Peopleâs super narrow assumptions about TTRPGs make marketing any TTRPG - but especially Eureka - incredibly difficult. Itâs such an uphill battle convincing people that Eureka is fun because even though they claim to like RPGs theyâve only played RPGs they donât seem to think are very fun and assume that the unfun features of those RPGs are true of all RPGs.
People assume that TTRPGs are meant for long continuous campaigns that span years, and so that any gameplay mechanics Eureka has that wouldnât work well in a long continuous campaign are bad mechanics that make the game worse.
People assume that a TTRPG having combat rules means that combat will happen frequently and therefore because Eureka has combat mechanics itâs more of a combat game than investigation game.
People assume that any sort of feature which could lead to mistrust or conflict between PCs will create a toxic environment because they assume that players are their characters.
People assume that ability-to-kill-lots-of-people = spotlight time in a TTRPG and therefore that monster Eureka PCs will get to do everything while everyone else just sits out.
People assume adventure modules are always linear railroad scripts and so our strong recommendation of using adventure modules with Eureka is bad.
People assume that itâs the GMâs job to perform for the players and adjust(break) the rules on the fly constantly to produce a satisfying narrative and therefore our insistence that you not do that with Eureka and that its rules will produce a fun experience on its own is insane.
People assume that all RPG combat is a long back and forth slug-fest with no strategy that lasts most of a session for a single scene and therefore if Eureka has âdeadly combatâ it means youâre spending all that time just for your characters to die.
People assume that investigation gameplay with a set-in-stone truth to the mystery will just result in the party getting stuck constantly until the GM gives up and decides that whatever they guessed is correct and therefore a game like Eureka with a set-in-stone truth can not possibly work.
People assume that because other RPGs gate seeing obvious features of the environment behind dice rolls, and that in Eureka examining clues is rolled for, that progress will constantly stop because a failed roll makes PCs blind to what is right in front of them.
People assume that a work of fiction is inherently an idealist escapist fantasy so when they hear about Eurekaâs setting/gameplay where non-white characters may experience discrimination, that we the writers think that racial discrimination is good??
People assume that because some Eureka Traits have gendered names based on gendered tropes from noir and horror media, that Eureka insists on a strict gender binary in the mechanical abilities of men and women and that this also must be a -4 Strength situation.
People assume that because Eureka is âurban fantasyâ that race science is true and correct in it and it has distinct fantasy races like elf and dwarf and orc, and therefore reinforcing race science.
A lot of this stuff is also why Iâm so adamant about people reading the rulebook instead of just learning Eureka second hand. The rulebook doesnât just tell you the raw numbers it tells you how to apply them and what they mean, with a great deal of nuance. When you just hear things like âInvestigative Rolls give Investigation Points, and that we encourage a âclick on everythingâ approach,â itâs easy to kneejerk to âthis game encourages you to use every single skill on every single thing in every single scene, making every bit of investigation a long slog of busywork,â because you didnât also read that each Investigative Roll must have a stated purpose and be justified so the answer of can you roll the Paperwork skill on this chest wound is No.
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