Games that are more fun to read than to play

[cthulhudarren]

Merp. best.fluff.ever.

 

[Diamond Cross]

Hero System.
Many Gurps settings, such as Voodoo and Illuminati.
Twilight 2000.
MERP.
Lord Of The Rings.
Warhammer FRP.
World Of Warcraft RPG d20.
Wheel Of Time.
Everquest RPG d20.
Aberrant d10.
Babylon 5 and Stargate SG 1 d20 RPG.
d20 Modern.
DC Heroes, any edition.
Palladium.

 

[TerraDave]

Yes, the GURPS sourcebooks. Didn't even think of them, as I didn't associate them with a specific game!

Great, great reads, could see using ones I have had for years years in the future.

But I seriously doubt I would ever play GURPS.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

Space 1889. Packed to the brim with flavor, but I have no idea how the game would work in practice as I've never played it.

 

[Croesus]

1E rulebook, especially the DMG. I love picking up the old books and picking a page at random - there's always something to get my creative juices going and put me in the mood for a game. But I'd never try to run an actual 1E game now. I've been spoiled by newer systems, including retro clones, that are much cleaner systems.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

King of all games in this category for me has to be RIFTS. To me, there is no more imaginative a setting in gaming...and few hindered as much by wonky, often untested, mechanics & supplementary material.

 

[SiderisAnon]

Scion. The setting is fantastic, but the game rules are horrible and only get worse as the power level increases.

Hero System. I love the potential, but I've never been able to get more than a few people over the years willing to even consider playing it. There is just too much math for most of the gamers I know.

Many things by Palladium. They had great settings but lousy rule systems. Honestly, this is only half in this category because while the fluff was often good to read, the rules were often very difficult to read.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Hero System. I love the potential, but I've never been able to get more than a few people over the years willing to even consider playing it. There is just too much math for most of the gamers I know.

As a non-math whiz AND devoted HEROphile, I've heard this time and again and never really understood it. I mean, it's basic addition & subtraction, multiplication and division...with charts provided where the worst multiplication & division are done for you.

And after that, all you do is roll N(d6) for everything. The harder math is all in character creation.

 

[Diamond Cross]

Yeah, the character creation is exceptionally complex. I personally don't like complex, and so won't really use the system and would rather adapt the settings to another system if I played in that world.

 

[GrimGent]

• Nobilis

Until recently, I ran Nob on every other Saturday, but at least for the time being it's now been replaced by Changeling: The Lost from White Wolf.

Personally, I don't purchase RPG material that wouldn't see at least a slight amount of use in actual play. There's always bound to be something in every book that can be cannibalized or converted into a gaming scenario.