Is there any genre or theme that the TTRPG medium does not work for?

[Dannyalcatraz]

Two things disabused me of this notion. First was reading more horror and realizing that scares weren't actually the core fo the genre. The core of the genre, it seems to me, is being unsettling. And you certainly can do that in a TTRPG.

I’ve never run a horror game, but I have seen people at tables become unsettled or freaked out.

One night, the group wanted me to run a classic metal soundtrack to our weekly game. So I selected some CDs and hit shuffle. That evening, just as our party was entering a graveyard, Black Sabbath’s “Children of the Grave” popped up by coincidence. Now, the “grave” in that song is allegorical, and everyone at the table knew that. But it nonetheless set the players on edge.

At a different time, I deliberately used Kodo’s “The Hunted” as the signal that the big game hunt for the party was officially underway. I immediately heard stress-related changes in pitch, volume, and speed in the players’ voices when they realized why I was playing that composition; that what they were hearing was what their characters were hearing.

 

[Reynard]

It all depends on the referee and players. If they know the genre well enough and want to play in it, it will work.

I am talking about the medium.

 

[MGibster]

Do you personally believe there are any genres or themes that the tabletop RPG medium will not work for? Game systems vary, of course, and there are certainly games that are not good fits for specific genres or themes, but that is a different issue. Are there any specific types of stories that you can't do with the medium, assuming you could craft an appropriate ruleset?

I do not believe there are any genres or themes that the RPG medium will not work for. I'm trying to expand on this to make a worthwhile contribution to the thread and I'm coming up blank. I don't mean to imply that every genere and theme will work for everybody, only that you could explore those genres/themes in an RPG if you were so inclined. @Reynard, you're not asking a bad question, but it's like someone asking me if there was any theme/genre that wouldn't work in a novel. It just seems like the obvious answer is no, but like my 8th grade math teacher told me, I need to show my work and I'm hard pressed to figure out how.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I think some are harder rows to hoe than others, but I don't think any are impossible. As you obliquely reference, some may be bad ideas with some people, too.

 

[Reynard]

@Reynard, you're not asking a bad question, but it's like someone asking me if there was any theme/genre that wouldn't work in a novel.

I mean, the novel is not an ideal medium for, say, the musical.

 

[overgeeked]

I am talking about the medium.

Yes. So am I. The medium is a group of people, generally at a table, improvising together with maybe some randomizer. And you already excluded game systems in the OP.

Are there any specific types of stories that you can't do with the medium, assuming you could craft an appropriate ruleset?

It all depends on the referee and players. If they know the genre well enough and want to play in it, it will work.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

At one time I probably thought there were genre that didnt work, but ive seen some out there RPGs leading me to believe anything is possible.

Same here.

I think some genres are harder to do well, and require more imagination, and it's trivially obvious not every system can do every genre, and sometimes you need fewer, better rules, not more, to do certain genres, but I haven't seen any media genres that simply aren't possible.

I think it would be quite hard to do something the relied heavily on flashback-based storytelling, though I daresay some RPG I'm not aware of has tried it. Like, Lost. It'd be absolutely easy for an RPG to do the "on island" stuff, but to also find a way to do the flashbacks in a way that isn't just like, journalling? Something that actually somehow involved the other players? I might be possible but it's hard.

 

[Umbran]

Go on.

Sure. Let's think of one: Low stakes mundane drama.

I'm thinking Driving Miss Daisy. Or Leaving Las Vegas. Or Little House on the Prairie. Basically, just daily unremarkable life, "Papers & Paychecks, the RPG".

These works can be astonishing, emotionally moving dramas. But they achieve that by being scripted, and having highly skilled actors depict events that, even if they aren't epic in scale, are emotionally meaningful to human beings.

I think it would be difficult to make this into a game because we are not highly skilled writers, directors, or actors. We're just folks at a table. Making a game of this that isn't either boring or corny and awkward, would be difficult.

I wouldn't say impossible - in the scope of a single table, with the right people, almost anything might happen. But, in the scope of a published game? Not much chance of that working out.

 

[Reynard]

Sure. Let's think of one: Low stakes mundane drama.

I'm thinking Driving Miss Daisy. Or Leaving Las Vegas. Or Little House on the Prairie. Basically, just daily unremarkable life, "Papers & Paychecks, the RPG".

These works can be astonishing, emotionally moving dramas. But they achieve that by being scripted, and having highly skilled actors depict events that, even if they aren't epic in scale, are emotionally meaningful to human beings.

I think it would be difficult to make this into a game because we are not highly skilled writers, directors, or actors. We're just folks at a table. Making a game of this that isn't either boring or corny and awkward, would be difficult.

I wouldn't say impossible - in the scope of a single table, with the right people, almost anything might happen. But, in the scope of a published game? Not much chance of that working out.

That is a great example. Thanks.

One that I have struggled with is the legal drama procedural. So much of that genre is talking and infodumping and nonsense that I don't know how you would make an enjoyable game out of it. Even moreso because there might be 6 major characters but only 2 of them are ever on-screen at a given time.

 

[payn]

That is a great example. Thanks.

One that I have struggled with is the legal drama procedural. So much of that genre is talking and infodumping and nonsense that I don't know how you would make an enjoyable game out of it. Even moreso because there might be 6 major characters but only 2 of them are ever on-screen at a given time.

I think a campaign would be difficult but you could follow the law and order template. Just take a news story and case and recreate it. Players would be the investigators and then lawyers. Have some mechanic for the twist that inevitably drops and changes everything in the trial. Rinse and repeat.