Worst Sci-Fi Games In History

[BetterThanLife]

I personally thought Shadowrun was one of the better RPGs produced. The rules were simple and symetrical. The background may have been a bit dark but fun to play in. And First Edition Shadowrun rule books don't fall apart.

They took some lessons from Games Workshop on the later editions unfortunately.

Originally posted by Baron Saarthuran:
I can't be diplomatic in this case... Shadowrun just plain BUNS! From its horrible archetype Character system, to its poorly-composed background, it just made me hurl...

If your talking about Futuristic elves, then it better be ELDAR...

 

[Elliot]

Does anyone remember the Price of Freedom - what a load of Redneck doo was that? I realise it was tongue in cheek but my sense of irony went way out the window with that game. Of course it was copied in T2K in New America, but somehow that didn't bother me.

Also: Does anyone remember the board game Asteroid Zero Four? We never worked out the rules properly but had great fun playing it.

 

[Andrew Boulton]

Does anyone remember the Price of Freedom - what a load of Redneck doo was that?

That's it! I've been trying to remember the name of that abomination for ages.

I realise it was tongue in cheek

I think it was serious...

 

[kaladorn]

I had repressed all knowledge of "Price of Freedom" and of "Kill the Commie Mutant Bastards" or whatever that little dime-store RPG was called.

Satirical, perhaps. Unlovable, definitely.

 

[ccmarcellus]

I am surprised no one mentioned HARN yet. I haven't actually played it, but I did make a couple of characters in it and our gaming group will be playing that in the new year... *shudders*

If you wanted to play medival gimps, HARN is the game for you....

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

wouff! Harn! We tried to co-gm that mess back in the day, I remeber liking the presentation, but the background left me flat...

I seem to also remember a marketing move that touted it as "better than Greyhawk" sheesh!

 

[Zutroi]

Originally posted by Chris Marcellus:
I am surprised no one mentioned HARN yet. I haven't actually played it, but I did make a couple of characters in it and our gaming group will be playing that in the new year... *shudders*

If you wanted to play medival gimps, HARN is the game for you....

If you were playing gimps, you were playing it wrong

My group LOVED Harn, especially the freedom from levels, hit points, and alignment! Of course, the combat was pretty nasty, and the aftermath even nastier (Hmm, nasty case of gangrene there son!)

Get yourself a good set of armor and simply 'counterstrike' for all of your defensive actions and nothing will survive long enough to 'tire you out.'

 

[wa11eye]

high adventure cliffhangers buck rogers adventure game box set from tsr 1993

 

[Peter Newman]

How about Starfaring. Flying Buffalo, Ken St Andre, 1976.

The actual rule conent is hard to find and is bad when you do find it. There is no skill system. There is no personal combat system. The space combat system in almost nonexistant. Their is a psionics system. The game uses various strange psionic crystals named for various hindu gods. The point of the game is unclear, apparently you are supposed to wander around while the GM throws weird space monsters at you.

The art is quite bad and the typewritten layout is about what you'd expect from 1976.

 

[savage]

Baron,
I'm definately a shadowrun fan. Easy to ref...fun to play for beginners and ol' gamers alike. Same with West Ends' Star Wars...fast pace and fun. And Paranoia was just anti-RPG. Loved it...how can you kill off your character in a creative way. I also liked Morrow Project...easy to run almost Twilight Lite.

I suppose my least favorite is Rift. But then again its easier to ask what strange game things occured.
Macho Women with Guns was a great entertaining read...never had the slightest interest in playing it. And then theres Ghostbusters. Where the ref is encouraged to drop "bad" players off of buildings if they get out of line.


Happy Holidays,
Savage

 

[Stei'awtliyrl]

Many worthy candidates. But I gotta cast my lot with Cyborg Commando. I picked up a copy on the day it was released, and regretted it for the next 15 years. A friend of mine gave me a copy about 7 years ago. I still keep it in the original shrinkwrap, because the game is so bad it doesn't deserve opening. Sadly there are two d10 trapped inside that will never see the glory of a gaming table, but sometimes the innocent must suffer for the greater good.

