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Grinner
2012-12-12, 11:39 PM
What's everyone's favorite RPG? You know, the one you really like but can't tear anyone away from D&D long enough to play it.

What is that game? What about it caught your attention?

ThiagoMartell
2012-12-12, 11:47 PM
I have plenty.
Anima Prime, Bliss Stage, Fight!, Thrash 2.0, Shadow of Yesterday and Misspent Youth, to name a few.

Raum
2012-12-12, 11:50 PM
So you're asking for a favorite we haven't played?

Probably PDQ or ORE...planning on starting an ORE campaign next year though so that won't qualify much longer. If you're looking for something we have played I'd say WaRP.

Dusk Eclipse
2012-12-12, 11:53 PM
As per this OP thread my game doesn't actually qualifies (somehow I can't get my normal group to play D&D 3.5, though thankfully my old DM is planning to run a one-shot game soon); but Anima Beyond Fantasy (no known relation to Anima Prime) is a pretty good game though somewhat complex and from what I've seen not many people know about it.

ThiagoMartell
2012-12-13, 12:40 AM
Anima Beyond Fantasy is one of the heavy hitters in the American indie biz, which speaks highly of the game's strength, since it's a translation (the game is from Spain).

sdream
2012-12-13, 12:44 AM
It's a bit of a tie.

I love anything using New World of Darkness, for it's rich modern fantasy point buy deliciousness, but I am a bit annoyed that chargen uses a different budgetary mechanism than advancement... foster chargen inequality.

Warrior Rogue, and Mage is nice also as an easy little system.

Windy
2012-12-13, 01:01 AM
Adventure Squad is a pretty cool little system. It's really light and easy to teach since you just assign a d4-d12 to 5 different stats/abilities, figure out a few things like HP, and you're ready to start. No huge weapons tables, just roll your "sword" ability. Infinitely re-skinnable, too. Great for fast-action games with not terribly much RP or skill rolling.

Anderlith
2012-12-13, 01:07 AM
Does Traveller count? That & my friend loves to run RIFTS.

Grinner
2012-12-13, 01:22 AM
So you're asking for a favorite we haven't played?

Not necessarily. While my post would indicate otherwise, I really just posted it to see what other people like and perhaps learn about something new and interesting.

The nature and variety of mechanics made for pen-and-paper RPGs is just staggering. However, I feel that most groups just stick to the old favorite, Dungeons and Dragons.


Adventure Squad is a pretty cool little system. It's really light and easy to teach since you just assign a d4-d12 to 5 different stats/abilities, figure out a few things like HP, and you're ready to start. No huge weapons tables, just roll your "sword" ability. Infinitely re-skinnable, too. Great for fast-action games with not terribly much RP or skill rolling.

Dice types as stat values. I love it. :smallbiggrin:

ThiagoMartell
2012-12-13, 01:29 AM
Dice types as stat values. I love it. :smallbiggrin:
That's a very popular mechanic nowadays. Fight! uses it (kind of) and Marvel Heroic Roleplaying uses it as well.

4th number
2012-12-13, 01:40 AM
I despair of ever getting to play a game of Continuum.

Radar
2012-12-13, 02:51 AM
I despair of ever getting to play a game of Continuum.
You and me bro, you and me...

Aside from that, there was this thing called Lords of Fate (technically it was never translated to English, but the original title would be useless here). The game revolved around subtly directing the actions of a single important person to achieve some predetermined goals. There were two groups of players with opposing goals, but both of them had to keep this VIP alive and sane, which was difficult at times due to the arrangement of supernatural effects you could pull off. You could do the old "voice in your head" trick", imprint new abilities or dominate people as needed, send an avatar or even take back time, if you botch things too much.

eggs
2012-12-13, 03:41 AM
My favorite RPG to play that I haven't seen come up in any internet discussion is probably Cascade Failure. I'm normally not a fan of d20 systems, but it manages rules-lightness with a completely unified mechanic, it incorporates character motives into its experience mechanic, as well as an acquisition-based advancement paradigm I can use to bait in grognard friends with, and it combines a nifty HP mechanic with a hit location chart that's both fun for the giggles, and which can provide an easy basis to juggle things like player-generated tactical choices and called shots.

