Quote from: BalbinusAgent to me is not so different to adventurer, a subset IMO, investigator I'll come back to.

Investigation, CoC is a good challenge, I think it is a bit different and I think you have a point.  I'll need to give that further thought, though I think CoC is probably the only really successful horror rpg which isn't basically an adventure game with fangs or claws.

I was going to write a spirited defense of agent-as-top-level-domain... and it still feels different to me:

Playing D&D, Gamma World or even Champions, where I'm mostly self-directed and open-ended feels *very* different to me from playing James Bond, much Cyberpunk, and D&D-with-a-patron games where I'm given a mission to accomplish and the game is very objective-oriented...

Still, while these feel like significant differences, they might just be ideosyncracies.

A hypothesis about horror: I think being told a ghost story is a viable form of entertainment. In the typical CoC game, the players uncover the ghost-story as they investigate strange goings-on until everyone gets eaten.

This is, functionally, the same dynamic as telling stories around the campfire, with more interaction and (probably) less pacing... but still -- the basic appeal is being told a ghost story.

Seem reasonable?

Cheers,
-E.

Quote from: RedFoxI've heard of groups upstate that have actually played the thing.

:eyepop:

[I guess I shouldn't be so surprised -- I get people to play my TCM-inspired Risus fantasy variant.]