Most Over-the-Top RPG?

[Primal Fury]

It's been quite some time since I've posted on these forums, so I've decided to pose a little inquery to y'all. What is the most over-the-top RPG you guys have ever played and/or heard of? This can be simply in terms of mechanical power, or as complex as the deeds that have been performed that make a specific campaign incredibly memorable.

[Kylarra]

Exalted and its modern counterpart Scion come to mind instantly.

[shadzar]

4th edition D&D.

A close second would be Munchkin.

[Morty]

4th edition D&D.

It doesn't come even close to Exalted, from what I've heard.

[Berserk Monk]

Not too long ago, I was a druid in a campaign with someone who was a cleric. Most of the gaming sessions were like sitcoms.

[shadzar]

It doesn't come even close to Exalted, from what I've heard.

Never played Exalted.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

Exalted and its modern counterpart Scion come to mind instantly.

This. Exalted is crazy, with moves like (and I'm making this one up, but it's rather par for course) Invincible Progression of the Ten Thousand Burning Gods. Scion isn't as...obviously over the top, I suppose. Still, you're the CHILD OF A FREAKIN' GOD! Want to throw a common baseball far enough that it comes around and hits you in the back of the head? Can do. Want to jump over the Empire State Building, then pick it up and throw it? Can do.

[Grey Paladin]

Nobilis. You are nothing less than an incarnation of a concept or a word, with utter control of it.

[Primal Fury]

Though I haven't reached it just yet, Aberrant offers the option of planet affecting/destroying abilities, and universe creation. So... yeah.

[Starscream]

Exalted is definitely a contender.

GURPS can be, depending of the style of play. Most of these "generic" systems allow for high levels of weirdness when you start mixing the more esoteric sourcebooks together.

I don't want to start a 3.5 vs 4e debate, but what makes you think of it as "over the top"? True there is more focus on the powers of the characters, but that is true of many systems.

[Tsotha-lanti]

HeroQuest and RuneQuest played at higher levels of power. You go back in time to punch a goddess so hard all her people start having miscarriages and giving birth to malformed children (literally; a divine construct did this in the official Gloranthan history). Or you can go back in time to undo that. When you screw around like this badly enough, all the gods come down to kick your ass. (And then, if your name is Rufelza, you kick all their asses and force them to include you among the gods.)

Mid-level heroes can put their head back on after being decapitated, or sow themselves together when they're cut in half; high-level heroes call upon dragons the size of mountain ranges, lead armies to scale impossible needle-shaped mountains at age five, and deal each other wounds that will never heal. When a hundred sun-priests made the sun turn its scorching eye on Harrek the Berserk, his and his men's weapons melted away, but the priests all fell down dead, and the the minds of all the priests supporting them hundreds of miles away were blasted...

Glorantha is mythology in action, and the heroes don't just get to take the equivalent of the roles of Hector or even Hercules, but of the Olympians and the Titans...


Edit: Simon Phipp's insane Dorastor campaing. Incredibly over-the-top within the fairly low-power and conservative older RuneQuest system, but pretty much in line with modern conceptions of Glorantha.

[Zeta Kai]

The one & only answer is F.A.T.A.L.

Over-the-Top? Yes.

Good & fun? Uh, no. Good god, no.

[Murdim]

Never played Exalted.

From what I heard, the game pretty much consists of playing an inexplicably humanoid cosmic being who makes magic thanks to his ridiculously-named secret ancestral martial art skills and can beat gods singlehandedly. You're a Good Guy, and your perpetual goal is to become even stronger to beat even more ridiculously powerful villains. Here's a probable exemple of (low-level and somewhat unsubtle) Exalted character.

This is what I would call over-the-top. Actually, even without taking into account this sort of extreme examples, i find 4E quite dull with its MMO-inspired player roles and its unorginal special powers universally and uniformally distributed between the different classes.


Ah, and some of them have sex with animals, too.

[The Rose Dragon]

M&M is also over the top. You can quite literally double the world's human population for about 50 power points (which is one third your starting power points at the suggested starting levels). But it's not nearly as intentionally over-the-top as Exalted.

