90's game design tropes - your favorite/least favorites, go.

Rezendevous · June 13, 2012, 10:34:22 AM

For least favorite, metaplots. Also fluff fiction in rulebooks -- I know this didn't start in the 90's, but it seemed like this was when it became prevalent.

For favorite, I'm not sure. There are a lot of individual games from the 90's that I liked, but I have trouble thinking of specific tropes that I liked that were unique or more prevalent in that decade.

It might be the government paranormal conspiracy/approaching-the-millennium settings like Delta Green for CoC and Dark*Matter for Alternity, both of which I enjoyed despite their different takes on the concept. Again, not new per se, but I think this trope has a strong 90's association.

thedungeondelver · June 13, 2012, 11:21:46 AM

Oh, Cyber- anything. Cyberpunk 2013 is technically an 80s game but effectively a 90s game. There was a Hero System book (Cyber Hero), too. Shadowrun (which I still don't understand the affection for), and what else...

Probably hand in fingerless glove with that : corporations/businesses as bad guys.

flyerfan1991 · June 13, 2012, 11:25:47 AM

Quote from: Imperator;548401There is a secret world that you belong to, and you have to keep yourself hidden from the unwashed masses.

That could pretty much describe RPGers or any other subgroup right now. Between that self identifying feature and the proliferation of conspiracy theories, there's plenty of fodder for that trope's appeal.

Sacrosanct · June 13, 2012, 11:31:41 AM

Quote from: J Arcane;548434Our go to taunt was "BLACK LIGHTS!" after a particularly bad lyric in a Type O Negative song.

Fuck that was an awful band.

Hey now, I happen to like the intros to Wolf Moon and My Girlfriend's Girlfriend

I was overseas in the military during the 90s, so I missed a lot of the stuff that became big then (we couldn't exactly dress up in Goth and play out Vampire the Masquerade when you're on post in the military--not that I ever had that desire).

I guess you could say I didn't like D&D's movement in the 90s, from an atmospheric perspective. Too PC and fluffy. It's like it went from emulating Conan the Barbarian to emulating The Gummi Bears.

I liked some of the mechanical changes though.

Melan · June 13, 2012, 11:33:06 AM

Quote from: thedungeondelver;548487Probably hand in fingerless glove with that : corporations/businesses as bad guys.

More than that, science is also cold, impersonal and evil, and it only serves to sever us from our more authentic primal selves. Which is today manifested in counter-culture. This quote is from Exalted, but it sums it up quite well:

QuoteDo not believe what the scientists tell you. The natural history we know is a lie, a falsehood sold to us by wicked old men who would make the world a dull gray prison and protect us from the dangers inherent to freedom.

thedungeondelver · June 13, 2012, 11:36:35 AM

Quote from: Melan;548495More than that, science is also cold, impersonal and evil, and it only serves to sever us from our more authentic primal selves. Which is today manifested in counter-culture. This quote is from Exalted, but it sums it up quite well:

Exalted is the last gasp of the 90s "special snowflake" trope, also one I hate.

Benoist · June 13, 2012, 01:26:12 PM

Quote from: thedungeondelver;548496Exalted is the last gasp of the 90s "special snowflake" trope, also one I hate.

A trope which evolved to give us more special snowflake game design in recent years.

Silverlion · June 13, 2012, 01:47:22 PM

I love science. Heck, I'm working hard to make E.o.N, have both science and faith as ways to fight the stigmatim. Silly people science isn't evil!

thedungeondelver · June 13, 2012, 04:47:42 PM

Quote from: Silverlion;548537I love science. Heck, I'm working hard to make E.o.N, have both science and faith as ways to fight the stigmatim. Silly people science isn't evil!

No, of course it isn't.

danbuter · June 13, 2012, 05:58:08 PM

My favorite parts of the 90's:

The Birthright and Ravenloft settings. Also, tons and tons of games played in the Forgotten Realms.

Werewolf the Apocalypse. Ecoterrorist werewolves were cool.

Shadowrun. All of it.

I wish there were no metaplots (especially Realms-shaking events every year).

Premier · June 13, 2012, 06:05:53 PM

Quote from: flyerfan1991;548489That could pretty much describe RPGers or any other subgroup right now.

Adventurer: the Murderhoboing

crkrueger · June 13, 2012, 06:46:19 PM

Quote from: Benoist;548427... and in fact never actually existed as a coherent, actual metaplot, as was the case with Vampire the Masquerade. What you had instead was a bunch of items on a list of plotpoints that should be assumed to be this or that by authors and freelancers (like "Tremere killed Saulot. Saulot is in the body of Tremere. Tremere is in the body of Goratrix. Lugoj is Tzimisce." that kind of stuff). Beyond that, the whole notion there was an actual "truth" to the setting written by WW guys to be found out through the supplement was a total smokescreen.

Which, since we're talking about the 90's was exactly how X-Files was. When you went away from the "Monster of the Week" episodes to the "Alien Conspiracy" episodes, it became clear that Chris Carter had no clue how the conspiracy was going to end.

crkrueger · June 13, 2012, 07:04:23 PM

Quote from: thedungeondelver;548592No, of course it isn't.

Heh SPC-231 reminds me of the movie Cabin in the Woods.

Well, that crossed with Carcosa.

Silverlion · June 13, 2012, 07:10:43 PM

Quote from: thedungeondelver;548592No, of course it isn't.

SCP is about people poking things they shouldn't. That's not the same thing as real science.

jeff37923 · June 14, 2012, 04:03:00 AM

Quote from: Silverlion;548644SCP is about people poking things they shouldn't. That's not the same thing as real science.

Oh, but SCP is such a grand source of inspiration for my games!

I <3 SCP.