Outside the Normal

 One of the most consistent things I have ever seen when it comes to roleplaying games is the format that is expected for the campaign itself.

1) It is presumed there is going to be lots of combat.
2) It is presumed that there are going to be lots of adversaries.

    Which, honestly, works.
    My beef, however, is that is typically the exclusive focus.  "You will be going out, getting into a lot of fights, and here's a huge catalogue of monsters / enemies for you to face."

    What about if the GM wants to run a campaign with little combat, and a lot of cloak and dagger stuff, behind the scenes politics, etc. What if a player wants to make the character one whose entire purpose is to not be seen, and not get into fights. What about the adventuring party who talks their way out of every situation they can, and save fighting for the ultimate last resort.
    Where's their 20-40 pages of class abilities, spells, feats, talents, advantages, and the rules to back up those kind of scenes? Hint:  nWoD 1e and 2e do this, Exalted 2e did this, Legend of the Five Rings did and continues to do this, and 7th Sea 1e did this. So, it can be done. But what about in other games?
    "Pick a game that already does this."  No, that is, in fact, not the answer. By saying that you're saying 'this setting, regardless of what it is, doesn't have that happen'. That an entire portion of what you would expect in a living, breathing world is, by some unseen force, completely off-limit to the players.
    Which is, frankly, incredibly sad.

    The other thing is, what about adversaries who aren't evil monsters or villains? You can have conflict where both sides are, essentially, decent people but with goals which are at cross-purposes. There can be a plethora of creatures out there which aren't evil at all, that the PCs can encounter.
    Make the civilized world, you know, civilized.
    Consider, for example, taking Eurasia, 'dark ages'. People traveled, they got to visit other countries, other continents, and you had scads of kingdoms littering the region, rubbing up against each other. Are there regions that are 'off limits' or 'unexplored'?  Certainly. And that's where the monsters are strongest. But what if those kingdoms were the more sociable races.  Not just human, dwarf, elf, etc.  But other creatures, who are not necessarily PC races, but could still be there, still be in the bestiary. Give the GM the tools to add a bunch of other cultures to the world that's in the same book with everything else.

    I am always of the view that it's easier to remove something, than to put a thing in when you're at the table. The GM shouldn't have to spend X hours coming up with brand new classes, abilities, feats, talents, etc, for the players for a specific type of campaign. They shouldn't have to spend X hours coming up with brand new races for the players to interact with.
    If the PCs want to play 'gentleman adventurers', the kind who spend six months of the year attending parties, playing political shenanigans for prestige, get involved in a bit of skullduggery and mysteries, politic with the nobility and royals, and then for the other six months visit new locations, hobnob with the high society there (if there is any), then go out and beat the bejeezus out of monsters, that six months of downtime should be just as viable to play, gain XP, and use your abilities on as the other six months.
    Hell.  Flip the script.  The dungeon delving is the off-camera downtime, and the 'you make it home safe' and the stories of what you did during the time you were out in strange lands can be told around the social circles, getting you influence and prestige, while sticking it to your rivals.  Maybe a sword duel or pistols at dawn might come of it, who knows?

    Or, maybe, the PCs want to play the kind of team that does heists, slip in and out without being seen or heard.  No alarms tripped, no guards alerted. (I had an elf in Shadowrun who had that as their forte - they could cloak the entire PC party and prevent the PCs from being spotted, heard, anything). The game can focus on them getting in and out, trying to disarm traps, bypass security, and not get caught - and yes, sometimes they'd fail, but maybe, perhaps, they could be good at their job - even at Level 1?
    See, here's the thing.  I hear 'you're at the start of your career' a lot with RPGs. And yet, somehow, these PCs are quite adept at hitting things. Even at 1st level, if they go up against your typical 'level 1' threat, they're mowing these things down, and casting spells, and back-stabbing, and what have you.
    Be stealthy and not be seen?  Sorry, no. That's just too difficult.
    Ignoring how damn hard it is to be good at sword fighting, knife-throwing, and probably the training it takes to be even a novice spellcaster.  How about the same amount of effort at things other than killing things good?
    The bard, maybe, can be extra good at talkie, and have class abilities and magic that has absolutely nothing to do with killing things better. Or the cleric having the ability to bolster a community, heal the sick and injured, and make the town a much better place, while having nothing aimed towards killing things better. Or the mage working on conjurations, illusions, repairing things, helping the community, with nothing to do with killing things.
    And here's the thing.
    I have created more than one Shadowrun character who very little interest in shooting people and killing things. One was that 'get in, get out', character, and the other was simply a getaway driver.  Both were phenomenal at killing things. But it wasn't the focus, and it wasn't the majority of what they did.
    What do you think?  Should games allow for things beyond combat?  Spells to be used in court, to conceal and silence and disguise, to allow you to do things far beyond combat?  Special abilities that can influence the court or give you the resources to be just as dangerous among the nobles as a warrior would be in the dungeon?
    How about if the bestiary was more than 'things to kill from A to Z' and more 'things you can meet, a bunch are hostile, but a bunch really aren't'?

Let me know!