asking for help/advice on the most popular RPG genre

[WildWestGM]

I'm going to get back into gaming ... and I have a lot of ideas for campaigns...
I'm just curious ... is there still a market for these RPG genres?

1) Wild West D20 -- I really liked Sidewinder: Recoiled; However, I don't see any D20 Wild West campaigns on line or supplements out there and Dog House Rules seems to be out of commission - their forum hasdn't had a post in 3 years.
2) Post-apocalyptic -- I like the genre, but I've never seen much on this outside of Darwin's World. I respect the Darwin's World game, but don't really like the alternate history they created. Gurps just recently announced it was going to bring back Auto Duel (I'm guessing for 4th edition).

If those genres are on life support, I will stick to my Pathfinder campaign I've been kicking around for 2 years. I've got 2,000 written notes on it. I know Pathfinder is

Bottom line - I don't want to start gaming in a genre that is dead. In my heart-of-heart, I'd love to do a D20 Wild West campaign that is 100 % realistic as that time period was ripe for adventure and role playing. But I also down the road in about 2 years consider publishing what I come up with and so was curious if there is any community for a Wild West or Post-Apocalyptic campaign.

 

[Nagol]

There are only two important questions with respect to which genre to run:

• What are you interested in running?
• What are the players interested in playing?

Which genres currently appeal to a wider audience doesn't matter to a specific table. The only time to worry about that is if you plan on trying to publish a game/game supplement.

 

[WildWestGM]

There are only two important questions with respect to which genre to run:

• What are you interested in running?
• What are the players interested in playing?

Which genres currently appeal to wider audiences doesn't matter to a specific table. The only time to worry about that is if you plan on trying to publish a game/game supplement.

My friends are interested in anything I will put together. We are in our late 40s and they have always enjoyed the campaigns I've done.
We've played D&D, Star Wars, Weird West Deadlands. But the gamers have said that I should try to self publish some of my stuff.
So I guess it does come down to "publishing" ... (but that's down the road at least 2 years)...
But I like 'em all. I could enjoy a D20 Wild West as much as a D20 Apocalypse as much as a Pathfinder.
But if I did a D20 Wild West or Apocalypse, I'd be curious if there was even a market to share my campaign.
Everything I see online is about D&D and Pathfinder and the whole fantasy genre.
I loved Star Wars the most but won't do that. I bought the newest version of it and it made no sense to me how you would release a Star Wars RPG game that didn't allow people to play a Jedi. And the funky dice? Eh. I liked the Star Wars D20 games and Saga Edition but that's out of print.

 

[Nagol]

My friends are interested in anything I will put together. We are in our late 40s and they have always enjoyed the campaigns I've done.
We've played D&D, Star Wars, Weird West Deadlands. But the gamers have said that I should try to self publish some of my stuff.
So I guess it does come down to "publishing" ... (but that's down the road at least 2 years)...
But I like 'em all. I could enjoy a D20 Wild West as much as a D20 Apocalypse as much as a Pathfinder.
But if I did a D20 Wild West or Apocalypse, I'd be curious if there was even a market to share my campaign.
Everything I see online is about D&D and Pathfinder and the whole fantasy genre.
I loved Star Wars the most but won't do that. I bought the newest version of it and it made no sense to me how you would release a Star Wars RPG game that didn't allow people to play a Jedi. And the funky dice? Eh. I liked the Star Wars D20 games and Saga Edition but that's out of print.

Hands down, low-tech fantasy has always been the most popular.

Modern supernatural is probably second, though space opera may give it a run for its money (I include Traveler in space opera though I know others that wouldn't).


Superheroes have been modestly popular and are probably the next strongest category.

Post-apocalypse was somewhat popular in the early '80s with the ABC war angst and the first public intimation of possible environmental collapse/disaster, but that waned in the '90s and it has
never become particularly popular since.


"Weird" alternate history settings like Deadlands, Space 1889, or For Faerie Queen and Country have adherents, but are niches inside a niche industry.

 

[WildWestGM]

thanks, much appreciated ...
I really like Pathfinder and that's the way I'm leaning ... the No. 1 reason is that it is still being published...
I have every D20 book out there in "book" form .. but D20 Modern is no longer active ... I understand that you can still play RPGs not in print and many do - (I prefer Gurps 3rd Edition to Gurps 4th edition simply because I have more than 250 Gurps books in my basement) ...
But I like Pathfinder ... and support has been phenomenal...

Hands down, low-tech fantasy has always been the most popular.

Modern supernatural is probably second, though space opera may give it a run for its money (I include Traveler in space opera though I know others that wouldn't).


Superheroes have been modestly popular and are probably the next strongest category.

Post-apocalypse was somewhat popular in the early '80s with the ABC war angst and the first public intimation of possible environmental collapse/disaster, but that waned in the '90s and it has
never become particularly popular since.


"Weird" alternate history settings like Deadlands, Space 1889, or For Faerie Queen and Country have adherents, but are niches inside a niche industry.

 

[scourger]

I'm going to get back into gaming ...1) Wild West D20...2) Post-apocalyptic...In my heart-of-heart, I'd love to do a D20 Wild West campaign that is 100 % realistic as that time period was ripe for adventure and role playing...

The real issue for you is that d20 is dead. That is why there are no more Wild West (WW) or Post-Apocalyptic (PA) d20 games. The OGL lives on and that style D&D / fantasy remains popular, which is why Pathfinder is so successful; but it is a niche market within a niche market.

