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Author Topic: Little known games in your collections.  (Read 4449 times)

Lurkndog

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Re: Little known games in your collections.
« Reply #30 on: November 18, 2022, 09:00:34 PM »
Gangbusters, Spirit of the Century, Talislanta, Blood of Heroes, Everquest, Arcanum, Fantasy Craft, are probably the only weird things.

But they're not *that* weird to anyone that's been in the hobby longer than ten years. I've gotten rid of most of the silly shit like FATE, and most non-referential DnD 3e/4e stuff.

FantasyCraft is one of my favorite fantasy games. I still play it.

Dave 2

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Re: Little known games in your collections.
« Reply #31 on: November 20, 2022, 01:10:55 PM »
The best game you've never played is Spellbound Kingdoms. It's got a truly innovative combat system, plus a dice pool system for skills that works beautifully (dice can "explode" but it only means you also roll the next die size up and take the best, so it's not nearly as swingy as Savage Worlds), plus it's got integrated support for the players being part of organizations.

And for some reason, timing or marketing or reach, it sank like a stone. Then the author Kickstarted a supplement which he was late on, which didn't help, but really the first book is fully playable so I don't even mind.

Next I'd say Mothership (industrial sci fi horror) and Whitehack (almost OSR but doing its own thing more than most clones), but I feel like these are slightly better known even if not many people play them compared to the big games.

Dropbear

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Re: Little known games in your collections.
« Reply #32 on: November 23, 2022, 07:22:39 PM »

tenbones

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Re: Little known games in your collections.
« Reply #33 on: November 24, 2022, 12:04:44 AM »
Gangbusters, Spirit of the Century, Talislanta, Blood of Heroes, Everquest, Arcanum, Fantasy Craft, are probably the only weird things.

But they're not *that* weird to anyone that's been in the hobby longer than ten years. I've gotten rid of most of the silly shit like FATE, and most non-referential DnD 3e/4e stuff.

FantasyCraft is one of my favorite fantasy games. I still play it.

You are a glorious pervert!

Lurkndog

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Re: Little known games in your collections.
« Reply #34 on: November 25, 2022, 09:26:11 AM »

FantasyCraft is one of my favorite fantasy games. I still play it.

You are a glorious pervert!

Ooh-kay, then! :)

Is there some kind of context I'm missing? I thought the Crafty games were fairly mainstream.

I got into them because my friend Ian Homeyard (RIP) was a big fan of the system. We started out playing Stargate/Spycraft, and when that campaign ended we switched over to FantasyCraft.

weirdguy564

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Re: Little known games in your collections.
« Reply #35 on: November 25, 2022, 11:35:31 PM »
Dungeons and Delvers: Dice Pool Edition.

https://biggeekemporium.com/product/dungeons-delvers-dice-pool/

Up front I’ll say that this game is now one of my top three RPGs I’ve played, along with Palladium Rifts, and D6 Star Wars. 

This is how Savage World and D&D should work.

At its core, this is almost an OSR.  However, enough has been altered that I consider this game unique. 

1st.  No D20.  You get a dice size for your attribute/ability score, and another for your skill.  Everything you will do is an attribute dice + skill dice to try and equal a target number.  All of your attributes and skills starts as a D4, upgrades to a D6, D8, and maxes as a D12. You often get more dice for Talents like specializing in hammers, or two-handed weapons.  Thus a character rolls a D8 for high strength, D6 for melee fighting skill, a D4 for a hammer, and another d4 because it’s a two-handed hammer. Roll all four dice, pick the best two, and beat a target number. 

No insane hit points.  You start with 5 or so hit points, but max out with about 8 hit points.  One-handed weapons do 1 damage, and two-handed weapons inflict 2 damage.

Magic casting is a skill test.  There are no spell slots or mana points.  You can cast magic all day long.  Just know that a ranged battle between a wizard vs a longbow armed ranger or fighter, the wizard has unlimited ammo, but the bow is both longer ranged and does 2 damage per hit.  Odds are in the bowman’s favor to win.

Highly customizable characters.  Every class has 15-20 talents to choose from, many of which have three ranks.  You get to pick.  Kitting out a fighter is just as interesting and involved as a wizard.  Wizard spells are just their talents, making the various classes seem equal to each other in complexity and power. 

Armor doesn’t raise your Armor Class, but are a few extra hit points.  Your attributes determine three defense target numbers of Block, Dodge, and Mind.

No savings throws.  Stuff like poison is a status effect.  A dragon breath attack is just a ranged attack. 

Overall it is quite a simple system, but is just complex enough to be interesting, and fixes many weird tropes that D&D based rules keep perpetuating.  I love it. 
« Last Edit: November 26, 2022, 11:59:38 AM by weirdguy564 »
I’m glad for you if you like the top selling game of the genre.  Me, I like the road less travelled, and will be the player asking we try a game you’ve never heard of.

Dropbear

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Re: Little known games in your collections.
« Reply #36 on: November 26, 2022, 06:48:14 AM »
Dungeons and Delvers: Dice Pool Edition.

https://biggeekemporium.com/product/dungeons-delvers-dice-pool/

I must have missed this store somewhere, I don’t even recall hearing anything about it’s launch. I probably did hear something but just forgot.

