Obscure RPGs

[timbannock]

Wildside Gaming System: Fantasy Roleplay Edition
Yeah, I helped playtest it, and it's pretty much the worst thing I've ever played. During playtesting, my group gave it the nickname CARPS: Crappy-A$$ Role-Playing System.

AtAmazon
http://www.amazon.com/Wildside-Gaming-System-Fantasy-Role-Playing/dp/0809511142

(note the very first 1-star review...that's from one of the playtesters)

The new page at Amazon is oddly lacking the reviews... (good or bad)
http://www.amazon.com/Wildside-Gaming-System-Fantasy-Role-Playing/dp/1557425310


Also check out their website
http://www.wildsidegame.com/index.htm

Especially the forums
http://wildsidepress.secure-shops8....ming+System&number=9&DaysPrune=100&LastLogin=

Note that there are only about 3 people posting there...one of them the author...and yet this game's been out for about 2-3 years now. They are doing a new edition...for all 2 players???

I have so many other bad things that I could say about this game, but I won't. For now.

Other odd-ball games I own/play:

Tribe 8 2nd Edition (Dream Pod 9)
Jovian Chronicles 2nd Edition (Dream Pod 9)
Cadwallon (Rackham)
Marvel Universe (Marvel Comics)
In Nomine (Steve Jackson)
A Game of Thrones (Guardians of Order)
PARANOIA XP (Mongoose)
Robotech RPG, Sentinels RPG, Macross II RPG (Palladium)
Serenity RPG (Margaret Weiss)
Mekton Zeta (R Talsorian)
GURPS Discworld (Steve Jackson)

....and one of my personal favorites: Tales from the Floating Vagabond

 

[RFisher]

I remember Harnmaster very well. One of my friends was a staunch defender of the game and felt it was superior to D&D in every aspect. We had a lot of stupid arguements over it. Good times. I can't believe the amount of obscure games that are out there. We should post links to these games (if there are any) for everyone to check out.

There were a couple of people in my group at the time that always brought up Hârnmaster as the example of a ridiculously complex game they'd never want to play. (& to put this in perspective, I think we were playing Rolemaster with a lot of the options on at the time.)

Then somebody suggested we try it & nobody even blinked. We just bought it & tried it. All open minded & everything.

BTW, we found it wasn't as complex as it had been made out to be.

One of those experiences that always makes me grin when I hear gamers having a good time bashing games or when someone says they don't think they could ever find players for a particular system.

 

[jdrakeh]

BTW, we found it wasn't as complex as it had been made out to be.

In point of fact, HM is relatively simple.

 

[davidschwartznz]

Wildside Gaming System: Fantasy Roleplay Edition
Yeah, I helped playtest it, and it's pretty much the worst thing I've ever played. During playtesting, my group gave it the nickname CARPS: Crappy-A$$ Role-Playing System.

AtAmazon
http://www.amazon.com/Wildside-Gaming-System-Fantasy-Role-Playing/dp/0809511142

"The combat system is reality-based and, therefore, the most fun to use."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Gotta love those "unbiased" reviews.

 

[morgue]

Rocky & Bullwinkle Roleplaying Party Game: What other RPG came with hand puppets?

The Big Night comes with hand puppets. But I think that's the only other one

(This cool game was run by its creator, Allan Dotson, in the kids room at GenCon in '05 (and maybe in '06 too but I wasn't there in '06). It's a fantastic game for kids - if you have little potential gamers running around your house, you should definitely check this out. Fun for adults too! End plug!)

 

[Doug Sundseth]

Another obscure game that I rather like is Fuzzy Heroes, from Inner City Games Designs. Roleplaying/miniatures gaming for young kids using stuffed animals. The stats of the character depend on the characteristics of the stuffed animal. (If the animal is carrying a weapon, it gets a bonus on combat, if it's camouflaged, it gets a bonus to hide, and so forth.)

Their website (www.fuzzyheroes.com) is still live, so I suspect the game is still available.

 

[Chris Tavares]

Obscure games? I've probably sold more than I should have at this point, but I still have a few good ones.

Mainstream at the time:

TimeMaster - The Pacesetter game of time and dimension travel.
Mekton II - Giant anime Robots!
Castle Falkenstein - Ahh, one of my all time favorites. Magic, technology and intrigue in a victorian-ish Europe. Turned out to be too expensive to print, I guess.
Worlds of Wonder - a boxed set from Chaosium that included a stripped down BRP system and world books for fantasy, sci-fi and supers (later expanded into the standalone Superworld, which I also have).

Mid-press stuff:

Swords of the Middle Kingdom - wuxia RPG, never really did anything with it
Lace & Steel - the more recent reprint. What a pain to get, and next to impossible to read. ;-)
Nobilis - beautiful, beautiful book. Not sure the game's one I want to play, though.
Bunnies & Burrows - The FGU edition
Villians & Vigilantes - the classic old superhero game

Really obscure:
World of Synnibar - I bought it for $3 at a con. Best entertainment money I ever spent. The read is hysterical. Just don't ask me to actually play it.
The Shattered Sky - adventuring on a Dyson sphere that's fallen apart.
Tales of Gargenthir - A fantasy game that's pretty much indescribable.

plus tons of miscellaneous PDF stuff that I won't go into, since they're not actually on my bookshelf.

 

[Infernal Teddy]

I just remembered - I have the complete run of Amazing Engine

 

[Aus_Snow]

I have some of the ones mentioned already. One that I own, that hasn't been mentioned yet, but is most likely not very obscure, is Obsidian. Yeah, still sitting there, tucked away as ever. :\

 

[Tetsubo]

I just remembered - I have the complete run of Amazing Engine

As do I. I still reread Magitech for fun...