The RPG I've really wanted to get players to use, but haven't been able to pitch is probably Agon. I really like the idea of players keeping score against each other, and I'm a big fan of the source material, but between the level of abstraction involved and trouble keeping a plot pitch in line with the subject material without seeming superficial, I've never gotten a game off the ground.

Or I could echo Continuum. But I totally stole the premise to use with a Cortex+ spinoff before (core attributes were Dogs in the Vineyard-style embodied values; frag degraded them in Back to the Future-style ways) and the system itself didn't seem that inspiring, so I don't know if it counts as a game I haven't played.

turkishproverb
2012-12-13, 03:43 AM
Time Lord. The 2nd doctor who RPG. great little cinematic system.

ReaderAt2046
2012-12-13, 06:43 AM
Mistborn Adventure Game, of course! I mean, it's an RPG based off of Mistborn, what's not to like? It's really different from D&D though. I mean, there's no classes or levels, you just earn Advancements and you can boost one thing every Long Breather. There's social and mental combat as well as physical, which is really fun. Plus, the only race options are human or kandra.

GolemsVoice
2012-12-13, 07:07 AM
Hmm. Unhallowed Metropolis! Yes! Gothic Horror Victorian RPG with zombies!

There's always Savage Worlds, although it's not that obscure.

Hugely popular in Germany, but not well known outside Germany (because it's not really translated) is The Dark Eye. Awful mechanics, but one of the most detailed and living worlds I've ever seen.

Jay R
2012-12-13, 08:35 AM
My favorite that I haven't been able to play much is Flashing Blades - role-playing in the France of Richelieu and the Musketeers. I've run one campaign in the eighties and one in the 2000s, and and played in one in the 1990s.

Also I'd like a chance to play Toon. I've run it for one session, and never played it.

I've played one campaign of Chivalry and Sorcery.

I can't get people into Fantasy Hero (although we've played several successful games of Champions).

I'd really like to try Pendragon.

But without question, the number one game I wish I could get people to play again is Dungeons and Dragons - the original whitebox with the first three expansions..

Totally Guy
2012-12-13, 08:42 AM
I did some googling to find out which RPGs I've bought or read have the fewest google hits...

Googling: "Game name" RPG

Project Ninja Panda Taco 39,400
InSpectres 37,500
Tunnels and Trolls 31,500
Lady Blackbird 27,600
Burning Empires 25,600
A Dirty World 19,600
FreeMarket 17,700
Poison'd 13,100
Lamentations of the Flame Princess 5,030
Witch: Road to Lindisfarne 5

Of these I'd recommend:
Project Ninja Panda Taco for a crazy structured freeform of supervillains conqering the world.
InSpectres for making Ghostbusters happen at the table.
Lady Blackbird for good intensity with low rules.
FreeMarket for the craziest and most optimistic scifi setting that defies every RPG assumption.
Poison'd for being an actually nasty game of actually nasty pirates.
Lamentations of the Flame Princess for being a well considered D&D retroclone with its own horror agenda.
And Witch: Road to Lindisarne for making a structured freeform that tells a very specific tale of a witch and her captors on the way to the pyre.

Yora
2012-12-13, 08:43 AM
I would go with Mouse Guard.

ThiagoMartell
2012-12-13, 08:45 AM
Lady Blackbird is pretty cool, but it's not a stand alone game, it's a Shadow of Yesterday hack.

Friv
2012-12-13, 10:33 AM
I had a ton of fun with a game of Fiasco.

Raum
2012-12-13, 11:40 AM
Not necessarily. While my post would indicate otherwise, I really just posted it to see what other people like and perhaps learn about something new and interesting. Ah, I might answer that differently. ;) I was picking obscure games I like instead of those I currently play. Add Earthdawn, Savage Worlds, and FATE to the list if obscurity isn't a prerequisite.


The nature and variety of mechanics made for pen-and-paper RPGs is just staggering. However, I feel that most groups just stick to the old favorite, Dungeons and Dragons.It has been years (and at least one edition) since I've played D&D.

Dusk Eclipse
2012-12-13, 12:18 PM
Anima Beyond Fantasy is one of the heavy hitters in the American indie biz, which speaks highly of the game's strength, since it's a translation (the game is from Spain).

