Post originally by Mighty Fast Pig at 2003-09-09 13:14:34
Converted from Phorums BB System

I'm a bit leery of putting too many genre conventions as game rules in an RPG.

Genre can be a framework, but it can also be a straightjacket. Once you know the rules of, say, the teen-slasher movie (sex & drugs = death, the girl with the androgynous name will survive, the monster's never really dead), all the dramatic tension fades, and you're left with a goofy exercise in gross-outs, and betting which bimbo gets chain-sawed first. It's the difference between actually being involved in a story and playing a drinking game.

Saddle the players with too many genre conventions, and you take away their freedom of choice, because the outcome is fixed, or there are only a few possible alternatives.

I think this points out that RPGs are _not_ novels or movies or TV series, and while they can borrow elements from other media, they are their own thing. (See Steven Poole's "Trigger Happy" for a discussion of video games and narrative, which also applies here.)