Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > GURPS

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 04-03-2022, 09:38 AM   #1
whswhs
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
Default name that genre

I've now run three sessions of my future/alternate history campaign Fronteira, set on Mars in the city of Pavonis Portal (which I created for GURPS City Stats) in the Shikaku-Mon timeline (from GURPS Alternate Earths). As it's turned out, I've made extensive use of GURPS Social Engineering, and I've been glad to have my author copy of the PoD version. We've looked at the Silva family's plans to build a luxury hotel; their principal administrator's relationships with his current and former mistresses; their daughter-in-law's work for an Imperial judge as an investigator; their older unmarried daughter's going to a military ball with a young lieutenant, and her reviewing various events for her blog; their middle unmarried daughter's work on a virtual reality project, and her management of her personal salon. We've now had the revelation that that sweatshop that the daughter-in-law was investigating is a front for a wealthy family that's involved in the developing project of building a new arm for Pavonis Portal, which gives the Silvas a source of conflict.

So I've been thinking about how I might describe this. Family saga? Soap opera? Telenovela (fitting the Latin American cultural background)? Slice of life? Workplace drama? Noir? It seems to have elements of several of those, though so far it's not quite melodramatic enough for "telenovela" to be a close fit . . . But if I were writing a supplement about how to run this sort of campaign—one driven by Social Engineering the way a fantasy campaign is driven by Magic or Thaumatology, or a supers one by Powers—what title would best tell potential readers what to expect?
__________________
Bill Stoddard

I don't think we're in Oz any more.
whswhs is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 04-03-2022, 09:55 AM   #2
johndallman
Night Watchman
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
Default Re: name that genre

How important are the SF elements in the setting to the genre of this game?
johndallman is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 04-03-2022, 09:56 AM   #3
Donny Brook
 
Donny Brook's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Snoopy's basement
Default Re: name that genre

Here's a comparison that came to me when I read the description:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynasty_(1981_TV_series)

Prime time 'serialized drama' (soap opera).

Last edited by Donny Brook; 04-03-2022 at 10:12 AM.
Donny Brook is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-03-2022, 10:01 AM   #4
TGLS
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Default Re: name that genre

Eh... Difficult to say based on your description and point in time. Could be soap opera if all these threads are heading somewhere (together/towards each other is not mandatory). Slice of life if they're just going to meander about. Possibly business/political drama if that last thread takes over and/or the story has a conclusion.
TGLS is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-03-2022, 11:11 AM   #5
thrash
 
thrash's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: traveller
Default Re: name that genre

Drama -- as distinct from comedy, action-adventure, etc..
Science fiction drama -- more specific as to setting.
Near-future SF drama -- to narrow the focus still further.

"Soap opera" and "telenovela" are only evocative if your players are familiar with the material alluded to. They run the risk of setting up odd expectations from the casually acquainted.

To me, "family saga" implies a greater depth in time, where the units of action aren't individuals so much as multi-generational lineages. On the other hand, doesn't "workplace drama" imply a group of (mostly) unrelated individuals working in a single firm?

"Slice of life" implies much lower stakes, I think. "Noir," on the other hand, implies a level of disaffection and alienation that doesn't seem to be what you're going for.
thrash is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-03-2022, 11:40 AM   #6
Fred Brackin
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Default Re: name that genre

I find "family saga" more viable than thrash does. Bill will remember TV shows like "Bonanza" and "The Big Valley". Slightly more recently there were nighttime soaps centered around loose family units like "Dallas" and "Dynasty".

"Family soap opera" might cover the high points. The SF elements appear to be mostly backdrop.
__________________
Fred Brackin
Fred Brackin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-03-2022, 12:56 PM   #7
benz72
 
benz72's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Chagrin Falls
Default Re: name that genre

Downton Abbey: A Really New Era?

More seriously, I would say Near-future social drama is probably about the best generic title I could think up. It doesn't sound as though the Martian setting is particularly relevant. It also doesn't sound like crime drama, political drama or romantic drama would fit particularly well.

Best of luck
__________________
Benundefined
Life has a funny way of making sure you decide to leave the party just a few minutes too late to avoid trouble.
benz72 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-03-2022, 12:59 PM   #8
whswhs
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
Default Re: name that genre

The kind of distinctions thrash is making are helpful; that's the sort of analysis I was looking for. But I do think that Fred has a point about Bonanza being a good comparison. I have worked out the family backstory, back to when an ambitious young entrepreneur from Trastámara married the daughter of an established wealthy family, went off to her to the construction site of Pavonis Portal, and decided to put his profits into building its first business class hotel. That was the founding generation; the fourth generation are being born now. So there may be enough timespan, at least implicitly.

The Wikipedia article says that Bonanza is a "period drama." This campaign might be called the same, if we allow that "period" can mean a future time as well as a past one . . .

Fred is right about the SF elements being backdrop, at least so far.
__________________
Bill Stoddard

I don't think we're in Oz any more.
whswhs is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 04-03-2022, 03:42 PM   #9
Donny Brook
 
Donny Brook's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Snoopy's basement
Default Re: name that genre

Bonanza was very light fare compared to what I think you might be going for here. Also, it was completely episodic, without any continuing plotlines.
Donny Brook is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-03-2022, 06:15 PM   #10
David Johnston2
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Default Re: name that genre

Corporate intrigue.
David Johnston2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
campaign design, genre analysis

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 11:13 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.