My suggestion to you is to run a Pathfinder game with either WW or PA elements. For WW, limit the player classes to non-spellcasters and add firearms rules from whatever source (the 3.0 DMG had them). For PA, pick up Omega World d20. The great thing about d20 / OGL gaming is that is portable to other genres. And, you're more likely to find players for a Pathfinder or D&D d20 game than for a WW or PA game, even if it a bit of a bait & switch.

 

[WildWestGM]

The real issue for you is that d20 is dead. That is why there are no more Wild West (WW) or Post-Apocalyptic (PA) d20 games. The OGL lives on and that style D&D / fantasy remains popular, which is why Pathfinder is so successful; but it is a niche market within a niche market.

My suggestion to you is to run a Pathfinder game with either WW or PA elements. For WW, limit the player classes to non-spellcasters and add firearms rules from whatever source (the 3.0 DMG had them). For PA, pick up Omega World d20. The great thing about d20 / OGL gaming is that is portable to other genres. And, you're more likely to find players for a Pathfinder or D&D d20 game than for a WW or PA game, even if it a bit of a bait & switch.

It's been 8 years since I've actually gamed. So I'm out of the loop in terms of actual gaming. What I have done is buy hundreds of RPGs since I stopped - because I just enjoy reading them and coming up with campaign ideas.
So I wouldn't know if D20 is dead in the gaming community even though I know WotC dropped it years ago.
I will take the advice and just to a fantasy Pathfinder campaign because that is enjoyable, too.

 

[Neonchameleon]

1) Wild West D20 -- I really liked Sidewinder: Recoiled; However, I don't see any D20 Wild West campaigns on line or supplements out there and Dog House Rules seems to be out of commission - their forum hasdn't had a post in 3 years.

Under d20 it's dead. The two current-ish games like that are Skarka's Far West (which is a running joke right now in terms of production delay) and Piratecat's Owl Hoot Trail. D20 very much had a boom then a bust and eight years ago the bust had started. New d20 these days that's not a D&D variant like 13th Age is very rare.

2) Post-apocalyptic -- I like the genre, but I've never seen much on this outside of Darwin's World. I respect the Darwin's World game, but don't really like the alternate history they created. Gurps just recently announced it was going to bring back Auto Duel (I'm guessing for 4th edition).

Utterly awesome. The alive and kicking community is the one round Apocalypse World unless you also count the one round Numenera.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I'm going to get back into gaming ... and I have a lot of ideas for campaigns...
I'm just curious ... is there still a market for these RPG genres?

1) Wild West D20 -- I really liked Sidewinder: Recoiled; However, I don't see any D20 Wild West campaigns on line or supplements out there and Dog House Rules seems to be out of commission - their forum hasdn't had a post in 3 years.

You might not need a very specific ruleset for that, as "Western" is actually pretty broad. You need gun rules, tracking rules, gambling rules (well, maybe not even those)... most game systems will cover this. The last Western game I played was Dead Lands, but d20 Modern or Fate could handle it just as easily.

I found the biggest differences were the combat systems. Deadlands was mildly broken if you played a 400 pound man with really high pain tolerance... although to be fair he moved slowly, so you could shoot at him more often before he got to you. (Melee damage was pretty weak, even if you were a 400 pound man. I found an axe did one point more than a bowie knife, a big deal when we had to cut down a magic tree. You could of course drop the magic rules and play it much more realistically than my group did.)

In d20 Modern, hit points over levels rapidly outpaced damage dealt, but the massive damage threshold rules meant characters who were purportedly best at shooting (Gunslinger, specifically) tended to drop randomly due to low Fort saves. Funnily enough, the Gunslinger's skill list was basically cowboy + Acrobatics. Literally every cowboy skill you needed, such as animal handling, riding, and gambling, were there already. Firearms damage was pretty low unless you took the two or three classes that could boost it. I recall a team of bodyguards who did pathetic damage.

Fate could handle this well. I'm assuming Fate Core or Spirit of the Century (in a different time period) and not some of the more "advanced" versions. You could do well with some gunslingin' stunts. (Damage isn't based on the weapon used, just on successes. If you're a really good gunslinger, you'll tend to roll higher than needed to hit your target, so you'll do lots of damage. An even better gunslinger will also find ways to not get hit. If the stress pools are low, you'll see characters dropping or at least taking consequences after just one or two shots. If you're a fan of that.)

I've never played N.E.W., but the low defense rules (where PCs must use tactics to avoid getting hit) look like they would work very well for a gunslinger game.

So while I made a few recommendations, those are based on games I've actually played. You could probably take a game whose combat system you like and play a Western with it.

2) Post-apocalyptic -- I like the genre, but I've never seen much on this outside of Darwin's World. I respect the Darwin's World game, but don't really like the alternate history they created. Gurps just recently announced it was going to bring back Auto Duel (I'm guessing for 4th edition).

I've played a lot of Gamma World, but there's a massive number of post-apocalyptic games out there. If you like Darwin's World, you could stick with it, just create your own alternate history.

Bottom line - I don't want to start gaming in a genre that is dead. In my heart-of-heart, I'd love to do a D20 Wild West campaign that is 100 % realistic as that time period was ripe for adventure and role playing.

I don't think that's possible. D20 is too detailed for some things and too granular for others.

 

[pickin_grinnin]

You could to go Savage Worlds or Fate and play in any genre you like. The benefit there is that you and your players only need to learn one set of rules.