Is there a game, genre, setting, or character type that you will not play, at all? Is there a deal breaker game element (like the previously mentioned) that will make you consider walking away from the table if the DM was absolutely intent on playing it?
Games and Genre
An over-emphasis on picky detail and memorization would be a system deal killer, but it depends on how prevelant that sub-system is. When I play D&D I simply don't bother keeping track of encumbrance. I refuse to do it. I know around about what is within the realm of 'light' and I keep it there, but there's simply no way I'm constantly going to add and subtract every time I drop my backpack. Same thing with spell componants. I might as well take 'Eschew materials' every time since I'm never going to keep track of anything under about 20 gp value. Shoot, after about fifth or sixth level I stop bothering to keep track of money under about 1000gp.
I can't think of a single game, per se, that I refuse to play under
any circumstances because a good GM can make a bad system enjoyable usually long enough to get through a short campaign but there are several that I wouldn't normally go out of my way to play.
Champions is one because, related to the above, I refuse to keep track of END. I used to love Champions, but about the last half of my time with it, I simply played characters that had minimal END requirements or bought it off.
It would take a pretty special GM to get me interested in any genre that didn't involve some kind of 'cool powers', be those actual powers or supernatual abilities, or access to interesting advanced tech, etc. Cold War - era Spy games are a good example. Westerns. I could do it for 1-2 games as a change of pace, but under normal circumstances that would be about it.
I do not like 'grim and gritty' genres, but for the most part I lay that at the feet of bad GMing in the past. I've had enough games like that go horribly awry that I'm gun-shy of it.
On a related note, I probably will not play a system with a critical hits subsystem that allows for permanent injuries. See below.
I have come to really dislike systems that have no way of compensating for terrible dice luck. Action points, hero points, whatever - nowadays I almost always have to have something that can mitigate a bad roll at a critical moment. I had an entire campaign fall through because the main character bricked the roll at the most critical time, and I swore that I'd never see that happen again.
I will not LARP. I've tried it, and with friends and sane, friendly people that recommended that knew what they were doing and otherwise ran an exceptional and interesting game. I'm too out of shape and too used to my own bed and such to enjoy lots of moving around or camping out. Also, my suspension of disbelief cannot extend to myself. If I were a svelte handsome 20-year old IRL, yeah, I probably would like it. Now? Nope.
I don't really consider FATAL a game so much as a fratboy joke, so to me it doesn't count.
I think it would be difficult to play something like TOON or TFOS in an ongoing campaign; I usually have difficulty being funny on demand. I've never tried those, though.
We make a lot of jokes about "D&D:
Serious Business", but I really despise playing in a game where all but one guy has put some effort into their PC, but you have this guy who thinks it's just perfectly fine to have a PC named 'Johnny Buttkisser' or who says 'My character dresses in nothing but bright gold plaids' (and said PC is not, say, a gnome bard or something like that) or something like that. That'll make me leave quicker than just about anything else. Humor has it's place but silly joke characters don't unless it's a one-shot and meant to be somewhat silly.
Usually that's not so much a problem but in superhero games I find it's almost par for the course that almost half the people will choose to create something truly stupid. Like Super Pimp, able to shoot adamantium styling combs like shurikens
Setting
Hmm. Right off the top of my head I cannot think of a setting that is an instant turn-off. Usually by the time I think about 'setting', we've gotten past the hard parts of game system and genre.
Character Type
Here, I have a veritable raft of problems.
There's tons of things I dislike or will not play. Sometimes I might be in a mood to break one of these, but it's few and far between. Interestingly, none of these apply when I'm the GM. I'll
portray pretty much anything, but I'll admit that
my PC is usually a major bit of wish fullfillment for me and so comes with a laundry list of things that I won't accept.
I will not play a character that is ugly, or usually even plain unless being plain is a major facet of that character (mainly, the thief who is so ordinary that he simply blends into the background).
I will not accept a GM telling me I've been permanently deformed, defaced, or missing a limb.
I won't have a character that smokes or has a drug habit.
I don't much like non-human-looking races. It's a huge stretch for me to play a dwarf. Star Wars is usually kinda difficult for me because most of the rest of the players insist on playing aliens. For superhero games, I really, really dislike people playing monsters and freaks, sort of like the current X-men setting is like. If your PC can't take off his costume and go to the grocery store, I don't much care to play in that game.
This is one of the few areas that encompasses the characters
other people play. If the majority of the players in a superhero game insist on playing monsters and freaks (or worse, 'heroes' that routinely maim or kill), there's no way for me to have a good time.
The only
character trait I've found myself unable to roleplay is the inability to read. I had one guy and I just could not do it. I kept tripping up and forgetting it, and just bought off the disad the next time I got XP.
