PDA

View Full Version : Roleplaying Designing campaigns and adventure for players not interested in swords and explosions



Yora
2015-03-06, 07:10 AM
Not that there is anything wrong with swords and explosions. Many of my favorite books and movies are about swords and explosions. And stories about fighting and killing villains and monsters are pretty easy to plan and run. There are plenty of examples and we know how it's done. But they are not for everyone. In my experience action is combat is a good enough hook for most men and boys and I had plenty of women in my games who also were totally up for it. There is plenty of you around here too. But I also now a number of women who are generally quite interested in fantasy and the like, but who just don't get excited about violent actions. But RPGs are so very flexible and versatile that I am sure there must be ways to make them exciting for such people.

And I think it's not just "RPGs for girls". I believe a lot of people who are fine with swords and explosions would also get a huge amount of fun and excitement from campaigns and adventures based on other premises, but we usually keep doing that fighting stuff because that's what we're familiar with, what we understand how it works, and always has been good enough for us.
I don't think it's because the majority of games have their roots going back to tactical wargames. It's much more an issue of plot hooks and story goals. So I would keep the question of which rules system to use or how to tailor rules specifically for such campaigns out for now.

I don't have really any good ideas how to do that myself, though.

Court intrigue and diplomacy can work with very low amounts of violence or even none at all. Which could be one starting possible starting point. But personally I don't see any appeal in them myself, so I don't really have anything to say about them. :smallannoyed:

goto124
2015-03-06, 08:08 AM
Step 1) Ask them what they DO like about tabletops. Do they like your game? Why did they join? Which parts of the campaign do they like to play and why?

There's also another problem:


Court intrigue and diplomacy can work with very low amounts of violence or even none at all. Which could be one starting possible starting point. But personally I don't see any appeal in them myself, so I don't really have anything to say about them. :smallannoyed:

Now, if (I said IF) they like diplomancy, and you the DM doesn't like them... let them know you don't have experience in that sort of things, and that trying to run it will only result in frustration for both parties. It's okay to not like something, it's all personal preference.

neonchameleon
2015-03-06, 08:14 AM
OK. I'm going to slightly sidestep the question and offer you alternative RPGs that don't focus on swords and explosions.

Monsterhearts (http://buriedwithoutceremony.com/monsterhearts/); supernatural teen drama in the mold of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Twilight, and Teen Wolf - with strong overtones of Heathers. It's intense, emotionally engaging, frequently quite literally a coming of age drama, and it's entirely possible that who gets to be Prom King and Queen is one of the central dramas of a session - and that despite the attempted summoning of Cthulhu in the background that the PCs are going to have to sink their differences to prevent. (You were also asking about 2d6 systems - here's one of them).

Leverage (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/85727/Leverage-Roleplaying-Game); the first game I'm aware of to get the heist genre absolutely right. It's based on the TV show - but does wonders for games based on The A Team or Mission Impossible. Combat? Only when things go wrong. Explosions? Only if that's the sort of distraction you want to run.

Dogs in the Vineyard (http://theunstore.com/index.php/unstore/game/1); a game about playing wet behind the ears paladins - how far will you go in a game of emotional chicken to stand up for what you believe in. How much do you believe in that anyway?

Apocalypse World (http://apocalypse-world.com/); the parent game of Monsterhearts (and again a 2d6 system) Apocalypse World is amazingly versatile despite the cover, working from anything from Mad Max to Veronica Mars to Firefly. About a small group of people centred in their community and trying to keep things together in a hostile environment.

Lasers and Feelings (http://onesevendesign.com/lasers_and_feelings_rpg.pdf); a Star Trek RPG in one page.

Montsegur 1244 (http://thoughtfulgames.com/montsegur1244/); a one shot game centering round the Cathars at the fall of Montsegur castle. At least one of you will end up being burned for heresy. At most one of you will escape into the night. The rest of you will recant.

Fiasco (http://www.bullypulpitgames.com/games/fiasco/); write a Cohen Brothers movie in the time it would take to watch one. Watch the Tabletop episode (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXJxQ0NbFtk) for more.

That's just scratching the surface.

