An rpg at its core

One of the core things to identify in rpgs is the core experience. The core game loop. The 'average session' (which never ever occurs ever, but that's another story).

In Dungeons and Dragons it's... well, meeting some folk in a tavern, go to a dungeon, kill stuff and loot stuff, fight a dragon and plunder its horde, return to town and sell stuff and go back to a tavern.

In Shadowrun its infiltrate a super secret corporate facility, hack the mainframe and steal the super secret data. Then it all goes to hell and blowing peoples heads off with a shot-gun. You parachute off the top of the hi-rise to safety and sell your data, only to realize they will only pay half for it and you guys are as broke as you were before.

In Vampires the Masquerade You characters struggle in the life of 90s punk undead dipping into the seedy culture of the World of Darkness

In Dread you die.

In Moderne Mysticism, you are an investigator charged with keeping the mythical world at bay. You go to a town (or building, or place), talk with the folk, then isolate and remove the mystical threat. You then proceed to tell exactly no one that you were even there.