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58-486: The Indie RPG Awards were annual, creator-based awards for Indie role-playing games and supplements. They were established in 2002 by Andy Kitkowski. The final round of awards was given in 2017. For the purposes of the Awards, there exists a following "definition" of an Indie role-playing game: The following categories for nominations have been used throughout the history of the awards: Additional categories were awarded in

116-547: A company." Additionally, the CEO confirmed that Kickstarter stood by its decision to fire the two employees and would be pursuing legal action to fight their claims. The statement immediately resulted in criticism and calls for boycotts from creators who had previously used the platform, while writer Neil Gaiman tweeted that he would be unlikely to post support for or links to new Kickstarter campaigns "as long as they are anti-union." Kickstarter employees continued to file complaints to

174-462: A data breach of almost 5.2 million users' data, including email addresses, usernames and salted SHA-1 hashes of passwords. On March 19, 2019, Kickstarter's staff announced plans to unionize as part of the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU), which would make Kickstarter the only major tech company to have a union. Shortly after the announcement, three senior staffers released

232-422: A fee for digital download. Indie distribution is often achieved directly by the game's creator via e-commerce on Itch.io , DriveThruRPG , Kickstarter , BackerKit , or via in-person sales at gaming conventions. However, some fulfillment houses and small-scale distributors do handle indie products using the traditional three tier system of publisher, distributor and retailer. Starting in 2018, itch.io became

290-463: A memo dissenting against the decision, claiming that it is too extreme and that it would be a "misappropriation of unions for use by privileged workers." According to Kickstarter employees, they wanted to found a union both for enabling collective bargaining for wages and for "giving employees more clout," allowing them to work for goals that they saw in their interest and the public's interest. In May, Aziz Hasan, then CEO of Kickstarter, announced that

348-553: A much "pared-down forum structure" and the five remaining forums had "relatively low thread densities for all but the Actual Play forum". In 2012, Edwards announced the forthcoming closure of the community. White commented that the Forge: "served to champion creator-owned 'indie RPGs' and game design innovation. After an initial surge of conceptual discussion and design experimentation on the forum itself from 2000 to 2004, [...] it inspired

406-403: A number of milestones. A dock made for the iPhone designed by Casey Hopkins became the first Kickstarter project to exceed one million dollars in pledges. A few hours later, a new adventure game project started by computer game developers, Double Fine Productions , reached the same figure, having been launched less than 24 hours earlier, and finished with over $ 3 million pledged. This was also

464-456: A panoply of blogs and forums where further discussion took place." Starting in the mid-00s, storytelling games based upon historical events began to emerge. Examples include Grey Ranks (2007) by Jason Morningstar , which takes place during the 1944 Warsaw Uprising , and Montsegur 1244 (2008) by Frederik Jensen, in which players tell a collaborative story about the Cathars . Powered by

522-456: A product. To underscore the notion that Kickstarter is a place in which creators and audiences make things together, creators across all categories are asked to describe the risks and challenges a project faces in producing it. This educates the public about the project goals and encourages contributions to the community. Several creative works have gone on to receive critical acclaim and accolades after being funded on Kickstarter. Others, such as

580-684: A project's success or failure on Kickstarter. Some key findings from the analysis were that increasing goal size is negatively associated successfully, projects that are featured on the Kickstarter homepage have an 89% chance of being successful, compared to 30% without, and that for an average $ 10,000 project, a 30-day project has a 35% chance of success, while a 60-day project has a 29% chance of success, all other things being constant. The ten largest Kickstarter projects by funds raised are listed below. Among successful projects, most raise between $ 1,000 and $ 9,999. These dollar amounts drop to less than half in

638-449: A project. They also warn project leaders that they could be liable for legal damages from backers for failure to deliver on promises. Projects might also fail even after a successful fundraising campaign when creators underestimate the total costs required or technical difficulties to be overcome. When asked what made Kickstarter different from other crowdfunding platforms, co-founder Perry Chen said: "I wonder if people really know what

