The worst Roleplaying game ever!!!

[Gort]

Aye, Cthulhu is great. I've played a lot of that, and you just have to have a different mindset to other roleplaying games.

Sure, if you play a game in which you summon three great old gods a day you're gonna go insane pretty damn fast. But there's plenty of other stuff that'll kill you just as dead.

And what other game can have you summoning the equivalent of the Tarrasque to a level 1 character, AND have the summoning go horribly wrong? It's great

 

[kibbitz]

I won't make a comment on FATAL since I haven't actually seen the game, only heard about it- but it sounds like a real stinker.

Synnibar however, I have seen. Its simply the most assanine game I have ever seen, and the worst part is that the guy who wrote it didn't intend it as a joke. I picked up a copy for $5 at a local game store after hearing about it, just to see how bad it is. You know what? $5 is overpaying for it.

RIFTS is also pretty abysmal. While some of the ideas and concepts in RIFTS are cool, the system falls flat on its face. There are huge power disparity levels between characters and classes, and the system is a nightmare to keep up with during play. Pretty much true of all Palladium games, but RIFTS is the worst of the batch.

MERP/Rolemaster (aka Chartmaster) have high learning curves, and unless the GM is familiar with the system, they can be pretty painful. That said, MERP/Rolemaster are really good for more realistic games, but combat does tend to bog down. I like the feel of those systems, but its hard to see past the tables and computations when you play them, which to me kills the ability to get into character.

Heh, be happy, I bought Synnibar for the equivalent of 100 bux in your place (with reference to buying power). Considering it took me ages to save up for that, I so felt like having a nice long chat with the author...

 

[KDLadage]

There are a few stinkers I have seen (and a few I have attempted to play) in my day...

• SYNIBARR I purchased just to see if it was as bad as people say. It was. I sold it to a guy that wanted to see the same thing.
• FATAL is not only bad, it's in extremely poor taste we well.
• ROHOWA is the most racist, intellectually devoid piece of garbage I have ever had the displeasure of knowing existed.
• MAN, MYTH AND MAGIC was a horrid (albeit, short) read.
• IMMORTAL was terrible only in that it had such great potential to be a good game. The fact that it stunk (mechanics wise) while being attached to such beauty (concept wise) made it all the worse.
• For those that can remember, there is the fun/terrible that was the ARDUIN GRIMOIRE. Ah... the memories.
• FANTASY ROLE PLAYING (subtitled: the Highest Level of All) was a great introduction to fantasy RPGs as a concept while providing a completely unplayable magic system, as well as having an experience system that includes the biggest mathematical error I have ever seen. (1)
• Any of the hundred or so home-brew "D&D the way it should have been" systems I have seen various players and game masters come up with over the years. (2)
• BOOT HILL. Wow. I can't really say much else. Well, I can say this: If you are going to include conversion rules from a game you produce to another game you produce, one has to wonder why you created the new and rather unusable systems in the first place? Why not just use the systems you already knew worked? Same sort of thing goes for that first incarnation of TOP SECRET.

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more and more...
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but you get the idea.


(1) In the game, various tasks have XP values. It takes 1000 XP to advance a level. In order to slow you down as you advance, you always divide the XP value for the task by your current level. On the surface, this is fine until you realize that you start at level zero...

(2) Yes, this would include the half-dozen or so times I attempted this between 1980 and 1986.

 

[KDLadage]

Concerning Call of Cthullu -- this is a great game. Unfortunately, it takes an exceptional Game Master to run it successfully. I consider myself an above average Game Master -- but I cannot run CoC well. I cannot run PARANOIA well either. These are faults of mine, however, not faults of these games.

 

[Tiefling]

(1) In the game, various tasks have XP values. It takes 1000 XP to advance a level. In order to slow you down as you advance, you always divide the XP value for the task by your current level. On the surface, this is fine until you realize that you start at level zero...

Thus, anyone who does anything of importance instantly dies. This has some very interesting effects on the game world, given that people huddle together, desperately trying not to do anything.

 

[Jay Berg]

Re: IMO the worst games I have played

The worst games I have played and mean in the worst experience way, is Paranioa..GOD it was bad.

Whaaaaatttt?
Paranoia was just about the funniest game one could play! Sure you always wound up dead in the end, but hey... have you ever been ultra violet in Paranoia? That was the best gaming experience I ever had... besides Teenagers from Outer Space that is.

For the worst systems I'd go with everything that the company (I can't remember the name - sorry) which offered Flashing Blades, Space Opera, Chilvalry & Sorcery etc. did.

Space Opera propably was the worst since our DM wrote a little computer programm for creating a character. Otherwise it would have taken an eternity.

 

[Scarbonac]

Larry Fitz:


V&V Adventures (with artists): Death Duel With The Destroyers (Willingham), There's a Crisis At Crusader Citadel (Jeff Dee), The Island Of Doctor Apocalypse (Willingham), From The Deeps Of Space (Bill Reinhold), Battle Above The Earth (Various, incl. Dee & Willingham) and Trouble For Havoc (Chris Marinan -- it has three adventures, with conversion notes for Superworld, V&V, and Champions).

I also have Opponents Unlimited (art by Dee), Most Wanted Vol. 1 (art by Dee) and Most wanted Vol. 3 (art by Patrick Zircher).



I found lots of stuff in them to rip for Champions, and I like the art, mostly. Oddly enough, I can't find the actual rule-books that I had, just the supplements. It is a puzzlement. maybe they're buried in a mislabled box from one of my moves.



buzz, Assenpfeffer : What can I say? ''Different strokes...'' and all that jazz, eh?

DQ set my teeth on edge, rather like biting tinfoil (especially biting tinfoil and hitting a filling); it hurts me to even open it up. I'd also take any incarnation of Champions over V&V any day.

Swordbearer?

Meh. Not for this boy.

About all any of them had going for them, IMNSHO, was the artwork (except DQ, but it had the humorous criticals chart ).


YMMV, eh?

 

[Assenpfeffer]

I think the worst system I ever actually used was "Battlelords of the 23rd Century." I first saw it in a playtest at a con, DMed by the author himself. Even he spent 90% of the game flipping pages to look up rules, so that tells you a lot about the clarity and ease of use.

I still have my autographed copy of the first printing of the rulebook. I tried to sell it on Ebay once, but even at $5 nobody wanted to bid on it.

In fairness, later editions did a lot to clean up the presentation of the game. I actually like the system.

I had a lot of fun with it when we ran a brief campaign. The thing to remember is that Battlelords Is Not A Serious Game.

 

[Assenpfeffer]

buzz, Assenpfeffer : What can I say? ''Different strokes...'' and all that jazz, eh?
DQ set my teeth on edge, rather like biting tinfoil (especially biting tinfoil and hitting a filling); it hurts me to even open it up. I'd also take any incarnation of Champions over V&V any day.

Absolutely agreed there. Though I wouldn't say V&V is a terrible game... well, actually, yes I would. Random character creation is IMO absolutely unacceptable in a supers game. I think it's a better game than the atroicious Heroes Unlimited, though.

 

[Greatwyrm]

So, Piratecat, have you made a decision on just how bad Synnabar is or have the books sucked your will to live?