Exploring New Genres - Share Your Favorite Other Genres

[InquisitiveMind]

Hey everyone! I'm always on the lookout for new and exciting genres to explore, and I thought it would be great to hear about some of your favorite "other genres" that don't quite fit into the typical categories.

Personally, I've been really into interactive fiction and text-based adventure games lately. I love how they challenge me to use my imagination and think outside the box, and the fact that they don't rely on fancy graphics or flashy animations makes them all the more impressive.

What about you? Do you have a favorite "other genre" that you think more people should know about? Maybe you're into puzzle games, educational games, or something else entirely. Let's start a discussion and discover some new favorites together!

Looking forward to hearing your suggestions.

[tkdguy]

If you're looking for different types of games, here's a word puzzle.

 

https://www.puzzle-words.com/boggle-4x4/

[steriaca]

Fantasy Western Hero: think Dungeons & Six Irons. Orks, bandits, elves, dragons, cowboys, and everything else you want to toss together. 

 

I thought of this because I am a bit board with all the D&D style Isski out there and i want a change of pace. You want a fantasy world isaki? Fine. Just prepare for the troll carrying a gatling gun.

[InquisitiveMind]

10 hours ago, steriaca said:

Fantasy Western Hero: think Dungeons & Six Irons. Orks, bandits, elves, dragons, cowboys, and everything else you want to toss together. 

 

I thought of this because I am a bit board with all the D&D style Isski out there and i want a change of pace. You want a fantasy world isaki? Fine. Just prepare for the troll carrying a gatling gun.

Thank you

 

[Joe Walsh]

A long time ago, I ran long-term, very popular campaigns that were essentially soap operas. One was set mostly in and around a pseudo-medieval tavern; the second was set mostly in and around a megacorp owner's mansion. While both campaigns were nominally based off of specific RPG rulesets (AD&D 1e for the first, Classic Traveller for the second), both evolved into rules-light story games because that's the direction the groups ended up going in. Sure, there were occasional story-driven missions that were very much like the usual adventures you'd expect in their respective games, but most of the playtime was consumed with pure soap opera stuff with dual loyalties, secret lives, evil twins, dramatic deaths, skullduggery, betrayals, and the like.

 

I always wanted to pick up a copy of SPI's Dallas RPG and see how they decided to approach the genre.

 

 

[DentArthurDent]

During a lockdown impulse I bought a copy of Brindlewood Bay.
I’ve never played it (my gaming group is full of competitive rules junkies) but it looks fascinating.

It seems to be Murder, She Wrote with Lovecraftian undertones, where the players create the solution. Wild!

 

I was looking at the company website and it seems I have a pre-release copy of the game which is only 40 pages. 
The game now available online is 168 pages! 

[Joe Walsh]

Wow, that seems like a neat RPG to check out!

 

Quote

Brindlewood Bay is a roleplaying game about a group of elderly women—members of the local Murder Mavens mystery book club—who frequently find themselves investigating (and solving!) real-life murder mysteries. They become increasingly aware that there are supernatural forces that connect the cases they are working on and, in particular, a cult dedicated to the dark, monstrous aspect of the goddess Persephone will come to vex them. 

The game is directly inspired by the television show Murder, She Wrote, but also takes inspiration from the works of H.P. Lovecraft, “cozy” crime dramas, and American TV shows from the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s.

 

[Christopher R Taylor]

I am pondering building a fantasy hero campaign in Africa, using the myths, legends, history, monsters, etc from Africa.  The idea would be to have a mythical, fantasy version of the continent as a fantasy setting -- something really fresh and unique -- with different cultures, nations, and mythology.  Africa is a GIGANTIC place with hosts of different cultures and stories.  Kenya is not Egypt is not Zimbabwe is not Sudan, etc.  So you'd have all this variety of setting and backgrounds. 

 

I'd do it bronze age style: low magic, low tech, with dangers just outside your door.  Magic is more curses and wisdom and herbalism and spirits, rather than fireballs and flying.  I've been pondering doing a Bronze Age Hero book for a while but this would be something more interesting.  And no elves or hobbits.

