General RPG DiscussionDiscussion of all RPGs and non-system-specific topics. DM/GM/player issues, settings, etc. Rules discussion belongs in one the forums below.
I won't play 3e (great game, but I've been playing it for many years and I want to experience something new - plus I hate DMing it, and I'm the usual group DM)
I'd prefer not to play anything which is diceless (Amber, despite my love of the setting), LARP-y/angsty (World of Darkness), has ludicrous power levels (RIFTS, Exalted), or is simply messed up (FATAL).
Genres:
I'll play anything, although graphic sex (except in a joking context) would be disturbing, and relentless gore/horror (low budget horror movies) would be tiresome. A "creeping horror" genre (like Cthulhu or even Ravenloft) is fine.
I like playing wizards, sorcerers and the like. Magical characters and spells are simply my favorite aspect of fantasy. Now, I will gladly play a game where magic doesn't exist in the setting, like a modern counter-terrorism game or a sci-fi game. I'll even play a game where magic exists, but simply isn't the point, like Call of Cthulu (though expect me to be the first one to die/go mad the second his character gets his hands on a spellbook).
But I hate playing in a high-fantasy game where magic exists, but simply isn't available to players. Or where players are punished unduly for choosing to play magical characters. So swords and sorcery really isn't my style, and I'll avoid playing 'mundane' or 'martial' characters whenever I can. This may be a major reason why I didn't click with D&D 3e. DMs had to keep wizards on a short leash, especially at higher levels, so they generally opted to keep a campaign in the lower levels. And, at level 1, magic-users tended to be crossbow-wielding peasants that could summon some shiny lights twice a day. And then die from a kobold nut-shot.
Otherwise, I'll attempt pretty much everything, except for the comically horrible, like FATAL. I often find that I'm intrigued by various settings or styles, like Paranoia or All Flesh Must Be Eaten, but put off by the mechanics. If I had a good DM to ease me through the (in my opinion) unnecesarrily complicated bits, I'd gladly try almost anything.
But chances are I'd rather be blasting stuff as a wizard.
Last edited by Kinneus; 28th May 2009 at 11:59 PM..
There are way too many games that it would be easier to name what I will play. However, here is a sample of the games that I won't play
1. Any version of DND other than 3e (and this assumes the 3e game will end sometime around level 10-12, uses few WOTC supplements other than UA, and both powergaming and combat aren't the groups focus)
2. Any system that is Roll under
3. Any system that doesn't use attribute scores
4. Any system that does not use DC or TN
4. Any system that uses automatic skill improvements based on level
5. Any system that uses character level bonuses to attribute or skills
6. Any system that uses overly broad skills
7. Any TSR game except Divine Right
8. Any supers game other than Mutants and Masterminds, DC Heroes, or Marvel Saga (assuming Marvel Saga uses Steve Kenson's Watcher's Guide and Ultimate powers and the fan errata from his site).
9. Any d20 licensed product using DND style levels, classes, hit die per level, "Vancian" magic
10. World of Darkness
11. Narrativist games
12. Board games
13. Collectable card games
13. LARPs
14. Diceless games
15. Games that heavily favor gamist concerns over simulation
__________________ "The designers of the newest edition built so much reliance on rules right into the game, to make it easier to play. As one of those designers, I occasionally think to myself, 'What have we wrought?' " -Monte Cook
" If the DM has to make a lot of judgment calls, the game is more difficult to learn. However, it's my belief that it's also more satisfying." -Monte Cook
"Don't let rules replace good DMing skills"- Monte Cook
Small note, for those who may not know - LARP does not equate to Vampire/WoD. Nor does it equate to running around in the forest tossing beanbags shouting, "Lightning bolt!"
Whether it's standing in a park, beneath an office parking lot at dark, walking around the woods or playing in the safe confines of your house, pretending to be someone else while dressed up and resolving actions with paper, rock, scissors, it's all derivative of Vampire and "lighting bolt, lightning bolt" games.
LARP as a whole is sort of creepy. It's a step far below tabletop RPGs, in my opinion.
Okay, so I have never played in an official LARP, but what my friends and I have done has gotten pretty close.
__________________ "From the beginning, no one has ever stood in Heaven. Not you, nor me, nor God Himself. But soon, that unbearable vacancy on the throne in the sky will be filled. From now on... I will stand in Heaven!"-Sousuke Aizen-Bleach
- anything with furry PCs (yes, that includes dragonborn)
- any D&D edition other than 3.x (until 5e comes out, that is)
- anything with "abstract", "narrativist" or "fun mechanics" in its design goals.
- non-fantasy settings (no matter what historical period)
- I'm not a big fan of space-opera either. Supers are ok though.
I'm sure there are a bunch of others.
