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Worst RPGs ever

2008-12-22T20:16:01Z

Almafeta: /* ''Spawn of Fashan'' (1981) */

Contemplating the worst RPG of all time is a lot like enjoying a foul wine. Not drinking it, of course. But watching another person take a sip, cackling at the expression on their face, and guffawing when they throw up all over their shoes. And then reminiscing about the half-digested spray after the fact. The exquisite pleasure of an aromatic bouquet, second-hand.

The usual suspects in this category are rarely elevated to legendary status merely because of poorly implemented or conceptualized rules. No, candidates are often judged based on the pure offensiveness of their subject matter, naked authorial hubris on internet forums like Usenet or RPGnet, for being the conspicuous failure of an otherwise notable designer (like Gary Gygax), or for sheer gonzo wackiness; and then popularized by flame-filled threads and scathing and hyperbolically over-the-top reviews. Many of the most successful contenders could be disqualified for not being complete and playable games. And many, including the worst three, are only available electronically and never reached print.

== The Unholy Trinity ==

The list of the worst RPGs of all time is consistently topped by an unholy trinity: ''F.A.T.A.L.'', ''Racial Holy War'' (''RaHoWa''), and ''HYBRID''. Two of these are notorious for their sheer offensiveness, regardless of their poor design: ''F.A.T.A.L.'', which has been called "the date rape RPG, without dating" and has a stat for a character's "anal circumference"; and the white supremacist RaHoWa set in a post-apocalyptic world where the PCs hunt down and kill racial minorities. ''HYBRID'', while also given to racist and sexist ranting, is more noted for its utter incomprehensibility and is apparently the result of the delusional and paranoid mind of a schizophrenic. Of the three, only ''F.A.T.A.L.'' was ever sold (as a PDF) or played (despite a ridiculously ornate system); RaHoWa is not a complete game, and in any case may merely be a propaganda tool for an odious subculture; and ''HYBRID'' is just a list of nonsensical rules, despite its grandiose claim that it correctly models physical reality.

=== ''F.A.T.A.L.'' ===

When it first hit the fora it was greeted with derision and disbelief, with posters quoting snippets from the ruleset as “evidence” that they can't be serious, this can't be a real game, they had to be putting everyone on. Sadly, it eventually came out that it was no joke, that Byron Hall and company were dead serious and firmly believed they had created the Greatest Game Ever (an opinion they apparently still hold).

The short version: FATAL is over-complex, incoherent, racist, misogynist, and deviant in a bad way. More details are in [[RPG_Lexica:GHI|the “Game That Must Not Be Named” entry]] and the links from there.
'''Note:''' The source of the game, fatalgames.com, may have recently gone out of business. (And the consensus is "good riddance".)

In the first edition, ''F.A.T.A.L'' is an acronym for "Fantasy Adventures to Adult Lechery", but this was toned down to "From Another Time, Another Land" in the second edition.

* [http://atrocities.primaryerror.net/fatal.html "Fantasy Adventure To Adult Lechery (FATAL)"] by Jason Sartin and Darren MacLennan. The infamous review of ''F.A.T.A.L.''. Originally posted on April 10, 2004 as an RPGnet review, but quickly pulled due to the controversy. Now hosted on Sartin's site.
* [[FATALReviewRebuttal]]. A copy of author Byron Hall's rebuttal of the Sartin & MacLennan review (originally posted at www.fatalgames.com).
* [http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=284836 "FATAL: WTF?!"] thread on RPGnet where Byron Hall announced the availability of the rebuttal. Degenerated into a massive flamewar.
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20030205182630/www.fatalgames.com/fatal.html Fatal Games website], as preserved by the Wayback Machine. Includes the original pdf.

=== ''Racial Holy War'' (''RaHoWa'') ===

The PCs play “White Warriors”, fighting against the classic 'enemies' of racist groups: blacks, Jews, latrinos (the game uses that term), and basically everyone outside of the “Aryan ideal”--or, ''would'', if the game had decent rules. Incomplete, racist, and stupid.

* [http://atrocities.primaryerror.net/rahowasucks.html Racial Holy War (1st Edition)] at Primary Error. Review by Jason Sartin.
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20011223145057/www.wcotc.com/revm/rahowa.html ''Racial Holy War''] preserved by the Wayback Machine. Game by Rev. Kenneth Molyneaux.

