"Generic" vs. "Multi-Genre" II (split)

[Charrua]

A thought I'd like to contribute:

Semantically speaking, if your system is settlingless, it cannot be simultaneously multi-genre.  Something cannot ne everything and nothing at the same time (without cheating, that is).  Multi connotes something has inherently contains multiple qualities, while settingless implies that it has none.  When I see multi-genre, I'm assuming that I'm going to see qualities of multiple genres.  I would be dissappointed to, in fact, find none.

My thought:  Speak to your strength.  I concur with your thought about "generic" being bland, it is.  I'm also not a big fan of how "universal" has been used in RPG either.  Therefore, focus on how the game is more enrichable by being a core vs. of a particular genre.

Some possible terms: (i'm not married to any of them, but perhaps we can do something revolutionary here by combining the terms in some way to finally label settingless games in a satisfying way).
Customizable
Genreless
Genre Non-specific
Transcendant (I love this word!)
Genre-Customizable
Choose-Your-Own-Genre (setting)
Skeletal (as in, you add the flesh...)
Settingless

Any other ideas??

Cheers.

[Sane]

Universal is nice. Unfortunately, it _is_ tied to an English RPG--the granddaddy of generic rpgs. It's the "U" in "GURPS".

There's also the lesser-known Universalis, but to be honest if you're just describing your game as "A Universal RPG System" I don't think that'd be a problem. If you're looking for words that have never been used, you'll have to invent them and then nobody will understand you at all. I know what you mean about the word Generic though. It does sound synonimous with 'Mundane'. I use Universal to describe my generic game system too.

Ash

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

The above two posts were split from "Generic" vs. "Multi-genre". I invite the discussion to continue.

Best, Ron

[guildofblades]

Back in 1997 when we first published the Worlds of Heroes & Tyrants RPG we titled it the WHAT Customizable RPG. It was, at the time, a setting-less rules set that could be easily adapted to any genre.

We won't be using that term the next time around and instead will be going with our own trademark of it "Epic Adventure Game" and will actually be using the name of our other out of print RPG, the Dark Realms with the WHAT rules system. But all of that is merely because of a shift of market focus and target audience. I still like the "customizable" term because I think it describes the concept well, for any rules system that is flexible enough to be used on any genre or setting has to have a level of customization to it.

Ryan S. Johnson
Guild of Blades Publishing Group
http://www.guildofblades.com
http://www.1483online.com
http://www.thermopylae-online.com