[DentArthurDent]

6 hours ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

I am pondering building a fantasy hero campaign in Africa, using the myths, legends, history, monsters, etc from Africa.  The idea would be to have a mythical, fantasy version of the continent as a fantasy setting -- something really fresh and unique -- with different cultures, nations, and mythology.  Africa is a GIGANTIC place with hosts of different cultures and stories.  Kenya is not Egypt is not Zimbabwe is not Sudan, etc.  So you'd have all this variety of setting and backgrounds. 

 

I'd do it bronze age style: low magic, low tech, with dangers just outside your door.  Magic is more curses and wisdom and herbalism and spirits, rather than fireballs and flying.  I've been pondering doing a Bronze Age Hero book for a while but this would be something more interesting.  And no elves or hobbits.

 

Parkour was born in Africa. If you do a “Run for Your Lives” scenario, please share!

[Christopher R Taylor]

I figure to set this in the distant past, when Egypt was great, but then also add in stuff like Carthage, just mix various times and civilizations all in one mythical place.  No European contact, some Semetic contact but very ancient like the the Akkadians.  THe time line would be a mess but I would love to make it like a greatest hits of interesting time periods and civilizations all in one package.

 

And no, no Wakanda.

 

But the Parkour thing is interesting, that would be a cool package: a free runner template

[tkdguy]

I remember an old Dragon Magazine article that featured an African campaign. I'll try to find which issue it is.

[Ninja-Bear]

I always wanted to try Shadow Run. Back in the day I was against Orcs in a modern/futuristics setting. But now? I’d love to try it.

[Christopher R Taylor]

Looks like maybe Dragon Magazine #189, a while after we stopped subscribing

[Lord Liaden]

One of the most interesting mini-campaigns I played in was based on the old D&D Immortals rules and modules, where the PCs were actual god-level characters. And I don't mean just super-powerful, I mean metaphysically-significant GODS, with abilities beyond what mortals could ever attain. Defending the integrity of the Multiverse, altering the nature of Reality, creating whole worlds of our own to rule. Climbing the ladder of Immortal power toward the beings who governed the fundamental principles of Existence.

 

The campaign was too short for us to get near that level, but it was pretty heady while it lasted.

[Chris Goodwin]

I've always wanted to play in an urban fantasy game set in modern Earth where the supernatural was just out there and unremarkable, no Masquerade or similar.  Tried to run one a few times but never got very far.

[Duke Bushido]

Shadowrun without the punk?

 

 

[Chris Goodwin]

2 hours ago, Duke Bushido said:

Shadowrun without the punk?

 

 

And maybe without the cyber.  Like, just regular people who just happen to be wizards and werewolves and fae and occasionally other things, having magical adventures in the modern world.  The thing is, I can't figure out what those adventures would be, without making it some other kind of adventure. 

 

Police?  Private investigators?  Military operatives (perhaps fighting incursions from underground tunnels)? 

 

Like, what do the PCs do?

[Duke Bushido]

I believe, Sir, that rhis is foinf to depend,_entirely_ on what is possible with magic.  For example, if magic can take care od your basic needs such as food, shelter, and clothing for the environment, there is foinf to be a radical,change in societal structure:  I cant possibly be the only person who would look at a job of demanding physical labor for sixty hours a week or anythinf _remotely_ related to customer service and just laugh like hell  if I could alakazam me up a delicious meal and an air conditioned house in which to spend my time, ar a magic carpet by which to travel the world.

 

Similarly, what do people in a world of casual magic fear if it is not starvation or exposure?  Loss of the magic itself seems like a good start.

 

Looking at that, is magic available to anyone, a lucky few, or a ruling elite?  The answer to that will give you a lot of insight into the society.  For example, a lucky few may realize that they are in an enviable position and make no bones,about using their magic for their own benefit even to the detreiment of others.  "What are they going to do?  Stop me?"

 

Well, that is one idea.  How do we stop them?  Arrest them?  Somehow deposed them?  What does either answer suggest?