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696-705: A public company in 2019 via an initial public offering raising $ 1.1 billion. Cards Against Humanity originated with a $ 4,000 Kickstarter campaign in 2010. Both Kickstarter and project creators have cancelled projects that appeared to have been fraudulent. Questions were raised about the projects in internet communities related to the fields of the projects. The concerns raised were: apparent copying of graphics from other sources; unrealistic performance or price claims; and failure of project sponsors to deliver on prior Kickstarter projects. Some notable cancelled projects include: Many individual Kickstarter projects caused controversy: In February 2014, Kickstarter announced

754-452: A reduced user base. Several different digital publishing marketplaces that were later merged into Wolves of Freeport sold indie role-playing games between the 2000s and early 2020s. RPGNow and DriveThruRPG were two companies that sold indie role-playing games (as well as mainstream products) as downloadable PDFs. RPGNow created a separate storefront for low-selling or new entries to this market. Initial plans called for this storefront to use

812-762: A significant digital distributor of indie role-playing games, primarily in PDF form. Several organizations specialize in sales of indie games using a two-tier system of publisher and retail outlet. Indie Press Revolution distributes games that it labels as independent. Independent publishers may offer games only in digital format, only in print, or they may offer the same game in a variety of formats. Common digital formats include PDF and EPUB . Desktop publishing technologies have allowed indie designers to publish their games as bound books. The advent of print on demand (POD) publishing lowered production costs. Indie game designers use itch.io to host game jams as inspiration for

870-515: A specifically queer -themed tabletop role-playing game, followed in 2014 by her first edition of Dream Askew , which focused on queer community-building and became the prototype for the Belonging Outside Belonging system. This laid the groundwork for Jay Dragon's 2019 Belonging Outside Belonging game Sleepaway , which included a custom gender creation system. In 2020, Lucian Kahn 's game Visigoths vs. Mall Goths highlighted

928-496: A success rate of 37.45% (success rate being how many were successfully funded by reaching their set goal). The total amount pledged was $ 4,690,286,673. The business grew quickly in its early years. In 2010 Kickstarter had 3,910 successful projects and $ 27,638,318 pledged. The corresponding figures for 2011 were 11,836 successfully funded projects and $ 99,344,381 pledged; and there were 18,109 successfully funded projects, $ 610,352 pledged in 2012. On February 9, 2012, Kickstarter hit

986-529: A year (so that those laid off can return to job openings), and a release from noncompete agreements for those who accept severance pay. In December 2021, Kickstarter announced they would be moving their platform to blockchain , with the aim of making the tools required for creating a crowdfunding site available to anyone. The pivot came on the back of a $ 100 million investment from the crypto fund of Andreessen Horowitz . The decision backfired, alienated many users, damaging Kickstarter's reputation. Kickstarter

1044-464: Is a common model of promotion, funding, and distribution for indie role-playing games. Both individuals and small-press publishers frequently use Kickstarter and BackerKit for this purpose. Some publishers have no interest in financial success; others define it differently than most mainstream companies by emphasizing artistic fulfillment as a primary goal. Some independent publishers offer free downloads of games in digital form, while others charge

1102-453: Is a future in which there are no more starving indie developers. Where corporations don’t rule our brains pumping out endless sequels but instead we have a vibrant games community that produces countless works...To get there we need developers to gain experience and make many games, and that can only happen with time and a livable income.” Some definitions of "indie role-playing game" require that all commercial, design, or conceptual elements of

1160-980: Is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn , New York , that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of February 2023, Kickstarter has received US$ 7 billion in pledges from 21.7 million backers to fund 233,626 projects, such as films, music, stage shows, comics, journalism, video games, board games, technology, publishing, and food-related projects. People who back Kickstarter projects are offered tangible rewards or experiences in exchange for their pledges. This model traces its roots to subscription model of arts patronage, in which artists would go directly to their audiences to fund their work. Kickstarter launched on April 28, 2009, by Perry Chen , Yancey Strickler , and Charles Adler. The New York Times called Kickstarter "the people's NEA ". Time named it one of

