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Author Topic: What are the "worst" TTRPGs, and why?  (Read 7372 times)

David Johansen

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Re: What are the "worst" TTRPGs, and why?
« Reply #45 on: January 10, 2022, 01:02:14 AM »

Yeah, in absolute terms, the worst games are likely self-published dreck that no one other than their creator ever played. And there's a significant number of those.

But the more interesting, I think, are games like Cyborg Commando that had stuff going for them and real backers - plus the name and experience of Gary Gygax - that still managed to be terrible. Games like D20 Modern at least have their share of fans (as evidenced in this thread) -- but Cyborg Commando never had a community even at the time it was released.

It was advertised in Dragon for a couple of years as was the modern spy version MISSION.

Another one might be Man Myth and Magic.  I recall the ads and the Dragon Magazine review but never had a copy.  I believe Hinterwelt has republished it.
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Spinachcat

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Re: What are the "worst" TTRPGs, and why?
« Reply #46 on: January 10, 2022, 01:17:14 AM »
The absolute WORST RPG EVAR is your favorite game.

Unless it's also my favorite game.

In that case, you are just playing it wrong.

3catcircus

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Re: What are the "worst" TTRPGs, and why?
« Reply #47 on: January 10, 2022, 08:32:19 AM »
I always point to Knights And Berserkers And Ledergermain as the ultimate kid wrote a game and parents mortgaged the house to publish it.  6d20 for a dozen attributes one of which you use the square root of divided by the target's attribute times 100 to find the chance to hit.

The parchment floor plans did look nice.

Yeah, in absolute terms, the worst games are likely self-published dreck that no one other than their creator ever played. And there's a significant number of those.

But the more interesting, I think, are games like Cyborg Commando that had stuff going for them and real backers - plus the name and experience of Gary Gygax - that still managed to be terrible. Games like D20 Modern at least have their share of fans (as evidenced in this thread) -- but Cyborg Commando never had a community even at the time it was released.

I think that games like Cyborg Commando, Dangerous Journeys, Twilight:2013 suffer from, not poor gameplay or mechanics, but a poor edit and sub-optimal layout.  When you have to flip across several sections of the rules for character creation, it's a problem...  And I love the concepts for all three games - especially Twilight:2013 (to the point that I've created my own personal edit of the published rules and supplements that rearranges the layout to make it easier to use.)

bat

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Re: What are the "worst" TTRPGs, and why?
« Reply #48 on: January 10, 2022, 11:54:11 AM »
As far as Synnibarr goes there is a new edition coming out and the rules are redone. I have the pdfs and this version is sturdier. I know Raven gets a lot of flak, but this is his thing and he is pretty much a one man band.
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HappyDaze

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Re: What are the "worst" TTRPGs, and why?
« Reply #49 on: January 10, 2022, 11:57:10 AM »
I always point to Knights And Berserkers And Ledergermain as the ultimate kid wrote a game and parents mortgaged the house to publish it.  6d20 for a dozen attributes one of which you use the square root of divided by the target's attribute times 100 to find the chance to hit.

The parchment floor plans did look nice.

Yeah, in absolute terms, the worst games are likely self-published dreck that no one other than their creator ever played. And there's a significant number of those.

But the more interesting, I think, are games like Cyborg Commando that had stuff going for them and real backers - plus the name and experience of Gary Gygax - that still managed to be terrible. Games like D20 Modern at least have their share of fans (as evidenced in this thread) -- but Cyborg Commando never had a community even at the time it was released.

I think that games like Cyborg Commando, Dangerous Journeys, Twilight:2013 suffer from, not poor gameplay or mechanics, but a poor edit and sub-optimal layout.  When you have to flip across several sections of the rules for character creation, it's a problem...  And I love the concepts for all three games - especially Twilight:2013 (to the point that I've created my own personal edit of the published rules and supplements that rearranges the layout to make it easier to use.)
Decipher's take on the Star Trek RPG had a Player's Guide with notoriously bad layout that made character creation a chore.