Exalted has you kill a mountain god, slash the mountain into two and get rid of the Realm control in the surrounding twelve cities as part of a complete breakfast. And then you get to the not-so-simple stuff.

Also, any RPG where you can have a name like Seven Triumphant Truths Under the Rose and people will call it too short is obviously epic.

[shadzar]

I don't want to start a 3.5 vs 4e debate, but what makes you think of it as "over the top"? True there is more focus on the powers of the characters, but that is true of many systems.

Oh don't worry about that with me, if that is what you meant, and was responding to what I said. I don't like any WotC edition of D&D, so have no horse in the 3.x vs 4th race.

I just think 4th went over the top in design that leaves nothing really for a roleplaying game, but seems more like a tactical simulation game as read. There is too much focus and detail on combat, and even the rituals provided offer little to nothing for outside of combat use. Even the spells and wonder of magic have been turned into combat abilities and little else.

So calling 4th edition an RPG to me is what is over-the-top. It is more along the lines of a set of advanced rules for DDM.

@Murdim:

So like any translation of d20 system to anime product eh? That said any anime based RPG is over-the-top. Nice place to visit (watch) but I wouldn't want to live (game) there.

Rifts could get over-the-top as well crossing every genre from fantasy~sci-fi and acting like it was an everyday thing.

But Rahu-men and Glitterboys fighting dragons and lizard mages had some pretty fun times.

I guess it depends on where you draw the line with any RPG as to the genre or style it tries to represent as to what goes to far for you to subjectively say it is over-the-top.

[The Rose Dragon]

Exalted is not anime, it's wuxia. There is a large difference between shonen anime and wuxia (for one, wuxia is often more serious).

[sonofzeal]

Paranoia deserves a mention here, for sheer ludicrousness combined with simple rules and great playability. If you're looking for a wacky fun time with friends over an RPG, Paranoia might be your best bet. Exalted is far more epic (Paranoia characters are lucky if they make it to the BRIEFING ROOM alive, while Exalted characters shape the world itself by their mere existance), but if you're looking for comedic roleplaying then Paranoia should be your first stop.


Also, while F.A.T.A.L. is legendary for its excesses, they're mostly just on the sexual/immature/offensive front. The World of Synnibarr is probably a better call in this area, what with flying grizzly bears with laser beam eyes, and all that jazz. Synnibarr might be the most enjoyable "worst game ever", from what I've heard.

[Artanis]

Never played Exalted.

You know the "stunts" section of Acrobatics in 4e? And how you have to make a skill check to pull them off, getting screwed over if you fail the check?

In Exalted, not only do you not make a check for that, but you are actively and mechanically encouraged to pull stunts like that on every. Single. Roll.

And that's before you get to the chapter that talks about what an Incarnation of Pure Awesome is really capable of.

[Kylarra]

I'll also throw out MAID rpg for sheer hilarity.

[Satyr]

In regard of over the top characters, Armageddon is a prime candidate. What is a mere scion of a god compared to the direct avatars or a god? Or an elder Seraphim? Fortunately, Armageddon is also a fairly realistic game, so even if a charcter weilds the divine powers of he heavenly host, a lucky child soldier with an AK-47 can still hurt them badly.

Gurps probably allows for the most extreme characters, you just have to apply enough points.

[Kylarra]

In regard of over the top characters, Armageddon is a prime candidate. What is a mere scion of a god compared to the direct avatars or a god? Or an elder Seraphim? Fortunately, Armageddon is also a fairly realistic game, so even if a charcter weilds the divine powers of he heavenly host, a lucky child soldier with an AK-47 can still hurt them badly.

Gurps probably allows for the most extreme characters, you just have to apply enough points.

Scion goes all the way up to god-tier powers.

[RTGoodman]

The one & only answer is F.A.T.A.L.

You know, I was thinking about mentioning F.A.T.A.L, but I didn't want to be cruel and didn't want to be responsible if someone actually went out and played it.


