2008 Indie RPG Award Registrations
The Indie RPG Awards for games released in 2007 are now complete, with the final lists of registered games and supplements available at the 2007 Awards page. I have sent out an email to all the authors on my list of voters. However, it has been noted that many of the emails that I have are stale. Anyone who is an independent RPG author and did not receive an invitation should give me a ring -- via comments here or on the Indie RPG Awards website. To qualify, they should be primary author and owner of a commercial RPG, or commercial-quality free RPG.
There is a narrower field of registrations than last year, with 18 games and 5 supplements registered. All the games that I myself would want included are on there, but I wonder about this. One trend was that there were a number of "ashcan" editions of games released last year -- a deliberate attempt to put off full release of indie games and have more playtesting. These were generally not registered by the authors, presumably so that they could be judged instead on their later release form.
A question on my mind is what is happening to the field of indie RPGs in general? It seems to me that the short list this year is at least in part because there were fewer indie RPGs released in 2007, though there are other factors as well.
On the bright side, there are some things better about having 18 rather than 40 games released in a year -- both as far as the awards process and for indie RPG players. By splitting the field less, there is more potential for critical mass behind games, and each can get more attention. On the other hand, it probably correlates with less participation and drive from the peer community of authors.
There is a narrower field of registrations than last year, with 18 games and 5 supplements registered. All the games that I myself would want included are on there, but I wonder about this. One trend was that there were a number of "ashcan" editions of games released last year -- a deliberate attempt to put off full release of indie games and have more playtesting. These were generally not registered by the authors, presumably so that they could be judged instead on their later release form.
A question on my mind is what is happening to the field of indie RPGs in general? It seems to me that the short list this year is at least in part because there were fewer indie RPGs released in 2007, though there are other factors as well.
On the bright side, there are some things better about having 18 rather than 40 games released in a year -- both as far as the awards process and for indie RPG players. By splitting the field less, there is more potential for critical mass behind games, and each can get more attention. On the other hand, it probably correlates with less participation and drive from the peer community of authors.