A couple of games I would mention - more in the disappointing vein that they were actually horrible:
Amazing Engine System - esp. Magitech and For Faerie Queen and Country. The former was basically D&D in the modern world; the latter was Victorian era adventures assuming that Faeries existed; but not really steampunk as such.
Designed by Zeb Cook, who I think is one of the RPG greats, it was a sort GURPS "light" system. It seemed a great idea, but honestly the settings were generally not well done or interesting.
I think someone else mentioned this, and with all due respect to the late Mr Gygax, but another disappointment was Lejendary Adventures. Maybe its becuase you hoped it would have been the "new" D&D, but overall nothing in the design or setting impresses, despite its emphasis on role-playing.
My other mention, and I don't know if it qualifies as an RPG so much as a table-top battle game would be Steve Jackson's Car Wars. Some folks loved it; I found it overly tedious and rule-laden - the idea of a Mad-Max style battle game seemed cool, but found it lacking in actual execution.
My last mention - it's more of a love/hate thing - would be Tunnels and Trolls by Flying Buffalo. It was sort of a D&D alternative (and pretty old - 1975 release) and mechanically there was nothing there that impressed compared to D&D. However - these were the guys who created the very fun Grimtooth's Traps series. So, as a result there was a certain sense of dark humor that made the system fun - I would say Hackmaster comes closest to matching that style of bloodiness and fun.
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I've played a lot of Car Wars, but it has some builds that are jusrt better than others: pickup truck with three linked rocket lauchers forward and targeting computer could take out anything. And it was cheap, too! It did get boring after a while, though.
Myself, I can't stand Vampire and the other White Wolf games. The system is sorta OK, but the fluff grates, and the self-rigtheousness of the hard-core players.... Gack!
Myself, I can't stand Vampire and the other White Wolf games. The system is sorta OK, but the fluff grates, and the self-rigtheousness of the hard-core players.... Gack!
Well, hate the player, not the game.
On the other hand, I don't like soccer, mainly because of the "fans".
My vote has to be the DC Universe rpg from West End Games. Clunky and not much fun to play. Mayfair's DC Heroes that came out before it was great!
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Cyberpunk V3 aka "The quest for more money".
The material might be salvaged if I could get past the bad "art" without gouging my eyes out with a spoon. It's just bad photos of dolls.Luckily I only bought the pdf so I didn't have to set fire to the book.
UGH! I was so pissed when I got this home and read through it, as far as I could get that is. Totally destroyed everything that made Cyberpunk cool.
So being that I do have the book, if youd still like to participate, send me the matches and I'll burn it.
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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Cyberpunk V3 aka "The quest for more money".
Was this the "FUZION" system version?
I can't speak to the C'punk FUZION, but the Champions FUZION was an astonishingly bad idea. They took the kep virtue of Champions (the ability to design exactly the character you wanted to play) and nerfed it to make the game friendlier to new players.
It was like announcing to C++ code-jockeys that, from here on, we'll be working in JAVA, restricted to a couple dozen predefined libraries.
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Cyberpunk V3 aka "The quest for more money".
Was this the "FUZION" system version?
I can't speak to the C'punk FUZION, but the Champions FUZION was an astonishingly bad idea. They took the kep virtue of Champions (the ability to design exactly the character you wanted to play) and nerfed it to make the game friendlier to new players.
It was like announcing to C++ code-jockeys that, from here on, we'll be working in JAVA, restricted to a couple dozen predefined libraries.
I guess it was, they did invent Fuzion after all. I never made it to the actual rules. I don't even know if there where actual rules in that train wreck.
I wouldn't know. I never paid attention to Champions until Hero 5th. GURPS Supers worked pretty good for the crazy stories we'd play.
Coding is like watching paint dry. }: P
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I'm thinking of 2, but I can't remember either's names.
Somewhere around Champions (I'm thinking 1978-1981 - I was still in High School) someone released a TERRIBLE superhero game that you couldn't even figure out how to play from the rules! Absolute trash.
Again, not exactly sure when, but I suspect somewhere around 1984, someone released an Arthurian RPG that the manual read EXACTLY like a Computer Tech manual - it even had the cardboard slip cover and was formated in the exact same method as a tech manual. Kinda lost all the flavor there ...
