Synnibarr vs WotC

[FitzTheRuke]

If you asked me to give you a list of RPGs my memory, Synnibarr wouldn't make the cut as I'd never think of it. But when someone mentions it I remember it. One of my friends owned Synnibar, but we never actually got around to playing it. Kind of like Battlelords of the 23rd Century.

Now that I've looked into it, I kinda vaguely remember the cover art.

 

[Blue Orange]

I've been online friends with Raven for years now. In that time, I have found him to be a delightful loon full of boundless enthusiasm.

I should probably mention that I'm the reason people first think of giant mutant fire clams and flying grizzlies with laser-beam eyes when they think of Synnibarr.

For contributing to the lore of the hobby, I and my army of psychic cyborg samurai kung fu warriors salute you!

 

[Willie the Duck]

Honestly speaking, while the later is clearly more well-done (and given its' reputation, that's saying something), there's nothing specific you can say about Synnibarr that you couldn't say about RIFTS -- both are overwrought gonzo madcap nonsense games with cludgy and uncooperative rule systems and settings and character options which lean heavily into the 'Swords and sorcery, but also lasers and jet fighters, and PirateNinjaCyborgZombieCowboyAttackChihuhuasFromMars. Moving farther down the 'same gist, just better executed spectrum, Star Wars -- either the RPG or the IP in general, is cut from the same cloth (laser-sword-weilding space-wizards play The Damn Busters while reimaging western- and samurai- movie tropes). I think viewing it as an MST3K movie is the right framing -- it is an earnest attempt made by someone without the wherewithal to make something great (but given the timeframe, actually rather impressive given their constraints).

The idea that from the OP that Wizards did anything to crush Synnibarr (or cared about it at all, really) is pretty silly. That, more than the RPG itself, is where I hold my less lighthearted head-shaking for McCracken.

​

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I actually owned the game way back when. It's bad, but also so over-the-top bad that it might make for a fun read. It's not like FATAL or SF:NG where it's bad and filled with bigotry or other nasty things. At least not from what I recall--I owned it probably 25-30 years ago and I doubt I read the book more than once.

It's basically built entirely for powergamers and includes a rule that the GM not only is supposed to stick to the adventure completely, but the players can demand to look at the adventure to make sure that they did. So it has a GM vs. Player mentality, but on the side of the player; the GM is just supposed to provide things to kill. The basic setting itself isn't terrible--a god or gods, seeing that some disaster would destroy the Earth, hollowed out Mars and turned it into a World Ship, filled it with people and magic and weird science, then sent it off into the cosmos. A competent GM could do something with that idea. It's just that neither the lore and rules make any sense and McCracken started off by insulting other RPGs (because his was so much better) but fell into the exact same traps he claimed made those other games bad.

The setting itself seems cool, he should just upadate for 5e (or 5.5e) and play to it's strengths, instead of its weaknesses.

 

[Faolyn]

The setting itself seems cool, he should just upadate for 5e (or 5.5e) and play to it's strengths, instead of its weaknesses.

It would not work for any sort of D&D-like system. It's way too gonzo for that and way too high-power. It would need to be a system for superheroes, where you can start out super-powered and go up for there.

But if McCracken could actually rewrite the core lore to make it more streamlined and consistent and have rules that worked, it might actually do quite well nowadays.

 

[Geekrampage]

It would not work for any sort of D&D-like system. It's way too gonzo for that and way too high-power. It would need to be a system for superheroes, where you can start out super-powered and go up for there.

But if McCracken could actually rewrite the core lore to make it more streamlined and consistent and have rules that worked, it might actually do quite well nowadays.

He just, like two months ago, released a new edition. Has anyone seen it? Can anyone comment?

 

[darjr]

Successfully kickstarted with a forward by Richard Garfield?!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/917876657/republishing-the-world-of-synnibarr/description

 

[Geekrampage]

Its available now.

Though that website takes like a minute to download for some reason.

3rd edition available on DrivethruRPG.

$45 for the PDF. Oof.

 

[Geekrampage]

I just took a look at the sample pages of the PDF. ::eyes widen:: ::covers mouth in horror::

Oh. Oh Raven. Oh no.

::lowers head:: ::shakes head slowly::

This is a monstrosity. The first edition was a paragon of clean layout and presentation compared to.. to whatever this is.

Just one example. You misspelled "movment" (sic) in your introduction to the Movement rules.

 

[Geekrampage]

also, "lowerst".

That's not what 2d10 means.

I don't mean to turn this thread into a "pile on Raven's writing/layout" but good Lord the 3rd edition is a mess. I will clutch my beloved first edition until the end of time!