Indie role-playing game
Encyclopedia : I : IN : IND : Indie role-playing game
- This article is about indie roleplaying games. See Indie gaming for their computer and video game counterparts.
Even prominent role-playing game companies often publish on a very small scale. Most are solely dedicated to in-house creations. In this fashion, the industry is unlike the industries above, whose indie communities formed to react to a feeling of enforced consensus or creative stagnation. It must be noted however, that some indie role-playing advocates do support their communities based on both of these motives. Varying definitions require that commercial, design or conceptual elements of the game stay under the control of the creator, or that the game should just be produced outside of a corporate environment. The question of whether indie role-playing games can be defined precisely, abstractly or not at all sparks ongoing discussion among RPG hobbyists and creators.
The Forge Community
While criteria for what is an indie game vary greatly, one of the most influential self-identified indie RPG communities is centered on Ron Edwards' and Clinton R. Nixon's site, The Forge. This community generally defines indie games as those where the creator maintains control of his or her work[link] and eschews the traditional publishing and sales model, though there are exceptions. Games are also not part of what the community considers the "mainstream" role-playing industry, represented by games such as Dungeons and Dragons and .
Within that loose community, games of note include:
In The Forge community, indie RPGs often represent a more Narrativist school of game design, as opposed to the Gamist/Simulationist outlook of the mainstream. This Indie RPG scene often creates games which are strongly tied to a very specific setting; in this respect, they can be seen as the antithesis of generic role-playing game systems. This is not always true however, since many games from that community instead focus on play dynamics that can be transplated to a number of settings. For example, a game might focus on moral crises, but is not tied to playing them out in any particular fictional world. Both methods respond to Ron Edwards' challenge in his essay [System Does Matter]. No matter the strategy, tightly focused designs are traditionally a hallmark of this community.Other Definitions
Other individuals and communities simply define independent role-playing works by scale of publishing, creative environment, or as a commercial label. For example, Indie Press Revolution is a company that distributes games that it labels as independent, but do not always jibe with other communities' definitions of the term.An independent role-playing game publisher usually lacks the financial backing of large company. This has made other forms of publishing than the traditional three-tier model more desirable.[#endnote_three-tier] A simple form of publishing is making the game available online for free in a digital format. Usual formats are in HTML, text, blog, or PDF form.[#endnote_formats]Some publishers have no interest in financial success; others define it differently than most mainstream companies. The division between what is technically profitable and what would be considered financially viable for a business is another oft-debated element of independent role-playing publishing.
Desktop publishing and e-commerce technologies have allowed small scale participation in every aspect of game design. Indie RPGs can be self-published by one or a few people who themselves control all aspects of design, promotion and distribution of the game. The advent of print on demand (POD) publishing has recently lowered the costs of producing an RPG to the point at which role-playing games can be produced and distributed with minimal financial investment.
Many of these games are considered indie games by their creators, players or other hobbyists. RPGNow and DrivethruRPG are two companies that sell such small press offerings (as well as mainstream products) as downloadable PDFs. RPGNow has created a separate storefront for low-selling or new entries to this market. Initial plans called for this storefront to use the "indie" moniker, but it was eventually decided to call the storefront RPGNow Edge instead. All of the above sites include creator-owned content, as well as other products that are not readily identified with the role-playing game industry mainstream.
Finally, there are creators who are not associated with any particular community who produce games outside of the mainstream. Many of these primarily sell PDFs, with some supplementary print sales at specific venues. One example is The Wicked Dead Brewing Company. This imprint includes games by a number of designers. Game designer Greg Stolze has produced games using the Ransom model, without resorting to traditional publishing and sales.
Footnotes
- ↑ The three-tier model is a distribution model with three levels: publisher, distibutor and retailer.
- ↑ Example formats are: The Shadow of Yesterday [first edition] (HTML) and [revised edition] (text), [Legends of Alyria] (blog), and [FATE] (pdf).
External links
- [The Forge] – A site dedicated to the promotion, creation, and review of independent role-playing games.
- [Indie Press Revolution] – A commercial site with PDF and printed indie role-playing games.
- [The 20' By 20' Room] – An Indie RPG blog with multiple contributors.
- [RPGNow Edge] – an RPGNow storefront devoted to small press releases.
- [Wicked Dead Brewing Company] – A company featuring small press games.
- [Greg Stolze] – Website of game designer Greg Stolze. Includes work sold under the Ransom model.
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.