Recommend an "Indie Game"

Bagpuss · September 27, 2006, 06:55:05 AM

Okay so if I was going to buy and Indie Game, which one(s) would folks recommend and why?

droog · September 27, 2006, 07:00:01 AM

Well, what do you like? There's quite a lot of variety. Does 'indie' mean 'Forge', or do you mean everything small-press?

Bagpuss · September 27, 2006, 07:03:46 AM

I live in the UK so availability is an issue (since postage to the UK has put me off buying stuff from the USA before now), but I've no objections to buying PDF and printing a copy.

I tend not to like high magic settings, or fantasy particularly, more of a Sci-fi or modern/horror guy.

I don't particularly have any perception of what indie or the Forge mean, having not visited the Forge, or knowingly purchased an indie game before.

droog · September 27, 2006, 07:14:48 AM

Well – the granddaddy of all the Forge games is Sorcerer, which could be described as modern horror. That only comes as a book.

If you want to try something different for free, there's Vincent Baker's playtest documents for Afraid, his hack for Dogs in the Vineyard.

Science-fiction is an interesting question. On the one hand there's Burning Empires (book and PDF), which has all the trappings of SF, but it's arguable according to your defintion of SF (is Star Wars SF? Trek?).

On the other hand there's the recently released Shock (book only), which is supposedly about SF in the vein of social speculation, rather than space battles and alien invaders.

There's a bit of an idea of the variety available.

Dr Rotwang! · September 27, 2006, 07:23:34 AM

Dude. Hard Nova II from Politically Incorrect Games. Rules-light, delightful and exciting.

droog · September 27, 2006, 07:32:33 AM

This, Bagpuss, is where you need to get detailed about what you're looking for if this thread is going to be of much use to you. A quick look at info for Hard Nova, for example, seems to indicate that it's a fairly straightforward RPG. Shock, for example, isn't, and if you got it thinking it was a rules-lite traditional RPG, you'd be unhappy. The confusion comes from the word 'indie'.

Settembrini · September 27, 2006, 07:35:45 AM

Small Press or Thematic, that is here the question!

Bagpuss · September 27, 2006, 08:12:27 AM

Can't I be interested in both? I must say Shock looks interesting (although I'm not sure my group would ever play it), and it's fixed price shipping is appealing.

kryyst · September 27, 2006, 08:14:33 AM

I'd suggest SLA Industries. It may be a little outside of the indie now but it is certainly small press. Now admittedly the mechanics struggle to work with the setting they are trying to tell (apparently there is a new eddition coming out). But the setting is one of the coolest dark Sci-Fi settings I've ever had the pleasure to read through.

droog · September 27, 2006, 08:23:19 AM

Quote from: BagpussCan't I be interested in both? I must say Shock looks interesting (although I'm not sure my group would ever play it), and it's fixed price shipping is appealing.

Okay... as long as you know....

Shock does look interesting. I grew up in the 70s on that sort of stuff, and I've always felt a lack of it in published SF games.

GRIM · September 27, 2006, 08:28:50 AM

Quote from: kryystI'd suggest SLA Industries. It may be a little outside of the indie now but it is certainly small press. Now admittedly the mechanics struggle to work with the setting they are trying to tell (apparently there is a new eddition coming out). But the setting is one of the coolest dark Sci-Fi settings I've ever had the pleasure to read through.

There's new material coming out for the current edition, a new edition should be a ways off yet but will, hopefully, be compatible but address people's issues with the rules.

flyingmice · September 27, 2006, 08:37:25 AM

SF Games are what we do. Check out StarCluster 2, Cold Space, and it's sequel FTL Now. I have other games - my best and favorite is In Harm's Way: A Napoleonic Naval Roleplaying Game.

All of them are traditional RPGs - nothing close to the edge. If you are looking for that, I'm sorry. Usually "indie" means "Forge-associated" which does not describe my games, but some people use it to mean any small press.

A couple of excellent traditional Small Press game companies I highly recommend are Politically Incorrect Games (PiG) and Hinterwelt Enterprises. Both of these companies put out awesome, solid, traditional RPG games.

For non-traditional "indie" games, I recommend Dogs in the Vinyard, The Shadow of Yesterday, The Riddle of Steel, Burning Wheel, and Polaris. Very well made and bursting with ideas, just not my kettle of fish.

Enjoy!

-clash

droog · September 27, 2006, 08:39:38 AM

Quote from: flyingmiceFor non-traditional "indie" games, I recommend Dogs in the Vinyard, The Shadow of Yesterday, The Riddle of Steel, Burning Wheel, and Polaris.

Why those ones in particular?

Caesar Slaad · September 27, 2006, 08:57:49 AM

Burning Empires is proving a good read so far. Could be interesting to play.

flyingmice · September 27, 2006, 09:01:10 AM

Quote from: droogWhy those ones in particular?

Hi Droog:

Because I've read them, and thought they had interesting things about them and were well written, just not anything I'd want to play. I didn't recommend Shock, for example, because I haven't read it. I recommended Dogs, for example, because I thought the town creation mechanics were wonderfully well done, and I love the concept of playing Mormon fists-of-God. The only one I could maybe see myself playing was RoS, which is fairly trad, but it's way too fussy for me in the combat, which is kind of the point of the game.

-clash

Added: I try to separate taste from quality. I thought these games were high quality, just not to my taste - therefore, they may appeal to Bagpuss.