Jul 8, 2019, 8:26 AM
Straight to VHS.
Donjon.
EXUVIAE.
Better Angels.
Sadly, I've never had a chance to run any of them.
Fringe/Weird RPGs
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Was at a Con this weekend and this came up as a topic. I think it might be fun, here.
SHARE THE WEIRD/FRINGE RPG PDFs/BOOKS IN YOUR COLLECTION
I'll go first:
- Hellcats and Hockeysticks: Mean girls ruining each other's lives at an all-girls boarding school.
- Beach Patrol: Basically Baywatch. It's amazing. Tiny d6 from Gallant Knight
- Zombie Smackdown: It's an expansion book for All Flesh. Zombie Pro Wrestling
- Solid: Roleplaying in the Blaxploitation genre. Suckas.
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I love Zombie Smackdown. Once ran a whole campaign using it. I actually love most of the Unisystem games. That company did a good job till, you know, it didn't. As for my collection, I'll just list the one, my favorite "weird" RPG.
- Superbabes: The Femforce RPG: This is an actually licensed product from AC Comics. You play a hero in a world where heroes and villains are mostly women. I'm sure there are those who will say "Man, that game did not age well" but the comics and the game were all in good fun and my group(which had 2 girls in it) had a blast playing it. The system actually isn't even half bad, to be honest.
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Straight to VHS.
Donjon.
EXUVIAE.
Better Angels.Sadly, I've never had a chance to run any of them.
a.k.a. Packetdancer (or "Pax" for short)
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The first two games that come to mind for this are the Bubblegum Crisis RPG (which was just Fuzion/Cyberpunk with a fresh coat of paint) and The End (which... needs it's own infodump)
Most post-apocalyptic settings take the phrase as a metaphor. The End takes it literally: the Book of Revelations happened. The part of the Bible that says 'the Meek shall inherit the Earth'? Was a warning. Those who were neither good enough for Heaven, nor bad enough for Hell, get left behind and have to deal with an animal kingdom no longer... shall we say semi-cautious of humans? A sort of rapid-entropy sets in on anything people don't interact with on a semi-regular basis. And a slew of folks trying to rediscover lostech, cause that entropy really screws with fuel for cars, medicine for folks, roads to places...
My biggest complaint is that it was a d20 open license book, so of course it uses levels. Every player begins with the Meek class, which has like... 2 in-class skills, d2 HP per level, and maybe some other zaniness.
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Somewhere around here I have a copy of Intergalactic Cooking Challenge, but it will be pretty hard for me to find. There was also the Mister Lincoln Experiment. I had the fortune of living with someone who designed a few silly games in college.
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I really miss Cybergeneration.
Also HOL.
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Weird, you say? Fringe?
Apocalypse World - First game to use the Apocalypse Engine. Your character progression is tied into your role. Fighty types get fighty skills, weirdo psychics get to talk to the End of the World, and leaders actually develop the settlement as XP spends.
The Morrow Project - 150 years after a nuclear exchange, you awaken from cryogenic suspension to discover that someone sabotaged the project and the central base is gone, leaving you alone to try to rebuild, or just survive.
Alma Mater - High school. Just High School(you know, drugs, sex, etc.) Art by Erol Otus.
Stalking the Night Fantastic - Weird is this game's first and middle name, followed by Awesome. You're deniable government assets trying to prune down the supernatural Bad Stuff and protect the citizenry and Good Stuff. Remember, there is nothing you can investigate at midnight you can't investigate twice as safely at high noon.
Justifiers - Furries. In. Spaaaace! Also, a thrown rock is more deadly than a laser gun.
Macho Women With Guns - It's.. pretty much what it sounds like. It's a parody game, and meta-parody at that -- there are rules systems in it making fun of other, famously clunky rules systems.
Dogs in the Vineyard - Religious Police in alternate-world Deseret, 1800s.
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.
The Drones - The game of single London men in the 1920's social clubbing. Get out your flat caps and starter handles, or you'll never make it to the boat races in time to stop Neville's brother from getting married and leaving the club.
Atomic Robo - The FATE system isn't exactly fringe, but Atomic Robo is weird. And Awesome. And has a SCIENCE phase cooked into the rules. And has Jenkins, the Flying She-Devils of the Pacific, and Doctor Dinosaur.
