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Totally Obscure Game of the Day
- Thread starter Chaldfont
- Start date
Rodrigo Istalindir
Explorer
Gunslinger was a lot of fun.
Here's obscure: Crush, Crumble and Chomp.
Here's obscure: Crush, Crumble and Chomp.
JVisgaitis
Explorer
I wouldn't say I'm embarassed that I played it, but TSR's old Gammarauders was a great game. We got untold hours of fun out of that one.
3catcircus
Adventurer
Lords of Creation
Create a 1st level "nobody." Adventure. Eventually become an all-powerful immortal "Lord of Creation," mastering time and space.
Gotta love Avalon Hill - wargames, rpgs, they made some great games.
Create a 1st level "nobody." Adventure. Eventually become an all-powerful immortal "Lord of Creation," mastering time and space.
Gotta love Avalon Hill - wargames, rpgs, they made some great games.
Wik
First Post
Oh me, oh my. Where to start?
Not really "obscure", but DIPLOMACY gets my vote for best game, ever. It's an amazing party game, and I try to make it a point to play at least once a year. A few years back, I even employed my brother as a spy (he wasn't playing the game) - he would sneak around and eavesdrop on other players' conversations, and give me a report later on. I was playing Austria at the time, and this was how I found out that my ally Turkey had decided to betray me and switch over to Russia's side. The info was enough to get Italy in on my side (we were neutral; Italy and Germany were working together to take out France, but Italy wasn't really get much out of the deal) and pre-empt against Turkey.
The game is absolutely a must for every gamer. There are seven players, and everyone writes down their moves before every turn. No dice are rolled; the game is resolved by deciding which armies support what and which armies move where. Since there is a lot of room for "Complications" (ie, two armies trying to move into the same territory... a problem, since only one army is allowed in any territory), you had to work closely with your allies.
The great thing was that you had a party atmosphere where you would plan moves and discuss strategy with every player at the game. And it's anything goes - the only "rules" of the game occur after your orders are resolved. So, if you want to lie, cheat, steal, bribe, whine, or whatever else, feel free. It's an amazing game, and almsot a role-playing experience.
***
I also like Flying Buffalo's Lost Worlds series - you buy a book that depicts a character, and you use this book to duel other players. It's a dueling system that works very well,and you can even (sort of) use it to stage multiple combats at once. My personal favourite character to use was a warrior woman with a shield; later, they added monster books (dragon, skeleton, troll, and the like) that were a lot of fun to play. You could almost turn the game into a single-player RPG, which is something we did a few times. Fun stuff, and great for when your game night fizzles.
***
BATTLETROOPS, by FASA, has got to be one of my all-time favourite games. It's set in the BATTLETECH universe, although mechs aren't the major focus of the game. Players run small-scale foot squads in an urban environment. The game comes with several building floorplans that work as tactical maps; players create and equip their squads, and run out various scenarios provided in the scenario booklet.
The game is great because of the use of time units to measure what a character could do. The more you moved, the fewer points you could spend to set up firing arcs (the less you spent, the smaller your firing arc was, meaning your character would have to carefully "aim" his shots). If you crossed into another character's firing arc, the player had the opportunity to interrupt gameplay and take a shot at you.
We had a lot of fun with this; I remember running various scenarios where my Steiner-Davion commandoes (I had a group of eight men, who all had varying equipment and had even been named) against an Evil, nasty group of Kurita Scum (who had been selected simply because their tokens "looked the coolest").
Our squads weren't very tactical, simply because it was just much cooler to bust open windows, toss grenades around corners, and generally cause a ruckus.
I wish I could dig up a copy of that game. It was a blast.
Not really "obscure", but DIPLOMACY gets my vote for best game, ever. It's an amazing party game, and I try to make it a point to play at least once a year. A few years back, I even employed my brother as a spy (he wasn't playing the game) - he would sneak around and eavesdrop on other players' conversations, and give me a report later on. I was playing Austria at the time, and this was how I found out that my ally Turkey had decided to betray me and switch over to Russia's side. The info was enough to get Italy in on my side (we were neutral; Italy and Germany were working together to take out France, but Italy wasn't really get much out of the deal) and pre-empt against Turkey.
The game is absolutely a must for every gamer. There are seven players, and everyone writes down their moves before every turn. No dice are rolled; the game is resolved by deciding which armies support what and which armies move where. Since there is a lot of room for "Complications" (ie, two armies trying to move into the same territory... a problem, since only one army is allowed in any territory), you had to work closely with your allies.
The great thing was that you had a party atmosphere where you would plan moves and discuss strategy with every player at the game. And it's anything goes - the only "rules" of the game occur after your orders are resolved. So, if you want to lie, cheat, steal, bribe, whine, or whatever else, feel free. It's an amazing game, and almsot a role-playing experience.
***
I also like Flying Buffalo's Lost Worlds series - you buy a book that depicts a character, and you use this book to duel other players. It's a dueling system that works very well,and you can even (sort of) use it to stage multiple combats at once. My personal favourite character to use was a warrior woman with a shield; later, they added monster books (dragon, skeleton, troll, and the like) that were a lot of fun to play. You could almost turn the game into a single-player RPG, which is something we did a few times. Fun stuff, and great for when your game night fizzles.
***
BATTLETROOPS, by FASA, has got to be one of my all-time favourite games. It's set in the BATTLETECH universe, although mechs aren't the major focus of the game. Players run small-scale foot squads in an urban environment. The game comes with several building floorplans that work as tactical maps; players create and equip their squads, and run out various scenarios provided in the scenario booklet.