I'm going to see if I can find those two online and embarass myself.
EDIT:
Ahh. Much easier than I thought that would be.
The Arthurian game was Hidden Kingdom: Classic Arthurian Roleplaying, by New Rules, Inc in 1983.
I am not positive, but I *believe* the supers game was Superhero 2044, by Gamescience, 1977 (author is Donald Saxman.) The name sounds real familiar, but the cover isn't ringing a bell. I continue my research.
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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Somewhere around Champions (I'm thinking 1978-1981 - I was still in High School) someone released a TERRIBLE superhero game that you couldn't even figure out how to play from the rules! Absolute trash.
I am not positive, but I *believe* the supers game was Superhero 2044, by Gamescience, 1977 (author is Donald Saxman.) The name sounds real familiar, but the cover isn't ringing a bell. I continue my research.
Superhero 2044. When you described the game, that was my guess. I still have it. Bad game. Absolutely. Probably not as unplayable as Palladium's Heroes, Inc, but who can tell?
It seems that the superhero genre is a magnet for half-baked game designs.
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I've heard awful things about a lot of games, but managed to avoid them.
The worst I sat down and read was Everway. I read it twice, and I still have no idea what it was about, or how the mechanics (or lack thereof) were supposed to work. It was like free association, on weed, packed up in a very pretty package.
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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Everway I think, is a good game with a badly-written rulebook. I've been at three conventions where Jonathan Tweet has sat players down, walked through the elaborate character design process, and run good adventures using the rules.
I've run good adventures, after watching the process.
But, yeah, just starting with the rulebook would be really hard.
(The setting and themes are similar in a way to a combination of "ground-level Amber" and maybe the novels based on the "Myst" computer game. You're better-than-average characters, but still very much humans, from pre-industrial magic-using societies, able to cross realities (a) at commonly used gate locations, and (b) seldomly, through difficult and damaging random magical effects.
It's a fun setting with a lot of intrigue, a very simple system that encourages in-character decision-making, but with a magic system that needs a lot of work to be robust.
I wouldn't say they are the "most awful" roleplaying games, but these were pretty bad, from my experience :
- Battletech : I don't see how this is a RPG, that's a figurine game.
- Berlin XVIII : Post apocalypse junk, difficult to find something worse than that.
- Chill : A fake and failed version of Call of Cthulhu.
- Cyberpunk : Archetype of the genre maybe, but too many stereotypes.
- GURPS : Too generic to be good, unfortunately.
- In Nomine Satanis/Magna Veritas : I know this one is popular, but all i see is a game for immature teenagers.
- Mega : French multigenre game, with ridiculous character creation and combat system.
- Shadowrun : Good concept, lighter than Cyberpunk, but bad system.
- Star Wars (d20) : Jedi with levels ? No thanks, i prefer my West End Games Star Wars (d6).
- Torg : Another failure in the generic multigenre.
- Trauma : /yawn.
- Vampire : I know i might regret saying that, but another game for teenagers, little goths, fans of Buffy, Lestat and others...
Everway I think, is a good game with a badly-written rulebook. The setting and themes are similar in a way to a combination of "ground-level Amber" and maybe the novels based on the "Myst" computer game
I feel ya on that one, Chris. I mentioned it in the "little-known RPGs that you love" thread as being an interesting mix. I think I compared it more as a cross of TORG and the Magic Planewalkers idea, but your explanation sounds more dead-on in terms of atmosphere and story.
It seems that the superhero genre is a magnet for half-baked game designs.
By the way, not to cross-over game formats too much, but that's one of the reasons I have been so impressed with City of Heroes, the MMORPG. It has had the potential to really suck, but it has a strong background flavor and a generally well-done powers design. I understand that Eden Studios is supposed to come out with a traditional RPG table-top version, but that it's been tied-up as the IP has gone through a transition from one company to another. In any case, I look forward to seeing if they were able to keep the original flavor and design of the computer game. It certainly has great potential for now.
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RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32
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Myself, I can't stand Vampire and the other White Wolf games. The system is sorta OK, but the fluff grates, and the self-rigtheousness of the hard-core players.... Gack!
