I've recently been introduced to "indy" or SMALL PRESS RPG's. And while i have not played, I do own & am reading(and have listened to play sessions and reviews):


by Lumpley Games
by Tao Games
by Anvilwerks

So far I've spent the most time with Dogs in the Vineyard.(I bought the PDF) Which is a pretty unique western setting. Where you(the players) take the roles of "The Dogs", the Enforcers of the Word & the Faith. Your groups goal is to figure out the problems as you travel from town to town and settle them with word or with iron. And it, like all the other RPG's in the top list, are not your conventional "tactical" fight/adventure games. And is all about character roles, "conflicts" and escalation... it has a very cool "dice pool" system and works roughly like poker with "see" and "raise" mechanic. All of which unfolds in an episodic nature rather like the old Kung Fu tv series from the 70's/80's. (There is a ton of extra info available on the website for setting material, guns, clothing for the time, etc. Fantastic stuff). Here's a quote from the webpage:

You stand between God's law and the best intentions of the weak.
You stand between God's people and their own demons.
Sometimes it's better for one to die than for many to suffer. Sometimes, Dog, sometimes you have to cut off the arm to save the life.
Does the sinner deserve mercy?
Do the wicked deserve judgment?
They're in your hands.
DOGS IN THE VINEYARD roleplaying God's Watchdogs in a West that never quite was.

And Shadows of Yesterday which puts a lot of narrative license and results into the player's hands. While more tradtional in theme ( fantasy = elves, etc) that's where it ends. Here is a quick little blurb about it:

The Shadow of Yesterday is pulpy romantic sword-and-sorcery at the end of one world and the beginning of the next. This game is an attempt to meld the best of standard fantasy role-playing and a hard-charging narrative engine. The revised version of this game, out now, focuses even more on mechanics that make your story zing off the table and into your imagination.

Set in a post-apocalyptic fantasy world where the creation of a moon has ravaged cultures and thrown the fate of the earth into question, TSOY resembles HeroQuest as written by Emily Bronte. The mechanics are engineered to throw character-focused story to the forefront.


Polaris just oozes with theme & the book has some great illustrations and really sets the moody high fantasy feel of this gamel. It also has "thee" most unique mechanics I've seen. This one truly is a story that unfolds as you play. Here is a couple of snippets:

The protagonists of the story are Knights of the Order of the Stars, beholden by ancient oaths to serve the stars and protect their people. The antagonists facing the knights are multitudinous -- demons from the mistake, doubters from the people, and even betrayers within the brotherhood of Knights.
Polaris uses a set of simple and easy-to-learn mechanics to help guide your game's storyline to an appropriate tragic ending. Each player at the table guides the protagonist in a different capacity, and the central points of the story are further shaped by the twelve Key Phrases.

This is no longer a history; this is not yet a story. This is all that remains. Whatever else is what you make of it.

I highly recommend anyone whom wants something with a different approach and ideas on what exactly a Role Playing is or can be. I personally think these are the groundwork for truly great theatre or art..
Check out Where alot of the RPG's I mentioned were birthed. A lot of interesting ideas and mechanics being discussed over there.

I have to give credit to Paul Tevis's podcast. Without which I would not have been introduced to these new ideas. He is a big RPG advocate (from D20 to Gurps to Cthulu to all the indy releases) and reviews and discusses alot of RPGs, board and card games. I cannot cannot recommend it enough.


-Floyd

A few others that are on the high interest list are:

- by John Wick from WickedDeadBrewing. It's about a group of Knights Templar that escaped pursecution at the hands of the FRENCH. Taking along with them some mysterious treasure.[/url]. BTW I think most, if not all of WDB's RPGs can be purchased in low cost PDF formats.

- which is a collection of 8 (compact) RPG's spanning avariety of settings and play styles.

by Luke Crane. The link provided takes you to a "highlight" page giving a brief description and sample downloads of the who's, how's, why's of this interesting system. Thisi s basically a generic system. But it has a really interesting multi-level combat system. Basically you can do simple combat resolutions or what is called "Bring Down the Pain" which is almost like bringing it down to a blow by blow level of detail.

a group of Ronin hired to hunt down and kill the dreaded Mountain Witch. A very streamlined and interesting TRUST/Betrayal mechanic is employed in this self-contained RPG.

And



There are also a few pulp type systems I hope to be getting:

by Hero Games
which is an extension set for Octane by

-Floyd

I have some of those indie games as well. They're good reads, but probably wouldn't see play at my table very frequently. Things like Dogs in the Vineyard have unique premises, but don't have widespread appeal. Not everyone, in my group anyway, would want to play those types of characters. Nice for one-shots though.