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Why Indie RPGs? Indies of the Round Table #1

Name:	Jay Barnson
Date Posted:	Feb 11, 2008
Rating:	5.0 out of 5
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I somehow managed to abuse my pretense at being plugged into the indie RPG scene (there's a scene?) and rope ten indie RPG developers together for a monthly Q&A called "Indies of the Round Table." The developers range from new developers making a splash with their first title, to seasoned vets who've been at this for several years.

The list of panelists includes some names the GarageGames community should recognize - Josh Engebretson of Prairie Games (Minions of Mirth), Amanda Fitch of Amaranth Games (the Aveyond series and Grimm's Hatchery - the latter made with TGB), Vince D. Weller of Iron Tower Studios (Age of Decadence - another Torque-powered RPG), and Jeff Vogel of Spiderweb Software (if you play indie RPGs at all, you've probably played his games).

The question they wrestle with this month should be a familiar one to the folks here: Why bother? Why Indie RPGs? With all the MMORPGs being released, the mainstream RPGs released in the last 18 months or so, and all the fan-created mods for games like the Neverwinter Nights series, what do indie RPGs possibly have to offer?

I hope you enjoy their answers as much as I did:

Why Indie RPGs? Indies of the Round Table #1

Please feel free to add comments, your OWN answers, suggestions for future questions, or just let us know if you liked the article or not.

Thanks!

Jay Barnson
Rampant Games
Tales of the Rampant Coyote

Recent Blog Posts

List:	04/30/08 - Frayed Knights Pilot Episode Now Available 03/28/08 - Frayed Knights - The Interview! 03/17/08 - The Future of Indie RPGs 02/27/08 - Frayed Knights, Late Nights 02/11/08 - Why Indie RPGs? Indies of the Round Table #1 01/30/08 - Frayed Knights: Beware the Priests of the Pus God! 12/31/07 - Frayed Knights Development - Frayed Nerves! 12/13/07 - Indie RPG News Roundup - December 13th

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Rubes (Feb 11, 2008 at 18:50 GMT)

I thought it was great, and a great idea. Good job, and thanks.

Jay Barnson (Feb 11, 2008 at 19:13 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

Thanks! What was cool to me was that everyone I invited accepted the opportunity to participate. Everyone jumped at the chance to talk about what they do, and why they feel there's a strong place for indie RPGs. Unsurprising - I think many of them got into doing it because they were unsatisfied customers of mainstream games, and decided to write the kinds of games THEY wanted to play.

Leroy Frederick (Feb 12, 2008 at 12:08 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

Nice article (as usual) Jay :0)

Jay Barnson (Feb 12, 2008 at 18:47 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

The nice part about this one was that - except for the intro and conclusion, it was all other people writing it. I think ANY aspiring indie ought to read it, because you could substitute "RPG" for almost any genre and many of the answers would still hold true (if the details might change).

The long and short of it is that these guys are identifying places where the mainstream industry is failing to meet demand. If they can meet it - and the demand is large enough - and they can manage to market it and get the word out that they are THERE with something to make people happy - they can do well.

And there are quite a few indies on that panel who are doing just that, full-time.

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