Your Favorite Weird Game- Time To Talk About the Weirdest RPGs You Know!

[Maxperson]

My favorite weird RPG is, "It Came From the Late, Late, Late Show." It was an RPG about playing B Actors in a B movie that the "DM" was filming. Could be a B Slasher film, A B Western, a B Monster Movie, etc.

You started off with a low fame score and could walk off the set if things got too hard. If you rolled percentile dice under your score, the director(DM) had to cave in to your demands. Otherwise your fame dropped and you had to go back to work. You also received extra points for being appropriately stupid, "I heard something outside! You guys wait here and I'll go check it out." In-between each scene you healed a small amount of hit points in order to explain how you can be shot in the leg in one scene and be running with no problem 3 scenes later. Fun times!

 

[Atlatl Jones]

The Whispering Vault​

Players take on the role of "Stalkers", persons who have risen above their own mortality to act as servants of the guardians of Reality, tracking down and apprehending rogue gods who have invaded Reality and returning them to the realm of the Unseen where they are cast into The Whispering Vault.

How well does it work in play? It’s been on my Lulu want list for a long time.

The Whispering Vault

Beyond the Realm of Flesh is an Unseen Realm of Essence where the dreaming spirits dwell. Slipping across the Rift between the Realms the Unbidden indulge their bloody passions in the world of men. The most resolute of those who oppose these renegades are chosen to serve a higher purpose as...

www.lulu.com

 

[billd91]

My favorite weird RPG is, "It Came From the Late, Late, Late Show." It was an RPG about playing B Actors in a B movie that the "DM" was filming. Could be a B Slasher film, A B Western, a B Monster Movie, etc.

You started off with a low fame score and could walk off the set if things got too hard. If you rolled percentile dice under your score, the director(DM) had to cave in to your demands. Otherwise your fame dropped and you had to go back to work. You also received extra points for being appropriately stupid, "I heard something outside! You guys wait here and I'll go check it out." In-between each scene you healed a small amount of hit points in order to explain how you can be shot in the leg in one scene and be running with no problem 3 scenes later. Fun times!

I believe the Fame score also allowed you to call in a stunt double.

Another cool feature was a Scream skill. Succeed at it and the other PCs could get to you in the next turn.
It was a fun and bizarre game. I would frequently play Troy McClure and another friend would play Babe Winkelman, yes the fishing show guy, as they might be cast in a B movie.

 

[loverdrive]

I posted this in other threads more than once, but still:

There's an obscure Russian RPG called УМЕР МУЖИК (MUJIK IS DEAD for you, westerners). It's free and short, go read it. Then, play it.

In short, it's brilliant.
In long, it's weird an innovative. From time to time I think "okay, I've seen everything there is in TTRPGs", but every time something proves me wrong.
This time, it was УМЕР МУЖИК.

It's a game without master (though we can roughly call MUJIK a game master, since he sets up the scenes) -- one of them is MUJIK, everyone else are parts of his psyche (pretty close to Bluebeard's Bride or Everyone is John, but not quite) -- the agents of toxic masculinity, trying to destroy his life.
Despite kind of goofy looks with a 4Chan meme as its cover, it is very heavy. I suspect that goofines is there to deceive you, so the tragic events unfolding in the game can hit harder.
Without fail, it produces a chilling story of a broken man, one that I've seen numerous time in real life -- a story of someone with a troubled childhood, who turns to drugs or bottle or crime, perpetrating the vicious cylce of violence and abuse. It's quite telling that "the lighter version" I've made is about lovecraftian horrors.

 

[Maxperson]

I believe the Fame score also allowed you to call in a stunt double.

Another cool feature was a Scream skill. Succeed at it and the other PCs could get to you in the next turn.
It was a fun and bizarre game. I would frequently play Troy McClure and another friend would play Babe Winkelman, yes the fishing show guy, as they might be cast in a B movie.

One of the guys in the group played William Kirk who overacted everything Shatner style.

 

[MNblockhead]

My favorite weird RPG is, "It Came From the Late, Late, Late Show." It was an RPG about playing B Actors in a B movie that the "DM" was filming. Could be a B Slasher film, A B Western, a B Monster Movie, etc.

You started off with a low fame score and could walk off the set if things got too hard. If you rolled percentile dice under your score, the director(DM) had to cave in to your demands. Otherwise your fame dropped and you had to go back to work. You also received extra points for being appropriately stupid, "I heard something outside! You guys wait here and I'll go check it out." In-between each scene you healed a small amount of hit points in order to explain how you can be shot in the leg in one scene and be running with no problem 3 scenes later. Fun times!

