Unlikely RPG Genres

Dumarest · November 05, 2017, 07:49:07 PM

Quote from: Voros;1005943Smallville is supposed to have an interesting soap opera structure and mechanic.

It's supposed to . I have it. It doesn't.

WillInNewHaven · November 05, 2017, 08:43:42 PM

Quote from: Voros;1005949Do you mean Alma Mater with the 'infamous' Otus art or another game?

That's probably it; it was out in the early Eighties as Alma Mater was. The two guys I knew who had played it described it pretty much like what I see online when I look it up, although they claimed that male characters got experience points for sexual conquests and lost points for doing things like asking a girl to go steady or spending money on dates and female characters got points for marriage proposals, being asked to go steady and not putting out. Probably a local variant.

Just Another Snake Cult · November 05, 2017, 10:16:21 PM

As a teen in the early 80s I bought Call of Cthulhu in large part out of sheer curiosity just to how they turned H.P. Lovecraft's work into a game. Depressing stories with one bookish guy alone, who often dies or goes mad?... how do you do that? I guess I had a very narrow view of what a Lovecraftian story was.

Skarg · November 05, 2017, 10:30:22 PM

Prison & concentration camp. Could range from Hogan's Heroes to horrible deathcamps, Turkish prisons, modern US for-profit prisons, etc. I would skip Hogan and go for high grit, realism, and difficulty, to give a real picture of what it's like. But it also sounds terribly grim, so I probably wouldn't do it.

JeremyR · November 06, 2017, 03:14:13 AM

I think The Dunwich Horror pretty much set the course for Call of Cthulhu gameplay. Group of bookish investigators come across mystery, solve it using magic/scholarship.

Anyway, I've always wanted to see an RPG based around break dancing and reputation. Either 80s style (like the Breakin' movies) or the mores recent "You Got Served" ones (which is more like 2000s).

Christopher Brady · November 06, 2017, 03:20:06 AM

Bodice-ripping Historical romance, and I have no 'effin' clue how to make that work...

cavegirl · November 06, 2017, 08:16:33 AM

I'd love to play a jeeves-and-wooster style farce game some time.
Or a slasher horror game (you know, friday the 13th style) where you kind of have a chance to take the slasher down but it's a slim one unless you're lucky or very smart.
Or a game where you play as spiders. Not, like, fantasy spiders or anything. Just real spiders in, like, a garden somewhere coping with the weather and the weird shit humans make happen.

Skarg · November 06, 2017, 10:44:24 AM

Quote from: Christopher Brady;1006036Bodice-ripping Historical romance, and I have no 'effin' clue how to make that work...

Get the "Naughty & Dice" supplement.

Zirunel · November 06, 2017, 11:28:58 AM

Quote from: cavegirl;1006053I'd love to play a jeeves-and-wooster style farce game some time.

Well damn. Brilliant idea. If you could make it work, that could be a riot.

Manzanaro · November 06, 2017, 11:42:54 AM

Dostoevsky novels.

The moral philosophy stuff I can leave to the players, but I feel like the rules for hammer combat with elderly landladies need to be spot on.

flyingmice · November 06, 2017, 12:05:55 PM

Quote from: Dumarest;1005813Still waiting for you to release Primetime Soap Opera: The RPG. I call dibs on playing amoral tech mogul/womanizer J.R. Carrington.

Seriously, that's a game I would enjoy if it were done well and not too loosey-goosey, that is, I don't want to sit in a circle where each player just tells us what happened next in the story. I have no idea how you'd make it work right. Have at it, Mr. Bowley!

(Also, I own Dallas, but I'm damned if anyone is ever willing to play it.)

Since my Sunday IRC game which has been running without a stop since 2003 is essentially a prime time soap opera in space, I should be able to do this.

Voros · November 07, 2017, 01:53:01 AM

Quote from: cavegirl;1006053...
Or a slasher horror game (you know, friday the 13th style) where you kind of have a chance to take the slasher down but it's a slim one unless you're lucky or very smart...

Final Girl is a great slasher game, uses standard deck of cards.

Voros · November 07, 2017, 01:54:30 AM

Quote from: JeremyR;1006033...

Anyway, I've always wanted to see an RPG based around break dancing and reputation. Either 80s style (like the Breakin' movies) or the mores recent "You Got Served" ones (which is more like 2000s).

One guy did a hack Breakdancing game but never really finished it. Also probably not trad enough for some.

Willie the Duck · November 07, 2017, 08:10:14 AM

Quote from: Christopher Brady;1006036Bodice-ripping Historical romance, and I have no 'effin' clue how to make that work...

Reinterpretations of that genre have historically been very good watching.

David Johansen · November 07, 2017, 08:33:26 AM

The Mutant Chronicles Capitol source book suggested a dynastic epic for campaign play. So that would be prime time soap opera with massive guns, shoulder pads, and monsters. It's like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

That's probably the way to go for the bodice ripper too.

But if you wanted a straight up bodice ripper I suggest you have lust points and self control as damage resistance. Character traits match up and generate additional lust levels as do minor actions, a caress, a longing gaze returned. Random encounters would include things like ex lovers and the object of affection in the tool shed or behind the bushes.