I'll second The Shadow of Yesterday.  It's an excellent little game, self-contained, and fairly traditional.  It's mix of "forgie" conflict resolution mixed with task based resolution (Bringin Down the Pain) is pretty damn cool and an excellent introduction to less traditional mechanics.

It has enough of the trappings of a traditonal RPG (GM, linear advancement, a medieval/Renaissance setting) and the best implementation of the tamer Forge stuff (conflict resolution, character based stories, limited player narration).  I heartily recommend it.

For thematic stuff, I would recommend Prime Time Adventures, and I would recommend it for this reason:

http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=19780.0

Which is a seriously cool actual play thread.

For small press, I would recommend Jags Wonderland, excellent even if you are not into the Jags ruleset itself http://www.jagsrpg.org/ you need to scroll down the page a bit to find Jags Wonderland and The Book of Knots which are related products and I think still free.

Personally, I don't rate TRoS but Imperator who also posts here has had much better experiences of it and may be worth checking out on that, it's place as an indie darling though has rather been usurped by The Burning Wheel.

The PIG and Flyingmice games are of high quality, too many to easily recommend one in particular but browse their sites and if something seems interesting to you the execution will generally be worth your money.

Sorceror I would not personally recommend, not because it suxxors or anything but because to get the best from it you have to read 800 or so Forge threads and it desperately needs a new edition with better advice on how to run it IMO.

Dogs in the Vineyard and My Life with Master are also both worth checking out on the thematic front.

For Forge games:

Burning Empires- Worth it for the World & Tech Burning sections alone

Conspiracy of Shadow-- is what it sounds like.


For other Small Press

You can't go wrong with any of Flying Mice's games ( I highly recommend In Harms Way)

Same for Politcally Incorrect Games, my favorite is Hard Nova II ( I have a review of it in the reviews section), I also like Runestryders (will be posting a review in the next day or two).

Hinterwelt- Roma Imperious is the Definitive Roman alternate history/fantasy game out IMO. Nebuleon is one of the best Sci-FI games around.

I`m just getting back into roleplaying, so I don`t have the breadth of experience the others do.  But I do like one recent product I picked up: _Spirit of the Century_ by Evil Hat Productions.  It`s a pulp-fiction game set in a slightly alternate version of the 1920`s.  The background is thin, although not much more than the plots of the source material.  I like it mainly for the system--Fate--which is an updated version of a free rpg system of the same name developed by the authors.  It`s Fudge with some narrative-control mechanics added in.

   It`s currently in pre-order for the books, but will shift to PDF-only option in a month or so.

Quote from: BalbinusFor small press, I would recommend Jags Wonderland, excellent even if you are not into the Jags ruleset itself http://www.jagsrpg.org/ you need to scroll down the page a bit to find Jags Wonderland and The Book of Knots which are related products and I think still free.

Personally, I don't rate TRoS but Imperator who also posts here has had much better experiences of it and may be worth checking out on that, it's place as an indie darling though has rather been usurped by The Burning Wheel.

The PIG and Flyingmice games are of high quality, too many to easily recommend one in particular but browse their sites and if something seems interesting to you the execution will generally be worth your money.

Thanks, Max!

TROS - and Burning Wheel - were games developed outside the Forge but adopted in. They therefore can feel less "Forgey" - or perhaps I should say they can be approached in a different manner than the Forge gamers do - and still be appreciated. This is called "Difting" in Forge-speak. Generally Forge-influenced games tend to be locked down mechanically on how you approach them.

Other Small Press games I can really recommend are Hearts and Souls by Tim Kirk, Truth and Justice by Chad Underkoffer - which are the only games that ever made me want to play supers, Conspiracy of Shadows by Keith
Senkowsky, and JAGS C-13, Have-Not, Wonderland, and The Book of Knots by Marco Chacon, who is without peer at building settings. All of the JAGS settings are free downloads, Wonderland and Book of Knots are also available for pay as books and as pdfs with better resolution and marvellous covers.

-clash

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

D&D, the original Indie game. Alternately, GURPS, which is still an "indie game".

RPGPundit

Quote from: RPGPunditD&D, the original Indie game. Alternately, GURPS, which is still an "indie game".

RPGPundit

As is Rifts, but somehow I don't think that's what the OP had in mind.

-clash

I bought In Harm's Way late this afternoon and can confirm that it is pretty spiffing.  The research is all there too, even if the game does sound like a Coast Guard RPG ;-)

Quote from: RPGPunditD&D, the original Indie game. Alternately, GURPS, which is still an "indie game".

RPGPundit

Don't turn this into another debate of what "Indie" means, the board seems to have a working defnition handy.

Quote from: Mr. AnalyticalI bought In Harm's Way late this afternoon and can confirm that it is pretty spiffing.  The research is all there too, even if the game does sound like a Coast Guard RPG ;-)

Thank you, Mr. Analytical! As my son Klaxon said to me after I told him I had just ordered about $150 worth of books from Amazon "for research," "Research, hell! You might fool the IRS but your not fooling me. That's just your brain candy!"

Which is true - I ate that stuff up, fiction and non-fiction, since my first readings of Hornblower and Marryat when I was about eight or nine. The bibliography is the tip of the iceberg.

The name comes from a quote by John Paul Jones - "I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast, for I intend to go in harm's way." - which just about sums up what the game is all about.

Enjoy!

-clash

Yeah, I recognised the quote.  I did a PhD in War Studies and one of the areas the department was big in was naval history and I sat in on some lectures.

For some reason I thought that the US coast guards had "To boldly go in harm's way" as their motto but apparently it's semper paratus sao I have NO idea where that came from.

Good work though, it's everything you could possibly want from a book on that topic.

Thanks! I appreciate your taking the time to tell me.

-clash

Quote from: McrowFor Forge games:

Burning Empires- Worth it for the World & Tech Burning sections alone

Conspiracy of Shadow-- is what it sounds like.


For other Small Press

You can't go wrong with any of Flying Mice's games ( I highly recommend In Harms Way)

Same for Politcally Incorrect Games, my favorite is Hard Nova II ( I have a review of it in the reviews section), I also like Runestryders (will be posting a review in the next day or two).

Hinterwelt- Roma Imperious is the Definitive Roman alternate history/fantasy game out IMO. Nebuleon is one of the best Sci-FI games around.

Thanks for the mention both Mike and Clash. PIG games has some of the nicest layout I have seen in small press while I really love Clash's game concepts. I have a weakness for alternate history and sci-fi and Clash does a good job of combining them.

Bill

Quote from: Mr. AnalyticalGood work though, it's everything you could possibly want from a book on that topic.

Very true. I would say more about IHW, but then I would sound like a fanboy...and that's never a good thing

Regards,
David R

Thank you, David! That means a lot to me!



-clash