Is there an official link to this game? It doesn't seem to be on DTRPG and I could only find it on a site that I assume is a pirated copy.

Reading the Wikipedia article, it looks like the rules may be a little lackluster, but I love the premise.

I could see taking the rules of InSPECTREs and running a game on this premise. It would work really well, actually. I would only need to change the "Creating Your Franchise" rules into rules for creating your movie studio, if I wanted to run it as a mini campaign. But for a one shot, I wouldn't even need to do that. Maybe, I would tweak the character generation rules a little bit.

I'd still like to see the original rules. Even if I ultimately don't like them, they could give me ideas for kit-bashing InSPECTREs to run this kind of setting.

 

[MNblockhead]

I posted this in other threads more than once, but still:

There's an obscure Russian RPG called УМЕР МУЖИК (MUJIK IS DEAD for you, westerners). It's free and short, go read it. Then, play it.

In short, it's brilliant.
In long, it's weird an innovative. From time to time I think "okay, I've seen everything there is in TTRPGs", but every time something proves me wrong.
This time, it was УМЕР МУЖИК.

It's a game without master (though we can roughly call MUJIK a game master, since he sets up the scenes) -- one of them is MUJIK, everyone else are parts of his psyche (pretty close to Bluebeard's Bride or Everyone is John, but not quite) -- the agents of toxic masculinity, trying to destroy his life.
Despite kind of goofy looks with a 4Chan meme as its cover, it is very heavy. I suspect that goofines is there to deceive you, so the tragic events unfolding in the game can hit harder.
Without fail, it produces a chilling story of a broken man, one that I've seen numerous time in real life -- a story of someone with a troubled childhood, who turns to drugs or bottle or crime, perpetrating the vicious cylce of violence and abuse. It's quite telling that "the lighter version" I've made is about lovecraftian horrors.

Looks very cool. I definitively want to try this, just need to get the right group of players. Certainly not something I would want to play at a convention with strangers.

 

[aramis erak]

Mechanical Dream​

On a huge planet, Naakinis, 10 races vie for survival under conditions no humans could ever hope to survive in one immense continent, encircled by impassable darkness: Kainas.

On Kainas, reality bends and weaves, dreams and nightmares come true at night, ecosystems collide, and magic faces off with technology. From this chaos, Echoes are born, from any of the 10 races. Beings of supreme power, Echoes get to shape and understand reality for their kind. YOU are one of them.

It is up to you to realize your potential and become one with the two worlds, to awaken the Dreamer.

The version I got has a huge problem - the English is poorly translated. And I can't read the (I think it's) French on the facing pages. So I was never able to get that far into grasping it. Very pretty, "two book" omnibus. Vol 1 is front, vol 2 is flip it over...

 

[Voadam]

How well does it work in play? It’s been on my Lulu want list for a long time.

The Whispering Vault

Beyond the Realm of Flesh is an Unseen Realm of Essence where the dreaming spirits dwell. Slipping across the Rift between the Realms the Unbidden indulge their bloody passions in the world of men. The most resolute of those who oppose these renegades are chosen to serve a higher purpose as...

www.lulu.com

I have no idea about the mechanics or how it plays but I have the monster book for it which is pretty fantastic concepts for modern horror stuff. A bit like a weirder Kult monster book.

 

[Longspeak]

The Whispering Vault​

Players take on the role of "Stalkers", persons who have risen above their own mortality to act as servants of the guardians of Reality, tracking down and apprehending rogue gods who have invaded Reality and returning them to the realm of the Unseen where they are cast into The Whispering Vault.

How well does it work in play? It’s been on my Lulu want list for a long time.

I recall the rules being weird (though the weird of 30 years ago might not be as weird today) but serviceable. And several core concepts had mechanical tie-ins as well, like the "keys" which tied you to you former humanity also gave you the power to face the threats. They were powerful tool and a dangerous risk.

I have no idea about the mechanics or how it plays but I have the monster book for it which is pretty fantastic concepts for modern horror stuff. A bit like a weirder Kult monster book.

I've wanted that book for ages...

I posted this in other threads more than once, but still:

There's an obscure Russian RPG called УМЕР МУЖИК (MUJIK IS DEAD for you, westerners). It's free and short, go read it. Then, play it.

Oh, I'm checking that out....