Quote from: RomanNow see, that actually sounds interesting to me.

And run by someone else, I'm sure it would be to me too.

Seriously, I can run a fair whack of stuff, but supers is not among my gifts.

Horror/Comedy: Both require affecting the players, not their characters, in very similar ways.  You have to take something normal, and then you turn that thing in a specific manner that either violates them or compells them to find it absurd without insulting them.  This requires a degree of trust that isn't present most of the time, which is why both games often fail.

Superheroes: The genre conventions, when used uncritically or without any thought put into them, quickly become absurd and insulting so players often ditch them in favor of a more reasonable or practical use of their character's powers or skills.  Left unchecked, you're going quickly to something more like the Authority, Kingdom Come or Civil War and less like The Superfriends.  To be more than a glorified skirmish game, you have to warm up to it and be smart about the specifics- you can't play cold and stupid.

Proceedurals: There's a reason you don't see much in terms of investigation, and that's because playing investigation scenarios are often boring exercises in pixel-bitching matched with folks who lack either desire or knowledge about the process.  Doing it right has too many variables in the mix to make it worth  the effort to attempt it, and the one counter-example (Call of Cthulhu) is notable in the effort to make the boring aspects--the stuff that's in a lab or library--either quick to resolve or interesting in its own right.  (You can do it with Shadowrun or Cyberpunk, but that requires a slightly different approach to Decking, certain uses of magic in play, and drones, and is quite atypical.)

Military: The subcultural issue with authority along with Party Niche Habits makes this difficult, especially when vehicle drivers are the obstensible unit at hand (e.g. Robotech, Mechwarrior) and the nominal unit size is not a snug fit for the numbers at the table.  God forbid that you get someone at the table that's current or former military gain-saying you; within their specific experience, they can be an asset, but the further you deviate from that the more it becomes just another hassle.

I often struggle running "realistic" historical genres. If I take great liberties with historical settings, it can GM it with no problems. But if I stay close, it's tough.

Part of it is due to scheduling. My main campaigns are usually fantasy or sci-fi. So I have little time to prep accurately an historical epic, remember names, customes, history, geography and so on.

Part of it is also due to my players. Most of them aren't too motivated in doing research. Also, I have several female players and many of them can't come up with character concepts that interest them in such settings.

Quote from: BalbinusYou?  Anything you aren't averse to that you really struggle to run or play?

Victorian/1890s-era horror.  I love the source material, I just can't do anything with it and I don't know why.  CoC and Masque of the Red Death are the two settings that I wish I could run to my satisfaction.  My players seem to have fun, but I always feel like I'm not doing justice to the setting/genre and it's frustrating as hell.

Pete

Quote from: Bradford C. Walkersnip

With the exception of procedurals (and maybe even that too), though, all of those genres run just fine when the players are willing to accept the conventions and expectations of the genre (as well as generally agreeing not to be dicks).  They're only problematic genres if you play with problematic players.

I'm a huge fan of sci-fi in literature and film, but have almost no interest in running or playing it. Consequentially the few games from the genre I have GM'ed have been fairly dull, insipid affairs. At least to me.

On the other hand if I introduce sci-fi elements to a different genre (fantasy, horror, whatever) then I'm immediately bursting with ideas. It's an odd one, but that's just how my imagination works.

Quote from: DrewI'm a huge fan of sci-fi in literature and film, but have almost no interest in running or playing it. Consequentially the few games from the genre I have GM'ed have been fairly dull, insipid affairs. At least to me.

On the other hand if I introduce sci-fi elements to a different genre (fantasy, horror, whatever) then I'm immediately bursting with ideas. It's an odd one, but that's just how my imagination works.

A ditto here, word for word, pretty much.

I am unable to run horror games. My games are lot of fun and laughter not that much serious. And I have problems to switch to really dark, creepy atmosphere of horror.

Hi!
I cannot run Time travel games. I tried and its just no good. I can't wrap my brain around it. My plots are either too simple or too complex...
And I cannot play games where my char HAS to be stupider than me (Gama world, Paranoia, etc). Any game where identifying the difference between a cell phone and a calculator is a skill that has to be learned in play is not something I can get "into." I am sure they are good games and that other people genuinely have fun, but its still not for me...

Quote from: RezendevousWith the exception of procedurals (and maybe even that too), though, all of those genres run just fine when the players are willing to accept the conventions and expectations of the genre (as well as generally agreeing not to be dicks).  They're only problematic genres if you play with problematic players.

That's why they fail; they rely on something known to be unreliable--people--to achieve the intended results.  Never design a tool that incorporates elements that you do not control in order to achieve desired results.  A properly-designed game will possess systemic mechanisms at the core of its design that compel the intended results reliably even when used by the very worst players.