=== ''HYBRID'' ===

''HYBRID'' burst into the collective gamers' consciousness in the late 1990s, when a poster using the sobriquet "C++" (later "Matthew") migrated from the comic book newsgroups, and started posting to the Usenet group rec.games.frp.super-heroes. The posts, a series of unrelated and unsequential numbered rules that conflated mathematical equations and racist and sexist screeds into an apparent (and later, stated) attempt to quantify and perfectly describe (perhaps even create) reality using comic book characters as a basis, at first caused disbelief. Yet the sheer unremitting number of posts turned the consensus into amazement and derision, which snowballed into a panoply of mocking replies in any thread that C++ graced. Combined with the almost random way the author replied to entirely unrelated threads, this caued an inenvitable effect: The newsgroup quickly died under the weight of sheer nonsense and his raving horde of anti-fans.

C++ eventually made the jump to RPGnet, and Phillippe Tromeur (may the Supereme Gamer have mercy on his soul) collated, collected, and published the ever-growing and randomly-versioned game (using the term "game" in the loosest of all possible senses) on the web, perpetuating and enshrining the Wonderlandian nonsensical and night-Lovecraftian work of love (or at least obsessive compulsion) for all to view.

The attempt to create one ruleset to simulate the whole of reality using comics is most probably a schizophrenic's cry for help — or possibly an extended game of Nomic gone berserk. No one's entirely sure, including the author if the text is any indication. Probably (no — absolutely, 100%, totally) not playable, but here because it is, after all, an attempt at a game by someone who seems to have no idea what an rpg is.

* [http://philippe.tromeur.free.fr/hybrid.htm ''HYBRID''] hosted by Phillippe Tromeur. Game by Matthew a.k.a. C++.
* [http://atrocities.primaryerror.net/hybrid.html "HYBRID (V 0.3)"] at Primary Error. Review by Jason Sartin.

== Also-rans ==

=== ''The Adventures of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game'' (1984) ===

This game generated the false rumor that TSR had tried to trademark 'Nazi'. One of the most astonishingly limited RPGs ever published: you can only play a short list of characters from the films, there are no character generation rules in the boxed set (though rules were included in the Judge's Screen accessory), and adventure formats were similarly sparse. Some of these features might be excused if the game was thought of as deliberately 'introductory' in nature, but the fact is, it sucked. This is not be confused with 1994's ''The World of Indiana Jones'' by West End Games.

=== ''Cyborg Commando'' (1987) ===

''Cyborg Commando'' has reached iconic status primarily because of the name on the cover: Gary Gygax. After his departure from TSR, Gygax founded New Infinities Productions, Inc. and published ''Cyborg'' in 1987, with fellow luminaries Kim Mohan and Frank Mentzer. The game designers, rooted in the trends of the 1970s, attempted to create a game adopting the dark sensibilities then in vogue in the 1980s. The result is an implausible game about cyborgs who fight alien invaders ("Xenoborgs") by shooting lasers from their fingers with a wonky mechanic.

=== ''Empire of Satanis'' (2005) ===

The author of Satanis, Darrick Dishaw, described his game in the RPGnet forums as a "dark fantasy RPG inspired by H.P. Lovecraft, Thomas Ligotti, Hellraiser, and [his] own nightmares." What players who cracked open the game found was a mess of a game whose major reason for existing was to be as "rebellious" and "dark" as a 14-year-old proto-Goth. The system was a competent enough spin on d6, but the setting killed the interest for a number of reviewers, who just didn't see a reason for playing beings of pure evil who scheme in a hell dimension and occasionally go out and torment humans. Dishaw didn't help matters much; the self-proclaimed Satanist and "Cthulhu Cultist" (believing that beings made up by H.P. Lovecraft were representational imagery of ''real'' Things That Should Not Be) actually tried to levy a curse against all those who panned his game on the RPGnet forums. An interesting idea that had already been portrayed by In Nomine in a more well-rounded fashion, and which wasn't at all helped by the eccentricites of the author.

=== ''K.A.B.A.L.'' (''Knights and Berserkers and Legerdemain'', 1980) ===

One of the first RPG's to follow in the wake of original D&D, and arguably the hobby's first unmitigated flop.

