Why are modern-era adventure settings rare for RPGs?

[Emphyrio]

By "modern-era adventure setting" I mean something that is similar to Lara Croft, Johnny Quest, Indiana Jones, The Mummy, Adventure Inc., or the adventure novels of Jules Verne, Rudyard Kipling and Rider Haggard. Also, the French Foreign Legion and safari stories that were once common in men's literary magazines.

The only RPG I can think of that's even remotely close is Alpha Protocol, but the spy setting is not exactly the same thing, and there are none of the supernatural elements which are common in the examples I listed.

Mechanically there is little difference between The Courier exploring a deathclaw cave and Allan Quatermain exploring King Solomon's mine. The genre has also been done in other videogame genres such as Tomb Raider, and the Far Cry series.

[MadPreacher]

The era you're referring to isn't modern day, but rather the pulp era which runs from the 1880s-1930s.

Because modern game designers are morons that can't be imaginative.

[rusty_shackleford]

The genre has its roots in D&D which was originally tied to a very specific sort of setting. I don't think any other genre is so tightly bound to a setting as RPG is.

This has actually gotten worse with time, not better, by the way. Wasteland and its derivatives are exceptions, not the norm.

[J1M]

Setting something during modern day invites a lot of cognitive dissonance baggage.

I can't explain why there aren't more games set in other decades though. The ones I've played (No One Lives Forever, Mafia) have benefited from the choice.

[Vic]

because they are boring. No dragons, no demons, no gods to kill.

[Lich]

Modern era settings can have dragons and demons.

[Vic]

No then they would be fantasy settings.

[rusty_shackleford]

Urban-fantasy, but yes, Vic is correct.


Personally, I have no interest in playing a game set in a contemporary period. If it's going to be modern, 1980s is obviously the peak decade to pick with it not hitting high technology just yet and still being modern.

[Emphyrio]

Very easy to have supranatural stuff in modern settings. You have stuff like dinosaurs in Tomb Raider, or the mummy in The Mummy, and the hallucination stuff in Far Cry series.

You could also have a Delta Green or Xcom Files sort of setting.

[Vic]

dinosaurs are not supernatural

[Lich]

Modern era settings with fantasy elements

[rusty_shackleford]

Modern era settings with fantasy elements

What are settings like Greyhawk if not medieval-era Britain with fantasy elements?

[Emphyrio]

"Modern era settings with fantasy elements" describes most of the examples I gave in OP. "Urban Fantasy" describes none of them because none of them take place in cities.

[rusty_shackleford]

"Modern era settings with fantasy elements" describes most of the examples I gave in OP. "Urban Fantasy" describes none of them because none of them take place in cities.

Well, I don't really think of the late 1800s/early 1900s as "modern".

@Wife Scholar's next video is about a game sorta in this setting though, iirc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worlds_of ... kin=vector

[Vic]

Have you played Vtmb?

[Lich]

Dragons and demons in modern-era settings don't have to be explained with "magic" or other anachronic things, but with modern-feeling concepts; fictitious groups of scientists could biologically engineer giant lizards with bat wings that breathe toxic chemicals, or demonic creatures, for modern reasons like realizing old religious prophecies, which many powerful people today appear concerned with. I don't care for dragons and demons in modern settings, but there are ways to replace the function of traditional magic with as evocative modern concepts.

[Vic]

I think the major reason is that RPGs rely heavily on dialogue and NPC interaction. Stuff like Tomb Raider and Indiana Jones, they really go in hidden places far away from civilization to hunt for treasures. But outside of these secluded “dungeons” you have a disconnected, normal world. Probably not many interesting quests to be had.

I could see a dungeon crawler in this setting though.

[maidenhaver]

Thief has all of that, or did, until 3 and the reboot. The City was amalgamated from World's Fair, fantastic medieval, gothic elements. There was spelunking. In ways incoherent, but real life cities should be. One of my problems with cities in vidygayms is how they all resemble themepark design, as if they were built in a day just like a movie set. Dishonored is pretty much the successor.

