TTRPG Genres You Just Can't Get Into -and- Tell Me Why I'm Wrong About X Genre I Don't Like

[Deset Gled]

I don't like "supers" games. The whole genre of superheros games turns me off. And I'm not even sure why. It can't be the power levels. I've run campaigns in D&D to 20th level. And it is not that I hate the genre in any media. I've enjoyed many superhero movies and TV series. I've enjoyed some superhero comics off and on over the years. But whenever I hear about a superhero TTRPG game session, I'm like, "ugh, no thanks." And I don't just mean committing to a superhero-themed campaign, I don't even want to sit down for a session. I'm thinking at the next Gamehole Con I should sign up for at least one superhero game session to see if I can either work past this block, or at least come away with a more informed opinion and maybe some insight on why I don't like them.

I think I'm at least partially agreement with you on this, but I can be a little more specific: I don't like RPGs where the players are designated as either the "heroes" and/or being the world's "main character" as part of character creation. For me, this extends to fantasy and sci-fi as well. The absolute worst case sword-and-sorcery setup for me is one where the DM starts session zero by saying "This is a world where magic has disappeared, and you will be questing to bring magic back to the land" and a player immediately says "My character is the last wizard in the world." Sorry, I'm out.

Those are stories that I like to watch on TV, read books about, or play in video games. But when I play RPGs I want characters - both mine and the rest of the party - to have to earn the title of "hero". The work and hardship is the part that makes the narrative interesting. I want to accept the premise of "no magic" and have to endure many trials and tribulations to bring back the magic. I want to play out the entire story. I don't want players to designate themselves as the protagonist. I don't want to be given super status that isn't earned.

One difference for me is I am totally okay with that sort of thing for a convention or a one shot. Just like I would ocassionally find it fun to play a video game with a cheat code, start a D&D campaign at level 20, or decide to fast forward to the end of a movie if I get bored. Sometimes, it's fun to cheat. But it does feel kinda like cheating to me, and I have little interest in investing in a long term campaign like that.

Of course, to return to the OP, I should acknowledge that not all "supers" games are like that. But the genre feels like that a lot (at least to me), and some games definitely are. I'm sure people can correct me and give examples of superhero style games that don't fit this description. Maybe someone can suggest a specific system worth trying at a convention.

 

[stormwriter]

Supers is also one of the few RPG genres I don’t like. The only one that actually picked my interest was Trinity Continuum Aberrant. I guess because the superheroes are not exactly heroes and their powers can negatively affect and destroy the world around them, and even alter themselves if they are not careful. Also, probably because I’m normally a system-first person and I really like the Storypath/Storyteller systems.

 

[overgeeked]

I feel personally attacked! Just kidding. I saw the title of the thread and my first thought was that it's perfectly fine for you not to care for a particular genre for gaming purposes. Or for entertainment purposes period. I haven't really played a whole lot of superhero games since Marvel Super Heroes made by a mom 'n pop establishment named TSR. I don't hate it or anything, I just don't feel particularly compelled to play it.

I love Marvel Super Heroes. It was either my first or second RPG after D&D. I still have half a shelf full of books and boxes for that game.

I tend to think of Thirsty Sword Lesbians as a fantastic game that I have zero interest in playing. I don't like romance as a genre and I'm not particularly interested in telling queer stories with my friends. That last bit isn't me just talking, it's what they say TSL is all about on Evil Hat Production's website. Someone can come along and tell me all sorts of great things about romance as a genre and what makes such games great, but I'm not going to budge because I'm simply not interested. And that's okay. I'm happy TSL exists for those who are interested in that kind of thing and I hope they have a blast playing it.

Same. I backed it because I wanted a game like that to exist but I’ve no desire to play it. It sounds newt as hell, I just have zero interest in RPing romance.

 

[overgeeked]

System-wise: FATE and Savage Worlds. I cannot grock either one, and I've tried.

I can grok them both but I grew to dislike them for various reasons. Fate I loved for a long, long time but grew tired of how the system handled. I want the roll to be the end of the line. Once the dice hit the table, that’s it and we move on. No negotiations or meta spends or whatever. It’s also why I can hang with Cypher. Savage Worlds was just too crunchy with all the tiny little rules and combat took way too long.

Genre-wise: Cyber-punk, Paranoia, and transhuman sci-fi type games; also "Weird West" type games. If I'm playing a western game, I want a traditional western.

That’s too bad. I’m the opposite on all those. Love cyberpunk, Paranoia, and can’t do straight Westerns only the Weird stuff for me.

I love Super Hero games (ICONS is my go-to).
I love Westerns (Wild West Cinema is amazing!)
I love fantasy (The One Ring and B/X D&D)
I love sci-fi (Traveller, via Cepheus Light, and Far Trek)
I love post-apocolyptic (1e Gamma World)

Great games. Nice to see Far Trek get a nod.

 

[aramis erak]

Does anyone else have similar genres that turn them off? Do you have more self awareness than I do as to why? Or is it just a "doesn't float my boat" instinctual thing?

My avoid genres include Zombies (not a fan in any medium), moderns/near-future, and romance. I'm not enthusiastic about slice-of-life, but am not hostile to it.

I am more picky about systems. I won't do GURPS again, as the more I studied HEMA, the more GURPS being "Close but so «bleep»ing wrong" got to me.

Villains and Vigilantes, I ran it a couple weeks running back in the 1980's... and once I found TSR's Marvel, never looked back. I find most OS and OSR games rub me wrong; it's easier to list the few I still like: Starships & Spacemen 1e (2e went OSR BX-derivative), the Fantasy Trip, Mazes and Minotaurs. It's been long enough that I am not sure about Palladium, The Arcanum, and Rolemaster/Spacemaster anymore.

