Fringe/Weird RPGs
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Stalking the night fantastic sounds super fun.
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@Sparks said in Fringe/Weird RPGs:
Donjon.
I think this is one of the games that sent ripples throughout the entire industry. You can see Wick and Hicks playing with ideas here for almost a decade. You can see some of the core ideals here very solidly in Apocalypse World. None of this should be a surprise as they all participated in the same community.
I once lost access to the Donjon site because it wasn't maintained or kept up and was glad to grab a PDF version of it the second it resurfaced.
Really, if anyone wants to see what Cowboys & Indians style play looks like with some minimal rules, you could do a lot worse with your time (like continuing to read this thread) than to read Donjon.
If you can find it.
I couldn't.
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Underground, from Mayfair Games.
Superhumans in an extreme dystopian America (you have to get a Free Speech Permit, bombing a Post Office is protected political expression). All supers are genetically altered combat veterans of one of the various Private Military Contractors that now fight both national and Corporate wars, with various degrees of PTSD and psychosis relating to their enhancements. It uses a variant of the game system from Mayfair's DC Heroes system, adapted to the 'New Wave' of comics from the 90's like Give Me Liberty & Marshal Law. One of the most innovative aspects of the game was that you can actually alter the social parameters of the campaign through gameplay and spending XP; working to improve society rather than yourself. It was a glorious, full color art print of the 90's in terms of both RPG's and comics.
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That said, here are some things I used to play, want to play, or imagined that maybe I played:
- Fringeworthy: A game about infinite dimensions. Really, anything by TriTac Games is pretty fringe...er...worthy.
- TFOS/Toon/Tales from the Flying Vagabond/Bureau 13: All the "Rootbeer & Pretzels" games. I would mention Paranoia but I mean, c'mon, who hasn't played Paranoia, friend Citizen?
- Car Wars GURPS: Yes, they GURPsed this setting up and I loved it. Not GURPs, oh no, but the setting. I had all the setting books.
- Space 1989: I don't know if this is "fringe" per se, but if we can add TFOS and Toon, I'm adding this one.
Fringe games that probably aren't really fringe:
- Apocalypse World: How many games has this bred?
- Numenera/The Strange: This one has oddly spawned the delightful kid's game, "No Thank You, Evil!" Also a moderately okay computer game.
- City of Mist: Probably about as fringe as Fantasy Warhammer Role-Play. This thing is a hella complex treatment of the Apoc. World Engine.
Let's talk modern-day fringe:
- Summerland
- Songbirds
- Broken Worlds: The "Kill Six Billion Demons" RPG
- Cryptomancer
- Spire: Oh my god, read Spire; this needs to be less fringe
- Anything by Emily Care Boss
- Anything by Vincent Baker, come to mention it.
I could mention a half dozen more that aren't even 20 pages, but I have to draw the line somewhere. (Emily and Vincent are just so good that they can break this rule whenever they want.)
And this is just what's on my iPad.
I haven't played anything post-D&D 2e or WoD 2nd Ed, but that's not to say I don't want to. I would play any game I've mentioned, with glee.
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God, I didn't know about half of these. I knew about Kobolds Ate My Baby (KING TORG) because it is from the same source as Ninja Burger.
Thanks for giving me games to hunt down for my collection. I love these weird indie games so much.
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@Thenomain said in Fringe/Weird RPGs:
- Car Wars GURPS: Yes, they GURPsed this setting up and I loved it. Not GURPs, oh no, but the setting. I had all the setting books.
Oh my god I still have that book somewhere.
- Spire: Oh my god, read Spire; this needs to be less fringe
I've never heard of this one, but 'elven urban rebellion' sounds pretty neat.
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How about Tribe 8. I think there was even a MU for 5 minutes.
Groups of people worshipping giant living constructs that gave them woohoo powers and fighting interdimensional aliens that were vaguely Cthulhu-ish in post-Apocalyptic Montreal.
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@Atomic said in Fringe/Weird RPGs:
It Came From The Late Late Late Show - You play actors on a completely improv, shoestring production of some UHF(ask your parents) station's fantasy/sci-fi/horror show.
I have this one somewhere. It is truly the best thing ever. Call a stuntman to take damage, XP for 'acting appropriately stupid' -- it is utterly genius.
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I don't think this falls under Fringe/Weird, but definitely under OSR/Indie:
I highly recommend checking out Diogo Nogueira's work. I picked up a new game of his this weekend, and I'm a fan of the OSR approach, yet with minimalist systems.
Solar Swords and Cosmic Spells is a cool system that scratches that 70's acid sci-fi itch. Make your own Flash Gordon vs the Zombie Wolves of Venus kind of stuff.
Diogo also makes Sharp Swords and Sinister Spells (More classic fantasy) as well as Dark Streets and Darker Secrets (Noir, crime, etc)
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@Sparks said in Fringe/Weird RPGs:
@Thenomain said in Fringe/Weird RPGs:
- Spire: Oh my god, read Spire; this needs to be less fringe
I've never heard of this one, but 'elven urban rebellion' sounds pretty neat.
It hits my antiestablishment buttons. You all play drow, in what was your home city until your people lost the war. Now it’s an occupied city where the high elves are in charge. The elves are mostly Nordic in origin, silver hair and light skin, but very haughty high elf in culture, and if you think this might be a bit of social commentary I’d have to say: Well yuh.