I know it is a Spanish game , I spent one day of my vacations in Spain just looking for a game store to buy an original copy of the Dominus Exxet (the translations are horribly overpriced.. about 900 pesos (which is about 70 dollars) for the Core rulebook. Though I didn't know it was a big hit, not many people I know, know about the game.

Knaight
2012-12-13, 12:38 PM
Right now, it would have to be Microscope. GMless, shared characters, non-chronological, building a gigantic history, there's nothing to the game that I dislike. Particularly as the last Microscope game I was in was generally excellent.

cascadingStar
2012-12-13, 12:50 PM
All Flesh Must Be Eaten. I love that game, it's a good zombie survival game.

Cptfitz
2012-12-13, 12:55 PM
Star wars by WEG, best rules system ever

Ozfer
2012-12-13, 02:00 PM
Burning Wheel.

Mordar
2012-12-13, 03:27 PM
I'm going to go with...

Nightlife (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightlife_(role-playing_game))
In Nomine (http://www.sjgames.com/innomine/) (I know, not obscure back then, but kinda today), and
The Everlasting (http://www.amazon.com/The-Everlasting-Unliving-Steven-Brown/dp/1887358005) (link to the first book in the series)

It appears there's a theme there...Mordar doesn't get to play Supernatural games? :smallmad:

- M

Geostationary
2012-12-13, 04:04 PM
Let's see, most of these are ones I want to play at some point.

Nobilis- I love this one too much. I'm also one of the few people who seems to have actually played it.
The Whispering Vault- Want to try it out. An eldritch horror is you!
Don't Rest Your Head-I like crazy horror things
Dread- honestly, the jenga thing fascinates me.
Lacuna- Cold War Inception with spidermen, all in the collective unconscious!
Badass- if only because the one-shot resulting from it would be ridiculous beyond belief.
Wisher Thurgist Fatalist (WTF)- More crazy musings from the creator of Nobilis. I'd be impressed if you understood the rules, let alone could play with them.
Is Legends of the Wulin considered obscure? That's another one I want to try.
Oh, and Monsters and Other Childish Things. Another awesome concept behind what I've heard to be a good game.

Also seconding In Nomine and Fiasco.

Morty
2012-12-13, 04:08 PM
I love anything using New World of Darkness, for it's rich modern fantasy point buy deliciousness, but I am a bit annoyed that chargen uses a different budgetary mechanism than advancement... foster chargen inequality.


I wouldn't call the New World of Darkness obscure. It's one of the most recognizable RPGs, if you ask me.
As for myself, I'm not sure if it counts as obscure, but I like Riddle of Steel, apart from its rules for magic.

Makiru
2012-12-13, 04:55 PM
For anyone who has seen my posts in the past, I'm going to sound like a broken record and say Pirates vs. Ninjas. My Pathfinder/Shadowrun group is almost criminally against playing it besides my best friend, saying that it sounds too much like a one-shot game or won't allow enough "roleplaying opportunities" (Yeah, I got one of those guys, Rovagug help me...)

Tengu_temp
2012-12-13, 05:03 PM
Earthdawn. Such a rich setting.

obryn
2012-12-13, 05:11 PM
Anima Beyond Fantasy is one of the heavy hitters in the American indie biz, which speaks highly of the game's strength, since it's a translation (the game is from Spain).
Is this actually a playable game? I looked through it at a B&N for a while, and it was damn near impenetrable.


Speaking of impenetrable, my favorite obscure RPG has to be Powers & Perils (http://abroere.xs4all.nl/pnp/), Avalon Hill's early 80's RPG, now available for free online.

I picked up the box set (and some supplements) for it back in the mid 80's. It wormed its way into my brain, and has never left. I never got my friends in High School to give it a shot, and though my current group would be game, I would never inflict it on them. But there are some ways in which it was just ahead of its time.

It has .... Let's see... Separately-tracked Magic and Combat XP, and skill-based advancement with Expertise, including weapon skills; a dangerous and flavorful magic system; dice-free initiative; chart-based character generation that lets you determine what's important, mixed with random die rolls; interesting random background events; a chart of literal superpowers; combat that emphasizes shields; and a rather deep implied setting complete with utterly alien fey who don't even get ranked on the Law-Chaos axis.

