I've been thinking lately about how many (or how few for the pessimist) genres we generally game in. I'm working now on thinking about what's out there and what's pretty much over looked. Instead of just making a big list, I think I'm going to tier them as far as my perspective on the amount each genre is played. Clearly this is ignoring the hundreds of little indie games or games of yesteryear. Anyway, tier one is most played by the biggest amount of people and it just goes down from there.
Tier 1
Fantasy
Tier 2
Horror
Sci-fi Space Opera
Pulp Action
Supers
Tier 3
Steampunk
Modern
Non-Fantasy Medieval
Sci-Fi Hard SF
Oriental/Kung Fu/Samurai
Tier 4
Westerns
Comedy
Time Travel
Melodrama (non fantastical, non sci-fi)
Any other bizarre one-off rpg
Not counting sub-genres like high fantasy or gritty fantasy, what do you think? Have I missed anything in the first three tiers? Would you switch any genres into other tiers? In a much larger sense, what genres do you wish had RPG's or just a bigger RPG fanbase and support from publishers?
I would put non-fantasy historical games, including medieval, in the 4th tier but otherwise it looks pretty good. Cyberpunk, Supers and the flavors of SF tend to drift between 2nd and 3rd tier depending on the current gestalt.
ReplyDeleteHoly crap, how did I forget cyberpunk?! I think you're right on with the non-fantasy medieval/historic games dropping a tier.
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