ExploderWizard
Hero
Except with Paranoia...
Not the same thing really. In Paranoia, the players are against each other, the environment, and the computer. The computer is a mega NPC controlled by the GM.
What are bad ideas in RPGs?
- Thread starter Andor
- Start date
Not the same thing really. In Paranoia, the players are against each other, the environment, and the computer. The computer is a mega NPC controlled by the GM.
jdrakeh
Front Range Warlock
Since "bad" is highly subjective, I don't think it's fair to say that any ideas are bad in the context of RPGs (because what I consider bad, other people really enjoy). I think it's more fair to say that there are "Ideas that X likes" and "Ideas that X doesn't like", whether X be me or another individual. And I think I've covered my dislikes (in regard to fantasy, anyhow) pretty well in the recent "pet peeves" thread
SpiderMonkey
Explorer
I respectfully disagree...see FATAL.
jdrakeh
Front Range Warlock
I have. And I certainly think that those ideas were bad but proving my point about the — proving my point about the subjective nature of the word "bad" — the people who designed FATAL (and a small handful of vocal supporters over at RPGNet) apparently loved those ideas. One man's ceiling is another man's floor and all that.
SpiderMonkey
Explorer
Oh, I agree...it's just that any excuse to cry "FATAL" is a good one. And to be clear, I probably should have mumbled "kidding" or included a
after my original statement. Stupid brevity.
Last edited:
Hal Maclean
First Post
I wrote an article on playing really old (1000 years or so) characters that used that idea as one of the rationales for how you could start off at first level. It's something I'd like to try if I ever get a chance to play (which I never do since I'm the eternal DM, sort of like the eternal champion but with fewer perks
).For a pickup game, I made a pre-gen character who was a great adventurer that had been level-drained to 1st level.I wrote an article on playing really old (1000 years or so) characters that used that idea as one of the rationales for how you could start off at first level. It's something I'd like to try if I ever get a chance to play (which I never do since I'm the eternal DM, sort of like the eternal champion but with fewer perks
thedungeondelver
Adventurer
Bad ideas? You're soaking in them!
Some bad ideas I've encountered in RPGs over the years.
Systems that are wed to vehicle combat - MECHWARRIOR and especially MECHWARRIOR II I'm lookin' at you.
Conversely systems that are supposed to have or emulate vehicle combat and try to do so with a universal system as it applies to everything from fleas to 300 ton skyscraper sized killbots - HERO SYSTEM, stand forth as you are guilty!
As someone else noted, in-built utter hopelessness. TWILIGHT:2000 edges there, as do the aforementioned offerings from FASA (although by the time of MECHWARRIOR II it seemed that everybody and his brother had a brand new battlemech factory on their planet - hell they even introduced force fields in a couple of instances). But yeah, TRIBE 8 is very guilty of this, as is CYBERPUNK 2020. Let me the GM, decide whether or not the world is salvagable by the PCs, thanks.
Systems that seemed to be designed just to not be D&D. Like, design decisions were made to not be D&D regardless of whether or not they're any good. EXALTED is a big sinner here.
Systems that insist on down to the 1mm hex-nuts and bolts level of character creation and then promptly ignore 90% of it. ROLEMASTER is a guilty party here.
jdrakeh
Front Range Warlock
Exalted was built on the foundation of a pre-existing system (Storyteller) and setting architecture (World of Darkness), specifically to provide fans of that pre-existing system and setting with a fantasy roleplay experience tailored to their tastes. It was not designed to be "not D&D"