Oh, and completely impenetrable acronyms, painful charts and calculations (sorry, but TTRPGs should not use exponential calculations as normal mechanics, ever), nightmarishly detailed tracking of separate XP for every skill, weird dice mechanics*, and constantly improving stats which require re-work down the page on a regular basis.

It's still brilliant, though. :smallbiggrin:

-O


*For example, "1d3*" is a thing. The * means, "Roll a d6. 1-3=1, 4-5=2, 3=3"

obryn
2012-12-13, 05:13 PM
Earthdawn. Such a rich setting.
I ran Earthdawn for pretty much the entire 90's. (Snagged it at Gen Con in 1993, and ran it until D&D 3e's release). I still love it to death. Damn, is it a 90's RPG, though, through-and-through. Metaplot, zero-rule supplements, inextricable system+setting, etc.

Its 3rd Edition is a very nicely-made game that fixes most of the 1st edition's big flaws. I'm trying to find a good time to run it by my group for a few sessions.

-O

Morty
2012-12-13, 05:20 PM
Is this actually a playable game? I looked through it at a B&N for a while, and it was damn near impenetrable.


Anima is quite rules-heavy and I was pretty staggered by all the number-crunching when I first saw it. But it looks like a pretty good game if you can get through it all, and much better at high-powered adventurous fantasy than D&D. I haven't had the opportunity to play it, though, so I'm just guessing.

Arbane
2012-12-13, 05:25 PM
I'm rather fond of:
Feng Shui - Evil eunuch sorcerors vs. kung-fu monks vs modern-day conspiracies vs. cyborg gorillas!
RISUS - six pages of fully illustrated* rules are all you need!
Legend of the Wulin - high-flying kung-fu drama!
Over the Edge - a game of 'surreal horror', with a setting that's what you'd get if William S. Burroughs wrote tabloid headlines with the help of the TimeCube guy.
Nobilis - You play the Powers that keep the universe running, like Time, Love, Music, or Pizza. This game has a well-deserved reputation for being both brilliant and incomprehensible. (I've played it once, and I STILL don't get it.)


* With stick figures, admittedly.

NX_Phoenix
2012-12-13, 05:58 PM
Corporation: a post-cyberpunk RPG in the style of an action movie (serious or funny both work within the setting. It is mechanically on the rules light side with everything being a roll under a target number of stat plus skill plus any equipment or difficulty modifiers (usually negligible or very consistent to the point of needing to just keep one additional number off to the side) on 2d10. The players are agents in the employ of one of the five megacorps with broad discretionary powers. Basically, your standard adventuring party with guns, explosives, and corporate sponsorship. Fast and lost of fun.

warty goblin
2012-12-13, 06:12 PM
Hugely popular in Germany, but not well known outside Germany (because it's not really translated) is The Dark Eye. Awful mechanics, but one of the most detailed and living worlds I've ever seen.

I own every TDE book translated into English. It's actually one of the few games I'd be tempted to play. Although there's ten bazillion rules, they manage for me what D&D 3.5's ten bazillion rules didn't: flavor. Rolling against three attributes for a skill check is great, it tells you not only whether you succeeded, but suggests how you failed. And having per-weapon skills is always a plus in my opinion, to say nothing of separate per weapon attack and defense skills. That's just gravy. Cumbersome gravy, but gravy.

I also like the original Sovereign Stone RPG. Not the D20 version, as with all things D20 it's mechanically duller than mud, but the first one. Making your action for the turn the same as the initiative roll is nifty in my book. It's also the first game I'm aware of that uses increasing dice sizes for skill and stat advancement. I'm fond of that mechanic, as it makes an advanced character feel different than one with lower abilities. Pity nobody's sorted out the increased variance issue so far as I can tell though. Better characters should be more predictable, not less.

GateWar is far too terminally bizarre to actually play, but for sheer WTF value I'm not sure there's anything else in the English language that even comes close. Take the hitpoint system. Hitpoints are determined by your body weight, which itself is a function of your Size and your Frame. But you don't just have hitpoints, oh no. HP are determined per-limb based on a handy table. Added all together you get your Blood total, which is exactly what it sounds like. Each limb thus has its own hitpoints, and can be individually crippled, but you can also bleed to death. And actually using a weapon is just as baroque. This isn't even getting into the monsters section, which is like doing hard narcotics with none of the pesky side effects.

