Have you ever read a game or system and thought "Yes! I really like this! This speaks to me..."?

You find a game, buy into it and really like what's been produced. The books are good quality, the system rocks, you can see a lot of potential for the game at the table long term. It ties in to a lot of the things you're interested in. Finally, a game that sits well with your area of the hobby. You can have something that is not all "Firefly, Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactic, Marvel Superheroes, Buffy, or [insert geek flavour of the month here]".

Until....

You read something in a core text book of the system (not a dodgy third party supplement that can be disowned) that just makes you go "nope".

You can't compute, or really get over the need for that certain something that was included. Perhaps it's the random wench table of AD&D, or the anal circumference chart of F.A.T.A.L. or the patronising tone that tells you to 'play nice' in Eclipse Phase:

QuotePREJUDICE IN THE GAME
Uplifts and AGIs can often face serious prejudice in many places and from many people in the setting. While this can and often will be an important and recurring role in campaigns featuring such characters, it’s important for players and gamemasters alike to remember that in-game scenarios and dialogue can be experienced and interpreted differently by the real people sitting at the table. Players should always be mindful of how their characters interact with each other, and gamemasters should ensure that if their stories include scenes with aggressive prejudice they can balance the experience for players by also including scenes where characters and NPCs overcome and fight against stereotypes and discrimination.

To minimize in-character verbal harassment, gamemasters may apply –10 or –20 penalties on some Social Skill Tests to abstract generally hostile social circumstances without fully roleplaying the exchanges.

Thank you for telling me how to use your material in an approved fashion, comrade. Let me send my clone to the confession booth for immediate termination! Happiness in mandatory, are we having fun yet, citizens?

You know, I can ignore it. Really I can. I can just get on with my life like a big boy and use what's there in a toolbox fashion. I don't have to play it your way. It is out in the wild, and if I want to ignore the happy-clappy feel good vibe that juxtaposes 'The Fall', I can.

I accepted the politics up to this point while there were a few detractors, I didn't care. But now it just feels tainted.

And to top it all you go and do this:



Really? A sodding synth morph in a plastic Anonymous/V for Vendetta mask? Give me a break.


I am now going to go for a lay down, to help get over myself.

I started gaming in the 1990s, so I suppose I'm inured to shitty GM advice.

I thought Rolemaster was pretty boss – I saw it as the AD&D to MERP's Basic Set, and the crit tables are awesome – but then I started creating a character and when I was done, I wanted my three hours back.

At first i was afraid, i was petrified.

but then i learned how to get along.

Usually, it's a game author's politics that put me off from their game system. I refuse to fund them.

Players should always be mindful of how their characters interact with each other, and gamemasters should ensure that if their stories include scenes with aggressive prejudice they can balance the experience for players by also including scenes where characters and NPCs overcome and fight against stereotypes and discrimination.

Man. The storygame bullshit is strong with this one.

It's not the people involved, it's the fact that someone felt the need to put those words on the page.

But to be fair about the image, loads of people have complained about the art in the Transhuman book. The uplift pig with boobies is really a non-issue. The Jovian Envoy wearing a dog-collar is just crass. And coming from an anti-theist, that is saying something.

Enough shitting on this one book. Those I my own silly issues.

Quote from: BarefootGaijin;740531

So, what game(s) had you on board, until suddenly...............?

Way back a long time ago, when I first picked up D&D3e, I thought "this might be OK."  The skill system was basically Interlock.  It seemed like there were fun mechanical doo dads to play with in the system.  I should have taken a liking to the thing.

But the art really put me off.  Every time I saw any D&D3e art it completely took me out of any positive buzz I had been easing into.  Regardless of the system itself, the art painted a picture of a game I didn't want to have anything to do with.  I knew that despite some initial good impressions that it had been dressed in such a way as to make it as unappealling as possible.

The other thing that put me off is that it seemed like a single paragraph in the books couldn't go by without the text bringing up opportunity attacks.  I know objectively it couldn't have been anywhere near that bad, but it certainly seemed like every time I flipped to a random page in any of the books the first or second line I'd read would always be something about opportunity attacks.  The system seemed so mired in them, and they were absolutely inescapable.

7th Sea was another one.  I was really on board with it when it first came out.  I don't remember what it was that turned me off.  There was something in the books which was my first inkling that the people responsible for it were absolute twits.  Meh.  I got rid of that whole line, so it doesn't matter anymore.

Quote from: BarefootGaijin;740531Really? A sodding synth morph in a plastic Anonymous/V for Vendetta mask? Give me a break.

So, what game(s) had you on board, until suddenly...............?

I am now going to go for a lay down, to help get over myself.

It's a Griefer.  Those are the morphs designed to fuck with people in public and be annoying as a form of social protest.  The Anonymous nod seemed fairly appropriate to me.

Cthulhutech. Until its take on religions.

For that matter, Blue Rose, until I saw its nations are just caricatures of modern western social divisions.

At first I was like . . . Spycraft is an awesome espionage roleplaying game.

But then I was like . . . for someone else's playstyle.

Is it okay if I do the opposite?

At first I was like... Man that James Raggi the IV is a total douchebag: what shitty opinions I will never touch LotFP ever.

Then I was like... Holy crap I like the way that he writes and I like his game and it's supplements. I really want to play LotFP.

I'm still not a huge fan of the man, but I like his material. Oh well.

Mekton 2 + Mekton MTS.

At first I was like, "Oh man this is going to scratch my itch for giant robots and it has a way more detailed building system than Battletech!"

Then I was like "But none of their math adds up for their own tech manual builds and they keep using math terms to describe things* but then don't actually have the math behind it, so I can't even begin to know if anything I want to build for my own campaign works properly."

In the same vein:

Heavy Gear/Silhouette 1.0

At first I was like, "Oh man this is going to scratch my itch for giant robots, it has a way simpler building system than Mekton 2 + MTS and is just as detailed!"

Then I was like "...but the sensor sweep rules during combat bring everything to a grinding fucking halt, there's no way this is workable for a fast-paced RPG."

D&D 3.0:

At first I was like, "Oh wow, just when I'm getting back in to D&D, a new system!  This should be pretty cool; the default is Greyhawk, the dross of 2e is being thrown out..."

Then I was like "..."

TMNT (& other strangeness) from Palladium.
I mean, i was a furry before i had heard the word "furry", after all.

... And then i tried to make a character with an Alignment that i could play ....

Quote from: Necrozius;740617Is it okay if I do the opposite?

At first I was like... Man that James Raggi the IV is a total douchebag: what shitty opinions I will never touch LotFP ever.

Then I was like... Holy crap I like the way that he writes and I like his game and it's supplements. I really want to play LotFP.

I'm still not a huge fan of the man, but I like his material. Oh well.

I don't agree with some of his gm philosophy, but I am quite a fan of LOTFP.
An excellent game.

Quote from: thedungeondelver;740633Mekton 2 + Mekton MTS.

Then I was like "But none of their math adds up for their own tech manual builds and they keep using math terms to describe things* but then don't actually have the math behind it, so I can't even begin to know if anything I want to build for my own campaign works properly."

Do you remember which ones?  I've never tried to point balance any of the original Techbook designs.