Assenpfeffer
First Post
This is actually a tougher question than one might suppose... I'll limit my remarks to published games, so atrocities like FATAL and Hybrid don't qualify. I disqualify Spawn of Fashan because it's never been really determined whether it's an actual RPG or a parody.
I own Synnibarr. It is indeed a terrible, terrible game. But I don't think it's the worst game of all time, because I've gotten many hours of entertainment reading it. There are many excellent and well-done RPGs that have provided me with less entertainment than Synnibarr. Besides, you've gotta admit, it's got heart. Raven c. s. McCracken tried really, really hard to make a great game, and his heart was in the right place. He failed, but it was, if nothing else, an honest effort for which he's taken a great deal of abuse over the years. I kind of feel bad for him.
The most horrendous RPG experience I've ever had (meaning the worst game I've ever actually played) was Torg. That game just sucks.
I've had fun with MERP, Rolemaster and the even more derided Dangerous Journeys. In fact, I like Dangerous Journeys - it's just not complete. I also ran Powers & Perils, many years ago. It's bad, but it has at least a couple of good ideas in it. I have seen Cyborg Commando.
Oh, and the method for determining distance between stars in 2300 AD was simple arithmetic, and something that you hardly needed to use. All the relevant information was printed right on the map if you needed it. And, um... yes, you can dodge in Vampire.
The wargame being discussed was SPI's Campaign for North Africa. It was designed by Richard Berg to prove a point... just how complicated could he make the game and still get people to like it? They did. You have to track individual jerrycans of gas and the Italians do, indeed, go through more water.
No, my vote for the worst RPG of all time goes to AD&D2. Incredibly restrictive character creation and ill-designed, unbalanced, badly applied patches to fix it, combat mechanics that were nonsensical and boring to play through, and a magic system so restrictive that it couldn't approximate any in the literature (even Vance) even with tweaking.
I own Synnibarr. It is indeed a terrible, terrible game. But I don't think it's the worst game of all time, because I've gotten many hours of entertainment reading it. There are many excellent and well-done RPGs that have provided me with less entertainment than Synnibarr. Besides, you've gotta admit, it's got heart. Raven c. s. McCracken tried really, really hard to make a great game, and his heart was in the right place. He failed, but it was, if nothing else, an honest effort for which he's taken a great deal of abuse over the years. I kind of feel bad for him.
The most horrendous RPG experience I've ever had (meaning the worst game I've ever actually played) was Torg. That game just sucks.
I've had fun with MERP, Rolemaster and the even more derided Dangerous Journeys. In fact, I like Dangerous Journeys - it's just not complete. I also ran Powers & Perils, many years ago. It's bad, but it has at least a couple of good ideas in it. I have seen Cyborg Commando.
Oh, and the method for determining distance between stars in 2300 AD was simple arithmetic, and something that you hardly needed to use. All the relevant information was printed right on the map if you needed it. And, um... yes, you can dodge in Vampire.
The wargame being discussed was SPI's Campaign for North Africa. It was designed by Richard Berg to prove a point... just how complicated could he make the game and still get people to like it? They did. You have to track individual jerrycans of gas and the Italians do, indeed, go through more water.
No, my vote for the worst RPG of all time goes to AD&D2. Incredibly restrictive character creation and ill-designed, unbalanced, badly applied patches to fix it, combat mechanics that were nonsensical and boring to play through, and a magic system so restrictive that it couldn't approximate any in the literature (even Vance) even with tweaking.
