a thread for Indie RPG lovers to post some their favourite games and give a little pitch. For example:

Spirit of the Century:
Based on the Fate roleplaying game (which in turn is based on the Fudge system - a d3-like system with special dice called fudge-dice). Takes about 10 minutes to get started and learn the rules. The concept of the game: Pulp Action. If you ever wanted to go through a Jackie Chan fight scene, this game is for you. With a simple system of traits, your character can put himself into very sticky situations and as a reward for his risk, earn fate points. These fate points can in turn be used to get the player out of the sticky situations he got in by following his traits. In the first 30 minutes of playing, I jumped onto a moving train that had been hijacked by AK47-bearing gorillas and fought my way to the main chamber only to find a velociraptor accelerating the train towards an indian reserve. Remembering that "I once flew an aeroplane" (one of my traits), I managed to stop the train in time.
If you want some realism-free action-packed light game, try Spirit of the Century. Find the free SRD at their website.

I've heard great things about this- I may pick it up.

[Hallavast]

Define indie.

I don't want to. If you consider it to be indie, then put it here. The way I see it, my intention here is to get to know some cool games that are not well known. If it is a "fringe" game, one only played by a small minority in the roleplaying community, it is certainly appropriate for this forum.

Anything that's not published by WoTC or Whitewolf, I guess... I mean, I don't consider Mouseguard to be "indie" but it is regarded as one of the best new indie games out there.

To me, indie is "any game that is not beholden to some other license". For example, Mouseguard was first a comic. Thus, the game is beholden to the license and material of the comic.

Maybe I just don't like the word indie...

[Human Paragon 3]

I already have a thread about this, but I thought the cool cats here might be able to lend a hand. Could anyone explain how the firefight system in Burning Empires actually works? I am wondering whether it's worth borrowing for a homebrew system I'm working on that's based on BW/Mouse Guard.

[Totally Guy]

I'm reading through Burning Empires for the first time and I'm at the start of the Firefight chapter...

I imagine it'll be like the scripting mechanic for MG or BW(Fight) but with about 8 manoeuvre options. I think the intent is to model a military skirmish with vehicles. I think there's a separate mini conflict for characters that end up meeting in close combat.

[GolemsVoice]

I always wanted to pick up Spirit of the Century!. That stuff is right up my alley, and three (me + two other guys) from our core group are really into this pulp action thing, but the third can't stand it.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Anything that's not published by WoTC or Whitewolf, I guess... I mean, I don't consider Mouseguard to be "indie" but it is regarded as one of the best new indie games out there.

To me, indie is "any game that is not beholden to some other license". For example, Mouseguard was first a comic. Thus, the game is beholden to the license and material of the comic.

Maybe I just don't like the word indie...

It's just a convenient handle for "small publisher RPGs." Even Mouse Guard (and its predecessor, Burning Wheel) are orders of magnitude smaller than publishers like Pinnacle or Paizo.

Honestly, Indie RPGs deserve the name for how they're promoted - word of mouth. Sure, everyone gets the Hipster Reflex ("I liked it before it was cool!") but as far as labeling goes, Indie RPG is pretty accurate.

[Samurai Jill]

Having to buy flaws felt oddly restrictive in such a broad game...

'Flaws' are a trait like any other. They don't impose any disadvantage. You describe them during a scene, and you get their dice. How could that possibly be construed as restrictive?

...and being outnumbered in anything, including a discussion, seemed like an utterly crippling disadvantage (if no one wanted to give up).

The system of raises and sees should mean that being outnumbered is only a mild disadvantage (insofar as having two opponents means you have to see the better of their raises.) And aren't there multiple Dogs?

This. The game felt as if you were on a slope made of gravel that was constantly falling out from underneath you. It didn't matter the decisions you made in character creation. It didn't matter if you made a character for Situation X. You were going down.

There was no winning. There was just sucking less each and every time you had to do something. Damage was crippling, making losing all the worse. Death was a near constant terror looming ever closer...

Death only happens if you manage to roll maximum Fallout, which will only happen if you escalate every conflict to maximum violence, and even then there's, IIRC, only a 1% chance of it happening.

The rules of interaction, character creation were less rules and a unintelligable mess...

What the hell was unintelligible about them? You picked a background, and got a certain amount of dice to split between relationships, traits, attributes, and belongings. Why the confusion?

...It dosn't matter what the fluff was, because a system shouldn't be balanced on the game world its packaged with. A system should be able to be used no matter what you want to play...

Ah, I get it now. You were trying to play DitV like a Gamist. In that situation, yes, you are going to lose no matter what. Here is why:

"...Your goal in the next town is to take the characters' judgements and push them a little bit further. Say that in this past town, one of the characters came down clearly on the side of "every sinner deserves another chance." In the next town, you'll want to reply with "even this one? Even this sinner?" Or say that another character demonstrated the position that "love is worth breaking the rules for." You can reply with "is this love worth breaking the rules for too? Is love worth breaking this rule for?"

If you try to play DitV with the idea of a single, fixed objective in mind- i.e, with the aim of "winning"- you are eventually going to get your ass handed to you. Because the objective of DitV isn't to win- it isn't even to lose. It's to say something. When you keep giving the same answer to variations on the same question, the GM will eventually ask you- through the situations posed in play- "Is this belief worth dying for?" To prove sincerity, you back up a conviction with sacrifice- but if you never show any signs of backing down, any signs of re-evaluating your core beliefs, then those sacrifices have to escalate accordingly. Otherwise you're not saying anything new. It's ultimately a case of evolve or die.

But this is entirely consistent with what you find in most narrative storytelling. Characters who stick with a single, well-defined belief or goal and never waver from it eventually wind up destroying themselves. I mean, literally- pick a good story at random and you can divide 90% of protagonists into those-who-evolve-and-prevail and those-whose-stubbornness-destroys-them. Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood and Sir Thomas More in A Man For All Seasons are prime examples of the latter- there's no dependancy on whether their beliefs are good or bad in the first place. Conversely, Brick Pollitt from Cat On A Hot Tin Roof and Malcolm Reynolds from Serenity are characters that redefine themselves and prevail. Evolve or die. Evolve or die. Evolve or die.

[Yuki Akuma]

Oh boy, Pseudophilosophy: the Game! I sure want to play Dogs in the Vineyard now!

I'm gonna second Risus and go.