What's the term for these type of RPGs?

[Pedantic]

True.

I mostly wanted labels so when I do my reviews, I can say "this game is a <insert game type>."

Maybe just an intensifier? I can see these getting described as "focused" or "narrow" role-playing games.

 

[pawsplay]

Various. Solo RPGs. Diary games. Premise games. Adventure games. Just "indie games" in general. Most of them aren't strongly generic enough to have a category, but "journaling games" are a thing.

 

[pawsplay]

If the game doesn't have contested propositions in the traditional sense, my general term for them is "story games". Basically you can tell a story game because the typical play loop doesn't involve rolling dice but talking things out.

Whereas I use "story games" that involve narrating action, but you don't necessarily have a character. Eg. Once Upon a Time.

 

[aramis erak]

I'd label many, if not most, as "experimental Indie Games"...
Many of them also/alternatively as story games.

 

[Thondor]

I spent a chunk of today chatting with a boardgame cafe owner at OtonaCon in Peterborough about RPGs, storygames, and the border between boardgames and these.

They are often pretty blurry. Once a game is GMless it can be more so.

To me the main difference is two-fold --
a) a boardgame packages all the components while a RPG expects you to bring your own
b) a RPG/boardgame has some kind of openess/creativity requirement (or expectation) that a boardgame lacks.

As for a category . . .

 

[Thondor]

Alright, this has been percolating for a bit. I think I would go with: Scenario Games.

Think of it as an Adventure+System. They are written to facilitate a relatively narrow story -- much like a scenario or adventure for a larger system -- but include all the necessary mechanics and context to facilitate the game, a custom system.
Often they are structured so one person just needs to browse the book beforehand and serve as a continual in game reference much like an adventure module might. They might have a lighter GM role or be GMless.

Of some games that I think may fit this category that we carry:
Big Dog, Big Volcano -- a one-shot GMless game. One player is an oblivious hiker, one is a volcano and one is a good dog. Each player has a play sheet with slowly escalating stakes/questions/situations that they ask each other. (You just roll a die that accumulates each round, the higher your overall total, the more serious things get.)

Palanquin -- one-shot, facilitated by the player who plays the princess (closest role to GM). Story of how you saved the princess from a palace coup and whether she trusts you at the end. The other players grab up to 5 of the 6 other character archetypes and introduced threats on the journey largely based on their archetypes. The scenario part comes in with the 6 locations+themes you journey through.

Once More Into the Void -- one-shot to 6 shot. Facilitated by the captain character. A few default scenes-- character recruitment and final confrontation -- and a series of optional mini-game scenes that the players get to select. You are the crew of a starship who have saved the galaxy once before and a new threat to the galaxy has emerged. Can you put your differences aside and work together once more?

One-shot GMless games like The Quiet Year and my own God-Killer Prophecy almost fit here, but I think the difference is mostly in how narrow a story/scenario the mechanics can support.

@Faolyn do you think this fits some of what you are looking for?

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

a) a boardgame packages all the components while a RPG expects you to bring your own

Well, that does leave the early "bring your own pawns/dice/faux money/etc." stuff from Cheapass Games in an awkward spot, but they were kind of the exception that proves the rule, I guess?

 

[Thondor]

Well, that does leave the early "bring your own pawns/dice/faux money/etc." stuff from Cheapass Games in an awkward spot, but they were kind of the exception that proves the rule, I guess?

Exactly, there are always borderline cases. Lots of starter sets for RPGs or similar might come with maps, dice, figures etc too, but that isn't the expected norm.

 

[Pedantic]

Well, that does leave the early "bring your own pawns/dice/faux money/etc." stuff from Cheapass Games in an awkward spot, but they were kind of the exception that proves the rule, I guess?

It's very common for 18xx games not to come with money (and/or to fully expect the terrible paper money they come with to be replaced with poker chips and a spreadsheet), and they are about as board game as it's possible to be.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

It's very common for 18xx games not to come with money (and/or to fully expect the terrible paper money they come with to be replaced with poker chips and a spreadsheet), and they are about as board game as it's possible to be.

I've owned a couple of those over the years and they all came with faux money. It was terrible, but it was there.