I’m picking up this game on your recommendation, so it better be good :P

Actually, I already have all the other versions of the game already.

It was interesting to note that the Wretched stuff is there as well. I’ve been hearing a bit about The Red Room, and noticed Pundit did some interviews with them. I looked over their stuff, and I think I’m going to pick up Wretched New Flesh too. Anything that actually turns out to be on par with Burroughs sounds just about cool weird enough for me to pick up

weirdguy564

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Re: Little known games in your collections.
« Reply #37 on: November 26, 2022, 12:07:30 PM »
Dungeons and Delvers: Dice Pool Edition.

https://biggeekemporium.com/product/dungeons-delvers-dice-pool/

I must have missed this store somewhere, I don’t even recall hearing anything about it’s launch. I probably did hear something but just forgot.

I’m picking up this game on your recommendation, so it better be good :P

Big geek emporium started this summer by the guys from Bigus Geekus podcast as a reaction to Drivethru RPG refusing some content based on politics.  Specifically Venger Satanis made a game supplement about a fantasy scenario that is anti-abortion.  Venger doesn’t shy away from stuff like that.

David Guyll put his games on their site. 

Emporium still really small.  It’s only advertised by word of mouth.

As for the various Dungeons and Delvers versions, I like the dice pool version because I’m very much a rules lite fan now. Dice Pool fits well in that genre. 

If I ever write my own Star Wars ripoff game, it will use those rules.
« Last Edit: November 26, 2022, 12:20:36 PM by weirdguy564 »
I’m glad for you if you like the top selling game of the genre.  Me, I like the road less travelled, and will be the player asking we try a game you’ve never heard of.

tenbones

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Re: Little known games in your collections.
« Reply #38 on: November 26, 2022, 03:54:52 PM »

FantasyCraft is one of my favorite fantasy games. I still play it.

You are a glorious pervert!

Ooh-kay, then! :)

Is there some kind of context I'm missing? I thought the Crafty games were fairly mainstream.

I got into them because my friend Ian Homeyard (RIP) was a big fan of the system. We started out playing Stargate/Spycraft, and when that campaign ended we switched over to FantasyCraft.

Contrary to what we, as Crafty Games fans may think - I don't see them as very popular in actual play. It's like Talislanta, *everyone* says they love it, but no one relatively actually plays it. I think there's probably less than a half-dozen folks around these part aside from myself that have actually run Fantasycraft. Spycraft seems to have a much broader recognition.

But the WEIRD part to me about Fantasycraft is that it is *superior* mechanically on every level compared to anything from 3.x WotC or Pathfinder, yet it has very few fans.

I suspect it's due to the timing of its release and the nature of the system being a true toolkit design. Most new GM's are unaccustomed to designing the rules around their settings in a broad manner. They just wanna pick up and run where anything written down is "canon", like 5e does. Plus 3rd party content for 3.x was pretty plentiful. I see a lot of people saying FC is "confusing" and "dense" when all it really does is re-codify the basic components of the 3.x system and balances them out more thoroughly than Pathfinder or 3.x. MANY if not *all* of the classic weaknesses of those systems are eliminated from the game.

* No Linear Fighter/Quadratic Mage issues
* No Dumpstatting - all stats matter
* No Feat trees longer than 3. ALL Feats are powerful and awesome.
* Classes mechanics are matched to their narrative conceits. And Multi-classing is ROCK SOLID.
* Every level is a big upgrade. Capstone abilities land at 14th level, not 20th.
* Spells are not fire-and-forget. They're skill checks.
* Non-casters are *dangerous* in combat and useful out of combat.
* Multiple-attacks are not headaches
* Armor actually absorbs damage, and skill determines whether or not you get hit.
* HP/Wounds - so no HP-sponge mechanics. Skilled PC's can one-shot your sorry ass.
* Monster dynamic power-scaling. Robust system mechanics tweaks that can be implemented on the fly. Yes, you can slaughter 20th level PC's with Goblins.
* Core book is PHB, DMG, MM all rolled into one.

I could name more features... and I've done this before, had puh-lenty of good discussions, but few people seem really interested in running it. Though a lot of people do seem intrigued by it. I don't think i've ever personally seen it run in the wild, the only other people I know that have run Fantasycraft are the precious few weirdos on this form that either discovered it as I did, by accident, or were enticed by previous discussion threads.

Although many more people know about Spycraft. I think Fantasycraft is like Talislanta - forever shunned for mysterious reasons. And it's weird to me in the inverse, that for some reason I get really enamored with games with really good mechanics/toolkit appeal that all seem to fall into this category. I fully submit it might be due to the fact that more GM's don't really want to pre-tune their mechanics for their settings... which I think is the dealbreaker. Most GM's that are new to the hobby don't get into that mode of thinking for a while, and most either drop out, or stick with what they know.

