Bad RPG Collecting

[jdrakeh]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Wraeththu (I'm not sure I can even describe the game without offending Eric's Grandma, but there's a not-necessarily-safe-for-work review here) or RaHoWa (short for Racial Holy War, the white supremacist RPG). Games like KABAL (perhaps the first RPG flop) and Empire of Satanis are relatively mild in comparison.

From a conceptual standpoint, Wraeththu isn't all that bad -- the review that you link to indulges in a great deal of hyperbole in an effort to be humerous. That said, mechanically, it is a complete mess. I reviewed it a little more even-handedly over at TheRPGSite, as did JRients on his blog.

 

[Piratecat]

HoL isn't really a RPG. Its a joke played on those that play RPGs... and I own it and the supplement...

This is true. I used to be friends with Dan Thron, the artist who drew it, and he laughed delightedly when I told him that people were actually playing the game. Cool guy, and a very fun book.

 

[rossik]

If you _really_ just gotta have it... no, I'm not going to send it to you. Go off and search for it. Think of it as training to see if you're actually ready to handle it. If your google-fu fails you (it took me about... 5 minutes? 3 different search tries), or you don't have the patience... it's a sign from somewhere that you should just leave it be.
QUOTE]


wow, i got that sign..after many minutes (maybe half a hour) i just found a 130so pages copy.

you are a google-fu true master!

 

[Pat]

From a conceptual standpoint, Wraeththu isn't all that bad -- the review that you link to indulges in a great deal of hyperbole in an effort to be humerous. That said, mechanically, it is a complete mess. I reviewed it a little more even-handedly over at TheRPGSite, as did JRients on his blog.

Well, yes. That's the same person who wrote a review of FATAL that incorporated a link to tubgirl. Hardly a model of nuanced restraint. Jeff Rient's review is pretty negative but ultimately decides it's not as bad as Synnibarr. Though it doesn't seem to address the hottest of the hot button issues (what happens when a wraeththu and a human have sex).

I'm bowing out of the conversation, however. The two reviews should be enough for people to get a general impression.

 

[Piratecat]

Great Spawn of Fashan review.

 

[Scurvy_Platypus]

Great Spawn of Fashan review.

You know... every time I see that name I think of it as "Spawn of fashion." I'm guessing it's supposed to be pronounced "fah-shawn"...

Anyway, I always have this image of a small press game that focuses on fashion competition amongst demons. Contestants get points for overall looks, as well as looks in specific categories (Nightmare, Apocalypse, Possession, Temptation, Vengeance). Along with the different "looks" categories, there's the various Talent categories as well. Talents could include something from the "looks" categories, as well as Torture, Twisted Wish Fulfillment, Impersonation/Masquerading, Mayhem, and probably some others.

The players all get to be demons of different sorts, and customize out their demons however they want. The various demons get summoned to do different tasks and have to work together to accomplish the task, but still undercut the others to present themselves in the best light. Points are scored for various things, and the winner of each category gets some sort of demony reward. Winner of the competition get a promotion in demon ranks. It's a "team based" competition, in that their sponser (a higher level demon) has put them all together.

Everyone knows demons love their independence, and it's a devilsh thing to force them to work together. Luckily, in Hell "Might makes Right!" and the characters are on the low end of the pole.

Failure of course means that the losers get tortured. Technically, it should be the sponser that's tortured and suffers (and that does happen), but usually the sponser demon is able to arrange things so that the real losers (the competing demons) are the ones that suffer.

Essentially, a competative rpg like Rune, only focused on demons and demonic fashions (mayhem just goes along with it)

The first time it popped into my head I pictured a competition between hellspawn (like Spawn, the comicbook character), but figured going for all out evil demons would be more fun.

I haven't bothered to really sit down and flesh it out, but it's popped up in the back of my mind several times. I really ought to do it sometime, just to see if it can join the ranks.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

Ah, something else I owned but never played: Powers and Perils. (Was reminded of it over on the Games You Thought You'd Love but Hated, and vice versa thread.)

 

[drscott46]

Ah, something else I owned but never played: Powers and Perils. (Was reminded of it over on the Games You Thought You'd Love but Hated, and vice versa thread.)

I owned and never played P&P as well. Creating characters was fun, at least, but the game was so complex it collapsed under its own weight. I was shocked to discover that there were actually additional modules and rules published for it (and a fan site listing them all).

Strangely, there are pieces of that system that resemble 3.5e D&D. Especially the skills.

 

[Cadius]

Heard of these?

The Morrow Project: a futuristic post-apacolypse game written in the late 70s or early 80s. The game is still (apparently) in print, but the books look like they are photocopied using an old copier then bound at an office supply store. The game purports to have the most realistic combat system ever used. The premise is that the PCs were put in cryo sleep just prior to WW3, when almost all cities got hit by ICBMs. Lots of mutants and such.

Ralph Bakshi's Wizards: An RPG based on Ralph Bakshi's movie, I've got both editions of this game, though it's one no one ever heard of. The only other product this company ever published was a brief run of a pro-wrestling RPG, licensed by WWF, if you can imagine. (Thankfully, I didn't own it). These games were published prior to ISBN numbers and bar codes.

 

[YourSwordIsMine]

The only really bad RPG I ever bought (yes I paid money for it) was DragonRaid the Christian rpg...