1218-419: Is one of a number of crowdfunding platforms for gathering money from the public, which circumvents traditional avenues of investment. Project creators choose a deadline and a minimum funding goal. If the goal is not met by the deadline, no funds are collected (a kind of assurance contract ). The Kickstarter platform is open to backers from anywhere in the world and to creators from many countries, including

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1276-522: The Indie Groundbreaker Award in the categories of Most Innovative, Best Rules, Best Setting, Best Art, and Game of the Year. IndieCade offers awards for indie role-playing games in addition to video games. The ENNIE Awards and Diana Jones Award frequently honor indie role-playing games, though both awards are also awarded to games published by corporations. The Golden Cobra Challenge grants

1334-698: The Ouya console, have resulted in commercial failure. The documentary short "Sun Come Up" and documentary short "Incident in New Baghdad" were each nominated for an Academy Award ; contemporary art projects "EyeWriter" and "Hip-Hop Word Count" were both chosen to exhibit in the Museum of Modern Art in 2011; filmmaker Matt Porterfield was selected to screen his film Putty Hill at the Whitney Biennial In 2012; author Rob Walker's Hypothetical Futures project exhibited at

1392-589: The Powered by the Apocalypse framework, The Quiet Year , Fiasco , Fall of Magic , Blades in the Dark , and Dialect. Although there is no consensus on the exact definition of an "indie role-playing game," users of the term typically emphasize creative freedom and fair financial compensation for game designers. For example, an organizer of the 2022 Queer Games Bundle on Itch.io told Chase Carter for Dicebreaker : “Our goal

1450-429: The bisexual community. The next year, April Kit Walsh's Thirsty Sword Lesbians , a Powered by the Apocalypse descendant, became the first tabletop game (indie or corporate) to win a Nebula Award . In 2022, Women are Werewolves by Yeonsoo Julian Kim and C.A.S. Taylor provided a framework for telling nonbinary stories. As of September 2024, Itch.io lists 573 physical games (as opposed to video games) with

1508-950: The iPhone . The app was aimed at users who create and back projects and was the first time Kickstarter had an official mobile presence. On October 31, 2012, Kickstarter opened projects based in the United Kingdom, followed by projects based in Canada on September 9, 2013, Australia and New Zealand on November 13, 2013, the Netherlands on April 28, 2014, Denmark , Ireland , Norway , and Sweden on September 15, 2014, Germany on April 28, 2015, France and Spain on May 19, 2015, Austria , Belgium , Italy , Luxembourg and Switzerland on June 16, 2015, Singapore and Hong Kong on August 30, 2016, Mexico on November 15, 2016, and Japan on September 12, 2017. In July 2017, Strickler announced his resignation. On April 20, 2020, Kickstarter announced that it

1566-600: The "Best Inventions of 2010" and "Best Websites of 2011". Kickstarter reportedly raised $ 10 million funding from backers including NYC-based venture firm Union Square Ventures and angel investors such as Jack Dorsey , Zach Klein and Caterina Fake . The company was based at 58 Kent Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn until they transitioned to a fully remote workforce after the COVID-19 pandemic . On February 14, 2013, Kickstarter released an iOS app called Kickstarter for

1624-612: The "LGBT" tag. The Forge, an internet forum overseen by Ron Edwards , provided the center of a self-identified indie RPG community in the early 2000s. This community generally defined indie games by the creators maintaining control of their work and avoiding traditional publishing. Tightly focused designs were a hallmark of this community. The Forge was strongly influenced by Ron Edwards' essay "System Does Matter" and GNS theory , which classified all participants in tabletop role-playing games under one of three personality types : gamist, narrativist, or simulationist. Indie RPGs inspired by

