Gotta get this conversation started, ne? Okay, I am going to post a series of polls in this thread, and we will use that to determine the game or games we will play (because we don’t have to be winner takes all, we can accommodate!).
How I see this going is we nominate through discussion, and then make a poll. This run will be messy, but we’ll have solid lists for next time. Okay, first poll:
What are cool ways to categorize tabletop RPGs, to decide what to play?
Genre/Theme
Decade/Year
System/Mechanics
Play type
0voters
If you have other things, let me know of course! And start adding examples of each of those things, because those will be the next polls.
I didn’t know if GNS styles belonged in a separate category, or in System/Mechanics, because of how influential the theory to both game creation and categorization. I feel like it should be separate, so we can vote on broad and deep categories, to catch folks’ passions.
For instance, I’d like to play every version of D&D. Not a campaign each, but I’d like to play an adventure and make characters, to sate my own curiosity on how people played in a time and place. In a similar vein, I’d also like to play all the Classic World of Darkness games, to see how each splat-group compares mechanically, while also taking catalog of the art, writing and reference materials, as I particularly enjoyed that paracosm.
Those kinds of decisions get voted on in “system/mechanics”.
Over in this part of brain we have a different set of terms which could be loosely categorized as “play types”, and while GNS is sorta that and sorta not, I feel it fits in thematically for what a person would vote for. Combined examples mights be:
Gamist games
Narrative games
Simulation games
Collaborative storytelling
World-building
Non-violent
Serious Drama
Silly humor
Third-person
Tactical transparency
Ya know, I’m just rolling with it here, so suggestions on organizing this is welcome! Eventually I could see this turning into a multi-faceted search form to help drill down which game a person or group should reach for. But to start we just need like, six peeps to take a few polls and then we can get our game on!
Eventually I could see this turning into a multi-faceted search form to help drill down which game a person or group should reach for. But to start we just need like, six peeps to take a few polls and then we can get our game on!