Moods, themes, and girly stuff like that

[Arrgh! Mark!]

What is the preferred mood in your game? Examples; gritty and depressing survivalism, chipper and cheesy optimism.

Which particular mood do your players really, really go for?

Lately, my group have gone down the darker path; Personal honour/security vs. what is right is the main theme, and the mood tends to follow the idea that no answer is correct; a feeling of depressing futility for the characters is the greatest danger. They furiously seek to find a way to live.

It helps that they play in Midnight.

How about your games?

 

[I'm A Banana]

Currently:

Betrayal, lies, and mistrust.

But they're dealing with Yugoloths, so....

 

[Crothian]

well, it starts out chipper and cheesy optimism. and then it settles into gritty and depressing survivalism. and then I dangle more chipper and cheesy optimism in front of them to go after but its always just out of reach. gritty and depressing survivalism always wins the day.

I really want Thieves World....

The groups never like it as Dark as I do, so I always have to tone things down. I make midnight look like Seaseme Street I've been told.

 

[demiurge1138]

Dark. Not pitch black hopeless, but gritty and occasionally grim. Still, there's usually an undercurrent of sarcastic humor about the proceedings, although that's the player's fault.

 

[Turjan]

I often tend to break the mood, as I have some unrestrained love for the absurd. The players seem to be fine with it, though, and they usually find back to the normal mood of the game, which isn't dark at all, but goes more into epic direction.