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

[MGibster]

None, and I stated why in my previous post (GMs lacking the skill to produce true horror). Weird that you brought up Vampire and Werewolf though: I've always saw those as "dark superhero" games where the PCs struggle to avoid being consumed by their own power. The tropes normally associated with horror don't really fit with the WoD games IMO.

Dark superhero is how I experienced in the 90s but I don't think that's how it was meant to be played. I ran a 5th edition Vampire campaign and it was less supers and more terrible people doing terrible things whether they wanted to or not.

 

[Theory of Games]

Dark superhero is how I experienced in the 90s but I don't think that's how it was meant to be played. I ran a 5th edition Vampire campaign and it was less supers and more terrible people doing terrible things whether they wanted to or not.

I think many STs run it that way, but it's still a supervillain rpg to me (rather than horror).

 

[dragoner]

First, a surprising benefit of this thread are the mentions and discussions of games I was unaware of. The great thing about ENworld is the diversity of people with diverse gaming experiences who are members. What I don't like about ENworld is that it is mostly a D&D discussion board and trying to start a discussion about any other game just gets buried in "TTRPG Other". I with there could be more system specific forums. When I'm running a non-D&D game I generally go to other forums and Reddit to discuss. I wish the forum list would be more representative of the diversity of coverage in ENworld's news posts. ENworld discusses lots of games in various news posts, in their flagship podcast, and they even have a Not D&D podcast, but the discussion forums don't reflect this at all.


Yeah, this is a big one for me as well. I would happily play in a Star Wars, Star Trek, Expanse, Lord of the Rings, etc. game and I wouldn't care if the GM does violence to the canon. But I wouldn't run games in them, because many/most players want to play these games because they enjoy those worlds and expect some level of staying true to canon.

I ran a one-shot of The Expanse and I felt even more constrained by the canon because it is much more narrow lore. With Star Wars or Star Trek, you can at least just make up some world and new aliens and play outside the politics and events covered in the movies, TV shows, and books. The other problem I had with The Expanse is the hard science element of it. It really only came up in space travel and, to some extent in fights, and just made me want to handwave most space travel and I found fighting in a space ship or on ground more fun than spaceship on spaceship fighting.

At the same time, a game like Starfinder doesn't scratch my sci fi itch. To me it just plays like D&D with lasers. I would love to find a system more grounded in science (with some highly speculative, sci-fi elements like FTL travel or wormholes), but abstracted so you don't have take a correspondence course in physics to play it "correctly." Also, one not weighed down with decades of TV, movies, and books.

I should take a closer look at Traveller, but when I read discussions about it, it feels like it might be more crunchy than what I'm looking for. If I had the free time, I'd like to kitbash something with Cortex prime, but I just don't have the time to do everything from scratch.

I love Paranoia, but prefer to run one-shots or mini-campaigns. You also need players who can enjoy the silliness without going overboard and becoming so obstructionist that the story can't move forward.

For "silly" games, my favorite remains InSPECTREs. It is such a great small-group beer-and-pretzles party game and I always have a blast. But it works best with more outgoing players as it is very improvisational. I could see more introverted and passive players finding it stressful and feel like they are being "put on the spot."

Horror and suspense are hard to pull of in most games. Dread helps with the jenga tower mechanics, but that also makes success dependent in part on dexterity of the players. I also like Grim. One page of rules and a deck of cards. Call of Cthulu, Old Gods of Appalacia, The Magnus Archives, and games like that would be fun to play in with the right GM, but I would have trouble running them and capturing much of any of the feel of those stories.

I'm really enjoying running The Enemy Within for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4e. It is a nice mix of D&D inspired fantasy, Call of Cthulu inspired cults and dark powers, lots of political intrique, less overt magic, more renaissance tech, dark and grim but with an 80s punk sensibility of not taking itself too seriously. I'd much rather run a long campaign where you can dip into horror, suspense, combat, political intrigue, romance, etc. without the entire premise of the campaign being based on one genre.

This is why I made my game, a lot of science such as accurate starmaps, travel by wormhole, without heavy crunch. Many in the Traveller community really like that heavy crunch though, and all the lore. I tried simplifying things where I could, space combat is by hex map, simpler starships, all that. IRL it is a hit, people like the books, though I am not good at translating that to an online presence.

 

[MNblockhead]

Blue Planet might be of interest to you. I think a 3rd edition is coming out, and I don't know much about those rules, but the 2nd edition had rules that felt realistic without being overly complicated. But the setting revolves around the titular Blue Planet, Poseidon, which lies beyond a wormhole located just passed Pluto. It's got transhuman elements with genetically modified humans and uplifted cetaceans. If you've ever wanted to play an uplifted orca this is the game for you.

Thanks for the tip. I got the primer for the new edition. Looks interesting. I like the setting at first skim. I'll need to see what adventures they publish for it as that is going to make it or break it for me. I just don't have the time to create my own from scratch. Seems like the game is focused on the waterworld planet and that space travel and space combat are not going to be a big part of the game. Still I could see having fun running a short campaign using this system and setting.

 

[MNblockhead]

That’s one of the main reasons why it’s far easier to do comedy in RPGs than horror. It’s wildly easier to get players to loosen up and be a little silly than it is to either get them to RP scared and vulnerable or, Great Old Ones forbid, actually scare the players. Hell, most times you have to beg them to stop being silly and take all this nonsense seriously.

