More Roleplaying ?

As always when we rotate games there is the persistent issue of what players want to play and what GMs want to run. Now its a given that it's not possible to keep everyone happy all the time I have suggested that we have some sort of last man standing knife fight or perhaps a mud wrestling contest in bikinis. Whilst I am prepared to drop the bikinis, neither option seems to have taken traction but I do feel that people have become too spoilt with on demand TV and doorstep delivery services these days. When I was fighting in the Napoleonic wars our deliveries were done by cannon and we used stale loaves of bread as D6s.

Nevertheless it seems that some of our players have overdosed themselves on some of the recent sci-fi games and now fancy switching channel to a good old hack and slay. The games on offer however are Scum and Villany, Spire and Cyberpunk 2020 - not D&D. S+V is a game based around the Sci Fi opera and is designed to be run with archetypes and episodically along the lines of Beebop Cowboy and Firefly. It's based on the Blades in the Dark system which despite being wonderfully narrative has attraced criticism for it's mechanics and over specialisation, not that I found this an issue and I do like the ability to develop ones cirminal faction which I presume translates to developing ones ship in the sci fi realm. 

Cyberpuk is what is says on the tin, the tin in question being a cost effective and illeagal AI implant that glitches on its owner resulting in a backup intelligence occasionally taking over and wreaking havoc. It's the cookie cutter for futuristic noodle bars, off world colonies, and dodgy augmentations.

The Spire is not one I know but seems to revolve around a secret war between Elven castes - the High Elves living in the Spire and the Dark Elves tying to overthrown them. I do like the artwork as well as the take on the classes and it's an interesting perspective on Elves for sure but it does punk up a bit - I believe fantasy-punk is the correct phrase. I have managed to find an excellent review from Andrew Logan, another of our kin in the blogsphere.

http://andrewloganmontgomery.blogspot.com/2018/03/spire-rpg-review.html

So what do we do when the games dont quite fit the player base at any given time ? Well if the mud wrestling is out then there is only evolution by natural selection. Players do what players do but I wonder if we should go back to four games and encourage the GMs to post a couple of spare places on meetups ? It would beat driving around town and pickup people off the street like the Jesus Army.