What brings you to an RPG?
Hello! I thought I'd have a little fun/research post today. I was thinking about what not only brings me to a particular roleplaying game, but also what makes me stay. For me it's clear: the setting and the character progression/build options. If your game has one of these two things in the way I like it, I'm all in. If it has both? (such as WFRP), you've made my day.
So I today I wanted to ask you: What makes you choose a particular RPG? Feel free to vote for more than one option, and leave a comment explaining why!
Comments (20)
Kind of funny, while dev involvement support is the lowest (as a first pick), it's what separates games that are otherwise equal. Given two games with the same genre/setting, I'll pick a Black Oath title over the other ones.
Thank you for your support! I think supporting my games is crucial, and the least I can do for people spending money on them.
The setting and lore capture my attention. But the mechanics are what I ruminate on.
Yeah, same here!
I have bought more than a few games simply because the rules seemed innovative, but mostly my interest is awaken due to the setting.
Same here, I love some fresh, interesting rules, but a good setting is hard to resist!
Character options are what draw me in most! Even as a forever GM, I want to run games that I'd be excited to play- Those options are what gets me excited.
Right? It's just so fun to see all the options!
Same for me, Setting / lore and char options / builds. I'd give a bit more importance to the setting and lore, overall. I also think the setting and lore is the most powerful one for me that gives that "must have" feeling when checking it out, (Dark Sun, Ker Nethalas!) although char options alone can occasionally have that effect on me, too. A recent video game example of this would be Path of Achra. The setting and lore really don't interest me at all (even the art style is just ok) and is barely a husk of a setting, but the character options and builds are mind blowing and so much fun. Then if we look at my current choice for video game of the year, Unicorn Overlord, the setting is fairly generic high fantasy which is just OK for me, (it does help that the art is super nice) but the character and build options and mechanics are flawless. All 4 of them are important, in any case!
Yeah, I think I feel exactly the same!
For me, the setting and the dev involvement and community are the top two factors.
Yeah, a good setting is just irresistible!
Mechanics and character options.
Hell yeah!
Settings,lore and art, a good art and book layout is the first for enter,then a review of character sheet give fast idea of mechanics. If the game have hexcrawl allow sandbox, and lot of tables !!! Oh yeah a must have!
You're totally right, I forgot how important art is! I'm backing Luka Rejec's new KS 90% cause of the art, for example.
Honestly, if you don't want to play in a setting, nothing else matters. One of the reasons that Fate Accelerated Edition is in my tool kit is so I can do quick hacks and play a given setting/scenario. My round robin story telling game, The Trouble with Rose, is the same way. The play sets that define the scenario and characters are the heart of the game and support almost any genre.
I agree, and that's why I love universal rulesets (Savage Worlds is a staple for me, I love it). But I often come across a game that I find super interesting because of its mechanics, and couldn't care less about the setting. The most recent example of this is the Cosmere RPG that are being kickstarted right now. To me it looks like the most interesting twist on the D20 ruleset I've seen in a while, but I haven't read any of the books so the setting is just background noise for me. Still, I'm backing, haha. I can always use my own setting!
I am currently playing a WFRP campaign (the enemy within) with 4 friends since 5 years now and we’re not even at half 😊 I love the old world narrative and senttings and i fell in love with the Careers sistem, fighting mechanics and the core rules in general!
It's an absolutely beautiful setting and ruleset! Hard to beat.