Quote from: HinterWeltHey! I wa sin that Hero game...yuck...I played Wheelie, the deranged paraplegic super hero...yeah, it was that kind of game.

You should regale them with your stories of how the Pax Draconis game went. Truly epic.

Bill

yeah, that hero game was just horrible. Chargen takes way to long, the system is way to crunchy, crap the character sheet even looked like you needed a degree in engineering to read.

PAX, IIRC, we had a character who took one point of damage to hit foot and ended up bleeding to death. :confused:

Given my relative narrowness of RPG system experience, most of my bottom 10 will be in my top 10 as well.
Tunnels and Trolls is a hugely fun game but the rules before vers 5.5 were quite frankly useless once your character got beyond about 5th level. I literally wore out D6's with that game - but had fun doing so
Dragon Warriors - my first and favourite fantasy RPG, has a highly limited magic spellbook and fixed weapon damage that bugs me a lot. In the PbP I'm in we've encountered zombies. It takes a long time to kill a 20 hp zombie when even a very high level character can only do 4 damage with his sword (5 if he has max Strength). I house ruled around that issue by linking damage to attack skill.
Cyberpunk 2020 is a cool game but the combat system takes lethality to extremes, the netrunning is so broke I dont know anyone who's ever used it in anger, and the official GM advice is "Screw over your players." :rolleyes:. I've walked away from a few CP games cos the other players were asstards, but most of them because the GM was trying to screw us over, and you can't beat the GM

I got 1 game for my "bottom of the pile" :

 Rolemaster . (also originally known as "Fill in the blank law")

 One of the worst campaigns I was ever in used that system.  I was told "Oh , you'll get used to .  Yep ...got used to it - it still stank up the living room.  Would have preferred a good game of GURPS at the time.

 The GM  got distracted too easily in details that slowed down the story. The other players were pretty obnoxious guys. The married couple that invited me into the  game ? The husband almost got into a fight with one of the other players because of crap that was going on in the game.  That couple are the only ones that I'm still friends with ...they are players in my current  G:T campaign.

- E.W.C.

5 years...geez...that limits it, I may only get ten

1. Fuzion Core Book - this was a neat idea that just stank in execution.  Why some of the powers that were in there were in there and how they stacked or didn't stack with stat values is a mystery to this day.

2. GURPS 3rd edition - in which every sucktacular thing they did from Space 1st ed forward got made official and iron clad for fifteen years.  I honestly believe that had they taken a different tack GURPS would have replaced D&D for the number one spot during the death of T$R period and might have even held on to it.  Instead we get 15 years of un-playable crap.  (based on about 24 attempted campaign startups involving giving away core books to fan interest)

3. Shadowrun - ugh!  It's a dice pool game!

4. GURPS Traveller - once upon a time, there was a review of Hammer's Slammers in Space Gamer where the author went on at length about how the rule that a game had to be true to its source material was unwritten before that particular game came out because it was always assumed.  SJ would have done well to have re-read that article and done a game that actually resembled Traveller in play.  (ugh GURPS 3rd edition again)

5. Dungeons and Dragons third edition - you've probably heard my power gamers from hell stories about it before, but let's just go to the classic example of high end immersion that I always bring up.

Hobgoblin Rogue to Elf Wizard: Sure, I've killed lot's of elf children, but c'mon, how many hobgoblin kids have you killed.

Elf: I dunno, I started playing this character at tenth level.

If you want a longer tirade on the rules, the net is littered with them and it shouldn't be too hard to find one.  I can't be arsed to bother typing one up again.

6. Spacemaster Privateers: much as I love this game, I can't imagine a more horrific editing disaster (and I bought everything for T4) nor a more closed and rigid setting (it's a neat setting, though, just not flexible or open ended).

7. HARP: because the best way to mend a fractured game line is to put out a third incompatible version that's just not very good.  Rolemaster is all about the big funny tables.  Making it into a game of small dull tables just doesn't do it for me.

8. Galloway's Fantasy Roleplaying: well, I didn't actually play it but I finally got a copy.  It might even beat KABAL as the worst game ever.  I really want to play it, but my attempt at GM prep nearly killed me and I started to think the magic system was real...

9. Silcore: No I didn't play this one.  It's damn hard to play a game that doesn't include any examples of weapons, armour, equipment, or vehicles.  Also dice pools =

10. Galactic Adventures: Man, I wrote 100 pages of suck.  That or my somewhat unwilling guinea pigs were even dumber than I thought.  No it just didn't work quite right.  The revision will be better.

Okay here is my short list and reasons.  Couldn't think of ten though.

1.  Cyborg Commando.  Yeah I bought it at a bargin bin one time.  I don't think there is much reason to go on about this one.

2.  Aftermath.  Character creation alone was enough to make a person toss the book out.  We used to joke that you get to play the game 'after the math'.

3. D&D 3rd edition.  Whoever decided that it would look 'cool' to put lines behind the text ought to be shot.  I have eye problems already and the main books gave me a headache every two pages.  Other than that the rules just weren't to my liking.

Quote from: SpikeI'll add more as the bad memories float to the surface.  I'm tempted to add MERP, as my play expirence was that first level experts with bows could not hunt to save their lives, and we spent so very very long at first level. Could have been just a rotten GM...:rolleyes:

A first level character in MERP is probably all of 18 years old, if that. It is unlikely that they are much of an expert in bows. If they have concentrated on such weapons, they should be at around +30 to +40 (even the NPC chart suggests this). Assuming your target isn't dodging like their life depends on it, you should be hitting at least 1 out 3 attempts.

