Always with the killing

[frankthedm]

You could get a good result by taking a skill-based or attribute-based game, remove the dedicated combat mechanics (ie remove the big "Combat" chapter) and resolve combat via a simple skill check, same as the other tasks in the game.

Yeah something like...

3 degrees of success; Two foes with the lowest combat skill were incapacitated, killed if lethal weapons were being used.
2 degrees of success; Foe with the lowest combat skill was incapacitated, killed if lethal weapons were being used. One ally of the party's choice was injured, bleeding if lethal weapons were being used.
1 degree of success; Foe with the lowest combat skill was was injured, bleeding if lethal weapons were being use. One ally of the party's choice was injured, bleeding if lethal weapons were being used.
Opposed roll tied: both sides have one character with the lowest combat skill injured, bleeding if lethal weapons were being use.

 

[TheNovaLord]

it has been scientifically proven that Heroquest smells of wee-wee

all 'games' need conflicts.....this doesnt mean combat

with the just insane range of rpgs out there this conflict can be many things, for example:
survival against the elements
overcoming the trail of clues
raging against the system
demeaning someone socially
bluffing the local sheriff
overcoming hindrance and flaw

etc

having said that
most gamers are males
males have spent 10,000 years developing ways to wipe stuff out in combat

 

[Plane Sailing]

I've seen an analysis that plays/theatre revolve around conflict whereas novels focus on exploration of character.

Interesting point. I wonder whether that is all plays/theatre vs all novels, or whether it includes novelisation of films and films of novels?

 

[angelababy]

It will achieve their ends faster and better than any other means.that's a big reason why they were so successful. Less violent RPGs, such as RPGs targetted at girls, have not been so successful, at most they are niche products.the low-level party encounters a powerfully ancient dragon in a dungeon.

 

[Clarabell]

Yeah, I could use different systems. I'm making my own system which is far less combat centered. I can deal with the combat, but what I don't want to deal with are my players, honestly.

I've has about three different groups so far in my DMing time. All of them had the same thing in common: they loved killing things. It wasn't just, "let kill the monsters and take the loot." It really became killing just to kill things.

Maybe I'm just a little crazy. I've considered this many times. And i know the game isn't real, but I still don't like having the things that I create be brutally murdered just because, even if they are imaginary, and i do make the NPC's of my world...and all the other stuff.

One time, it was an NPC i had a story for. He had a wife and a daughter, who was key to the story i had in mind. Players go in and I, speaking as the innkeeper, say something that pisses off the player. So he cuts his head off, mounts it on a stick and parades around town scaring everyone off. The rest of the player thought it was funny. I was very sad. I rather liked that innkeeper...

 

[S'mon]

I've seen an analysis that plays/theatre revolve around conflict whereas novels focus on exploration of character.

Modern "Literary" novels focus on exploration of character. Otherwise, no.

 

[S'mon]

Yeah, I could use different systems. I'm making my own system which is far less combat centered. I can deal with the combat, but what I don't want to deal with are my players, honestly.

I've has about three different groups so far in my DMing time. All of them had the same thing in common: they loved killing things. It wasn't just, "let kill the monsters and take the loot." It really became killing just to kill things.

Maybe I'm just a little crazy. I've considered this many times. And i know the game isn't real, but I still don't like having the things that I create be brutally murdered just because, even if they are imaginary, and i do make the NPC's of my world...and all the other stuff.

One time, it was an NPC i had a story for. He had a wife and a daughter, who was key to the story i had in mind. Players go in and I, speaking as the innkeeper, say something that pisses off the player. So he cuts his head off, mounts it on a stick and parades around town scaring everyone off. The rest of the player thought it was funny. I was very sad. I rather liked that innkeeper...

Yes, I think there's a fundamental conflict between you and your (all male, teenage?) player group. You want completely incompatible things. I really think that to be happy you will need to find different players for the kind of game you like. Online is a good place to look. Any RPG Meetups in your area?

That said, take note of what's been said in other threads about not 'railroading' the players. They do need lots of freedom of action to create their own story, not the GM's pre-written story. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't all be looking to get the same sort of thing out of the game.

Maybe try something like Blue Rose*, see if you can run an online chatroom, bulletin board or play by email game for players who share your goals. And look for new players in your area, maybe taking any potentially redeemable players from your current group.

*Or even a completely rules-free, freeform, 'sim' type or story-creation game.

 

[S'mon]

One time, it was an NPC i had a story for. He had a wife and a daughter, who was key to the story i had in mind. Players go in and I, speaking as the innkeeper, say something that pisses off the player. So he cuts his head off, mounts it on a stick and parades around town scaring everyone off. The rest of the player thought it was funny. I was very sad. I rather liked that innkeeper...

There's a GMing technique I call the 'floating hook', where if eg an NPC gets killed or is ignored you just reassign his attributes and plot hooks to another NPC, eg in this case another innkeeper. In this case that's not a good idea as the players would likely just kill him again.

The best solution to psychopath spree killer PCs is for the environment to respond appropriately; high level NPCs and city guard should pursue and probably kill the PCs, or at least make their lives miserable, like the end of Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid.

 

[Anselyn]

it has been scientifically proven that Heroquest smells of wee-wee

You do know that you were meant to read it, right?

 

[Bluenose]

You could try running a game where the 'theme' is less about beign adventurers.

A small group of people running a trading ship, trying to make ends meet as they travel around ports making deals, dealing with strange passengers, finding ways to ship unusual cargos (six hundred chickens, thinking of a recent thread!), finding out which traders are honest and not - plenty of scope for building relationships with people and non-combat activities. Han Solo before he got involved with the Rebellion, a small-time smuggler, trader, gambler, and other things.

Part of the city watch in a larger city, where they're responsible for keeping the peace and can't get away with slaughtering taxpayers. Investigations, dealing with problems without violence as much as possible, building up networks of informers, having social lives.

On the other side of the law, a thieves guild. All sorts of possible criminal activities, though it's probably more likely to descend into violence than some of the other possibilities.

In a more modern setting, investigative archaeology or scientific research. A medical team trying to find out the cause of a new disease and then cure it, archaeologists exploring a jungle to find the location of a legendary lost city and then searching through the ruins (that can work in fantasy), the starship crew investigating scientific anomalies. Indiana Jones and Captain Kirk don't set out to start violent encounters, in theory.