I'd like to note that registration for the Indie RPG Awards is open for games released during 2010, entered here:

http://www.rpg-awards.com/register.shtml

Now that we've had a chance to play some, I'd love to hear more about games independently published in 2010.  High Valor came out last year, I think, along with Errant RPG and Lost Empires BETA.  What are some others that should be recognized?

What does "independently published" mean, in this context?

Quote from: Benoist;441202What does "independently published" mean, in this context?

What he said.

Quote from: Benoist;441202What does "independently published" mean, in this context?

1a. What is an "Indie" Role Playing Game (RPG)?

"Indie" is short for Independent, meaning, "independently created and owned". There is no ontological definition for "Independent RPG", but we came up with a definition for the purpose of these awards:

A game where the creator is the person who has written at least 50% of the actual game content.
A game where the creator has full control of content and publishing. They can say, "I'd like to print 200 more copies" or "I'll drop the price by 50%", "I think this game needs more ninjas..." and do so without asking permission or checking with anyone else.
A game where the creator is the publisher: They alone are responsible for paying all the costs of printing, art, advertising, etc. They also have full executive receipt and full control over the disbursement of profits.
Here is a quick-and-dirty guide. First, check the copyright. If the copyright goes to the author of the game, odds are high that it's an indie RPG. If the copyright goes to a company, and that company is run by the game's author (or the company consists solely of the author), odds are high that it's an indie RPG. And if you're not sure if your game qualifies, please ask me through the Feedback page!

In the advent of several publishing licenses from different RPG companies and organizations, I've made a handy guide that should answer some questions.

1b. What sort of RPGs are eligible for these awards?

To be eligible, the game has to meet our above definiton of "Indie RPG". It must have been produced or sent to market between January 1st and December 31st in the year of the awards. The game must have been released in English. Though we love having RPGs released in other languages, the voters are primarily English-language speakers and cannot adequately review and compare games in other languages.

Thanks, Tommy.

Stars Without Number would qualify.

I would also vote for Wu Xing there, personally.

So under those guidelines, games published by Steve Jackson or Palladium Books can be eligible for Indie awards?  Assuming that Steve Jackson or Kevin Simbieda wrote the game, or that Palladium came out with any new product in the past year.


interesting

Quote from: everloss;441214So under those guidelines, games published by Steve Jackson or Palladium Books can be eligible for Indie awards?  Assuming that Steve Jackson or Kevin Simbieda wrote the game, or that Palladium came out with any new product in the past year.

interesting

Yes, assuming that they personally control the company that is in their name.

Hmm, so last year...

Fiasco by Jason Morningstar

Little Fears, Nightmare Edition by Jason L. Blair

Montsegur 1244 by Frederik J. Jensen

A Penny for My Thoughts by Paul Tevis

44: A Game of Automatic Fear by Matt Snyder

Chronica Feudalis: A Game of Imagined Adventure in Medieval Europe by Jeremy Keller

Ganakagok by Bill White

Escape from Tentacle City by Willow Palecek

Hellcats and Hockeysticks: A Role-Playing Game of chaos, anarchy, and decidedly unladylike behavior by Andrew Peregrine

S/Lay w/Me by Ron Edwards

Shotgun Diaries: A Zombie Survival Roleplaying Game by John Wick

Time & Temp by Epidiah Ravachol

All score higher then Atomic Highway, an actual RPG (not storygame), that people actually play.

I'd suggest Stars Without Number, but if I were the author, I'd prefer to have as little to do with that award as humanly possible.

Quote from: Tommy Brownell;4412081a. What is an "Indie" Role Playing Game (RPG)?

"Indie" is short for Independent, meaning, "independently created and owned". There is no ontological definition for "Independent RPG", but we came up with a definition for the purpose of these awards:

A game where the creator is the person who has written at least 50% of the actual game content.
A game where the creator has full control of content and publishing. They can say, "I'd like to print 200 more copies" or "I'll drop the price by 50%", "I think this game needs more ninjas..." and do so without asking permission or checking with anyone else.
A game where the creator is the publisher: They alone are responsible for paying all the costs of printing, art, advertising, etc. They also have full executive receipt and full control over the disbursement of profits.
Here is a quick-and-dirty guide. First, check the copyright. If the copyright goes to the author of the game, odds are high that it's an indie RPG. If the copyright goes to a company, and that company is run by the game's author (or the company consists solely of the author), odds are high that it's an indie RPG. And if you're not sure if your game qualifies, please ask me through the Feedback page!

In the advent of several publishing licenses from different RPG companies and organizations, I've made a handy guide that should answer some questions.

1b. What sort of RPGs are eligible for these awards?

To be eligible, the game has to meet our above definiton of "Indie RPG". It must have been produced or sent to market between January 1st and December 31st in the year of the awards. The game must have been released in English. Though we love having RPGs released in other languages, the voters are primarily English-language speakers and cannot adequately review and compare games in other languages.

Interesting. If I'm reading that right my Chav: The Knifing doesn't qualify.

I wrote pretty much all the text but I had no control over any of the buisness side or artwork and the copyright is held by the Studio.

Yet Postmortem has been called Indie by pretty much everyone I've met :S

Quote from: CRKrueger;441222Hmm, so last year...