=== Leading Edge Games ===

(insert desc here)

=== ''SenZar'' (1995) ===

This fantasy RPG became infamous after a 1996 usenet incident where the creators overhyped the game, going as far as using sock puppet accounts to attack the inevitable critics. As with World of Synnibarr, SenZar was once considered by many RPGnet denizens the worst RPG ever, but this antipathy has largely been redirected against FATAL. The game itself is surprisingly playable, having more elegant rules and fewer restrictions than most class/level games, and arguably doesn't belong in any list of terrible games. Nonetheless, it still has elements that an average gamer might object to, such as its open encouragement of powergaming, the lack of balance among the professions/classes, the rather juvenile writing, or the fetish for all things heavy metal.

Reviews on RPGnet:
* [http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_2265.html "SenZar"] by David Edelstein.
* [http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_3161.html "SenZar, 1st Edition]" by Jason Sartin.

=== ''Spawn of Fashan'' (1981) ===

From the early years of the hobby, overcomplex to the point of being incomprehensible and so bad that some gamers insisted it had to be a deliberate satire. Including notable game designer and author of ''Heroic Worlds'' Lawrence Schick, who wrote a scathing review in ''Dragon'' magazine #60, concluding that the game was so terrible it just ''had'' to be a deliberate parody. Its legacy (such as it is) as one of the first truly terrible games catapulted it into the limelight (being of course pre-World Wide Web, more efficient means of propulsion like those that secured the notoriety of the much later ''F.A.T.A.L.'' were simply not available). of Lawrence R. Raimonda's "U 2 Can Earn Big Bux!" article in ''Dragon'' #128 which classifies roleplayers into "Real Men, Real Roleplayers, Munchkins, and Loonies" listed ''Spawn of Fashan'' as the preferred game for Loonies. The popular success of the article, and its (much-)subsequent proliferation as a minor internet meme (many variations on the original are available via friendly neighborhood search engines), ensured that the game's reputation survived into the digital era.

Reviews on RPGnet:
* [http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_6157.html The Spawn of Fashan] by Roger M. Wilcox

=== ''The World of Synnibarr'' (1991) ===

This science fantasy RPG is among the most legendary examples of mass "worst game ever!" sentiment, and has been mocked both for its surreal setting (every time Synnibarr comes up in discussion, ''someone'' just has to mention the flying grizzly bears with laser beam eyes) and incredibly complex rules (which go as far as providing an equation for how hard you can exhale!). This reputation was not helped by creator Raven c.s. McCracken's hostility towards the game's critics in the early 90's. These days, however, Mr. McCracken is more friendly (he even got along with Darren MacLennan at Origins 2003, despite the latter's previous vitriol), and many people feel FATAL is more deserving of "worst game ever" status than Synnibarr ever was. A few gamers even enjoy the game's silliness in an Ed Wood/''Plan 9 From Outer Space'' way.

Review on RPGnet:
* [http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_2002.html "The World of Synnibarr"] by Craig Warren.
* [http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_372.html "The World of Synnibarr"] by Bradford C. Walker.
* [http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_4762.html "The World of Synnibarr"] by Darren MacLennan.
* [http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/10/10564.phtml "The World of Synnibarr"] by Roger Mier.

=== ''Wraeththu'' (2005) ===

At the top of the “bizarre setting” list is this game, based on a series of novels by Storm Constantine (although it has been shown that the RPG is a seriously inaccurate adaptation). The Wraeththu are hermaphrodite bishonen ubermenschen who are apparently slowly taking over the Earth—and, along the way, converting the occasional human into one of them by transfusing blood into them. Oh yeah, there are only male Wraeththu—and their genitalia look like flowers or anemones. (Hence the name I'm trying to popularize for it, MHLD, for Mr. Happy Looks Different.)

The apparently decorative flower on the cover of the core rulebook is, well, not. A flower, that is. The embellishment makes ''Wraeththu: From Enchantment to Fulfilment'' perhaps the only RPG with a penis prominently displayed on the front cover.

Though the setting is what most people remember about Wraeththu, it is quite closely modelled on the series of novels that it is based on. It is more the system that is at fault here than the campaign world, which is precisely what it set out to be - a fanguide to a set of obscure pseudo-homoerotic fantasies written by Storm Constantine. The novels have their own cult following. The rules on the other hand include such wonderful faux pas as chainmail armour that provides complete protection from flamethrower damage, collision rules that would result in instant death from kicking a stationary car, falling rules that would have the average human killed every time he tripped, magic rules that were blatantly stolen from the original Mage RPG by White Wolf, and a general system so entirely unsuited to its subject matter that it's somewhat akin to grafting D&D's mechanics onto an episode of Love Story.

