I still have a copy of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Role playing Game book. It's pretty epic. Too bad the cartoon came out and ruined the fan base for it. -.-;

Torg was a very interesting concept. I bought all of the books for the first couple of years, but the problem was that the system was just awful. They had a totally innovative and interesting idea and then ruined it with a crap system.

Actually, I still play in a TORG campaign. The system is a little crunchy in places (power-push table, anyone?) but the Aysle magic system is ingenious, and all the different types of powers (cybernetics / Nile-Empire mathematics / Weird Science / Living Lands miracles) feel very different from one another.

What problems do you see in the game system?

--+--+--

My dead-on favorite obscure game is an easy decision: Crimefighters, a 16-page pulp action RPG by Zeb Cook, published in Dragon magazine, issue 47, March 1981. Illustrations by Jeff Dee and Bill Willingham. Fantastic rules. David Noonan's Pulp Heroes was the more recent d20 analogue.

Just came across this. Cartoon Action hour.
More info here.

The free pdf preview looks awesome. Can't wait for season 2 to come out.

Hiya.

I think *one* other person mentioned it: Powers & Perils ( http://abroere.xs4all.nl/pnp/ ; you can get all the rules at this site, totally ligit), an old system written by Richard Snider and published by Avalon Hill waaaaay back in the early 80's ('83, iirc).

Another system that I quite like and isn't played by many is Dangerous Journey's (ala, "Mythus" as it is sometimes known). This was a mammoth game system created by EGG back when he fled from TSR. Alas, TSR (who's acronym at that time was referred to as "They Sue Regularly") decided that EGG's brain was property of TSR and sued him and GDW (the company that published it). GDW didn't have the obscene money TSR did, and so settled out of court and within the year closed up shop.

Oh, and another masterpiece is Synibarr.

:)

^_^

Paul L. Ming

*PS: I'm joking about Synibarr...even though I do own two copies of the rule book for some infernal reason... Still, it is probably the best representation of an anime-style system written by an egotistical chaotic-neutral meglomaniac...so there is that. ;)

Alas, TSR (who's acronym at that time was referred to as "They Sue Regularly") decided that EGG's brain was property of TSR and sued him and GDW (the company that published it). GDW didn't have the obscene money TSR did, and so settled out of court and within the year closed up shop.

I think I can safely say that there was no love lost between TSR and Gygax when he created Dangerous Journeys, and that the animus fueled the willingness to sue as opposed to negotiate in other ways. But, TSR sued DJ as a violation of the "look and feel" of AD&D, which was a debateable point. The rulebooks used Gygax's name and Larry Elmore cover art, the pages has an analogous layout, and there were odd things like, instead of player characters having hit points, your heroic personage (HP) had PC's.

And, according to Gygax himself, "Eventually, we settled and I'm pleased to say that I think the amount of money it cost them to sue us and pay out in settlement was what really drove TSR under."

But it was a game where characters had something like 18 stats (2d6+8), which added and combined in different ways, and something like 12 entirely different magic skills, and ... a lot of crunchy system.

I think The Morrow Project looks pretty interesting, though I've seen nothing but the old Dragon ads. Wasn't there another zombie apocalypse game with ads in the old Dragon?

You wouldn't by chance be referring to AFTERMATH! by FGU, would you? I really wouldn't define it as Zombie Apocalypse so much as 'After the bomb'. Another of the fifty bazillion games I've owned and read but never played.

I do know that Eden Games has some zombie love going on with their Universal system, but I've never played anything from them. I've been patiently waiting for City of Heroes but I think that's pretty much been buried in the "took too long to bring to market, for whatever reason and now is no longer feasable, again for whatever reason" category.

As to Twilight 2000, I couldn't stand that game. NOT because it was a bad game, I'm sure it was fun, but at this point I'm an infantryman, probably about 2 years into it, and the game just seemed like more work. Oh boy! I get to pretend to drive around in HMMWVs and eat MREs! Wheee!! Sorry, but there was no charm there for me! LOL. Had a lot of guys in the barracks play it regularly though. I stopped talking to them ... >.>

Dragon Warriors - a fantastic little game. Featuring a simple unified system, 4 paths of magic (8 if you include the separate elementalists), magic item creation rules, numerous scenarios including 2 campaigns and a well worked setting similar to 10th century Europe - all packed into 6 Octavo size paperback books!

