asking for help/advice on the most popular RPG genre

[WayneLigon]

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.

That would be a pretty hard sell, especially if you want to do a completely authentic western game. There's a reason that Deadlands is successful when Aces and Eights isn't so much: people want to be able to do Cool Stuff, usually involving some kind of magic or super-tech or something unusual like that. You would need to be able to offer something really interesting or useful along with 'just' the game system. You might be better off to simply offer a setting or adventure-rich area in that genre, using one or more already existing game systems. I personally would be much more likely to buy a detailed western town - particularly if it had an unusual or different slant than 'desert town' - than a completely new game system.

 

[WildWestGM]

That would be a pretty hard sell, especially if you want to do a completely authentic western game. There's a reason that Deadlands is successful when Aces and Eights isn't so much: people want to be able to do Cool Stuff, usually involving some kind of magic or super-tech or something unusual like that. You would need to be able to offer something really interesting or useful along with 'just' the game system. You might be better off to simply offer a setting or adventure-rich area in that genre, using one or more already existing game systems. I personally would be much more likely to buy a detailed western town - particularly if it had an unusual or different slant than 'desert town' - than a completely new game system.

I won't be making a new game system. I will work within a system.
I liked "Recoiled" but I don't know if anyone still plays that system. (I'm talking down the road if I publish it).
On the old Dog House Rules forum about 4 years ago I posted about 5 pages worth of background I did on the Salt Wars near El Paso in the 1870s (it's still up there if you know how to get on the forum) ... that was an incredibly fascinating and rich environment for role playing (it had violence, Indians, politics and I mean a ton of political stuff going on, and villains, etc.) ... but who plays Wild West anymore? .. all I see is D&D and Pathfinder ...
I'm leaning towards Pathfinder because I already have a campaign I've worked on for 2 years on my own and enjoy...

 

[Celebrim]

There's a reason that Deadlands is successful when Aces and Eights isn't so much: people want to be able to do Cool Stuff, usually involving some kind of magic or super-tech or something unusual like that.

Maybe. But if I was playing a Western RPG (something I haven't done since a long ago one off of Boot Hill ages ago), it wouldn't be out of a desire to do 'Cool Stuff'. And it would be precisely because I didn't want to play a game with some kind of magic or supernatural vibe that I'd reach for the Western genera.

I think that the biggest problem is the Western as a genera is basically dead and no longer captures the imagination of the average American youth. Back in the '70's I played Cowboys and Indians and I had the little plastic figures. There were dozens of Westerns on TV (but many in rerun even then). I was acquainted with John Wayne movies. I had a cowboy hat, a rawhide jacket, and cap guns - and no one thought this particularly strange.

My daughters love Star Wars and stories with dragons in them. They've never seen a Western.

The only time Westerns get made these days is when they are genera busting of some sort or doing some sort of nihilistic deconstruction of the genera.

That's the reason Western RPG's don't sell anymore, or else you have to do some sort of genera busting or nihilistic deconstruction of the genera to make a somewhat successful game of them.

You probably can sell gritty settings/game systems that don't revolve around playing a Super/Demigod, but it probably won't be a Western.

 

[Grakarg]

If you have a hankering for a wild west game, you could try the Savage Worlds Deadlands setting.
There is a ton of products available including long campaigns.
Plus the Savage Worlds Deluxe rulebook is only 10 bucks. So cheap I bought one for all of my players instead of sharing one rulebook.

Deadlands is a Weird West setting, but you could run many of the adventures straight and just strip out the magic elements as you see fit.

I'm surprised this hasn't already been suggested.

(FYI, I did love the d20 modern rules too and enjoyed Sidewinder as well)

 

[Sword of Spirit]

If you are talking about publishing something, I think post-apocalyptic is a much better bet than Western. If you can come up with something new and innovative in that department, I think a market could form. As others have said, its also generational. Westerns were on the way out when I was a kid, but post-apocalyptic was exciting--so that's probably slanting my opinion.

What I'd do with a posta-apocalyptic setting is think of what new knowledge and ideas have come to the forefront since the older movies and settings. What kinds of things are popular in similar movies today? Then inject them liberally into a setting with the feel you are going for.

 

[WildWestGM]

If you are talking about publishing something, I think post-apocalyptic is a much better bet than Western. If you can come up with something new and innovative in that department, I think a market could form. As others have said, its also generational. Westerns were on the way out when I was a kid, but post-apocalyptic was exciting--so that's probably slanting my opinion.

What I'd do with a posta-apocalyptic setting is think of what new knowledge and ideas have come to the forefront since the older movies and settings. What kinds of things are popular in similar movies today? Then inject them liberally into a setting with the feel you are going for.

so ... zombies!!!

 

[Sword of Spirit]

so ... zombies!!!

Definitely a good potential direction.