Synnibarr vs WotC

[Deset Gled]

I had never heard of this feud before today:

It appears that Raven McCracken, author of the infamous RPG Synnibarr, blames WotC (specifically Peter Atkinson) for the failure of Synnibarr and his followup game Crypt. I have to take the claim that "Synnibarr was the first, the best and still light years ahead of the market" with a large grain of salt. And, given Synnibarr's reputation, I doubt WotC had to do much work to keep it down. But is there any validity to the other claims? Was there drama with Synnibarr and GenCon at some point?

If anyone knows more about this story, I would love to hear it. Google hasn't revealed anything worthwhile yet.

 

[darjr]

There is this

I can't speak to what McCracken says, mostly because I can't find the comment of his that you're referencing, but it's worth noting that John Tynes confirms that McCracken did interview for a job with WotC:

The first thing I noticed about my new employer was how the halls of the offices ran rampant with representatives of alt culture. Up to that point managers' hiring practices seemingly consisted of recruiting anyone they gamed, partied or slept with, and preferably all three. If you were a Seattle gamer in 1994-95, you had to be willfully incompetent to not get a job at Wizards. (That happened, of course. One guy interviewing for a customer service position expressed enthusiasm at the anything-goes dress code, since it meant he could wear his "Star Trek" uniform to work every day. I myself interviewed Raven C.S. McCracken, who was already a legendary industry boob for his terrible self-published role-playing game, the World of Synnibarr. When Raven told me that if I didn't hire him his next job interview would be at Burger King, I thanked him for his time and politely showed him the door. The aspiring Enterprise crewman suffered the same fate.)

 

[Retreater]

The best thing I can say about Synnibarr is that I like the rolls they sell at malls and airports.

 

[Parmandur]

Never really heard of this before, but what I have discovered in the past 5 minutes sounds terrible.

 

[Alzrius]

The only other interaction between McCracken's game and Wizards of the Coast that I can think of is that it was one of the games for which there were conversion notes in The Primal Order (both printings).

 

[Sacrosanct]

I don't know him from Adam, and don't know anything about the situation. Based solely on that screenshot above, he comes off as an arrogant jerk who thinks way too highly of himself. As someone whose been designing games myself since 1986, many of his claims are....dubious at best. It really comes off as "I am the best EVAR! I invented all of this, why won't those jerks treat me like I see myself!"

 

[CleverNickName]

I feel like I'm missing the bigger picture here. I promise I'm not trolling, but I have never heard of this game.

What was Synnibarr, and why is it considered "infamous"?

 

[bedir than]

I feel like I'm missing the bigger picture here. I promise I'm not trolling, but I have never heard of this game.

What was Synnibarr, and why is it considered "infamous"?

Worst RPGs ever - RPGnet

wiki.rpg.net

The most controversial pen-and-paper RPGs ever made

There are RPGs we love, and then there are RPGs that cause us to shudder and make the sign of the cross. Make your offerings to Saint Gygax, then gird yourself for this harrowing list of the most controversial and notorious RPGs ever published.

gizmodo.com

Worst RPGs Ever

This list enumerates those role-playing games that typically show up on various "worst ever" type lists. I have not picked (or excluded) specific games for this list - rather, I've reviewed several dozen existing internet lists and picked the games that tend to show up most often. Generally...

boardgamegeek.com

Now, to make those lists you actually have to sell a decent amount so that people have heard of and attempted to play the game. I have fond memories of game nights where we played, but couldn't tell you anything our characters did.

 

[Drake2000]

I don't know him from Adam, and don't know anything about the situation. Based solely on that screenshot above, he comes off as an arrogant jerk who thinks way too highly of himself. As someone whose been designing games myself since 1986, many of his claims are....dubious at best. It really comes off as "I am the best EVAR! I invented all of this, why won't those jerks treat me like I see myself!"

I spent a few hours talking with Raven at a Con in 1992. He was pretty convinced Syynibarr was a revolutionary game. I read through it, and it was akin to seeing a tractor trailer turned upside down next to the highway: It's interesting, and you wonder just how it happened, but it's still a total wreck.

 

[Fenris-77]

So the last time I read it Synnibar was an unplayable mess. I suspect that's still true.