*sheds a tear* I thought we were friends!
I highly advise you to take a look at the new World of Darkness stuff. They've made the fluff less "stuffy" and given a lot more story freedom to Storytellers and players alike. You may find it more appealing that the previous iterations. Also, the mechanics are 20x better than before. It's my new favorite! :D
- Vampire : I know i might regret saying that, but another game for teenagers, little goths, fans of Buffy, Lestat and others...
You will after I exsanguinate you with my teeth, which I filed to a point to look cool.
But seriously: Saying that Vampire's just for little goths and Blade fans is like saying that D&D is just for bloodthirsty power gamers who want to play in steam tunnels and murder people in real life.
Prejudice is an ugly thing.
I highly advise you to take a look at the new World of Darkness stuff. They've made the fluff less "stuffy" and given a lot more story freedom to Storytellers and players alike. You may find it more appealing that the previous iterations.
That's one of the big points of criticism for nWoD, especially from fans of the old.
I personally don't mind it. A more open and uncertain world grants the storyteller more freedom. Taking the wind out of rabid fanboys' sails is always a good thing. ;-)
Also, the mechanics are 20x better than before. It's my new favorite! :D
I love the nWoD mechanics - they're my favourite free-form ruleset (d20 being my favouirte class-based set, and L5R my favourite hybrid).
The worst game I ever read was Amber: The Diceless Roleplaying game.
Not only did it have no dice, a fatal flaw in my opinion, it had a HUGE entrance cost. The game is based on the Amber novels, and to understand anythign thats going on you have to actually read those novels most of the way through.
Then, once you got over the crazy way the world worked, and got past the super powerful munchkin aspect of the players being able to literally rewrite reality to transport themselves to any world they could think up (including a place where they were considered to be gods, and an entire army was training for the day when they would be lead into battle by the PC), it was actually possible for the players to completely screw each other over before character creation was even finished. The bidding system they had for defining who was the strongest, the best fighter, etc. was just insane.
We actually played a game and it lasted one session before we went back to D&D.
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RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32
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I highly advise you to take a look at the new World of Darkness stuff. They've made the fluff less "stuffy" and given a lot more story freedom to Storytellers and players alike. You may find it more appealing that the previous iterations.That's one of the big points of criticism for nWoD, especially from fans of the old.
I personally don't mind it. A more open and uncertain world grants the storyteller more freedom. Taking the wind out of rabid fanboys' sails is always a good thing. ;-)
I love the nWoD mechanics - they're my favourite free-form ruleset (d20 being my favouirte class-based set, and L5R my favourite hybrid).
Also, the mechanics are 20x better than before. It's my new favorite! :D
I've been a rabid WoD fanboi since I discovered the setting back in 1999 (I was a late bloomer). They've both got their merits and flaws (heh, gamer humor) but I find that, overall, I like the nWoD better. That said, I still play in a weekly oWoD game.
I wouldn't say they are the "most awful" roleplaying games, but these were pretty bad, from my experience :
- Torg : Another failure in the generic multigenre.
Step outside and say, that, buddy!
Okay, I'm calm now. But I disagree with you--I think no game has pulled of multigenre nearly so well as Torg.
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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Myself, I can't stand Vampire and the other White Wolf games. The system is sorta OK, but the fluff grates, and the self-rigtheousness of the hard-core players.... Gack!*sheds a tear* I thought we were friends!
I highly advise you to take a look at the new World of Darkness stuff. They've made the fluff less "stuffy" and given a lot more story freedom to Storytellers and players alike. You may find it more appealing that the previous iterations. Also, the mechanics are 20x better than before. It's my new favorite! :D
Given that you actually acknowledge that D&D is a game worthy of playing I doubt you are one of those self-righteous hard-core players of WoD. The latest Exalted ad is a good example of White Wolf's culture of elitism.
We've discussed this ad naseum on the chats, but while I like nWoD mechanics, I'm not a huge fan of the flavor as compared with oWoD. I really liked oMage, but nMage...well...
