On the Radar: Microscope

For an RPG that breaks the traditional scope of play in terms of timeline, and allows zooming into the microstories and back out into the macro -- look no further than Microscope. Here's the spiel:

Want to explore an epic history of your own creation, hundreds or thousands of years long, all in an afternoon? That's Microscope.

You won't play the game in chronological order. You can defy the limits of time and space, jumping backward or forward to explore the parts of the history that interest you. Want to leap a thousand years into the future and see how an institution shaped society? Want to jump back to the childhood of the king you just saw assassinated and find out what made him such a hated ruler? That’s normal in Microscope.

You have vast power to create... and to destroy. Build beautiful, tranquil jewels of civilization and then consume them with nuclear fire. Zoom out to watch the majestic tide of history wash across empires, then zoom in and explore the lives of the people who endured it.

Mock chronological order.
Defy time and space.
Build worlds and destroy them.

A role-playing game for two to four players. No GM. No prep. Microscope was playtested for two years by over 150 awesome gamers.

Produced by Lame Mage Productions, the concept is intriguing but it's kind of like having someone explain the concept of RPGs to someone who's never seen it played or tried it. Still, at $9.99 for the PDF it may be of sufficient interest to pick up.