Roll-Call - Obscure RPGs

Started by bayonetbrant, February 22, 2012, 01:11:28 PM

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bayonetbrant

(get it... "roll" call... oh, forget it!)


What's the most obscure RPG you've played?
And no the World of Esaene doesn't count, b/c unless you're Chris, I know you're lying  ;D

Me?

I've got a few oddities under my belt

Swordbearer

Barony

Rogue Swords of the Empire

Tekumel

Universe

Justifiers

Oh, and the World of Esaene
The key to surviving this site is to not say something which ends up as someone's tag line - Steelgrave

"their citizens (all of them counted as such) glorified their mythology of 'rights'...and lost track of their duties. No nation, so constituted, can endure." Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers

Martok

Okay, I'm nowhere in the same league as you.  I've only ever even heard of one of them (Barony), much less actually played any of them. 


About the most obscure RPG I've played was Shadowrun (which ain't very obscure, I know). 

"Like we need an excuse to drink to anything..." - Banzai_Cat
"I like to think of it not as an excuse but more like Pavlovian Response." - Sir Slash

"At our ages, they all look like jailbait." - mirth

"If we had lines here that would have crossed all of them. For the 1,077,986th time." - Gusington

"Government is so expensive that it should at least be entertaining." - airboy

"As long as there's bacon, everything will be all right." - Toonces

bayonetbrant

Oh yeah, I also forgot the original Ysgarth!
The key to surviving this site is to not say something which ends up as someone's tag line - Steelgrave

"their citizens (all of them counted as such) glorified their mythology of 'rights'...and lost track of their duties. No nation, so constituted, can endure." Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers

Epee1

Haven't heard of any of these.  I must live a sheltered life.

Arctic Blast

Slasher Flick

Hollowpoint

I've got a few others, but they haven't been played yet.

twitter3

http://www.waynesbooks.com/boothill.html

Played this quite a bit in middle school.  Somehow along the way I tossed all this stuff and regret it to this day!

Jack Nastyface

Tough call...how does one define obscure versus niche-interest?

mine would be:
Gamma World (TSR)
Metamorphis Alpha (TSR)
Bushido (FGU)
Skull and Crossbones (FGU)
Paranoia (can't remember publisher...or can I?)
Twilight 2000 (hardly obscure, but very niche...)

Now, the problem is, how to divide five Afghans from three mules and have two Englishmen left over.

Hartford688

Quote from: Jack Nastyface on February 24, 2012, 03:44:06 PM
Tough call...how does one define obscure versus niche-interest?

mine would be:

Bushido (FGU)


Bushido. Excellent game.  Had days of good fun with that one. Nearly bought it again recently. No-one to play with  :(

bayonetbrant

#8
Obscure:  you couldn't find it in over 50% of the game stores you wandered through at the time it was published.

Yes it's hard to find things from FGU these days, but back in '84, any game store worth their salt carried them.  Ditto most TSR products (Gamma World, Alternity, Boot Hill, Star Frontiers, etc)

But when you can track down RPGs from Heritage, or Raganarok, now you're talking obscure :P
The key to surviving this site is to not say something which ends up as someone's tag line - Steelgrave

"their citizens (all of them counted as such) glorified their mythology of 'rights'...and lost track of their duties. No nation, so constituted, can endure." Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers

Jack Nastyface

#9
Well, back in the day, there were only 4 game stores in Calgary AB three of them carried RPGs and wargames.  I suppose my definition of obscure meant..."when I got to high school / university, how many other gamers knew or had played the games i had?"
Now, the problem is, how to divide five Afghans from three mules and have two Englishmen left over.

bayonetbrant

I guess I've had the advantage of a LOT of traveling back in the 80s.  From 1980-'89, I lived in Oklahoma, North Carolina, California, Virginia, 3 different places in Germany, and Oklahoma again.  In between, we did a lot of traveling to visit a lot of friends and family, so I had many, many of opportunities to explore game stores outside my local ones.  I've picked up games as far afield as Paris, Abilene, San Francisco, Memphis, London, Slidell LA, Charlotte, El Paso, Tucson, OKC, Pensacola, and others.  And that's just the 80s.
The key to surviving this site is to not say something which ends up as someone's tag line - Steelgrave

"their citizens (all of them counted as such) glorified their mythology of 'rights'...and lost track of their duties. No nation, so constituted, can endure." Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers

bayonetbrant

So of all the obscure RPGs you've played, which one would you most like to see back in print?

Me?  Rogue Swords of the Empire.  Barony was very similar, but a little too complex.  I liked Rogue Swords much better :)

Justifiers was a neat concept/game world, but I think the rules could've been a variation on Star Frontiers, with a bunch of worldbooks instead of a whole new game system.

The key to surviving this site is to not say something which ends up as someone's tag line - Steelgrave

"their citizens (all of them counted as such) glorified their mythology of 'rights'...and lost track of their duties. No nation, so constituted, can endure." Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers

Double Deuce

I'd have to go with HarnWorld, (was obscure in the areas I was in) and not sure how much shelf space it got overall especially HarnMaster (the actual RPG system). I think Harn World got the bulk of visibility and I believe  it was mainly mail order back then too. I do remember seeing numerous ads for it in Dragon magazine, gain mostly HarnWorld.  It is still in print however.

Epee1

Columbia Games does HarnWorld if I remember correctly.

bayonetbrant

yep, it's still out there, but I have no idea how well it sells or what it's distro is these days.  I know a lot of people that picked up Harn products just b/c they enjoyed reading the background material.
The key to surviving this site is to not say something which ends up as someone's tag line - Steelgrave

"their citizens (all of them counted as such) glorified their mythology of 'rights'...and lost track of their duties. No nation, so constituted, can endure." Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers