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Pen & Paper Roleplaying Central => Pen and Paper Roleplaying Games (RPGs) Discussion => Topic started by: brettmb on November 11, 2008, 12:03:33 AM

Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: brettmb on November 11, 2008, 12:03:33 AM
Name and describe a little known game from before 2000 that you either really like or mine frequently for ideas. It cannot be from a mainstream product line and must date before the year 2000.

My selection is Prince Valiant, because it utilizes a real simple system that does what it needs to do in a creative way without requiring a lot of math or using ridiculous gimmicks.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Ian Absentia on November 11, 2008, 12:20:02 AM
Foul.  Prince Valiant was published by Chaosium, which, prior to 2000 (well, certainly prior to 1997-98) was arguably a mainstream publisher.  Hah!

My nomination is for The 23rd Letter, published 1996 from Crucible Design of Belfast.  One of the creators of the game lurks hereabouts.  It's a fantastic game of psychic powers and secret agent skulduggery.  It plays the theme on the low-powered end of the spectrum -- think Firestarter or The Dead Zone rather than X-Men.  It plays much more like a spy thriller than a sci-fi movie.

!i!
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: brettmb on November 11, 2008, 12:24:56 AM
You're right. It's late. I didn't mean publisher - I meant mainstream product line :) (changed)

I have 23rd Letter. I wanted to like it, but I wanted more structure.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Zachary The First on November 11, 2008, 12:30:11 AM
How about Legendary Lives (http://home.comcast.net/%7Efreerpgs/legendarylives.html), c. 1993?  Its like they put in every race/class they could think of (including some pretty gonzo ones), and its fun to read (and free!).
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Ian Absentia on November 11, 2008, 12:40:28 AM
Quote from: brettmb;265160
I have 23rd Letter. I wanted to like it, but I wanted more structure.
For a little more structure, it'd make a pretty good template to place over -- dare I say it? -- White Wolf's Storyteller System.

!i!
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: brettmb on November 11, 2008, 12:42:20 AM
For structure, I meant setting, or a better way to organize the characters.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: J Arcane on November 11, 2008, 01:08:58 AM
Heavy Ordnance. (http://www.homebrew.net/games/heavy.html)   Doom meets the playground.  A portal to hell opens up in the middle of the school cafeteria, and everyone over puberty becomes possessed or transformed into a slavering, bloodthirsty, demon host.  Now you and your school chums must fight to survive.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Drohem on November 11, 2008, 01:40:27 AM
Time & Time Again (http://http://www.pen-paper.net/rpgdb.php?op=showbook&bookid=3526):  I really liked the concepts regarding time travel.  Time cannot be changed by going back into the past.  Also, I liked the concept of the time agents.  The agents belong to a paramilitary organization that is based off the French Foreign Legion.  They system was wonky, but the fluff is excellent.

Justifiers (http://http://index.rpg.net/display-entry.phtml?mainid=1621):  This is one of my favorite games.  The game system is simple and workable, but the gold mine in this game is the fluff.  I really like the concept of the TransMatt technology, and that in order to explore a planet a team must be blind-beamed into orbit of the planet.  I like the concept of Justifiers being genetically altered and manipulated anthropomorphic beings that are created into semi-slave status.  I like the hard science-fiction approach of the game.  Also, the art is cool.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Jackalope on November 11, 2008, 02:01:53 AM
Justifers is awesome!

I'm a big fan of Attack of the Humans, which is a pretty simple and easy to run game that involves paranormal investigators hunting supernatural beasties.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: arminius on November 11, 2008, 03:03:24 AM
Whenever this topic comes up, I mention Waste World, an aborted product line from the 90's. The game system reads a bit like a cross between GURPS and Talislanta/Omni, while the setting is a very over-the-top post-apocalyptic world with a bit of a kitchen sink feel--cybergear, lizard men, etc. But beneath all the cool gonzo there's also a neat premise of a world in which resources are so depleted that people go out into the wastes to risk their lives scrounging. If I were to run it I might redo the setting a bit to play up that element, basically turning it into a world where licensed and unlicensed recyclers fight each other, toxic environments, and mutated horrors in order to salvage precious materials.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: jswa on November 11, 2008, 03:32:56 AM
Quote from: Zachary The First;265162
How about Legendary Lives (http://home.comcast.net/%7Efreerpgs/legendarylives.html), c. 1993?  Its like they put in every race/class they could think of (including some pretty gonzo ones), and its fun to read (and free!).


I've only looked through a bit of it, but I really like what I see. Thanks!
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Age of Fable on November 11, 2008, 07:33:36 AM
En Garde! (http://www.engarde.co.uk), originally from 1975. I haven't actually done anything with it yet, but I'd like to do an online version next year, with a new system and setting.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Dirk Remmecke on November 11, 2008, 09:45:36 AM
There are two games (and one ... supplement?) that I regularly take from my shelf just to browse and immerse in the naiveté and old-school-ness.

Dragon Warriors - Which has been brought back to life by James Wallis and should be on the radar of many RPGsiters because it has seen many discussions here as well. From 1985-1995 I mined the hell out of those paperbacks.

Darkurthe Legends - If I had had this book in 1985 when I started RPing I guess I would have switched to this system in no time. It has a certain Palladium-ness to it, but in a good way.

Lüdinn - not a game but a primer for players in a Living City-style AD&D convention campaign during the 90s. I mentioned it before here (http://www.therpgsite.com/showpost.php?p=114409&postcount=23).
Pure gonzo.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: RPGPundit on November 11, 2008, 10:59:23 AM
Continuum has given me some good ideas for certain games over the years, not least of which Amber.

RPGPundit
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: The Shaman on November 11, 2008, 11:28:35 AM
Starleader: Assault, published in 1982 by Metagaming, was the first module of the Starleader rpg. S:A provided the introductory man-to-man combat rules of the system, like Melee to the The Fantasy Trip. None of the other modules were published, however, leaving S:A as a stand-alone skirmish game.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Caesar Slaad on November 11, 2008, 03:07:45 PM
What's mainstream?

I always had a hankering for Dream Park, which I've often described as the "lightest game I'll ever like". It juxtaposed a very straightforward rolling convention with a nicely robust power system.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: brettmb on November 11, 2008, 03:09:14 PM
Age of Fable, you made me order a copy of En Garde!

Continuum is cool, but it just doesn't provide what I want from a time travel game.

Metagaming stuff rocked.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: jeff37923 on November 11, 2008, 03:38:50 PM
Quote from: Caesar Slaad;265318
What's mainstream?

I always had a hankering for Dream Park, which I've often described as the "lightest game I'll ever like". It juxtaposed a very straightforward rolling convention with a nicely robust power system.


Wow, I thought that nobody else had heard of Dream Park besides me.

Also from R. Talsorian Games was Teenagers From Outer Space, a comedy RPG that actually worked as a comedy RPG.

Before that, I'd have to nominate WarpWar. A deceptively simple microgame that was just fun as Hell to play.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: One Horse Town on November 11, 2008, 03:45:56 PM
Quote from: Dirk Remmecke;265237

Dragon Warriors - Which has been brought back to life by James Wallis and should be on the radar of many RPGsiters because it has seen many discussions here as well. From 1985-1995 I mined the hell out of those paperbacks.



I was going to suggest that! Not sure how obscure it is now that it is getting the hardback treatment by one of my heroes, James Wallis!
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: brettmb on November 11, 2008, 04:22:15 PM
Quote from: jeff37923;265328
Before that, I'd have to nominate WarpWar. A deceptively simple microgame that was just fun as Hell to play.


All of the Metagaming and Task Force Games microgames were pretty cool, but they're mostly not rpgs.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Balbinus on November 11, 2008, 04:24:21 PM
Quote from: Age of Fable;265224
En Garde! (http://www.engarde.co.uk), originally from 1975. I haven't actually done anything with it yet, but I'd like to do an online version next year, with a new system and setting.


There's several existing on line versions, check out http://www.engarde.co.uk/

Edit:  Hm, seeing as you linked to the same site in your post, perhaps you already have checked it out.

D'oh!
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Nicephorus on November 11, 2008, 04:27:29 PM
Tales of the Floating Vagabond is moderately obscure.  It's by Avalon Hill and is obviously heavily influenced by (interdimensional bar book I'm blanking on) and the Hitchhiker series and also pulls stuff out of most popular genre movies of the time.  I like the use of shticks that encourage playing bigger than life but not necessarily super powered and the simple rules that, while not great, don't bog things too much.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: MoonHunter on November 11, 2008, 04:46:42 PM
Most of mine have been snagged.

Bushido
1st ed by Paul Hume, Bob Charrette (1980) Tyr / Phoenix Games
2nd ed (1981) FGU
A fantasy RPG set in mythic Japan ("Nippon"), using a combined class and skill-based system.  The system is clean and easy to follow, as 1d20 is used to resolve most dramatic actions. The system has stood up well over time.

Element Masters
1st ed by Kenneth Burridge, Robert Finkbeiner, Kevin Nelson, Brian Pettitt (1982) Escape Ventures
2nd ed (1984)
A fantasy-genre RPG, set in a medieval fantasy world ("Vinya") into which aliens are pouring from a interdimensional gate (related to magical ransporters which interconnect the continent). It uses a percentile skill-based system. Character creation is primarily random-roll with a few choices. PC's are assumed to be militia with some magic. The 3rd edition, or remake, of this game was published as Gatewar.

Bunnies and Burrows
1st ed by Scott Robinson, B. Dennis Sustare (1976) FGU
2nd ed (1982)
A rabbit-adventure RPG in the genre of the Richard Adam's novel Watership Down. It uses class-based character creation, including herbalists (capable of concoctions like "Snuffball" sleep grenades), seers, and empathic healers. It has a rudimentary skill system and even martial arts rules (the humorous "Bunfoo").


I used to work for Tri-Tac. I think you would have to stretch the definition to consider us... main stream. However, some might, so I have made these a seperate section, instead of my first two choices.

Fringeworthy
1st ed by Richard Tucholka (1981) Tri-Tac Games
2nd ed (1984)
3rd ed (1990)
A near-future interdimensional sci-fi RPG. In 2008 an interdimensional portal is found in Antartica, and U.N. teams are sent to explore these other dimensions -- consisting of those elite capable of crossing the interdimensional "fringes". It uses a variant of the Tri-Tac system: a percentile skill system. Character creation is random-roll attributes, skills are generated by assigning dice to them. Advancement is level-based, giving extra hit points and raising skills.

Bureau 13: Stalking the Night Fantastic
1st ed by Richard Tucholka, Chris Belting (1983) Tri-Tac Games
2nd ed (1984)
3rd ed (1990)
A light-hearted supernatural conspiracy game about agents of a super-secret U.S. government agency dedicated to hunting down evil supernatural creatures while also protecting innocent supernaturals by keeping them secret. Uses the Fringeworthy system. Has one of the best skill based magic systems ever.

There is FTL2448, but not my favorite product.


As for the other things...
Dreampark was a great game that was fun to read, easy to play, and really, really, really hard to run.  If you chucked the game within a game aspect, it was easier to wrap your head around. However that was half the fun. It is worth getting just for the beat system of scenario planning.

Time and Time again is a great game and worth getting it, for stealing the setting from it and chucking the rules.

En Guarde is fun.

Oh and the Metagaming stuff rocked HARD!
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Silverlion on November 11, 2008, 05:12:14 PM
People have taken all of mine! :D

Prince Valiant, Talislanta, WasteWorld, Justifiers, B13...

Except for Providence (XidCreative.)

Although mining for ideas is less important to me, than just being cool and inspiring me...
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: David Johansen on November 11, 2008, 05:18:40 PM
Wizard's Realm - A great little fantasy game that offers a lot more than Basic D&D with very little complexity.  The art is very much disneyesque and there's a fairy tale feel to the little bits of the setting we see.

High Fantasy - worst art in an rpg ever hands down.  No really the cover of the soft back is obviously someone's grade six art project.  The system however has a lot of neat stuff and the core setting from the second edition is an Aztec / Mayan setting with orcs and elves and stuff.

$tarcorp$ - Crunchy Frog's sf minatures battle game with the setting that's strictly tongue in cheek.  FEDEX RANGERS For when it absolutely has to be blown up over night.  Planet Texas, Planet Hilton (the planet formerly known as Earth), Snotmebas, Lingere Station...some day I will find a group cool enough to roleplay in this universe.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Aos on November 11, 2008, 05:34:22 PM
Ringworld and Superworld would be mine. Yeah, they were both chaosium games, but my copies were the only ones I've ever seen.  I really dug them both, but they were lost in the Parental Purge of 1990. Can't find a copy of either now for under $100.00.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Spinachcat on November 11, 2008, 05:37:47 PM
I am a big fan of Better Games, the guys who bought Space Gamer magazine back in the 1990s and produced a quaterly RPG magazine that each contained its own RPG.   The best of these was Rogues Swords of the Empire and Battle Born.  Much fun.  Worth hunting down on eBay.

Crimson Cutlass (http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_5225.html) was their jewel - a fabulous pirate RPG using the Tarot as adventure and action generator.

Quote from: Elliot Wilen;265197
Whenever this topic comes up, I mention Waste World, an aborted product line from the 90's.


Waste World is awesome.   I have no idea why this has not be picked up by someone for another edition and re-release.   The author is Bill King of the  Warhammer games and novels.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: droog on November 11, 2008, 06:03:40 PM
Quote from: Age of Fable;265224
En Garde! (http://www.engarde.co.uk), originally from 1975. I haven't actually done anything with it yet, but I'd like to do an online version next year, with a new system and setting.


Hey, we played that! Not bad fun (I've still got my chr around somewhere I think), and I always think about it when faced with the modern GMless games.

Otherwise, I guess Prince Valiant from me too. Very innovative game. I'm not so sure about Superworld, which I played. It was a bit of an uneasy marriage of BRP and a point system, and it didn't always work. I ended up preferring V&V.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: MoonHunter on November 11, 2008, 06:13:00 PM
Oh Providence
There was a great game that had too much going on at once for most people to get it.  Great source of inspiration for things though.

I would think we could consider Ringworld and SuperWorld mainstream for this discussion.  Superworld was an unholy marriage between BRB and Champions (take a point buy power system that was not well worked out and mash it on a great game.)  It worked okay, but it was not my favorite thing to come out of Worlds of Wonder.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: brettmb on November 11, 2008, 06:22:47 PM
Quote from: MoonHunter;265398
Oh Providence
There was a great game that had too much going on at once for most people to get it.  Great source of inspiration for things though.


When I acquired the rights to Story Engine and Maelstrom Storytelling, and got some old stock, a copy of The Ecology Companion was also sent by mistake. Very strange. Other than that, I haven't read Providence. For those in the know, what's the system like?
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: brettmb on November 11, 2008, 06:24:50 PM
Quote from: MoonHunter;265398
I would think we could consider Ringworld and SuperWorld mainstream for this discussion.  Superworld was an unholy marriage between BRB and Champions (take a point buy power system that was not well worked out and mash it on a great game.)  It worked okay, but it was not my favorite thing to come out of Worlds of Wonder.


Tough call. Ringworld was probably more popular than most people think, because it was based on a licensed property that helped sell it -- then again, maybe it wasn't so popular. I know that I never gave Superworld a second look, however.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Pierce Inverarity on November 11, 2008, 07:54:01 PM
Maelstrom.

No, Brett, the other Maelstrom.

The trade paperback Elizabethan RPG written by this 16-year-old who's now a maths prof (IIRC). Reason: setting. Also, herb lore, lots of it.

PS: Just realized it's out as pdf. Cover image has aged well IMO.

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=54233
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: brettmb on November 11, 2008, 07:56:10 PM
Quote from: Pierce Inverarity;265459
Maelstrom.

No, Brett, the other Maelstrom.

The trade paperback Elizabethan RPG written by this 16-year-old who's now a maths prof (IIRC). Reason: setting. Also, herb lore, lots of it.
It is pretty good. I'm glad it's back, even if it's just in PDF format.

EDIT: Here's the link (http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=54233)
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Silverlion on November 11, 2008, 07:58:21 PM
Quote from: brettmb;265407
When I acquired the rights to Story Engine and Maelstrom Storytelling, and got some old stock, a copy of The Ecology Companion was also sent by mistake. Very strange. Other than that, I haven't read Providence. For those in the know, what's the system like?


A rather complex D10 dice system. It's odd, basically you had stat+skill on the surface that's easy. You either roll that many dice and take the top two. Or you roll two and sell back any extras for a +2 bonus to your success score.

Basic target number was 7. bit could be varied by circumstance AND if you had dice penalties (too few dice) which increased the difficulty by +2.  It had 10 core attributes, plus derived ones for health, endurance, wird (magical energy.) It also worried about "True Body" (health that was not changed by super abilities for certain types of direct magic.)

You also could get extra dice from support skills. The Skill system was rather a pain in general, because to have certain skills at certain levels you had to buy so many skills they saw as related to the skill you wanted at a certain level--which created a huge tree of skills for some character concepts.

It had some advantages--a person built on JUST skills could be impressive but not as impressive as super strength at high levels, or as way way game breaking super coordination (Which was use for all attacks, and all defenses in the game so buying that up as a superpower was a surefire way to unbalance the system in combat.)


It also had no mental powers. For a fantasy plus supers hybrid setting that was odd--they added the official but still unofficial mental powers in the Book of Wird (by Steve Long) but the basic gist is they thought all gamers hated mind control, and somehow all mental powers equated to mind control. Things like mental blast and Telekinesis.

The system really wasn't much to speak of, the setting was where it shined, and did a good job, but it IS in many ways "too much going on" both system wise and setting wise it needed a big trim. My general feelings despite loving the game in many ways is SIMPLIFY both. Simpler system, and ditch the NPCitis, and make room for Gm's to insert their own NPC's beyond a handful of key figures. Focus on how supers+fantasy IS different from just "fantasy" somehow.

Last I checked Dave Bolack had the rights to Providence and was working on sorting through the HUGE amount of material (mostly NPC's)

When whoever...Hubris? Picked up Providence, I'd actually hoped they've have converted it to Story Engine. My tastes in game engines have changed a lot since Providence was new--yet I still admire the world.

The game had a lot of problems which were simply lack of focus (skills which in no way were usable in Providence--because they intended to do a whole line of games based on the Creative System..)

I have a friend who wanted to run it and the game fell through due to scheduling issues, he has decided to start an online game of it instead in the near future. (But he had me convert all the characters to a simpler system, that he likes and understands...)
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: brettmb on November 11, 2008, 08:07:12 PM
Quote from: Silverlion;265461
When whoever...Hubris? Picked up Providence, I'd actually hoped they've have converted it to Story Engine. My tastes in game engines have changed a lot since Providence was new--yet I still admire the world.

I don't think Hubris actually picked it up. I think that the involved parties were all friends, so Hubris lent assistance.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Bradford C. Walker on November 11, 2008, 08:41:25 PM
Does The World of Synnibarr? count?
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: brettmb on November 11, 2008, 09:35:04 PM
Quote from: Bradford C. Walker;265473
Does The World of Synnibarr? count?


It does if you can explain why you like it.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Bradford C. Walker on November 11, 2008, 10:00:48 PM
Quote from: brettmb;265481
It does if you can explain why you like it.


The sheer absurdity of it all.  Nazi Gestapo Elves.  Anti-Elf Paint.  Midnight Sunstone Bazookas.  A Ninja (that's a class)-cum-God of Metal named "Blade".  Amazons that can cure or kill with a bitchslap. Power Armor that costs so much money that you can't afford it when you could use it, and when you can you're so powerful that you don't need it (and it actually holds you back).  You can enchant your soul so that if you die and get reincarnated, the spells come back with your body automatically.  Timeline of ridiculous length with multiple near-extinction-level events that would act as genetic bottlenecks.  Every last fucking Guild-Trained Adventurer class (save a pair or so) are filled with noble heroes that Saved The Worldship from Certain Doom.  Tenjehusan.  Venderant Nalaberong and God Power.  "Rings with authenticity", as everything about it comes from the designer's personal experiences and inquiries.  Going from 1st to 20th level in a single adventure; getting $500M and not knowing what the hell to do with it all.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Pierce Inverarity on November 11, 2008, 10:20:09 PM
This sounds as though all Synnibar needs to break into the mainstream is an introductory set for children.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: J Arcane on November 11, 2008, 10:24:24 PM
You know, if it weren't for all the RPGnetters that lurk in /tg/ and troll the hell out of every thread it comes up in, Synibarr would probably be the ultimate Official 4chan RPG.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Aos on November 11, 2008, 10:24:58 PM
No, it needs cards too.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Pierce Inverarity on November 11, 2008, 10:41:28 PM
I feel there's something about Gestapo Elves that's best left to the imagination.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Zachary The First on November 12, 2008, 12:00:40 AM
(http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1246/802360009_76a8a4ed79.jpg?v=0)
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: David Johansen on November 12, 2008, 12:22:13 AM
Side note, I think my FLGS has a copy of Waste World and The Shogunate on the shelf.  Occasionally things like this move just when I say it's there but I can check if anyone's looking.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Age of Fable on November 12, 2008, 12:35:05 AM
Quote from: Zachary The First;265517
(http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1246/802360009_76a8a4ed79.jpg?v=0)

I have a song on this theme!

here (http://www.apolitical.info/durruti/Durruti%20-%20The%20Connection.mp3)

and it has the guy who played Grizzly Adams.

There aren't many who can say even one of those things, let alone both.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: KrakaJak on November 12, 2008, 12:44:00 AM
TOON: The Cartoon Roleplaying Game

Between D&D 2nd and D&D 3rd, it was the only RPG I played besides oWoD (Vampire and Hunter).

TOON is very rules-lite and the "Deluxe Edition" has a ton of random tables. It's very character focused, and with a funny group focused on characterization it's super fun!

Because of Toon, I have to create some sort of random event table for every game I run.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Age of Fable on November 12, 2008, 12:46:04 AM
Quote from: Pierce Inverarity;265459
Maelstrom.

No, Brett, the other Maelstrom.

The trade paperback Elizabethan RPG written by this 16-year-old who's now a maths prof (IIRC). Reason: setting. Also, herb lore, lots of it.

PS: Just realized it's out as pdf. Cover image has aged well IMO.

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=54233

The guy who put it back out is on this site isn't he?

I think I suggested putting out the herb chapter by itself.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Age of Fable on November 12, 2008, 12:54:09 AM
Quote from: Balbinus;265345
There's several existing on line versions, check out http://www.engarde.co.uk/

Edit:  Hm, seeing as you linked to the same site in your post, perhaps you already have checked it out.

D'oh!


I've found lots of games that seem to have run for years and stopped just before I got there...

However I assume the one in your signature is still going - how do you join?
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: The Shaman on November 12, 2008, 01:28:51 AM
Quote from: Pierce Inverarity;265459
Maelstrom.

No, Brett, the other Maelstrom.

The trade paperback Elizabethan RPG written by this 16-year-old who's now a maths prof (IIRC). Reason: setting. Also, herb lore, lots of it.

PS: Just realized it's out as pdf. Cover image has aged well IMO.

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=54233
I've never heard of this.

I must own it. Now.

(Thanks for the link.)
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Jason Coplen on November 12, 2008, 01:47:27 AM
Oops. Wrong system to reply too. Not enough sleep.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Kellri on November 12, 2008, 02:36:33 AM
If all you want is the herbs (and who doesn't!) get the netbook Guide to Herbs for RPGs, which includes all of the Maelstrom herbs and quite a few from other settings as well.

I rather like Lords of Creation from AH by Tom Moldvay for my strip mining needs. If D&D were a generic universal system, that would be what it looked like. Another game that's served me well is Thieves' Guild from Gamelords. The system is rather generic, but there are loads of well-designed mission-based adventures. The City of Haven for the same line is also pretty well done (dare I say, better than CSIO).
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: mhensley on November 12, 2008, 01:50:23 PM
High Fantasy by Reston Publishing - the system is rather weak, but the solo adventures are amazingly good.  This game had a pretty wide distribution through chain book stores back in the early 80's, but has almost no following today.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Bradford C. Walker on November 12, 2008, 02:07:58 PM
Oh, and in Synnibarr, you have to become Immortal when you 50th level or you are capped.  You have to become a Demigod and then a God to surpass two more caps before you hit the hard cap of 600th level.  (The Elder God rules never got published, and Synnibarr forbids house rules through its own Game Police rule.)
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Pierce Inverarity on November 12, 2008, 07:05:32 PM
Well now that's a bit of a bummer.

As a quick and dirty fix, I'd just port my 600th-level Gestapo Elf God over to SenZar.

Or Talislanta.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: TheShadow on November 12, 2008, 09:13:58 PM
Quote from: mhensley;265665
High Fantasy by Reston Publishing - the system is rather weak, but the solo adventures are amazingly good.  This game had a pretty wide distribution through chain book stores back in the early 80's, but has almost no following today.


So that's a different one from High Fantasy by Dave Arneson? The one printed in red ink? I'm a bit fuzzy and suspect there may be in fact around 3 games from the late 70s to early 80s with a similar name, which has hampered my efforts to find out more. Any more info would be appreciated.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Kellri on November 13, 2008, 05:51:44 AM
I think you mean Adventures in Fantasy, by Arneson and Snider. It was DAs only attempt to compete with D&D. My copy is printed in green.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Ronin on November 13, 2008, 09:27:31 AM
I've been really into Flashing Blades, from FGU as of late. Much like En Garde!, its a 17th century swashbuckling RPG.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: mhensley on November 13, 2008, 09:39:00 AM
Quote from: The_Shadow;265800
So that's a different one from High Fantasy by Dave Arneson? The one printed in red ink? I'm a bit fuzzy and suspect there may be in fact around 3 games from the late 70s to early 80s with a similar name, which has hampered my efforts to find out more. Any more info would be appreciated.


High Fantasy was written by Jeffrey C. Dillow.   According to the rpg index, it first appeared in 78.  Here's what it looks like-

(http://www.waynesbooks.com/images/graphics/highfantasy.jpg)
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Spike on November 13, 2008, 11:23:35 AM
More than a few obscure games mentioned have graced my shelves, not the least of which was Synnibar (twice! I'm crazy that way... if only I knew what had happened to my last copy... sigh...)

But I'm particularly fond of SLA Industries for being what Shadowrun could have been and Maurader 2107 for being an example of home publishing can be and being terribly obscure yet having managed to release at least two supplements.  Also: the system works pretty well on paper. A little charty, but not painfully so.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: ColonelHardisson on November 13, 2008, 12:51:18 PM
Quote from: Kellri;265550
The City of Haven for the same line is also pretty well done (dare I say, better than CSIO).


But it was never completed. Very well done, though. I bought Haven way back, when it came packaged in a ziplocked bag. Trouble was, Gamelords never gave an indication it was only part of the city. Plus, it was badly organized. I know a second part (of three) was released, but I never saw it. As I recall, the son of one of the, if not the main, designers was trying to get it all put together and into print, and posted for a while over at the Necromancer Games boards.

I wouldn't say it was better than CSIO. CSIO was a completely different type of city, the very essence of the wahoo nature of D&D's earliest eras. Haven was more like what such RPG supplements would become today - detailed, complex, with a good dollop of the fantastic, yet still somehow "logical" in that it wasn't teeming with monsters that should've killed huge percentages of the populace.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: bottg on November 13, 2008, 05:42:18 PM
Quote from: Age of Fable;265529
The guy who put it back out is on this site isn't he?

I think I suggested putting out the herb chapter by itself.


I am indeed here!  Unfortunately, the license doesn't allow us to split the book.  It does however allow us to develop new material, and may allow us to put it out as a POD option......
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: arminius on November 13, 2008, 06:06:51 PM
Quote from: mhensley;265907
High Fantasy was written by Jeffrey C. Dillow.   According to the rpg index, it first appeared in 78.  Here's what it looks like-

(http://www.waynesbooks.com/images/graphics/highfantasy.jpg)


That's the "nice" cover. The earlier edition, which I have, has this (http://tomeoftreasures.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=568&highlight=dillow).
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Drohem on November 13, 2008, 06:27:42 PM
Quote from: Elliot Wilen;266129
That's the "nice" cover. The earlier edition, which I have, has this (http://tomeoftreasures.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=568&highlight=dillow).


Thanks Elliot, that clears up my confusion a bit.  I knew that I had this game somewhere in one of my boxes, but the cover didn't look familiar.  I have the same copy as you.  However, now I have to know if these are two different editions, or are they just reprints with different covers?
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: StormBringer on November 13, 2008, 09:46:10 PM
Quote from: One Horse Town;265333
I was going to suggest that! Not sure how obscure it is now that it is getting the hardback treatment by one of my heroes, James Wallis!
That rat bastard refused to sign my copy of Nobilis.

Then he sank my fucking barge.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: One Horse Town on November 14, 2008, 04:23:34 AM
Quote from: StormBringer;266163
That rat bastard refused to sign my copy of Nobilis.

Then he sank my fucking barge.


Mine's signed. :p

Yeah, he sunk mine too.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: wulfgar on November 14, 2008, 12:16:30 PM
If that's the "nice" cover of High Fantasy, put me down for liking the "not so nice" one much better.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: ColonelHardisson on November 14, 2008, 12:23:32 PM
Quote from: Ronin;265901
I've been really into Flashing Blades, from FGU as of late. Much like En Garde!, its a 17th century swashbuckling RPG.


I have Flashing Blades and a couple of its supplements. The background material and adventures are really nice, usable stuff.

An obscurity I own is Expendables. A scifi RPG in which the PCs are scouts for the all-powerful Company. PCs explore new worlds to determine whether they are worth exploiting by the Company. The system is a percentage based one, so it isn't all that interesting, but the background material could be useful and fun for other games - Traveller is the game that seems most suitable for it, in my opinion, with 2300 also a decent fit.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: arminius on November 14, 2008, 01:00:54 PM
Quote from: wulfgar;266359
If that's the "nice" cover of High Fantasy, put me down for liking the "not so nice" one much better.
You know, even as I posted the link, I was thinking the original cover has more energy and excitement to it. Somehow the artistic flaws may be more visible when you hold it in your hands, or if you view the entire tableaux of front+back cover (it's a continuous picture).

Also, some of the interior art is really, really awful, such as the female image on the right here (http://www.cs.uwaterloo.ca/~mdtpetri/tot/highfant2_3.jpg).The scan barely does it justice.

The game itself, I quite liked. I own one adventure for it, too--Fortress Ellendar--which I think is "okay" on reading. It might play better than it reads.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: boulet on November 14, 2008, 02:28:09 PM
Quote from: brettmb;265157
Name and describe a little known game from before 2000 that you either really like or mine frequently for ideas. It cannot be from a mainstream product line and must date before the year 2000.


Considering half the games I used to play in the 80s-90s have never been translated into English or are barely on any anglo-saxon radar, I have lots of choices !

But I guess my number one favorite is Reve de Dragon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%AAve_de_Dragon). Of all the games I ever invested in this one delivered fun time after time.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: The Shaman on November 14, 2008, 02:37:49 PM
Quote from: Ronin;265901
I've been really into Flashing Blades, from FGU as of late.
A great game, and one I'd really like to run in the near future, but should this be considered obscure? FGU was a serious publisher, and there were four adventures/supplements published for FB.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Ronin on November 14, 2008, 02:58:59 PM
I think Flashing Blades can be classified as obscure. I mean I asked my some of my long time roleplaying friends about it and they had never hear of it. Their oldschool players from back in the day. When FGU was in their prime. So if any one I knew should have heard of it, its them. I mean FGU got big. But They never had that rocketship success like say Palladium with Rifts. But I think they have a dedicated cult following here and there.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Philotomy Jurament on November 14, 2008, 11:06:23 PM
The Morrow Project
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Gabriel2 on November 14, 2008, 11:43:28 PM
Quote from: jeff37923;265328
Wow, I thought that nobody else had heard of Dream Park besides me.


Add another to the list.  I had been rereading the book recently and devoted a blog entry over at RPGbomb to a rave for the game.

The game is awesome.  The modules strike me as a bit crap tho.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Gabriel2 on November 14, 2008, 11:49:47 PM
I'll mention Universe by SPI, but not because I like the game.  The game itself is a trainwreck of the sort you could only see in the early 80s or if you bought a Palladium product.

But Universe had a cool map of all the stars within about 100 light years.  Plus, it was the first game which showed me a RPG could be skill based instead of character class based.  It was fodder for many of my early homebrews during the 80s.  Because of that, it occupies a fond space in my memories.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: David Johansen on November 15, 2008, 12:32:53 AM
Quote from: Elliot Wilen;266129
That's the "nice" cover. The earlier edition, which I have, has this (http://tomeoftreasures.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=568&highlight=dillow).


The funny thing is it was a wrap around cover and the back is even worse.  I wish I still had mine.  Just seeing that brought a smile to my face.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: obryn on November 15, 2008, 01:42:27 AM
I still get a kick out of poking through two relatively-obscure games once in a while.

(1) Immortal.  I have read through it once or twice, but have absolutely no idea how anyone is supposed to play it.  Really, I don't understand the rules at all, except you supposedly need all 7 "rainbow" colors of 10-sided dice.  It's very 90's-esque, with a plot-heavy emphasis, a little too much fiction, and a very neat theme.  Mechanically, it's a mess.  It's a chore to get through because it makes its own terms for stuff just for kicks.  Still, cool ideas and wacky art mean I haven't put it in permanent storage yet.

(2) Powers & Perils.  I have no idea why this game appeals to me.  It's mechanically complex, and really sort of insane.  I managed to get the Perilous Lands supplement, which is a well-detailed and well-organized world; and an adventure for it with a Lich's tower.  I want to give it a try someday. :)

-O
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: obryn on November 15, 2008, 01:45:24 AM
I still get a kick out of poking through two relatively-obscure games once in a while.

(1) Immortal.  I have read through it once or twice, but have absolutely no idea how anyone is supposed to play it.  Really, I don't understand the rules at all, except you supposedly need all 7 "rainbow" colors of 10-sided dice.  It's very 90's-esque, with a plot-heavy emphasis, a little too much fiction, and a very neat theme.  Mechanically, it's a mess.  It's a chore to get through because it makes its own terms for stuff just for kicks.  Still, cool ideas and wacky art mean I haven't put it in permanent storage yet.

(2) Powers & Perils.  I have no idea why this game appeals to me.  It's mechanically complex, and really sort of insane.  I managed to get the Perilous Lands supplement, which is a well-detailed and well-organized world; and an adventure for it with a Lich's tower.  I want to give it a try someday. :)

-O
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Team-Preston on November 15, 2008, 09:02:29 AM
Millennium's End and Chill (Chill may be outside the scope of what you're looking for).

ME I usually mine for ideas and stick with the setting/ skip the system bits.
Chill I loved dearly all the way around. (Chill is obscure isn't it?)
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: brettmb on November 15, 2008, 01:32:40 PM
I wouldn't say Chill is obscure.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: enelson on November 15, 2008, 04:11:23 PM
An obscure supers game I remember from back in the day was Enforcers. It was a supers game in the future with flying cars, etc... It was written by the Wieck(?) brothers (those guys that did White Wolf). It read well but alas I never got to play it.

BTW, it had a programmatic listing for a Lotus 1-2-3 module. Not sure why but it was there.

(It's probably common knowledge but I just stumbled upon this recently, the Wieck brothers wrote some V&V modules.)

EDIT: Failed my obscure game knowledge check.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: The Shaman on November 15, 2008, 06:01:32 PM
Quote from: brettmb;266764
I wouldn't say Chill is obscure.
Neither would I.

Then again, I'm not really sold that Flashing Blades is obscure, either.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Balbinus on November 16, 2008, 07:02:25 AM
Quote from: Age of Fable;265531
I've found lots of games that seem to have run for years and stopped just before I got there...

However I assume the one in your signature is still going - how do you join?


There's a link on the homepage, otherwise just PM me.

On hold right this second as I'm working every weekend and can't process turns, but it should start up again in December.

I like Age of Fables by the way, it's very good.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Age of Fable on November 16, 2008, 08:12:16 AM
Quote from: Balbinus;266902
There's a link on the homepage, otherwise just PM me.

On hold right this second as I'm working every weekend and can't process turns, but it should start up again in December.


A ha - you sensed me coming :)

This is why I'm planning for mine to be automated.


Quote from: Balbinus
I like Age of Fables by the way, it's very good.


Thanks!
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: vgunn on November 18, 2008, 06:42:41 PM
Cutthroat: The Shadow Wars RPG by StormWorld Games

Here is a blurb from a review on rpg.net:

Core Engine (7/10): Skill driven, d20 (High) based. That is everything in the game is based on "the check". You roll 1d20 ("the bone") and add any modifiers. Then compare it to a difficulty number. Simple and easy to learn, with flexibility. Since I prefer d20 based games, this was right up my alley. Albeit not too creative, the system works fluidly and without too many problems. It features a clever "why didn't I think of that" attribute system that fully integrates into the skill system.

Combat Engine (8/10): Deadly and very deadly. My advise; don't fight unless you have too. If a fight does occur, resolving it is very simple and fast (I'm not just saying that either). I've played other so called "simple and fast" games before and this one is definitely what it says. The first trial combat our group did before we actually started playing the game went by very quickly. I was like, "What the hell just happend?"

The game does not use an ablative approach to damage (i.e. hit points). Each hit has a chance of killing it's target, regardless of weapon used or the target's toughness. Naturally, the bigger the weapon the more likely death will occur. Just as the bigger the target, the less likely death will occur. This is what makes up the Sudden Death(TM) combat system, the system used for CTSW. I found that the use of Luck points is the only thing that ends up keeping characters that fight alive through missions and adventures. So in a sense, that is sort of an "ablative" approach. Kinda. At any rate, it's still far more realistic than AD&D and still accomodates for that "heroic" element that keeps AD&D players from playing other realistic (read: complex) games.

http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_2675.html

I have had the most difficult time in actually finding this game. Luckily someone with a copy sent me a file with some of the key parts of the game. I really was interested in the Sudden Death combat system.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: wulfgar on November 18, 2008, 07:01:27 PM
The Cutthroat combat system sounds a lot like the system in Price of Freedom from West End Games: D20s, any attack can kill, no hit points, luck points to avoid damage.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Simon W on November 19, 2008, 03:55:24 AM
I had a copy of Super Squadron (http://www.arielarchives.com/SuperSq.html) for a while, but because it wasn't as good as V&V I got rid.

Even more obscure is Knights of the Road and Knights of the Rail (http://web.archive.org/web/20021206040714/http://home.earthlink.net/~knahoux/KOTR_2.html). I had to go through the Wayback Machine to find it. Despite the setting, the game looks quite fun. I have a copy in a box somewhere - I do keep meaning to play it but other things come up. One day....

Simon
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Ronin on November 19, 2008, 10:36:25 AM
Quote from: Simon W;267857
I had a copy of Super Squadron (http://www.arielarchives.com/SuperSq.html) for a while, but because it wasn't as good as V&V I got rid.

Even more obscure is Knights of the Road and Knights of the Rail (http://web.archive.org/web/20021206040714/http://home.earthlink.net/~knahoux/KOTR_2.html). I had to go through the Wayback Machine to find it. Despite the setting, the game looks quite fun. I have a copy in a box somewhere - I do keep meaning to play it but other things come up. One day....

Simon


Question is Super Squadron the same thing as Squadron UK / Golden Heros? Or just a similar game with a similar name?
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Simon W on November 19, 2008, 03:22:21 PM
Quote from: Ronin;267916
Question is Super Squadron the same thing as Squadron UK / Golden Heros? Or just a similar game with a similar name?


Super Squadron has nothing whatsoever to do with Squadron UK.

Super Squadron was by an Aussie company.
Title: Obscure Games
Post by: graylion on November 20, 2008, 04:45:06 AM
Obscure games I have played:

01. Lord of Creation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lords_of_Creation

02. Immortal The Invisible War
http://www.invisiblewar.com/immortal/index2.html

Regards
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: TheShadow on November 20, 2008, 05:31:49 AM
Lands of Adventure was a cool little game from FGU that sank without trace. It contains a few too many abbreviations and formulas for comfort, a la Powers and Perils (itself only slightly less obscure), but the cosmology and magic system was neat, very folkloric, and the way that "culture packs" slotted in was cool. I'd play it with the included Ancient Greek setting given the chance, and it might just be that the dense maths conceals a good system.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Pelorus on November 30, 2008, 05:22:55 PM
Quote from: Ian Absentia;265158
My nomination is for The 23rd Letter, published 1996 from Crucible Design of Belfast.  One of the creators of the game lurks hereabouts.  It's a fantastic game of psychic powers and secret agent skulduggery!i!


Thanks Ian :)

Quote from: brettmb;265160
I have 23rd Letter. I wanted to like it, but I wanted more structure.


I guess part of that was the 66.666% written but unpublished (except for a few PDF excerpts on the Internets) Project SourceBook and the Networking for Beginners manual we never even got past initial plans.

FWIW, my vote is for SLA Industries. Definitely a "Let a Hundred Flowers Bloom" situation. Nightfall gave us a lot of inspiration and I've retained some of their friendships now for more than a decade - which is nice.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Ian Absentia on November 30, 2008, 06:59:23 PM
Quote from: Pelorus;270381
Thanks Ian :)
You're more than welcome.  The 23rd Letter is pretty much what I wanted FGU's Psi World to be, but wasn't.
Quote
I guess part of that [apparent lack of structure] was the 66.666% written but unpublished (except for a few PDF excerpts on the Internets) Project SourceBook and the Networking for Beginners manual we never even got past initial plans.
You know, it was the free download of the unfinished Project Sourcebook that got me to order the game itself.  I thought it really captured well the emerging government study and implementation of psychic abilities in a "real world" setting.

!i!
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: peteramthor on November 30, 2008, 10:20:36 PM
Quote from: Simon W;267857
Even more obscure is Knights of the Road and Knights of the Rail (http://web.archive.org/web/20021206040714/http://home.earthlink.net/~knahoux/KOTR_2.html). I had to go through the Wayback Machine to find it. Despite the setting, the game looks quite fun. I have a copy in a box somewhere - I do keep meaning to play it but other things come up. One day....

Simon


I've Kinghts of the Road, Knights of the Rail also.  Never ran it though.  Like the idea of using the hobo setting with some oddball occult stuff going on.  A bit of Unknown Armies or maybe a group of cultist or something.

Not to mention the list of hobo signs inspires all kinds of ideas as well.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Simon W on December 01, 2008, 11:48:01 AM
Quote from: peteramthor;270421
I've Kinghts of the Road, Knights of the Rail also.  Never ran it though.  Like the idea of using the hobo setting with some oddball occult stuff going on.  A bit of Unknown Armies or maybe a group of cultist or something.

Not to mention the list of hobo signs inspires all kinds of ideas as well.


Yeah, that's why I keep returning to it. I had a bit of a tinker with the system a while back to get ready to run it, but something prevented me being able to at the last minute and the moment was lost.

I'll return to it again soon and try again.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Silverlion on December 01, 2008, 05:34:43 PM
Quote from: enelson;266789
An obscure supers game I remember from back in the day was Enforcers. It was a supers game in the future with flying cars, etc... It was written by the Wieck(?) brothers (those guys that did White Wolf). It read well but alas I never got to play it.


Only game I ever destroyed. On purpose. It was hideous and terrible, and I'm glad I only paid a dollar for it.

I still want my dollar back....



Anyway, I've familiar with a great number of the obscure ones. I'm strange :D

Immortal has a 3rd edition as free PDF, if I recall correctly. That greatly simplified the system (it loses some of the wacky flavor, but it is probably for the best.)


What about Knights of Torque and Recoil?
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Ian Absentia on December 01, 2008, 07:19:39 PM
Ooh!  I just remembered a good one...I think.  It was called Droids.  I ordered it by mail from an advertisement in (I believe) the Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society.  It was robots in a post-nuclear holocaust Earth -- all characters were sentient robots in a ruined world devoid of humanity to control them.  Gamma World, basically, only without goofy mutants.  You'd build your robot from an a'la carte menu of options, then...figure out what the hell to do.  A lot of it seemed to revolve around scavenging and tooling yourself up as I recall.

It was a little 8.5 x 5.5 inch "little black book", single volume, had the word "DROIDS" printed on a black field with a series of horizontal yellow lines.  It just sort of came and went.  Strangely, so did my copy of the game, which I didn't have for more than a couple of months before I lost it.  If I dig through all of my back issues of the JotTAS, I could find out where it was printed.

!i!

[Edit:  And, of course, John Kim has an entry for it on his list of RPGs.]
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: The Shaman on December 01, 2008, 07:53:16 PM
Quote from: Silverlion;270559
What about Knights of Torque and Recoil?
What the who?
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Drohem on December 01, 2008, 09:59:23 PM
Quote from: Ian Absentia;270570
Ooh!  I just remembered a good one...I think.  It was called Droids.  I ordered it by mail from an advertisement in (I believe) the Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society.  It was robots in a post-nuclear holocaust Earth -- all characters were sentient robots in a ruined world devoid of humanity to control them.  Gamma World, basically, only without goofy mutants.  You'd build your robot from an a'la carte menu of options, then...figure out what the hell to do.  A lot of it seemed to revolve around scavenging and tooling yourself up as I recall.

It was a little 8.5 x 5.5 inch "little black book", single volume, had the word "DROIDS" printed on a black field with a series of horizontal yellow lines.  It just sort of came and went.  Strangely, so did my copy of the game, which I didn't have for more than a couple of months before I lost it.  If I dig through all of my back issues of the JotTAS, I could find out where it was printed.

!i!

[Edit:  And, of course, John Kim has an entry for it on his list of RPGs.]


I own a copy of this game, Droids: The Cybernetic Role-Playing Game by Neil Patrick Moore.  It was published by Integral Games in 1983.    

IIRC, you, as a droid, are creating a new society based upon droids after the fall of humanity.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Ian Absentia on December 01, 2008, 10:11:15 PM
Quote from: Silverlion;270559
What about Knights of Torque and Recoil?
I remember hearing about this some years back.  Refresh my memory.

!i!
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: StormBringer on December 01, 2008, 10:34:05 PM
Wow, everyone here has me beat by miles.  All I can scrounge up is Bushido by FGU.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Ian Absentia on December 01, 2008, 10:37:51 PM
Quote from: StormBringer;270606
All I can scrounge up is Bushido by FGU.
And I can punk you on even that.  I have Bushido by Phoenix Games, the original publisher in the two little black books.

Sorry Stormy, but you suck. :p

!i!
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Pierce Inverarity on December 01, 2008, 10:42:20 PM
Since this thread has moved from highly playable obscure games to iffy ones, I will state that I own The Future King by Tom Moldvay, and unfortunately it's pretty bad.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: StormBringer on December 01, 2008, 10:54:01 PM
Quote from: Ian Absentia;270608
And I can punk you on even that.  I have Bushido by Phoenix Games, the original publisher in the two little black books.

Sorry Stormy, but you suck. :p

!i!
I already said that was the best I have, why do you have to be a bastard about it?

:)
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Silverlion on December 02, 2008, 12:08:18 AM
Quote from: Ian Absentia;270601
I remember hearing about this some years back.  Refresh my memory.

!i!

I know very little. I recall seeing it online and reading a bit about it and wanting to know more, then it vanished. That's all. I always liked the name and wondered about it. (Hence why it is obscure even to me..)
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Aos on December 02, 2008, 02:49:07 AM
Quote from: Ian Absentia;270570
Ooh!   Droids.

Sounds like it would be a good game if you wanted to make an adaption Wall E.
In related news, it bothers me that i like that movie as much as I do. It's got cute robots, for the love of Puffinstuff. How can it be enjoyable? How?
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: boulet on December 02, 2008, 08:26:46 AM
Eeeeeevaaaaaah

if cute robot pr0n is a crime, I'm guilty as charged
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: camel7 on February 23, 2013, 04:57:01 AM
i recently started a poll to review an obscure (fantasy) old game:

http://goo.gl/HNTg0 (http://goo.gl/HNTg0)
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Marleycat on February 23, 2013, 05:02:39 AM
Totally skimming here but Whispering Vault. You must play it, run it, and buy it. I have said my piece.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Silverlion on February 23, 2013, 08:35:28 AM
Quote from: Marleycat;631238
Totally skimming here but Whispering Vault. You must play it, run it, and buy it. I have said my piece.



I have. I wish I could get a new copy.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Drohem on February 23, 2013, 12:52:09 PM
Well, this is a happy synchronicity. :)

I check out this thread this morning since it was resurrected and then I check out DriveThruRPG as well and...

I discover that I missed adding this game to the thread the first time around, and I discover that there is a free demo version of the new edition of this favorite obscure game...

.... wait for it....

The 5th edition of Michael T. Desing’s Army Ants (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/111661/Michael-T.-Desing%27s-Army-Ants-RPG%3A-Legacy-Edition-Demo) by Splintered Realms Publishing!  The previous editions of the game were originally published under Teddy Bear Press.

I'll just let the author describe what I find cool about the game:

Quote
You’ve just stepped into a world populated by military ants who defend their hill and queen from unending threats to their security. This backyard harbors ladybugs who operate a massive intelligence network, spiders who dabble in sorcery, potato bugs who wield the martial arts and ancient mystical practices to defy the natural laws of the world; it has a wasp empire forcing its tyrannical grip upon all corners of the land; it has centipede overlords ruling from underground cities where gladiator pits set insect against insect; it has garter snakes of incredible wisdom hidden in its far reaches, primeval lizards prowling its lost wilds, ancient artifacts hidden in its distant ruins, and cybernetic anomalies that hard-wire innovative technologies into their carapaces to boost their natural abilities. It has fleas roaming the countryside, picking through the scraps of the unending war and forging mechanical oddities. It has mosquito mercenaries and a fallen fly kingdom. It has a trashcan city, a desolate sandbox, and a deadly fire pit. It has a deep well with hidden secrets. Its rain storms presage incredible floods, and its winter turns the backyard into a barren waste.
It’s a crazy place.


The above was quoted from the free demo version linked above.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Simlasa on February 23, 2013, 01:07:53 PM
Quote from: Marleycat;631238
Totally skimming here but Whispering Vault. You must play it, run it, and buy it. I have said my piece.
Yes, much-liked but little-played. I see lots of folks saying Nobilis is 'The Whispiring Vault done right'... but whenever I've tried reading Nobilis I fall asleep.
Some wrong-minded person should grab TWV (and the legendary huge pile of unpublished setting material for it) and resurrect it. Bruce Baugh had that project but failed to launch.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Just Another Snake Cult on February 23, 2013, 02:16:28 PM
Divine Battle Lust: The "Adult" miniatures skirmish game. Complete with gang-rape rules so your little lead toy soldiers can go all My Lai on the sand table (To be perversely fair, that is a constant of real war not addressed by most systems). Fliping through the rulebook is like seeing the darkest corners of the adolesant male id laid bare. Not to be confused with plaid old "Battle Lust", a different miniatures ruleset by different people.

World Action and Adventure: Found this among the children's books at a library sale. If I had to pick a "Plan Nine from Outer Space of RPGS", this would probably be it. Bizarre and pretty much non-playable universal "System"  written and published by some rich teenager for school extra-credit (The back cover has a photo of him standing on the deck of his yacht). One night during a snow-storm the gang and I got a little goofy and got this down and rolled up characters. Pure hilarity! One guy rolled "Rapist" as his profession (It's a sub-class of thief).

Nightlife: The other "Vampires & werewolves in the modern urban world" game of the early 90's. IIRC it came out about a year before WW. The artwork looks like an underground comix book, the cheap paper and shitty printing of the rulebook make it feel like a punk 'zine straight from a reform school's print shop, and the whole thing just has it's own funky 80's Return of the Living Dead kinda punk-splatter-comic feel. A personal favorite.

Brave New World: Low-powered supers set in an alternate distopia where Kennedy survived that day in Dallas and became a despot (Long story). A deeply flawed game on many levels, but full of some interesting Alan Moore/Warren Ellis/"Iron Age" superhero ideas (Supers are created from near-death experences... when the process goes wrong it produces vampires. The first super was a black guy in WWI, and because of his race he was kept a state secret, The UK refused to hand Hong Kong over to the Chinese in 1997 and they fight for control of it via proxy supers battles in the streets).

Ray Winninger's Underground: Genetically-enginered super-soldiers revolt and fight the right-wing system in the Los Angles of 2021. Really bent over backwards to capture the feel of comics like Marshal Law and Frank Miller's Give Me Liberty. Beautiful art and layout. One of the very few RPGs to be very overtly political (Unheard of at the time-1993). Some flawed but very interesting "Social Parameters" rules about using your XP to advance not just your character but your base community. A forgotten near-masterpiece.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: elfandghost on February 23, 2013, 02:25:58 PM
Does Bram Stoker's Dracula (http://paizo.com/products/btpy8ku5?Bram-Stokers-Dracula-The-Roleplaying-Game) 'count'; if so that.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: TristramEvans on February 23, 2013, 02:37:01 PM
Quote from: brettmb;265157
Name and describe a little known game from before 2000 that you either really like or mine frequently for ideas. It cannot be from a mainstream product line and must date before the year 2000.

My selection is Prince Valiant, because it utilizes a real simple system that does what it needs to do in a creative way without requiring a lot of math or using ridiculous gimmicks.


Your example doesn't fit your criteria :P

Anyways, my vote is for Theatrix. Its not a game system in and of itself I'd use, but its got some great ideas. I especially like how the ratings a character has in an Attribute is based on how much detail the players put into describing it and providing plot hooks. Even the one sourcebook I own for the game, Ironwood, which is based on a porn comic by Willingham (Fables, Ex-Mutant, Coventry) actually has a pretty damn interesting setting divorced from the erotic content.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Ronin on February 23, 2013, 04:26:36 PM
"Mean Streets (http://www.pigames.net/store/default.php?cPath=83)", an amazing and wonderful game of film noir.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: yojimbouk on February 23, 2013, 08:29:51 PM
Tales of Gargentihr (http://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/52974/tales-of-gargentihr)

noir: The Film Noir RPG (http://rpggeek.com/rpg/1026/noir-english-rpg)
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: thedungeondelver on February 23, 2013, 08:50:34 PM
I have never played, but I've heard good* things about Realms of Yolmi.  


...

*=if you like gonzo, over-the-top sci-fi in the vein of Encounter Critical
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Bloody Stupid Johnson on February 24, 2013, 07:40:32 AM
LegendQuest (1991) (Board Enterprises) - fantasy game, lots of weird innovations like skills with varying breadths, sleep spells than give fatigue points, a weird "a skill level can be used in various ways but only once per round" system (e.g. spell control levels). Never had the chance to play it, though.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: smiorgan on February 24, 2013, 08:42:30 AM
Lace & Steel

(also Amazing Engine's Kromosome, but that breaks the rules)
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Doom on February 24, 2013, 10:14:06 AM
Barbarian Prince  (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1631/barbarian-prince)and Demonlord (http://dwarfstar.brainiac.com/ds_demonlord.html) are two obscure games I had much fun with, back in the day. Both are available as free downloads, for those willing to take the time to print and play (Barbarian Prince is an awesome solo game, so that could be worthwhile for the afficionado).
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Exploderwizard on February 25, 2013, 01:29:33 PM
Quote from: Just Another Snake Cult;631311
Ray Winninger's Underground: Genetically-enginered super-soldiers revolt and fight the right-wing system in the Los Angles of 2021. Really bent over backwards to capture the feel of comics like Marshal Law and Frank Miller's Give Me Liberty. Beautiful art and layout. One of the very few RPGs to be very overtly political (Unheard of at the time-1993). Some flawed but very interesting "Social Parameters" rules about using your XP to advance not just your character but your base community. A forgotten near-masterpiece.


Heh. I actually have this one.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: RPGPundit on February 26, 2013, 11:18:37 AM
I like a few obscure games.. you've probably never heard of them.

(http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_llvfnboCHa1qeqx7ko1_1280.jpg)
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Blackhand on February 26, 2013, 12:22:22 PM
Renegade Legion, from FASA, including the RPG Legionnaire.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: baran_i_kanu on February 26, 2013, 01:29:05 PM
Nightlife.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightlife_(role-playing_game)

It was our group's first play as vampires games and there was no angsty crap, just pure fun and powertrip.

The system is horribly dated but the setting and ideas influenced our supernaturally themed games for over twenty years.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: flyingcircus on February 26, 2013, 03:17:41 PM
I remember having and playing a supers game called SUPER SQUADRON from some Australian company along time ago, I gave it to my buddy and never saw a copy ever again.  It was fun for awhile but I just got tired of the GM we had.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: APN on February 26, 2013, 03:39:30 PM
Chimaera - its obscure because it is shit. I think it was written by someone who doesn't understand grammar bad, or English isn't their first language. Or second. Maybe I've not given it enough of a chance, but it was cheap, I glanced through it and now it protects other books from dust.

Maelstrom - the RPG originally released as a Puffin book and really underrated. Think somebody bought it and put out the PDF, but remains off most peoples radar I guess.

Slaine - OGL game from Mongoose. Any good? Dunno. It has a protective layer of dust, from where Chimaera didn't quite make its vs Dust roll.

Dragonlance Saga - with cards and stuff. Applies to Marvel Saga as well, now fiendishly hard to get hold of in a complete state (most have cards missing, grrrr)

Golden Heroes - this was obscure almost from the time it came out thanks to Marvel Superheroes which was released a short time before it. I remember boxed sets stacked up for sell off at a pound in Vigin Megastores (back in the days when they sold rpgs) Saw a revival with Squadron UK, Games Workshop set the lawyers/dogs on that and you can find it on the web in a retro clone state as Codename Spandex. But don't tell GW. Squadron UK was re-released as a new system but its hard to read and understand in the Basic (cheap ass) book form. Plus my mate only does for the cover for it, not all of the art, and on principle I must then ignore it.

Odyssey -An obscure FGU game with cards, boat combat, sword tactics and other stuff. In fact, pick any from a pile of FGU games. They were prolific, if nothing else. Starships and Spacemen was obscure till Goblinoid bought it.

DC Universe - Legend system. It wasn't very good.

An absolute mountain of fantasy heartbreakers that might or might not be good, but were unsupported and forgotten. Darkwood received a glowing 2 for style (out of 5) and a reasonable 1 (out of 5) for substance on RPG.net, so clearly one of the better ones. Think I have a copy in the loft, protected from dust by Super Squadron.

Ghostbusters, Aliens, Dune - obscure in that they are well known for doing or being something, but hardly anyone has a copy. Ghostbusters rare as hens teeth on ebay, but I dropped lucky for a £10 copy, delivered. Aliens because it's aliens, and that was a fun film, but dunno if the game was any good. Every time it's up for sale there is a flurry of bids for it. Dune because only millionaires or game collectors who live in moms basement can afford it.

Cyborg Commando - not Gary Gygaxs finest hour.

FATAL - was this ever in print? It doesn't matter. Obscure in that everyone has heard of it, don't know of more than one or two people (in the universe) who actually played it, and even then simply to state how bad it was. Anal circumference indeed.

I have more 'dust protection' in the loft I can dig out. Helps to stop heat going through the roof as well, and feed moths.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Just Another Snake Cult on February 26, 2013, 07:33:05 PM
Quote from: APN;632092
Ghostbusters, Aliens, Dune - obscure in that they are well known for doing or being something, but hardly anyone has a copy. Ghostbusters rare as hens teeth on ebay, but I dropped lucky for a £10 copy, delivered.


The WEG/Chaosium Ghostbusters game was waaaay ahead of it's time mechanically and is still one of the better comedy-genre RPGs I've read or played.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: TristramEvans on February 26, 2013, 09:27:09 PM
Quote from: Just Another Snake Cult;632209
The WEG/Chaosium Ghostbusters game was waaaay ahead of it's time mechanically and is still one of the better comedy-genre RPGs I've read or played.

I bought a copy at a giftshop in Disneyworld in '88. I don't know if it's obscure, it just hasnt been in print for a long time. Luckily, very easy to find free online, sans the Ghost Die.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: ICFTI on February 26, 2013, 09:46:56 PM
fifth cycle by shield laminating. it's a dnd wannabe, but had an awesome premise of pcs as professional tomb raiders and artifact merchants in a 'new world' setting which i snagged for more than one dnd campaign.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Bradford C. Walker on February 26, 2013, 10:47:48 PM
Both Car Wars and OGRE are obscure now.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Just Another Snake Cult on February 26, 2013, 10:54:49 PM
Quote from: Bradford C. Walker;632292
Both Car Wars and OGRE are obscure now.


Car Wars could be a big hit if released as a GW-style big box game with plastic cars. It baffles me that such a classic 80's property has just been left fallow for so long.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Silverlion on February 26, 2013, 11:01:09 PM
Quote from: Just Another Snake Cult;632296
Car Wars could be a big hit if released as a GW-style big box game with plastic cars. It baffles me that such a classic 80's property has just been left fallow for so long.



Sad indeed. Heck scale them up and use counters but hint hint make them set up for Hot wheels.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Tolknor on February 26, 2013, 11:53:24 PM
When it comes to awesome and obscure games that i totally loved one comes to mind.  Warlock, by Balboa Games.  This was a game produced by members of the Cal Tech gaming group in the late 70s.  It never had much press and i doubt many people beyond the Pasadena area played it.  It had a few additional books but never had wide publication.  It had a lot to recommend it in the late 70s/early 80s.  My game group and a half dozen other groups we had loose contact with before the advent of email used the system and added to it on our own.  I ran across copies of it at game stores over the years and often the owners didn't realize it was on their shelves.  Pity.   The last campaign i ran ended in 2000.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: RPGPundit on February 27, 2013, 05:10:29 PM
Quote from: APN;632092

Maelstrom - the RPG originally released as a Puffin book and really underrated. Think somebody bought it and put out the PDF, but remains off most peoples radar I guess.


Fuck yeah! And it was very influential on WFRP.

BTW, you do know its been re-released, right?

RPGPundit
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: GameDaddy on February 27, 2013, 07:28:34 PM
Hrmmm?... yes. I have my Bushido and Warlock. Wish I could get my hands on Thieves Guild I-V. Maybe I should run a Warlock game at GenCon.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: APN on February 27, 2013, 08:01:03 PM
Quote from: RPGPundit;632538
Fuck yeah! And it was very influential on WFRP.

BTW, you do know its been re-released, right?

RPGPundit


yeah, it's still underrated :(

I think they put out (yeah, here (http://www.rpgnow.com/product/103585/Maelstrom-Classic-Fantasy-Toolkit?cPath=1684_4422)) a fantasy hack for it for those of us that didn't have a clue what to do in Tudor era England (*hand up, sheepish, but hey, at least I got the players to try it for a few weeks before their addiction to BECMI got too strong to resist)

Written by Alexander Scott whilst he was still at School I think. As far as I know that was it as far as his RPG writing career went...
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: trechriron on February 27, 2013, 08:43:16 PM
Chivalry and Sorcery 3rd Edition. Never played previous editions, nor the 4th. Had a green cover IIRC.

Loved the Witch class, and spells and combat was different enough from AD&D that we enjoyed it. Also, d30 for combat resolution IIRC. Man that thing just rolled forever and ever and ...  :-)

Don't remember much else about it. After reading the Wikipedia articles, I'm not sure this is the game I'm thinking of. Crap my brain sometimes.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: jibbajibba on February 27, 2013, 08:47:48 PM
Bunnies and Burrows - Basically watership down roleplying but one of the first games ever with a martial arts system or a full blown skill system - it was published in 1976 by FGU. I know GURPS did a source book for it a lot later.

Timemaster - by Pacesetter. Really well formed rules on paradox, the laws of time etc even if the mechcanics aren't great the concept and Rules of time are great and they published a few adventures , all terrible, and a supplement for more advanced time tricks. Great for any time travel game.

Pirates and Plunder - from Yaquinto - worst game I ever bought or possibly played.... a pirate game with no rules for ships. A character generation system that was built through the introductory adventure that was more rail roady then the trans siberian railroad. Horrid.

Alma Mater - roleplaying in a US high school - yes that's right its basically Porky's the roleplaying game. Might have been pretty dull for you guys but for us .... yeah it was pretty dull too.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: TristramEvans on February 27, 2013, 10:52:55 PM
I guess if we're counting games that are obscure nowadays as opposed to when they came out...

Shadowrun 2nd Edition
Warhammer Fantasy RPG 1st Edition
Paranoia 2nd Edition
Teenagers From Outer Space 2nd Edition
Earthdawn 1st Edition
Unknown Armies
Over The Edge
Kult
Chill
Prince Valiant
BESM 2nd Edition
James Bond 007
Cadwallon
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: APN on February 28, 2013, 02:12:32 AM
Man Myth and Magic was always very well supported by adverts in magazines/comics if I recall, though I could never find a copy of the thing and it rarely comes up, if ever, on ebay. Written by the same guy (JH Brennan) who wrote the Demon Spawn saga game books (starring Fire*Wolf) I've no actual idea on whether it was very good or not, but it vanished from the public consciousness despite having half a dozen published adventures and a boxed set, so not for lack of trying. I suspect I'm not missing much, despite lusting after it when I was younger.

(http://s17.postimage.org/z0tc6nzxr/Manmythmagic_RPGCover.jpg)
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: smiorgan on February 28, 2013, 02:29:14 AM
Quote from: RPGPundit;632538
Fuck yeah! And it was very influential on WFRP.

BTW, you do know its been re-released, right?

RPGPundit


Quote from: APN;632599
yeah, it's still underrated :(

I think they put out (yeah, here (http://www.rpgnow.com/product/103585/Maelstrom-Classic-Fantasy-Toolkit?cPath=1684_4422)) a fantasy hack for it for those of us that didn't have a clue what to do in Tudor era England (*hand up, sheepish, but hey, at least I got the players to try it for a few weeks before their addiction to BECMI got too strong to resist)

Written by Alexander Scott whilst he was still at School I think. As far as I know that was it as far as his RPG writing career went...


I have the original on a shelf next to my Sorcery! gamebooks.

It's great that it's been re-released although the physical copy is an embarassment--the copy I saw was a POD with a badly printed facsimile cover of the original puffin cover, with a fair amount of colour bleeding, for which they are charging nearly 20 quid. I don't begrudge paying good money for something useful and flavourful, but...
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: APN on February 28, 2013, 02:33:03 AM
Yeah the scan seems to be somewhat half assed and the OCR lacking according to the reviews on Drivethru. Taking more time over it, releasing some adventures and a sourcebook or two and it might reach a wider audience, but I'll stick to my puffin version. You can get them for a couple of quid delivered off Amazon.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Lynn on February 28, 2013, 03:33:00 AM
I played in several sessions of Skyrealms of Jorune. Not such a great engine but the world was really fresh and alien, though not made by an obscure company.

I played in a It Came from the Late, Late, Late Show game years ago, which again - not such an innovative system but fun to play in a 50's-60's horror flick type game.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: RPGPundit on March 01, 2013, 09:58:23 AM
Quote from: APN;632599


Written by Alexander Scott whilst he was still at School I think. As far as I know that was it as far as his RPG writing career went...


He was 14 at the time, I think.  

RPGPundit
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: bottg on March 02, 2013, 03:26:56 AM
Quote from: APN;632599
yeah, it's still underrated :(

I think they put out (yeah, here (http://www.rpgnow.com/product/103585/Maelstrom-Classic-Fantasy-Toolkit?cPath=1684_4422)) a fantasy hack for it for those of us that didn't have a clue what to do in Tudor era England (*hand up, sheepish, but hey, at least I got the players to try it for a few weeks before their addiction to BECMI got too strong to resist)

Written by Alexander Scott whilst he was still at School I think. As far as I know that was it as far as his RPG writing career went...



He did however pitch several more books to Puffin, but they never got around to finishing them....   There are still extant notes though.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: David Johansen on March 02, 2013, 08:12:11 AM
Quote from: Silverlion;632297
Sad indeed. Heck scale them up and use counters but hint hint make them set up for Hot wheels.


Ugh...No Way...toy cars have no scale consistancy at all.  Besides the recent edition that flopped already tried to do that.  Make them 1/144th that's 'N' gauge right?  Buildings, cars, even military stuff all exist.

But no, really neither of those makes any business sense.  Remember, in the miniatures business you want to be the sole source of your product and not match up with anything else.

I'd do it in 1/100 which is 15mm in gaming parlance.  It's a traditional gaming scale.  Plastics are getting cheaper to produce.  There's a pre-existing 15mm sf community that would eat up near future civilian vehicles and buildings and weapons packs.  Especially a good range of plastic buildings or perhaps a girder and pannel system.  The big thing is the ground scale wouldn't be too big.  Even though 8' x 4' tables are pretty common among gamers these days a car moving 200mph is off the table in no time.  Actually, scrollable highway sections and a system for building 3d ramps and interchanges would also be good.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: bottg on March 02, 2013, 08:17:27 AM
Quote from: APN;632680
Yeah the scan seems to be somewhat half assed and the OCR lacking according to the reviews on Drivethru.


Unfortunately, the original cover and original image no longer exist.  We felt it would be a huge risk to use a brand new cover on a fairly obscure game, and remove whatever brand recognition there was!

In preparation for the release sometime soon of the book through retail channels (via Chronicle City) we reviewed and revised the text as well, and we did find 5 or 6 errors that have been corrected.

Quote from: APN;632680
Taking more time over it, releasing some adventures and a sourcebook or two and it might reach a wider audience, but I'll stick to my puffin version. You can get them for a couple of quid delivered off Amazon.


Well, we have put out 2 adventures (one free), a companion, a beggars companion, a fantasy hack and two short supplements detailing Tournaments and Inns & Taverns.  More is planned for this year..
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: APN on March 03, 2013, 03:01:02 AM
Quote from: bottg;633483
Unfortunately, the original cover and original image no longer exist.  We felt it would be a huge risk to use a brand new cover on a fairly obscure game, and remove whatever brand recognition there was!

In preparation for the release sometime soon of the book through retail channels (via Chronicle City) we reviewed and revised the text as well, and we did find 5 or 6 errors that have been corrected.



Well, we have put out 2 adventures (one free), a companion, a beggars companion, a fantasy hack and two short supplements detailing Tournaments and Inns & Taverns.  More is planned for this year..


Really? I'll take another look. Thanks for the heads up!
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: RPGPundit on March 04, 2013, 11:18:25 AM
Quote from: bottg;633449
He did however pitch several more books to Puffin, but they never got around to finishing them....   There are still extant notes though.


Is that a hint that you're going to be publishing something of them?
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Kaiu Keiichi on March 05, 2013, 11:44:23 AM
Aetherco's Cºntinuum (http://www.aetherco.com/continuum/) RPG.  Very simple and fast, the best time travel RPG I ever played. The only issues is that you had to track ever act of time travel that you did down to the minute, on paper.  Aside from that book keeping, it was excellent.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: jibbajibba on March 06, 2013, 07:39:35 AM
Quote from: Kaiu Keiichi;634487
Aetherco's Cºntinuum (http://www.aetherco.com/continuum/) RPG.  Very simple and fast, the best time travel RPG I ever played. The only issues is that you had to track ever act of time travel that you did down to the minute, on paper.  Aside from that book keeping, it was excellent.


one of the nice things about timemaster was that you could create a pardox feild once you solved the adventure anf leave a message to yourself detailing how you resolved the problem and how the plot worked so you could then save time, as you can only exist in the timestream of any parallel at a single point so saving time menas you can revisit the some of the time period you were in. As a GM you coudl also use it as a GM device if the plot got bogged down. The PCs find a note to themselves telling them what to do next, so as long as they remember to leave that note at some point int he adventure all is well :)

I do love time travel.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Hezrou on March 06, 2013, 01:05:50 PM
Quote from: jibbajibba;634759
one of the nice things about timemaster was that you could create a pardox feild once you solved the adventure anf leave a message to yourself detailing how you resolved the problem and how the plot worked so you could then save time, as you can only exist in the timestream of any parallel at a single point so saving time menas you can revisit the some of the time period you were in. As a GM you coudl also use it as a GM device if the plot got bogged down. The PCs find a note to themselves telling them what to do next, so as long as they remember to leave that note at some point int he adventure all is well :)

I do love time travel.



I know I'm pretty biased since I like Timemaster enough to have bought the rights, but IMHO it is one of the most playable takes on time travel. The Timetricks supplement really adds a lot of detail to time travel.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: RPGPundit on March 07, 2013, 06:42:19 PM
Quote from: Kaiu Keiichi;634487
Aetherco's Cºntinuum (http://www.aetherco.com/continuum/) RPG.  Very simple and fast, the best time travel RPG I ever played. The only issues is that you had to track ever act of time travel that you did down to the minute, on paper.  Aside from that book keeping, it was excellent.


Continuum was awesome, for setting as much as for concept; but unfortunately the game just became so quickly bloated with notes that both the players and the GM had to keep track of it was ultimately hugely unwieldy for ongoing campaign play.

RPGPundit
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Ronin on March 07, 2013, 08:03:06 PM
Having never played it. Im curious to know why there is so much bookkeeping. Are their rules for paradoxes/butterfly effect or something?
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: jibbajibba on March 07, 2013, 09:59:45 PM
Quote from: Hezrou;634842
I know I'm pretty biased since I like Timemaster enough to have bought the rights, but IMHO it is one of the most playable takes on time travel. The Timetricks supplement really adds a lot of detail to time travel.


Agreed totally. And respects on getting the Rights.

(though I think the Law of Death is too gamist, and removing it actually gives the PCs a 'resurrection' option)
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: JonTheBrowser on March 07, 2013, 10:56:07 PM
My submission would be the Myrmidon Press version of Manhunter published in 1993.  It was later redone in a RIFTS version, but nothing RIFTS in the 90s can be called obscure.  I think the original game was though.

(http://i45.tinypic.com/b7iaef.jpg)

I liked it because of the strange grid based abstract ship building system.  And the combat system where different armours worked better than others at stopping different attack types.  Nothing unique or ground breaking, but it was just a fun sci-fi hodge podge game that I regret selling off years ago.

The RIFTS version was no substitute.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Hezrou on March 08, 2013, 01:08:27 PM
Quote from: jibbajibba;635285
Agreed totally. And respects on getting the Rights.

(though I think the Law of Death is too gamist, and removing it actually gives the PCs a 'resurrection' option)


Thanks! It is a bit, but if you remove it your enemies can never be killed either.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: RPGPundit on March 09, 2013, 11:54:23 AM
Quote from: Ronin;635246
Having never played it. Im curious to know why there is so much bookkeeping. Are their rules for paradoxes/butterfly effect or something?


Precisely. You had to keep careful track of absolutely EVERYTHING you did, because if you went back to the same time and space you couldn't end up contradicting what you did before or you cause paradox.

RPGPundit
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: RPGPundit on March 09, 2013, 11:55:48 AM
Quote from: JonTheBrowser;635297
My submission would be the Myrmidon Press version of Manhunter published in 1993.  It was later redone in a RIFTS version, but nothing RIFTS in the 90s can be called obscure.  I think the original game was though.

(http://i45.tinypic.com/b7iaef.jpg)

I liked it because of the strange grid based abstract ship building system.  And the combat system where different armours worked better than others at stopping different attack types.  Nothing unique or ground breaking, but it was just a fun sci-fi hodge podge game that I regret selling off years ago.

The RIFTS version was no substitute.


I thought the RIFTS version was vastly better; and I remember I played the shit out of it in the 90s. It was probably one of my most-used sourcebooks.

RPGpundit
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: danskmacabre on March 09, 2013, 12:03:42 PM
Quote from: Lynn;632696
I played in several sessions of Skyrealms of Jorune. Not such a great engine but the world was really fresh and alien, though not made by an obscure company.



I was going to mention this game.
I only played a few sessions and tbh wasn't really paying attention too how the system worked.
I really enjoyed the background/setting a lot.  

Dunno why the campaign stopped, perhaps I was the only one keen on it.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: danskmacabre on March 09, 2013, 12:14:24 PM
Quote from: Dirk Remmecke;265237
There are two games (and one ... supplement?) that I regularly take from my shelf just to browse and immerse in the naiveté and old-school-ness.

Dragon Warriors - Which has been brought back to life by James Wallis and should be on the radar of many RPGsiters because it has seen many discussions here as well. From 1985-1995 I mined the hell out of those paperbacks.


I run this game for my kids. It's their RPG of choice.
I used to own the old paperbacks many years ago, when I played it the first time round.

I have the reissue in the large hardback books now. The rules are pretty much the same and it's great fun for what it is.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: TheHistorian on March 09, 2013, 04:29:05 PM
Quote from: GameDaddy;632590
Wish I could get my hands on Thieves Guild I-V.


http://diffworlds.com/gamelords_thieves_guild.htm
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: JonTheBrowser on March 10, 2013, 03:09:58 AM
Quote from: RPGPundit;635638
I thought the RIFTS version was vastly better; and I remember I played the shit out of it in the 90s. It was probably one of my most-used sourcebooks.


When i said the RIFTS version was no substitue, I meant that it did things so differently that they're not that compariable.  Like d20 Call of Cthulhu in "Shotguns & Shoggoths" mode and Chaosium BRP Call of Cthulhu.  Same setting, very different implementations.

The RIFTS one was largely more RIFTS play.  But if you love that, then you'd probably find the RIFTS version more appealing.  The main strength of the Myrmidon version's system was that it was really fast compared to RIFTS once the guns cleared the holsters.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: RPGPundit on March 10, 2013, 12:50:12 PM
Quote from: JonTheBrowser;635783
When i said the RIFTS version was no substitue, I meant that it did things so differently that they're not that compariable.  Like d20 Call of Cthulhu in "Shotguns & Shoggoths" mode and Chaosium BRP Call of Cthulhu.  Same setting, very different implementations.


You do realize that D20 CoC characters were far LESS combat-competent than characters in BRP CoC could be made to be, right?

The whole "d20 CoC is just powergamer combat stuff unlike the anticombat purity of BRP" is just ridiculous inanity from people who've never actually read the D20 game, or the CoC books.

RPGPundit
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: selfdeleteduser00001 on March 10, 2013, 01:32:59 PM
Quote from: The Shaman;266462
A great game, and one I'd really like to run in the near future, but should this be considered obscure? FGU was a serious publisher, and there were four adventures/supplements published for FB.

I ran and played it quite a bit in the early 80s. Nice game, still available, well worth the purchase. Clean system, well placed in time and place, good scenarios.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: TristramEvans on March 10, 2013, 01:52:57 PM
Quote from: RPGPundit;635847
You do realize that D20 CoC characters were far LESS combat-competent than characters in BRP CoC could be made to be, right?

The whole "d20 CoC is just powergamer combat stuff unlike the anticombat purity of BRP" is just ridiculous inanity from people who've never actually read the D20 game, or the CoC books.

RPGPundit


The D20 CoC book had a few really good scenarios.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Phillip on March 10, 2013, 05:42:22 PM
Quote from: The Shaman;266462
A great game, and one I'd really like to run in the near future, but should this be considered obscure? FGU was a serious publisher, and there were four adventures/supplements published for FB.

Flashing Blades is not obscure, to my mind.

How about Lace & Steel (Australian Games Group)?

Pirates & Plunder (Yaquinto) deserves to be obscure, IIRC.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Phillip on March 10, 2013, 05:52:35 PM
Space Quest (Tyr) is pretty obscure. The pseudo-old game Encounter Critical seems like a spiritual descendant, based on my fuzzy memory of SQ.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: RPGPundit on March 11, 2013, 04:05:49 PM
Quote from: TristramEvans;635869
The D20 CoC book had a few really good scenarios.


And excellent genre advice.

RPGPundit
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Silverlion on March 11, 2013, 05:12:55 PM
Quote from: Phillip;635909
How about Lace & Steel (Australian Games Group)?


Owned, sadly lost due to poor living conditions at the time. I loved the idea of fencing centaurs but the other races weren't exactly all that "playable" to me. Sad thing is I've owned a lot of these over the years and many of them were stolen/lost or sold (when I needed money more than an unused game.)
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: camel7 on March 22, 2013, 05:39:31 PM
several pics of FRPG's before 2000 (so maybe this is the correct thread) :)

http://mesmerizedbysirens.blogspot.it/2013/03/rare-and-obscure-fantasy-rpgs-galore.html (http://mesmerizedbysirens.blogspot.it/2013/03/rare-and-obscure-fantasy-rpgs-galore.html)
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Sigmund on March 22, 2013, 05:56:13 PM
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8092/8580316947_bd009d132c.jpg)

Get inspiration from this quite often, although I doubt I'd ever use it's system.

I also really like the premise of Engine Heart (http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Engine_Heart), and I'd love to play it.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Sigmund on March 22, 2013, 06:04:39 PM
Quote from: brettmb;265319


Metagaming stuff rocked.


Absolutely
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Sigmund on March 22, 2013, 06:05:15 PM
Quote from: jeff37923;265328
Wow, I thought that nobody else had heard of Dream Park besides me.



I have Dream Park too.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Sigmund on March 22, 2013, 06:22:11 PM
Quote from: Gabriel2;266655
I'll mention Universe by SPI, but not because I like the game.  The game itself is a trainwreck of the sort you could only see in the early 80s or if you bought a Palladium product.

But Universe had a cool map of all the stars within about 100 light years.  Plus, it was the first game which showed me a RPG could be skill based instead of character class based.  It was fodder for many of my early homebrews during the 80s.  Because of that, it occupies a fond space in my memories.

Still have this one too. Got it cuz I LOVE Dragonquest, so I bought SPI stuff no matter what. I still kinda like it, but yeah, nowhere near as good as DQ.