ATLANTIS!!! G@+ D~~N I HATE ATLANTIS!!! HOW F#~&ING STUPID IS THAT - ALL MAGIC COMES FROM ATLANTIS!!! YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE COMES FROM ATLANTIS? AQUAMAN. YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT - FISH-BOY HIMSELF. EVEN IF HE HAS A HARPOON HAND AND IS PLAYED BY THE DUDE FROM ENTOURAGE, HE'S STILL THE BIGGEST SISSY SUPER-HERO THIS SIDE OF KRYPTON. AND THE BOOK LOOKS LIKE HE DESIGNED IT - ALL AQUAMARINE AND GOLD. I CAN'T STAND TO BE SEEN WITH THAT THING IN PUBLIC - IT REMINDS ME OF A HIGH SCHOOL YEARBOOK CIRCA 1989. YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT ALL MAGIC DERIVES FROM A PLACE BEST KNOWN FOR NON-CHTHULU FISH PEOPLE AND AQUAMAN? WHERE THE BACKSTORY HAS THESE MORONS BUILDING A LITERAL LADDER TO THE OTHER PLANES IN THE UNIVERSE? WHO THOUGHT UP THIS BACK STORY? CAN WE HAVE ANOTHER ONE THAT IS LESS...WELL...GIRLY AND FRUITY?
WHAT? WHY AM I STILL TYPING IN CAPS?
OH WAIT...I AM...SORRY...
*cough*
Myself, I can't stand Vampire and the other White Wolf games. The system is sorta OK, but the fluff grates, and the self-rigtheousness of the hard-core players.... Gack!*sheds a tear* I thought we were friends!
I highly advise you to take a look at the new World of Darkness stuff. They've made the fluff less "stuffy" and given a lot more story freedom to Storytellers and players alike. You may find it more appealing that the previous iterations. Also, the mechanics are 20x better than before. It's my new favorite! :D
Given that you actually acknowledge that D&D is a game worthy of playing I doubt you are one of those self-righteous hard-core players of WoD. The latest Exalted ad is a good example of White Wolf's culture of elitism.
We've discussed this ad naseum on the chats, but while I like nWoD mechanics, I'm not a huge fan of the flavor as compared with oWoD. I really liked oMage, but nMage...well...
ATLANTIS!!! g~& d@~N I HATE ATLANTIS!!! HOW f&#!ING STUPID IS THAT - ALL MAGIC COMES FROM ATLANTIS!!! YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE COMES FROM ATLANTIS? AQUAMAN. YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT - FISH-BOY HIMSELF. EVEN IF HE HAS A HARPOON HAND AND IS PLAYED BY THE DUDE FROM ENTOURAGE, HE'S STILL THE BIGGEST SISSY SUPER-HERO THIS SIDE OF KRYPTON. AND THE BOOK LOOKS LIKE HE DESIGNED IT - ALL AQUAMARINE AND GOLD. I CAN'T STAND TO BE SEEN WITH THAT THING IN PUBLIC - IT REMINDS ME OF A HIGH SCHOOL YEARBOOK CIRCA 1989. YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT ALL MAGIC DERIVES FROM A PLACE BEST KNOWN FOR NON-CHTHULU FISH PEOPLE AND AQUAMAN? WHERE THE BACKSTORY HAS THESE MORONS BUILDING A LITERAL LADDER TO THE OTHER PLANES IN THE UNIVERSE? WHO THOUGHT UP THIS BACK STORY? CAN WE HAVE ANOTHER ONE THAT IS LESS...WELL...GIRLY AND FRUITY?
WHAT? WHY AM I STILL TYPING IN CAPS?
OH WAIT...I AM...SORRY...
*cough*
Someone forgot his meds today. :P
On topic...I remember my parents buying me Cyborg Commando back in the day since it had Gary Gygax's name on it (as did almost every D&D book I had). I don't really remember why (it was over 20 years ago), but I remember it being pretty pathetic.
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Anyone ever play Dragonraid, the Christian RPG?
I own a copy but never tried to play it. It is designed to be a method of evangelism, roleplaying, and bible study. The rules were written from a very specific doctrinal viewpoint but were otherwise fairly clear (IIRC). I would never lump it in with the worst RPGs of all time though it clearly would not appeal to everyone.
