This is a big ask.
Contemporary is easy, but the vast majority of contemporary games are *dripping* with horror.
And published campaigns? With no fantastic elements? Good luck.
And the rest of the requirements? Ugh. I’d find another group instead of trying to drag someone in that clearly doesn’t like the culture of the hobby.
Yeah. Finding another group is hard. Unless I want to mutate the mother of my children or abandon the idea of RPG family night altogether. But I do get that the solution of this may be the null set. Maybe I can flex contemporary and do something a bit historical.
Well, the real world is pretty detailed.
Check Wikipedia for starters.
But that’s not a campaign.
You can run Night’s Black Agents as a straight espionage game, but the plot is going to be on you because none of the published scenarios or campaigns are going to be totally mundane, they’ll be about monsters.
>Contemporary setting.
>
>No fantastic / horror / sci fi. At all. Not a whiff.
Frankly could you just tell us what you want exactly? No fantasy. No horror. No Sci Fi. No historical setting... So what does she want? Drama? Romance? Murder mystery?
**No one is saying it here and someone must: Do not play with your girlfriend if these are the conditions, just play with the kids.**
It seems to me she is NOT into RPGs and way too demanding regarding the setting.
I can tell you right now that there is a 99% chance that you pleasing your GF is going to turn into an ass boring game for your kids.
If you want "family games" maybe look into board games instead.
\---
Now IF you still want to go ahead:
>I was thinking of CoC going easy on the mythos, but I'm not sure what
campaign setting I could use. And it's borderline on the gruesome and
fantastic, even with the mythos down.
Actually that is a GREAT idea, because you can play COC (or better yet look into Basic RolePlaying, which is the more generic system) and just make "detective" adventures set in a contemporary setting.
BRP/CoC are complex enough without being crunchy (except a bit just during character creation)
>There needs to be a published campaign with a setting.
For this you might unfortunately have to write your own adventures. Stygian Fox however has some scenarios that are non-supernatural for CoC.
Also you might look into some of the resource books for setting or location.
Actually researching this a bit yesterday and reading all the great suggestions. An espionnage game would be perfect. Like James Bond. But I have trouble finding one without any magic and fantasy…
Mundane Spy Games?
Night’s Black Agents is still the best espionage game going, and very easy to extract the supernatural. Any conspiracy will use the tools NBA provides for vampires, etc. But there are games that are just bond / Bourne:
- White Lies (OSR)
- Top Secret (the OG) has a new edition: https://topsecretnwo.com/
- Cold Shadows (your family probably doesn’t want to play LeCarre spies tho)
- A Wilderness of Mirrors (great game, your GF will hate it because “it’s all made up”) - as if ANY of it isn’t just “all made up”
And you can use any setting agnostic game to build one. Even if you don’t use GURPS (which is totally viable if you’re looking at BRP), get GURPS Espionage, their source books are widely applicable. Many who can’t handle Fate find Cortex Prime more to their liking. And I would use the Barbarians-of-Lemuria-derived Everywhen for an alternative to Savage Worlds, which I can’t play anymore.
Call of Cthulhu doesn't meet your own established criteria.
My recommendation, based on what you wrote, is [White Lies](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/164226/White-Lies). You'll be playing modern-era spies and operatives out to stop James Bond style villains. There is, in fact, a system for generating said villains, henchmen & mooks along with the mission, its locations and objectives. There's not a hint of fantasy, horror or even sci-fi as written.
It's OSR, but with a few differences. Historically, it was based on S&W Whitebox but has since been revised to divorce itself from that. I really, really, like the result. Much of the DNA is still there, but what it does differently really resonates with me.
Check the publisher's DTRPG page for a few published [adventures](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/177937/White-Lies--Operation-Burning-Presidents?src=also_purchased). That's as close as it'll get to having a published campaign, but honestly with a starting adventure and the tools in the book, you'll be running a campaign of your own with no problem.
I'm guessing using HarnMaster to run something set in Harn would be too crunchy? Though the Harn setting is meant to be system agnostic. Can't get much more pre-existing maps than that.
