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View Full Version : Games Unmade: What kind of RPGs have yet to be?



NichG
2014-12-31, 08:48 PM
There are a lot of games out there, and a lot of similarities between them. We have the universal toolkit games, then things below that which narrow things down into particular genres, then things below that which narrow things further down into particular settings. There's a lot of thought going into making games about combat, games about emulating cinema tropes and narrative structures, games about giving players the agency, etc.

Out of all of this, what are the things that we missed or forgot about? What kinds of game do you wish existed, but which no one has successfully made a good game about*?

For me, I guess there's two big ones I can think of right now:

- A game designed to span multiple generations of characters fairly rapidly, but done in a way which still feels satisfying and immersive to the players despite the fact that they're changing characters every couple of weeks.

- A game that models some form of scientific investigation/discovery, similar to how the research works in X-Com and its successors.

*: I fully expect that people will jump in and mention a bunch of games that actually do the things requested, which is part of the point

Grinner
2014-12-31, 09:06 PM
Personally, I'd like to see more in the way of worldbuilding games. There's a few out out there, but I don't feel that they quite hit the mark.


*: I fully expect that people will jump in and mention a bunch of games that actually do the things requested, which is part of the point

For your first, I think "Once I Was A Warrior" sorta fits the bill. It's more of a "storytelling game" than a traditional RPG like D&D, but that's the best I can muster.

I don't seem to be able to locate a link...

For the second...A game called "Farewell to Fear" seems close, but I don't really know what I'm talking about. I've never actually looked at anything more than the product description.

Having read through the demo, I'm going to retract this. The game seems to be more about post-medieval philosophy than post-medieval technology.

calam
2014-12-31, 11:55 PM
-A game where each player role plays a group or organization(Like each player is a adventuring group, military squad, or guild that are cooperating)

-A game that is based of exploration (finding new continents and islands, like an RPG for the Age of Discovery)

-For settings I don't know any games that are made for bronze age or stone age settings(I know that Gurps can emulate that but they didn't have that much support from what I read)

Terraoblivion
2015-01-01, 12:07 AM
Hillfolk is specifically made for an early iron age setting. Not quite bronze age and Mediterranean rather than Northern European, but still pretty close. It's about being nomadic raiders too, rather than the settled people. There are several licensed Conan games over the years and several offbrand Conan'ish ones and those would generally be bronze age or iron age too by virtue of the subject matter.

Not sure exactly what kind of exploration you're referring to. Torchlight is about dungeon crawling, but the focus is on managing your resources and investigating the place rather than the mechanics of the fighting. There are several systems about exploring the remains of a broken world to rebuild it or understand the new one. There are also a lot of systems where exploration is a major element. Discovering strange and wondrous things or dealing with the hardships of a demanding voyage are both common playstyles for Chuubo's Marveous Wish-Granting Engine, but they focus more what it all means for you than the mechanics of discovery.

If you're talking specifically exploration of the age of sails kind, I'm not sure. A lot of that was long periods of tedium and sheer dumb luck. I mean, Columbus found the Americas not due to any great skill, but because he failed at math and obsessed over an obscure offhand comment in the Bible saying that there was more land than ocean in the world. I'm sure somebody else can point to some obscure system doing it.

I don't know any examples of the other things requested, but I'd be shocked if they didn't exist. None of these are really unusual or far out concepts and if there's one thing I've learned it is that there is a game for just about anything.

StabbityRabbit
2015-01-01, 12:34 AM
I don't think I've ever heard of an RPG about being a kaiju. Although it could be that playing a bunch monsters with an odd fixation on city-smashing just isn't suited to an rpg...I take that back, I can't think of any reason why this couldn't be made.:smalltongue:

Kid Jake
2015-01-01, 12:38 AM
I don't think I've ever heard of an RPG about being a kaiju. Although it could be that playing a bunch monsters with an odd fixation on city-smashing just isn't suited to an rpg...I take that back, I can't think of any reason why this couldn't be made.:smalltongue:


The fact that there isn't a 'Cities and Shonen' game where you level up exclusively by eating terrified Japanese people really does make me weep inside. On a related note, I think I know what my next five M&M campaigns are going to revolve around.

Milo v3
2015-01-01, 12:41 AM
I don't think I've ever heard of an RPG about being a kaiju. Although it could be that playing a bunch monsters with an odd fixation on city-smashing just isn't suited to an rpg...I take that back, I can't think of any reason why this couldn't be made.:smalltongue:

I once heard about a group who played Monsterpocalypse as a RPG.

Grinner
2015-01-01, 01:09 AM
I don't think I've ever heard of an RPG about being a kaiju. Although it could be that playing a bunch monsters with an odd fixation on city-smashing just isn't suited to an rpg...I take that back, I can't think of any reason why this couldn't be made.:smalltongue:

The fact that there isn't a 'Cities and Shonen' game where you level up exclusively by eating terrified Japanese people really does make me weep inside. On a related note, I think I know what my next five M&M campaigns are going to revolve around.

I think I had an idea for a World of Darkness fanline once while watching D. Gray Man.

According to my notes, I had been going to call it "Kaiju: the Toppling". :smallbiggrin:

Ah well...Maybe someday...

NichG
2015-01-01, 01:56 AM
I don't think I've ever heard of an RPG about being a kaiju. Although it could be that playing a bunch monsters with an odd fixation on city-smashing just isn't suited to an rpg...I take that back, I can't think of any reason why this couldn't be made.:smalltongue:

There's one called Last Stand which is halfway there - it's about defeating Kaiju and absorbing them/grafting them onto yourself. But it's still focused on the 'defending against' side.

VincentTakeda
2015-01-01, 02:50 AM
The Biggest Loser: Tabletop edition

Milo v3
2015-01-01, 03:00 AM
The Biggest Loser: Tabletop edition

*Places scales on table*
*Person step onto scales*
*Table snaps*

VincentTakeda
2015-01-01, 03:17 AM
Player eats other party members

Mr.Sandman
2015-01-01, 10:04 AM
I could be wrong, but I have never seen a Sports RPG, which I think could be cool.

Grinner
2015-01-01, 10:33 AM
I could be wrong, but I have never seen a Sports RPG, which I think could be cool.

Would a d20 system golf minigame count?