I'm with Fatey 110% on loving the mechanics of the nWoD, but I loathe the new Vampire, Werewolf and Mage- and I strongly agree with Sebastian on the Atlantis angle for the latter. Still, I am a HUGE nWoD Changeling fan, and I love Scion with a passion that threatens my marriage daily.
- Vampire : I know i might regret saying that, but another game for teenagers, little goths, fans of Buffy, Lestat and others...
I'm 34, and don't like Buffy or Lestat. I listen to a lot of genres of music. I like Vampire, and all the world of darkness games (I prefer the new games). None of the people I play with fit into your categories either.
-edit - D&D is still my favorite game.
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I'm with Fatey 110% on loving the mechanics of the nWoD, but I loathe the new Vampire, Werewolf and Mage- and I strongly agree with Sebastian on the Atlantis angle for the latter. Still, I am a HUGE nWoD Changeling fan, and I love Scion with a passion that threatens my marriage daily.
I'm totally with you. Good crunch, horrible fluff. See the thing is nWOD is a response to oWOD. They make everything you liked about the old terrible in the new version. On purpose! Nothing like game designers flexing their egos and taking a dump all over sacred cows. WoTC certainly took notes on that one.
Don't even mention that stinker Promethean, it's written so bad you can't even give it away.Changeling is their saving grace. They finally managed to produce something good despite their worst intentions. I think it might be because not a lot of people played the old edition so there's not such an impetus to destroy the parts people had previously enjoyed such as in vampire, mage, werewolf. And you know what's amazing is their hit is a limited series. No more books after Lords of Summer it seems, but they'll continue to churn out more vampire/werewolf/mage garbage.
Oh and in nWOD they hand out derangements like candy. Ignore the humanity/morality system entirely. It's only in there to hamstring you.
Cyborg Commando was pretty bad but you have to give G.G. a nod because he tapped into the whole Cyber Punk thing before other games did it better (Cyberpunk, Shadowrun, etc.). If only he had made it with more grit it might have caught on.
Anyone ever play Dragonraid, the Christian RPG?
LOL
I know about Dragonraid. We actually have a bunch of the books in the used bookstore I work at. We've only got a few rpg books on the shelves (all very common 1st edition books), and the Dragonraid have been sitting there for six years now. I've toyed with the idea of picking them up just for the fun of it... but in six years I just haven't had the will power to do it.
It does have the all time best skill ever, though. "Righteously Mingle with Evil". There is just no better skill in any game, ever.
ROFLMAO
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Changeling is their saving grace. They finally managed to produce something good despite their worst intentions. I think it might be because not a lot of people played the old edition so there's not such an impetus to destroy the parts people had previously enjoyed such as in vampire, mage, werewolf. And you know what's amazing is their hit is a limited series. No more books after Lords of Summer it seems, but they'll continue to churn out more vampire/werewolf/mage garbage.Oh and in nWOD they hand out derangements like candy. Ignore the humanity/morality system entirely. It's only in there to hamstring you.
That being said quite a few of the oWoD changeling fans like the new stuff as well, I'm still in WoD burnout myself and slightly narked at the way they treated their official fan group over the changeover another thing WoTC seem not to have noted.
Dragonraid is amusing, if you ignore the fact that a lot of the 'monsters' are probably your RL buddy who doesn't go to church in exaggerated form. Its not as vile as Racial Holy War, but the thought process behind monsters and encounters doesn't come from the nicer side of faith...
It does have the all time best skill ever, though. "Righteously Mingle with Evil". There is just no better skill in any game, ever.
Ok I've got to pick this up simply for this skill alone.
It does have the all time best skill ever, though. "Righteously Mingle with Evil". There is just no better skill in any game, ever.
Bah. Human Occupied Landfill can easily beat that. Some of its skills:
Operate Starship and Chew Gum At The Same Time
Turn Radios Into Howitzers
Organize Fundraiser
Make Someone Stop Living With Your Fist
Making Sharp Things Go Thru Soft Things That Scream And Bleed
Make People Do Your Bidding By Screaming Unintelligibly
Make Anything You Say Sound More Important Than The Voice Of God
Withstand/Enjoy Hellish Agony
Withstand Bagbipes (or other unholy sounds)
Running Blindly Into Eternal Damnation (cause you think you can win)
Tolerate Hideous Amounts Of Bloody Mutilation And Still Eat Fast Foods
Dramatic Entry
I'm surprised no one mentioned F.A.T.A.L.
