I'm only interested here in genres you don't hate with the fire of a thousand suns by the way, I don't get mecha so I can't run it, but that isn't really a surprise.  Similarly Pundy probably can't do romantic fantasy too good, but given his view of it who would expect him to?

For me, Supers.  I can't run it at all, I struggle to play it well.

Why?  I guess I think too much in terms of realistic/credible behaviour, I can't think in genre, for me fundamentally the rules are the physics of the game world and I really struggle to ignore as a player stuff my character would surely notice.  I get the same with epic fantasy a la high level DnD, if my PC can soak up 30 arrows I struggle to rationalise why he wouldn't notice that.

Other folk manage it fine, me, when I run supers it rapidly turns into some ghastly version of Watchmen but with more violence, as everyone slowly begins to act rationally and the logic of the game rapidly begins to disintegrate.

You?  Anything you aren't averse to that you really struggle to run or play?

Fantasy. I don't understand it at the root level.

-clash

I love hard scifi RPGs but I don't know shit about the physics of it all, not even enough to produce a remotely credible, ad hoc mumbo jumbo version. I.e., jump drives in Traveller: I just struggle for words, nonsensical or not. WTF is a "relay conveyor"? How long can a human survive 7G, or a punctured vacc suit? Fucked if I know.  

No, Doc: for once, giant %&$%ing spiders aren't the answer. Alas.

Quote from: flyingmiceFantasy. I don't understand it at the root level.

-clash

How so?  Can you expand at all?

Also, Blood Games has magic and all doesn't it, and you seem pretty proud of it, I understand it's not fantasy (it's horror) but there are relationships between the two genres.

Just querying as I'm curious.

To address the main topic, I've gotten as far as character creation in Call of Cthulhu a couple times. In both cases outside events conspired to keep me from actually playing the game, but had I done so I think I'd have been pretty much at sea. I've got no real sense of the genre; I've read "Dagon" and one or two "mythos" stories by third-party writers; I've also played Arkham Horror and got nothing out of it.

Quote from: BalbinusI get the same with epic fantasy a la high level DnD, if my PC can soak up 30 arrows I struggle to rationalise why he wouldn't notice that.

This used to give me trouble, now I realize that stuff like this, along with high-level fighters being able to "fall" from great heights with plenty of HP to spare, is best not rationalized, it should be embraced. E.g.

DM: You find yourself surrounded by a group of soldiers with crossbows.
Player: Oh noes, woe is me, I had best allow them to capture me, I should be scared of such an ambush, otherwise my sense of verisimilitude will be shattered.
= teh suck.

OTOH,

DM: You find yourself surrounded by a group of soldiers with crossbows.
Player: Excellent! Make my day, suckahs!

= r0xx0rs.

High level D&D fighters at least should be seen as Roland or Hurin, able to absorb prodigious amounts of physical damage and take on whole armies of normal foes.

To paraphrase something Pierce Inverarity PMed once, D&D should not be played as if it were Harnmaster.

Horror.  I'm not able to generate an element of fear into a RPG.

Quote from: BalbinusI guess I think too much in terms of realistic/credible behaviour, I can't think in genre, for me fundamentally the rules are the physics of the game world and I really struggle to ignore as a player stuff my character would surely notice.

I pretty much have the same problem with any genre that requires the characters not to notice things that they should obviously notice and not do things that clearly make a lot of sense for them to do.

Horror is a really, really tough one for me.  I can do fantasy, supers, and sci-fi  just fine, but horror is always a chore.

I can play Fantasy....but I cannot run it to save my life:)

Fantasy / Sword & Sorcery.

 ..and its not that I suck st it. I actually did a pretty job running that genre fall of last year - I juist have no enthusiasm for it. It doesn't really interest me .

Three of my players said they had a lot of fun with the way I ran it, the fourth doesn't really enjoy medieval Europe type setting...but she was enjoying our company socially....and knew we were getting back to the TRAVELLER universe in a few sessions.

= Ed C.

I'm really pretty limited with the kind of stuff I can come up with really, which is why I don't really GM much.

I can come up with some basic archetypal D&D fantasy stuff, and I'm good at SWAT/spec ops scenarios because it's an interest of mine in other areas of gaming.

By and large though, I just suck.  And ask my to actualyl come up with "story" or "plot", and I'll laugh at you.  I can't even write an outline for crap fro real fiction, so anything that requires even a pale shadow of that skill tends to fall flat on it's arse.

I tihnk it's why I've been gravitating to Wilderlands so much, because that's sometihng I think I could run.  Cavorting through a preset setting full of simple excuses to go bash orc skulls and invade caverns is sometihng I think even I could do.

Supers. I hate having my hands tied by the genre expectations.

Quote from: John MorrowI pretty much have the same problem with any genre that requires the characters not to notice things that they should obviously notice and not do things that clearly make a lot of sense for them to do.

Nicely put, that's the nub of my issue.

To respond to another poster, re horror, I love horror gaming, I just don't expect (or want actually) to be frightened or to frighten my players.  The characters experience the horror, the players are sitting at a table having fun with snacks and something to drink, and that's the way I like it.

supers, as in "4 color & spandex" types.  there's just too much of a disconnect.  

anything historical, for the most part.  i'd want to research the background enough for the history major in me to be comfortable i'm representing the period accurately.  my players would probably never notice the difference, but i'd know.  

maybe detective stories?   my CoC adventures (always modern-day) end up as research then scares then OMFG! stuff.

Quote from: BalbinusI'm only interested here in genres you don't hate with the fire of a thousand suns by the way, I don't get mecha so I can't run it, but that isn't really a surprise.  Similarly Pundy probably can't do romantic fantasy too good, but given his view of it who would expect him to?

Actually, I'd probably kick ass at Romantic Fantasy.  My games are very character driven, and various campaigns of mine end up getting a very soap-opera feel (The Legion of Superheros, for example).  I would also have no problem running a game that was about an underdog facing hardship in a society that doesn't understand them because of gender, race, strange powers, whatever, and who are struggling to find their place, prove themselves, and maybe find love.

I just wouldn't be particularly good at running a collectivist-utopian feminist-"progressive liberal" PC fantasy with a straight face.

As for what else I would suck at, I've come to the conclusion that I'm pretty piss-poor at running Cyberpunk. Also, for that matter, any kind of modern game that isn't supernatural-horror or "dark conspiracy" kind of stuff.

Everything else I pretty well rock at.

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