DreamLyrics™ Play-by-Post Forums Front of House Play-by-Post Game Studio Genre Surveys Q4 2011 Genre Survey (v2)

It's nearly Q4 2011, six months on from our last survey. We're getting the cogs turning early this time around and would like you ponder a little before voting. Not just over what message games you're currently hankering for, but also over what games have come and gone in 2011. Was it a game you played in? Was it a genre that you're still keen on now? So why didn't it work out? Etc.

We want you to look deeper and share with us your insights.

(Fyi, back in April, favour was being shown for Historical games, but interestingly, none manifested, which is unusual after a genre survey.)

http://www.dreamlyrics.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=493913#Post493913

The poll in the previous post was broken, so I've had to repost as polls are non-editable.

hmmmmm ...

submitted mostly so I could read the poll!

however; is pulp actually steampunk?

and there was no category for comedy, but then, since my first message game was actually a TFOS game, well I know that angst is easy - its comedy that's hard!

I voted other mostly because I can't pick just one and also because I'm interested in cross-genre. It's like the debate about the first Alien movie: is it Sci-Fi or Horror? Both in my book.

Also, I keep thinking a game around the same concept of the movie R.E.D. would be fun. You know, play the other end of the age spectrum. It could be just hearing Helen Mirren say, "Honey, I kill people." And where would that fit? Espionage? Action? Modern fantasy?

Wait, there's a debate chaos one?

For me it's more the game and less the genre. I'm one who prefers the more hidden systems. If the concept intrigues me I try to opt in.

I know, not very helpful if you're looking for specific areas to offer.

How can you choose just one? Fantasy and Science Fiction. But Crime (mystery novels?) is intriguing.

Remember, the point is not to choose which genre you like most, but which you want to play in most, right now. Think of it like choosing your favourite film. It's a question most would struggle with, but if you had to choose only one.

Obviously we apply to games for many reasons other than genre, like Raven said, but that's not the question here.

Fwiw, I'd say R.E.D. is espionage and steampunk is fantasy. That's not important really as long as you tell us here what you're thinking, it amounts to the same thing.

And your feedback on games that have come and gone in the past six months is also desired, btw.

Voted Supers for the moment, since I always love that genre and it doesn't seem to have a good game survival rate. I think it would be very fun to play actual characters from comics all thrown together into a game (DC, Marvel, independent titles, web comics, whatever...) As long as they're superheros and in the same city, it would be chaotic fun!).

Wolf, Pulp isn't precisely Steampunk, but they do share common elements. Pulp stories are usually similar to Doc Savage, The Shadow, The Spider, The Avenger, The Green Hornet. It's not just in the heroic range though as there were Western Pulps, Horror Pulps, Espionage Pulps, even Sex Pulps.

How about a post-apocalyptic supers cross-genre game? With supers or "Alphas" on both sides, any small war might blow up into a civilization-threatening one, and make for a post-apoc. era in short order. Population distress would nuke the agriculture and manufacturing industries (no pun intended). I think it makes for a tremendous RP and interaction opportunity.

Nicki

I was having fun in the WWII Supers game Ken ran for a tiny bit there...

And Mina's experiment in horror was fun (and one of two was likely the first to die but we'll never know now)....

And then there was BWG...I get the difficulty behind running that, but even all the pre-work was something to sink my teeth into...especially with PP and AJ rounding out our triumvirate of evil

I tend to generally like low to moderate powered games. i.e. while the characters may be skilled, they're not the highest end around. But again, it's not a particular genre. Sorry nemarsde, I'm no help here.

No problem, Raven. Sounds like you have some humanistic tendencies to your message gaming. I'm the same actually. I've never really got on well with high fantasy, whether a super heroes flavour, horror flavour, whatever, I find it much more engaging when a game's grounded with a human perspective.

Probably why I never felt immersed in WoD games. I can play a vampire or a werewolf, etc., but I can never slip into the character.

Aaanyway, I voted for Historical... again. I can't help myself, I have a passion for it. I'm not even that bothered about the when and where, it's more that the game have a focus on the reality of that time and place, rather than be distracted by supernatural/magical malarkey.

That's a remarkably strong show for Supers. These message games don't tend to last long, for one reason or another, but perhaps that's fuelling the demand.

So is there any particular flavour of Supers game you're interested in most?

And let's not forget the Post-apocalypse genre. 4 is a lot of votes for what at one time would've been considered a sub-genre limited to Mad Max imitators. In recent times though, post-apocalypse (often of the undead variety) has come distinctly into its own.

Is that 4 votes for a zombie apocalypse? Or is something else at work here?

When it comes to post apocalypse, I'm talking something like Gamma World or Morrow Project.

I wanted to agree with Ividia about the WWII Supers game. I was also enjoying it very much.

I personally believe the zombie version of post-apocalypse has been way overdone, when a satirical movie has already come out with that as the structure. I have trouble not thinking of Bill Murray and Woody Harrelson.

Nicki

Yes, I kind of like the plague movies or television shows such as the british one that came out as a remake a year or so ago, "Survivors".

Nicki, I have trouble not thinking of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.

Aye, I'm so tired of zombie apocalypse films and video games. (Although Dead Nation was a fun, old school shooter with two players.)

I do like the idea of WW2 supers, though I think WW2 horror, a la Weird Wars, might be more up my street.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weird_Wars

I guess it's because I have a hard time reconciling the horrors of the World Wars with super heroes. Captain America, OK, he's just an incredibly skilled and athletic soldier. But Superman? What was the hell was he doing while all this was going on!?

That's why I think the supers combine nicely with post-holocaust. Suppose a World War broke out, and both sides had supers? They could bring the world to a state of destruction unimagined in all literature.

Maybe most of the supers are dead, slain by either the enemy supers or by human technology, which razed the world in the process of getting powerful enough to kill a few supers. Nuclear weapons, for example.

I could have a good time with a background of small fiefdoms and limited supers; PCs could be supers or military survivors, enemies either rogue groups including some bad supers, or aliens who found an undefended earth ripe for the plucking.

Just a few thoughts ...

Nicki

Post-apoc supers intrigues me as a concept.

OK, so how does a post-apoc supers play out? Are we talking Old Man Logan here?

<perks up> Did someone say Logan?? Where??

and ideas start coming to me....

Grumpy Old X-Men?