Judge Dredd - The Judge Dredd RPG. Weird is where it starts. Chasing down a Blob gang growing black market dinosaurs for the rogue droid's illegal dino-fighting ring so they can steal the audience from the fatties beliwheel triathlon. Or, you know, Wednesday.
That's the stuff I have within easy reach.
..I may have a problem.
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Oh oh oh! @Atomic just reminded me...
Tha Tank Girl RPG!
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Teenagers from Outer Space was always good for a laugh.
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@Atomic - oh, I love Atomic Robo. Both the RPG and the comic on which it's based. The best part was that the one time I played the RPG so far, I got to play a version of myself that's actually canon!
(I am actually, very briefly, a character in the comic in the FCBD 2016 issue as a Tesladyne action scientist who gets eaten by vampires on the same page she first appears on! And then as a name on the memorial Robo puts up outside Tesladyne for those who fell stopping the invasion. All the folks in the cafeteria, the response team, and the memorial are various fans they wrote in.)
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Went and looked through one of my bookshelves and found...
- MIB: The official Men In Black RPG by West End Games.
- Toon: A fun slapstick game that emulates the old looney tunes cartoons.
- Ghostbusters/GB(International): This isn't really a bad or weird game just...it's f'n Ghostbusters and the progenitor of the D6 system by WEG. I love this game so much.
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I also have:
- Cartoon Action Hour: Remake any 80s cartoon, basically.
- Shinobigami: Anime-themed high school ninja fighting each other. The kickstarter has been fucking horrible. 2+ years just to get the pdf and am "ALLEGEDLY" (aaaaaaaaairrrrquooooootes) getting my physical book soon. But very cool.
- Ninja Burger 2nd Edition: You are a ninja from one of 5 different clans. Your duty is to deliver bags of fast food to clients while being attacked by other ninja. Dropping the bag and messing up the order brings shame to your clan. 2d6 system where if you roll snake eyes you literally become Snake Eyes from GI JOE until someone else rolls snake eyes.
The last time I played Ninja Burger, my ninja killed an entire office full of people just to deliver a quarter pound burger, fries, and a shake to a guy in accounting (because being seen brings dishonor to Ninja Burger).
If you're drinking that night? Ninja Burger. Period. Full stop.
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RE: Cartoon Action Hour
I'm KSed the third edition so I could be made into a villain in the back of the book. It still tickles me today.
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- Undying: A PBtA hack, modern Vampires, with an odd 'bidding' mechanic for blood and narrative escalation.
- MECHA: Just what it says on the tin, a rules-light and quick to get started mecha game. Seems like it could run anything from Gundam to Robotech/Macross to Voltron (via the Combiners book). I've thought about using it for Gundam Build Fighters pastiche IRL.
- Meikyuu Kingdom: Translates as Labyrinth Kingdom, but the wordplay is Make You Kingdom. It's a dungeon crawler where you recover pieces of your kingdom in the style of FF My Life As A King, complete with adorable dungeon planning with stuff like 'when you take lunch' and a bunch of classes. Fan translation for now.
- Maid RPG: Random creation maids who serve a master, it's slapstick as hell and real crazy.
- Kobolds At My Baby!: Weird RPG about playing a group of Kobolds, lots of randomness and funny stuff as you die. A lot.
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@Bobotron said in Fringe/Weird RPGs:
- Kobolds At My Baby!
I'm upset you didn't mention King Torg (ALL HAIL KING TORG!)
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@Jennkryst
I didn't want to scare people.
ALL HAIL KING TORG. -
Does anyone else remember a weird ass rpg from the 90's called Immortal: The Invisible War? It had really laughable photoshop art illustrations.
"If you stand for nothing Burr, what will you fall for?"
-- Hamilton: An American Musical -
@Cupcake I do! It was supposed to be the official Highlander RPG if I remember correctly but the license fell through. I'm pretty sure I still have a copy around my house somewhere...
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@Cupcake
Apparently it's free on their website?Re: Weird RPGs
I also have the trainwreck that is Vampire: Undeath, the WoDest not-WoD RPG.