Recommend an Obscure RPG

[Chainsaw Hobbit]

What are some good little-known tabletop RPGs that deserve more attention?

My list ...

Woodland Warriors. A game inspired by Redwall, Mouse Guard, and their ilk - with easy rules based on early D&D. Characters take on the roles of small anthropomorphic rodents and adventure in a vast untamed wilderness. Whimsical, without being cloying.

JAGS Wonderland. Not actually an RPG, but a setting. It is designed for the JAGS system, but is light enough on crunch that it could work with any rules. Imagine Lewis Carroll, H. P. Lovecraft, and Neil Gaiman teaming up to write a horror game.

Scion. Superheroes descended from the gods of various pantheons. Uses the Storytelling system found in New World of Darkness.

[Grinner]

Ooo, I love these threads.

Frankenstein Atomic Frontier: In the future, a nuclear war has obliterated all of mankind. Fortunately, their super soldiers, the Adams, survived. Enter a world of adventure, occasional cannibalism, and Mexican Hitler clones!

Pokethulhu: An entertaining read about cockfighting with eldritch monstrosities, and the 3rd edition incorporates a special Dork Tower comic. It should be noted that the vanilla mechanics make players knowledgeable about the Pokemon anime particularly effective.

(More to come as I remember them.)

[Silverbit]

Mazes and Minotaurs. Both parody and REALLY good game. Think early D&D, but instead of being based on European fantasy, using Greek (and in an expansion, Norse) myths as inspiration. All free as well! If you do nothing else today, check it out.

[The Glyphstone]

Kobolds Ate My Baby. Given 5/5 Stars by His Greatness, King Torg (ALL HAIL KING TORG!)

[Glimbur]

Wuthering Heights. You might think that people who are wealthy and young could have no real problems. However, I would estimate the casualty rate for one-shots I run with this at about 30%.

[Gnomish Wanderer]

I guess it depends on your definition of 'little known'

Airship Pirates - Because STEAMPUNK
Genuis the Transgression - Because MAD SCIENCE
Human-Occupied Landfill - Like Paranoia, sorta
Traveller - While not really 'obscure' it doesn't get enough love. Space Opera (Think like Firefly)
Drowning and Falling: The RPG -

[Chainsaw Hobbit]

I feel strangely proud that I've heard of nearly all of the games mentioned so far, but it probably means I have too much time on my hands.

[Bacon Elemental]

I recommend Living Legends, a freerpg by Dan Felder, designed to put ease-of-play and fairness at the top.

[Gnomish Wanderer]

Whoop, forgot one that I wanted to post here until just like a minute ago:
Blazing Rose - The ROMANCE Rpg

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Hollowpoint: if The Expendables was an RPG, mixed with shades of A-Team and Bond.

Mythender: heroes slaying oppressive gods, gaining corruption as they fight (and potentially ascending to become a god themselves). Features giant fistfuls of dice, to the tune of 20+ d6s when you've built up a full pool. (You start small, and then just keep building.)

A Dirty World: envisioned as a film noir game, the core system it uses is very flexible, and particularly adept at switching conflicts between multiple arenas; it's specifically built for situations where a physical conflict can switch gears into a talking conflict, or where a mind-game conflict can switch over into a physical conflict. The core idea is that your attributes are dynamic, constantly shifting up and down as the story goes on.

Given time, I know I could think up more.

[Terraoblivion]

Legends of the Wulin. I'd link to the website, but the site is never updated due to the game quite possibly being the only product on the planet that manufacturers of are not permitted to visit their own website for, thanks to the Great Firewall of China. However, it's a really neat wuxia system with heavy narrative elements, such as all injuries being custom conditions you create on the fly and all battles having a chance to change you in some way. It also has quite fast-paced combat and lots of tools for tying yourself to aspects of the setting, whether it's the official or a custom one. I do know part of the reason for the obscurity, though, which is that the company making it are more than a bit inept at the management side of things and have so far only managed to print the pre-order copies and that was last May. It still took them two months to get those shipped. So, uh, yeah, not really the easiest system to get your hands on.