 

And so on amd so forth.

 

If magic is availqble to everyone. It will likely come with laws and regulations for its use.  What do those look like?  What is the downside to violaring them?  What is the pumishment for violating them?  Who is in charge of doing the investigation, and how are the punishments meted out?

 

What other forves exist in this world (churches, secret societies, government agencies, demigods, demons- you name it- and how does the use of magic affect them?  What would they like to see sone differently regarding rhe use of magic?  Do they plan to make that happen?  How do you stop them?  Who is in charge of that?

 

 

Those are just the first questions that pop into my head, and,I think a solid campaign can be built just from the answers,you come,up with.

 

 

[Lord Liaden]

It sounds like you might find some inspiration in the world of Aaron Allston's novel Doc Sidhe, mixing pulp with myth and folklore. Maybe update it to a more modern world?

[IndianaJoe3]

On 4/14/2023 at 10:30 PM, Lord Liaden said:

It sounds like you might find some inspiration in the world of Aaron Allston's novel Doc Sidhe, mixing pulp with myth and folklore. Maybe update it to a more modern world?

 

Heinlein's, "Magic, Inc" might be another source of ideas.

[GDShore]

For a long time when starting a new group of players, regardless of what we were going to actually play, I ran them thru "Zombie Apocalypse". We used Justice Inc. ruleset, seldom played more than 3 sessions (including character creation) I would know everything I needed to know about strengths and weaknesses of the players in particular their blind spots. A six week countdown to the apocalypse reaching them, creating themselves and only the assets they actually had or could reasonably acquire in that time frame. 

     In the thirty years I have been doing this, about 12 groups, only one lasted more than 2 play sessions and that group went 18 months. Few people can actually see themselves as they really are, the last group I ran like this were so individualistic that by half way through the second session the last of them died in a blind alley, alone and helpless.

[GDShore]

Quote

On 4/22/2023 at 2:10 PM, IndianaJoe3 said:

 

Heinlein's, "Magic, Inc" might be another source of ideas.

 

On 4/14/2023 at 8:30 PM, Lord Liaden said:

It sounds like you might find some inspiration in the world of Aaron Allston's novel Doc Sidhe, mixing pulp with myth and folklore. Maybe update it to a more modern world?

 

Another source might be David Weber's Hellsgate series, postulating two societies on alternate Earths that each discover "gates" that allow them to move to other earths and explore them. One society is technological (with talents, telepathy, telekinesis, ect.), one is magical, spells, illusions, alchemy and magic items. In both societies only about 1/3 of the population is gifted. The tech society seems to be in the late 19 th. or early 20 th. century, the magic in about the same period, with the difference that steam does not power their world, magic does. 

[Gauntlet]

STUPID Campaign, or otherwise known as:

Super

Twirps

Undertaking

Personally

Injurious

Duties

 

It is rather like "The Tick". In the campaign there is no BODY Characteristic. There is no way to kill anyone, just knock them out. God, it's a campaign type I have ran since second edition.

[Christopher R Taylor]

I had a campaign in mind, I started it out but it faded away because of school and jobs and such.  It started as a nuclear Armageddon, with the characters being 25 points and 25 points of complications.  They had a half hour warning when the nukes were going to hit, so they had to deal with traffic jams, looting, etc to get out of town and to somewhere sort of safe.

The plan was for it to be a post-apocalyptic survival campaign, then aliens were going to invade and enslave the world.  Then the PCs would escape after learning how to use the tech and survive in this situation.  Then they would be on their own in a mostly-alien far-flung part of the galaxy far from earth without really even knowing how to get back.

 

I liked the idea of changing campaigns every once in a while to make the game feel more fresh but sadly it never really took off.  But it would have covered several different genre

[steriaca]

I remember a group within the UW Gamers group trying to develope a universal RPG of there own, and one of the campaigns was SLED (short for Super Law Enforcement Division). Basically cops with super powers. I never played in ot, but I think your standard police procedure television show with a special effects budget.

 

Might of been inspired by Powers, but the main characters have superpowers instead of policing them.