Weekend Nonsense: Favorite Bad RPG

[Blue Orange]

If a game design does not do what it intends or claims to do, it is a bad design. If a game is confusing or difficult to read or otherwise inaccessible, it is badly written and/or laid out. These are real metrics. They have degrees in game design for a reason.

I'd argue the exception is that if a game design doesn't do what it intends or claims to do, but is good for something else, it then becomes a good design for that purpose.

 

[Reynard]

I'd argue the exception is that if a game design doesn't do what it intends or claims to do, but is good for something else, it then becomes a good design for that purpose.

Just because I can use a lighter to.open a beer bottle doesn't make a lighter a bottle opener.

(Tell me you're GenX without telling me you're GenX...)

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

The RPG really did encourage that sort of gonzo adventuring party. And for all its weirdness, it had tropes that you could easily latch onto.

My regular group had a ninja, a dinosaur man, an ex-astronaut, an ex-solider who could have stepped right out of Predator, and a cyberpunk savant. All made from templates that came from the core boxed set - it's not even like anyone was reaching for a character idea.

My current group would love the setting but they bounced off the rules. We tried a few sessions with the new Torg Eternity release and while things are a lot simpler with it than the original they just keep bouncing off the dice mechanic. I've been toying with some different dice systems to try to get something that would remove the table lookup but not change the rules so much that I have to rewrite the whole game - at some point we'll try again I think.

It was around the time of the d20 glut that I stopped having as much interest in universal systems. I'd rather a system that tries to do one thing well than tries to apply to a million different genres/games.

Yeah. The d20 system and OGL made D&D bigger - but it certainly shrank the hobby's focus to "D&D." I think as a result, it's more mainstream but also less creative.
And yes, there is a thriving indie scene, but for the life of me I can't think of something that would be like a bonkers major release from a company in the past decade or more.
You have generic systems like Savage Worlds. You have tried-and-true rehashes like Warhammer Fantasy and Shadowrun. You have accepted genres in predictable settings like Traveler and Forbidden Lands. You have Numenera - which is pretty vanilla science fantasy. There's repackaged nostalgia products like Old School Essentials.
And then there are some very out there games that have an extremely specific genre - I guess stuff like Thirsty Sword Lesbians.

 

[Jer]

The RPG really did encourage that sort of gonzo adventuring party. And for all its weirdness, it had tropes that you could easily latch onto.

One thing that I think that the new edition gets right is recognizing that it's an action movie game and leaning into it. It took the original game a while to really embrace that idea explicitly (though it was implied right from the start) but right out of the gate the new edition acknowledges that even Earth is not supposed to be our Earth - it's a high action Earth with a mystical past where cryptids wander around and ancient artifacts are waiting to be found.

 

[Retreater]

It was around the time of the d20 glut that I stopped having as much interest in universal systems. I'd rather a system that tries to do one thing well than tries to apply to a million different genres/games.

Oh, I agree with that. Systems like GURPS, Savage Worlds, etc., don't do much for me.
But I also am getting tired of the one-size-fits all d20 system. Even if it was innovative 20 years ago, it's starting to feel so bland (IMO). And typically speaking the systems are very strict in the game experience - try to push D&D too far out of its intended genres, and there's little guidance on how to run those games, make characters for that experience, etc.

 

[Particle_Man]

What is you favorite RPG that is admittedly bad? Maybe it plays terribly, or it is just ugly. Maybe the game itself is good, but it is so poorly written and/or edited that it is incomprehensible.

RULE: No using this thread as an excuse to start an edition war or otherwise throw shade at peoples' preferences.

I nominate 7th Sea 1st edition. Not just that Roll and Keep is not my favourite way of doing things, but with the multiplication of skills and especially knacks, which are not part of the "keep", there is a systemic problem with the game.

Sorcery is expensive and usually not worth it, as are Swordsman schools and originally both were "buy them at chargen or never".

And there was a huge dichotomy between the costs for starting points and experience points which could make some lopsided characters for those trying to maximize their points.

Speaking of experience points, there was this drama dice function that either got risked for a roll or saved up for experience points and, yeah, problems.

Ok, not a good game system, by my standards.

I love this game. I would play it again in a heartbeat if anyone were running it. I still make up characters for it, even though I don't have time to play the game.

 

[James Gasik]

I nominate 7th Sea 1st edition. Not just that Roll and Keep is not my favourite way of doing things, but with the multiplication of skills and especially knacks, which are not part of the "keep", there is a systemic problem with the game.

Sorcery is expensive and usually not worth it, as are Swordsman schools and originally both were "buy them at chargen or never".

And there was a huge dichotomy between the costs for starting points and experience points which could make some lopsided characters for those trying to maximize their points.

Speaking of experience points, there was this drama dice function that either got risked for a roll or saved up for experience points and, yeah, problems.

Ok, not a good game system, by my standards.

I love this game. I would play it again in a heartbeat if anyone were running it. I still make up characters for it, even though I don't have time to play the game.

Seventh Sea was a great setting, but yeah, the benefits for different nationalities were a little...strange. My favorite was being German- no magic for you, but here, have this amazing heavy armor...in a setting where you're going to be asked to get on a ship at some point!

 

[Mannahnin]

The World of Synnibarr. The teenage year or so playing at Raven's table was amazing, but the game is... not good.

 

[RuinousPowers]

My high school buddies and I had a lot of fun making characters for and playing TMNT in an After the Bomb campaign and Robotech Invid Invasion. A lot of the fun was discovering the skill synergies that gave bonuses to Physical Strength and other stats - so everyone took skills like Weightlifting and Wrestling, etc.

One player made an armadillo and got their S.D.C. over 100. They were so proud of having "1 M.D.C. in hit points! Bring on the veritechs!"

That right there was why I could never get in to Palladium products. There were skills that gave all kinds of bonuses that EVERYONE took, like Boxing and Weightlifting. Just kind of ruined the system for me.

 

[James Gasik]

That right there was why I could never get in to Palladium products. There were skills that gave all kinds of bonuses that EVERYONE took, like Boxing and Weightlifting. Just kind of ruined the system for me.

Running to increase Speed!