1682-1087: The "indie" moniker, but it was eventually decided to call the storefront RPGNow Edge instead. RPGNow Edge ceased operations in 2007. RPGNow and DriveThruRPG were consolidated into a single company, OneBookShelf , which maintained both sites initially. In August 2007, the two sites were rebranded, with RPGNow bearing the subtitle: "The leading source for indie rpgs". In February 2019, all elements of RPGNow (including purchase library) were redirected to similar pages on DriveThruRPG. In 2023, OneBookShelf merged with Roll20 to become Wolves of Freeport. Some designers of indie role-playing games also participate in related tabletop role-playing game design movements such as Old School Renaissance , indie video game development, or live action role-playing game design such as Nordic LARP . Examples of indie role-playing game designers also working in related movements include Anna Anthropy , Sharang Biswas , Emily Care Boss , Banana Chan , Lucian Kahn , Jonaya Kemper , Jason Morningstar , and Jeeyon Shim . Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC

1740-665: The "two theoretical discussion forums [...] on the premise that the Big Model was fundamentally complete". White states that the Autumn era (2007-2010) was impacted by disagreements between Edwards and others who ran the community, such as Nixon who at the time was the Forge's technical expert. In May 2010, there was a "major server crash" and the recovery split the site into a read-only archive (2001 to mid-2010) and active forums (" beginning with January 2008"). The Winter era (2011–2012) featured

1798-468: The 13th International Venice Architecture Biennale; musician Amanda Palmer 's album Theatre is Evil debuted at No. 10 on the Billboard 200; designer Scott Wilson won a National Design Award from Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum following the success of his TikTok + LunaTik project; the Kickstarter funded GoldieBlox toy gained nationwide distribution in 2013; and approximately 10% of

Indie RPG Awards - Misplaced Pages Continue

1856-414: The 20% mark reach their goal. Creators categorize their projects into one of 13 categories and 36 subcategories. They are: Art, Comics, Dance, Design, Fashion, Film and Video, Food, Games, Music, Photography, Publishing, Technology and Theater. Of these categories, Film & Video and Music are the largest categories and have raised the most money. These categories, along with Games, account for over half

1914-520: The Apocalypse (PbtA) is a narrative-focused game design framework developed by Meguey Baker and Vincent Baker for the 2010 game Apocalypse World . The Bakers offered PbtA to the indie RPG design community as a starting point for new games with different settings and modified game mechanics. Early PbtA games included Dungeon World , Monsterhearts , and Monster of the Week . As of October 2024, Itch.io listed 1,172 products labelled "PbtA." Story Games

1972-582: The Design, Games, and Technology categories. However, the median amount raised for the latter two categories remains in the four-figure range. There is substantial variation in the success rate of projects falling under different categories. Over two thirds of completed dance projects have been successful. In contrast, fewer than 30% of completed fashion projects have reached their goal. Most failing projects fail to achieve 20% of their goals and this trend applies across all categories. Indeed, over 80% of projects that pass

2030-648: The Double Exposure conventions in Morristown, New Jersey , and BostonFIG. The Open Hearth Gaming Community focuses specifically on indie role-playing games and regularly schedules online play sessions through videoconferencing . In 2023, Open Hearth was founded to continue the online indie gaming calendar of the Gauntlet community after The Gauntlet (tabletop games producer) narrowed its focus to its indie game publishing and podcasting activities. Between 2018 and 2023,

2088-490: The Forge community include, in roughly chronological order: William J. White, a professor at Penn State Altoona , highlighted that the Forge went through several eras. During the Spring era (2001–2004), the Forge experienced massive growth: by the end of 2004, there were eight general forums comprising 7,977 threads encompassing 94,733 individual posts—an expansion of almost 400% in thread volume since April 2001. The most active

2146-401: The Forge often deliberately aligned with a narrativist approach to game design , focusing on strong characters confronting difficult moral choices. The Forge was started in 1999 by Ed Healy as an information site, with Ron Edwards serving as the editorial lead. In 2001, Ron and Clinton R. Nixon recast the site, centered on the community forum that existed until 2012. Games of note from

2204-440: The Gauntlet also maintained a lively discussion forum about indie and OSR role-playing games. Starting in the 2010s, indie role-playing games became a haven for LGBTQ storytelling, due to creators' ability to release non-mainstream content without seeking approval from mainstream publishing companies. Avery Alder 's game Monsterhearts was one of the first published Powered by the Apocalypse games and an early example of

