Games you won't play

[Philotomy Jurament]

Over the years, I've become more discriminating about games I'm willing to run, but I'm willing to play a much broader range, and to give something a shot (especially if it's only a few sessions).

Of course, there are still games, styles, and genres that I'm less enthusiastic about. Off the top of my head, those include:

• Blue Rose
• "furries"
• White Wolf style vampires
• Anything heavily scripted
• Anime based/inspired
• Anything with Japanese school girls
• LARP

If we're including non-RPGs, I'd throw in:

• Phase 10
• Any card or boardgame where luck is a primary factor, outweighing skillful play
• Runescape
• Any computer game that involves long hours of mindless repetition (e.g. chopping wood to bring up skill)

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

old D&D editions (BECMI being the only exception)

Interesting. What distinguishes BECMI, for you?

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

There are few RPGs I categorically won't play, with the right group of players/GMs/etc. I much prefer 3e to 2e AD&D, but I'd play a 2nd Ed game with the right set of people.

There are a couple that come close, though, because I find that even with a group of players I really like, I don't end up having much fun because of the play style the game encourages. Feng Shui stands out as the unusual game that I dislike that many people like; lots of people I know love the game, and I've played it with people who I think are in general awesome gamers who I really like playing with, but I just haven't had fun. It ends up feeling like empty narration to me-- not interesting as a game, and not interesting in terms of character or story, just empty descriptions of fights over boring combat mechanics. (As I said, many people I respect a whole lot disagree, but that's my experience with it.)

Primetime Adventures or other games where there is a frame of a TV show or some other remove also don't work well for me. I want to pretend to be a character in a fantasy world, not pretend to be a character in a TV show-- the second level of indirection kills too much of the excitement. I note that I can have lots of fun playing a game like Buffy or Star Wars or whatever, but when I play those games, I don't think of myself as playing a character in a TV show or movie-- I imagine the events really happening, in the same way as when you immerse yourself in a movie instead of thinking about it as "oh, nice acting, and that's a very pretty camera angle."

All that said, I'll play a really wide range of games, at least as sometimes things.

 

[EroGaki]

1. 4E. I tried to like it. I really did. I got all psyched about it when it came out. Then we played it for four months. I wish I could have those four months back.

2. White Wolf New WoD. I hate the system and the new setting. I'd play old WoD, but only if it's Larp.

 

[Clavis]

I'll play any edition of D&D, but I refuse to DM 3.x or 4th Edition. I won't DM 3.x Edition because its just too much work to ask any human being to perform in the name of fun. I don't want to DM 4th Edition because the world necessitated by the rules is too far away from the type of campaign world I like. I also hate to DM with miniatures. I can enjoy both 3.x and 4th as a player, however, and I currently play in a 4th Edition campaign. I'm DMing Rules Cyclopedia right now, however.

I do not like like Magic: The Gathering at all. Basically, any game where my ability to succeed is directly proportional to how much money I spend rubs me the wrong way.

 

[Wormwood]

Interesting. What distinguishes BECMI, for you?

Specifically, the Moldvay Basic & Expert sets.

Quick anecdote: A few years ago I ran a 3.5 game (using the 'basic set') for my wife and nephews (aged 11 & 13)---D&D newbies all. Despite their enthusiasm for the genre, the system's complexity and minutiae proved too great an obstacle for them to overcome.

Someone on these boards suggested I give BECMI a try instead, so I fished out my old (scotch taped and scribbled on) Moldvay Basic ran them through the Keep on the Borderlands.

It rocked. I had just enough rules to adjudicate the game but not so much that the players felt constrained. The game played faster than any non-indie RPG I've seen in 20 years.

Everyone had a fantastic time---especially the kids. When the kids moved to Texas later that summer, I gave them my entire Basic D&D collection as a farewell gift.

 

[D&D DAVE]

My whole group hates Tunnels & Trolls. The system is just terrible. If you've not played it stay away save your self a wasted games night.

I dislike 4e D&D, its not yet got to the point of refusing to play but its getting close to it.

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

Specifically, the Moldvay Basic & Expert sets.

Ah, okay. That's what I'd call the B/X sets. To me, BECMI means the Mentzer versions (including the Companion/Masters/Immortals) sets.

It rocked. I had just enough rules to adjudicate the game but not so much that the players felt constrained. The game played faster than any non-indie RPG I've seen in 20 years.

Yeah, I could see that. I think of the B/X sets as the no-nonsense "sit yer ass down and just play" edition of D&D.

Everyone had a fantastic time---especially the kids. When the kids moved to Texas later that summer, I gave them my entire Basic D&D collection as a farewell gift.

That was a nice gift! At this point, I prefer the toolkit/roll-your-own-D&D approach of original D&D for my game, but when my eldest son wanted to learn to run his own game, I gave him a copy of the Basic set. He loved it and used it a lot, but was pretty hard on the aging books. When it came time for him to move beyond level 3, I gave him a hardcover copy of Labyrinth Lord; he's been using that ever since.

 

[Nymrohd]

I'll play anything with good friends. I will only DM 4E these days (cause I am spoiled that way).

 

[JiffyPopTart]

I would play pretty much ANYTHING as long as the people I am playing with are fun to be around.

The only thing I really don't like to play is any game (usually family boardgames) that either requires absolutely no thought on my part or so little thought I could jot down a flowchart in one minute to play the game for me.

Unfortunately those are the only kinds of games my wife and daughter are willing to play!

I also have strong dislike for "your character is so useless and poor you are lucky to survive the night without dying of cholera" RPG settings. I can be useless and poor in real life, I want to play an RPG to be something other than useless and poor.

DS