Necrozius
Legendary Pubber
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- Apr 25, 2017
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What this thread is about
Please share your tales of woe, disappointment or "betrayal" due to RPGs that you were very excited about, but once you actually dove in, things just didn't work out. Could have been during your first read, or worse yet, during play.
I'm talking SO BAD that you got rid of your books without a second thought. That there were literally NO merits to the game, not even as inspiration for other games.
I'll start with...
Numenera
A few years ago I met a guy from an online marketplace (Kijiji). He was selling a pile of Numenera books. Back then, the game looked absolutely fabulous to me, having just read the Incal and Metabarons. This game looked perfect!
Anyway, the guy was selling the books at a very cheap price. I was curious, and asked him "why?". He shrugged and informed me that the game just didn't match up to their expectations, and that it wasn't a good fit for this group.
Whatever, I thought, he's a moron! LOL
...
...
...
So I read the rulebook. It "seemed" great (mostly), the artwork was cool (mostly) and the mechanics seemed very imaginative (sort of). Sure, some things were extremely vague, and the setting seemed like empty deserts with ruins. Sure, some of the artwork was just Poser models, some not even traced over. Sure, pretty much all special character abilities were about punching monsters. But... but... it was so imaginative!
I ran a game with some close friends and family. Granted, I like the simplicity of the core mechanics (and still do)! I liked the notes and references in the margins of the adventure.
The pre-written dungeon was... sort of bland. But that's okay, it's just to get the ball rolling! The map was really ambiguous. Arrows pointed to random walls or empty spaces in illogical places. Whatever, I can improvise.
My players were mostly impressed. Kind of. It WAS fun to randomly get a cool grenade that implodes! Neat! It was also kind of fun to randomly find another... grenade that made a neat sound. And that other device that... exploded too.
Hmmm....
Fast forward several years. I crack open the books for inspiration and random tables of weirdness. I mean, the books are peppered with "WEIRD" all over, right?
More than once I had to roll multiple times on "random mutations" and "random weirdness" because they were all basically: you have a new attack power like spitting poison, or "something explodes or melts the air, killing you slowly".
After about 4 sessions, I've had enough. I've made a pile of all of my Numenera books and I'm going to sell them.
WHY?
Because the game ISN'T weird. I got more out of flipping through random Moebius comics. Like, I literally did that. I opened the Incal and used THAT as a random table and had more fun.
For a Monte Cook book all about "OMG SO RANDOM WEIRDNESS GASP" I was horrendously let down.
Anyway, was a pisser.
Your turn?
EDIT:
Please share your tales of woe, disappointment or "betrayal" due to RPGs that you were very excited about, but once you actually dove in, things just didn't work out. Could have been during your first read, or worse yet, during play.
I'm talking SO BAD that you got rid of your books without a second thought. That there were literally NO merits to the game, not even as inspiration for other games.
I'll start with...
Numenera
A few years ago I met a guy from an online marketplace (Kijiji). He was selling a pile of Numenera books. Back then, the game looked absolutely fabulous to me, having just read the Incal and Metabarons. This game looked perfect!
Anyway, the guy was selling the books at a very cheap price. I was curious, and asked him "why?". He shrugged and informed me that the game just didn't match up to their expectations, and that it wasn't a good fit for this group.
Whatever, I thought, he's a moron! LOL
...
...
...
So I read the rulebook. It "seemed" great (mostly), the artwork was cool (mostly) and the mechanics seemed very imaginative (sort of). Sure, some things were extremely vague, and the setting seemed like empty deserts with ruins. Sure, some of the artwork was just Poser models, some not even traced over. Sure, pretty much all special character abilities were about punching monsters. But... but... it was so imaginative!
I ran a game with some close friends and family. Granted, I like the simplicity of the core mechanics (and still do)! I liked the notes and references in the margins of the adventure.
The pre-written dungeon was... sort of bland. But that's okay, it's just to get the ball rolling! The map was really ambiguous. Arrows pointed to random walls or empty spaces in illogical places. Whatever, I can improvise.
My players were mostly impressed. Kind of. It WAS fun to randomly get a cool grenade that implodes! Neat! It was also kind of fun to randomly find another... grenade that made a neat sound. And that other device that... exploded too.
Hmmm....
Fast forward several years. I crack open the books for inspiration and random tables of weirdness. I mean, the books are peppered with "WEIRD" all over, right?
More than once I had to roll multiple times on "random mutations" and "random weirdness" because they were all basically: you have a new attack power like spitting poison, or "something explodes or melts the air, killing you slowly".
After about 4 sessions, I've had enough. I've made a pile of all of my Numenera books and I'm going to sell them.
WHY?
Because the game ISN'T weird. I got more out of flipping through random Moebius comics. Like, I literally did that. I opened the Incal and used THAT as a random table and had more fun.
For a Monte Cook book all about "OMG SO RANDOM WEIRDNESS GASP" I was horrendously let down.
Anyway, was a pisser.
Your turn?
EDIT:
I'm not here to shame any players or fans of particular games. This is meant to be personal and subjective. Just opinions, not attacks on anyone or "BAD WRONG FUN". If you love Numenera 1st edition and find it flawless, good for you! I envy you.
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