Tragically at this point I think I've reduced my used book store's RPG collection to crappy D20 stuff. Which, just can't manage the nigh-on majestic transcendental weirdness of something like GateWar.

Arbane
2012-12-13, 07:31 PM
Oh, the "individual weapon skills" reminds me of another one: RuneQuest. A fantasy RPG that's been in and out of print since the 1970s, it broke away from D&Ds mold pretty extensively.

Mordar
2012-12-13, 07:54 PM
Oh, the "individual weapon skills" reminds me of another one: RuneQuest. A fantasy RPG that's been in and out of print since the 1970s, it broke away from D&Ds mold pretty extensively.

Ditto RoleMaster - my favorite game by a landslide, and underserving of the reputation as "ChartMaster". I didn't count it for this thread just because I got to play it tons, and didn't think it obscure back in the day.

- M

Loki_42
2012-12-13, 07:57 PM
Dungeons: the Dragoning 40k 7th edition: An extremely crazy parody rpg released on April Fool's day whose rules actually hold up extremely well for creating extremely badass characters. Also a fantastic setting that combines all other settings, but primarily Planescape, Spelljammer, World of Darkness, Exalted, Warhammer 40k, and 7th Sea.

Don't Rest Your Head: Just absolutely brilliant. My group doesn't play horror often (usually only one session a year around Halloween, if that), but when we do, it's this. Or All Flesh Must be Eaten. But I prefer this.

Diana: Warrior Princess: The only one of these I haven't actually gotten to play, and the rules are kinda weird, but an absolute scream to read. Designed to model t.v. shows like Xena and Hercules, with the same level of historical accuracy, but with a 20th century setting. Players play as such characters like Diana (the princess), with her sidekick Fergie, and various other secondary characters, like Bonnie Prince Charlie, or Wild Bill Gates, as they fight against various evildoers like Landmines, God of War, or the Evil Sorceress Thatcher.

There are a lot of other games I'd like to play, but those are the only ones I've gotten to read. I also generally enjoy Burning Wheel and any FATE game, but I'm not sure how obscure those are.

AuraTwilight
2012-12-13, 08:55 PM
JAGS Wonderland needs to be bumped on this list for the same reasons as Don't Rest Your Head. It's pretty much the best "Silent Hill RPG" you're going to get.

I also have a game called Camwhores. It's exactly what you think it's about and does it tastefully.

Dead Inside, Kult, and Grimm are all brilliant.

Another mention goes out to Magical Burst. This is the game I've played the most in the past year, it's really great for the sort of stories I like to run. (Anyone who's looked at my posting history can tell I gravitate towards Magical Girl threads).

For much of the same reasons, I admit it: I really love the American Sailor Moon RPG for the Big Eyes, Small Mouth system. I grew up with that show and the book has the right amount of campiness to make it a nice late 80's/early 90's nostalgia trip.

And finally, the Immortal's Handbook. Yes, it's mostly garbage, but it's fun to read and attempt to use. Admit it.

NEUTRONIUM GOLEMS **** YOU.

ThiagoMartell
2012-12-13, 09:47 PM
Oh, the "individual weapon skills" reminds me of another one: RuneQuest. A fantasy RPG that's been in and out of print since the 1970s, it broke away from D&Ds mold pretty extensively.

Mongoose Publishing rereleased it as Legend.

GolemsVoice
2012-12-14, 07:27 AM
I own every TDE book translated into English. It's actually one of the few games I'd be tempted to play. Although there's ten bazillion rules, they manage for me what D&D 3.5's ten bazillion rules didn't: flavor. Rolling against three attributes for a skill check is great, it tells you not only whether you succeeded, but suggests how you failed. And having per-weapon skills is always a plus in my opinion, to say nothing of separate per weapon attack and defense skills. That's just gravy. Cumbersome gravy, but gravy.


The nice thing about these billion rules is that many of them are optional to a certain extent, so that combat can range from "roll to hit the dude -> roll to see if he doesn't parry/evade" to a multi-step process involving the two weapons used, terrain, maneuvers, etc.

Silverbit
2012-12-14, 12:27 PM
I rather like Warrior, Rogue and Mage (already mentioned) and Mazes & Minotaurs. Both are free, for a start, and secondly, both are rather simple and easy to learn. M & M also has 6-Armed-Beserkers, which are awesome.

