What is your biggest RPG heartbreak?

[Emerikol]

Numenera is probably my biggest heartbreak too. I really like Monte Cook so I want to buy stuff from him. I realized right away though that Numera had been infused with a lot of "modern game design" assumptions. A lot of player make choices and not the character making the choices. So I bought the original books but no more. Still like Monte and hope he puts out something I will like eventually.

 

[Parmandur]

4e
I was skeptical about 3e when it was first announced but WotC sent out some early announcements and guides that impressed me. Eric Noah's site was also a big help. And, in the end, WotC won me over to the new edition.

So I was excited when the 4e announcement came out. Plus, a friend of mine was working on it (we were working together when he left for the job at WotC). But the early information coming out did the opposite of what it had done for 3e - it just showed me more and more that the upcoming edition was not what I wanted. The marketing was terrible. And the end product was extremely disappointing from my perspective. It was the D&D that I was never looking for.
In the end, we played it because a couple of players in the group were really interested in it. But after 9 months, we were all pretty united in deciding to go back to 3e.

Similar experience, except I just stopped playing until 5E came out.

 

[payn]

Battletech. Never found a group to play with.

 

[TheAlkaizer]

I unfortunately have not tried that many systems yet (bought a ton though). So I don't have heartbreaks for a whole system. However, when I invested in Starfinder and book literally all its books, one of the fantasies I and my players were excited about was space combat. After reading it and playing it, it's probably our least favourite part of the system.

 

[Sithlord]

Same for me. Not a heartbreak but a disappointment. I bought 4e books. Only created one character. Decided not to create the others. Too time consuming if you never played the system.

Only books I ever returned to a store

 

[Marc_C]

Numenera is probably my biggest heartbreak too. I really like Monte Cook so I want to buy stuff from him. I realized right away though that Numera had been infused with a lot of "modern game design" assumptions. A lot of player make choices and not the character making the choices. So I bought the original books but no more. Still like Monte and hope he puts out something I will like eventually.

We played it a bit. For us there was a disconnect between the illustrations and the system. I liked that the GM never rolls dice.

It is based on Jack Vances Dying Earth and Books of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe. I can play that type of setting using Fantasy AGE and mixing in Modern AGE.

 

[Emerikol]

We played it a bit. For us there was a disconnect between the illustrations and the system. I liked that the GM never rolls dice.

It is based on Jack Vances Dying Earth and Books of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe. I can play that type of setting using Fantasy AGE and mixing in Modern AGE.

I love the setting and the concept. So sure you could probably revamp the concept into a game of your choosing. I see where he is putting some of it into 5e rules but 5e is problematic for me too so I doubt I ever play it.

 

[Marc_C]

I love the setting and the concept. So sure you could probably revamp the concept into a game of your choosing. I see where he is putting some of it into 5e rules but 5e is problematic for me too so I doubt I ever play it.

If you prefer older systems I would probably go with Gamma World to do Numenera.

 

[kenada]

My group's experience with OSE is with a GM who doesn't "get it" and isn't adaptable to the tastes of the players. As a result, they hate it. It has likely soured all of them on OSR systems - they're already talking about going back to 5E (or PF1).

If it doesn’t work out, I may seriously consider pitching 3e (not 3.5e or PF1). WWN has enough “greatest hits” elements from 3e and 4e that I’m hoping it won’t come to that.

 

[Retreater]

If it doesn’t work out, I may seriously consider pitching 3e (not 3.5e or PF1). WWN has enough “greatest hits” elements from 3e and 4e that I’m hoping it won’t come to that.

Unfortunately, I downsized my gaming collection during that era. Basically I got rid of all my 3.0 and 3.5 stuff, switched everything to PF.
So I've kept all my TSR era stuff, Pathfinder, 4th edition, and 5e (along with pretty complete collections of other systems that we'll probably never touch unfortunately - SWADE, WFRPG, Forbidden Lands).