2262-560: The Golden Cobra Award for freeform live action role-playing games , including indie tabletop role-playing games with freeform-like design elements. Several previous award committees for indie role-playing games are no longer operational. The Indie RPG Awards were presented to indie games from 2002 to 2018, with the main category of Indie RPG of the Year and sub-categories Best RPG Supplement, Best Free Game, Best Production, Most Innovative Game, and Best Support. Dicebreaker launched

2320-512: The NLRB, which forced Kickstarter to allow its employees a formal vote on unionization. The vote was held on the morning of February 18, 2020, with 46 voting in favor of joining the OPEIU and 37 voting against. The CEO at the time, Aziz Hasan, said after the vote, "We support and respect this decision, and we are proud of the fair and democratic process that got us here." With this, the OPEIU will now work with

2378-555: The Tabletop Awards in 2022 and awarded it yearly until the website was shuttered in 2024 following the sale of the Gamer Network to IGN . The 200 Word RPG Challenge granted awards from 2015 to 2019. Since independent role-playing game publishers lack the financial backing of large companies, they often use different forms of publishing than the traditional three-tier model of publisher, distributor and retailer. Crowdfunding

Indie RPG Awards - Misplaced Pages Continue

2436-449: The US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, The Netherlands , Denmark, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Spain, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Mexico. Kickstarter applies a 5% fee on the total amount of the funds raised. Its payments processor applies an additional 3–5% fee. Unlike many forums for fundraising or investment , Kickstarter claims no ownership over

2494-451: The company says it was for "performance issues." After these allegations, some Kickstarter creators have started a campaign against Kickstarter to let its employees unionize. On September 28, Kickstarter confirmed that it would not recognise the unionisation effort. In a statement addressed to project creators, the CEO stated that unionisation would turn workplace relations "inherently adversarial" and that it "doesn't reflect who we are as

2552-491: The company would require an election for the union rather than voluntarily recognizing it, saying that "our view is that we are better set up to be successful without the framework of a union." On September 16, the employees filed a complaint against Kickstarter with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) after two employees were terminated. According to the workers, they were fired for unionizing, although

2610-442: The definition of crowdfunding is. Or, if there's even an agreed upon definition of what it is. We haven't actively supported the use of the term because it can provoke more confusion. In our case, we focus on a middle ground between patronage and commerce. People are offering cool stuff and experiences in exchange for the support of their ideas. People are creating these mini-economies around their project ideas. So, you aren't coming to

2668-746: The development of new games using specific themes or game mechanics. Indie designers also sell games from multiple authors together as "bundles." Large indie roleplaying game bundles sometimes support political or charitable causes, such as Black Lives Matter , trans rights advocacy, abortion access funds, or material support for victims of war. Local gaming conventions provide dedicated space for playing, playtesting , and/or selling indie role-playing games. These include PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia , Breakout Con in Toronto , Big Bad Con in San Francisco ,

2726-575: The films accepted into the Sundance , SXSW and Tribeca Film Festivals are projects funded on Kickstarter. The Glowing Plant project was the first and only synthetic biology campaign on Kickstarter. The Oculus Rift began as a 2012 Kickstarter project and became one of the most funded projects at the time. The company was then acquired by Facebook two years later for $ 2 billion. Peloton Interactive sold its first exercise bike on Kickstarter in 2013 with an early bird price tag of $ 1,500. It became

2784-479: The first time Kickstarter raised over a million dollars in pledges in a single day. On August 30, 2014, the "Coolest Cooler", an icebox created by Ryan Grepper, became the most funded Kickstarter project in history, with US$ 13.28 million in funding, breaking the record previously held by the Pebble smartwatch . From 2012 to 2013, Wharton professor Ethan Mollick and Jeanne Pi conducted research into what contributes to