[obryn]

Powers & Perils, Avalon Hill's early-80's D&D competitor. It's excessively ... math-y ... and character creation can be a nightmare, but in play it's fairly smooth and actually kind of compelling. Advancement is rapid, though complicated - you advance in Combat Experience, Magic Experience, and Skill Expertise separately.

It's very 80's; you roll for everything, including a randomized point-buy. You can get completely hosed a few times during character creation ... but you can also end up with literal super-powers.

Best of all, it's available free online.

-O

[Tar Palantir]

Spirit of the Century

[TaleWeaver]

You could try out Nights of the Crusades - it's a free download...
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/produc...f-the-Crusades

[Chainsaw Hobbit]

Fate Core. Still kickstarting. Great story-driven system.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Spirit of the Century

Fate Core. Still kickstarting. Great story-driven system.

I don't think FATE counts as "obscure", unless the only non-obscure RPGs are D&D, GURPS, and World of Darkness.

That said, I have seen precisely one FATE game in "Finding Players" that wasn't Dresden Files (not just the ruleset, but the setting. Do you people have any imagination?!). It was actually how I got into SotC (although I decided to scrap my character concept and drop out).

[Ozfer]

Does Burning Wheel count? Either way, it's an amazing, character driven game with gritty combat and satisfying skill system.

[Arbane]

I don't think FATE counts as "obscure", unless the only non-obscure RPGs are D&D, GURPS, and World of Darkness.

No, the only 'non-obscure' RPG is Dungeons and Dragons, _period_.

All the others are a niche inside a niche.

[OverdrivePrime]

I always, always recommend Immortal, the Invisible War. 1st edition if you can find it anywhere, but 3rd edition is pretty good. Don't touch 2nd edition if you can help it.

It also unfortunately has one of the most hideous websites I've ever seen in my life, but bear with - the content in the resources section is worthwhile!

Actually... you might be better off just going to the Immortal Wikipedia page.

[obryn]

I always, always recommend Immortal, the Invisible War. 1st edition if you can find it anywhere, but 3rd edition is pretty good. Don't touch 2nd edition if you can help it.

It also unfortunately has one of the most hideous websites I've ever seen in my life, but bear with - the content in the resources section is worthwhile!

Actually... you might be better off just going to the Immortal Wikipedia page.

I... didn't actually think that was a playable game...

Had 1e since Gen Con '93. I still don't get it. :)

-O

[OverdrivePrime]

I... didn't actually think that was a playable game...

Had 1e since Gen Con '93. I still don't get it. :)

-O

The best game experiences of my life have been in Immortal. Some friends and I ran a continuous campaign from 1996-2003. I also used to run a 12 person online PBP that was utterly exhausting, but amazing.

The system takes a lot of creative interpretation to get it to work. If you try to do everything exactly as written, you'll lose your mind, and thus have to roll against red hostiles whenever you're thinking about anything ever.

To make it work, we implemented a very effective auto-success system for uncontested skill uses, which is probably the primary of the 30-odd house rules we had to knit together to get it to work. It's an amazing game environment to play in though!

[Rogue Shadows]

What are some good little-known tabletop RPGs that deserve more attention?

*sigh*...you just had to make sure to include that "good" and "deserve more attention" line, didn't you? Here I am, all set and ready to provide a link...

...ah, what the Hell, I'll do it anyway.

FATAL. I won't provide a link. Don't look it up if you value your sanity.

If you don't value your sanity, do a Google search for "FATAL 1d4Chan"

[obryn]

The best game experiences of my life have been in Immortal. Some friends and I ran a continuous campaign from 1996-2003. I also used to run a 12 person online PBP that was utterly exhausting, but amazing.

The system takes a lot of creative interpretation to get it to work. If you try to do everything exactly as written, you'll lose your mind, and thus have to roll against red hostiles whenever you're thinking about anything ever.

To make it work, we implemented a very effective auto-success system for uncontested skill uses, which is probably the primary of the 30-odd house rules we had to knit together to get it to work. It's an amazing game environment to play in though!