Yajirobe
2012-12-14, 12:39 PM
Street Fighter Storytelling Game

I like the way that, in combats, it is more a tabletop boardgame than a RPG per se.

The fact that you can channel Chi to an energy ball makes me not look so funny to the incongruences of the WoD system.

erikun
2012-12-14, 12:57 PM
Dice types as stat values. I love it. :smallbiggrin:

That's a very popular mechanic nowadays. Fight! uses it (kind of) and Marvel Heroic Roleplaying uses it as well.
IronClaw / JadeClaw uses it as well, although I've heard a few problems with those systems.


As for a few titles from me: HeroQuest is one that I hear almost nothing about, but for such a simple mechanic is very well thought out. Fudge/Fate feel to me like they are reasonably popular, but probably aren't well known to most people. Burning Wheel/Mouse Guard are a very interesting system, from what I've seen, and would definitely like to give them a play. Eclipse Phase has a questionable system but a great setting. And finally, Faery's Tale Deluxe gets a mention for being a well-designed light system, although you're limited in what you can play it in.

For roleplaying games rather than RPG systems, I'd like to give Fiasco and a card game Once Upon a Time (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_Upon_a_Time_(game)) a chance.

Ravens_cry
2012-12-14, 01:25 PM
I own it, but never played it, Ghostbusters RPG (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostbusters_%28role-playing_game%29).
A rules light, humourous RPG , it looks like a lot of fun.
Also, it's a piece of history, the first dice pool mechanic.

Amphetryon
2012-12-14, 02:34 PM
I'll vote for Pendragon, the (formerly) White Wolf game of Arthurian Legend.

yosimoshe
2012-12-15, 06:04 AM
Unknown Armies: it's just brilliant, perfect for horror, easly adaptable and I just can't convince my players to try it.
Also Paranoia XP: which is brilliant, funny, and makes every game feel different for me.

Dusk Eclipse
2012-12-15, 09:57 AM
Is this actually a playable game? I looked through it at a B&N for a while, and it was damn near impenetrable.





Anima is quite rules-heavy and I was pretty staggered by all the number-crunching when I first saw it. But it looks like a pretty good game if you can get through it all, and much better at high-powered adventurous fantasy than D&D. I haven't had the opportunity to play it, though, so I'm just guessing.

It is definitely rules heavy and having a calculator at hand, while not required, is quite handy as it speeds up the game a lot (it is easy to have modifiers of +200 at level 7 for example) and there are some funky rules (the Psionic powers are definitely high up there); but it is a perfectly playable game and extremely versatile. In the three years I've been played it we have had games set in modern day México City (post-apocalypse game, low-powered and low-combat), Naruto-verse (mid power with liberal refluffling, every power source became chakra) and the normal setting. One of the reasons I love the game so much is because it is quite easy to make any character you like, something that other games struggle to do.

Grinner
2012-12-15, 10:40 AM
Speaking of making characters, I really like Eclipse Phase for this reason. While the game itself is a nightmare to run, the setting and its technologies are so lovingly detailed. Between the core book and the supplements, you can make everything from a psionic sex-changing bio-robot to a laser-shooting space whale.

kardar233
2012-12-15, 12:31 PM
Speaking of making characters, I really like Eclipse Phase for this reason. While the game itself is a nightmare to run, the setting and its technologies are so lovingly detailed. Between the core book and the supplements, you can make everything from a psionic sex-changing bio-robot to a laser-shooting space whale.

Put down Eclipse Phase for me too. Though I actually find making relatively normal types and dealing with their interactions with the really funky stuff people get up to is more interesting.

hymer
2012-12-15, 02:23 PM
Cyberpunk 2020. Not sure if it's sufficiently obscure, but I use that system as a base for modern and scifi games I run. I guess I really like it, because it's so lethal, which was a complete switch from what I was used to when I first encountered it. You gotta pick your fights, and you better fight as dirty as you can.