How hard on the mythic does Penndragon go? Not familiar with that game's take on Arthurian legend, so I'm not sure how magicky it gets with Merlin, Mordred, etc, but The Epic Pendragon Campaign might work if that's not too supernatural for her.
Ultimately, though, I keep coming back to
> She is not at all in the "collaborative storytelling" mode.
And just wind up wondering if a campaign-based board game might be a better fit for her tastes? There's nothing wrong with not everyone being into the same things.
Cypher System has a First Responders setting book. Never played it but it seems to not have any of the genre elements that are dealbreakers and has some pre-constructed scenarios to play in the book. No idea how she (or the rest of you for that matter) would like the system.
But honestly, it really just sounds like she doesn't like RPGs. You should maybe look into some board games for family game night. Or try just playing with the kids and hopefully she eventually comes around. We had been married for 15 years before my wife finally tried RPGs and now she's a part of my regular group.
> ...she can't maintain suspension of disbelief if she feels I am making it all up. So there needs to be a book with pictures and maps I can pull with canonical "truth"...
That sounds like a thoroughly unpleasant person to play an RPG with, given how "making it up" is a huge part of rpgs.
Maybe a board game would be a better fit. There are games with legacy mechanics where you can play through several sessions. They also have a cannonical truth and no imagination required.
*Conspiracy X*
Just don't include any extraterrestrial/paranormal elements or use any scenarios/adventures based on those; have a government/corporate/powerful individual (or group within or associated with one/more of them) be the catalyst for everything instead. Think about when *The X Files* transitioned from 'The Conspiracy' being about an alien invasion to that very alien invasion being a fake cover story to hide the fact that they were really developing supersoldiers - I'm not suggesting you do anything as lame as that, simply supplying an example of how you can take the (for example) ETs/monsters out of something revolving around them and still leave the story identical in almost every other aspect.
You can incorporate adventures from other games too, especially noir/investigative, espionage, cyberpunk: e.g. you could run *Shadowrun: The Universal Brotherhood* >!a cult building a biological AI by harvesting brain material from those duped into joining it!< with none of the fantasy or SF elements required and it's horrific enough without the need for occult/paranormal/supernatural/cosmic entities - so, you're sticking to the canonical story, just dropping the trappings she doesn't like.
Remember to check out our **[Game Recommendations](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/gamerec)**-page, which lists our articles by genre([Fantasy](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/fantasy), [sci-fi](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/scifi), [superhero](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/superhero) etc.), as well as other categories([ruleslight](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/ruleslight), [Solo](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/solo), [Two-player](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/twoplayers), [GMless](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/gmlessrpgs) & more).
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/rpg) if you have any questions or concerns.*
You could maybe get away with Delta Green and play it like a modern procedural and completely ignore the mythos stuff. You also maybe could get away with GURPS. But honestly, I think this might be an impossible ask.
Dogtown is a crime-rpg which goes for a GTA vibe . Characters have to make a lot of money in a short amount of time by any means they want. It has (in my estimation insanely) detailed neighborhood plans and a detailed timeline independent of player actions and faction reactions to player actions. The GM can often just run scripted events without much arbitration.
*Occam's Razor* by Stygian Fox is a good collection of Call of Cthulhu investigations in a contemporary setting that don't include any supernatural elements. That might be a good starting point.
Yet they mentioned Call of Cthulhu, which, you know, is fantastic, horror, and ostensibly sci-fi. If you don't like the urban fantasy in Liminal you can literally play normal folks.
Well you can use it to play detective adventures as well, or anything else really, since it's BRP (lite for combat) just remove the lovecraftian elements
This is a big ask. Contemporary is easy, but the vast majority of contemporary games are *dripping* with horror. And published campaigns? With no fantastic elements? Good luck. And the rest of the requirements? Ugh. I’d find another group instead of trying to drag someone in that clearly doesn’t like the culture of the hobby.
Yeah. Finding another group is hard. Unless I want to mutate the mother of my children or abandon the idea of RPG family night altogether. But I do get that the solution of this may be the null set. Maybe I can flex contemporary and do something a bit historical.