Edit: And certainly pure crap compared to Classic Traveller.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Soylent Green on March 22, 2013, 06:26:40 PM
I've onwed a good few obscure games in my time, things like Mutazoids, Warpword and Flash Gordon and the Warriors of Mongo. To be honest they were all pretty rubbish.

The one obscure gem I have and treasure is Puppetland. I'm not usually drawn to the more artsy games, but Puppetland pulls it off thanks to a genuine childlike sense of wonder it captures. The game is about the secret life of puppets and it deftly mixes innocence and darkness. The closest thing I can compare it to is the animated movie "9" from a few years back.  The booklets itself is a thing
It's a beautiful little booklet itself is very pretty. I have the original print version but I believe it is a free pdf these days.

That said I've only ever played it once, never felt confident enough to run it.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: RPGPundit on March 24, 2013, 04:47:38 AM
Quote from: Sigmund;639501
I have Dream Park too.


Certainly heard of it; never owned it.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Just Another Snake Cult on March 24, 2013, 07:41:57 PM
Quote from: Sigmund;639503
Still have this one too. Got it cuz I LOVE Dragonquest, so I bought SPI stuff no matter what. I still kinda like it, but yeah, nowhere near as good as DQ.

Edit: And certainly pure crap compared to Classic Traveller.


DragonQuest!

I live in a small college town in the Midwest. There was a period in the 80's when SPI DragonQuest was the hot game. The generation of gamers that came right before mine (Guys who would now be @45-55 now) were really into it. Those of them still active in gaming still play it and will rant about it's superiority to D&D at the drop of a hat. I remember lots of bootleg photo-copies in three-ring binders being passed around in the 90's (after it was long out of print).

When I started gaming with a broader circle I was sorta surprised to find out that it was pretty obscure in the outside world. In the days before the internet, everything in life was way more regional.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: The Yann Waters on March 25, 2013, 05:19:39 PM
Quote from: Soylent Green;639505
I have the original print version but I believe it is a free pdf these days.

I don't remember hearing about a PDF version of the printed Puppetland, but the shorter magazine version has been freely available on the web for ages. I have that Hogshead booklet, as well, along with Violence and De Profundis.

At one point, I was in the habit of running it as a filler game. Fortunately the sessions are so short, because maintaining the right voice proved almost painfully difficult in the long run.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: TristramEvans on March 25, 2013, 10:44:05 PM
De Profundis is what my group plays when we have to go for a week or more without our Call of Cthulhu game due to player absence/vacations/etc.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: KrakaJak on March 26, 2013, 01:34:53 AM
Does Unknown Armies count? It's a game that influenced the presentation and play of pretty much all of my games since I've read that book.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Silverlion on March 26, 2013, 03:58:39 AM
Sun & Storm
Morpheus
Sandman: Map of Halaal.

Any of those wring a bell? :D
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: RPGPundit on March 27, 2013, 04:03:07 PM
Quote from: Silverlion;640262
Sun & Storm
Morpheus
Sandman: Map of Halaal.

Any of those wring a bell? :D


Not one of them. You win.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: The Yann Waters on March 27, 2013, 04:11:01 PM
Quote from: Silverlion;640262
Sun & Storm
Morpheus
Sandman: Map of Halaal.

Any of those wring a bell? :D


I know that Sandman by reputation, but not the other two.

Hmm... While it's not anything I've made much use of, A.C.E. Agents! (1992) from Stellar Games hasn't yet been mentioned in this thread. It's a silly spy comedy game about a formerly secret US anti-terrorist organization, which after being leaked out into the open decided to milk the publicity for all its worth, and began to fund its operations with merchandise sales and product endorsements.

"Now, A.C.E. is both America's answer to high-tech terrorism, and a great public relations gimmick. Oh sure, the members are taking their super agent image too seriously, but that's to be expected. They do a good job between sound bites and toy sales, and they've helped give a boost to the spandex industry."
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Just Another Snake Cult on March 27, 2013, 07:37:54 PM
Quote from: Silverlion;640262
Sun & Storm


I vaguely remember a local GM running a single session of this back in the 90's. My fuzzy memory is that the artwork was utterly abysmal (Like brain-damaged little kid-level) but that once you got past that barrier and started chucking dice it was a cool weird, trippy, 70's Jim Starlin-ish science-fantasy thing with space-wizards fighting an intergalactic zombie invasion. Or something.

Anyway, I've spent the last decade wondering "What the Hell was that trippy game ______ ran that one time with the space-necros or whatever? Sun and something?" and your comment finally shook the memory loose.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Silverlion on March 27, 2013, 07:43:34 PM
Quote from: Just Another Snake Cult;640794
Anyway, I've spent the last decade wondering "What the Hell was that trippy game ______ ran that one time with the space-necros or whatever? Sun and something?" and your comment finally shook the memory loose.

Awesome. I'm rather fond of it for its in game "explanation" humor and back talking to itself.

Horrible art aside. Space Wizards with flying cars fighting undead hordes is cool. :D


The system was fun in that yes you might be able to blow up a city with magic, BUT you are going to die too...

I have all three booklets.


ACE Agents was fun,  didn't they even had a Supers supplement?


Sandman: Map of Halaal was mess--a "here is a big campaign, but the boxed set only gives you a tenth of it, and you pay these fixed characters and if you solve the mystery we'll give you real money.." unfortunately they shut down, never produced the rest of the game, and as far as I know no one won the money. It was trying to be Indie before its time I think.

Morpheus was a class based game with a "you are a person hooked up to a VR unit playing a game" premise. Meaning you could be a wizard fighting 1930 gangsters, while Hitler invades. Because it was all "in game."
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Saplatt on March 27, 2013, 09:20:31 PM
We had a lot of fun with Chill's Creature Feature.  (Published by Pacesetter)  Could never take any player-as-monster setting seriously after that one.

Not sure whether Pendragon counts since it was originally another Chaosium product, and later got picked up by WW, but it was a great change of pace back in the early 90s.

I always wanted to play TOON, but could never get anyone to cooperate.  I'm afraid it was a bit before its time.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: TristramEvans on March 27, 2013, 09:43:06 PM
Well, while GURPs itself is far from rare or obscure, I do own GURPs: The Prisoner, which no one seems to have heard of, based on the 60s TV series.

I also own the Master of the Universe RPG. Which is a very nice conversation piece.

Dicing with Dragons might be the most obscure RPG book I own though, which is sort of this awesome little 80s book thats combination a guide to RPGs, but also its own introductory RPG system with a solo adventure.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Killfuck Soulshitter on March 28, 2013, 08:08:21 AM
Somehow, whenever I read about Sandman: Map of Halaal I feel like wandering down to the corner store for a kebab.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Lynn on March 28, 2013, 11:29:11 AM
Quote from: TristramEvans;640818
Well, while GURPs itself is far from rare or obscure, I do own GURPs: The Prisoner, which no one seems to have heard of, based on the 60s TV series.


I got it and ran a session where GURPs characters (modern) were trapped in a version of the Village. Really requires you are in the mindset.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: The Yann Waters on March 28, 2013, 02:39:57 PM
Quote from: Silverlion;640796
ACE Agents was fun,  didn't they even had a Supers supplement?

A.C.E. Supers!, yes, although I've never even seen a copy of that.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: TristramEvans on March 28, 2013, 06:29:53 PM
Quote from: Lynn;640941
I got it and ran a session where GURPs characters (modern) were trapped in a version of the Village. Really requires you are in the mindset.


Actually I've ran a number of "Village" -style games, but honestly when it came to referencing the show, anyone of the non-RPG guidebooks are way better done (plus apparently SJG couldnt get the rights to any stills from the show so the whole thing is illustrated by someone who makes the first edition Monster Manual look like a painting by Jw Waterhouse). Normally, I'm a big fan of GURPs supplements, but this one they really dropped the ball on.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Lynn on March 28, 2013, 07:17:41 PM
Quote from: TristramEvans;641030
Normally, I'm a big fan of GURPs supplements, but this one they really dropped the ball on.


I agree - I have the Companion someplace and I found that to be as useful, if not more so.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: RPGPundit on March 29, 2013, 05:13:25 PM
Quote from: TristramEvans;641030
Actually I've ran a number of "Village" -style games, but honestly when it came to referencing the show, anyone of the non-RPG guidebooks are way better done (plus apparently SJG couldnt get the rights to any stills from the show so the whole thing is illustrated by someone who makes the first edition Monster Manual look like a painting by Jw Waterhouse). Normally, I'm a big fan of GURPs supplements, but this one they really dropped the ball on.


Really? I owned and ran this and I thought it was great.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: camel7 on May 12, 2015, 11:14:09 AM
I mine for ideas from several of these:

http://mesmerizedbysirens.blogspot.it/2015/05/old-school-and-rare-fantasy-role.html (http://mesmerizedbysirens.blogspot.it/2015/05/old-school-and-rare-fantasy-role.html)
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Omega on May 12, 2015, 04:26:42 PM
Furry Outlaws and Furry Pirates: Under the anthro theme is a darn good historical england and historical high seas low magic to no magic setting. Illustrated by Terrie Smith no less. I was one of the playtesters for Pirates.

GetRPS: Gammarauders Extremely Tiny Role Playing System: 1988 from the Gammarauders comic.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: IceBlinkLuck on May 13, 2015, 11:22:37 PM
I have fond memories of running this game called Rus (can't do the umlaut over the u so just imagine it). D&D-esque rpg set in early feudal Russia and the surrounding empires. It was a mishmash of rules but mostly level and class based. It had skills bolted onto it, much like they were in 1st ed. Chivalry and Sorcery. It was, without a doubt, a hot mess. However it did have lots of interesting bits and pieces about the campaign world which kept it from turning into just another quasi-medieval European setting.

One of the best stretches of the game happened when the players managed to piss off a local group of Cossacks. This lead to a protracted chase through a winter-darkened and snow-covered forest as the players frantically sought to escape the cossacks and their trained wolves.

Previously mentioned in the thread, but still want to give my shout out to: 1st Ed. Pheonix Games Bushido, Psi World (I loved running my spin on this as near future Bladerunner-esque cyberpunk) and Whispering Vault ( a game I still pull out of my hat for one-shot adventures).
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Matt on May 13, 2015, 11:51:52 PM
Not sure what counts as obscure...games nobody seems to own but may have heard of, or games no one has heard of?

Probably my least commonly encountered games are Delta Force (Task Force Games), The Price of Freedom (WEG), Man Myth & Magic (Yaquinto), and Crime Fighter (Task Force).

I've never even seen another copy of Crime Fighter, which surprises me because Aaron Allston is well known and well respected. I would have thought his name on the box would've sold more copies.

Have quite a lot of other games where I have never met anyone else who owned them, but those are the ones from major publishers. All are bad ass in their own quirky ways.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Omega on May 14, 2015, 12:10:15 AM
Another one from the obscure list.

Superhero 2044: A near future superhero RPG that came out in 77 or so from I believe Gamescience? Mine was I think the second edition. Pretty odd game setting and mechanics. But had a solo play section at the back.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Simon W on May 14, 2015, 02:42:31 PM
Quote from: Matt;831364
Probably my least commonly encountered games are Delta Force (Task Force Games), The Price of Freedom (WEG), Man Myth & Magic (Yaquinto), and Crime Fighter (Task Force).


Had 'em all but got rid of Man Myth & Magic because I wasn't that taken with it. The other three (especially The Price of Freedom) weren't bad at all.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: TheShadow on May 14, 2015, 10:51:51 PM
Quote from: Omega;831366
Another one from the obscure list.

Superhero 2044: A near future superhero RPG that came out in 77 or so from I believe Gamescience? Mine was I think the second edition. Pretty odd game setting and mechanics. But had a solo play section at the back.


Certainly obscure, but worth remembering as the very first superhero RPG.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Molotov on May 15, 2015, 10:46:03 AM
Quote from: The Shaman;265541
I've never heard of this.

I must own it. Now.

(Thanks for the link.)

I have two copies of En Garde (via Amazon) arriving today, thanks to you heartless bastards and your 7+ year old thread. :D
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Omega on May 15, 2015, 06:32:13 PM
Another apparently obscure one.

Lace & Steel by Paul Kidd. Pretty interesting system that used a tarot deck to create a character. Very interaction driven. Though the combat system was pretty good too. Folks at TSR liked it enough they did a novel based on it even. But I meet hardly anyone who has ever played it.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Black Vulmea on March 16, 2017, 03:47:58 AM
I acquired Burros & Bandidos and its lone supplement Frontier recently - it's a roleplaying game published in the early Nineties by Sierra Madre Games set against the backdrop of the Porfiriato (B&B) and the Juarez republic (Frontera). It has an interesting character career system that we're using with our Boot Hill campaign.

I was going to suggest Starleader, but apparently I already did, over seven years ago.

Quote from: The Shaman;265260
Starleader: Assault, published in 1982 by Metagaming, was the first module of the Starleader rpg. S:A provided the introductory man-to-man combat rules of the system, like Melee to the The Fantasy Trip. None of the other modules were published, however, leaving S:A as a stand-alone skirmish game.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Tristram Evans on March 16, 2017, 04:24:11 AM
I nominate Theatrix (1993), a diceless system that takes a notion similar to Amber's style of play, makes it "generic", and then runs with it. It did FATE Aspects and Fate points long before Fate was a thing, it had maybe the best character creation system of all time, and it made use of numerous "flowcharts" a GM could use to resolve actions in numerous ways.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Dan Davenport on March 19, 2017, 11:41:21 AM
Quote from: Arminius;265197
Whenever this topic comes up, I mention Waste World, an aborted product line from the 90's. The game system reads a bit like a cross between GURPS and Talislanta/Omni, while the setting is a very over-the-top post-apocalyptic world with a bit of a kitchen sink feel--cybergear, lizard men, etc. But beneath all the cool gonzo there's also a neat premise of a world in which resources are so depleted that people go out into the wastes to risk their lives scrounging. If I were to run it I might redo the setting a bit to play up that element, basically turning it into a world where licensed and unlicensed recyclers fight each other, toxic environments, and mutated horrors in order to salvage precious materials.