The game is great because of the use of time units to measure what a character could do. The more you moved, the fewer points you could spend to set up firing arcs (the less you spent, the smaller your firing arc was, meaning your character would have to carefully "aim" his shots). If you crossed into another character's firing arc, the player had the opportunity to interrupt gameplay and take a shot at you.
We had a lot of fun with this; I remember running various scenarios where my Steiner-Davion commandoes (I had a group of eight men, who all had varying equipment and had even been named) against an Evil, nasty group of Kurita Scum (who had been selected simply because their tokens "looked the coolest").
Our squads weren't very tactical, simply because it was just much cooler to bust open windows, toss grenades around corners, and generally cause a ruckus.
I wish I could dig up a copy of that game. It was a blast.
Agent Oracle
First Post
Okay, how about Goblins & Grenades?
Six different goblins (each with their own strength and weakness)
a deck of cards representing "grenades"
And a playing board made out of mine tiles that made each game different.
Each player lays down three mine cards to form the central goblin mineshaft, making sure to leave at least one part open
Then players start as far apart as possible, and draw five grenades.
Move the goblin, roll a die, chuck a grenade and try to kill your fellow little players. I played a Canibal Goblin, which had the ability to eat the bodies of other goblins to gain back hit points, but i couldn't use any grenade with instructions more complicated than "pull pin, throw". I remember that one of the other players was a Sea goblin, who could "swim" between water holes, but threw grenades -1 space.
Six different goblins (each with their own strength and weakness)
a deck of cards representing "grenades"
And a playing board made out of mine tiles that made each game different.
Each player lays down three mine cards to form the central goblin mineshaft, making sure to leave at least one part open
Then players start as far apart as possible, and draw five grenades.
Move the goblin, roll a die, chuck a grenade and try to kill your fellow little players. I played a Canibal Goblin, which had the ability to eat the bodies of other goblins to gain back hit points, but i couldn't use any grenade with instructions more complicated than "pull pin, throw". I remember that one of the other players was a Sea goblin, who could "swim" between water holes, but threw grenades -1 space.
Ace of Aces & Lost Worlds, the combat book games. You had whatever your plane or PC's maneuvers were, and the book showed you your POV.
AoA did aerial combat in WW1 planes, while Lost Worlds was essentially M:TG, except it was mano-a-mano melee combat instead of spells (with a few exceptions). LW has been through several incarnations in the hands of several publishers.
Mayfair Games' Underground had one of the whackiest settings for any rpg I've seen: One part cyberpunk, one part superheroes, one part Soylent Green, it was a dystopic future with genetically engineered/biotech/cybertech superheroes...some of which were once celebrities in an earlier time before they became corpsicles, got thawed, and got tech.
Space 1889. Another cool rpg, this one set in a Wellsian/Vernian past, where the empires of Earth have expanded into colonizing the moon, Mars, and Venus. Its mechanics weren't the best, but the setting was extremely well done- I've used it as source material for several games in other systems (like HERO).
AoA did aerial combat in WW1 planes, while Lost Worlds was essentially M:TG, except it was mano-a-mano melee combat instead of spells (with a few exceptions). LW has been through several incarnations in the hands of several publishers.
Mayfair Games' Underground had one of the whackiest settings for any rpg I've seen: One part cyberpunk, one part superheroes, one part Soylent Green, it was a dystopic future with genetically engineered/biotech/cybertech superheroes...some of which were once celebrities in an earlier time before they became corpsicles, got thawed, and got tech.
Space 1889. Another cool rpg, this one set in a Wellsian/Vernian past, where the empires of Earth have expanded into colonizing the moon, Mars, and Venus. Its mechanics weren't the best, but the setting was extremely well done- I've used it as source material for several games in other systems (like HERO).
X
xnosipjpqmhd
Guest
Yeah, I too love Gunslinger. Still have it. Still want to play. Gladiators is neat, too; it came out a year earlier than Gunslinger IIRC, but didn't use the action card system.
To stick with the AH theme, their game that ranks highly for me on both obscurity and coolness scales is 1985's Dark Emperor. God, I love that game. It is a fantasy wargame set in an extremely cool world, better IMHO than most fantasy worlds designed for RPGs. Even the world map is cleverly done (pockmarked by craters which have since become seas). To give credit where credit is due, the game (and world) was designed by Greg Costikyan.
I swear here and now that one day I shall run a D&D game set in the world of Loslon!
To stick with the AH theme, their game that ranks highly for me on both obscurity and coolness scales is 1985's Dark Emperor. God, I love that game. It is a fantasy wargame set in an extremely cool world, better IMHO than most fantasy worlds designed for RPGs. Even the world map is cleverly done (pockmarked by craters which have since become seas). To give credit where credit is due, the game (and world) was designed by Greg Costikyan.
I swear here and now that one day I shall run a D&D game set in the world of Loslon!
Nomad4life
First Post
Anyone remember Amazing Engine?
I thought not.
I thought not.
BZZZT! Try again!
I had Amazing Engine: Bughunters and Amazing Engine: For Faerie, Queen, & Country, but I sold them off (along with other games I couldn't convince anyone else to play) last year to get some sci-fi & fantasy books to send to the troops in Iraq.
I had Amazing Engine: Bughunters and Amazing Engine: For Faerie, Queen, & Country, but I sold them off (along with other games I couldn't convince anyone else to play) last year to get some sci-fi & fantasy books to send to the troops in Iraq.
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