I'm thrilled someone actually played it. As far as I could tell, the book actively discouraged people from playing the game. Weird term obfuscation, bizarre dice colors, immense (IMMENSE) skill list... I liked the concept but between an inability to find actual mechanics and the kind of overwhelming pretension, it mostly served as reading material.

*sigh*...you just had to make sure to include that "good" and "deserve more attention" line, didn't you? Here I am, all set and ready to provide a link...

...ah, what the Hell, I'll do it anyway.

FATAL. I won't provide a link. Don't look it up if you value your sanity.

If you don't value your sanity, do a Google search for "FATAL 1d4Chan"

Do, however, Google: "Fatal and Friends"

[Chilingsworth]

I've been interested in playing a game of Everyone is John. not sure it counts, though.

[OverdrivePrime]

I'm thrilled someone actually played it. As far as I could tell, the book actively discouraged people from playing the game. Weird term obfuscation, bizarre dice colors, immense (IMMENSE) skill list... I liked the concept but between an inability to find actual mechanics and the kind of overwhelming pretension, it mostly served as reading material.

Heh, all true. Some friends and I loved reading the main book so much that we basically bludgeoned the system into playability. We tossed out most of the dice rolls, reformatted the system several times (we even tried an unsuccessful White Wolf conversion) until we had something that ran pretty smooth. For any skill check, roll a d10+skill rank+attribute. If you wanted to do it without worrying about botching/fumbling/whatever and suffering horrible consequences, you replaced the d10 with a die based on your skill level. For example, rank 1 = d2, rank 2=d4, rank 3=d6, rank 4=d8. Rank 5 meant that you were one of the best in the world and you didn't have to worry about botching for that skill. You could fail, but not horrendously. And yes, the precious few that had rank 6 in a skill could roll a d12.

The hostiles - the checks that you'd roll vs some sort of interference in combination with a skill check - we tuned way down. In our first game that we played with the original ruleset, we were literally making five or six dice rolls just to drive through Chicago in fog. It was unpleasant. We got it so that it was normally down to just 2 rolls, and having legacies auto-successed hostiles up to the skill rank in the legacy. So if I had the legacy that allowed me to ignore pain and keep fighting, I could ignore a wound penalty up to my level of skill in the legacy. Since I played a Phoenix Keeper (aka guardian) around some very self-destructive people, this trait was extremely important to me. After 7 years of play, I got to the point where I could ignore the penalties of mortal wounds.

It's a lot of fun, but it's also a lot of work! But sometimes I think the work is what made it so fun.

[Chainsaw Hobbit]

*sigh*...you just had to make sure to include that "good" and "deserve more attention" line, didn't you? Here I am, all set and ready to provide a link...

...ah, what the Hell, I'll do it anyway.

FATAL. I won't provide a link. Don't look it up if you value your sanity.

If you don't value your sanity, do a Google search for "FATAL 1d4Chan"

I pride myself on having read most of the book, and still being sane.

... Just a second. I need to go meditate in order to build stronger mental barriers, so as to stave off the nightmares.

[The Glyphstone]

I pride myself on having read most of the book, and still being sane.

... Just a second. I need to go meditate in order to build stronger mental barriers, so as to stave off the nightmares.

Ia Ia FATAL Ftaghn.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Ia Ia FATAL Ftaghn.

May I sig this?

[Heksefatter]

Ia Ia FATAL Ftaghn.

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh FATAL Internet wgah'nagl fhtagn.

Also: You made my hero-list, Glyph.

[Heksefatter]

Returning to the original question:

CJ Carella's WitchCraft. A game about modern magic. Loads of interesting factions and approaches to magic. There are snobbish classical mages and neopagans (the game is inspired by neopaganism). There are intelligent cat creatures, undead, angels and devils, as well as Lovecraftian horrors scaring even the devils.

Weapons of the Gods. A Wuxia RPG. Quite interesting. It is not just glossy fighting, but also deals with mature themes based on oriental mythology.

Victoriana. Set in a world combining the Victorian period and fantasy. There are the classic fantasy races, magic and a class structure, the corruption of which is a major theme of the game. It is a very dark world with even heaven and the angels being corrupted by overly rigid adherence to law.