What TTRPGs Excel At Not Having Combat?

[Parmandur]

That's not it. He wants to play in a game where tactical acumen does not matter at all, not that he wants his character to be bad at it.

Gotcha. That seems easy enough, tons of games don't focus on combat at all.

For my money, it is more interesting that there ia now a solid option for a game that has crunchy tactical combat that doeforce fhe PCs to engage in that aspect of the game, as they can focus elsewhere. Should be particularly interesting with the Mistborn rPG, which will focus on heists.

 

[Reynard]

Maybe if I try and dream up an example scenario it will help.

Titanic. Like the movie. Maybe on a steampunk airship or a space cruiser or a spelljammer. Whatever, that's all set dressing. But play is how that movie goes. Sure, there is a "fight" but not in the sense that my friend wants to avoid.

What system would you use to play Titanic? Why that one? What specifically does it bring to the table for the conflicts, drama and consequences seen in that film?

 

[Parmandur]

Maybe if I try and dream up an example scenario it will help.

Titanic. Like the movie. Maybe on a steampunk airship or a space cruiser or a spelljammer. Whatever, that's all set dressing. But play is how that movie goes. Sure, there is a "fight" but not in the sense that my friend wants to avoid.

What system would you use to play Titanic? Why that one? What specifically does it bring to the table for the conflicts, drama and consequences seen in that film?

PbtA of some sort, not sure which one would specifically fit Titanic, but Pasión de las Pasiones might actually fit the bill.

 

[thefutilist]

Maybe if I try and dream up an example scenario it will help.

Titanic. Like the movie. Maybe on a steampunk airship or a space cruiser or a spelljammer. Whatever, that's all set dressing. But play is how that movie goes. Sure, there is a "fight" but not in the sense that my friend wants to avoid.

What system would you use to play Titanic? Why that one? What specifically does it bring to the table for the conflicts, drama and consequences seen in that film?

Are you talking about something that isn't a generic system? For instance Prime Time Adventures is generic but there's no rules for fighting per say.

Or are you talking about situation specific games? For instance My Life With Master, Hot guys making out, Under Hollow Hills.

Either way those are my recommendations.

 

[bsss]

Maybe if I try and dream up an example scenario it will help.

Titanic. Like the movie. Maybe on a steampunk airship or a space cruiser or a spelljammer. Whatever, that's all set dressing. But play is how that movie goes. Sure, there is a "fight" but not in the sense that my friend wants to avoid.

What system would you use to play Titanic? Why that one? What specifically does it bring to the table for the conflicts, drama and consequences seen in that film?

So, continuing this riff, there's "Fiasco: Transatlantic", a playset for Fiasco. (I have not played this particular playset product, just found it on DTRPG.) To play, you roll a bunch of d6s, identify characters and why they're on the ship, and how they're interconnected. The dice guide your storytelling but don't define it --- that's all up the table and aided by the playset. Then you use those dice in the same manner to tell the story of the scenes in Act One, where the characters are introduced, intrigue and tension gets set up, etc.. The playset helps come up with stuff in a Titanic theme. Then, in the system, you reach the Tilt, where, essentially, chaos intrudes on the story. Plans go south. The jewels aren't where they're supposed to be. (The ship hits an iceberg.) Act Two, use the rest of the dice on more scenes where everything goes to naughty word, but maybe some characters come out alive (if not better off) in the Aftermath. There's your Titanic story.

I played Stealing Stories For the Devil for the first time a couple weeks ago, and that was a blast. If the above sounds cool but you want a bit more "trad" experience, SSFtD is more character action-driven, but you get to emerge the story off the cuff in a really cool way.

 

[Reynard]

Are you talking about something that isn't a generic system? For instance Prime Time Adventures is generic but there's no rules for fighting per say.

Or are you talking about situation specific games? For instance My Life With Master, Hot guys making out, Under Hollow Hills.

Either way those are my recommendations.

I don't mind if it is generic if it can do that thing (or something like it). But I have found that often these days, bespoke games are usually better for such specific needs.

 

[JConstantine]

I am looking for a game that does not have combat, or combat is an inherent failure condition to the point of being effectively impossible without ending the game.

Based on a quick glance at my collection:

Arkham Horror/Call of Cthulhu: Mostly investigatory. Combat isn't non-existent, but it shouldn't be a desirable option.
City of Mist/Hard City/A Dirty World: All focus on noir investigation, but fisticuffs are a possibility, so probably falls foul of your criteria. City of Mist has characters imbued with powers so probably the worst offender.
Cortex Prime: Not really a game, so much as a toolkit for making one yourself, so you can customise it to fit.
Kids on Bikes/Tales from the Loop/Things from the Flood: They all have you playing as preteens/teens (not to everyone's taste) and draw from the "kids on bikes" subgenre, where combat isn't typically a thing that happens. And when it does, tends to be hitting something with a hard object and legging it. Adventures in TftL and TftF typically revolve around weird events caused by experimental physics.
Monsterhearts: Teen high school drama where characters are secretly supernatural creatures (as allegory for the adolescent experience). Potential for physical conflict would generally be a schoolyard scrap.
Raven: Gothic horror inspired by the works of Edgar Allen Poe. Ghost stories and mysteries. Threats are spectres, curses and the like, so good luck physically fighting that.
Star Trek Adventures: It's Star Trek, so combat should always be a last resort/failure state.
Vampire: The Masquerade: Specifically, V5. Older editions facilitate a "trenchcoats and katanas" or "supers with fangs" approach, but that's deemphasised by V5's mechanics. Often plays as a supernatural mafia, which has the potential for violence (and there are powers for it), but socio-political intrigue and occult investigation are common.
World Wide Wrestling: Pro Wrestling. Staged fights in the ring are obviously a big portion, but actual combat is not generally a thing.

This has really driven home just how many RPGs utilise physical conflict as a driving force.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I was thinking this. Our current campaign has some combat, but it's could easily have even less. My character is an exec who has almost no combat skills. Add in a fixer, a media, and a rockerboy and skip the solos and it would be very easy to run socio-political intrigues. The setting certainly has enough info in that space. No idea the adventures, as a player I haven't looked into the screamsheets etc.

I have two groups. One went all-in on combat, the other didn't. The thing about building a hardened PC is that there's no level of power that makes you completely indomitable in combat; there will always be someone tougher, and days that weak streetrat gets really lucky with their poor quality assault rifle. In a lot of ways, I think you're better off building a character that never has to fight in the first place.

 

[Reynard]

Star Trek Adventures: It's Star Trek, so combat should always be a last resort/failure state.

I quibble strongly.

 

[Kannik]

I'll second Cortex Prime. It emphasizes the fiction/narrative and storytelling beats, and as it's a toolkit it can be tailored to meet the campaign's needs. Be easy to use a challenge pool to represent both antagonists or broader obstacles, with everyone getting a chance to overcome the antagonist/obstacle by depleting the pool until it's gone. You could potentially smack someone in the face, but any other action by the PCs that makes sense is equally as powerful in building towards success. It's great.

Wanderhome is also a beautiful gem, but it plays very differently than most other RPGs (it's much more of a collaborative storytelling exercise than a "game", and to be clear I am in no way saying that disparagingly, I absolutely adore Wanderhome).