Anyway, Nobilis is one I'd suggest - like someone else already said, you're literally the cosmic embodiment of some idea or word. I guess from what I've read that Exalted is pretty over-the-top, too, but I haven't played it.

Oh, there's also the Wushu system. It's not INHERENTLY over-the-top, but it could be. I mean, the basis of the system is "You automatically succeed at what you say you do, and then you roll dice to see HOW WELL you did it."


EDIT: Also, The Veggie Patch. Yeah, I own it. What of it?

[Iku Rex]

In terms of character power: Amber Diceless. No contest. I don't think I'd describe it as "over-the-top" though. The winner in that regard would have to be Feng Shui. (Or possibly Toon.)

[Zaq]

I've only played Paranoia once, but it's pretty darned over-the-top.

For my money, though, I'd have to go with our group's heavily houseruled Kobolds Ate My Baby. I usually describe it as "One-half storytelling, one-half improv comedy, and one-half bat[boop] insanity. 150% intentional." Or else "As if Douglas Adams wrote Looney Tunes." If it's awesome, hilarious, or humiliating (for you, another player, or both), you can at least roll to try to get away with it. We've had people swimming up mountains; having Batman stick his head inside them to breathe; running so fast they cause the compass rose to spin around and thus break directions; using the traps skill to turn invincible demons into lawnmowers; inventing the crudely biological "baby cannon;" filling a dog's head with magical bees until they shoot out of its nose like bullets; being turned into a mummy by Larry Craig; swimming through the time stream to fight the sea king for Prince Genji's (yes, that Genji) affections; dying by attempting to extricate the corpse of their father's murderer from their father's corpse (you had to be there); stripping the Pope naked and starting a musical number; trying to get Judge Kitten elected Senator; and last but not least, ending one session by Belgium (the entire country, land mass included) plummeting out of the sky and squashing them all, or as we called it, the "Belgium falls, everyone dies" moment.

Among other things.

[Blackjackg]

Exalted is not anime, it's wuxia. There is a large difference between shonen anime and wuxia (for one, wuxia is often more serious).

It's a little of both. Actually, a lot of both, with a bunch of other stuff mixed in. But I'd relate it to anime (or to certain animes, such as Bleach or that other one... with the dog-demon dude and the chick with the bow. Might start with an F... Definitely not Naruto. Damn it, one of you anime fans help me out here.) more than to wuxia. Except maybe Hero. That flick was bad-ass.

I was going to mention Exalted and Paranoia for the reasons already mentioned, but the ultimate was the original rules Aberrant. Quantum-powered superheroes in a modern world, with abilities that could get up to Exalted/Scion-God level and beyond. Pretty dang over-the-top.

[sonofzeal]

Oh, also from the list of "worst RPG ever", SenZar definitely deserves a mention. Horrible balance, cheesy flavour, but surprisingly elegant rules (according to the review). This is another one I'd like to give a try.

[Starscream]

The World of Synnibarr is probably a better call in this area, what with flying grizzly bears with laser beam eyes, and all that jazz. Synnibarr might be the most enjoyable "worst game ever", from what I've heard.

Yes. It's the RPG equivalent of an Ed Wood movie. It's so bad it comes back around to good from the other side.

And I forgot to mention Toon. Much like Munchkin, the over-the-top qualities of that one are both completely intentional, and masterfully done.

[shadzar]

dog-demon

The show you are looking for is in the name of what you said.

Inu=dog.

InuYasha and Kagome are who you are talking about.

[Blackjackg]

Yeah, that one! Curse my lack of knowledge of Japanese etymology! Someday. Wonder why I thought it started with an F.

[shadzar]

Yeah, that one! Curse my lack of knowledge of Japanese etymology! Someday. Wonder why I thought it started with an F.

Fushi Yuigi(sp) is also a fuedal era anime.

Fruits Basket has a bit of feudal era themes to it.

There is so many anime programs out there, you won't pick a starting letter for a title that won't have an anime that fits the genre you want to apply to it.

But oddly that is one of the few anime fitting to D&D that I never saw adopted to d20.

Any anime RPG will be over-the-top compared to other games in any genre, because most anime IS over-the-top.