How Dragonbane Pointed out the Clashing Desires of My Gaming Group

[schneeland]

But still an RPG (not a boardgame)

That reminds me: have you talked to the individual players in your group what constitutes an RPG for them? Because I suspect also there the answers might vary quite a bit.

 

[kigmatzomat]

Have you considered pretending to play Warhammer 40k but actually running Space Hulk? You and the one RP guy can discuss the will of the Emperor before pulling the handle on the drop ship that slams the PCs into a mass of tyranids. If they don't all want to be marines, make them part of some weird anti-tyranid coalition so you can have an eldar and an orc.

Square for movement, lots of pregen units characters and plenty of weapon upgrades. Give each player a couple action points. Let the one who actually likes tactics split their points into a unit with multiple characters so they can do overwatch & intersecting fields of fire.

 

[Distracted DM]

It's the old issue of when people describe buzzwords or what they think you want to hear.

• "Deep, tactical play."
• "Extravagant character customization."
• "Mysterious political machinations."
• "Rich tapestry of world building."
• "Moving roleplaying experiences."

Yet, their characters are named like "Farty McButtface" and spend their time trying to nail the wenches.

The only one who is honest with me is my wife.
Here are some quotes. "Basically, I just want to be powerful and kick ass. I want to roll 41 points of damage. I don't want to talk to the NPCs or follow a story. I want to be a rogue and sneak attack for lots of damage. I don't want to guess where to search for a trap - I want to make a check and have that determined. All the other stuff between the fights is just fluff that takes away our time that we could be having fun."

I've heard it said that most folks know what they don't want and can more accurately describe that- whereas asking them what they do want will get you a lot of inaccurate responses for a variety of reasons.
I think it's a fairly accurate thing to say, and it seems applicable here. In your OP you list what they DON'T like. Sounds right.
In this post above, yeah, you're getting ultimately unhelpful answers.

 

[Retreater]

That reminds me: have you talked to the individual players in your group what constitutes an RPG for them? Because I suspect also there the answers might vary quite a bit.

So yeah, there's one player that is very much in sync with me. Likes story, NPC and world interaction, creating her own agency and motivation, while still likes adventure and action.
Another player remembers the nostalgia of old TSR adventures of 32 pages with a site to explore, monsters to fight, and treasure to loot.
The third player's favorite adventure was Curse of Strahd to bring the hurt on the vampire and get big items to kick his butt. She mostly remembers her big critical hits, can't name a single NPC or character name from any of the adventures she played. The scenes in between fights are just filler.

 

[Belen]

So yeah, there's one player that is very much in sync with me. Likes story, NPC and world interaction, creating her own agency and motivation, while still likes adventure and action.
Another player remembers the nostalgia of old TSR adventures of 32 pages with a site to explore, monsters to fight, and treasure to loot.
The third player's favorite adventure was Curse of Strahd to bring the hurt on the vampire and get big items to kick his butt. She mostly remembers her big critical hits, can't name a single NPC or character name from any of the adventures she played. The scenes in between fights are just filler.

Play 2e, problem solved.

 

[Retreater]

Have you considered pretending to play Warhammer 40k but actually running Space Hulk? You and the one RP guy can discuss the will of the Emperor before pulling the handle on the drop ship that slams the PCs into a mass of tyranids. If they don't all want to be marines, make them part of some weird anti-tyranid coalition so you can have an eldar and an orc.

Square for movement, lots of pregen units characters and plenty of weapon upgrades. Give each player a couple action points. Let the one who actually likes tactics split their points into a unit with multiple characters so they can do overwatch & intersecting fields of fire.

I've considered HeroQuest with a little more room for improvisational actions, a bit more story, maybe a puzzle here and there.
The idea was shot down though

 

[Retreater]

Play 2e, problem solved.

In a heartbeat.
However, the butt kicker still thinks it's underpowered, like all other TSR era games.

 

[Belen]

In a heartbeat.
However, the butt kicker still thinks it's underpowered, like all other TSR era games.

Use skills and powers and/or let them go wild with the complete books.

 

[schneeland]

So yeah, there's one player that is very much in sync with me. Likes story, NPC and world interaction, creating her own agency and motivation, while still likes adventure and action.
Another player remembers the nostalgia of old TSR adventures of 32 pages with a site to explore, monsters to fight, and treasure to loot.
The third player's favorite adventure was Curse of Strahd to bring the hurt on the vampire and get big items to kick his butt. She mostly remembers her big critical hits, can't name a single NPC or character name from any of the adventures she played. The scenes in between fights are just filler.

Thanks!
This seems to support my impression that you and player 1 would be fine with any not too heavy system and adventures that leave enough freedom for your characters to sometimes take matters into their own hand. I think most game systems would work here - I could easily see Free League games, Call of Cthulhu (with Pulp Cthulhu rules if you want characters to be a bit more robust) or Savage Worlds working.
Player 2 and 3 would need something with a stronger combat focus. Classical adventure path campaigns with a lot of fighting are probably fine (most OSR stuff would - sadly - be ruled out immediately because of the lack of butt kicking on lower levels). I actually think 5e would work here too, at least as long your start at least at level 3. And, as already mentioned, complex board games like Gloomhaven should cover most of this, too.
Now I do think you could also run games using 5e for all of these people (with the advantage that there's a lot of 3rd party campaign material available). But the compromises would be quite noticeable and I got the impression that you don't really enjoy this. So I personally still think you'll be better off splitting the game into two.

 

[Belen]

In a heartbeat.
However, the butt kicker still thinks it's underpowered, like all other TSR era games.

Actually, have you looked at Castles and Crusades?