[Lich]

Cities should be expressed as menus unless they have interesting things to do rather than be mere NPC gatherings.

[rusty_shackleford]

Cities should be expressed as menus unless they have interesting things to do rather than be mere NPC gatherings.

I once followed some guy in Oblivion from his residence in a city all the way to a skooma den in another town, who was going to get his drug fix because he was an addict.
It had absolutely no plot or quest related to it as far as I know, but it's one of the ways I remember oblivion when I think of it. Someone took the time to add the detail that this man was an addict, and he needed to go get his fix. It added depth to the character far beyond what any text dialogue could have.

'mere NPC gatherings' can be used as very detailed environmental storytelling when done right.

[Lich]

Cities should be expressed as menus unless they have interesting things to do rather than be mere NPC gatherings.

I once followed some guy in Oblivion from his residence in a city all the way to a skooma den in another town, who was going to get his drug fix because he was an addict.
It had absolutely no plot or quest related to it as far as I know, but it's one of the ways I remember oblivion when I think of it. Someone took the time to add the detail that this man was an addict, and he needed to go get his fix. It added depth to the character far beyond what any text dialogue could have.

'mere NPC gatherings' can be used as very detailed environmental storytelling when done right.

If a city is populated with NPCs that do more than stand around waiting for the player to interact with them, that's more than a "mere NPC gathering."

[maidenhaver]

Cities should be expressed as menus unless they have interesting things to do rather than be mere NPC gatherings.

You get a menu to select your mission loadout from...

[wndrbr]

I don't know any conventional RPGs set in the pulp fiction setting, but there's quite a few tactical rpgs out there. Some are based on Lovecraft's works (Call of Cthulhu - The Wasted Land), some are set during WW2 (Silent Storm series).

Like this, for example

► Grom, a polish RPG/tactics/adventure hybrid set in Tibet

also this

[maidenhaver]

I don't know any conventional RPG set in the pulp fiction setting, but there's quite a few tactical rpgs out there.

Like this, for example

► Grom, a polish RPG/tactics/adventure hybrid set in Tibet

also this

I don't like that pixar-looking globohomo art everybody's using. Otherwise, sounds ok. My first love was Egypt.

[Atlantico]

Urban-fantasy, but yes, Vic is correct.


Personally, I have no interest in playing a game set in a contemporary period. If it's going to be modern, 1980s is obviously the peak decade to pick with it not hitting high technology just yet and still being modern.

Let's face it, our modern era peaked in the 1980s. Decline ever since.

Playing Xenonauts, which is set in 1979, is an environment and technical era which is really interesting and endearing. There's plenty of technology available, but phones are still corded. There's a sensible limitation on everything and computers are helping people work, not doing their work for them.

[Vic]

Ah yes, the 80s. Let’s fight telephone cords and AIDS.

The only good 80s setting is the cyberpunk setting.

[Lich]

Since self-insertion is so popular among well-adjusted people, there may be a market for modern-era settings with supernatural/scifi elements where you have the opportunity to be your best self and defeat not-nazis. But game developers are averse to anything that hasn't been done lucratively and frequently before. That's probably one of the main reasons why modern-era settings are not as popular as they could be.

[ERYFKRAD]

Urban-fantasy, but yes, Vic is correct.


Personally, I have no interest in playing a game set in a contemporary period. If it's going to be modern, 1980s is obviously the peak decade to pick with it not hitting high technology just yet and still being modern.

I wouldn't mind a contemporary game.
There'd be a lot less "wonder" and "wondrous things" like dragons and stuff, but it should still be able to put the player character in interesting situations to resolve. Could do without contemporary politics though, much obliged.

[Sweeper]

I've had my fill of modernity from living.
I don't need it in my escapism as well thank you very ******* much.

[Segata]

Let’s fight telephone cords and AIDS.

Sounds like Earthbound