I don’t like D&D but I still like RPGs

So I went to a boardgame convention this weekend, and I played a GURP, 1 round of Advanced 1e D&D, and two murder mystery LARPs.

I realized that I simply do not like D&D. I’ve given it many shots, and even when I go to other rooms to see people playing D&D, it just doesn’t seem fun.

I don’t like completely loose fantasy acting. But it’s not that I don’t like acting at all. I really liked the murder mystery LARPs, at least the 1st one I did.

There needs to be an objective/mystery that I’m clearly solving and working toward. If it’s just free form, it seems too open and meaningless.

Even for games like Above & Below there is some objective/competitive goal that we’re working toward. And that’s what I like. I like strategizing.

If there is no real system to strategize with, with a clear central goal that is satisfying to achieve/work toward, I don’t think I can really get into. It can just drag and get boring. Even my 2nd LARP was getting slow and feeling disorganized.

Anyway, I realized the RGPs I want to design all have the elements I want, so I’m not that worried, but it makes me want to make LARPs or dinner RPGs/stories and such. And now I have a clearer idea of what I’d incorporate.