What isn't cliche anymore?

I may have the free time to write an rpg soon, but I want to do something unusual that hasn't been done so much it's a cliche (grimdark future, fantasy, bitchy supernaturals, etc). But I don't want it to be so unusual that no one plays it because there's no demand for it. Therefore I am asking: what do you think hasn;t been done that there's a demand for? Or at least hasn't been done well that there might be demand for.

Swords & Planets genre (like A Princess of Mars)

Robinsonades (desert island stories/survivalist fiction)

Are there still enough people who'd play a sword and planets game?

I'm currently running one, so yeah.

Hell, yeah!
I ran a short BECMI campaign with that premise. I used some stuff from Geoffrey McKinney's Carcosa supplement.

Don't worry about Veeky Forums's pretentious bullshit about cliche's. None of us play enough to actually have seen even half the things we complain about being tired of.

Well swords and planets can't be any weirder than the ideas I was considering...

Check -punk genres and pick one. Dieselpunk, dreampunk, biopunk. Shit like that is a good start. From then on you could make something new

Stop being concerned about what a bunch of grognards who don't actually play RPGs pretend to think. If you want to do something because you think it's cool, do it.

"Cliche" is a relative term.
Veeky Forums is an enthusiast community which has willingly exposed itself to a much larger than normal quantity of genre fiction and rpg material and has then spent much longer than normal discussing it.
What people on Veeky Forums consider cliche will be much broader than what most of the populace considers cliche.
Personally I'd focus less on genres that haven't been made into rpg's and more on genres that have only been made into bad rpg's.

>-punk
>not cliche
HA HA HA HA HA
HA
HA
HA
HA

It may have been "new" 30 or 40 years ago, but nowadays, all it takes to make a "-punk" genre is to pick any sort of technology, make it unrealistically commonplace and powerful, and make a clothing line--sorry, "fashion statement"--loosely based on its aesthetics. The only reason "biopunk" hasn't become more popular is because people aren't comfortable with wearing meat (except for Lady Gaga, but she hasn't been relevant for years).

>cuckpunk
>cliche

>cuckpunk
>60's~70's sexual revolution blown even more out of proportion (with optional MRA counter-revolution)
>Sexual safety (and its enforcers, STDs) have been effectively eradicated and contraception is 100% effective
>Everyone walks around in skimpy clothing, gimp suits, or nothing at all, with wifebeaters and daisy-dukes reserved for formal occasions
See how it works?

For what purpose?

Call of Cthulhu/Who framed Rodger Rabbit with the Toons as a force trying to corrupt humanity to be more like them so that we can survive the coming of the old gods.

You don't actually know what punk means, do you?

Neither do [insert -punk genre here] fans. Punk is supposed to be about rebellion against an established social norm that has turned the world into a real or perceived dystopia. Cyberpunk got it right at first, but when computers didn't end up literally eating us it went by the wayside, and the computer became our friend. But if steampunk ever had any truly rebellious aspects, they were replaced by cogfoppery and ALL CAPS, GENTLEMAN/LADY ADVENTURER ham and cheese.

If the whole work can be described with two words, it's a cliche.
>a science fiction setting that's not a utopia
OMG SO TIRED OF THIS GRIMDARK SHIT

Demand is more often created than discovered. Few people can tell you what they want until they see it.

This. If you want to make something that's "in demand", rewrite D&D for the fiftieth time.

Stop devoting your free time mainly to genre fandoms. Read books, look at art, seek out a film that wasn't developed in Hollywood, go out and do things unrelated to gaming.

Sounds a lot like my setting. Except complete eridication of STDs and 100% effective contraception no side effects were made possible by biotechnology in 2060's

So, Brave New World minus most of the more interesting bits?

Age of Discovery/Early Colonialism seems to be pretty underused in RPGs. Pirates we have lots of, but very few "daring explorers with fancy helmets travelling across the world to explore lands unknown".

Ancient Space-faring, like that movie about King Arthur and his knights finding an alien ship and travelling to Mars. Extra points if space behaves in a manner consistent with pre-modern views, like what we see in Space 1889 or Spelljammer.

Early Anthropocene, like cavemen and hunter-gatherers. Sprinkle some made up extremely ancient civilisation if you want to add some more sophisticated shenanigans.

80's Businessmen. Engage in hostile takeovers, snort coke off a hooker's butt, yell your lungs out at the Stock Exchange, lobby the government using a phone that's built into your car, wear suspenders.