2842-548: The first years of the awards: Indie role-playing game In the early 2000s, indie role-playing discussion forums such as The Forge developed innovative design patterns and theories . In 2010, the game Apocalypse World established the popular design framework Powered by the Apocalypse , inspiring hundreds of similar games. Starting in the early 2010s, indie game publishing provided new opportunities for LGBTQ writers to share underrepresented stories. Common examples of indie role-playing games include Apocalypse World and

2900-546: The game stay under the control of the creator(s), while others only specify that the game should be produced outside a corporate environment. All definitions agree that an indie role-playing game can be self-published . Some definitions additionally include small press games, because small press publishing frequently involves creator ownership and/or higher degrees of creative control for writers. Multiple annual awards are given to indie games for excellence in multiple categories of design. The Indie Game Developer Network grants

2958-429: The mid-2010s until 2023. After the Forge forums closed in 2012, many members of that community continued discussing role-playing game theory on Google+ until that site also closed in 2019, after which they also moved their discussions to Twitter. After Elon Musk 's purchase and rebrand of Twitter as X in 2023, many indie game writers and artists left the social network or struggled to continue using it for outreach with

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3016-690: The money raised. Video games and tabletop games alone account for more than $ 2 out of every $ 10 spent on Kickstarter. To maintain its focus as a funding platform for creative projects, Kickstarter has outlined three guidelines for all project creators to follow: creators can fund projects only; projects must fit within one of the site's 13 creative categories; and creators must abide by the site's prohibited uses, which include charity and awareness campaigns. Kickstarter has additional requirements for hardware and product design projects. These include The guidelines are designed to reinforce Kickstarter's position that people are backing projects, not placing orders for

3074-513: The projects and the work they produce. The web pages of projects launched on the site are permanently archived and accessible to the public. After funding is completed, projects and uploaded media cannot be edited or removed from the site. There is no guarantee that people who post projects on Kickstarter will deliver on their projects, use the money to implement their projects, or that the completed projects will meet backers' expectations. Kickstarter advises backers to use their judgment on supporting

3132-473: The site to get something for nothing; you are trying to create value for the people who support you. We focus on creative projects—music, film, technology, art, design, food and publishing—and within the category of crowdfunding of the arts, we are probably ten times the size of all the others combined." On June 21, 2012, Kickstarter began publishing statistics on its projects. As of December 4, 2019, there were 469,286 launched projects (3,524 in progress), with

3190-519: The union effort, Kickstarter United, to bargain with Kickstarter management for a contract. As of May 2, 2020, 60% of the workforce was part of the union. On December 8, 2021, Kickstarter announced a plan to develop a decentralized protocol on blockchain platform Celo to build an open source and blockchain-based crowdfunding infrastructure and then move its own website to that system. The announcement prompted backlash from creators and backers on Twitter , many of whom pledged to abandon Kickstarter if

3248-547: Was an online discussion forum dedicated to indie role-playing games that focus on shared story creation. The forum operated from 2012 to 2019. Creators used it to discuss design issues, report progress, and promote their games. The forum ceased operation on August 15, 2019. Two sites that emerged to support the Story Games community were The Gauntlet Forums and Fictioneers. Twitter was a main center of indie RPG design discussion, artistic collaboration, and audience outreach from

3306-551: Was likely going to lay off workers due to the coronavirus pandemic causing the number of active projects to be "about 35% below what it was at this time last year with no clear sign of rebound." The layoff was reported by the union to affect up to 45% of the employees, although Kickstarter has yet to report the scale of the layoff as of May 2, 2020. The union negotiated a settlement for laid off employees including four months of severance pay and up to six months of continued health benefits for anyone who gets laid off, recall rights for

3364-556: Was the RPG Theory forum, with 28,322 posts in 1,639 threads, a thread density of 17.3 posts per thread. The next most active was the Indie Game Design thread, with 23,318 total posts and a thread density of 11.0. However, a decline in the quality of posts and other moderation actions led many people to leave the Forge for other online communities and this collective group became known as the "Forge diaspora". In 2005, Edwards closed

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