What is your preferred superheros ttrpg system? I'm thinking something interesting could be done with the Cortex Prime system. Marvel Heroic Roleplaying is based on Cortex, have you played that? Do you think the mix if dice step up and dice pools works well for an abstracted system that still supports tactical choices (e.g. selecting powers to build up your dice pool based on the challenge)?

I love MHRP... Yes, it's Cortex; Cortex Prime has enough to get it mostly together... it abstracts just enough, and because you can use the damage die to impose a complication instead of damage, many special abilities don't need actual mechanics; they just impose a penalty (in the form of increasing the difficulty with that die). For me, tho' it feels mostly like the MCU, not the Marvel I read as a kid.

I find I prefer Sentinel Comics, as it is a slight bit more abstract, and the Environment gets a turn in the initiative, as does advancing the timer. It's heavily driven by the timer. (which counts rounds, not player time.) It feels more like the comics I read as a kid.

Either are excellent choices, but only if you can embrace (MHRP) metacurrency in play or (Sentinel Comics) Move-based resolution and very mild and slow progression of power.

I'm still fond of the TSR Marvel, as well. It had more of a saturday Spidey-and-Friends feel for me. And for years, the universal table was my desktop image. It was move-driven, as well - but it has 8 moves and 2 saves; Advanced has 12 actions, 3 reactions, and 2 saves. All working with the color-table.

The biggest issues with superheroes seem to me to be that it's very narrow in aspect - most are vigilantes; many are only slightly better morally than their foes, and that it tends to fall to 99% combat.

The Environment in Sentinel provides a way to force elements other than just fighting the enemy into scenes. And a good scene can be built entirely around a particular environmental challenge.

Likewise, the Doom Pool of MHRP can be used for a variety of environmental effects, too.

The other thing: many of the best scenes in supers in other media are scenes that just tend to get overlooked in RPG Supers: Dinner with the SO, safety talks at local schools, etc.

 

[thullgrim]

Supers and Romance for me. Powered people I can do, comic book style Supers I can’t. I’m not a comics guy, I don’t get the tropes, I can’t tell what makes a Supers story a Supers story.

I have zero interest in Romance rpgs. Just none.

 

[Theory of Games]

Does anyone else have similar genres that turn them off? Do you have more self awareness than I do as to why? Or is it just a "doesn't float my boat" instinctual thing?

Horror.

100% of GMs I've played with or seen run the genre do it like a mystery. Horror and mystery can combine like most genre do but horror and mystery are actually two different genres with different tropes. If I'm playing in a horror ttrpg I expect my PC to be terrified at points because horror. But most GMs have no idea how to present true horror at the table -- TBH most GMs IME have problems generating the feel of any genre at the table because they don't understand the importance of tropes in storytelling. It's impossible to set mood in storytelling without using tropes properly. This includes the use of clichés. Both elements can help players "find themselves"/immerse in the storytelling.

But most of the horror rp I've seen or done amounts to walking around collecting clues in dark rooms and finding dead bodies and the GM thinking that's scary. Or something. Every time I've slipped a little horror into a game I'm running, it impacts the players because I describe a scene that is unsettling at first and then terrifying as it continues. You see something, you notice it's unusual or out of place, then something supernatural happens that makes you question your understanding of what you thought you were seeing initially. Horror is that scratched record that skips and repeats that short snippet of melody over and over and over and over. It's your mind experiencing something so strange that it just keep asking "what is this? what is this? what is this? what is this?" trying to understand the impossible.

Which is why players have told me NOT to run horror because I creep them out.

 

[KYRON45]

I see people mentioning romance as a TTRPG genre. Are there games/systems where romance is the main focus; or is that just something that gets folded in as part of the narrative?
I know it's a big thing in literary circles but I am unfamiliar with it as an RPG genre.

 

[Reynard]

Genres I just can't do: anything "teen" or "kid" focused; I would rather pretend to be an elf than a tween. Also, horror usually. I just don't get it as a RPG genre unless the GM is really, really good. I like horror elements and tropes mixed in to other genres (old school D&D works best, IMO, when it is dripping with darkness and gore) but the actual genre of pretending to be an idiot who walks into the abandoned house... No thanks.

On Supers: I loved comics and superhero cartoons as a kid, so as soon as I discovered there were supers RPGs (thanks Palladium Heroes Unlimited and Mayfair DC Heroes ads in Dragon magazine!) I knew I would like them. But I fell IN LOVE with the genre after reading Aaron Allston's Strike Force. It is ostensibly a sourcebook for Allston's homebrew Champions campaign. What it actually is is a treatise on longer term play, deep player engagement, how to avoid burnout through changing perspectives and troupe play, and a whole lot else. It helps that the tone and genre within the supers milieu is informed by the 1980s Teen Titans, X-Men, Legion of Superheroes and similar books, where long form storytelling and intricate plots laid down years in advance are key. And on top of it, the "Supers" genre is really all genres, and when you tire of fighting for mutant rights you can head off to space or go play interdimensional life-or-death video games or whatever.

 

[Breaking Star Games]

Melodrama including some teen drama isn't as interesting for me. I'd rather we just tell a story with real stakes. I certainly don't mind the PCs being a mess of pressure, stress or emotions, but that pressure should feel real like Last Fleet portraying Battlestar Galactica keeping the last remnant of humanity alive rather than about getting a date to prom.