QOTW#13 Where are you going?

[Onix]

Were are you going in RPGs? Are your tastes changing? Broadening? Shrinking? What's the new thing that excites you?

For me, I've always been a very rules heavy, simulationist. Lately I've been trying to find a home in lighter games with more narrative punch but still hang onto a very grounded set of instructions for how the players interact. In essence, I still love a huge rules toybox, but I'm exploring if there's a way to get the feelings I like from heavy games out of a lighter game.

[Abstract Machine]

That's an interesting question, particularly as I find myself travelling in the opposite direction from Onix.

I've been fairly new-wavey in my approach to RPGs; all that White Wolf stuff from the early 90s was a revelation to me. Someone started making the games I wanted to play almost before I'd thought of it.

I find, though, that a lot of players like something to get their teeth into, & that their tastes can be fairly trad: anything from lists of guns & vehicles to tribes, races or tracts of land. I'm trying to find a way of satiating these needs while indulging my own geopolitical distaste for the empire-building aspects of RPGs.

I think rules have to be principles: i.e. apply to all situations equally. Rules that correct other rules aren't for me. You can call it OSR, or nostalgia, or whatever, but all those cod-legalistic tables bore me to tears. And, hey, I used to love 'Rolemaster' - but, at base, it was a fairly simple system.

I'm in a minority here though, & I'm trying to be more open about what other people enjoy about RPGs. And I wargame, so I'm a hypocrite too. Tastes become complex as you get older & that's a good opportunity for self-examination.

[madunkieg]

I'm looking to recreate all the variants of major types of games that have come out of The Forge/Story Games/Reforged community.

The first type, character-based drama, was found in Terribly Beautiful. My current project, Woebeogone Inbetween, is going to be an example of a particular sort Japanese drama (genre). I still need to design an OSR game and an educational game. I also know that I won't be able to translate a Japanese rpg (because I don't read Japanese).

Nonetheless, the list of stereotypical games is a long one, and it didn't just jump from narrativist design to educational games. Heck, I don't think I've got a good grasp on all the types of narrativist games. That's why I'm planning to research the community for my dissertation.

[Rob Lang]

I flip flop between campaigns.

Icar has grown with the people that play it and in the current campaign I think that the system isn't that important. We use barely 10% of it. It's about intrigue, discussion, planning, execution and the narrative. I imagine that when we can back to warring it up, that we'll start using it again.

Then we play something with a light system, like my shared pool one (which I rather love). That tends to be daft and funny rather than brain-melty complexity.

[catty_big]

I've been in a solid 20-50pg, high emotion story game track for a while now, but I'm thinking that if I'm to make any real headway in the hobby I should turn my hand to writing one or two slightly more traditional fantasy/adventuring type games, albeit with a more storygamey flavour. Abstract Machine mentioned White Wolf upthread, Storyteller being partly my inspiration for this, except that I'll probably story it up even more (and there won't be a werewolf or a vampire in sight ).

[Anastylos]

I like storrytelling games like fate, pdq# and wushu but I realise that nearly no one else a am playing with likes them. Since I am the GM I can create an awesome story despite of the system so we are playing dungeonslyers right now. In the first session my group decided to join the undead forces and will now fight against their own peoples. It was not intended but I like it

[madunkieg]

[vulpinoid]

I'm drifting at the moment, looking for the next thing to hook me.