Radar
2012-12-15, 03:28 PM
Cyberpunk 2020. Not sure if it's sufficiently obscure, but I use that system as a base for modern and scifi games I run. I guess I really like it, because it's so lethal, which was a complete switch from what I was used to when I first encountered it. You gotta pick your fights, and you better fight as dirty as you can.
Was it the one with a sample scenario, where your task was to buy some milk? Or another scenario, where you were trying to sell cable TV? Those were hilarious. :smallbiggrin:

hymer
2012-12-15, 03:36 PM
I remember the cable TV one, but not selling milk. Anyway, I never got to run those - the players read the book too, after all.
But there's nothing like stopping some cyberpsycho who just got out of jail and went straigth down to his medtechie to get even more psycho cybertech strapped into him.
I recall a battle between two cybernetic supersoldiers that pretty much levelled two buildings, RoboCop vs. Kane style. Much fun was had, many headshots were made. Sometimes with cannons.

Edit: I remember this tag for a handgun: "It's cheap. It's powerful. It blows up sometimes. What more could you want?" It sums up the spirit of the game nicely.

Radar
2012-12-15, 04:06 PM
I remember the cable TV one, but not selling milk.
Maybe it was a homebrew scenario then. Word of advice: do NOT disturbe silence at the library.


Edit: I remember this tag for a handgun: "It's cheap. It's powerful. It blows up sometimes. What more could you want?" It sums up the spirit of the game nicely.
Oh yesss... It's not a gunfight, if you can discern the number of bodies by simple counting. :smallcool:

Ianuagonde
2012-12-16, 04:18 AM
This wonderful list is sadly lacking in Dying Earth (http://www.dyingearth.com/). An amalgamation of rapier-like dialogues, where Persuasion is the skill you need the most and every conversation is an attempt to hoodwink your fellow speakers. Speaking in this manner is tricky at first, but highly encouraged as it really absorbs you into the game (the fact that it offers bonus XP is a reason only the most callous of gamers would consider, of course!). Civility can also gain you nice items; when a noble hero declares his attempt to rid the world of Chug the Unavoidable, you need only point out that a doomed man does not need such elegant footwear in the sure expectation that he will see reason, and grant you his calf-skin leather boots.

Politeness, deadly combat, Vancian magic and three-tiered hats, what more can one expect from a game?

Now, if only I could find the time...

jamieth
2012-12-17, 07:09 AM
Another mention goes out to Magical Burst. This is the game I've played the most in the past year, it's really great for the sort of stories I like to run. (Anyone who's looked at my posting history can tell I gravitate towards Magical Girl threads).

For much of the same reasons, I admit it: I really love the American Sailor Moon RPG for the Big Eyes, Small Mouth system. I grew up with that show and the book has the right amount of campiness to make it a nice late 80's/early 90's nostalgia trip.

I second the Magical Burst, for pretty much the same reason (and I can't wait for Ewen to make the 4th draft public...); I also wholeheartedly support Princess: the Hopeful, but, being a nWoD gameline, it doesn't probably qualify as "obscure". Oh, and I believe there also was a Cardcaptor Sakura supplement for the BESM/Tristat, though I can't really comment on it's quality for the moment.

Geostationary
2012-12-17, 03:39 PM
I second the Magical Burst, for pretty much the same reason (and I can't wait for Ewen to make the 4th draft public...); I also wholeheartedly support Princess: the Hopeful, but, being a nWoD gameline, it doesn't probably qualify as "obscure". Oh, and I believe there also was a Cardcaptor Sakura supplement for the BESM/Tristat, though I can't really comment on it's quality for the moment.

Princess is a fan supplement, so it should count. So should Leviathan: The Tempest (http://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/LeviathanTempest:CompilationProject), where you play the shapeshifting offspring of Tiamat, for that matter. Also, I third Magical Burst.

jamieth
2012-12-17, 05:17 PM
Princess is a fan supplement, so it should count. So should Leviathan: The Tempest (http://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/LeviathanTempest:CompilationProject), where you play the shapeshifting offspring of Tiamat, for that matter. Also, I third Magical Burst.

