Worst RPG System You Ever Palyed?

[MrFilthyIke]

How can anyone here call themselves gamers and not be able to play Rolemaster with ease?? You just use the three main tables (I can't remember, it's been ten years) and the weapon table for what your using. Yeah, each characters got some sheets of paper, but it goes easy and smoot as long as you don't nitpick every frickin' detail.

I picked it up with ease at age 15, and could crap out characters quickly. I spend more time on 3e characters because you must must must must plan your character in advance.

The only game I hated playing was MegaTraveller, but that's mainly because I was given a character and told what dice to roll without learning the game first.

 

[the Jester]

I'm sure there are worse, but I'm a "take you word for it" kind of guy. I'm not going near Synibarr or FATAL for love or money.

I finally recently gave in to my curiosity and damned my soul forever by downloading FATAL. It really is as bad, and as offensive, as you've heard. You have chosen wisely.

Since I haven't played it (snort!) I still have to vote for RM, though. Most every other game I've played, I enjoyed.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

Chivalry & Sorcery I had a brief run in, but not enough to really determine. Then again the character generation system was both so complex and so random that it didn't bode well.

I played that with some of the US design staff, as part of a playtest group, all of two sessions...lotsa people at the first, like three others at the second. It was okay, but not great.

The one game I most hated playing in? Amber. Perhaps it'd help if I'd liked the books to read more than the first, but I didn't. There's also a certain point where GM fiat just gets annoying. "Nope, you can't do that." "...but I have the higest Endurance in the frickin' group!" "Hey, you're not supposed to mention it!" "Well, if you could actually remember it and take it into account, I might not feel I have to!" Ugh. You couldn't get me to play Amber again if you paid me. Not even if Alyson Hannigan was sitting on my lap asking me nicely.

Brad

 

[Impeesa]

Have you seen the rules? Is there anything you can tell us about Dallas? I'm intrigued.

Unfortunately, all the article had to say on that one was a very short blurb:

"A brain-dead RPG inspired by the TV series. What sends this down the toilet isn't just the skimpy system (four - count 'em - pages of rules), but the notion that anybody'd actually be interested in playing characters as lame as Miss Ellie and Grandpa Ewing."

A cursory Googling reveals nothing more.

--Impeesa--

 

[Geoff Watson]

Robotech: General Palladium crap.

Mage: The magic system was so vague as to be useless, so the only thing that mattered for magic was how good the players were at conning the DM.

Geoff.

 

[johnsemlak]

Worst one I experienced was Lords of Creation, though I don't remember it being unplayably bad. Another one I hated was the TSR Indiana Jones RPG. The system was OK as I remember, but the game didn't include Character Generation rules--you had to play a character from teh first two Ind Jones films. I imagine people were just lining up to play Willy Scott.

 

[twofalls]

BattleLords of the 22nd Century. Asparagusheaded psychic people, big dumb lizards with guns, Gene-humans, which are exactly like humans but with better genes, and Orian Rogues- basically fast childish humans, are ok. I can handle that. What I can't handle is the "random but enforced background quirks table" which made my character both an Intergalactic Space-ball champion, easily recognized everywhere he goes, AND a wanted criminal in seven quadrants, AND have a paralyzing fear of open spaces (spaceball is played in open vacuum...)... and also, my class was apparently "cyborg" despite the fact that I was a, uh, shapeshifting mass of ooze...

This is possible in any game. Enforcing odd background rolls is a GMing issue not a game issue. The fact that its possible to generate on a chart doesn't mean you HAVE to roll with it in the game itself. I own the Battlelords game and its a well made game for it's time.

 

[Gruns]

Mine...

"Everway"
I'm quite sure I never actually played the game, but I won it as a prize at a Magic the Gatheirng tournament, so I at least owned it...

Later!
Gruns

 

[Thotas]

The original "Top Secret" game has some great ideas, but some really odd mechanics.

There's a Cyberpunk-genre game, possibly titled "Cyberpunk" that I played once ... I knowat least part of the reason that session didn't work was GMing related, so I won't completely slam the rule system. But I admit to having reservations.

I'm completely unfamiliar with Synnibar. You folks are, however, causing me to develop a morbid curiosity.

 

[No Name]

Top Secret!

The combat system was absolutely horrible - especially melee combat.

But WEG Star Wars... now that was a game! It just wasn't designed for the unwashed masses to play or enjoy.