Only the real lifers and kooks gravitate toward this end of the pool. Hence - you're a pervert like me.
« Last Edit: November 26, 2022, 03:56:48 PM by tenbones »

Yabba

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Re: Little known games in your collections.
« Reply #39 on: January 02, 2023, 12:37:43 PM »
The best game you've never played is Spellbound Kingdoms. It's got a truly innovative combat system, plus a dice pool system for skills that works beautifully (dice can "explode" but it only means you also roll the next die size up and take the best, so it's not nearly as swingy as Savage Worlds), plus it's got integrated support for the players being part of organizations.

And for some reason, timing or marketing or reach, it sank like a stone. Then the author Kickstarted a supplement which he was late on, which didn't help, but really the first book is fully playable so I don't even mind.

Next I'd say Mothership (industrial sci fi horror) and Whitehack (almost OSR but doing its own thing more than most clones), but I feel like these are slightly better known even if not many people play them compared to the big games.
I LOVE Spellbound Kingdoms. It is a tragedy how unknown it is. Whitehack is also very good and unique for a "almost" OSR game. Mothership is pretty good but, I wouldn't call it very nice. I've seen fan content for it on itch so I do think there is a community for it, however small.
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I post ttrpgs, zines, and other physical books/games.

MerrillWeathermay

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Re: Little known games in your collections.
« Reply #40 on: January 02, 2023, 03:15:12 PM »
Man, Myth & Magic
Dragonraid
Dark Continent
World of Necroscope
Ghosts of Albion

just to name a few

jhkim

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Re: Little known games in your collections.
« Reply #41 on: January 03, 2023, 02:54:42 AM »
Man, Myth & Magic
Dragonraid
Dark Continent
World of Necroscope
Ghosts of Albion

just to name a few

Nice, MerrillWeathermay. I've been curious about some of those. Any reflections on them? Have you run or used them at all?

I have too many to name, but if I could pick a few of my more obscure favorites:

Thieves' Guild - an evocative specialized system for fantasy thieves, that I never got a chance to run

Time and Time Again - an early time travel game with hard-to-follow mechanics, but an intriguing background for time travel

Hellcats & Hockeysticks - a great comedic system for one-shots that I've used several times. It's about rebellious schoolgirls with fantasy/scifi elements.

Grognard GM

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Re: Little known games in your collections.
« Reply #42 on: January 03, 2023, 04:47:09 AM »
HöL (Human Occupied Landfill)
Apparently the thing was originally written as a joke as it had absurdly math-heavy rules and character creation literally told you to just give your character whatever stats/skills you wanted. A supplement came out later that toned things down and made it more playable, but I never picked it up. I never actually ran the game, and aside from an obscure few mentions over the last two decades, I don't think anyone else has to any serious degree.

I used to own it, even made a gonzo character, never ran or played it.

Spirit of the Century

Own it, I've played it as often as I was able to cajole my wife in to running it  ;D




As for my own games, hmm...

Cartoon Action Hour - Saturday Morning Cartoon emulation is fairly niche, plus the designer messed up a Kickstarter, and basically scammed a bunch of people. So there's been no new edition in 10 years.

In Nomine - 90's Angels and Demons in a shadow war on Earth.

Hong Kong Action Theater - Play as a Hong Kong actor, where the adventures are your actor playing a role in a Wuxia or Gun-Fu movie.




Then about a billion old and obscure games as PDF's.
I'm a middle aged guy with a lot of free time, looking for similar, to form a group for regular gaming. You should be chill, non-woke, and have time on your hands.

See below:

https://www.therpgsite.com/news-and-adverts/looking-to-form-a-group-of-people-with-lots-of-spare-time-for-regular-games/

MerrillWeathermay

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Re: Little known games in your collections.
« Reply #43 on: January 03, 2023, 11:56:45 AM »
Man, Myth & Magic
Dragonraid
Dark Continent
World of Necroscope
Ghosts of Albion

just to name a few

Nice, MerrillWeathermay. I've been curious about some of those. Any reflections on them? Have you run or used them at all?

I have too many to name, but if I could pick a few of my more obscure favorites:

Thieves' Guild - an evocative specialized system for fantasy thieves, that I never got a chance to run

Time and Time Again - an early time travel game with hard-to-follow mechanics, but an intriguing background for time travel

Hellcats & Hockeysticks - a great comedic system for one-shots that I've used several times. It's about rebellious schoolgirls with fantasy/scifi elements.

Dark Continent is awesome. Atmospheric 19th century African adventures with a system that is like BRP-lite.
Wolrd of Necroscope is fun, but a bit crunchy and kloogy. Some things work well with the Masterbook ruleset, but others are a bit difficult to figure out and implement. Good gameworld
Man, Myth and Magic is fun, but I haven't played it in ages. You can get it again, since Precis Intermedia owns the rights and has re-released it

I have looked through Dragonraid and Ghost of Albion, but haven't played either of them.

Cathode Ray

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Re: Little known games in your collections.
« Reply #44 on: January 11, 2023, 06:41:23 PM »
Maybe the most obscure game for me?  Twerps Metaphysical Ninja Maniac Chainsaw Vitamin Junkies.
Creator of Radical High, a 1980s RPG.
DM/PM me if you're interested.