Perfect for tucking into a schoolbag for those lunchtime campaigns...

HELL YEAH! And the best bit? Mongoose is bringing it back!

I'll chime in with Torg as well. Great concept and I thought the mechanics were a fantastic approach and I agree the Magic system was pretty good (and the spell design brillient). I've got all of it apart from the last couple of books (city books I think, with anime style artwork). I'm ready to run it at a moment's notice.

Cheers
Mark

Two of my favorites, though I don't know how "little known" they are. Rarely played might be a better term.

Ars Magica- Best magic system ever. This is my favorite RPG and I never get to play.

7th Sea- The game that started off so grand and died in the mass of d20 material that got produced during the bubble. The d20 version was a pale shadow of what the original was.

One that I fortunately came upon lately is The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen. This game is more of a story-telling/drinking game then an RPG, but it calls itself one on the cover, so there you go. if you ever manage to get your hands on this game, then buy it, read it and play it as much as you can. It's also a great resource for increasing creativity and spontenaety skills, since the entire thing is making up stories on the spot based on topics given by someone else. it also has the easiest character creation of any game ever. there are 3 steps:
1) write down your name.
2) put a title in front of it such as count or baron or countess or etc...
3) underline your name twice.

that's it. a great game. and a fine book and movie if you can get your hands on either.

One of my favorites which may or may not be 'little known' depending upon which circles you hang out in: Nightbane. I fell in love with the story concept and character customization, but the palladium system itself was just so repulsive to me that I never played a game.

One of my favorites which may or may not be 'little known' depending upon which circles you hang out in: Nightbane. I fell in love with the story concept and character customization, but the palladium system itself was just so repulsive to me that I never played a game.

I isn't to hard to convert the whole thing to the witchcraft system (remember - the core book is for free...)

http://www.geocities.com/patchlord/unisystem/unipall.html#NIGHTSPAWN

Most of the Nightbane Powers are rules-light and can be taken as written, the witchcraft magic system and spellcaster types fit the nightbane mood just fine (as does the rest of the witchcraft world.)
I really love the nightbane setting though until I encountered witchcraft the books only were a "good read" because I couldn't stand playing a horror/action game with palladium rules.

BESM
Much, much easier than Heroes and the 3rd ed. is streamlined. Even if you got Anime on the front, you can play anything, everywhere.

Jadeclaw
Real nice setting, great art, but the mechanics lacked a bit.

Btw 'Morrow' has a lot of online supllements which are great for any postapocalypse game. http://www.thesupplybunker.net/morrow.htm

Suzerain.
But I might be a little biased :)

Any we will be selling through Paizo shortly. If that grabs your attention take the time to visit the treasure section of website for all manner of cool free stuff.

Maelstrom
Awesome rules! Very realistic.

I also enjoyed Aeon/Trinity (I have the original Storyteller System Hardcover), but never got into Aberrant or Adventure!. (Incedently, why does noone ever mention Adventure! when they reference Trinity and Aberrant?) I had the chance to buy the Hardcover for Trinity when it still had the Aeon title, but procrastinated and missed out. Kicking myself for that! =(

Until just now, I thought I was the only one that had ever played it.

I think you could probably say that about almost any "little known game"! ;)-

Diction wrote:

One of my favorites which may or may not be 'little known' depending upon which circles you hang out in: Nightbane. I fell in love with the story concept and character customization, but the palladium system itself was just so repulsive to me that I never played a game.

I isn't to hard to convert the whole thing to the witchcraft system (remember - the core book is for free...)

http://www.geocities.com/patchlord/unisystem/unipall.html#NIGHTSPAWN

Most of the Nightbane Powers are rules-light and can be taken as written, the witchcraft magic system and spellcaster types fit the nightbane mood just fine (as does the rest of the witchcraft world.)
I really love the nightbane setting though until I encountered witchcraft the books only were a "good read" because I couldn't stand playing a horror/action game with palladium rules.

