Games - Indie role-playing game

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	Games - Indie role-playing game

An indie role-playing game is a role-playing game which is published by members of the self-defined indie RPG community. The definition of indie in the context of role-playing games is difficult, because the role-playing game industry operates with a different organization and scale than the publishing industry or music industry. The dynamics that inspired well-known independent movements in these industries are not necessarily present on the role-playing game industry.

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 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 Vampire: The Requiem.

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 stongly 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 . 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 desireable. 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.Some publishers have no interest in faniancial 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 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.

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