Is it just me or are most RPG adventures written for kids? I'm 40 and have been playing for 25 years and I am looking for an adult RPG adventure. I wish to God that George Martin wrote RPG adventures! I like political intrigue, violence, double crossing, twisted thinking and occasional drug use and the such. Maybe Tom Clancy would have been a great RPG author as well. Is anyone else out there fed up with all of the adventures on the market that do not appeal to players over 16? Why are there no authors writing campaigns like The Enemy Within any more? Lets get the Call of Cuthulu authors to dedicate some time to fantasy !
-
The VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Most published adventures seem very cartoonish to me and designed for players who are 16.
- Thread starter Birdlegs
- Start date
Most? Nah. Some, for sure. The stuff you're looking for I think is better served by the third-party publisher base than the core companies (who need to appeal to all players; third-parties can choose a niche).
The ZEITGEIST stuff is complex stuff with investigation, politics, and intrigue. Definitely targeted at GMs who are really on the top of their game.
http://zeitgeistadventurepath.com/
The ZEITGEIST stuff is complex stuff with investigation, politics, and intrigue. Definitely targeted at GMs who are really on the top of their game.
http://zeitgeistadventurepath.com/
Lwaxy
Cute but dangerous
Kind of. Not because they are generally cartoonish but because a lot of themes keep repeating - I can't bear much more of the standard dungeon crawl. However, it's not only the EN-World APs that rule. There is also Way of the Wicked (PF Evil AP) and generally the Paizo-APs stray off the beaten path as well. At least somewhat.
It is really hard to find good urban adventures though.
I was thinking of creating an urban-based (with some traveling) AP based on a campaign of mine, but I suck at stats so it probably will never happen.
It is really hard to find good urban adventures though.
I was thinking of creating an urban-based (with some traveling) AP based on a campaign of mine, but I suck at stats so it probably will never happen.
Celebrim
Legend
This really has more to do with how you present the material than the subject matter of a modern adventure novel.
Let's put it this way. You can present the story of Snow White in Disney terms, so that its understandable to a children and works with them on their level and gets them to think without really terrifying or disturbing them (much), and that's perfectly acceptable.
Or you can look at the story of Snow White and say, "This is the story of a girl who is being abused by her mother/gaurdian, who ultimately will attempt to murder her, and there is really nothing she can do about because she is the legal chattel of her gaurdian. Her only hope within the structure of the sexist society she lives in is to find a man willing to take her under his protection, and become his possession, and hopefully not abuse her as much as she has been - and she'll do pretty much anything to achieve that. Eventually, she gets 'rescued' by a man who is sexually molesting her.
Your average D&D module is about as much of a kid's story as 'Hansel and Gretel', 'The Goose Girl', etc.
And if all you want is gore and grit, there is nothing dainty about 'The Skinsaw Murders'.
Let's put it this way. You can present the story of Snow White in Disney terms, so that its understandable to a children and works with them on their level and gets them to think without really terrifying or disturbing them (much), and that's perfectly acceptable.
Or you can look at the story of Snow White and say, "This is the story of a girl who is being abused by her mother/gaurdian, who ultimately will attempt to murder her, and there is really nothing she can do about because she is the legal chattel of her gaurdian. Her only hope within the structure of the sexist society she lives in is to find a man willing to take her under his protection, and become his possession, and hopefully not abuse her as much as she has been - and she'll do pretty much anything to achieve that. Eventually, she gets 'rescued' by a man who is sexually molesting her.
Your average D&D module is about as much of a kid's story as 'Hansel and Gretel', 'The Goose Girl', etc.
And if all you want is gore and grit, there is nothing dainty about 'The Skinsaw Murders'.
EN World does have some of the best stuff and I'm not bashing any specific system. I long for the old Warhammer adventures and I have been thinking about merging Call of Cuthulu into D&D. I like the gritty stuff where nothing is black and white but different shades of gray and there isn't that much separating evil and good. Our group has been playing our own home brew system for about 5 years now with this ideal. It is normal for us to roleplay 12 hours without even rolling the dice. Keep up the good work EN world and thank you for keeping roleplaying fresh! Oh Celebrim, the Skinsaw Murders was very nice!
Olaf the Stout
Hero
I'm not sure what adventures you're referring to, but when Dungeon was in print, there were many adventures in there that were definitely not aimed at 16 year olds. Many of the adventures by people like Pett and Logue were quite dark.
I think when you write 'RPG', you're really thinking of D&D/Pathfinder. There's plenty of other RPG systems with more mature content, particularly those with a more 'realistic' background, e.g. Harn, Pendragon or Ars Magica. Especially the latter often focuses on politics. And if you're a fan of George Martin's books, have you looked at 'A Song of Fire and Ice' RPG?
TrippyHippy
Hero
There is a lot of this in gaming. I sat in a Games Workshop business meeting where we were told that the core market was 14-16 year old boys. That's who spends the money, apparently, so that is what the games were all geared towards. My involvement with GW ended over a decade ago, so things may well have changed a lot since then. However, I do find myself feeling somewhat alienated by mainstream games and adventures a lot of the time. I do find other games more appealing because they do seem to want to encourage adult-orientated thinking and engagement.
Similar Threads