And it doesn't hurt that CJ wrote both books ;)

* Abyss (Global Games)
* Aftermath (Fantasy Games Unlimited)
* Behind Enemy Lines (The Champions / FASA)
* CyberPUNK (R. Talsorian)
* DC Heroes / Mayfair Exponential Game System
* Dark Heresy (Games Workshop / Black Company)
* DragonQuest (the late, great SPI)
* Flashing Blades! (Fantasy Games Unlimited)
* GAMMA WORLD (TSR / White Wolf)
* GateWar (Escape Ventures, Inc.)
* Iron Kingdoms (Privateer Press)
* Justice, Inc. (HERO Games)
* Justifiers (StarChilde)
* Lace and Steel (Pharos Press)
* Lords of Fantasy (indie)
* Mercenaries, Spies & Private Eyes (Flying Buffalo, Inc.)
* Millennium's End (Chameleon Eclectic)
* Nightlife (Stellar Games)
* RuneQuest (Chaosium / Mongoose Press)
* Sky Realms of Jorune (indie / Chessex)
* SLA Industries (indie / WotC)
* Space 1889 (Games Design Worksop / Heliograph Press)
* Star Wars / D6 Game (West End Games)
* Stormbringer/Elric! (Chaosium / Mongoose Press)
* Swordbearer! (indie / Fantasy Games Unlimited)
* Talislanta (various / Morrigan Press)
* Tekumel (various)
* Traveller (Games Design Workshop)
* Tunnels & Trolls (Flying Buffalo, Inc.)
* Twilight 2000 (Games Design Workshop)
* Villains & Vigilantes (Fantasy Games Unlimited)
* Universe! (SPI)
* Wasteworld (Manticore Productions)

That's off the top of my head. ;)

-James Bond 007
-Toon
-Inomine
-Twilight 2000
-Cyberpunk 2020
-Car Wars
-Paranoia
-TMNT
-All Flesh Must Be Eaten

Does anyone else remember Man.Myth and Magic from Yaquinto..they also did a Pirate game where you could take tea and crumpets with ladies of easy virtue . The introductory adventure for that was I think the first to feature an overtly gay villian in RPGs

Cortex System RPG anyone? Anyone? Beuhler?

Am I the only one that's played this? It started out as the Serenity RPG, and has been refined through the Battlestar Galactica RPG and the Demon Hunters RPG.

I am eagerly anticipating the release of the generic version of the system in the next month or so.

Fair is fair! How about some little know RPGs that you can suggest? Now I am not talking the big one like Vampire, Shadowrun, D&D or Traveler. How about some little known games that have that certain edge... that extra color... that fun that keeps you returning for more.

I have to agree with some of the earlier posters:

* TOON
* It Came from the Late, Late Show
* RuneQuest
* Forge of Chaos

In service,

Rich

Go to The Original Dr. Games Site.

Battlelords of the 23rd Century

Absolutely fun game! d100 system. skill based, deadly combat, deep space shadownrun, working for the corps...

Nothing like having a 9ft tall Ram Python paratrooper that can't remember to count to 3.

The books contain humor sections...like famous last words...

I can upgrade my armor after this mission

and

Is napalm flamable?

------------------------------------------------------

I'm also a huge fan of Earthdawn, Gamma world (1e and 2e), Deadlands, Paranoia, 7th Sea (by Pinnacle Entertainment group), and L5R.

Also, TMNT was fun. (palladium games)

Battlelords Rocked! Looking back, I dont think I've ever had more fun with a group as when I was playing B23. The game was complex as all heck using percentiles but with sourcebooks like "Uncle Ernies Minions of Doom" you cant help but have fun with the universe.

Chronically Depressed Cloned Gene Humans

Smoking addicted six fingered space halflings (Orion Rogue)

Four armed mind-flayers who eat human flesh (Phentari)

Giant Stupid Lizards (Ram Pythons) who worship glorify farting because it's what the volcanos do.

The perpetually picked on smarter little brothers of the Ram Pythons (Python Lizard).

Neurotic Psychic aliens with powers to crush solar systems.
Cat people

Even the art is amusing. The system is just really complicated and they dont really have any rules for vehicles. I'd take shadowrun over it for a regular game but it's a great play anytime.

-Stabbity