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Author Topic: What are the "worst" TTRPGs, and why?  (Read 7366 times)

DM_Curt

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What are the "worst" TTRPGs, and why?
« on: January 07, 2022, 07:57:00 PM »
I'm curious what your picks are, and why.
Your reasons could be anything, from poor writing, bad mechanics, dumb concepts, political preaching, associations with writers you can't stand, Anal Circumference Tables, etc.

World_Warrior

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Re: What are the "worst" TTRPGs, and why?
« Reply #1 on: January 07, 2022, 08:43:14 PM »
I would say, easily, DragonBall Z: The Anime Adventure Game.

The rules weren't terrible, per say, but with each expansion, the game eventually collapsed under its own weight, starting with the second book. It was done using the Instant Fuzion rule system. It caused the few groups that continued to play it to have to house rule the system to death in order to make it work.

Gog to Magog

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Re: What are the "worst" TTRPGs, and why?
« Reply #2 on: January 07, 2022, 08:54:42 PM »
I would say, easily, DragonBall Z: The Anime Adventure Game.

The rules weren't terrible, per say, but with each expansion, the game eventually collapsed under its own weight, starting with the second book. It was done using the Instant Fuzion rule system. It caused the few groups that continued to play it to have to house rule the system to death in order to make it work.

Holy crap how did THE FIRST RESPONSE in such a huge sea of options manage to be the one I was going to say?!  :o

I'm a huge Dragon Ball fan and of course had this system and, my god, it's basically unplayably broken and weird. It was just so poorly thought out and implemented. More than "inelegant" it was just...it felt like a bunch of broken shards of glass scotch taped together and called a window. And, as pointed out, the later books just made the whole thing implode.

Probably the biggest disappointment of my TTRPG gaming
He said only: "Men shall die for this". He meant the words.

Jam The MF

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Re: What are the "worst" TTRPGs, and why?
« Reply #3 on: January 07, 2022, 09:03:04 PM »
I'm curious what your picks are, and why.
Your reasons could be anything, from poor writing, bad mechanics, dumb concepts, political preaching, associations with writers you can't stand, Anal Circumference Tables, etc.


D&D 4th Edition, because it claimed to be D&D; while changing the lore, the rules, the PC roles, and the entire experience of playing D&D.  The very next edition reverted to the 3rd Edition lore, and tried to pretend that 4th Edition never happened.
Let the Dice, Decide the Outcome.  Accept the Results.

Shasarak

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Re: What are the "worst" TTRPGs, and why?
« Reply #4 on: January 07, 2022, 09:39:42 PM »
I'm curious what your picks are, and why.
Your reasons could be anything, from poor writing, bad mechanics, dumb concepts, political preaching, associations with writers you can't stand, Anal Circumference Tables, etc.


D&D 4th Edition, because it claimed to be D&D; while changing the lore, the rules, the PC roles, and the entire experience of playing D&D.  The very next edition reverted to the 3rd Edition lore, and tried to pretend that 4th Edition never happened.

100% agree.  The only game that would be improved with addition of Anal Circumference.
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the crypt keeper

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Re: What are the "worst" TTRPGs, and why?
« Reply #5 on: January 07, 2022, 10:06:34 PM »
Pirates & Plunder by Yaquinto. I cannot begin to catalogue the shit within the three booklet's pages.
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palaeomerus

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Re: What are the "worst" TTRPGs, and why?
« Reply #6 on: January 07, 2022, 10:08:26 PM »
Anal circumference tables sounds like Rolemaster or maybe Phoenix Command.

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Emery

palaeomerus

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Re: What are the "worst" TTRPGs, and why?
« Reply #7 on: January 07, 2022, 10:20:48 PM »
I'm going to say Cyborg Commando because it had bad art and was just a bucket of mismatched stuff that ranged from the mediocre to the insipidly pointless. Is it playable? I have no idea. I ain't got that much of an attention span but...Gygax must have been high AF on something. Either that or someone forged his name on the docs. Frank Mentzer was in on this joint.