Fiasco by Jason Morningstar

Little Fears, Nightmare Edition by Jason L. Blair

Montsegur 1244 by Frederik J. Jensen

A Penny for My Thoughts by Paul Tevis

44: A Game of Automatic Fear by Matt Snyder

Chronica Feudalis: A Game of Imagined Adventure in Medieval Europe by Jeremy Keller

Ganakagok by Bill White

Escape from Tentacle City by Willow Palecek

Hellcats and Hockeysticks: A Role-Playing Game of chaos, anarchy, and decidedly unladylike behavior by Andrew Peregrine

S/Lay w/Me by Ron Edwards

Shotgun Diaries: A Zombie Survival Roleplaying Game by John Wick

Time & Temp by Epidiah Ravachol

All score higher then Atomic Highway, an actual RPG (not storygame), that people actually play.

I'd suggest Stars Without Number, but if I were the author, I'd prefer to have as little to do with that award as humanly possible.

I can't speak about people actually playing it, but Little Fears is certainly an RPG in pretty much every traditional sense. The rest I either have no experience with, or don't necessarily argue the "storygame" tag. While it does have a "players edit" rule, it is built into the setting and is no more out of line than, say, magic in D&D (monsters are defined by the kids' "belief"...meaning that if a kid can convince themselves of something being true about a monster, for instance, it can happen).

Quote from: CRKrueger;441222Hmm, so last year...

Fiasco by Jason Morningstar

Little Fears, Nightmare Edition by Jason L. Blair

Montsegur 1244 by Frederik J. Jensen

A Penny for My Thoughts by Paul Tevis

44: A Game of Automatic Fear by Matt Snyder

Chronica Feudalis: A Game of Imagined Adventure in Medieval Europe by Jeremy Keller

Ganakagok by Bill White

Escape from Tentacle City by Willow Palecek

Hellcats and Hockeysticks: A Role-Playing Game of chaos, anarchy, and decidedly unladylike behavior by Andrew Peregrine

S/Lay w/Me by Ron Edwards

Shotgun Diaries: A Zombie Survival Roleplaying Game by John Wick

Time & Temp by Epidiah Ravachol

All score higher then Atomic Highway, an actual RPG (not storygame), that people actually play.

I'd suggest Stars Without Number, but if I were the author, I'd prefer to have as little to do with that award as humanly possible.

Krueger, that's bullshit, since you picked the traditional RPG that was at the bottom of the ratings - but you conveniently left out all the traditional RPGs that are rated higher.  

Beat to Quarters by Neil Gow came in 3rd;

Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies by Chad Underkoffler came in 6th;

On Her Majesty's Arcane Service by clash bowley came in 8th.  

So Beat to Quarters - a traditional RPG - came in ahead of all of the games you mention except Fiasco.  

Yes, these awards recognize story games and even live-action systems as well as traditional RPGs.  The games recognized are not necessarily the most popular with gamers.  It is a peer voted award, and traditional RPG authors like Pundit, bowley, and Underkoffler as well as story game authors like Baker and Edwards are all invited to vote.

Who votes on these?

Considering the writers for the site write copy like -  "Jared Sorensen!!!! do I have to say more", I'm thinking great games like Starcluster 3, High Valor and Stars Without Number are doomed to lose to storygaming sewage like Apocalypse World.  Why bother?

Quote from: CRKrueger;441222Hmm, so last year...

Fiasco by Jason Morningstar

Little Fears, Nightmare Edition by Jason L. Blair

Montsegur 1244 by Frederik J. Jensen

A Penny for My Thoughts by Paul Tevis

44: A Game of Automatic Fear by Matt Snyder

Chronica Feudalis: A Game of Imagined Adventure in Medieval Europe by Jeremy Keller

Ganakagok by Bill White

Escape from Tentacle City by Willow Palecek

Hellcats and Hockeysticks: A Role-Playing Game of chaos, anarchy, and decidedly unladylike behavior by Andrew Peregrine

S/Lay w/Me by Ron Edwards

Shotgun Diaries: A Zombie Survival Roleplaying Game by John Wick

Time & Temp by Epidiah Ravachol

All score higher then Atomic Highway, an actual RPG (not storygame), that people actually play.

I'd suggest Stars Without Number, but if I were the author, I'd prefer to have as little to do with that award as humanly possible.

On the other hand, Diaspora, Swashbucklers of the Seven Skies, and my own OHMAS "rated" higher as well, and Slasher Flick is "rated" the same, and all these are traditional RPGs. Beat to Quarters has some definite story-game influence, but is also a traditional RPG in structure. It's in the nature of the beast. Awards are popularity contests, not objective judgments of merit, because there is no such thing. These awards are voted on by other RPG designers, not by the public. There are a lot of designers interested in the story-game paradigm who are participants with this site, ergo, more story-gamish designs tend to get voted higher. That's all. It's nothing to get upset about. Why in the world are you so angry? It's like things falling because of gravity. If more small press traditional designers participated, then trad games would get voted higher. Blame the traditional designers who don't participate!

-clash

Quote from: CRKrueger;441241Who votes on these?

Considering the writers for the site write copy like -  "Jared Sorensen!!!! do I have to say more", I'm thinking great games like Starcluster 3, High Valor and Stars Without Number are doomed to lose to storygaming sewage like Apocalypse World.  Why bother?

Like I said, who votes on these are independent RPG authors.  That includes some people who admire Jared Sorensen and Vincent Baker, but it also includes plenty of other RPG authors like bowley, Underkoffler, and even RPGPundit.  They are all invited to vote.  

And no, Starcluster probably isn't going to win first place because of the set of voters has a great many who aren't into traditional RPGs.  However, I think there is still value in being recognized because it helps a game get noticed by a different set of people.  Many people have commented that they like the awards site even though they ignore the ratings, because they get to see the comments and the lists of games.