Obscure RPGs

[Twowolves]

I also located an old miniature tabletop game called Warlord in my pile. I picked this up at my FLGS for like $10.00 bucks Canadian. This came out when Warhammer was really starting to become wildly popular and was starting to break into the North American market (around 1990). They even had a magazine called Red Giant (which I never saw but it is mentioned in the rule book). I believe that some of the folks who made this were former Games Workshop employees (the parallels are obvious).

Similar to this, although not an RPG, it's game fluff was a huge influence on a homebrew world I was playing around with: Chronopia! A GW wannabe-competitor in the mid 90's, the factions, although nominally dwarves, elves, orcs and humans, were VERY unique and stylish. It too had a magazine for support, Chronicles, I think. Might have even gotten up to 4 issues!

 

[Allensh]

The most obscure RPGs I own are both pro wrestling related; Whit Publications "WWF Basic Adventure Game" (and I also managed to score a copy of the manuscript for the never-released Advanced Rules), and Afterthought Images "All Star Wrestling", which is a better game than the first one. I also own Extreme Vengeance, Macho Women with Guns, and while it technically isn't an RPG, the FGU version of Oregon Trail.

Allen

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Heh, some memories being stirred up there... both good and bad.

Mega System - bad, bad, bad game. Poorly translated from Swedish (? I think, not certain there) and printed by The Armory. Did I mention that it was bad? Well, it was.

Aftermath - the second post apocalypse game that I ever ran (1st ed. Gamma World was the first.) Very good in some ways, but character generation took less a long time, and dying was quick.

The Morrow Project - another post apocalyptic game, and very, very good. Not as cumbersome as Aftermath, but it still had plenty of ways to die. Still in print I believe.

Firebreaks - an RPG (of sorts) printed by the U.S. government, you get to be the folks trying to advise the President in regards to a potential nuclear war. Kind of scary, in a dry sort of way. I wish that I still had my copy.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen (A Superlative Role-Playing Game in the New Style by Baron Munchausen) - a great game, involving drinking, gambling, and competitive lying. An RPG that actually does have a winner. However, because the winner pays for the drinks some people play to lose. This one really should come back into print.

Puppetland - you are puppets in a land ruled by the tyrant Punch, who has killed the Maker. Remarkably grim, and games are very short, lasting only an hour, no more. A shorter, original version is available in the archives of the designer's website. written by the right reverend John Tynes, a print version came out from Hogshead Publishing.

1632 - A game that did not live up to my hopes. I like the setting, I like the period, but the system... not so much.

He Man and the Masters of the Universe RPG... the only reason I know of this one is that I knew the designers. Published by FASA.

Obscure enough?

The Auld Grump

 

[Glyfair]

I played 'Powers and Perils' and liked it.

Don't worry, I'm sure there is help for you somewhere (For the record, I did play in a P&P campaign with a good GM.)

My contribution to the list: Melanda: Land of Mystery

Admittedly, at the time is wasn't very obscure locally. It was created by friends of mine and had a reasonably strong local following (with regular invitational tournaments annually for quite a while).

 

[shadow]

Imagine RPG ,quite possibley the worst RPG in my collection. Also damn funny for what it claims to be:

I also have a copy of Imagine. To tell the truth, I kind of have a soft spot for the system. It's another generic fantasy RPG, yet it has dozens of races and classes and hundreds of spells. Of course, the skill point system needs quite a bit of tweaking as it dooms characters to pathetically low skills. Also, combat is ridiculously complicated. Still, I wouldn't mind playing a game if I was able to get anyone to play it.

 

[jdrakeh]

Similar to this, although not an RPG, it's game fluff was a huge influence on a homebrew world I was playing around with: Chronopia! A GW wannabe-competitor in the mid 90's, the factions, although nominally dwarves, elves, orcs and humans, were VERY unique and stylish. It too had a magazine for support, Chronicles, I think. Might have even gotten up to 4 issues!

Actually, Chronopia was a wargame spin-off of the most popular RPG ever published in Sweden (not D&D, incidentally). It was not a GW 'wannabe-competitor' -- indeed, why it got an American release at all, I'm not entirely certain (as American wargamers were not the target audience and the RPG in question has never been translated into English).

[Edit: If you liked the Chronopia setting and can read Swedish, you may want to track down the Target Games edition of Drakar och Demoner and its Chronopia setting supplements.]

 

[Olaf the Stout]

That reminds me- I have Hunter Planet, where the PCs are incompetant aliens who hunt humans. The most powerful weapons tend to explode and healing pills give defective mutations.

That almost sounds like Paranoia set in outer space!

Olaf the Stout

 

[robberbaron]

No way is Bushido obscure. Too many people have heard of it.

I was going to say Morrow Project but got in too late.

Flashing Blades, anyone? Bit like En Guard but with more role-playing. Still play it at least once a year and it's great.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Rolled up a character many moons ago but never got to play it.

 

[Tetsubo]

Yep! Played it at MacquarieCon in Sydney (in the mid-eighties?) with the author as the CM (David Brugman???). Utterly brilliant... Unfortunately, the rules were but a tool in a masters hands and didn't shine as brightly in another's... more's the pity...

I have a copy as well...

 

[Tetsubo]

I think I still have a copy of Space Opera laying around somewhere, though I don't think we ever played it.

I should still have Toon, which I've played a couple of times.

Also, Lords of Creation, which we played once or twice. I thought it was an interesting game with some potential, but it never caught on. Of course, I was like 13 at the time, so what did I know.

Do you have the boxed supplements though...?