Worst RPG Ever?

[Zerovoid]

I don't think you can even call it an RPG but it was meant to be one...

WARHAMMER QUEST by games workshop

that was the most dire thing in history, there was no story, generic random dungeons, all interaction with the out side world was done on dice rolls and the random encounters created so many monsters that they couldn't fit in the dungeon

I thought Warhammer Quest was great fun. Sure, its not a full fledged RPG, but sometimes its good to just kill some monsters without worrying about RPing. Its exactly the same thing that Hero Quest was, and I imagine that alot of people have been introduced to RPing by those boardgame/RPG's. Also, since you don't need a GM, there is no prep time, which can definately be an advantage.

I don't know why there are all these complaints about the WEG Starwars, but then again, I got to be the Jedi in my party I just kept pumping up Lightsaber Use, and then someone else said, "Hey, you have to put some points in the bad skills too." Really all that was needed to fix this problem was having different skills require different amounts of points to increase.

 

[Wormwood]

Champions.

Hands down the worst gaming experience of my life. I just wanted to play a freakin' super hero...not take a refresher in Twink 101 ("Now class, this is how you maximize your character's point efficiency using the Variable Power Pool...").

Hint: By the time a single combat reaches it's SECOND hour, the concept of 'fast paced comic book action' is kinda thrown out the window.

On the Wormwood Table of Horrors, playing Champions is #28(between 'Seeing My Grandmother Naked' and 'Finding Half A Cockroach In My Cheeseburger')

YMMV.

 

[Psychotic Dreamer]

I must say that Champions was one of my worst gaming experiences also. I didn't like the fact that character creation felt like doing math homework. Never really got past making a character.

EDIT: I can't remember what version it was off the top of my head now. I remember it was a hard cover and was larger than the typical rpg out there. It would have had to have been in the early 90's or the late 80's when I picked it up at a comic book convention.

 

[Umbran]

I haven't actually played it but B&B or also know as Bunnies and Burrows sounds increadably bad. You basically play a bunny and have to try not to get killed.

Go read Watership Down (by Richard Adams) or watch the animated film of the same name. Then go play B&B.

Also, GURPS: B&B is not just about playing bunnies. You can play lots of different small animals. One can probably use the rules to simulate... Brian Jaques' Redwall books, Tad Williams' Tailchaser's Song, or Gabriel King's The Wild Road. All worlds that might make very nice RPG settings.

 

[Deadguy]

Has anyone played Maelstrom or Dragon Warriors, both published in the mid-eighties in the wake of the Fighting Fantasy series? If so, thoughts?

I certainly have played Dragon Warriors, indeed was playing in a campaign until very recently. It's a lovely little system that succeeds in what it sets out to do. Basically it's a variant on the standard D&D class/level approach, but the mechanics are simple, consistent and easy to use.

Take combat, for example. Every character has an Attack Rating and a Defence Rating, based on class, level and attributes. To attack you roll against your Attack Rating - then you work out how much you beat your AR by. If that's greater than the opponent's Defence Rating you might have hit. Next you roll the Armour Penetration for your weapon (e.g. 1d8 for a sword), versus the Armour Factor of the opponent; if you roll higher, you penetrate. The Damage you score is fixed by the weapon, so no die roll is required. Also by having a fixed damage rating, PCs can make a better judgement of when it is time to retreat. if that sounds a little complex, really it's not, since Attack and Armour Penetration can be rolled at the same time - and players can often pre-empt the result if it is going to be 'no hit' since a high Attack Roll or a very low Armour Penetration is definitely not going to hit. Consequently combat is quick, but also quite descriptive: e.g you bring your sword under his guard (beat the opponent's Defence Rating), but it nicks his thigh guard and is turned (but just failed to penetrate the armour).

Some of the later character classes are not so well balanced (particularly the Darkness Elementalist and the Warlock), but even so, they provided a usable world with enough detail to make running a campaign quite simple.

It's a shame really that they were never gathered together into a single, revised volume.

 

[Selfloathing]

F.A.T.A.L.

You can't argue. Shut up about how much you hate 7th sea because of how mean Wick was to D&D, and bow before fatal.

BOW BEFORE F.A.T.A.L.

Sure, Sinnibar was bad and all, but at least it didn't blatantly insult 75% of the world's people.

BOW BEFORE F.A.T.A.L.

Senzar was hard to read and all, but on the other hand, it didn't have a "vaginal circumfrence" table.

BOW DOWN BOW DOWN BOW DOWN
F.A.T.A.L. is for now and forever the worst game ever. Nothing can even hope to compare. If you made a game where everyone plays a clone of Hitler, and your goal is to "clense" as many people as possible, it still wouldn't be as bad. Even if the resolution method for said game was 2nd ed vampire with d20s instead of d10s and a d4 that you roll for no real reason. IT IS THAT BAD.

 

[Tsyr]

I dunno Self... what about that "White Warriors" game someone posted a link to a few weeks back?

 

[Selfloathing]

F.A.T.A.L. is worse. Every bit as offensive, but the white pride thingy was close to actualy being a playable game system, if kinda clunky. Fatal is like the child of champions and rolemaster, with the chargen and spell lists of ad&d, just for fun.

 

[Arken]

I thought Warhammer Quest was great fun. Sure, its not a full fledged RPG, but sometimes its good to just kill some monsters without worrying about RPing. Its exactly the same thing that Hero Quest was, and I imagine that alot of people have been introduced to RPing by those boardgame/RPG's. Also, since you don't need a GM, there is no prep time, which can definately be an advantage.
.

Your right it is quite fun, BUT it does say you should have a GM at one point and then thet person has nothing to do. I agree that those hack and slash board games are fun but there are better ones than that with far cheaper miniatures.

PS. I thought Everway was quite good

 

[KChagga]

Hey, I like RIFTS you just have to embrace your inner munchkin. The system isn't bad just too large a power gap between character classes. One person can be playing a cityrat(which is basically a typical mallrat) while someone else plays a dragon that could kill said cityrat with one finger flick.

My votes for some of the worst:

DC Heroes - if I have to cross reference something and then apply it to a chart to do something count me out.

HOL - never played it, but it is damn funny to read. Not even sure it is a playable game.