I loved Call of Cthulhu for a long time, and horror gaming generally, but I’ve mostly lost my taste for it. At this point I’d much rather have a laugh than try to spend hours contriving just the right atmosphere to elicit horror…only for a player to inevitably belch or fart or simply refuse to play along and destroy the mood.

At the last Game Hole con, I learned that CoC could be silly, fun, and yet have scenes that were off-putting. The DM ran his own adventure based on the TV show the Gilmore Girls. It worked surprisingly well. I think think "horror" genre can works best when it isn't grim start from start to finish. Also, I don't think of CoC as being about jump scares or body horror. Its about uncovering the wrongness and alien corruption hidden in and under normal live, getting more unsettling as the character uncover and are confronted more of the dark secrets. I do think it asks more of both DMs and players than, say, D&D, but it can work well even with ostensibly silly premises, like the Gilmore Girls. Stars Hollow actually makes a fantastic CoC setting.

 

[MNblockhead]

And unfortunately, it often requires everyone agreeing to a real horror vibe to make a horror vibe; but it only takes one person being silly to make the whole thing silly.

Yeah, I suppose that is more of a challenge with certain systems and settings, but ultimately its an issue with any game or campaign. It is important to set expectations before everyone sits down to play. There are some games I am picky about who I'll play with. Not everyone is going to be a good fit for say an Alice is Missing or Dialect game.

 

[MNblockhead]

I enjoy just about any TTRPG that allows you to increase in power of over time and acquire neat stuff.

My played my first superhero TTRG back in the mid 80's. I don't remember the game's name, but I had a blast with character creation. my PC was an "Incredible hulk" type that I named Bison.

I also enjoyed Star Frontiers, pure Sci-Fi game that, again, I played in the mid to late 80's. The setting and character types were unique and interesting, and the math was straight forward (In most cases), you had a base 40% chance to hit +10% for each level, adjusted down for distance, cover, etc. (It was a d100 system) Not surprisingly, PCs could only reach 6th level. Although, near the end of it's run, TSR published additional rules that allowed PCs to go to level 10, added more class types, and gadgets. I really wish they hadn't canned it.

I played, but never got into Gamma World, although the concept sounded neat, it just felt kind of boring.

Star Finder - I love the lore and the world, but I'm not a fan of mixing science and magic. (No, wizard in my sci-fi game, thank you very much...)

Loved Star Finder when I played it in the 80s. But I don't think I would get as much out of it today other than the warm feeling of nostalgia. Gamma World, on the other hand, I would play again in an instant and would love an updated version of that setting. The mutations, factions, discovery old tech--its gaming crack for me. A friend of mine ran a game of Mutant Call Classics over a Christmas Break a few years ago and it gave me a similar vibe. But I'd love to play some gamma world again. I just don't have that much time to game. I'll have to see if anyone is running it at Gamehole Con this year.

 

[MNblockhead]

I think it reflects more than you think. I find EN World Is the rare gem in that you can actually compare games without folks getting defensive over their game of choice. You are going to get the most diverse opinions and get them fairly. D&D chocking out everything is just the sad reality of the TTRPG hobby space.

Yeah, but it would help if EN World would create more forums for other systems, so you don't have to scroll through the "what's new" threads looking for a discussion of a system you are interested in. I've tried to start and participate in WFRP discussions and some have been good. But it is easy to miss them and I end up just going to Reddit, other forums, or Discord to discuss Warhammer Fantasy.

Long time Traveller player here and current Mongoose 2E is my edition. Game is not that crunchy but still flexible enough to be interesting. I highly recommend checking it out.

I really do need to check it out. It is one of those systems that I've heard about forever, but have never played. Usually Game Conventions are where I try out new systems. I like to play in a session or two before I buy a system. I have too many TTRPG books that have sat on my shelf never played.

 

[MNblockhead]

This is why I made my game, a lot of science such as accurate starmaps, travel by wormhole, without heavy crunch. Many in the Traveller community really like that heavy crunch though, and all the lore. I tried simplifying things where I could, space combat is by hex map, simpler starships, all that. IRL it is a hit, people like the books, though I am not good at translating that to an online presence.

With the current discount on DTRPG it was an easy buy.

 

[overgeeked]

At the last Game Hole con, I learned that CoC could be silly, fun, and yet have scenes that were off-putting. The DM ran his own adventure based on the TV show the Gilmore Girls. It worked surprisingly well.

Nice. That sounds bizarre in a good way.

I think think "horror" genre can works best when it isn't grim start from start to finish. Also, I don't think of CoC as being about jump scares or body horror. Its about uncovering the wrongness and alien corruption hidden in and under normal live, getting more unsettling as the character uncover and are confronted more of the dark secrets. I do think it asks more of both DMs and players than, say, D&D,

Absolutely. You don’t start at 10. You start at 1 and build. But it’s easy to derail and lose the tone. As you say, it takes a lot more work and buy in from everyone or it falls apart.

Comedy is so much easier all around.

but it can work well even with ostensibly silly premises, like the Gilmore Girls. Stars Hollow actually makes a fantastic CoC setting.

Horror-Comedy is amazing. Normally the best of both worlds. Even the bad stuff is good. I need to go watch Tucker and Dale vs Evil again. Maybe some Evil Dead.