Trollbabe

And Other Indie Games
Ron Edwards is the guy who coined the GNS (Gamist, Narrativist and Simulationist) Theory of roleplaying games and also the author of Troll-Babe (the title is actually one word) and other games. I won't attempt to explain GNS Theory other than to say, Mr. Edwards divides roleplaying games into categories based on whether they focus on gaming, narrative or simulation (GNS). Many RPGs are a combination, but one aspect is usually dominant. The indie games Mr. Edwards designs are mostly narrativist. The mere fact that intellectuals such as Mr. Edwards are analyzing and putting forth theories about roleplaying games must mean the hobby has significance; it's a social phenomenon, a real thing!
Troll-Babe is a game about conflict resolution.  Players take the role of the troll babe, a human troll hybrid who can act as a go between for both cultures. The setting is a mythological Viking era, Norse-like world where humans and trolls frequently come into conflict. Trollbabe is set up to be a narrative between the referee and player of the troll babe PC. The story is what develops during play and is not pre-set. Mr. Edwards calls this process "Story Now". Play begins with the referee or "GM" presenting " a pile of story-rich components" including ample opportunity for adversity. Players take turns going one-on-one with the referee while other players take the role of interactive audience.
Rules in indie games are often novel and experimental. Trollbabe uses a rule mechanic called Scale which allows the Trollbabe PC to only make small effects on things at first, but as the game progresses her ability to make larger effects increases or "scales". Eventually the Trollbabe may effect whole societies, continents, etc.
The players each control a Trollbabe PC. The Trollbabe character has one statistic called her Trollbabe Number. It can range from 2-9 and is chosen by the Player. The Trollbabe Number is used to do magic, fight and interact socially by rolling a d10. Magic succeeds by a roll that is higher than the Trollbabe Number, fighting succeeds if you roll under the Number and you roll against whichever is worse to attempt to succeed at social interactions. Impressions are traits which color how people perceive the actions of your Trollbabe and include words for magic such as "human" or "trollish", fighting that is "unarmed" or uses a specific weapon, and social interaction that is "scary", "sexy", "fierce", etc. The bulk of the rules are "narrativist" mechanics meant to allow each player to help create the "story", which is the ultimate goal of the game, to collectively tell an entertaining story.
I find narrativist games such as Trollbabe fun, especially when playing with people who have more skill at such games than I have.
I am also a big fan of reading the works of small independent (indie) game companies, often one-person operations, because I find them entertaining to read and full of interesting ideas, some of which I borrow for use in more traditional RPGs. Indie games cover a lot of topics and include "old school" clones of white box, AD&D and other popular older games as well as games that are completely new and innovative. Some of the titles that stand out for me are Dogs In The Vineyard by D. Vincent Baker, FATE Core System by Fred Hicks and Rob Donoghue and The Burning Wheel by Luke Crane. Many of these indie games are influencing other "big company" designs and I see rule mechanics in 5th Edition, 13th Age, and other popular titles that seem to be going after the same concepts found first in an indie game.
Games like Trollbabe are in many ways quite different from white box. They also share the basic premise that players take the role of a character and through that character experience an adventure during gameplay with others and have some fun. Indie games in general provide their authors a creative outlet for imagination and innovative rules design, something I believe has been key to the hobby from its beginning. They are also shaping the future of the hobby as their clever new ideas enter the mainstream RPGs (did I just say mainstream RPGs?).