What are some examples of 'casual gamer' or 'mass market' tabletop RPG products?

[RangerWickett]

The thread about why RPGs aren't popular got me wondering what sorts of experiments different publishers have tried to get more people into gaming. I mean sure, there are 'quick start' rules, where you buy a box with a board, some minis, pre-made characters, and a simplified rulebook, but what else have they tried?

I remember seeing little pamphlets at a Gen Con a few years back with the basic rules of Vampire: the Requiem, as well as a short adventure where all the PCs wake up as the victims of a vampire attack, having just been turned.

There was that VCRPG D&D game that came out in the 90s, the one with the man-scorpion? I don't remember it too clearly.

What else? Choose your own adventure D&D books? Saturday morning cartoons?

I guess I'm curious what has been tried before I go thinking I'm clever and suggesting something that Steve Jackson Games did back in '94, which cost them tens of thousands of dollars. Because more important than "what has been tried" is "why didn't it work" and "what could work?"

 

[ggroy]

Fighting Fantasy books.

Essentially they're like Choose Your Own Adventure books, but with dice being used for combat.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Well, I can't say they're actually intended to be "gateway" products into gaming, but Lost Worlds and In The Labyrinth may have functioned that way.

Lost Worlds Fantasy Combat Books originated with Nova Games, but went through the hands of several companies. It used essentially the same system as Ace of Aces- 2 books of pictures of foes with maneuvers- but with fantasy combatants.

Lost Worlds Fantasy Combat Books

In the Labyrinth was an RPG-ized version of Metagames' (the precursor to SJG) Melee, Wizardry, Advance Melee & Advanced Wizardry fantasy combat games. It was good enough by itself, but to support it, Metagames also released several adventures for the system that required no DM. You entered a room or encounter area, chose one of the options presented, and went to the page based on your choice. If combat occurred, it worked just like AM/AW. Dead simple (only 3 stats) & dirt cheap ($3-5 per adventure, maybe $8 each for the AM, AW and ITL books).

The Inside Scoop on Gaming - RPGnet

 

[Cadfan]

Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game.

Aye Dark Overlord.

Pretty much any board game where you take on the role of a character and interact with other people doing the same thing.

There's probably going to be some pushback in this thread against counting adversarial boardgames where you sort of half assume a role as roleplaying games, but the question was "casual" roleplaying games, and the mixture of a solid game structure with a light roleplaying aspect that can be delved into as much or as little as you please is a big part of what makes these effective as casual rpgs. The tropes that people often associate with "true" rpgs, such as character backstory, GM invented worlds, etc, are the things that prevent those rpgs from being truly casual.

Although Og: Unearthed comes close.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Pretty much any board game where you take on the role of a character and interact with other people doing the same thing.

Then we might as well include classics like Dungeon, Feudal, Titan and Dark Tower.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

Risus.

"You have ten points to put into whatever cliches you think describes your character. There are no set catagories - just make them up!"

And that's it

 

[cattoy]

The union of the sets 'Casual Gamer', 'Mass Market' and 'tabletop RPG products' yields an empty set.

Oh wait, there it is:
Dallas, The Television Role-Playing Game, 1980, SPI

 

[Freakohollik]

Confessions of a part time sorceress
D&D for dummies

I don't know about 'casual gamer' or 'mass market', but these products seemed to be there to draw more people into the hobby,

 

[Cadfan]

Then we might as well include classics like Dungeon, Feudal, Titan and Dark Tower.

I can't tell if this is one of those "SLIPPERY SLOPE! OH NOES!" posts, or a serious comment. Some of those would possibly qualify, though I'm not sure why Feudal is on the list.

Seriously though. Taking Battlestar Galactica as an example, its a game where you have a character with a distinct personality and distinct motivations that are known to you and not to the other players. You interact with the other players over the course of a series of skill challenges, where you don't necessarily want to win the skill challenge, but rather to accomplish your character's objectives. Events over the course of the game can cause your character to grow and change, and even change sides. You create alliances with other characters based on what you each infer about the other's background and motivations. And all of these things happen in an established universe with a rich backstory and lots of setting details.

Its an RPG. Its an RPG with a prewritten scenario that's designed to be highly gamist so that you can replay it multiple times. Its an RPG with pregenerated characters with rich backstories and distinct skills. Its an RPG with an established canon which inform your game but from which your game will likely deviate. Its an RPG where the players will likely find themselves speaking in character about half the time, accusing each other of treachery, and plotting with one another.

Its just a casual RPG, so its not completely the same as a pen and paper game.

 

[Cadfan]

Oh, and Aye Dark Overlord is a game where player LITERALLY roleplays being an evil overlord interrogating his minions after a failed quest, and where the other players literally roleplay being the worthless minions as they make excuses for their failure and try to pass the blame. There are some cards that mediate the game aspect of what's going on, but you literally sit around the table and make up a story in which each person takes on the role of a specific character in the story. Its less gamist than D&D.