How much do you mix genres in your game?

[Sir Edgar]

From what I understand, D&D had its origins as primarily a strategy war game which added an adventuring element that was also accompanied by some science fiction-inspired magic. I know that one of the earliest adventures S3 "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks" was largely science fiction-oriented, too.

However, I am noticing that a lot of the products and materials and ideas coming out these days, both from WOTC and various d20 companies as well as individuals, features all kinds of machinery and gadgets and such. There are gnomes flying on balloon warships and cities with a population of 50 million that not only have complex sewer systems, but mithril golem-making factories and whatnot. Dwarves are firing fireball spells from rapid-fire machine guns and half-celestial/half-tiefling/alchemist of the order of light12/server of the heavenly forest15/epic swordbender of the mechanical god18 characters are busy making vorpal time warp blades.

D&D is not meant to be realistic, it's fantasy, I know that. But it is loosely based on medieval times and some of this stuff is way off. Yeah, sure, I know to each his own, but it's going a bit too far for me, personally speaking.

Anyone else feel like this?

By the way, I completely respect everyone's individual tastes. I just think the direction of the content is getting biased to one extreme lately. So, I posted the poll just to get a sampling of what people are into and I am curious to know what the general feeling is on this topic.

 

[2WS-Steve]

So far I'm the only one to vote Post-apocalyptic-neo-Confucian-surrealist-horror-Hong-Kong-action-with-hot-vampire-babes?!??!*



* Poll choice description may differ from actual since I can't see the poll while replying...


Hah! move the poll on me; I'll just copy and paste!

It's still not exactly clear what the difference between 3 and 4 is. Is choice 3 more like Torg or World of Darkness, lots of genres but not insane, and 4 like Synnibar, the ability to play flying-ninja-bears-that-shoot-lasres-from-their-eyes?

If so that's cool, but I think you'll see low results for 4 simply because people associate it with munchkin when, as far as genre mixing goes, it's no different than the more reasonable settings.

 

[Sir Edgar]

It's hard to say. I guess choice #4 would be just out-of-this-world crazy stuff or just mixing more than two or three genres. Like say, another example would be: "My halfling detective crime-fighting rogue just found out his brother is the robotic vampire hiding in that gothic-style glass city!"

 

[Terwox]

Eh. I like steampunk, and one of my current campaigns reflects it -- but as you say, it's low-key. A PC might have a flintlock, and a shotguns are out there among the gnomes and dwarves, but there's no train systems or huge cities.

My other game isn't as high tech as choice number four... and it's a game based on Ghost in the Shell! Come to think of it, it doesn't even have any rotating cities... and there's no dwarves... hmmm.

 

[barsoomcore]

Okay, so I voted, happy?

Grumble grumble...

I guess my post got deleted for some perfectly good reason, but yeah, flying ironclads, vampire goddesses, evil faeries, genies, undead armies (those are the good guys), flintlock pistols and dinosaurs.

And red guys. Gotta have red guys.

 

[bwgwl]

i like steampunk, but not in a fantasy world.

i have always disliked the stereotype of gnomes as tinkers. i prefer the pre-Dragonlance illusionist-type gnomes.

my dwarves are good at making axes and plate mail, not gatling guns and tanks.

i'm with you -- i'm all for genre purity!

 

[Ace]

So far I'm the only one to vote Post-apocalyptic-neo-Confucian-surrealist-horror-Hong-Kong-action-with-hot-vampire-babes?!??!*


.

Its too bad you are on the other coast. That would be a rocking game

I would have to play a fu master confucianist dirty monk with a circular saw on a rope and a .454 casull revolver of course.

 

[Ace]

I have several diiferent Eras IMC

Dark Ages like
Middle Ages like
Steampunk
Gun Punk
Clock Punk

Unfortuanetly all but the first two were poorly recieved

 

[Sir Edgar]

I thought a lot more people would have voted for highly mixed genres, so I'm pretty surprised then that a lot of the new stuff coming out is so genre-mixed. When I look at the illustrations for the new campaign sourcebooks, I see all this machinery and steam pumping and balloons and whatnot. I mean that's fine and dandy, but it's everywhere! I'd like to see more traditional stuff.

 

[Mallus]

I voted 1 but...

... that's not exactly fitting. I always thought of my campaign world as the Earth several million years in future, straight outta Vance or the Book of the New Sun... It has no real steampunk elements but...

The Moon called Lune, is blue and white, long since terraformed.

Lara, the Goddess of Entropy, lives in a ice palace at the South Pole which sports a massive outdoor sculpture that actually a radio telescope. She's awaiting the death of the universe. Her 12 paladins, the Lancers of Lara, have "lances" that are really portable x-ray lasers.

Lara's brother, the God of Motion, Taryndarwe, has, duing the course of his long life, built an intercontinental missile{his "spear" Falling} and a starship {his "spear" Rising}, which he eventually left the world in.

Taryndarwe also left the worlds address with several spacefaring races {called collectively the Friends of Taryn} who drop in from time to time at his former stronghold at the South Pole. One of these ship's experienced a mutiny recently, and the ensuing orbital battle left the ship's drive. a caged singularity with the mass a few million Earths, lying at the bottom of the sea, as well a causing a massive tidal wave that flattened a large portion of PC's archipelago home..

Dwarves were assumed to be humans that returned after colonizing a higher gravity planet.

And while there's no real industry, there's fairly advanced information technology based on illusion and mind magics... Holography, data storage and bulk information processing involving dreams, instanteous communication networks... so it's very futuristic at times, while maintaing an externally low-tech feel...