Humans have grasped the ancient magic of the previous people, artificers, and the Spire is a mile-high building of some mystic construction that goes underground almost as far as it does into the air, and if you think this is a suggestion that the world is post-disaster fantasy I’d have to say: You’re probably right there too.
The Spire is powered by a gigantic heart that is partially in another dimension and controls the minds of those who live too near it.
Tech period is otherwise the 20s. The advertisement for the gnoll corset gets me in the mood every time. Magic is very real but not D&D; it’s closer to Apocalypse World class has its own power set, and classes are very specific.
And in all of this, you and your fellow people decide how to rebel against originally impossible odds, and what would you do with that power once you get it?
What you do affects your allies and your enemies though a clever but small system. And without your contacts you’re unlikely to get anywhere.
This game reminds me of Kill Six Billion Demons, and Pendula Swing and something else that is not at the moment coming to mind but I’ll probably edit the moment I remember. (Fallen London. It was Fallen London.)
Mmmm, I love the taste of living worlds in the morning.
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Ohh, another place where I'm definitely going to mention Phoenix Dawn.
It's a fantasy war story type game. The EVIL is sweeping across the land and regular folks really can't stand against it. But there's the Phoenixes, people who have lived their regular lives and somehow come back. People who do come back as a Phoenix have ... seven (I think off the top of my head) lives and they are all that stands between the kingdom and the darkness.
It's a true war story and it's about heroic sacrifice. Not only do you have multiple lives, dying is how you level up.
Also it's diceless, and uses deckbuilding like mechanics. Each class has special class cards, there are three stat type cards, your deck is made up of two of them (Grace, Intellect and Strength) ... the cards have some amazing artwork. It's neat because you can generally plan out your combat actions knowing what cards you have in hand and figure out what to do without worrying about luck. But you have to plan around what you get in hand and have to play through your whole deck before you see your best cards again.
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Nobilis, if only because it's just as weird as all these others but tries to take itself super seriously.
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@Coin It is also just really, really pretty. It's that game you may never play, but you'd want to leave the book on display anyway. (Maybe this is just me, but I doubt it.)
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@surreality said in Fringe/Weird RPGs:
@Coin It is also just really, really pretty. It's that game you may never play, but you'd want to leave the book on display anyway. (Maybe this is just me, but I doubt it.)
No. We had a talk with some people the other day about how the main characteristic of Nobilis is that everyone wants to play it and no one ever does.
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@Coin Not a lack of wanting to. Just what you mention: no one ever does.
I was kinda sad to discover I was the only person who actually picked up a copy from our local shop.
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@surreality said in Fringe/Weird RPGs:
@Coin Not a lack of wanting to. Just what you mention: no one ever does.
I was kinda sad to discover I was the only person who actually picked up a copy from our local shop.
Well. I mean.
It's fucking expensive as hell.
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@Coin There is that. It's why it's mantle art for the time being. I'll be damned if I don't get some use out of it.
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So it's interesting to me that DriveThru RPG made a macOS client for downloading the stuff you have through them and keeping it up to date. Not that I buy things through DTRPG, but that almost every Kickstarter I've participated in does.
But I'm on my main computer and let's see what's going on here in things I've found, purchased, read, but never or hardly ever played.
(Incidentally, I found my copy of Donjon. If anyone wants a copy, please PM me.)
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Worth Attention
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Annalise: A game about being involved with a Dracula-level novella vampire. It mentions "carry: a game about war" which is the RPG version of Valiant Hearts in scope and impact.
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Feed: Like "All Flesh Must Be Eaten" but for vampires, for telling stories about being vampires by creating the kind of vampires there are in the world, as long as they always push against a societal norm and they feed on something personal.
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Primetime Adventures: We talk about Horror Mush and its roles and ways to get people into scenes, the beauty of troupe play, and if you want to see where someone would take this as a formatted Story RPG, check out PTA. Key ideas are how to share scenes, and how to play an improv game together.
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Tales from the Loop: A "Kids On Bikes" game inspired by the stories in the art from Simon Stålenhag. I could spend hours just staring. This game came out slightly before Stranger Things and is an alternative-history sci-fi game, but his art (and this game) is easily my first experience with 70s Nostalgia.
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The One Ring and/or Mouse Guard RPG: I'm lumping these together because they both take the D&D standard idea of murder-hobos and add heart and soul and intent as key elements to the game system, forcing you to pay attention. Sometimes it's simple—kill the (giant) snake—and sometimes it's not—deal with betrayal.
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I probably should add Pendragon in that grouping too, then, since it's one of the earliest RPGs I can think of that take on more than hack-and-slash in a mechanical and central role.
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Other Interesting Groups
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So Many Steampunk Games: Clockwork Dominion, Edara, Leagues Of Adventure, and of course Space 1889 (the grandaddy of all of these)
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Games About And/Or For Kids: Faerie Skies, Bubblegumshoe, I know I have more somewhere. (I love the portrayal of innocence in RPGs, too.)
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Post-Apoc And/Or Horror Games: Fragged Empire, SINS, Kult (yes, this game is still pretty fringe)
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I have more worth talking about somewhere. I wonder when I last purged my library.
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@Thenomain said in Fringe/Weird RPGs:
So it's interesting to me that DriveThru RPG made a macOS client for downloading the stuff you have through them and keeping it up to date.
There is a Windows version as well.