Why Fantasy?

[payn]

In a vain attempt to drag this thread back on its actual topic(s):

Who prefers a genre other than fantasy for TTRPGs? What games do you prefer? What would it take for that preferred genre, do you think, to better compete with fantasy in the TTRPG mindspace?

Sci-fi, with Traveller (Mongoose 2E) being my go to. As for what it takes to compete in the mindspace? Hell if I know... Not even Star Wars can make a dent in the fantasy monopoly on the hobby.

Its not all doom and gloom though. Its never been easier to find folks for both D&D and any other RPG I want to play. I sort of gave up the notion of fighting for the crown of the mindspace. Life is short and imma do what works best for me and not look back like a cool guy and an explosion.

 

[Dessert Nomad]

I don't know, hunting supernatural relics in war torn Afghanistan sound pretty great. Trying to get them out before the Taliban destroys them or the US weaponizes them sounds even better. Or, set it in 1987 or so and make the Russians the bad guys. Either way, I'd sign up for that game.

The thing is, that would be a completely different setup than what he wanted to run or had prepared. He wasn't that into action type games, and the scenarios he envisioned were about exploring and putting together clues, not trying to Indiana Jones style grab the artifacts and run before the army blows up the area. And he didn't want 'war torn Afghanistan' as the setting, he wanted to explore the non-war-torn culture.

'Some other person might have liked a different style of game than what he put together' is tangental to the fact that then-current events intruded on the campaign idea that he wanted to run and had prepared.

 

[Umbran]

Sci-fi, with Traveller (Mongoose 2E) being my go to. As for what it takes to compete in the mindspace? Hell if I know... Not even Star Wars can make a dent in the fantasy monopoly .

In part because Star Wars is fantasy with sci fi visuals.

 

[Breaking Star Games]

In a vain attempt to drag this thread back on its actual topic(s):

Who prefers a genre other than fantasy for TTRPGs? What games do you prefer? What would it take for that preferred genre, do you think, to better compete with fantasy in the TTRPG mindspace?

Prefer: Science Fiction. I like dreaming of the future and space is cool, so harder Sci Fi is preferred but with room for interesting conflict. The Expanse is pretty solid for this.

Compete is a strong word because you are dealing with a D&D - a big fish in a small pond. But D&D tripped in the 90s, so I suppose it could happen again. For "Sci Fi," it'd probably have to come about via a big IP like Star Wars (which honestly is just fantasy in space), just as Disney was able to make Lorcana big, they could use the same sway after a big renewed swing from successful Star Wars media, which is already asking a lot given the weak box office of Mandalorian and Grogu. Alternatively, it could come from Avatar (the blue people one) but I feel like even the video game Frontiers of Pandora wasn't that hugely impactful in the video game industry like how Star Wars video games sometimes are.

But the issue is that IP TTRPGs never seem to actually convert the fans from collectors into in-person tables playing the game that I've seen in my local area. That would take a lot more dedication than I can imagine any corporation bothering to actually invest in.

Sillier idea: Jeff Bezos gets really into TTRPGs and just makes a much bigger promotion for an Expanse RPG 2e everywhere. Get that on the front page of Amazon constantly. He did save the show after a huge fan movement.

Dystopian idea: AI Game Mastering becomes a serious competitor to TTRPGs using some Sci Fi genre because Sci Fi spaceship combat works nicely when its just one player controlling the ship than 3-5 people. Looking at the indie video game FTL: Faster Than Light huge success vs the boardgame Battlestations 2e shows the appeal. Maybe a Star Trek like game where you get to be the captain of the Enterprise. But if I'm honest, if this technology occurs (and I seriously doubt LLM Generative AI doing this well enough to replace a human), Hasbro will likely be all over that as soon as they can and do the same for D&D adventures.

 

[RenleyRenfield]

In part because Star Wars is fantasy with sci fi visuals.

Funny note this. I never really thought much about "how sci fi" star wars was until...

Until running star wars for fans, and in one scene I had the gravity go out and go into zero-g action = oh boy they laid into me!

Can I claim allowance on that though? Han and Leia put on rebreather masks... no, no... I still got chided... lol

 

[payn]

In part because Star Wars is fantasy with sci fi visuals.

Exactly, you cant even take a baby step away from the medieval/renaissance/sword and sorcery/whatever fantasy type D&D is and move the needle even an inch. Not even with a powerful brand like SW.

 

[Fenris-77]

I'm at a loss as to why the notion that Star Wars if fantasy with a veneer of SciFi is a new idea to anyone.

 

[Minion X]

Archery would mostly have had the same effect, though. There's a reason why the various horse archer barbarians were so successful against peoples who were less likely to use that strategy throughout the Classical and Middle Ages from the Scythians to the Huns to the Mongols, etc. And even including the Comanche, although they were much more modern. A Comanche archer could "hide" behind the neck of his horse and shoot six arrows underneath its neck before the first one hit its target. Until the invention of the Colt six shooter, you couldn't really beat archery with personal firearms unless your foe was determined to just march out in formation the same as you did.

Even at close range, bows don't have the kind of power that firearms do, so you can balance archery with armor on a 1:1 scale. And in terms of larger scales, the introduction of firearms meant that non-warrior cultures could effectively combat horse nomads on the plains. Like how the highly fertile chernozem regions could be more reliably settled without the farmers being swept away. Ironically, had the Europeans settled the Americas before firearms, the introduction of the horse would have given the tribes an insurmountable advantage on the great plains.

 

[Fenris-77]

Even at close range, bows don't have the kind of power that firearms do, so you can balance archery with armor.

The main reason archery was supplanted by firearms isn't effectiveness, it's training time.

 

[Minion X]

The main reason archery was supplanted by firearms isn't effectiveness, it's training time.

And scalability. English archery alone almost eradicated yews from parts of Europe. But on a 1:1 scale that matters less.