Vitruviansquid
2015-03-06, 08:15 AM
What exactly are you asking for?

You want an RPG that can be exciting for people who don't care about combat. There are already RPG's with no combat, or with combat but it's not the main focus. But we are not talking about which system to use.

Are we talking about *why* RPG's about combat are vastly more popular than RPG's without? I'd say it's because DnD set the expectation for what an RPG is, and so people who are not interested in combat generally never care to look at tabletop RPG's and never find out there are any tabletop RPG's without combat.

Comet
2015-03-06, 08:22 AM
Violence is a pretty simple shorthand for conflict. "You desire something, I desire something else/ I desire the same thing more. Let's punch each other until there's only one desire here."

Take the violence away, the conflict remains. Resolving it is just going to take longer or be less clear cut. Interesting characters with needs clashing against each other is drama is decisions is interest.

Or you could put the characters against the environment. Trapped Indiana Jones dungeons or an untamed frontier kind of environment offer plenty of danger and exciting opportunities to make decisions that matter.

Or have a mystery. This is probably going to circle back to the first point about characters and needs, except nobody's going to tell you what teir need is outright.

And yeah, all of these need systems to give context to making decisions around them. Plenty of good suggestions already for some well known ones.

goto124
2015-03-06, 08:23 AM
Also, there are other people at the table who ARE interested in combat. A system change won't cut it- it's make those people bored/frustrated/whatever. Unless OP is willing to play a separate game with the noncombat players.

Don't mean to offend the OP, but would OP be able to run those alternatives successfully, considering that he stated he doesn't like diplomancy stuff?

Yora
2015-03-06, 08:35 AM
Well, I don't like International Diplomats campaigns. Negotiation is wonderful.

I changed the Prefix for the thread, as this is not about any game I am running but a more abstract theoretical discussion.

When you set up a conflict that is not meant to be solved with stabbing people and gunfights, what kind of threat would work as a source of conflict? Orc horde and alien invasion certainly don't seem like good candidates.

You could say, what kinds of conflicts can you set up that require solutions other than "let's start killing them and keep doing that until they give up or run away"?

Thrawn4
2015-03-06, 10:31 AM
You could say, what kinds of conflicts can you set up that require solutions other than "let's start killing them and keep doing that until they give up or run away"?
An excellent question. Now that could be interesting.

As someone has pointed out above, fighting is just one version of resolving conflict. Other options are stealth, sleight of hand, all kinds of people skills, offering something of equal or greater value, change the opponent's desire or finding an alternative for one's own desires.
Possible consequences are not only death, but also injury, humiliation, insanity, loss of wealth/friends/prestige/honor or the burning feeling of defeat.
In Doctor Who or Game of Thrones, the main characters do not always face the threat of death, but also of losing a friend or being married to someone they dislike.
The question is: What kind of campaign can you do with that premise? You seem to dislike a campagin about court intrigues, but you can also play a campaign about citizens that try to improve their lives. A major punishment could be the loss of status or a year of imprisonment. The game does not have to be about killing if everyone adheres to the enforced law that killing is a really bad thing.
Or you could just focus on solving mysteries and riddles, like in Call of Cthulhu.

Maglubiyet
2015-03-06, 11:29 AM
When you set up a conflict that is not meant to be solved with stabbing people and gunfights, what kind of threat would work as a source of conflict?

I ran a fantasy campaign with three different groups. One group was a typical hack-and-slash, one was a pair of criminals who mostly planned and executed burglaries in the city, and one was a mind mage. The mage was played by a woman who really wasn't into the "kill things and take their stuff" style of play, so her adventures were focused on intrigue.

For example, once she was hired as a translator to peace negotiations between a merchant cartel and a league of lizardfolk tribes. One of the lizardfolk envoys was found murdered and she worked to discover the killer, unravelling all of the different factions at play, while trying to prevent negotiations from breaking down.

The burglar group didn't have much straight up combat either. They spent most of their time casing locations and then planning and executing their robberies based on the security I would draw up. They also ended up spending some time trying to stay ahead of the law and the local crime family who disapproved of independent operators in their territory.

The nice thing for me was that I could use the same maps and NPC's for all the groups as all the play was centered on the same city.