" I like cyborgs, and I like commandos, but I do not like this."

I know in my heart that it is a basic bitch LCD low hanging fruit "any poser would say that" choice, but when my friend Joel showed me his box set of this back when I was in high school it was stunningly insane as a boxed sold product at that time and we were not what you would call sophisticated connoisseurs. I had the ElfQuest Chaosium game on my mind then...don't ask, it was my equivalent to a tumblr wreck period, but Cyborg Commando was just UTTER NONSENSE.

Not my pics, I just wanted to prove to myself that I was not hallucinating.




« Last Edit: January 07, 2022, 10:31:11 PM by palaeomerus »
Emery

palaeomerus

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Re: What are the "worst" TTRPGs, and why?
« Reply #8 on: January 07, 2022, 10:29:44 PM »
Also, just to waste space: it took me a while but I did eventually get the F.A.T.A.L. reference but I said nothing because I think I only heard about F.A.T.A.L. from a Cracked article or something and never encountered it in the wild. I changed my mind though because I did not want to leave Kurt hanging.
« Last Edit: January 07, 2022, 10:33:31 PM by palaeomerus »
Emery

HappyDaze

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Re: What are the "worst" TTRPGs, and why?
« Reply #9 on: January 08, 2022, 12:48:10 AM »
I really thought the rules for Alpha*Omega were pretty shitty. The book is very pretty, but there's not enough to really make it work when it comes to the game mechanics.

Gog to Magog

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Re: What are the "worst" TTRPGs, and why?
« Reply #10 on: January 08, 2022, 01:03:31 AM »
The Cyborg Commando art looks like a bad imitation of NES video game box art. Rough.
He said only: "Men shall die for this". He meant the words.

palaeomerus

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Re: What are the "worst" TTRPGs, and why?
« Reply #11 on: January 08, 2022, 02:40:01 AM »
It was from 1987, so it's quite possible they hired an artist, using those "air-brush or die" methods, and he sold them something LJN or CAPCOM USA didn't want to buy, that was originally made to be a game cartridge sticker art.

There were novels too, or at least one novel. Behold!



Also, Cyborg Commando the rpg/novels series from 1987 is not to be confused with the arcade game Bionic Commando from 1987.

« Last Edit: January 08, 2022, 02:47:12 AM by palaeomerus »
Emery

mightybrain

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Re: What are the "worst" TTRPGs, and why?
« Reply #12 on: January 08, 2022, 03:32:22 AM »
The worst I've tried was the Burning Wheel. I'm sure there are much worse games out there. This one was hyped as one of the best. When we tried it, it was a pretty miserable experience. The only fun we had was outside of the game. Whenever the game mechanics came into play, all the fun went out of the window. Even in game achievement and character development felt empty. It seemed that advancing somehow made it harder to achieve even the simplest of in game tasks. I've been told that the fun doesn't really kick in until you are a couple of years in. Fuck that for a game of soldiers.

Gog to Magog

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Re: What are the "worst" TTRPGs, and why?
« Reply #13 on: January 08, 2022, 05:32:10 AM »
It was from 1987, so it's quite possible they hired an artist, using those "air-brush or die" methods, and he sold them something LJN or CAPCOM USA didn't want to buy, that was originally made to be a game cartridge sticker art.

There were novels too, or at least one novel. Behold!

Also, Cyborg Commando the rpg/novels series from 1987 is not to be confused with the arcade game Bionic Commando from 1987.

It has a very "Street Fighter 2010" feel to it. I could so see it being art that was rejected for the cover of a video game for that time period. 100%
He said only: "Men shall die for this". He meant the words.

mudbanks

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Re: What are the "worst" TTRPGs, and why?
« Reply #14 on: January 08, 2022, 05:46:41 AM »
Tiny Dungeons. I would not have believed a game could be this bad, until I ran it. Not once, but twice. First time, I thought I might have misread certain rules. Second time, I made damn sure I got all the rules down. Nope it's still a pile of garbage.