What is, in your opinion, the single WORST RPG ever made, and why is it so bad?

[Dire Bare]

Elf-lover that I am, that line still intrigued me. Though the wonderful P.D. Breeding-Black art in the ads was the main draw. And their ads almost exclusively focused on what they DID have, IME. Even the ones which used that tagline generally did sell you what the game did have.


My recollection is that several races had pointed ears, but only a few of those were elfy. And the usual elf tropes were split among several different species.

The "No elves!" in huge font made me not want to bother with the much smaller print.

I'm not saying Talislanta isn't a good game and/or a good setting. It has survived until the modern day with a relatively recent new edition (printing?), so it's gotta have something going for it. I'm glad the creators put something together that spoke to them and to a larger audience, but . . . . I've never been interested, and it's mostly because of the "no elves!" marketing. I didn't really care for the art either, but that's just my personal taste.

Both today and back in the day . . . there are more games to play than I have time. So when a game whiffs it (to my own perception), I'm ready to move on to something else. I saw those ads in Dragon Magazine back in the 80s and simply thought, "not for me!" and moved on. That's not a judgement on the game itself.

And again, especially when your setting has elves! Sorta. I'm not personally familiar with Talislanta, but from what I recall in conversations on these boards, there is plenty of elfy-ness to go around in Talislanta. Just not concentrated in a single Tolkienesque package like in D&D. Your comments support that impression.

 

[Faolyn]

Eh, that seems to happen more times than not at character creation. <heh>

Sadly, though, the game world rarely ever supports that.

 

[aramis erak]

Sadly, though, the game world rarely ever supports that.

These don't provide rules for humans at all
Mouseguard.
The Dark Crystal
Ironclaw
Jadeclaw
Usagi Yojimbo (in 2 different engines)
Albedo (in 2 different engines)
My Little Pony (in two different engines from the same publisher)
Mausritter (tho' its art implies they at least existed in setting)

Humans only as monsters/NPCs
Bunnies & Burrows
Warriors Adventure Game
Orkworld (doesn't even allow PC elves nor PC dwarves, either, and the halflings are extinct...)
Monsters! Monsters! (in 1e/2e)
Kobolds Ate My Baby

Humans not intended as PCs, but can be generated to same detail
ElfQuest (6 different kinds of elves, plus trolls, fairies, and, in the GM book, humans.) The intent is all-elf, preferably one tribe.


More than enough corebook not-a-human kins/races/species that an 8 person group need not have a duplicate nor a human
The Fantasy Trip (LE:ITL p 77-79... Humans, Orcs, Elves, Dwarves, Goblins, Hobgoblins, Halflings, Prootwaddles, Centaurs, Giants, Gargoyles, Reptile Men, Mermen... but Mermen and giants are actively discouraged, and prootwaddles make kender look like a sane choice)
Palladium Fantasy... Troglodyte, Human Troll, Ogre, Orc, Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Kobold, Wolfen, Changeling, Hob-goblin, Goblin. It also has enough classes to have no duplicate classes, either...
Dresden Files (in fact, it can be more fun to have no humans!)
Savage Worlds

There are plenty of games, many of them good, that allow enough non-humans to allow diversity of non-humans that the only reason for a human in the party is the choice of the player.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Eh. It's the reason why, as a kid, I never bothered to check out Talislanta. The tagline "No elves!" was a turnoff for me then, and it still is for me now. Not because I need elves in my fantasy tabletop RPG, but because of the negativity. I don't care what your RPG DOESN'T have, sell me on what your RPG DOES have.

Especially if there are very elf-like races in your fantasy game.

My game heavily features the absence of elves! What less could you need?

 

[niklinna]

My game heavily features the absence of elves! What less could you need?

My PCs main drive shall be, "to find the long lost (or last of the) elves"!

 

[TheHand]

My PCs main drive shall be, "to find the long lost (or last of the) elves"!

Oh, the elves are there, they just rebranded and hoped you wouldn’t notice!

 

[niklinna]

Oh, the elves are there, they just rebranded and hoped you wouldn’t notice!