Everyone has a favorite genre. We all have favorite systems too. Sometimes we're lucky and those link up. Sometimes we're less so.
My question for you today is if you could have a 'perfect' system for your genre of choice appear, what genre would it be for? In other words, if given the choice to play one genre for the rest of your gaming career, what genre?
I find myself torn on the topic, but I think in the end I'd go with Space Opera. For one, it's an open enough genre with room for a lot of different games and styles of play. For another, it gives me the option to bring in things like giant robots, or even various power sets through psionics or other space opera mojo.
My close second is High Fantasy. There's a reason D&D and Pathfinder have sat at the top of the RPG genre for so long. Like Space Opera it has a lot of room for different types of games, and there's just something about Fantasy that keeps folks coming back.
So what about you? Also, feel free to not cop out like me and go for more specific or niche genres like Crime, Mecha, Military, and such. By the way, all 3 of those I'd totally be happy playing for the foreseeable future.
Wuxia - fantasy + kung fu!, followed by Space Opera
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maybe
Wuxia Space Opera!
Wuxia Space Opera could be a lot of fun...
DeleteI'd say I prefer Low fantasy over High fantasy, but the distinction between the two is rather muddy. So lets say I'm going with "Fantasy kitchen sink", because that pretty much covers it (by not covering at all). Also, I've been playing in the same "world" for several years now, there is not one single category that describes it... I think it's a bit similar to Discworld in that regard, as in the Great A'Tuin may have swam past my world at some point and everyone started worshipping the apparent comet in the sky. Strangely enough people seem to consider Discworld to be High Fantasy now, even though it used to be the prime example of Low Fantasy? I'm confused now...
ReplyDeleteMagic versus Technology is the main theme, now I think about it. That's always been central to all the campaigns, but the perspective flips every once in a while. There's quite a bit of murder mystery in it as well, together with comedy to counteract the seriousness my players tend to bring to the game to lighten up the mood (the episode of Dexter's Laboratory where they play Dungeons & Dragons springs to mind).
Sounds a bit like Final Fantasy worlds where you have magic, swords, technology, and guns all in one world and all fighting each other. ALso sounds like a really fun place to play.
DeleteCyberpunk. I just really love the idea and it can be a very versatile genre. I would love to one day run a game set in Paolo Bacigalupi's world from Pump Six/Windup Girl which I definitely count as cyberpunk and it really shows what the genre can do if you run with your ideas.
ReplyDeleteI've never been able to play in a pure Cyberpunk game. I do like the genre, but it can be a bit bleak at times (most 'punk worlds can be.) That said, I could definitely see folks sinking in and never coming out. Shadowrun shows that if nothing else. Even if it does have some fantasy to it.
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