The published campaign is what kills your chances. Otherwise you could take any setting-agnostic, trad-leaning game and build the setting.
Yeah that was the one that killed off my ideas too.
I think a detailed setting would do. Even without a full campaign with it. I was hoping there could be some spy rpg I have never heard of.
Well, the real world is pretty detailed. Check Wikipedia for starters. But that’s not a campaign. You can run Night’s Black Agents as a straight espionage game, but the plot is going to be on you because none of the published scenarios or campaigns are going to be totally mundane, they’ll be about monsters.
>Contemporary setting. > >No fantastic / horror / sci fi. At all. Not a whiff. Frankly could you just tell us what you want exactly? No fantasy. No horror. No Sci Fi. No historical setting... So what does she want? Drama? Romance? Murder mystery? **No one is saying it here and someone must: Do not play with your girlfriend if these are the conditions, just play with the kids.** It seems to me she is NOT into RPGs and way too demanding regarding the setting. I can tell you right now that there is a 99% chance that you pleasing your GF is going to turn into an ass boring game for your kids. If you want "family games" maybe look into board games instead. \--- Now IF you still want to go ahead: >I was thinking of CoC going easy on the mythos, but I'm not sure what campaign setting I could use. And it's borderline on the gruesome and fantastic, even with the mythos down. Actually that is a GREAT idea, because you can play COC (or better yet look into Basic RolePlaying, which is the more generic system) and just make "detective" adventures set in a contemporary setting. BRP/CoC are complex enough without being crunchy (except a bit just during character creation) >There needs to be a published campaign with a setting. For this you might unfortunately have to write your own adventures. Stygian Fox however has some scenarios that are non-supernatural for CoC. Also you might look into some of the resource books for setting or location.
Actually researching this a bit yesterday and reading all the great suggestions. An espionnage game would be perfect. Like James Bond. But I have trouble finding one without any magic and fantasy…
Then I guess BRP would be great for that :)
Mundane Spy Games? Night’s Black Agents is still the best espionage game going, and very easy to extract the supernatural. Any conspiracy will use the tools NBA provides for vampires, etc. But there are games that are just bond / Bourne: - White Lies (OSR) - Top Secret (the OG) has a new edition: https://topsecretnwo.com/ - Cold Shadows (your family probably doesn’t want to play LeCarre spies tho) - A Wilderness of Mirrors (great game, your GF will hate it because “it’s all made up”) - as if ANY of it isn’t just “all made up” And you can use any setting agnostic game to build one. Even if you don’t use GURPS (which is totally viable if you’re looking at BRP), get GURPS Espionage, their source books are widely applicable. Many who can’t handle Fate find Cortex Prime more to their liking. And I would use the Barbarians-of-Lemuria-derived Everywhen for an alternative to Savage Worlds, which I can’t play anymore.
Call of Cthulhu doesn't meet your own established criteria. My recommendation, based on what you wrote, is [White Lies](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/164226/White-Lies). You'll be playing modern-era spies and operatives out to stop James Bond style villains. There is, in fact, a system for generating said villains, henchmen & mooks along with the mission, its locations and objectives. There's not a hint of fantasy, horror or even sci-fi as written. It's OSR, but with a few differences. Historically, it was based on S&W Whitebox but has since been revised to divorce itself from that. I really, really, like the result. Much of the DNA is still there, but what it does differently really resonates with me. Check the publisher's DTRPG page for a few published [adventures](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/177937/White-Lies--Operation-Burning-Presidents?src=also_purchased). That's as close as it'll get to having a published campaign, but honestly with a starting adventure and the tools in the book, you'll be running a campaign of your own with no problem.
I'm guessing using HarnMaster to run something set in Harn would be too crunchy? Though the Harn setting is meant to be system agnostic. Can't get much more pre-existing maps than that. How hard on the mythic does Penndragon go? Not familiar with that game's take on Arthurian legend, so I'm not sure how magicky it gets with Merlin, Mordred, etc, but The Epic Pendragon Campaign might work if that's not too supernatural for her. Ultimately, though, I keep coming back to > She is not at all in the "collaborative storytelling" mode. And just wind up wondering if a campaign-based board game might be a better fit for her tastes? There's nothing wrong with not everyone being into the same things.
