Worst RPG System You Ever Palyed?

[Ourph]

But I am still waiting to hear about Buck Rogers...

This is my numero uno on the worst of the worst list. Bad art, bad rules....just all around bad. And this is from someone who actually liked the 80's TV series, so it's not a distaste with the genre. It's also not that the rules were particularly clunky or complex in comparison to some other systems of its era, it's that the rules completely failed to facilitate the pulp-action feel that a Buck Rogers/Flash Gordon/Space Ranger-type game should have, like trying to play a wire-fu RPG using the rules from Call of Cthulhu.

Second place is a tie between 2e AD&D and C&C. Both, IMO hold onto far too many AD&Disms while incorporating their own mix of clunky add-ons. If there's anything worse than a clunky RPG, it's a clunky RPG that's been modified by people who don't really understand (and/or care about) what made the original game halfway decent.

 

[Tetsubo]

I think Piratecat managed to get copies for himself and some other people here a few years ago.

I was one of those lucky few. I consider it one of the gems in my gaming collection.

Right up there with Senzar and World of Synnibarr.

Spawn of Fashan must be read to be believed...

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

Ditto! We used Hero system for character stuff, but the starship combat was straight out of FASA. Most boring stuff I've ever done.

If I can force myself to get off my arse and do it, I am going to revamp the homebrew Star Trek RPG game I came up with a few years ago (which we played twice, but my players loved it) and use True20 rules for it. It can work, I tell you!

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Spawn of Fashan must be read to be believed...

True! But it was, I believe, the first RPG to have quest-based exp and didn't rely on combat-based exp alone.

Just goes to show you can get a good idea out of any game! You may go permenantly insane, but you can get a good idea.

 

[Tetsubo]

Cybord Commando, Lords of Creation and High Fantasy were all VERY bad games.

I'll even admit to owning all of the supplements for Lords of Creation.

I have a soft spot for Aftermath though. It's just so darn geeky. Marrow Project is a far superior product however. Though I'm still a big fan of the Fourth Edition Gamma World rules for my Post-Apoc gaming. The new Darwin's World rules a rather nice.

Honorable mentions: Afterwar and Blood Dawn. Both are bad.

My biggest pet peeve set of rules however is Werewolf. I never actually played it. I read through the book and afterwards said out loud, "Where are the RULES?" Werewolf is the ONLY game I ever got rid of. I sold it to a friend. I hope he has forgiven me...

As bad as the Palladium system is, I was very impressed with the After The Bomb (new one book printing that came out a few years ago) game. The setting is nice and the animal mutant rules just rock. Spider-Goats baby! Spider-Goats...

 

[Odhanan]

FATAL really is a winner. Didn't play it though.

 

[painandgreed]

Twilight 2000 was certainly one of the worst system. Someone did not playtest the damage rules for that.

I think they did playtest it and found that anything more realistic and deadly would be useless as an RPG and anything less deadly would hurt suspention of disbelief too much. As it was, I think it was a decent balance between playability and realism. It was not as realistic but much more playable than similar games such as Morrow Project (the only game I've seen also take into account blood loss) or Aftermath.

 

[Rackhir]

I think they did playtest it and found that anything more realistic and deadly would be useless as an RPG and anything less deadly would hurt suspention of disbelief too much. As it was, I think it was a decent balance between playability and realism. It was not as realistic but much more playable than similar games such as Morrow Project (the only game I've seen also take into account blood loss) or Aftermath.

Not the Vehicle combat damage rules.

 

[Trellian]

Bureau 13....or was I the only one who ever played it? Great idea....bad system.

I played it! Don't remember the system, but I think we probably failed to like it. I am not to keen on Conspiracy X's system either, even though the setting is probably my all-time favorite.

 

[Professor Phobos]

Actually, as in the Cthulhu Mythos, it is humanity that represents the aberration - Chaos is the "true reality", and in fact humans derive most of what makes them special - their drive, ambition, and flexibility - from Chaos. They are just in a state of denial.

I bow to your superior WHFRP knowledge; I've only recently become a fan.

Well, you might be glad to hear that there is a new edition coming up this summer with different and streamlined mechanics...

Yes, I am keeping my eye on that one.