Worst RPG System You Ever Palyed?

[DaveMage]

You know Dave, I gotta say that playing Feng Shui is alot like making love. If you aren't having a good time, you're doing it wrong.

Edit - Forgot the smiley

I guarantee you there was no love-making in it at all. I'd still be playing it right now if there was.

Seriously, though, the way a typical combat went was like this:

GM: Okay, Dave what do you do?
Me: I fire my machine gun at the 12 mooks.
GM: You miss.
Me: *Ahem* I'm firing my MACHINE GUN at the mooks. Hence, I'm still firing.
GM: No, you missed. Jessica, you are next.
Jessica: I use *insert various martial arts moves here*
GM: You hit several of them. Nick, you are next.
Nick: I fire my MACHINE GUN at the mooks.
GM: You shoot and miss.

Basically, three of us, who used guns, never hit anything, and the one character geared towards martial arts was the superstar. Now maybe the game is supposed to favor the martial artist. I don't know. (I didn't own the rulebook and we were not allowed to read the GM section or any of the sections that were not deemed relevant to our characters.) Okay, that's fine. But then why have dozens of pages on guns?!?!?

We played Rolemaster as well and it was okay, but as none of us were as familiar with the rules as we were with D&D, it wasn't too much fun for us at the time.

 

[Gothmog]

I've read some truly horrible games (Synnibar, FATAL), but never played those. Of the ones I have played, the ones I would NEVER play again:

1) D6 system- I loathe it with a passion. D6 Star Wars is the worst offender by far- the templates are extremely restrictive in a skill-based system, Jedi are horrendously overpowered, and the dice mechanics for task resolution are wonky. Plus the system is far too cinematic for my tastes. Every time I have played D6 system, its been a miserable and grueling experience- partly due to GM incompetence and differing play styles, but I strongly dislike the system too.

2) RIFTS- I thought the idea was cool and bought the book when I was in high school. I basically thought "hmm, its D&D on steroids, but it might work." It simply doesn't. Some characters completely overshadow others, and RIFTS, even more than D&D, becomes an arms race for the biggest guns and toys. I ran it for about 6 sessions, then gave up because it was just too much work and too frustrating. I played it a couple times after that, and found the same to be true on the other side of the screen. RIFTS has some cool ideas and world info, but it desperated needs another system- possibly Savage Worlds.


I too am confused by the hate for Rolemaster. Its just simple addition and subtraction and comparing to a table. 3.x D&D uses the same mechanics for task resolution, just with the numbers on a smaller scale. We used to play a lot of RM, and after you become even slightly familiar with it, the tables are intuitive and we ended up memorizing most of the critical and movement and maneuver results. Granted, there were TOO MANY different tables (one for each weapon), so we made three master tables, one for edged, one for piercing, and one for crushing, and applied a weapon modifier to the roll. Its a fun game, but also a very different one than D&D- just depends on what you enjoy, and what kind of game you're in the mood for.

 

[Morpheus]

Feng Shui.

Awful.

So bad that my group threatens each other with it when we get out of line.

However, in fairness, the GM later told us that he didn't think he ran it 100% correctly.

That was the last non-D&D game I tried.

Now, that's odd, because Feng Shui is generally considered one of the funnest systems by a lot of people. If you don't believe me, just start up a Feng Shui sucks thread and see how fast you are flamed into oblivion (here or on rpg.net). That must have been one crappy GM (or maybe you didn't like the genre).

 

[billd91]

I guarantee you there was no love-making in it at all. I'd still be playing it right now if there was.

Seriously, though, the way a typical combat went was like this:

GM: Okay, Dave what do you do?
Me: I fire my machine gun at the 12 mooks.
GM: You miss.
Me: *Ahem* I'm firing my MACHINE GUN at the mooks. Hence, I'm still firing.
GM: No, you missed. Jessica, you are next.
Jessica: I use *insert various martial arts moves here*
GM: You hit several of them. Nick, you are next.
Nick: I fire my MACHINE GUN at the mooks.
GM: You shoot and miss.

Basically, three of us, who used guns, never hit anything, and the one character geared towards martial arts was the superstar. Now maybe the game is supposed to favor the martial artist. I don't know. (I didn't own the rulebook and we were not allowed to read the GM section or any of the sections that were not deemed relevant to our characters.) Okay, that's fine. But then why have dozens of pages on guns?!?!?

Any dice rolling going on or were the decisions all by DM fiat?
I think you probably have more of a DM problem than a game system problem. A PC with decent skill in firearms (which several archetypes have) and a couple levels of Carnival of Carnage and you're dropping mooks as fast as Legolas drops orcs.

