The-Magic-Sword
Small Ball Archmage
RPGers, it seems to me are more interested in the setting that the story of the movie is selling, rather than reenacting their favorite sort of scenes from the movie-- even in the context of their own characters as the heroes. I think in that sense its less of a murderhobo impulse, and more that playing the setting straight is more interesting in an RPG than in a movie: pulling jobs in a cyberpunk universe is inherently tactical, includes problem solving, a reward, and stakes if you fail, but "Can I pull this off? Ok sweet we did it" is often pretty basic as a movie plot goes.
I think one of the reasons DND style fantasy is often regarded as generic enough to pull off most fantasy, is because the kinds of compromises you have to make to pull character concepts or monsters in, the things we sometimes look at and say "DND Fantasy doesn't allow for this" don't really matter to what the person doing it actually wanted. If you want to play as a Geralt-of-Rivia-like, you probably mean you want to play a gruff monster hunter with a cynical outlook but a heart of gold, or that you want powers that feel like the ones he uses in the games, THAT PART is a lot more doable than "I need to play in a zero-compromise rendition of the World of the Witcher." So this world that has loads of monsters, different magical traditions, endless lists of spells, and a variety of classes that are based on different sources of power and fictional ideas, becomes a kind of 'wide denominator'
If you run a magic school game in Pathfinder, you aren't playing Harry Potter exactly, but you can probably get most of what would matter to you about that in: a setting full of magic and mystery, that you explore as students who get into trouble as they investigate weird goings-ons during their time in school and face off against bullies, rivals, and deal with teachers. You don't need a game that emulates Potter's magic system to do that, so if you're comfortable with DND magic that's just fine. If you take this with what I said before, a lot of the RPG impulse is trying to live in the fictional space those characters inhabit, and the status quo of the story is an exciting life to inhabit, divorced from the status quo shattering plot of the film that inspired you. personally, I've always been frustrated by the plot and wish these works spent more time on exploring the implications of their world, and slice of life elements set in the fantastical. In that context "Fantastical Treasure Hunters" played straight is fine, and a great basis for us to add character relationships and personal arcs onto.
Also incidentally, on the subject of Star Wars, I think many of the people who are most enthused to play a Star Wars RPG are traditionally the sort of people who get enthused about reading the Star Wars novels that do in fact fly off the shelves of your local library, or get enthused about playing Star Wars Video Games with their own narratives and sub narratives, like ye olde KOTOR and its exploration of way before the movies and jedi lore, 2006's Battlefront 2's exploration of military actions barely or entirely unexplored by the films, Empire at War and it's preoccupation with the Black Sun Syndicate.
In that context, the Star Wars movies are a beloved afterthought to the rest of the setting, which you can spend a lot of time in if you would like, and easily hold the opinion "The Movies are pretty good, but have you played KOTOR II yet?" when it comes to the fantasy of being a Jedi.
I think one of the reasons DND style fantasy is often regarded as generic enough to pull off most fantasy, is because the kinds of compromises you have to make to pull character concepts or monsters in, the things we sometimes look at and say "DND Fantasy doesn't allow for this" don't really matter to what the person doing it actually wanted. If you want to play as a Geralt-of-Rivia-like, you probably mean you want to play a gruff monster hunter with a cynical outlook but a heart of gold, or that you want powers that feel like the ones he uses in the games, THAT PART is a lot more doable than "I need to play in a zero-compromise rendition of the World of the Witcher." So this world that has loads of monsters, different magical traditions, endless lists of spells, and a variety of classes that are based on different sources of power and fictional ideas, becomes a kind of 'wide denominator'
If you run a magic school game in Pathfinder, you aren't playing Harry Potter exactly, but you can probably get most of what would matter to you about that in: a setting full of magic and mystery, that you explore as students who get into trouble as they investigate weird goings-ons during their time in school and face off against bullies, rivals, and deal with teachers. You don't need a game that emulates Potter's magic system to do that, so if you're comfortable with DND magic that's just fine. If you take this with what I said before, a lot of the RPG impulse is trying to live in the fictional space those characters inhabit, and the status quo of the story is an exciting life to inhabit, divorced from the status quo shattering plot of the film that inspired you. personally, I've always been frustrated by the plot and wish these works spent more time on exploring the implications of their world, and slice of life elements set in the fantastical. In that context "Fantastical Treasure Hunters" played straight is fine, and a great basis for us to add character relationships and personal arcs onto.
Also incidentally, on the subject of Star Wars, I think many of the people who are most enthused to play a Star Wars RPG are traditionally the sort of people who get enthused about reading the Star Wars novels that do in fact fly off the shelves of your local library, or get enthused about playing Star Wars Video Games with their own narratives and sub narratives, like ye olde KOTOR and its exploration of way before the movies and jedi lore, 2006's Battlefront 2's exploration of military actions barely or entirely unexplored by the films, Empire at War and it's preoccupation with the Black Sun Syndicate.
In that context, the Star Wars movies are a beloved afterthought to the rest of the setting, which you can spend a lot of time in if you would like, and easily hold the opinion "The Movies are pretty good, but have you played KOTOR II yet?" when it comes to the fantasy of being a Jedi.
