Effects of Genre on a System

Different genre tend to encourage different levels of detail in RPGs. That's not entirely true. Different genre tend to encourage details in different areas of the system. This is a natural result of more emphasis being placed on those areas.

Fantasy games tend to have more complicated rules for melee and mounted combat. Ranged combat is present, but is usually allows fewer options than melee. Part of this is due to the fact that sword fighting is much more complicated than archery. But the rest is due to the fact that few of the genre's tropes involve standing back and shooting at someone. The armor rules also tend to be a bit more complex, and usually involve attacking around armor as often as actually piercing it. Magic is usually an integral part of the game, and often is the longest chapter of the book.

Modern action games tend to have more complicated ranged combat rules, especially when it comes to aiming and long distances. The exception to this is the martial arts sub-genre, which focuses on melee no matter the time period. Vehicle combat tends to be more complex as well. The list of equipment is usually longer, as someone can open a catalog, point to an item and expect it to be available to a character. Armor rules tend to be abbreviated to how much Kevlar one is wearing and wear, occasionally with additional rules for ballistic plate inserts. Unarmored can usually be aimed at, but actually penetrating the armor is usually more successful. Modern horror games also have these tendencies, and tend also to include rules for measuring mental stress and the resultant breakdowns and psychosis. Fun stuff, those horror games. Special rules for things such as psychic powers or magic may be present, but are rarely as emphasized as with fantasy, and the game may even be played without it.

Scifi games tend to be similar to modern action games. Air and space combat rules are usually more fleshed out than in the modern games, but the equipment list is usually just as long. Melee combat is usually given even less emphasis than in the modern game. Armor rules may be similar to the modern game, or even non-existent. Force-fields and other such things may be present, and if so add another layer of complexity. Magic systems are uncommon, but psychic powers or other special abilities such as the Force may exist and function in a similar role.

Games with a specific setting or sub-genre usually have more specialized rules. The general use rules tend to be a mixed bag. Some of them tend to be more useful for one genre of game or another, and almost all of them have a specific tone that is hard-wired into the system.

Next post I'll walk through some specifics on individual games.