DreamLyrics™ Play-by-Post Forums Front of House Play-by-Post Game Studio Genre Surveys Q4 2014 Genre Survey

I must've bumped my head because the past 6 months are just a blur...

So here we are, again, with our biannual genre survey.

No Erotic games ever arose, despite getting a few of votes (4) this time last year. And my cunning ploy in Q2 -- to invert the list, putting Fantasy at the bottom and Erotic at the top and thus fool you into voting for Erotic -- may have failed.

Fantasy proved the hot favourite in the last genre survey and we did indeed gain some Fantasy games, and two-in-one for for the D&D 5e Starter Adventure. Sci-fi also has new games, and it looks like a tendency towards the old staples of the RPG hobby; Fantasy and Sci-fi. Maybe we need a Sci-fi Fantasy game!?

Either way, cast you votes. As before, you have 2 votes.

Funny you mention that. I've been re-reading Piers Anthony's Apprentice Adept series and I was thinking how it might be a cool game. 2 identical worlds as far as geography and people one fantasy, one Sci-fi and some can travel in between. Someone (other than me should look into it

Voted for other only because I couldn't vote for Fantasy twice.

I read all about Stile and the Blue Adept years ago, Nivek. Hadn't thought about that series in a long time.

Niv, I think you could pull it off. Or.. you could run that Castle Perilous game idea that I.. I mean you.. have thought about before

I chose post apocalyptic and Supers as they are both genre's that I have run and would love to play in with Don's game the only one like it at the moment.

Come on, there have to be more posting mad GMs out there aching to run a game for us!

I chose post apocalyptic and Historical/Drama...

laughs ... I guess I'm all alone with scary ...

i chose sci-fi and other- scifi was really just a throwaway as would any choice have been- the other- I am interested in any game that starts with a teen/young adult premise and promises character woven story and characters whose lives are interwined with both the world and each other.

I am considering adding a third game, but that has usually had disastrous results... but here are the things that appeal to me right now-

Charmed
The 100

Cyberpunk is always there in the background but the world-building necessary to achieve my vision will take more time than i am prepared to give to it right now

I'd play either of those Jim Especially if you want someone who doesn't know anything

Charmed would make a good two to four person game. The 100 you are looking at either a lot of NPCs you would have to control or a lot of players with the problems that entails. Both are cool ideas.

similar to what i have done with my princess game- I have 5 princesses and an owl(whose role is played bya PC but limited for the time being- player knew this going in)

and in the H20 game- 3 mermaids and a friend.

so yes, charmed would work with 3 sisters... 3 is the minimum number- but 4 could incorporate a friend.

the 100- you are exactly correct in assessing the problematic challenges... by the name of the game there are 100 teens to begin with... of course the show doesn't try to show them by name/face all at once. It is doable if you have a strong cast and everyone helps put together some NPC's to draw upon- amadan did that with FITS.

and having mentioned that- FITS is the reason i won't move forward with 100 until i know where he is going with his game.

actually i can't move forward with anythin new just yet... just speculating about how nice it would be if i could just devote all my time to running and playing games.

We need people to pay us to run games

Generally I'm more interested in the feel of the game than in the type. By that I mean posting rates, gm-player(s) interactions, etc.

That is why I cast an 'other' vote.

I was thinking the opposite of PP ... a game like some of the movies that have come out ... 'old farts' getting back together ... for what ever reason ... for one last 'adventure' <g>

And I agree with Raven. While I enjoy Fantasy or SF, it is more about the 'feel' of the game than the genre.

And I would love it if there was a way to 'reward' our GMs!!! <g>

MikeD- kind of like the Expendables movie franchise- all the worn out action heroes who can't sell a movie lead in their own right and facing their popularity decline in conjunction to their physical decline get together as actors and characters to have one last(or three) go at 'saving the day'

Could be interesting

They are on the 'young end' of what I was thinking, but yeah <g> Guys with lots of experience but 'past their prime'.

Niv, if you like the Blue Adept series, you should check out the Secret Country by Pamela Dean. Amazing start to such a fun trilogy.

RED

my other vote is simply wanting more time to play

Seriously we need to hire another person or 3

Voted for Sci-Fi and espionage. I have an idea for a near-future espionage game with a sci-fi edge, but ended up joining two games I didn't plan on. I'll probably propose it sometime if one or two of the games I am in finishes or closes down.

Secret Country looks really good Mina. Unfortunately my library didn't have them.

I think I might have been the only one to vote for pulp.. I keep thinking Romancing the Stone, or Allen Quartermain would be a fun world to play in.

I thought I voted pulp, but I might be mistaken. I'm old, I forget to eat some days.

Aye. I've often thought about a Cyberpunk message game, but as you say, to do it right would require a lot of writing.

I think with cyberpunk, a lot of what makes it special to me is the slavish detail, describing the scene, the gnarly characters in it, etc. And finally, you have to polish it off with some attitude.

I mean, you don't just walk into a tavern in cyberpunk, it has to be a much more visceral experience.



Now this I have been itching for. I've found too many published pulp games descend into parody, not understanding that whilst pulp writers might've had a low opinion of their work, but they still invested in it.

Take Robert E. Howard, for example, as much as he doubted the literary value of his Kull/Conan novels, he pumped massive creative energy into developing the milieu.

Pulp adventure should not pulp adventure parody. I'd like to see a gaming group create their own pulp adventure legacy. I think it could be done well.



Nope, I'm right there, standing with you and holding your hand, Wolf. At this time of year, horror just feels right. And in an RPG context, horror brings out some aspects, present yet rarely covered in other genres.

Like orcs, for example. Orcs aren't scary. Slay 'em all the time. Then when The Fellowship of the Ring came out and I saw them Uruk-hai, I thought, "Actually, just one orc would be flipping scary!"

I have to admit, I have been thinking that the game "Fortune and Glory" could present both a base for pulpy goodness, and a fun action style rpg game.

I voted for espionage and post apocalyptic.

I would love to play or run a cyber punk game. But right at the moment I feel like I have either too much or just about the right amount on my plate. And The Secret of Cats grabbed me before I could put in the time to do cyberpunk.

I guess part of my problem is I love cyberpunk and the detail but it does take a lot of work to write in depth that it needs. Also I am torn between regular cyberpunk, shadowrun-esq cybers, or steam punk cybers. Have to make up my mind before I can do much of anything.

I like it when they mix and match genres. I guess I will have to see about Blue Adept. I remember when it came out but I was tired of Piers Anthony by then. Sci-fi cybers are so close ... hmm.

Hmmmm, a 1930s pulp game.