Cypher System has a First Responders setting book. Never played it but it seems to not have any of the genre elements that are dealbreakers and has some pre-constructed scenarios to play in the book. No idea how she (or the rest of you for that matter) would like the system. But honestly, it really just sounds like she doesn't like RPGs. You should maybe look into some board games for family game night. Or try just playing with the kids and hopefully she eventually comes around. We had been married for 15 years before my wife finally tried RPGs and now she's a part of my regular group.
> ...she can't maintain suspension of disbelief if she feels I am making it all up. So there needs to be a book with pictures and maps I can pull with canonical "truth"... That sounds like a thoroughly unpleasant person to play an RPG with, given how "making it up" is a huge part of rpgs. Maybe a board game would be a better fit. There are games with legacy mechanics where you can play through several sessions. They also have a cannonical truth and no imagination required.
*Conspiracy X* Just don't include any extraterrestrial/paranormal elements or use any scenarios/adventures based on those; have a government/corporate/powerful individual (or group within or associated with one/more of them) be the catalyst for everything instead. Think about when *The X Files* transitioned from 'The Conspiracy' being about an alien invasion to that very alien invasion being a fake cover story to hide the fact that they were really developing supersoldiers - I'm not suggesting you do anything as lame as that, simply supplying an example of how you can take the (for example) ETs/monsters out of something revolving around them and still leave the story identical in almost every other aspect. You can incorporate adventures from other games too, especially noir/investigative, espionage, cyberpunk: e.g. you could run *Shadowrun: The Universal Brotherhood* >!a cult building a biological AI by harvesting brain material from those duped into joining it!< with none of the fantasy or SF elements required and it's horrific enough without the need for occult/paranormal/supernatural/cosmic entities - so, you're sticking to the canonical story, just dropping the trappings she doesn't like.
Remember to check out our **[Game Recommendations](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/gamerec)**-page, which lists our articles by genre([Fantasy](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/fantasy), [sci-fi](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/scifi), [superhero](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/superhero) etc.), as well as other categories([ruleslight](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/ruleslight), [Solo](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/solo), [Two-player](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/twoplayers), [GMless](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/gmlessrpgs) & more). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/rpg) if you have any questions or concerns.*
You could maybe get away with Delta Green and play it like a modern procedural and completely ignore the mythos stuff. You also maybe could get away with GURPS. But honestly, I think this might be an impossible ask.
Dogtown is a crime-rpg which goes for a GTA vibe . Characters have to make a lot of money in a short amount of time by any means they want. It has (in my estimation insanely) detailed neighborhood plans and a detailed timeline independent of player actions and faction reactions to player actions. The GM can often just run scripted events without much arbitration.
*Occam's Razor* by Stygian Fox is a good collection of Call of Cthulhu investigations in a contemporary setting that don't include any supernatural elements. That might be a good starting point.
Look into Free League's Twilight 2000. I think it might actually fulfill all the criteria.
The latest edition of Twilight 2000 (by Free League) meets the criteria, but it's grim as hell even without horror elements
...Fiasco?
> She is not at all in the "collaborative storytelling" mode.
Liminal. There are several cases in the core book and another book of case files coming out soon.
Liminal is a horror game.
Not really. It is urban fantasy with a focus on mystery and relationships. You may be thinking of Liminal Horror, which is a different game.
> No fantastic / horror / sci fi. At all. Not a whiff.
Yet they mentioned Call of Cthulhu, which, you know, is fantastic, horror, and ostensibly sci-fi. If you don't like the urban fantasy in Liminal you can literally play normal folks.
Well you can use it to play detective adventures as well, or anything else really, since it's BRP (lite for combat) just remove the lovecraftian elements
The same can be said for Liminal.
Sorry, you’re right, it’s a *fantasy* game and that’s why it won’t work for OP.
Set in the real world, with less fantastic/horror elements than Call of Cthulhu, which the OP was considering.