Covid lockdowns might've brought us more time at home but not much peace of mind. I think that's why we didn't see a sudden swell in games last year, which we might've expected if members were otherwise given a wadge of leisure time.

Well, it's that time of year, after the Festive Season but before Lunar New Year that always feels most depressing (in the Northern Hemisphere at least), and in the UK we're in lockdown again. It would be easy to give in to despair but Sam has something to say about that:



So why not break out your RPG books, those dusty hardbacks sitting on shelves and in boxes, and let's replay some classics in 2021. Or maybe have a look at last year's ENNIE Award Winners and Nominees? (That's right, the Ennies did go ahead last year.) Watched some amazing TV series during lockdown? Use them for inspiration.

But let's play!

Play is our secret weapon. It gives us fellowship, engages our brains and provides escape. It keeps us healthy in subtle but important ways... OK yes, you with RSI need to sort out proper wrist-support!

Summer last year, we were largely yearning for classic fantasy. A bit of feel-good escapism perhaps?

Summer 2020 Genre Survey

What about now?

Remember, you have two votes so don't click 'Submit Vote' until you've ticked two boxes.

I'm with Sam!

Sam is the man!

Well, lets see ... 4 members have voted and nothing has gotten more than 1 vote <chuckle>

5 members now and 2 for supers

I needed a third or even fourth vote, OR merging all of the Fantasy sub-topics together. I would play just about any Fantasy setting game, but I have to split my votes among the multiple Fantasy topics. If we still want to parse Fantast into several sections for those who only want Dark Fantasy but not regular or vice-versa perhaps add a category called "Any Fantasy Game"?

We could just have a Fantasy option in future. That's how I used to do it. But it always won so I made it more granular.

Having said that, it's not really about the winning genre, it's about info gathering for GMs. At least with more granularity the more accurate a picture GMs have of what the players want.

Well, I'd toss a vote to another topic I might have interest in except I have to use them all up on the various fantasy genres. So even though Fantasy (as a single topic) might always get the most votes, I don't see that as a problem. RPGs started with fantasy and it is the core game, so I'd expect it to lead the pack.

Don't think it's about 'winning'. We'd still see which other settings had significant interest.

Just a personal opinion.

I agree with Zeim ... it is less of a 'contest' and more about 'gauging interest'.

Maybe if we could have a hierarchical list with a 'generic' fantasy with several 'sub topic' genres. So I could select 'Fantasy' or I could 'focus' on specific 'sub-genres' like 'Horror Fantasy'.

The poll manager isn't that sophisticated, MikeD. But yeah, I like you're thinking Zeim. I'll re-merge Fantasy next time and try to think of some new genres that we don't have covered yet.

(If anyone can think of any, let me know, obviously.)

In the meantime, wow, what a spread of votes!!

Perhaps two polls run simultaneously? One for Fantasy with sub topics, and the other for other games? Just a thought.

That's a good idea Mina. There could either be a single entry for Fantasy in the main poll and then a second poll for people to break their vote down, or just the second poll and leave Fantasy off the main poll entirely. We know Fantasy will always be popular and can assume there will always be demand for Fantasy games, so we don't necessarily need to see it on the main poll.

I like that theory - two entirely separate polls (one for fantasy, one for non-fantasy)

I can do that, no problem.

So what's all this about Supers? Have you guys been watching Wonder Woman 1984, or binging Avengers on Disney+? What kind of Supers are we talking about here?

Nemarsde, I saw WW1984 and I actually liked it a lot. But then cheesy superhero movies are amazing (Zoom!, Sky high, Shark Boy & Lava Girl).... and the new one We Could Be Heroes. So much fun!

I just watched those first two episodes of WandaVision.

It was curious. I really enjoyed it on one level, and found it incredibly boring on another.

Basically, I think it's a clever story and very well made, everyone deserves a pat on the back... but the problem is that the central mystery is gonna boil down to Marvel Multiverse shenanigans. I was already pretty sick of that from Endgame and Agents of Shield S7.

In a nutshell, it's a shame WandaVision is about Wanda and Vision, despite their respective actors doing a brilliant job.

OK, so how else voted for Supers? Did any of you have a published Supers RPG in mind?

I did. I have run several supers games and would love to play in another

So if we were to take two games, two examples of the genre.

ICONS Superpowered RPG, inspired by TSR's Marvel Super Heroes and its FASERIP System. Although very different mechanically, it's essentially D&D for supers.

Then you have something like Capes Cowls and Villains Fowl. This isn't so concerned with simulating a superhero and their plethora of powers, instead it tries to recreate the comic book stories themselves.

Two very diferent approaches. For example, if you wanted to you could use ICONS to create characters from a different genre altogether. Fantasy characters that go on to crawl dungeons, or landed gentry in Regency England, balancing romance and sensibility. The style of the story and how it plays out depends on the GM and group, but a comic-book-style experience is far from assured.

Whereas CC&VF does try to assure that. It focuses on the characters' roles in the stories, their arcs, rather than the minutiae.

Which of those two examples is most like what you're craving?

An apocalyptic supers game.

Heh good idea Art!

Now it’s apocalyptic supers space opera.

I'd voted for Supers. I have not played for a long time but have fond memories of Champions campaigns. I liked the flexibility in character creation. I'd also played the original Marvel and DC sets but found them a bit lacking. I'm pretty willing to try anything out. I'd want to simulate some kind of comic book/superhero type story but that could be anything from standard cape books, with some depth, to something like Jessica Jones.

I think I voted supers - don't remember for certain.
I'll go with Vryx though that I always enjoyed Champions for the same reason. The biggest flaw of course being the tendency to over min/max stuff rather than 'concept'.

I did the original DC, and Villains and Vigilantes - never liked DC. I always had a problem with the V&V 'random' character creation. The play afterwards was fine, but you didn't get to decide your own character always bothered me.

I definitely would be more interested in CC&VF based on your descriptions, since I'd be more interested in the story and such now and days as opposed to putting 'numbers' to the character.

It hurts my brain, so I have to share.

What if we combined all three!