Why is fantasy the dominant RPG genre?

[d4]

I Gm'ed a lot of supers games back in the day--mostly V&V. You could have PCs ready and wing a night's entertainment with very minimal prep, something I generally find very difficult to do with fantasy.

i definitely agree. supers games can be a lot easier to improv and run than fantasy games. you don't need to worry about memorizing all the details of a fantasy world since you're just using the world around you that you already know about. and as buzz mentions, you generally have a lot fewer NPCs to worry about, and it's much easier to re-use your villains. (in fact, it's a genre convention that villains escape to trouble the heroes over and over again.)

 

[Ycore Rixle]

Yeah, because all those action movies and books aren't at all like that even though they're set in a modern setting.

Riiiiiiight... and action movies and books definitely obey the same rules and require the same sort of craftsmanship as pen-and-paper RPGs.

 

[rounser]

Star Wars, Shadowrun, Call of Cthulhu, Vampire, Mage and Werewolf have all rivalled D&D and the 'fantasy' genre at some point in their histories.

The irony is that arguably, they all incorporate a good deal of fantasy:
Star Wars: Has it's own version of magic, even has sword fights and "knights" to bring the sword & sorcery allusions even closer.
Shadowrun: Magic, elves, orcs, trolls etc.
Call of Cthulhu: Monsters from outer space. Even has magic and magi.
White Wolf games: Generally, you're playing a fantasy monster or occupation (such as Mage). (Arguably they're monsters from horror, but they've since been borrowed by S&S fantasy technology, so there's overlap.)

You might think that's drawing a rather long bow, but these are all fairly close cousins of swords & sorcery when you consider how much closer they are than, say, Cyberpunk 2020. (In fact, the appeal of S&S fantasy might explain why a fantasy/cyberpunk genre-hybrid like Shadowrun did better than the pure cyberpunk of '2020.)

You could use Star Wars' Force for a magic system, Shadowrun's demihumans, and monsters and magi from Call of Cthulhu and the World of Darkness...hey presto, you've almost got a swords & sorcery world right there.

 

[d4]

Riiiiiiight... and action movies and books definitely obey the same rules and require the same sort of craftsmanship as pen-and-paper RPGs.

action movies are my model for role-playing -- my goal is to have all my games run like high-budget action movies. so i think JD's analogy is spot on.

 

[Desdichado]

Riiiiiiight... and action movies and books definitely obey the same rules and require the same sort of craftsmanship as pen-and-paper RPGs.

What's your point? All the things that you said don't work in a modern genre are cliche in action movies. So what rules are you referring to?

 

[Desdichado]

Riiiiiiight... and action movies and books definitely obey the same rules and require the same sort of craftsmanship as pen-and-paper RPGs.

What's your point? All the things that you said don't work in a modern genre are cliche in action movies. So what rules are you referring to?

 

[Guillaume]

One factor that I think has been neglected is the sheer volume of material that has been published for D&D. I think the fact that multiple gaming worlds and the multitude of prewritten scenarios available provide a good and easy base for alot of GM. I'm not saying that it is impossible for someone to play D&D without resorting to prepublished material. However, if someone, for some reason does not have the time/creativity/interest in writting up their own adventures, there is plenty of material available. Where as in other types of RPGs the material is often limited, or at the very least, much less available than the material for D&D.

In other words, if someone wants to create their own world/adventure, they can do it in any setting/genre/game. If they want to use prepublished material, it is harder to do outside D&D.

From personnal experience, I always had a difficult time coming up with campaign material for other genres. When it comes to D&D however, I just have to pull out a Dungeon magazine, read a few adventures and the creative juices start flowing. When I tried doing the same when starting a superhero campaign, not being utterly familiar with the genre, I hit a wall rapidly. Trying to find published material that can get me by while I deal with my writer's block was much more difficult.

 

[Desdichado]

For modern games, all I have to do is read a book, watch TV, pick up Time Magazine, etc. I don't think lack of material is really a factor.

Sure, there aren't ready-made adventures, but to me actual modern resources are much more important than module write-ups.

 

[Umbran]

Tell that to the White Wolf crew (and those that follow their school of thought), as they certainly say that RPGs are about amateur theater first and gameplay second.

Yeah, right. They can say that all they want. But interestingly, their most theatric games (Wraith and Changeling) got far less support than the games where character power was a more major focus.

And the behavior I've seen in players of WW games doesn't show any more focus on characterization than the players of any other games. MET especially - a major problem of the Camarilla organization was how it went about deciding who got to have the powerful characters.

The WW crew may say things like that. They may even want games to be that way, and target them somewhat more for theatrics. However, even without market research they know upon what side their bread is buttered.

 

[d4]

From personnal experience, I always had a difficult time coming up with campaign material for other genres. When it comes to D&D however, I just have to pull out a Dungeon magazine, read a few adventures and the creative juices start flowing. When I tried doing the same when starting a superhero campaign, not being utterly familiar with the genre, I hit a wall rapidly. Trying to find published material that can get me by while I deal with my writer's block was much more difficult.

ever try a comic book shop?