That would involve admitting to having read it.
Well, I'll admit it. All the recent discussion of bad RPGs prompted me to track down the F.A.T.A.L. PDF (second edition, allegedly sanitized), and I skimmed it.
Some games have bad rules. Some games have bad fluff. A few games are just bad, in the "morally reprehensible" sense. F.A.T.A.L. is all three.
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RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32
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Bah. Human Occupied Landfill can easily beat that. Some of its skills:
Operate Starship and Chew Gum At The Same Time
Turn Radios Into Howitzers
Organize Fundraiser
Make Someone Stop Living With Your Fist
Making Sharp Things Go Thru Soft Things That Scream And Bleed
Make People Do Your Bidding By Screaming Unintelligibly
Make Anything You Say Sound More Important Than The Voice Of God
Withstand/Enjoy Hellish Agony
Withstand Bagbipes (or other unholy sounds)
Running Blindly Into Eternal Damnation (cause you think you can win)
Tolerate Hideous Amounts Of Bloody Mutilation And Still Eat Fast Foods
Dramatic Entry
And let's not forget:
That Crazy Bruce Lee S+$~
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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Well, yeah, but HOL was *trying* to be bad. It's a parody.
Anybody ever play Woof! Meow!, the game where you play dogs and cats. Normal dogs and cats. Ekeing out survival in the back yard.
It's, um, well-excuted. (After all, the rules can be pretty simple.) But it's just sincere enough to be nuts.
I also know about Pokethulu and PP&P (Plüsch, Power & Plunder) where you play stuffed animals.
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Well I own (and once tried to play) "Junior DSA - Der Geheimbund des Schwarzen Auges", a terrible RPG light aimed at children. The players portrayed fighters, scouts and wizards whos job it was to supervise a magical library and prevent the books from changing. The worst adventure in the series would be "Hilfe, der Zauberlehrling ertrinkt" where the players had to save the apprentice from Goethes famous poem from drowning by collecting parts of a magical hammer in a forest (Forest of Doom anyone?) The other adventures weren't much better. The rhymed spells were even worse than the normal Dark Eye ones (prior 4th edition).
Most other RPGs that failed me did so mostly because of my players. You can't have a serious Werewolf Wild West campaign when the characters are named Jack Daniels, Johnny Walker and Jim Beam. It's also probably a cultural thing as most germans of my generations don't have a very strong attachment to the old west. In the Sailor Moon RPG I can at least blame unbalanced character creation rules for Sailor Nocturnes quest for total destruction, but I won't call it a bad game per se either.
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LINK WARNING: The review itself is fine, enjoyable, and well worth reading. However, near the top of the review is another link labeled "Timecube.com." Don't click on this link. Seriously, don't, or your head will explode and you will die.I thought everyone knew that the worst RPG ever was The World of Synnibarr by Raven c.s. McCracken and Bryce Thelin.
I bought a copy just to see how bad it was and it is pretty bad. Its the only RPG I ever bought that I did not, as I read it, even try to make a character for.
EDIT: A Review of Synnibarr
F$$%, man. Is that for real?
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f&~%, man. Is that for real?LINK WARNING: The review itself is fine, enjoyable, and well worth reading. However, near the top of the review is another link labeled "Timecube.com." Don't click on this link. Seriously, don't, or your head will explode and you will die.I thought everyone knew that the worst RPG ever was The World of Synnibarr by Raven c.s. McCracken and Bryce Thelin.
I bought a copy just to see how bad it was and it is pretty bad. Its the only RPG I ever bought that I did not, as I read it, even try to make a character for.
EDIT: A Review of Synnibarr
Both the World of Syninibarr and Timecube are for real.
In fact, as I assume you are asking about timecube, I think the guy who writes it has debated people publically (like at MIT). I would have to check on that but I seem to remember it as being true.
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Bad RPG is so subjective for me. I mean, if I'm going to say a game that was sad, I'd say "Snakes on a Plane RPG". It was a page that explained how you rolled a d6, checked if a snake ate you, and then kept fighting snakes.