* [http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=244590 "This is the Wraeththu review you've been waiting for..."] thread on RPGnet. Review by Darren MacLennan.
* [http://jrients.blogspot.com/2005/07/wraeththu-report.html "The Wraeththu Report"] on Blogspot. Jeff Rients review, announced in [http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=206244 this thread] on RPGnet. More positive than McLennan's.

=== ''Zarrakan'' (1997?) ===

The author of ''Zarrakan: Where the Adventure Never Ends'' started his posting career on RPGnet in January 2008, resurrecting a five-year old thread entitled "Zarrakan - Is This For Real?" by making a personal attack against the critic. After several more critical posts, and several personal attacks in reply the author gloated that the thread was generating additional hits on his website, and was promptly banned.

* [http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=31715 "Zarrakan - Is This For Real?"] thread on RPGnet. The 2003 thread was resurrected by the author in 2008, and later locked.

User:Almafeta/Mech A RPG contest reviews

2005-08-04T21:20:43Z

Almafeta:

I am in the middle of ranking the various other entries in the Mech A RPG.

For the sake of curtosey, I automatically place myself at 0 in every category, but to be honest, I didn't enter this contest seriously thinking I'd win it... it was mostly to see whether or not I could design a RPG without a trace of 'furriness' in it. That it's unfinished isn't that important, it's a success in my eyes.

:This page is still being written... [[User:Almafeta|Almafeta]] 14:20, 4 Aug 2005 (PDT)

==Chargen==

Dreadful Tide: Dreadful Tide is pointgen, on a reasonable budget of 100 points. The 'attributes' are Shadowrun-style dice pools that refresh every round: Combat, Social, Technical, Movement. (Shades of Instant Fuzion!) Skills are the Target Numbers you must roll equal to or less on from dice you spend from those pools. Pools range from 1 to 10, while Skills range from 1 to 9. A nice full list of special abilities follows, including Unkillable (15 points). A number of templates are included.

Extinction: Chargen is point-build attributes (20 points among Prowess, Agility, Endurance, IQ, and Charm) and Palladium-style limited skill selection, as well as selecting a Code, Loyalty, and Quest. Curiously, you also build a 'stronghold'.

Guerilla Earth: Chargen is point-buy, spending 200 points among four percentile attributes (the classic Body/Grace/Mind/Spirit split). Derived attributes include Anima (basically CoC-style sanity), Health (which, curiously, is based on Anima+Health/2), and Power (for espers). Skills are (Mind+Dexterity/10) skill points, with each skill point (up to 5) adding 10% to a base to get your level of skill. (Why not just have Mind+Dexterity skill points, up to +50%?) Specializations are worth 15% per skill point, not 10%. Cybernetics and psi are bought with points. A decent number of templates are included.

Mecha Wars: Odd combination of triangle-number and percentile system (all stats start at 10, cost to improve by 1 is equal to new attribute's tens digit). With 800 (!) points to divide among 9 attributes, that's an average attribute of 47... but you can just roll d% instead, which I strongly suggest. You get INT*10 skill points, and 1 skill point buys +1 in a skill.

*4 points: Guerilla Earth
*3 points: Mecha Wars
*2 points: Dreadful Tide
*1 point: Extinction

==Combat==

Dreadful Tide: Combat assumes a dot matrix over a map -- creative, I've never seen anything like this before. Humans and mecha take damage in a universal penalty chart; 10 hits destroys anything. Damage is in three scales: 'human' (x1), 'mecha' (x10), and 'starship' (x100).

Extinction: Initiative is creative, with skill checks being used to change your order in battle. Energy points are spent, then it's hit-me-hit-you. Shields subtract damage, then it comes off of Armor, and then stats (lowering Juice makes is less speedy, lowering Payload destroys items on it). Human combat isn't fleshed out.

Guerilla Earth: Standard I-hit-you, you-hit-me combat, with one notable exception: Critical hit rules. 10% of all rolls are criticals; critical successes take the target out of the fight; critical failures take the attacker out of the fight. Defense is rare, with dodges only being allowed if you haven't moved so far in a turn. Interestingly, while in a mecha, Will is used to dodge or defend -- a nice way to keep Dexterity from becoming too powerful.

Mecha Wars: Interestingly, Movement is done in reverse initiative, and attacks are done in normal initiative -- a nice way of showing how important Initiative is. Mecha power up with EP; attacks are 'Weapon Effectiveness Rating' + 1d10 versus 'Armor Factor' + 1d10; essentially, a random armor effectiveness system, adding another roll between the attack roll and damage dealing.

