Obscure RPGs

[Edgewood]

I wonder about Hârnmaster. I wouldn't consider Hârn itself obscure, but I wonder how well known Hârnmaster is. (Although this is another one that I actually saw on a store shelf.)

I remember Harnmaster very well. One of my friends was a staunch defender of the game and felt it was superior to D&D in every aspect. We had a lot of stupid arguements over it. Good times. I can't believe the amount of obscure games that are out there. We should post links to these games (if there are any) for everyone to check out.

 

[Wombat]

Oh man, what memories in here.

I am glad to see that people mentioned Rus (the only game I know of where you keep track of how warm your clothes and armour keep you), Pandemonium (I love any game where The Weekly World News becomes a direct playing aid!), Lace & Steel (never did figure out how to play the game and some of the illos were funky, but some good ideas that I brought into other musketeer games), and some of the rest.

But let me give a shoutout to one of the great forgotten games: It Came From The Late, Late Late Show, roleplaying in the world of B-movies. Your character was a "star" in one of these films (horror was the base, but they later added for action, westerns, and martial arts films, including the deadly Pithed Frog Technique). You had a Fame score, 1-100 -- whenever you picked up a gun, your Fame score determined how many shots the gun had. And you never "died" -- your character's character (how recursive is that?) might die in the film, but that would probably just lower your Fame a bit so that you would have a less important role in the next film. Weird, silly fun!

 

[Ilium]

Oh, yes! It Came From The Late, Late Late Show had one of my all-time favorite mechanics. When things got too dangerous you could make a fame roll to call for a stunt double.

 

[Hjorimir]

Wow, three pages and no one has mentioned Living Steel.

It was actually a really cool game, but IMO the combat system tried so hard to emulate reality, it would cause real world injuries to those trying to figure it out.

I have Living Steel (up in my attic somewhere). Never got to play it.

I'm not sure how many of these are 'obscure', but here's my list:
Aftermath
Albedo
Daredevils! (what a great game)
Indiana Jones (terrible, terrible)
Living Steel
Lords of Creation
Mekton
Phoenix Command
Powers and Perils
RuneQuest (we played this one often)
Space Opera
Spacemaster
Stormbringer
Superworld
Usagi Yojimbo

 

[CharlesRyan]

I not only own Albedo, I've actually run it! (It was 10 years or so ago--at which point the game had already been sitting on my shelf for years--so I don't remember that much about how the adventure went. I really liked the concept, and probably still would if, in the intervening years furries hadn't developed such a creepy connotation.)

My addition to the list (I have many obscure games, but most that I can come up with off the top of my head have been mentioned already):

Stalking the Night Fantastic [called Bureau 13 in later editions]

No Psychosis fans out there?

(And to think that back in my WotC days people labeled me a "suit". . . .)

 

[Doug Sundseth]

I don't think anyone's mentioned Millennium's End, yet. Sort of Miami Vice roleplaying with a very interesting combat system.

(Hi, Charles.

 

[YourSwordIsMine]

DragonRaid

 

[mcrow]

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.

Well, the game isn't bad as a whole. It's a bit complicated and old fashioned, but playable. Normally that would be tolerable if they didn't make the claims they did. Even at the time it was published it was an old fashioned mish-mash of other systems.

It just stunk of bad homebrew.

 

[jdrakeh]

It just stunk of bad homebrew.

That said, the production values (e.g., artwork, layout, etc) put much TSR 2e stuff to shame.

 

[mcrow]

Mutant Chronicles was another one of his favorites.

Yeah, I like that one as well. It's not obscure, it did have a pretty good following. From what I year the new addition should be coming out in not too long.

LINKY