#RPGaDay2019: Obscure
I don't think I've ever played a truly obscure role-playing game. The closest that come to mind are maybe Elric! (yes, with the exclamation mark), Nightspawn (before it was changed to Nightbane), and...eh...Dragonball Z.
We tried playing Elric! only a few times, so my only recollection is that you had to roll to see if your stats increased in some capacity, and you could only roll if you used the stat/skill during the session. I remember in a Knights of the Dinner Table comic a few players kept spamming skills for XP (first aid, I think), and it always made me think of this game. Oh, it might have also been a percentile system.
Nightspawn was one of many games that used the clunky, contradictory Palladium system. Others included Rifts and Palladium Fantasy, which we greatly preferred but I'm not sure why. Though we played it more than Elric!, all I can remember is that you had a human and monstrous form, and the monstrous form was randomly generated using a bunch of tables. I'm not sure what the point of the game was, and the only snippet of a session I can recall had us all dying fighting some sort of nightspawn lord.
I know we played Dragonball Z a few times, possibly more than both Elric! and Nightspawn combined, but like the show it got pretty stale since you're mostly doing fights and rolling a bunch of d6s. The fights didn't drag on nearly as long, but the dice rolling could have since you could easily end up with attacks that had you roll hundreds, even thousands of dice.
Luckily when things got that ridiculous you were supposed to just roll a few dice and multiply as needed. For example, instead of rolling 3,000d6 you'd roll 3d6 x 1,000, and instead of 75,000d6 you'd roll 7d6 x 10,000, then 5d6 x 1,000 and add them up. Every character had three stats, but from what I can recall the only one that really mattered was the one that determined how much power/energy you had to throw around.
You can now get a physical copy of Dungeons & Delvers: Black Book in whatever format you want! We've also released the first big supplement for it, Appendix D, so pick that up if you want more of everything.
The first issue of The Delver, a magazine featuring fungal-themed content for both players and GMs (including an adventure in which myconids find religion), is available!
Our latest Dungeon World class, The Ranger, is now available.
Dwarven Vault is our sixth 10+ Treasures volume. If you're interested in thirty dwarven magic items (including an eye that lets you shoot lasers) and nearly a dozen new bits of dungeon gear, check it out!
By fan demand, we've mashed all of our 10+ Treasure volumes into one big magic item book, making it cheaper and more convenient to buy in print (which you can now do).
We tried playing Elric! only a few times, so my only recollection is that you had to roll to see if your stats increased in some capacity, and you could only roll if you used the stat/skill during the session. I remember in a Knights of the Dinner Table comic a few players kept spamming skills for XP (first aid, I think), and it always made me think of this game. Oh, it might have also been a percentile system.
Nightspawn was one of many games that used the clunky, contradictory Palladium system. Others included Rifts and Palladium Fantasy, which we greatly preferred but I'm not sure why. Though we played it more than Elric!, all I can remember is that you had a human and monstrous form, and the monstrous form was randomly generated using a bunch of tables. I'm not sure what the point of the game was, and the only snippet of a session I can recall had us all dying fighting some sort of nightspawn lord.
I know we played Dragonball Z a few times, possibly more than both Elric! and Nightspawn combined, but like the show it got pretty stale since you're mostly doing fights and rolling a bunch of d6s. The fights didn't drag on nearly as long, but the dice rolling could have since you could easily end up with attacks that had you roll hundreds, even thousands of dice.
Luckily when things got that ridiculous you were supposed to just roll a few dice and multiply as needed. For example, instead of rolling 3,000d6 you'd roll 3d6 x 1,000, and instead of 75,000d6 you'd roll 7d6 x 10,000, then 5d6 x 1,000 and add them up. Every character had three stats, but from what I can recall the only one that really mattered was the one that determined how much power/energy you had to throw around.
Announcements
You can now get a physical copy of Dungeons & Delvers: Black Book in whatever format you want! We've also released the first big supplement for it, Appendix D, so pick that up if you want more of everything.The first issue of The Delver, a magazine featuring fungal-themed content for both players and GMs (including an adventure in which myconids find religion), is available!
Our latest Dungeon World class, The Ranger, is now available.
Dwarven Vault is our sixth 10+ Treasures volume. If you're interested in thirty dwarven magic items (including an eye that lets you shoot lasers) and nearly a dozen new bits of dungeon gear, check it out!
By fan demand, we've mashed all of our 10+ Treasure volumes into one big magic item book, making it cheaper and more convenient to buy in print (which you can now do).
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