Tropes
As long as there have been definable categories of story, people have crafted tales fusing disparate elements into a cohesive new whole. Mythology embraces romance and horror, the epic adventures of culture and folk heroes contain comedy and clever detective work, and the X-Men have met the crew of the Starship Enterprise... Three times.
In tabletop gaming, we can go all the way back to the beginning. Blackmoor's warped reality was driven by a crashed starship. The same phenomenon on a smaller scale haunts the World of Greyhawk's Barrier Peaks. Of course, Shadowrun is the definitive mixed-genre success story.
A group that wants to play a Mixed Genre campaign needs to understand the following tropes common to all subgenres.
Don't Cross The Streams
The first mode of Mixed Genre game is the the easiest. Two great tastes that taste great together. Get the X-Men on the Enterprise, strand Batman in the time of dinosaurs, get your Wizard to the Barrier Peaks to get her hands on a ray gun. Two genres colliding, intersecting, and sharing space while remaining distinct.
Uses:
A welcome change of pace for single session or arc, colliding genres can revitalize a campaign and allow a refreshing period to get back to the normal business of the game. They make excellent one-shots.
Pitfalls:
Be careful to have the non-native genre clean up after itself. Leaving a Batarang in Captain Nemo's trophy room is harmless. Having Alan Quartermane suddenly don a cape and tights is too much fallout.
Crossing The Streams
The second mode of Mixed Genre gaming is the sudden shift in genre. If Bella moves to Forks to begin her Postmodern Judy Blume disaffected coming of age story, things get real when her Emo boyfriend and cute ethnic rival turn her West Side Story into Castlevania: The Snogging.
Uses:
The shift in genre can occur at any point in the narrative once the characters and setting are established, from the second “act” through the Finale. The hallmark of this style of Mixed Genre game is the growing sense of unreality and disbelief as the characters move deeper into the hidden genre present in the setting (such as in the above Twilight series), or the shock and horror of a sudden shift and regrouping to deal with it (ala the Doom video games).
Pitfalls:
Of course, you should be careful to not make any campaign a bait-and-switch. Characters who are built for a deeply social game of high-school drama and self-discovery will be ill equipped to fight supernatural beings, and players who were psyched up to sling some lead at Free Mars Terrorists may become disaffected by having to survive the bowls of hell. Let the players have some warning.
Total Protonic Reversal
The final mode of Mixed Genre games is the hardest to create, maintain, and successfully sustain, but can be the most creatively rewarding despite the challenge. Two or more genres blended into a new whole actually create Subgenres as they go, from Steampunk to Comedic Horror to Magical Realism/Urban Fantasy.
Uses:
Shadowrun is of course the poster child for blending genres. It takes care to find contrasting but complimentary themes, spot parallels in narrative devices employed across disparate genres, and paint a new whole from the sum of their parts. The Blended Genre must not only be an excellent spotlight of the spawning genres, but stand alongside them while not appearing to be a parody.
Pitfalls:
It is important to avoid shortcuts that serve no purpose but to shove elements from one of the included genres into the new blend regardless of how well it may or may not fit the desired result. Genre blending is poetry, or jazz.. there's an art to the fusion. No one wants Darth Vader to have to deal with The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon in their Star Wars: Planet Haven game. Pick a similar theme that enhances instead of derails the chosen narrative landscape and use it instead.
We Haven't Had A Completely Successful Test Of This Equipment
When mixing genres, there are going to be some clashes in terminology, technology, and the physics of the worlds involved. Silver bullets kill werewolves... does making it rain silver nitrate do anything? Can the Sword of Omens cut through fully polarized Starfleet-issue Parametallic Duranium-reinforced hull plating with Transphasic Rotating Frequency Shields up? If you pour a Nuka Cola Quantum into the Megazord's fuel cells, will it thin the mix? In every case, the answer is likely to come up in the heat of battle and grind play to a standstill as the various invested pundits argue their sides.
Uses:
Considering the “why” of vast disparities or conflicting lore can help invent some interesting and engaging rationales, rules, or background for a campaign. Alternatively, in a world where legends differ from fact, the situation need be no more complex than bad information... or deliberate misinformation on the part of the legends involved.
Pitfalls:
As noted above, arguments can kill a game when canon fans are present. Be cautious to work out details in advance and make sure everyone is on board before proceeding. If you have players who cannot let canon arguments go, consider instead using similar, but original, settings.
When Someone Asks You If You're A God, You Say "YES"!
In every collision of genres, there are those characters present who are intimately familiar with one or more of them. The Horror Movie Fan, the Comic Book Geek, the Alien Conspiracy Nut... the Genre Blindness of the majority of other characters is an endless source of frustration to this character, who is largely ignored by the cast, or used to comedic effect... until their being right becomes an important tool to move the narrative forward. When that time comes, they will desperately need someone who has even the slightest idea of what's going on. And who ya gonna call?
Uses:
Assigning this role to an NPC will allow memetic satisfaction echoing the media being emulated. That NPC can be used by the GM as a tool to spread misinformation, illuminate clues, or cause distractions that help moderate the pace of the adventure.
Being the quirky genre-aware outsider type can also be a PC trait, as long as the player is willing to work with the GM to enhance the session for everyone.
Pitfalls:
Avoid using the genre-savvy character as a crutch, or the central focus of the narrative. Everyone needs to be able to contribute (or become an protagonistic obstacle, depending on the needs of the story and group) equally.
Sources
That wraps up this installment and the first year of Tropes. Next time, we'll start the second year of Tropes by tackling that most difficult of role playing challenges: Comedy.
Meanwhile, here's a list of some past and present published games that deal with Mixed Genre gaming. Look them up in RPGNet's Game Index. Special thanks to Tim Kirk for helping me fill in this list. If I missed any, speak up in the forum!
Blood Shadows (West End Games), Castle Falkenstein (R.Talsorian Games, Steve Jackson Games), Cthulhutech (Sandstorm Publications), Dark Conspiracy (Game Designers' Workshop, Dynasty Presentations, Inc, 3Hombres Games), Fading Suns (Holistic Design, Inc.), Hellas (Khepera Publishing), In Harm's Way: Dragons (Flying Mice Games, Better Mousetrap Games), New Khazan (Pertyon Publishing), Providence (XID Creative), Shadowrun (FASA Corporation, Fantasy Productions, and Catalyst Game Labs), Torg (West End Games), Underground (Mayfair Games)
