Totally Obscure Game of the Day

[Nomad4life]

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.

Ah, yes, Bughunters! I tried to run a one-shot adventure with it back in the mid-90's, but everyone loved it so much that I had to keep that same adventure rolling for nearly a week of daily playing. Long, long, long after I had obviously run out of ideas, my group kept roaming around, looking for stuff to do and things to kill.

Then, it was like the novelty wore off (or perhaps the cracks in the system started to show) and the group lost interest in the game just as quickly as they had fallen in love with it. We played until the last character died, and the game has been gathering dust on my shelf ever since.

I've tried to get rid of it several times, but I just... Can't. There are simply too many happy memories of B-movie mayhem from that one summer bound within those pages!

 

[Hypersmurf]

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.

My parents' gaming group had a rule - couples drive separate cars to a Diplomacy game. To be certain that both of them got home again in one piece.

It's my understanding that this rule had its basis in a historical incident, but that was before my time

-Hyp.

 

[Drowbane]

I don't know how obscure they are, but I'd like to mention Strange Synergy (Steve Jackson Games) and Lunch Money (Atlas games.)

In Strange Synergy everybody has 3 (or fewer) Superheroes with powers based pulled from a deck. In play its like Chess on Crack. And if you're ever stumped for a Super for a Champions (or M&M) campaign, just pull 3 cards from the deck and run with it.

Another (non-collectable) card game, Lunch Money is quite simply about a gaggle of school girls beating the ever-loving snot out of each other for... well... lunch money.

I've worn out two decks of Lunch Money so far... I need to see if my FLGS carries it or its sibling, Beer Money.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I remember playing Lunch Money...I wish I had picked it up- it was pretty cool. I think there was a supplement for it, too.

I never saw Strange Synergy, though.

That card-drawing mechanic DOES remind me of another obscure game, though- WotC's Everway, by Jonathan Tweet, used a set of fantasy art cards for both PC design and adventuring. It was pretty doggone mystical...and confusing. Unless you were an experienced RPer, you probably didn't play it, and maybe even if you were.

 

[Chaldfont]

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.

I played this too! I took it with me on a boy scout trip and at one point, we had seven players.

One of the coolest things was the idea that when your character levelled up to Lord of Creation, you were expected to create new worlds and invite the other PCs to come and adventure there. It was kind of an in-game way to hand off GM duties to someone else.

 

[tonym]

"Feudal," by Avalon Hill. Love that game! Some folks compare it to chess.

I bought my copy at a yard sale when I was a little kid, twenty-something years ago.

Tony M

 

[Hypersmurf]

Pacesetter's Wabbit Wampage and Wabbit's Wevenge are two I wish I had a copy of.

Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot just doesn't give me the homicidal-rabbit fix I need!

-Hyp.

 

[Beowolf]

i got one nobody has heard about:

Night if the Ninjia : Reality Role-Playing Game

made in 1986 by IIe Games corp, oddly enough in pentiction B,C, a city not the far from me.

everything ive read basilcly comes down to % to do an action ecxept its really hard to do anything unless your got a very experienced char

 

[Barak]

While I sadly never got to actually -play- HOL (Human Occupied Landfill), reading it was a blast.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Feudal rocks- I have it, but I can't ever find an opponent.

Anyone remember Starfire, the stripped down precursor to Star Fleet Battles?