Now, if I have to base it on a game having bad press either because of its company or its back story or its gamers, then I have to say Exalted (or Vampire or Werewolf or Mage). The game, for me, isn't that bad at all (albeit, I find it somewhat repetitive on the crunch sense, but that's me and I'm usually wrong), but some (NOT ALL) of the arguments for the game are usually mired in too many of the bad arguments from the players or the company. As Sebastian said, the newer fluff has... well, for me, become less. That being said, it still isn't the worst game ever. Actually, if the people here who defended it and played it were the majority (and they are close, 33% I'd say), I'd even give it another chance.
F.A.T.A.L. is the worst game ever. I've read it. I've attempted to make a character (which I quickly gave up on). I've deleted gleefully the pdf. I've apologized to women in my life for even knowing about it.
We've discussed this ad naseum on the chats, but while I like nWoD mechanics, I'm not a huge fan of the flavor as compared with oWoD. I really liked oMage, but nMage...well...
ATLANTIS!!! g*% d&!N I HATE ATLANTIS!!! HOW f@#*ING STUPID IS THAT - ALL MAGIC COMES FROM ATLANTIS!!! YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE COMES FROM ATLANTIS? AQUAMAN. YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT - FISH-BOY HIMSELF. EVEN IF HE HAS A HARPOON HAND AND IS PLAYED BY THE DUDE FROM ENTOURAGE, HE'S STILL THE BIGGEST SISSY SUPER-HERO THIS SIDE OF KRYPTON. AND THE BOOK LOOKS LIKE HE DESIGNED IT - ALL AQUAMARINE AND GOLD. I CAN'T STAND TO BE SEEN WITH THAT THING IN PUBLIC - IT REMINDS ME OF A HIGH SCHOOL YEARBOOK CIRCA 1989. YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT ALL MAGIC DERIVES FROM A PLACE BEST KNOWN FOR NON-CHTHULU FISH PEOPLE AND AQUAMAN? WHERE THE BACKSTORY HAS THESE MORONS BUILDING A LITERAL LADDER TO THE OTHER PLANES IN THE UNIVERSE? WHO THOUGHT UP THIS BACK STORY? CAN WE HAVE ANOTHER ONE THAT IS LESS...WELL...GIRLY AND FRUITY?
WHAT? WHY AM I STILL TYPING IN CAPS?
OH WAIT...I AM...SORRY...
*cough*
thank you
I thought I was alone in that feelingAtlantis sucks no matter who does it
I hate that myth/story/whatever piece of crap
I will admit to owning a copy of The World of Synnibarr. I bought it just to have a copy because it's that bad it makes for a conversation piece on my bookshelf. Of course now, admittedly, I sometimes worry that it's going to rape my other books in the middle of the night (which is why it's next to the BoED and a P-Chem textbook, because they both deserve it).
I need to find a copy of Senzar just to have another gaming eyesore.
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F.A.T.A.L. is the worst game ever. I've read it. I've attempted to make a character (which I quickly gave up on). I've deleted gleefully the pdf. I've apologized to women in my life for even knowing about it.
F.A.T.A.L.'s ability to induce male guilt by simply existing is impressive in and of itself.
It does have the all time best skill ever, though. "Righteously Mingle with Evil". There is just no better skill in any game, ever.Bah. Human Occupied Landfill can easily beat that. Some of its skills:
Operate Starship and Chew Gum At The Same Time
Turn Radios Into Howitzers
Organize Fundraiser
Make Someone Stop Living With Your Fist
Making Sharp Things Go Thru Soft Things That Scream And Bleed
Make People Do Your Bidding By Screaming Unintelligibly
Make Anything You Say Sound More Important Than The Voice Of God
Withstand/Enjoy Hellish Agony
Withstand Bagbipes (or other unholy sounds)
Running Blindly Into Eternal Damnation (cause you think you can win)
Tolerate Hideous Amounts Of Bloody Mutilation And Still Eat Fast Foods
Dramatic Entry
Talk about a game that rules as humorous reading but would be a trainwreck to try and play! (not that I think the meth-heads that wrote it in late night Boston IHOPs really cared). I LOVE reading this game book, but I would never play it. It's like an RPG to end all RPGs.