What makes a genre its genre?

Some stories are permanently tattooed onto my brain. The standoff in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. The last embrace of Rick Blaine and Ilsa Lund in Casablanca. Or the classic gumshoe, Philip Marlowe, confronting the femme fatale in The Big Sleep. Iconic moments at the height of their genre pastiche. The culmination of story beats that could only have arrived at one place.

I know what we're all thinking. That standoff would be a lot cooler if it were between a voodoo witch doctor, a high-elf sheriff, and a crafty little goblin. Nothing screams Casablanca like that scene where Rick said, "We'll always have R'leyh," right before he blasted Deep One Ilsa with his .44. Just imagine how much cooler that femme fatale would be if she were a bloodsucking vampire from Egypt.

I'm being facetious of course. I don't think those mashups would make them cooler. Don't get me wrong. I like mashups. They're big, bold, and tons of fun. To borrow a quote, "I know writers who use subtext, and they're all cowards." Nothing kills the coward's way like an army of zombies. Right?

I used to think that. But more and more, I'm starved by that approach. I think many of us are, because when you mix westerns with Dungeons & Dragons, dramas with Call of Cthulhu, and detective fiction with Blade, something unexpected happens—you don't play with everything the genre has to offer. We end up replacing a lot of its themes with vibes, because a genre isn't just what it has, but what it lacks. That absence creates space for the genre's themes to grow.

And I know what you're thinking. Clayton, a romcom is a mashup of sorts, and some are so well established they're a standalone genre on their own. (Looking at you, Weird West.) It's impossible to play a game that isn't a mashup. And I concede to this. You are right. What I am referring to by mashup is a very specific type. The mundane + cthulhu/vampire/steampunk/zombie/wizard mashup that rpgs are rich with. Where are the Red Dead Redemption rpgs? The Scooby-Doo mysteries with no monsters? The Philip Marlowes with their .38s and no magic?

Sure, you can still have Father Brown with some Cthulhu in the background, but there's no way he's doing his usual stuff when the suspects have that Innsmouth look. "Preparing tomorrow's homily? Mrs. McCarthy, we need to get out of here. We're going to have to shoot our way out!"

Why do we do mashups?

I think there are countless reasons why we smash different genres together. Some of them are classic mashups in and of themselves, like the sci-fi horror, the aliens-meets-cowboys, and dozens of others, but I think tabletop rpgs do it for at least three other reasons.

The mashup gives us an unexpected twist.

Juxtaposition is a powerful tool that pulls something new out of something old. It can create new meaning, like when Watchmen gave superheroes a damning depiction by depicting them in a believable American context. The mashup can also heighten or "dial up" the things in a genre we enjoy, like when rich, white people become literal vampires in Interview with a Vampire.

But here's the counter argument: It's not a twist when it's the norm. Sure, we have hundreds of pure westerns, dramas, and mysteries in books, movies, and television—but how many do we have in tabletop games? I would wager it's harder to find mysteries without some kind of eldritch horror/SCP-style reveal.

The mashup "sanitizes" the genre for play.

Let's be abundantly clear. The Wild West? Oof. Gangsters? Yikes. These are genres with challenging subject matter, the kind most tables cannot engage with. We're talking about slavery, genocide, racism, and a whole lot of sexual violence. But maybe you can replace those themes, dynamics, and conflicts with something else? Maybe...

Nope, here's my counter argument: The problematic elements are the point, and replacing or removing them doesn't fix the genre for play—it robs it of its power. Westerns, particularly anti-westerns (which are still westerns) are about things like colonization, race, and capitalism. They're not really about wagon trains, bank heists, and shoot outs. Those are just set pieces. When we remove or swap out the real genre themes, we hide the context that gives it meaning, usually while erasing an entire group of people or taking away their context. Sometimes the purpose of safety tools is to drive straight at the tension—engage with the subject matter—otherwise we fall into the trap of replacing groups with elves or treating real life monsters like supernatural ones with magic plot determinism.

The mashup gives us an approachable conflict.

This is a conceit I understand well. Try as I might, it's very hard to adapt Mad Men to rpgs. I know right away how to run most dramas and romances if I add a wizard or zombie, but without the mashup, I'm a little lost. If Don Draper was a spirit-vanquishing martial artist, it would be a lot easier. Sometimes mash-ups provide external conflict to genres that are traditionally driven by internal conflicts. Some might say the mashup is the best way to get the inkling of some genres to the table.

A hopeful counter argument: I think there's a way to do it without the mashup. The more games, procedures, and mechanics I take in, the more convinced I am of infinite possibilities. There's a way to play Mad Men the RPG, along with all the other dramas, rom-coms, and comedies I'm after. Someone just hasn't invented or hacked the right system for everything yet. Maybe you do need the mashup for Powered by the Apocalypse or Cipher, but maybe you can play the anti-mashup with whatever some indie creator is cooking up right now.

Addendum: The mashup expands the audience.

I forgot this point because it's almost entirely external to the work, but mashups are great marketing, because every genre adds another audience and cultural touchpoint for players to latch onto. Do you love Godzilla? Do you love Star Wars? Do you love Aliens? When you play with just one genre, you are largely limited to the audience of that one genre, but if you add several genres together, suddenly there's something for everyone. Don't know how to roleplay in a historical drama? Don't worry, this game also has werewolves—and you know how to fight werewolves. Mashups are great because they give players handles to hold onto, and give them permission to not be precious with the game's themes, voice, and tone.

A small counter argument: I think this point confirms why the mashup is popular, but doesn't disprove the value of the non-mashup. It's harder to market straight-genre (in rpgs), because they often lack an immediacy for play without the addition of monsters, aliens, and magic. That's what I mean by "mashup" in the rpg context. I'm not lamenting an abundance of crime-meets-suburbia mashups or romance-meets-comedy mashups, I'm frustrated that when rpgs specifically do mashups, it usually means aliens, cultists, or warlocks. I think there is a way to market and orient players to some games and stories without invoking the power of Godzilla. And I have to believe it, because some genres cannot co-exist with Godzilla.

Show me your anti-mashup games.

I know there are many out there. I want more. More westerns that play only with the settings, themes, and characters of westerns. Give it to me with a new perspective, a new analogous setting (like The Good, The Bad, and The Weird), or a new take on the same themes. Make me a detective game without the Mi-Go. A romance without the aliens. A drama without the robot uprising.

I love a mashup—a genre cocktail—but let's see the alternative. The straight, no blend, single cask, twice-distilled, one-genre games.

Limitation breeds creativity. When you can't throw in a lich, you have to drill down into what's already there. I bet there's something really good in these genre trappings —things only tabletop games can mine.

Send me your recs. Share your creations. And let me know what your one-genre games provide that the mashups don't. Until then, I'll keep exploring.

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