Reply With QuoteA few looks at the interest check sections might give you some insight. I mean, if you haven't already lurked around there yet.
So this is just a topic I felt needs to be broached before I start any projects I intend to run on this 'site.
Most peoples tastes tend to run genre wise in different areas, but given communities gather people of various similar leanings I felt it would probably be a good idea to get a feel for this community.
Thus the question In a game, what do you tend to enjoy as far as settings, themes, and genres?
Do you prefer action, drama? Established settings such as Harry Potter or Nasu, or do you prefer to experience original creations spun from the GMs mind? Do you like the apocalyptic survivalist sort of things, where every choice is potentially risky, or do you prefer the High Fantasy setting with epic heroes and grand tales? What place does romance have in telling a good story? Is it necessary for you have some of it for realism in detailing the human (or what have you) condition?
Answer me oh members of this site... I need your feedback :P
~ Vanathor
A few looks at the interest check sections might give you some insight. I mean, if you haven't already lurked around there yet.
Oh I have lurked and what I have seen so far has been pretty varied. Hard to get a lock onto any solid thread that binds everything together from what I can gather. The only real thing I can tell genre wise is that anime/manga is fairly popular but beyond that... not much.
Everything is found around this place. Fandoms and original content, fantasy and realism, science fiction and medieval, historical and modern. You could post an interest check for any kind of genre and setting and it's guaranteed that within a short time someone will find it and take interest in it.
Everyone really likes roleplaying here, regardless of the genres or settings.
^ Basically this.Originally Posted by Disciple Cain
To me it seems you're trying too hard to create a crowd pleaser that the majority of the thread will enjoy. But you don't need to. RPG is varied enough, and large enough, that you can just focus on making an RP in the genre and level you enjoy, and still expect people to sign up. I really don't think RPG does lean "one way or the other" anyway, so a task such as that is just as unneeded as it is likely impossible.
But yeah. Don't worry so much about how well your RP will be received, just have fun doing it! I can't guarantee you that every RP you make will get massive amounts of people wanting to sign up, but genre plays little part in it, I think. There are successful and non-successful RP's in any genre or setting. So just put up an intchk of something you want to RP about, and have fun with it!
Well, to be honest, this all depends on the particular person. For example, I am far more picky with certain fantasy/supernatural roleplays than someone else might be. Personally, I enjoy drama roleplays, and the setting being on Earth...
It really just varies. What's more important is what you like-chances are, someone else might be into the same sort of roleplays that you are interested in!
Really guys? Really, really, really? Don't bullshit this guy. There's obvious preferences, fads, etc. A magic high school is a much easier sale than a hard-fi space opera. No question. That's not to say everyone should just put up people-pleaser RP's but the question here is what you, as an individual enjoy. This guy is trying to do some actual research and think for himself, which should be encouraged rather than "Ok do what you like and hope youre lucky enough not to belong to the 90% of threads that dies within a week." So let's do him a favour and answer the actual question.
Personally I enjoy a good mix of action and adventure; empowering characters to actually make a significant change to their surroundings. I'm also a fan of psychological warfare and mystery. As far as settings go, I'm flexible. Notably however, is that I enjoy using settings that do not incorporate modern idealism. So my preferred medieval setting is very sexist and caste-focused. Also I prefer shades of gray over black vs. white. The dose of injected realism depends on the setting. If we're going hard sci-fi then yes, I don't expect characters to defy too much realism. If we're talking something more along the lines of a cast of superheroes we're likely to stretch a couple laws of physics.
On the other hand I'm not a fan of too much drama and romance. While drama in itself is fine, I find roleplaying's interval reading make pulling off good drama extremely difficult; so it shouldn't be the main focus of the game. Romance-focused RP's drive me away in general. There's few settings I avoid, but most of them are based on an existing series. Then again, original settings can disinterest me just as easily as well as having things become... Too fantasy (like when there are more cat-human hybrids with wings and laser-eyes than humans with a plain sword and shield.)
鋼鉄に咲く華は罪の味
そして悪の華咲き乱れるとき
鋼鉄に咲く華は蜜の味
咲かないで華、惡の蕾を摘む
咲けよ華 罪の芽をだして
咲けよ華 支配されていく蕾
咲けよ華 絶望の芽がでるよ
Awesome! Thanks for the reply Kestrel, just what I was looking for! More like that and I think I should be able to tailor my first game well enough to get SOME responses which I know will be difficult considering how different it is from the norm.
Speaking of which... you check it out in my sig if you like. (Shameless self promotion).
I agree with Kestrels first paragraph, though I may have worded it less harshly. I have been annoyed several times while realising that the RP I'm trying to start will have less people interested than the 4th restart of "High School of Witch Street: Romance and Magic!" with a two line interest check...
Personally I much prefer original RPs to fandom RPs, especially those based on anime. This is largely because the only fandoms I would be interested in playing would be those based on tv shows/novels/movies I have read/watched, and I get annoyed when RPing a story which goes against the canon, especially if it does so by altering the personalities of the characters, deliberately or not.
As for genres, I pretty much steer clear of all high-school RPs and vampire vs werewolf RPs (exception on the vampire/werewolf if it is nothing close to the average ones people have been doing since twilight), pretty much the only genres I completely ignore. Sci-fi, medieval fantasy, post-apocalyptic, surreal, modern fantasy, modern realistic...I can't think of many more genres that I dislike in general. I am however very picky with all my RPs, which leads me to GM more than play.
Onto themes: I can't stand RPs with romance as the basis for the plot (notable exception of RPing with people I know in person), unless it is the romance which sets things into action, after which it is largely ignored (e.g. Trojan War). I generally like the run of the mill adventure/quest fantasy RP, as long as the GM is good, has created a good setting, and has a good basis for the plot set up. Large scale wars are usually good, provided that the GM keeps track of what is going on in the war away from the central RP action, and gives the players something more interesting to do than huddle in a trench.
I could go on, but that's the general idea.
Yay for further insights! This is all very helpful and much appreciated. Thanks Photon! You rock!
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