 

[Arnwyn]

I've had very little experience with most RPGs, but out of the 5 (maybe?) types of RPGs I've played, the two worst were:

1) Paladium system (playing Robotech). Absolutely the worst set of rules I've ever come across. Wretched, wretched system. The game, however, was a complete blast because the GM was absolutely, astonishingly, brilliant. Brilliant. However, because the rules were so bad, it really was less of a game and more of interactive story-telling sessions (which is totally not my thing). However, it worked really well at the time, but I'm skeptical it could ever be replicated, same GM or otherwise.

2) WEG Star Wars. Bad. All around bad - one of my most agonizingly boring RPG experiences.

 

[IcyCool]

I guarantee you there was no love-making in it at all. I'd still be playing it right now if there was.

Seriously, though, the way a typical combat went was like this:

GM: Okay, Dave what do you do?
Me: I fire my machine gun at the 12 mooks.
GM: You miss.
Me: *Ahem* I'm firing my MACHINE GUN at the mooks. Hence, I'm still firing.
GM: No, you missed. Jessica, you are next.
Jessica: I use *insert various martial arts moves here*
GM: You hit several of them. Nick, you are next.
Nick: I fire my MACHINE GUN at the mooks.
GM: You shoot and miss.

Basically, three of us, who used guns, never hit anything, and the one character geared towards martial arts was the superstar. Now maybe the game is supposed to favor the martial artist. I don't know. (I didn't own the rulebook and we were not allowed to read the GM section or any of the sections that were not deemed relevant to our characters.) Okay, that's fine. But then why have dozens of pages on guns?!?!?

Yep, there's your problem right there. Not doing it right.

Try it with a different (competent?) GM.

 

[Glyfair]

That must have been one crappy GM (or maybe you didn't like the genre).

One of the main rules of RPGs is that a great GM can run a fun game with a bad system. A bad GM can run a horrible game with a great system.

 

[Rasyr]

OTOH I do like HARP. It took the good elements from RM simplified them. I haven't had a chance yet to play HARP but I look forward to giving it a go.

Well, that was part of the purpose of writing it... To provide a simpler game by which to enter the ICE family of games. Now a year and half after it has been published, I do see some things that I wish that I had done differently (like the alt stats option in HB#3), and perhaps a couple of other things as well.

I hope that you do enjoy it once you get the chance to play...

 

[DaveMage]

Now, that's odd, because Feng Shui is generally considered one of the funnest systems by a lot of people. If you don't believe me, just start up a Feng Shui sucks thread and see how fast you are flamed into oblivion (here or on rpg.net). That must have been one crappy GM (or maybe you didn't like the genre).

Well, as I said, the GM later said he didn't think he ran it correctly. It's probably an OK game, but I suffered through it for several sessions and each week I hated it more and more. So, for me, it was the worst role-playing experience I've had.

Any dice rolling going on or were the decisions all by DM fiat?
I think you probably have more of a DM problem than a game system problem. A PC with decent skill in firearms (which several archetypes have) and a couple levels of Carnival of Carnage and you're dropping mooks as fast as Legolas drops orcs.

Honestly, I don't remember. We probably rolled dice. I don't think I would have been able to handle it at all if everything were GM fiat. The GM in question was going through an anti-D&D phase so it's possible he was trying to showcase what a "different" game Feng Shui was and just failed. (This was in the D&D 2E heyday when there were many different supplements that liked to push the limits of the system, and thus drove this particular GM nuts.)

 

[JPL]

I never really like MSH's task resolution system nor damage. Once you actually hit something, there was no random element at all. Also, because of the way Karma was gained and could be used, Aunt May, being a natural Karma sink because she was so nice and kept all of her appointments, could go up to Galactus and stab him in the eyes by burning enough Karma to get the right result.
I dunno. I found it to be pretty darn silly.

I realize you are probably exaggerating for effect, but as I recall, even a Red/"Kill" result by Aunt May [for a big 4 points damage...hell, give her a gun and make it 10] would not help her get through Galactus's Body Armor. And she would probably lose big Karma for trying to kill anything. And Galactus, of course, has huge freaking amounts of Karma himself, and can throw around those Class 1000 Cosmic Energy Control effects.

On the other hand...given enough in the Karma bank, Daredevil can beat the Hulk. Which has happened in the comics.

I absolutely loved it, but I was young and it was my first RPG, and I am far from objective about it.