no, the ransom thing is a word that he used (
http://www.gregstolze.com/ransom.html ). i didnt mean it insulitngly, its a self description on their part. some people might think it's keen, but i think its unprofessional an immature. agree to disagree, and move on.
if you like his stuff, thats cool. if other people try it and like it based on your reviews, thats cool too. the more diversity in the market the better, says me. something for everybody.
Dogs in the Vinyard is a pretty well reviewed indy game, gets a little representation at cons and such. a quick google will turn up better reviews than I could give you on the topic. its... group narative where the players are partly in charge of setting the scene. sort of collaborative story telling, though there is still a central GM role. themes are alternate history old west, PCs are like (they dont actually mention the word mormon anywhere but..) mormon hitler youth or something that go around enforcing the tennants of the faith. it can be played in a very forthright way where people are pillars of the community doing the right things to fight demons, or it can be played more darkly. depends entirely on how you interprate it. down side is that it needs BUCKETS of all sorts of dice.
http://www.rpg.net/reviews/search-review.phtml?query=1&productName=dogs+in+the+vineyardNobilis is a pretty old indy game, as far as those things go. really, its easier just to look at existing reference material. it is a "hidden world" kind of thing like unknown armies or world of darkness, but you play "powers" or minor demigods in charge of an abstract concept or a word. its inovative, and manages to be diceless without totally sucking (im looking at you, Amber).
http://www.rpg.net/reviews/search-review.phtml?query=1&productName=nobilisIOSHI was one of the four or five settings that came with GOO's last hurah, Ex Machina (
http://www.rpg.net/reviews/search-review.phtml?query=1&productName=ex+machina) and it was good. post cyberpunk, you really have to read it -- i cant sum it up without quoting it to you. basically.. hmm... i dont even know where to start. the world is divided up along cultural lines, but they are amorphous sub-cultures that people can belong to without geographic boundries. values compete for market space in a world that can be best described as pathologically capitalist. not the megacorp kind of capitalism, but such a fluid free market witout any distinct corporate forms that its hard to wrap your head around. the driving technology is the ability to have tallents uploaded into your brain if you have enough money for the services, and with that you can get what (when mixed with technology) is basically superpowers. I cant do it justice, it's really brilliant.
anyway, tristat sort of sucks so i wouldnt recommend using it with the rules as written. I ran a short campaign of it with SR4 rules a few years back and it was pretty good. of course, someone is going to chime in here with how great tristat is. someething for everyone, like i said.