Anyone remember ADB's attempt at RPG glory "Prime Directive"? A roleplaying game based on the Star Fleet Battles universe AND with rules written in the same fashion. Every time we tried to play Prime Directive, my group got distracted by the space battle going on with SFB (the two games were intended to be compatable), and we completely forgot about our characters.

 

[kaladorn]

Originally posted by Chris Marcellus:
I am surprised no one mentioned HARN yet. I haven't actually played it, but I did make a couple of characters in it and our gaming group will be playing that in the new year... *shudders*

If you wanted to play medival gimps, HARN is the game for you....

Oddly, it isn't sci fi

More importantly, Columbia Games probably has one of the best medieval settings out there, in terms of the scholarship and thoroughness behind it. They put a lot of thought into their product. Their world just isn't fantastical. I have several friends who have history degrees (with emphasis on medieval, ancients, and napoleonic periods) who think it is *THE* best RPG, bar none. They won't play any other fantasy RPGs (except my AD&D game which we started about 10 years ago...).

I myself find Harn a little too bland, but it does have orcs (which have a bit of a mongol feel) and other sorts of creatures, just not many of them. Your enemies are likely to be other men and the combat system is NOT John Woo. Their skirmish minis game is quite playable too. You tend to have to make smart choices and Harn is more focused on *role* playing than *roll* playing, in a model more close to reality than most FRPGs. For the historical gamer, it is probably the most appealing FRPG. And definitely one of the best researched.

And it can't possibly be the worst sci-fi game in history!

 

[kaladorn]

Originally posted by Baron Saarthuran von Gushiddan:
wouff! Harn! We tried to co-gm that mess back in the day, I remeber liking the presentation, but the background left me flat...

I seem to also remember a marketing move that touted it as "better than Greyhawk" sheesh!

It's not your speed, Baron. I can get a good idea of your tastes from your voluble postings and your choices of entertainment. Harn likely wouldn't be your speed. It's just the kind of background to discourage high adventure. I'd call it a 'low adventure' or 'low fantasy' background.

And as for the latter comment: first cut greyhawk (the little book) was so-so. Second cut (in the folder) was good. Third cut (reprise of second) was nice, it had a box. The latter Greyhawk wars and all the ridiculous Monty Haul NPCs running around the area and polluting the PH with their spells and the DMG with their items got a lot tiring.... so being 'better than Greyhawk' isn't saying a lot.

Of course, the foregoing reflects only my prejudices. We started in the Known World, then spent some time (a lot) in original WoG, then moved to FR, and now have pretty much moved to either not playing AD&D or to playing only in my custom-built world.

 

[kaladorn]

Originally posted by Stei'awtliyrl:
Sadly there are two d10 trapped inside that will never see the glory of a gaming table, but sometimes the innocent must suffer for the greater good.

That says a lot for how bad it was. I was at the GenCon when it was released. I was at the release presentation. I went to seminars on it. I still have flashbacks and wake up screaming.

Anyone remember ADB's attempt at RPG glory "Prime Directive"?

Like SFB, some good ideas let fall into the hands of some people with advanced degrees in administrivia. SFB, played with two cruisers, was a lot of fun. Why we ever embarked on the 2,000 points per side (with, I might add, far more than two sides) battles, I'll never know. I'm sure I recall one game where 32 impulses took 4 hours or more.

Prime Directive had some good concepts, but the implementation was.... less than optimal.

Unlike, of course, the FASA ST RPG.

It wasn't so hot either... though I did have fun playing a character with high luck who was a Constitution class starship Captain who refused to carry a phaser and instead carried a vintage M1911A in .45 ACP. That stopped a few Klingons in its time! And none of this 'recovering from being stunned' neither....

On the upside, that game had a good way to keep all PCs involved in a space combat with the panels and letting everyone control something.

 

[alanb]

Originally posted by kaladorn:
Unlike, of course, the FASA ST RPG.

It wasn't so hot either...

Of course, it had the advantage of being a step-nephew of Traveller...

It provided you with everything you needed to play Traveller in the ST universe. That's not quite as silly an idea as it sounds, although personally I would use a "similar" universe, without magitech transporters, with the serial numbers filed off, and with a few bits added from other sources. Blake's 7 comes to mind as an "other source".

Alan B