Why Play Indie TTRPGs?
I’ve spent a long time talking to players at my own table and the general public about why they play the games they play, and if you’ll indulge me, I’d like to discuss a few of the biggest reasons why there’s a barrier to playing Indie RPGs.
And hopefully convince you to give them a shot.
How I got hooked on Indie TTRPGs
As a board member for the CTGA, one of my big focuses is helping shepherd the development of new TTRPGs being made right here in Chicago. D&D has always been a phenomenal game, and I still enjoy it to this day. But, when I was running a public D&D group, Save Point Chicago, I had run games almost every week for nearly 2 years straight. I started becoming sick of it. Simultaneously, the drama surrounding Hasbro's management of Wizards of the Coast and the OGL became national headlines.
That’s when my friend Alex introduced me to the TTRPG he had been developing, Deephollow. He had asked if his home group that was playtesting the game could run at Save Point, and I was intrigued. When we hit a small break in the D&D campaign, I got to try the game for myself.
I found myself considering how the changes he made affected how the story would play out. For example, how a smaller pool of D6 dice, like in Deephollow, provides more consistency in actions, both positive and negative. You’re more consistently better at the things you are good at (especially compared to very low-level D&D) and also very consistently worse at the things you are bad at.
Since that point, I got the playtesting bug and started helping him and other friends playtest and develop their games.
Why should you try an Indie TTRPG?
It can start from a simple place of boredom or burnout, like me. Or you’ve also been concerned about the legal and business practices of Wizards of the Coast or Hasbro. But, even just from a pure game level, anyone who’s played D&D for a while has likely felt unsatisfied at least once with how a scene played out with the mechanics available.
As an example, grappling in 5e has always felt unsatisfying. Whole fighting styles exist in real life around grappling, such as Jiu-Jitsu, and yet in D&D, it’s always felt like an afterthought. How do you adjudicate this in D&D? Successive grapple checks? Frankly, that’s boring. Even Dimension 20 required homebrew to make grappling in Cloudward Ho!.
And then you scale this problem up to the entire genre of games. Sci-Fi, while doable, sometimes requires massive conversions of D&D to give mechanics verisimilitude with the story. Romance and intrigue, while doable for individual encounters, have little mechanical backing in the game itself for longer, faction-oriented campaigns.
Ultimately, sure, you can solve for all of these questions by making up homebrew and changing rules. But at what point have you changed enough for you to be playing, basically, a whole new game anyway? Many have already had this problem, and many games that now exist are a direct response to these lackluster mechanics. Whether tossing out old mechanics of a bygone era, or adding something in that directly elevates a particular play style — it may be subtle, but trying a new TTRPG can be an excellent way to have a unique play experience.
Not sure where to buy an Indie TTRPG in Chicago? Check out our roundup of your options.
Convincing your table to try a new game
Ok, so hopefully I’ve convinced you to try an Indie Game. That was easy — you’re already my target audience by clicking on this article. Now for the harder part: getting your play group to try it.
Even in a public group that has regularly been running lesser-known TTRPGs, it has been difficult to bring new players into them. Ultimately, the most common resistance I see is often a case of “I don’t want to worry about learning new rules.”.
First, it can be very difficult to convince people to play another fantasy game when they already have D&D. Instead, I would suggest trying a completely different genre. A one-shot or short campaign during a regular interlude that will feel completely tonally different. My friend Jordan and many other publishers have found a lot of success using this strategy — in Jordan’s case, with his horror game Fade to Black.
Genre games tend to capture the imagination of at least one player. And once you have 1, many times the rest of the players will at least be willing to try it once. So if your group has joked about playing as KPOP Demon Hunters or the Scooby Doo gang, now’s the time to try (and the perfect game for both already exists in Monster of the Week).
This can also be done with unique mechanics. Will’s RPG Remember Me has really tickled my love of video games by converting to tabletop mechanics like time pressure into TTRPG mechanics. And another game created by Alex, Atomic, scratches my gambling itch with its blackjack-based mechanics. You’ll notice both also play off of genre as well, but it can work with mechanics alone. I think Daggerheart, with its card-based character building, is a pretty good example here.
Now, this does get harder if there is a long-running campaign. But if you’re the GM, you can often convince your group by saying you need to take a creative break and want to try something new. And if you’re not the GM, your regular GM will almost certainly be willing to take a brief break while you try running something a bit different for everyone else.
Pro Tip: Helping your friends make characters in your new game can be a great way to get them excited to play. Give them a mechanical hook to sink into, some unique gimmick, or a character archetype you know they’ll love, and this will probably convince them to give it a shot.
Are there good tools for Indie TTRPGs?
There is the question of online tools and other resources that make playing the game easier. One of the advantages of an established game like D&D can be the lower barrier to entry. If you’re looking for fully pre-written adventures, you can certainly find them for cheap if not free on sites like Itch.io or DriveThruRPG. Many indie games are less reliant on maps, miniatures, and other resources than D&D, so you may find that you need even less than you’re used to when prepping for a game.
Online character creators are a more sparsely available feature, often only available for very popular Indie Games or those tied into larger IPs, such as some of Free League’s work. But if you truly need an online character sheet option, you would be surprised how far you can get simply using Excel (or Google Sheets). My friend and fellow contributor Mike Lazarro has frequently done this for himself and other members of our group.
And, if you have a chance, conventions are an excellent way to give new TTRPGs a shot. I just learned the Savage Worlds game at Gary Con this year to explore if it would work for a campaign concept I’m working on. And even got the chance to experience the Fate system for the first time alongside Dr. Susan Haarman in the wildest con game I’ve ever played.
Finally, almost every game has a liveplay available now if you need an example of play or GM’ing style. Whatever you are looking for, it usually exists for cheap/free, and if it doesn’t, there are certainly workarounds available.
Want to meet local Indie TTRPG authors? You should check out the Windy Realm!
Give it a chance!
Even having said all this, I know I won’t convince everyone. I do understand the allure of sticking with what you know. But that mentality can lead to stagnation, and not just in the industry. Did you not get bored playing the same game at recess every day as a kid?
We naturally seek variety in our play, and a new Indie TTRPG is a relatively small barrier to entry. Many of them are free or only cost a few bucks. Almost all of them will be less than the latest WOTC drop. Most Indie TTRPGs just ask for a bit of your time and a willingness to try something new.
So, come on. Give it a chance.
If I’ve brought you over to the dark side, use the button below to join our Discord and check out our events page to get more involved in the Indie TTRPG scene. Or join me at Save Point for one-shot night — you’ll certainly get to try several of the games by my friends I mentioned here.
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Edited and Produced by: Rayne B. Whitington
