Genre preferences

[Emerikol]

So I thought I'd ask what people like and are playing these days....

How would you rank your genre preferences?

1. Fantasy (Medieval like but including most broad variations like Grimdark)
2. Science Fiction (Hard to Space Opera. This probably includes some space fantasy)
3. Western (1840's to 1900 from realistic to spaghetti western)
4. Modern (Pretty much 1930+. Spies, commandos, or investigators)
5. Cross World (GURPS default setting. Essentially you are choosing all settings I'm assuming at this point)
6. Historical (Basically anything not mentioned elsewhere that is set in history.)
7. Supers (Super powered beings, Secret Societies with great powers, Godlike PCs)
8. Horror (This would include Lovecraft, Zombies, some Vampires)
9. Post Apocalyptic (nuclear wear, general breakdown of government, zombie apocalype, pandemic, etc..)
10. Urban Fantasy (magic, supernatural, conspiracy set in 1900s+ to near future)
11. Steam/Dieselpunk (Alternate technological assumptions from the past. e.g. Old Solar System)

Please add more if I missed something. I will edit this list and add it.

I will also respond when I get the chance but got to go now.

Edit:
So folks I will add a few more genres to elaborate.

[tshiggins]

Playing the same variant Infinite Cabal game (Facets) I've GMed that past 6 1/2 years. I'm also playing a fun little D&D 5e campaign with a new DM, but that's winding down.

[Anaraxes]

Can't say I really think of Infinite Worlds as a GURPS default setting, seeing as how I've never played in it and don't own the book. Mostly an excuse to illustrate the scope of the rules in the example characters.

Estimates of what we've actually played:
1. Fantasy
2. SF
3. Western
4. Urban Fantasy (do you count that as "Fantasy" or "Modern"?)
5. Horror

3-5 are all distant seconds to the first two; SF is maybe 1/4 to 1/5th as common as Fantasy.

Some interest in WW II (is that "Modern?") but we wound up choosing other campaigns instead. (One reason we tend to play fantasy is that it's the genre that gets the widest agreement among the players. Something like Supers might interest a couple, but not the whole group, so those ideas usually don't make it past the campaign pitch stage. Ditto for more unusual fantasy settings, like Nobilis or Exalted instead of Forgotten Realms / Golarion / homebrew Tolkien-esque equivalent.)

[Apollonian]

My preferred genres are probably:

1) Dungeon style fantasy
2) Urban/modern/wainscot fantasy (specifically Cabal, but that sort of thing)
3) Historical fantasy
4) Post-apocalyptic... maybe. I may have lost interest in that genre.

The order is fairly fungible, though.

I should like to play around with some more out-there fantasy stuff, but haven't found a good group for it. (Glorantha, Exalted, or Nobilis, for example.)

[Emerikol]

I'm sort of new to GURPS.

In ages past, when many of you were not born, I was a GURPS space guy. I played D&D for fantasy.

Now, my interests vary a lot. I am starting with fantasy because that is what I know and I have a world ready conceptually. Though I'm working through the details. Fantasy is high prep so I figure if I get a good fantasy campaign going then I will be good for some others.

Other interests...

• Fantasy. This will be my first campaign and it is my first love. I'm really into worldbuilding the campaign setting right now. I'll run the campaign when it reaches critical mass.
• Science Fiction. I definitely could see myself running a space game. I have a lot of ideas on how I'd do the technology already in my head.
• Historical. I'd like to play a campaign set during the exploration of Kentucky and Ohio from 1760's to 1810's.
• Western. Outlaws and Gunfighters more than Cowboys and Indians.
• Cross World. Just reading about it made it sound interesting. It would be an easy to way try out a variety of times and technologies. It's probably also low prep as you are mostly detailing the adventures but you can't even attempt to detail the world that much.
• Military Action / WW2 spy. Moderns. I think I'd like to run a campaign for commands / spies who parachute into France to aid the resistance and combat the nazis.

Anyway. Lots of possibilities.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Emerikol

So I thought I'd ask what people like and are playing these days....

How would you rank your genre preferences?

1. Fantasy
2. Science Fiction
3. Western
4. Modern (spies or investigators)
5. Cross World (GURPS default setting)
6. Historical (not mentioned above)
7. Supers
8. Horror
9. Post Apocalyptic
10. Urban Fantasy

Please add more if I missed something. I will edit this list and add it.

I will also respond when I get the chance but got to go now.

I'd probably have to go with:

1) Urban Fantasy (secret world types where there are lots of supernatural beings hiding from humanity. Stuff like oWoD, Beyond the Supernatural, and Nightbane)
2) Horror (Mostly cosmic horror or monster hunting)
3) Fantasy (especially High or Dark Fantasy)
4) Supers (I love supers and super-heroic fiction; fan of the Iron Age of supers mostly)
5) Western (I love this genre a lot, but running it can be difficult for me without adding some other element; Weird West is a favorite)
6) Science Fantasy (Stuff like Final Fantasy mostly)
7) Post Apocalyptic (Zombie and alien apocalypses are my favorite)
8) Science Fiction (especially cyberpunk and maybe space opera)
9) Modern Day (most in the vein of GURPS Action)
10) Cross World (I've run this and it's ok, but mostly it's meh)


Historical games are ones I don't generally play or run. I just don't find it interesting.

[Emerikol]

Yeah I forgot Post-Apocalyptic including Zombie Apocalypses. I could do one of those for sure.

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

1. Mixed genre. Often heavily mixed. It's a little difficult to define exactly; very "everything and the kitchen sink" settings without too many impediments to it mixing the way supers and crossoworlds often have.
2. Sitcom. Probably with fantastic element, e.g. the existence of magic or all the main characters are sapient animals.
3 or 4. Everything and the Kitchen Sink Four-Color Supers. I like power. I also like abusing story tropes.
4 or 3. High/gonzo fantasy. Same reason as #2.

[exalted]

Last few campaigns have been.

Warhammer - So kinda of grimdark fantasy.

Star Wars - So kinda science fantasy.

Dark Sun - So bronze age fantasy.

Exalted - So over the top fantasy.

Really we mostly do fantasy it's what works for longer campaigns in our group, even better if it is part of a universe more or less any nerd can be expected to have some slight earlier knowledge.

At the same time they where very different campaigns, the warhammer one was basically resource management and tactical combat, the star wars one nearly free form, dark sun was an attempt at playing with typical isekai and D&D troups, Exalted was a bizarre and gonzo over the top hero saga.

I'm leaning towards Urban Fantasy for the next one thinking of setting it in the 80's to reduce technology which really gets in the way in the modern world, but it will still be Fantasy.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Emerikol

Yeah I forgot Post-Apocalyptic including Zombie Apocalypses. I could do one of those for sure.

I haven't run one in ages, but I really want to. It's a fun genre.