Yes, the experience system at low levels was pretty harsh; not broken (did the GM include maneuver points, idea points, travel points etc?).

Quote from: Caesar SlaadWell, normally I don't play games I suspect will suck, but


4) GURPS. All the pain of Hero without the flexibility.

 If I had been your GM - you might have had some fun.

- Ed

1) Battlemaster (AD&D1e plus worse house rules and 1% of the production standards)

2) Pirates & Plunder (a system without any consistency and pirates without ships.. we still managed to have a good game or two, although a lot of rum and arrgh! was involved)

3) Gamma World 1e (why did the six-legged mutant chicken with a laser cross the road?)

4) Lejendary Adventures (.. an failed attempt at a simple RPG post-DJ)

5} Star Patrol (just awful sf rpg from the ice age)

6) Undiscovered: The Quest for Adventure (I wish it remained that way)

7) Rifts (assuming that it wasn't actually meant as a joke, because it sure plays well as one)

AD&D 1e (from such a base we have ascended; excellent for its day).

9) Fantasy Imperium (no game in 2006 should require 7+ rolls to resolve a successful hit in combat)

10) Dangerous Journeys (.. and descended)

Damn, I forgot FATAL...

Hmmm... in no special order...

Rolemaster (though I like MERP, which was RM 'lite').
Star Wars d20 (In fact, d20 for anything other than D&D really).
Obsidian
OWoD Demon the Fallen
NWoD Vampire
NWoD Mage
CP3.
Manhunter
RIFTS (In fact, all Palladium, though we managed to have fun with TMNT for a while).
Heroes Unlimited deserves special mention for 'teh suxxor' as well.

Can't think of too many to be honest as I'm usually fairly flexible about systems. However

1) Rolemaster - We played a campaign of this for over a year and I swear we spent more time searching for the right book each time there was a fight than roleplaying. "I need Claw law - page 61" and then we'd have to spend 10 minutes searching for the damn book.

2) Other Suns - A SF roleplaying game with randomly created animal human hybrids for no apparent reason to fill in the alien races and character creation that needs a degree in Maths to work out the secondary stats.

3) Exalted - Great background but a system for munchkins gone mad. How the GM is expected to memorises all the various powers and stuff in here I'll never know.

4) Dogs in the Vineyard - A meta system that focuses involves bidding and encourages you to use it in certain ways to gain experience. The arguements seem to be an excuse to abuse the system. And yes I am currently playing this one.

5) Top Secret - Not to confuse this with Top Secret S/I which was really good, the first edition rules suffered greatly with a poor implementation of hand to hand combat, chases and skills. Top Secret S/I I really liked by the way.

Gavin

Quote from: SpikeWeapons of the Gods pissed me off like few games have, though I could be taking it personally

Cyberpunk v3 is an abortion. I refuse to speak more of it.

Synnibar: Oy! (yes, I've had two different copies of the rulebook. No, I never got to play it. Not for lack of trying, but then I am a glutton for punishment)

Rogue Trader: As an RPG, which I tried to use it for, it earned the Golden Paperweight award. As a tabletop game it was much to RPGish...

I'll add more as the bad memories float to the surface.  I'm tempted to add MERP, as my play expirence was that first level experts with bows could not hunt to save their lives, and we spent so very very long at first level. Could have been just a rotten GM...:rolleyes:

Dude, could you rank them when you add the additional games? I can't incorporate your votes into my modified version of joewolz's spreadsheet if they aren't ranked.

MAN!  I'm gonna have to run some Rolemaster for you guys.  I swear we didn't play the same game.  (though I like RMSS not RM2 so that's possibly true)

d20 Star Wars - Just about the worst application of the d20 system I've found. If a game is based upon a specific movie or book setting, then it should allow the players to imitate the action within that setting and not be a giant advertisement for your pet house rules system.


From the Past -

Space Opera - The most confusing mishmash of setting and inconsistant rules I've ever found. The only things that are worthwhile about this abortion from the 80's are the Jeff Dee artwork in the modules. The rest is craptastic.


I'd go for more, but most of the really crappy games I remember are from the past and a lot of newer games are just too weird for me to get interested in to pay for them. All I had to do was look at Burning Wheel's rules for handling social situations and I knew I didn't want to spend money on it because a social situation in an RPG is supposed to be handled by roleplaying, period.

Quote from: el diablo roboticoGURPS - I don't really know what it is about it, but I don't really care for the system. Maybe it's cuz I don't like roll-under systems? Nah, that can't be it cuz I like BRP.

HERO - too much crunch for me.

I had fun playing Weapons of the Gods, but yeah that book!! Holy moly!

I also really love the setting and overall concept in Shadowrun 4th, but the magic and hacking rules are horribly overcomplicated.

EDIT to add Werewolf (both oWod and nWod). I just don't like how they're presented. I'm an old school werewolf fan (ala Lon Chaney Jr.)

It ranks the games from 1 to 10 or else it gets the hose again.

By which I mean: thanks for voting, but if you don't rank the games I can't put them in the spreadsheet.

#1.  D20 Modern
Among other things the firearms rules are clearly a tacked on after thought. Just one the things that drive me crazy.