Day 11? What’s this? Yes, I know I’ve missed two days! Traveling back home after being away for a while due to work, a day-long blackout on the weekend before back-to-school Monday, all combined into the perfect storm, and I missed two days. Rather than wait until I catch up, I’m tackling today’s topic first and will make up the missing days after this. Some upcoming posts will be out of order; I apologize in advance.
The topic for today, day 11 of RPG a Day 2025, is Flavour, with the “ou” British spelling! Be forewarned, I will be using the more common US spelling below.
When we talk about flavor in the context of a role-playing game, we are often referring to the dictionary definition provided by Merriam-Webster of the word as: characteristic or predominant quality. So, what’s the campaign’s flavor? High fantasy? Sword & Sorcery? Grimdark? Pulp? Hard Sci-Fi? Science-Fantasy?
Flavor in a campaign can be a tricky thing to get right. For some reason, some genres are more flexible and forgiving when you mix flavors. A fantasy campaign can get away with mixing some high fantasy elements with sword & sorcery adventures, creating a distinct flavor. Mix hard sci-fi and some fantastical elements of science fantasy, or a high-power four-color super heroic game with a gritty vigilante thrown in the mix, and the flavor might not be as appealing.
Of course, it has a lot to do with the group. Some players don’t mind the disparate elements of some of the combinations described above, but they often clash. Let me share examples from campaigns I ran.
The Superhero Game
In the late 90s, I ran a Heros Unlimited campaign, a four-color, high-power alternate history game, with a lengthy campaign background, an ambitious time-travel subplot, and the aspiration of my ultimate supers campaign. It was not meant to be. That would have to wait for the Mutants and Masterminds campaign years later. I can’t blame flavor for the failure of the campaign. That falls squarely on me; I was too ambitious and too dependent on alternate historical events, with a group of players who were not as invested in the historical aspects as I was—very different expectations.
The clash in flavor had more to do with the characters. Everybody went for a more classic hero archetype, and one player created a corporate-sponsored superhero spoof. The character ran contrary to the tone and style of the campaign, and it became a distraction for me as a GM and for the other players. The player didn’t like superhero games, but for our next supers game, he created a Mexican Luchador, which wasn’t as much of a problem.
In my experience, superhero games are the most complex campaigns I’ve run when it comes to mixing genre flavors. I’ve played a game featuring a character inspired by Sandman, alongside a Captain America-style patriotic hero. For this particular one, we managed to mix the elements and achieved a satisfying flavor. But other genres are not immune to this. For example…
The Sci-Fi Game
This particular campaign, which I wrote extensively about here in the blog, is the Wanderers of the Outlands campaign (you can click on he previous link to see the first post of 21!). This game was my first long-running Savage Worlds campaign. Still, there were some flavor issues. While the campaign drew inspiration from various sources, including Firefly and Babylon 5, one of the players created a decidedly cyberpunk character. While there were some elements of cyberpunk, the game didn’t lean heavily into them, and the player found his concept not meshing with the campaign’s flavor. This situation occurred years after the first example I mentioned above. We were older and wiser, and the player recognized this, so they decided to create a new character to fit the game better.
One key lesson I’ve learned over the years is to be upfront and clear about flavor, tone, and styles in campaigns. Please don’t presume that the campaign materials suggest it. Tell the players about it, and remind them often during character creation and preparation for the game.
Also, listen to the players. What do they want? A campaign is not simply my game, but our game; I should be able to accommodate the interests and input of the players. Back in the 90s, I understood this, but I didn’t verbalize it or handle it properly. Even then, I believed in allowing players to play the character they wanted and integrating that into the campaign. Since then, I have also learned that this is a collaborative process, and that I, as a GM, and all the players have a voice in the process, and that we should arrive at the proper flavor for the game together.
How do you handle flavor in your games? Do you mix and match flavors? Do you agree or disagree with me? I would love to read your comments here in the blog, or tag me wherever you make them. If you choose to join in the conversation, don’t forget to include the #RPGaDay2025 hashtag so the community can find your contribution.
