What Does the RPG Hobby Need Now?

[payn]

Another stiff drink it surely don’t,
So I’ll go fix myself a tall one…

 

[Clint_L]

A really good collection of D&D starter adventures; don’t care by who.

My reasoning is that it’s the tide that lifts all boats.

 

[Swanosaurus]

@Thread title:
Nothing specific, really, as far as I am concerned. There's an enormous diversity of RPG products, and I can usually find what I want. Play is limited by my available free time, however, I have little interest in material that abbreviates play (including preparation), because well, that's actually what I want to do. If I can't find the time to do it more often, that's not a problem with RPG's, it's a problem with me having to juggle too many other things, and no RPG innovation is going tho change it.
Regarding zero-prep rpg: They are already there by the dozens - though if they want to be tools to create meaningful stories, they have to make some part of what is usual prep (creating motivations for the NPCs and connecting the PCs to the story) part of the game session instead. Fiasco does so admirably; I think Brindlewood Bay is also pretty zero prep, though I never ran it. Polaris. Durance.

I think what RPG's need is that they need to stay diverse in every sense. As I said, I can always find what I need, and I don't care if RPGs become more or less niche; I'm inhabiting a niche in the niche anyway, so either way, not much will change for me.

 

[paradisebunny]

What about stand alone formats like markdown or epub?

those are great, but in practice what i found to be even more useful is great simple online srds. it is just the matter of texting players a link, format will adapt to whatever screen they use and I do not have to worry about doing anything illegal. It has become one of the key criteria what to play next with my table, as there are people that simply do no have the resources to spend any money on this. I find this important to be inclusive and not create an asymmetry of "buy-in" at the table. great examples of well designed and table useable SRDs are:
Black Sword Hack SRD
Basic Fantasy SRD
Vaults of Vaarn SRD
Cairn SRD

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Answer to the OP: optimistic space opera with fun starship combat.

Small Angry Planet RPG?

 

[Staffan]

Answer to the OP: optimistic space opera with fun starship combat.

Small Angry Planet RPG?

Like this?

Han Cluster - Optimistic Sci-Fi RPG for Savage Worlds

Han Cluster is a hopeful sci-fi RPG in which humanity and a few robots have unlocked amazing transhuman powers via the discovery of "the Nex." But with it also comes "the Blinding," an ominous phenomenon that represents a grave threat to human space.

www.backerkit.com

Disclaimer: I haven't tried starship combat in Savage Worlds.

 

[MGibster]

I’m not familiar with those books and will check them out, but based on your description, I think I will find them still not structured enough. What you’ve described doesn’t sound different to how many GM guides are currently structured - bits of advice for various, not focused on prep.

It probably won't be exactly what you want. But then I wonder how well any of those books sold compared to other books from their respective product lines. If I'm a publisher, how many resources do I devote to producing a book for a very limited audience for what is already a niche product? It's all well and good of us to have a wish list, but what we might wish for and what's economically viable aren't always the same thing. Any given publisher could probably get a better return on investment with something else.

 

[MGibster]

A really good collection of D&D starter adventures; don’t care by who.

I thought WotC made a mistake when they decided to stop publishing individual adventures. Not only are these adventures a great way to teach DMs how to structure a scenario, but they're a relatively inexpensive way to develop new intellectual property the company could potentially use decades later.

 

[payn]

I thought WotC made a mistake when they decided to stop publishing individual adventures. Not only are these adventures a great way to teach DMs how to structure a scenario, but they're a relatively inexpensive way to develop new intellectual property the company could potentially use decades later.

Isnt that adventure league territory now?

 

[Dire Bare]

Isnt that adventure league territory now?

Kinda.

Adventurer's League modules don't have the same reach as something put out in stores.