Apart from 0d&d, I've actually tried all these before deciding they weren't for me. I just don't have as much time to waste as I used to.
__________________
_ Ceterum censeo the encounter/daily power system is an unholy blight upon D&Ddom
5e can't come soon enough
I shy away from games that involve heavy elements of simulation. Not because I dislike a realistic world, but because heavy simulationism really just creates a different, more cumbersome form of gamism that I do not particularly enjoy.
I'm confused by what you mean, here. Could you clarify?
As for me, I won't touch 4e with a ten-foot pole, and I'd really rather not play earlier editions other than 3.5. Narrativist games in general are right out, as well.
__________________ While I play D&D, it is not my game of choice, regardless of edition.
"You're insane AND Jurassic, GW." - garyh
"The reverse side also has a reverse side." - Japanese proverb
----- Steamworks: A guide for introducing technology to a fantasy setting. (d20) Journey: The journey of a thousand miles begins beneath your feet... (Work in progress)
If, for some twisted reason, the best GM in the world wanted to run me through a FATAL adventure, I'd probably do it. On the other hand, if a bucket of doofus wanted to run me through FFZ, I'd bow out.
Well I would never touch such toxic stuff as FATAL (I would never have heard of it except for this forum)
I would never play RIFTS, I cannot take flexible mega-damage armour seriously, though I like the setting.
I would and have played Dark Heresy, though I loathe the setting. I could not see me signing up for a long campaing though.
Other than that, I think the attitude of the DM and players would be more important than the system. Though I would never LARP, other than that I would try anything once.
As a matter of fact, trying new games and systems was my 'thing' when I was in my early, developmental years in this hobby. The end result of this is that I got over the whole 'D&D is the End-All, Be-All' back in the mid-80's. Add to this the fact that I'm not that much of a traditional fantasy fan, preferring Sci-Fi, Superheroes and Folklore/Fairy Tale/Myth fantasy much more.
Here's a good example of my attitude...
My least favorite genres are horror and westerns. So one day, a friend of mine who moved away for a couple of years and came back to NY said he was now running games. I had never seen him GM but he was one of my best players so I was really excited. I said I'd play anything he wanted to run. He, of course, said Deadlands. My reaction? "Sounds awesome!"
It takes quite a bit to convince me to play plain old D&D though these days, regardless of edition.
AD
Barking Alien
__________________ "Never Give Up, Never Surrender!" Barking Alien
Wraeththu. I still laugh/cry when I remember this game exists. Aggressively offensive to both straight and gay men, as well as any woman who isn't a stereotypical yaoi fangirl, and even then only a certain kind of that stereotype.
I looked it up on wikipedia, there was a link to a wraethu LARP site too Add that to my list.
I've seen kinkier things but this is both creepy and silly in a furry kind of way.
I don't like playing characters that use guns with the exeptions of westerns (like Deadlands) or futuristic games (where I use lasers rather than slug-throwers).
I just hear too much about shootings on the news, and it depresses me, so I want to get away from that in my characters.
I would not want to play FATAL.
I prefer not to play Evil characters unless it is Silly Cartoon Evil or No One Knows I'm Evil.
__________________ 28 days... six hours... 42 minutes... 12 seconds. That... is when the world... will end.
As for myself, I don't care for the mish mash games. The ones that try to combine every form of power like Rifts and god forbid one that I came across years ago called World of Synnabar.
A generic game is perfectly fine. In fact, I think that GURPS is one of the better systems out there because of its flexibility. I just wont play it if the session itself wants to include everything at once.
LARP is something I could never quite get into either. The idea of dressing up for a game and carrying around props like that just seems to be taking it too far.
I understand that some people like this sort of thing, but I myself will pass
__________________ "...there's a world beyond what we can see and touch, and that world lives by its own laws. What might be impossible in this very ordinary world is very possible there, and somtimes the boundaries between the worlds disappear, and then who can say what is possible and impossible?" - Pawn of Prohecy
Is there a game, genre, setting, or character type that you will not play, at all? Is there a deal breaker game element (like the previously mentioned) that will make you consider walking away from the table if the DM was absolutely intent on playing it? (I am not talking about a DM/personal characteristic.)
Bullgrit
Diceless...maybe. But I live in an rpg-dead area, so I'll give just about anything a shot.
__________________ Proud gamer of Sullivan, New York.
Death is not the end, but yet another journey--one that we all must take. The gray rain curtain of this world parts, everything fades to silver glass and then you see it--the white shore and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise.
--Everything that I'd like to believe about the afterlife.
I do know from experience that I don't care for GURPS or WoD other than Mage. And I doubt that Rolemaster would be for me. But, honestly, if someone wanted to run them, I'd give it a go.
__________________ 'Imaginary' universes are so much more beautiful than this stupidly constructed 'real' one.
Add that to my list.
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