An excellent choice!
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Dan Davenport on March 19, 2017, 12:02:30 PM
Quote from: Bradford C. Walker;265487
The sheer absurdity of it all.  Nazi Gestapo Elves.  Anti-Elf Paint.  Midnight Sunstone Bazookas.  A Ninja (that's a class)-cum-God of Metal named "Blade".  Amazons that can cure or kill with a bitchslap. Power Armor that costs so much money that you can't afford it when you could use it, and when you can you're so powerful that you don't need it (and it actually holds you back).  You can enchant your soul so that if you die and get reincarnated, the spells come back with your body automatically.  Timeline of ridiculous length with multiple near-extinction-level events that would act as genetic bottlenecks.  Every last fucking Guild-Trained Adventurer class (save a pair or so) are filled with noble heroes that Saved The Worldship from Certain Doom.  Tenjehusan.  Venderant Nalaberong and God Power.  "Rings with authenticity", as everything about it comes from the designer's personal experiences and inquiries.  Going from 1st to 20th level in a single adventure; getting $500M and not knowing what the hell to do with it all.


Don't forget Giant Mutant Fire Clams and Flying Grizzlies with lazerbeam eyes!
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Dan Davenport on March 19, 2017, 12:09:25 PM
Quote from: Marleycat;631238
Totally skimming here but Whispering Vault. You must play it, run it, and buy it. I have said my piece.


Great game, but the PCs are way underpowered compared to the way they're described.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Dan Davenport on March 19, 2017, 12:23:03 PM
Ralph Bakshi's Wizards (https://www.nobleknight.com/ProductDetail.asp_Q_ProductID_E_8336_A_InventoryID_E_0_A_ProductLineID_E_2137418005_A_ManufacturerID_E_160_A_CategoryID_E_0_A_GenreID_E_9) (1992), based on the 1977 animated movie (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076929/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1). A post-apocalyptic, post-human setting in which the true ancestors of mankind -- Elves, Dwarves, Faeries -- use magic to battle the technology-using mutants and their demon allies. Had a nice, simple attribute+skill system, IIRC, and a decent spell-creation system, but the damage system depended upon being big and strong enough to use heavier weapons... which meant that only a maxed-out, human-sized Dwarf could wield a battle axe.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Simlasa on March 19, 2017, 01:09:06 PM
Quote from: Dan Davenport;952599
Great game, but the PCs are way underpowered compared to the way they're described.
That is the common complaint. Considering what they're up against... renegade gods... and that it's meant to be at least partially a 'horror' game... I'm not sure the Stalker's aren't as they should be. Some of their powers can gimp the whole hunt if not run correctly... and they can certainly lay waste to most lesser creatures, and mortals.
I never did get to play it enough to get into its finer points though, or to feel comfortably tweaking it if/when I felt it needed tweaking.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Dan Davenport on March 19, 2017, 02:24:26 PM
Quote from: Simlasa;952614
That is the common complaint. Considering what they're up against... renegade gods... and that it's meant to be at least partially a 'horror' game... I'm not sure the Stalker's aren't as they should be. Some of their powers can gimp the whole hunt if not run correctly... and they can certainly lay waste to most lesser creatures, and mortals.
I never did get to play it enough to get into its finer points though, or to feel comfortably tweaking it if/when I felt it needed tweaking.

That's the thing, though -- when I ran the game, I found that even the lesser creatures they were supposed to slap around could slap them around instead.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Spike on March 20, 2017, 11:12:56 AM
Lessee... I've put some obscure stuff up on this thread in the past, but maybe I've got some others I haven't mentioned?

Of course, Dan's got me regretting not picking up that Bakshi Wizards game back in the day when I had the chance... ah... youth.

I've got Renegade Legions: Legionairre hanging around. I've been thinking of taking a look at "Better Humans as a theme in RPGs" thanks to this game, actually.

Then there is Marauder 2097, though I'm missing one of the supplements that I used to have. Power armor suits vs formerly human-ish xenomorph types in an anime inspired cyberpunk future Japan...  Its actually not a bad little game, and rather interestingly actually lists the methods used to create the book... the layout software and so forth.

Of course I'm gonna keep to stuff that can't really be found anymore, not obscure games currently on the market, like Tenra Bansho Zero and Double Cross, or things that I think were only moderately obscure, like Burning Empires, the Burning Wheel Sci-Fi game... which was much better organized and presented than Burning Wheel.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Voros on March 21, 2017, 06:22:55 AM
Hmm...Not sure what counts as obscure here. Love Stormbringer for instance and few know it but I'm sure most here do.

I'll go with Totem, a prehistoric RPG by Paul Elliott available here free and legit. (http://www.paulelliottbooks.com/free-rpgs.html) Surprised no one has tried to do something similar these days.

There was an OSR attempt at a prehistoric setting but it underwhelmed me as it was still too much conventional D&D reskinned.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Mordred Pendragon on March 21, 2017, 11:47:43 AM
These are some old obscure games I like and am interested in. The first one listed is something I currently own and I have played, the others are stuff I would love to get my hands on and play.

Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game (1994)
En Garde! (1975)
Boot Hill (1975)
Nightlife (1990)
Recon (1982)
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Xanther on March 22, 2017, 09:37:43 PM
Quote from: Doc Sammy;953082
These are some old obscure games I like and am interested in. The first one listed is something I currently own and I have played, the others are stuff I would love to get my hands on and play.

Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game (1994)
En Garde! (1975)
Boot Hill (1975)
Nightlife (1990)
Recon (1982)

Have a copy of EN Garde! somewhere around here :)  The clubs and dispatches are a neat part of En Garde! it's really nothing like a typical RPG, more about social climbing and almost like it was designed for play-by-mail.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Spike on March 23, 2017, 12:54:00 AM
Quote from: Doc Sammy;953082
These are some old obscure games I like and am interested in. The first one listed is something I currently own and I have played, the others are stuff I would love to get my hands on and play.

Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game (1994)
En Garde! (1975)
Boot Hill (1975)
Nightlife (1990)
Recon (1982)

I've got both the little black book Recon and the Palladium Games Recon, I used to own both Nightlife (which I'd LOVE to have again), and Streetfighter, which I can live without....  Oddly, despite it's place in gaming's lore, I've never even seen a copy of Boot Hill...  sheltered upbringing I guess?
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Matt on March 23, 2017, 03:16:48 PM
Is the Arthurian game Hidden Kingdom obscure?
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: DiscoSoup on March 24, 2017, 01:46:21 AM
I really like TURTLE LORDS from Chelonian Press, by Alessandro Testudoro, back in 1983. Super prog rock setting.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Omega on March 24, 2017, 09:30:16 PM
Well someone has a copy of Bio One from TSR. Never even heard of it.

(https://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic3464504_md.jpg)
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: brettmb on March 25, 2017, 12:00:44 AM
Quote from: Matt;953394
Is the Arthurian game Hidden Kingdom obscure?

I'd say so. I have it, but most people I talk to have never heard of it.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Krimson on March 25, 2017, 12:48:28 AM
Quote from: Silverlion;632297
Sad indeed. Heck scale them up and use counters but hint hint make them set up for Hot wheels.


I've seen this done. Hotwheels/Matchbox is more or less a 1:64 scale. I say more or less because they have cars anywhere from 1:50 to 1:100, but theoretically it's 1:64. This scale also works well with 25mm-28mm miniatures and props. Oh, and you can download the classic rules for free (http://www.sjgames.com/car-wars/games/classic/) so there's no reason not to have them.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Spinachcat on March 25, 2017, 05:36:56 AM
I probably mentioned this years ago on this thread, but Palladium's Valley of the Pharaohs was a good faux-Egyptian fantasy RPG and their Mechanoids series was great. I still run Mechanoids - its proto-Rifts and the little books are packed with cool ideas.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: RunningLaser on March 25, 2017, 08:36:22 AM
Quote from: Spinachcat;953581
I probably mentioned this years ago on this thread, but Palladium's Valley of the Pharaohs was a good faux-Egyptian fantasy RPG and their Mechanoids series was great. I still run Mechanoids - its proto-Rifts and the little books are packed with cool ideas.

Have heard good things about both of those games.  Is Valley of the Pharaohs a fantasy Egyptian setting, or something else?
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Matt on March 25, 2017, 09:53:19 AM
Quote from: brettmb;953566
I'd say so. I have it, but most people I talk to have never heard of it.


I have never quite made it all the way through the binder...have you played it?

If I recall, it predates Pendragon, but I haven't checked the copyright notices.

Although Pendragon is so great I doubt Hidden Kingdom would ever replace it for my games, I'm keeping my copy since I have never seen another nor met anyone who owns or has played it.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: brettmb on March 25, 2017, 01:42:16 PM
Quote from: Matt;953605
I have never quite made it all the way through the binder...have you played it?

If I recall, it predates Pendragon, but I haven't checked the copyright notices.

Although Pendragon is so great I doubt Hidden Kingdom would ever replace it for my games, I'm keeping my copy since I have never seen another nor met anyone who owns or has played it.
It was the big box sitting at the top of games shelves that I looked at every time I entered the hobby shop. One day, I finally broke down and bought it. I wasn't impressed and thought it was a waste of money - it was expensive, but I don't remember how much.

I haven't played it. I preferred Pendragon.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Tetsubo on March 25, 2017, 11:02:02 PM
Has anyone mentioned Midnight at the Well of Souls? I'm not sure if I ever encountered anyone that actually played it.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: brettmb on March 26, 2017, 10:57:55 AM
Quote from: Tetsubo;953652
Has anyone mentioned Midnight at the Well of Souls? I'm not sure if I ever encountered anyone that actually played it.

I picked up a copy on eBay a few years back. Interesting idea, but not much advice on running it.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Armchair Gamer on March 26, 2017, 11:32:15 AM
Quote from: Matt;953394
Is the Arthurian game Hidden Kingdom obscure?


Probably, although it did get a Kickstarter revival about a year or two ago and can be found on DriveThruRPG.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: RPGPundit on March 29, 2017, 01:44:45 AM
Quote from: Dan Davenport;952602
Ralph Bakshi's Wizards (https://www.nobleknight.com/ProductDetail.asp_Q_ProductID_E_8336_A_InventoryID_E_0_A_ProductLineID_E_2137418005_A_ManufacturerID_E_160_A_CategoryID_E_0_A_GenreID_E_9) (1992), based on the 1977 animated movie (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076929/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1). A post-apocalyptic, post-human setting in which the true ancestors of mankind -- Elves, Dwarves, Faeries -- use magic to battle the technology-using mutants and their demon allies. Had a nice, simple attribute+skill system, IIRC, and a decent spell-creation system, but the damage system depended upon being big and strong enough to use heavier weapons... which meant that only a maxed-out, human-sized Dwarf could wield a battle axe.

I guess Wizards is a pretty obscure game today. But there was a time (really for most of the 90s) where it seemed to be in every gaming store I went into. I'm betting it was a pretty big print-run (bigger than was merited, apparently).
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Voros on March 29, 2017, 06:04:05 AM
1992 certainly seems a bit late in the game to be putting out a Wizards RPG.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Simlasa on March 29, 2017, 12:26:58 PM
I picked up a copy of Star Rovers a while back. It's pretty much Arduin Grimoire in space. Dave Hargrave actually did have a hand in it and some of Arduin's scifi elements turn up in it.
I think it might have been meant to be compatible with Traveller to some degree.

It's infamously incomplete, being labeled as 'module 1' with no sign of 'module 2' ever having been written. So no starship rules and lots of stuff mentioned without explanation.
Still, kinda cool, and like Arduin, gave me some wacky ideas for space-fantasy games.

It goes for nutty prices online but I got really lucky and got a mint copy for $30.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: TheShadow on March 31, 2017, 06:30:42 AM
Quote from: Simlasa;954170
I picked up a copy of Star Rovers a while back. It's pretty much Arduin Grimoire in space. Dave Hargrave actually did have a hand in it and some of Arduin's scifi elements turn up in it.
I think it might have been meant to be compatible with Traveller to some degree.

It's infamously incomplete, being labeled as 'module 1' with no sign of 'module 2' ever having been written. So no starship rules and lots of stuff mentioned without explanation.
Still, kinda cool, and like Arduin, gave me some wacky ideas for space-fantasy games.

It goes for nutty prices online but I got really lucky and got a mint copy for $30.

http://mrlizard.com/characters/star-rovers/
Oh, man. Mind truly blown.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: RPGPundit on April 01, 2017, 08:34:25 PM
Quote from: Voros;954106
1992 certainly seems a bit late in the game to be putting out a Wizards RPG.

Judging by how long some books sat in gaming stores, I'd say you were right.
Title: Obscure Games?
Post by: Spike on April 01, 2017, 08:37:17 PM
Reading that link to the Star Rovers... review?  reminded me a bit of the intro to SLA Industries. A lot actually. Not that SLA Industries has galaxy eating whatchamacallits and so forth, but simply how much of the backstory of the setting... as presented to the average player and game buyer... is so generally free of context and connection to anything in the actual game, but is just cool as fuck.  


Of course, cut to a decade plus later and I finally find The Truth in the Interwebz and... yeah, I was happy with the Kilneck roaming out Beyond Black Stump, past the White Earth and all that jazz.  In this case it turns out that the Kilneck and all that stuff was apparently an Amber Diceless game (stripped of setting) that the designer had run for his mates some time before that had eventually evolved into SLA Industries... so quiet possibly Mr Slayer, Senti and Precepter Teeth are the ultimate GMPCs because they were, once upon a time, actual PCs...  

Not sure how obscure it really is, but damn its still in my top five 'if only' games.