Well, the OP was asking for obscure systems, and while PtH is a fan supplement, its system is still more or less the nWoD version of Storytelling System, which I rank among three most famous RPGs out there, along with D&D and GURPS :-) As for Leviathan, I'm aware of it, but it's not really up my alley, I guess... Mad scientists? Sure. Magical girls? Yes, please! Offsprings of Tiamat? Well, I guess some people love them, too :-)

Prospector
2012-12-17, 07:39 PM
I'm surprised no one has mentioned my favorite obscure RPG Monsters and Other Childish Things (http://www.arcdream.com/zencart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=15). You play children whose imaginary friends are real. Real Eldritch Horrors that is, who love their children but get them into so much trouble. It uses a simplified version the One-Roll-Engine (ORE) mentioned earlier. Only been able to run a one-shot of it so far but had a blast doing so. Can not wait to play/run an actual campaign of it.

Eric Tolle
2012-12-18, 12:51 AM
A couple semi-obscure games I like:

Jaws of the Six Serpents: a sword and sorcery game based on the PDQ system used in Don't Rest Your Head. It uses a descriptive system perfect for emulating savage barbarians, canny thieves, and sorcerers that is as much a risk to their friends as their enemies.

Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple: a quirky game about flying teenagers who receive letters asking for help, and solve problems, while getting in trouble. Beautifully illustrated, it's like Avatar the last Airbender, if the heroes were Sokka, Momo, and the cabbage guy..

Panty Explosion Perfect: hear me out! It's an excellent game with a most unfortunate title. You play psychic schoolgirls, fighting demons, monsters, and to keep their grades up. Success depends on how popular you are, and your friends or enemies respectively, narrate your successes or failures. It's a lot of fun.

jamieth
2012-12-18, 02:04 AM
I'm surprised no one has mentioned my favorite obscure RPG Monsters and Other Childish Things (http://www.arcdream.com/zencart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=15). You play children whose imaginary friends are real. Real Eldritch Horrors that is, who love their children but get them into so much trouble. It uses a simplified version the One-Roll-Engine (ORE) mentioned earlier. Only been able to run a one-shot of it so far but had a blast doing so. Can not wait to play/run an actual campaign of it.


Panty Explosion Perfect: hear me out! It's an excellent game with a most unfortunate title. You play psychic schoolgirls, fighting demons, monsters, and to keep their grades up. Success depends on how popular you are, and your friends or enemies respectively, narrate your successes or failures. It's a lot of fun.

OK, second both of that. While I'm not a fan of ORE, and default MaOCT game, I just have to mention... Dreadful Secrets of Candlewick Manor setting book is awesome. As for PEP... well, yeah, it does suffer from rather unfortunate title... but also from the author's refusal to release it as a pdf. (Which mean, for me, shipping cost would be probably more than the book itself... the game is fun, though, and rules-light enough that I'm currently playing a campaign of it while having never read the book...

hiryuu
2012-12-18, 02:06 AM
Nobody has mentioned SilCORE or Tribe 8 yet?

SHAAAAAAAAME

Dayzgone
2012-12-18, 02:24 AM
Prob have to be Iron Claw, and w/e reworks i seem to find of it. Not sure if i count though since apparently there was a kickstarter for V2 Iron Claw, pretty shocked when i found out about that.

AuraTwilight
2012-12-18, 02:30 AM
Nobody has mentioned SilCORE or Tribe 8 yet?

SHAAAAAAAAME

I've never heard of them. Can you provide more information?

ThiagoMartell
2012-12-18, 02:53 AM
As for PEP... well, yeah, it does suffer from rather unfortunate title... but also from the author's refusal to release it as a pdf. (Which mean, for me, shipping cost would be probably more than the book itself... the game is fun, though, and rules-light enough that I'm currently playing a campaign of it while having never read the book...

The game is out as a .pdf on DriveThruRPG.

hiryuu
2012-12-18, 03:31 AM
I've never heard of them. Can you provide more information?

SilCORE is a system, Tribe 8 is a setting for it. SilCORE does this really cool thing where skills have both a rating for how good you are, and a Complexity rating for how fine your skills are - someone with a Medicine rating of Skill 4/Complexity 1 is amazing at First Aid, but with Medicine Skill 2/Complexity 4 can perform organ transplants (and gets a bonus for performing first aid). It sounds complicated at first glance, but it's very smooth during play.

The system also tracks wounds separately: it only tracks two types, but they can degenerate, cause more wounds, or even reopen if you got them treated but went right back to vigorous activity.

It's designed for hard sci-fi and mecha action, but Tribe 8 is a very well put-together fantasy setting with an open-ended dream magic system I will probably adapt for my homebrew setting.