*4 points: Dreadful Tide
*3 points: Mecha Wars
*2 points: Extinction
*1 point: Guerilla Earth

==Completeness==
Completeness counts double.

Dreadful Tide: Holy cow. Far and away the victor in this category, it's 95 dense pages of stuff -- they made a commercial RPG without telling anyone.

Extinction: Extinction hits the 32-page goal exactly, which is worth a mention. However, it seems a little light on the content.

Guerilla Earth: 60 pages of content. Includes psi, sample mecha...

Mecha Wars: It's very heavy on the fiction and the background (14/37 pages), and it loses for it.

*8 points: Dreadful Tide
*6 points: Guerilla Earth
*4 points: Extinction
*2 points: Mecha Wars

==Layout and Formatting==

Dreadful Tide: Near-professional layout; some problems with table formatting, and some problems with tables or art going too close to the edge.

Extinction: Professional layout -- shouldn't this guy be working for White Wolf?

Guerilla Earth: Page numbers in the table of contents have nothing to do with the page numbers the information is on. It's formatted in landscape format.

Mecha Wars: Okay layout in the beginning, but the layout becomes more and more unwieldly towards the end.

*4 points: Extinction
*3 points: Dreadful Tide
*2 points: Mecha Wars
*1 point: Guerilla Earth

=="Mechgen"==

==Setting==
Setting counts double.

==System Design==

==Totals==
1st: Dreadful Tide (17 points)
2nd: Guerilla Earth (15 points)
3rd (tie): Extinction (10 points)
3rd (tie): Mecha Wars (10 points)

User:Almafeta/Mech A RPG contest reviews

2005-08-04T20:49:17Z

Almafeta:

User:Almafeta/Mech A RPG contest reviews

2005-08-04T20:21:15Z

Almafeta: Update for layout

User:Almafeta/Mech A RPG contest reviews

2005-08-04T09:52:42Z

Almafeta: Saving page early because computer is starting to mess up...

User:Almafeta

2005-08-04T09:18:17Z

Almafeta:

Just a meek skunk, not much else. I'm an administrator over at [http://ia.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usator:Almafeta Wikipedia], I might as well WikiRPGnet. You can look at my [http://www.rpg.net/reviews/search-review.phtml?reviewerName=Shanya+Almafeta RPGnet reviews] or my [http://www.furnation.com/almafeta homepage] if you want to.

My first project here was [[TEARZ:Main Page|TEARZ]], a scathingly satiric RPG, which had the happy distinction of being this Wiki's first multi-user project, and also the unfortunate distinction of being the target of the wiki's first cases of vandalism. Later, I added [[IrradiatedFur:Main Page|Irradiated Fur]], a anthropomorphic apocalypse RPG. Right now, I'm occasionally submitting to the [[RPG Lexica:Main Page|RPG Lexica]].

====Subpages====
*[[User:Almafeta/Mech A RPG contest reviews]]

2005-06-07T03:42:22Z

Almafeta: /* O */

==M==

;Mary Sue: An [[RPG]] [[character]] obviously designed as a supremely competent version of the real person designing the character. (A Mary Sue need not be female, or even human.)
:Origin: According to [http://www.subreality.com/marysue.htm this site], from a 1970's ''Star Trek'' FanFic starring "Lieutenant Mary Sue, StarFleet's Youngest Lieutenant".

;Min-max, min-maxing: To carefully tweak a '''[[character]]''' during '''chargen''' so as to optimize the character for one thing, usually combat, often at the expense of other aspects of the character; or, to tweak a character to take advantage of quirks in the rules to do the same thing.

;mob: An [[NPC]], in particular one who performs limited ranges of simplistic behaviour. Used in online [[RPG]]s to identify NPCs who are automatically controlled by the game program, rather than those who are played by human [[GM]]s.
:Origin: Short form of ''mobile'', the term coined by Richard Bartle for these characters in early computer RPGs. On reading the research paper which coined the term, one of the reviewers is said to have thought this a "beautiful analogy to those hanging toys used in baby's cribs, which move around seemingly as if alive, in spite of being constructed of mechanical parts". Bartle replied that this was indeed a beautiful analogy, and he would have been delighted if he had thought of it; he used the term "mobile" simply to indicate that they could move, which other computer-controlled objects couldn't.

;Munchkin: One of the most controversial terms in [[RPG]]s. A good argument could be made that it means "any player I don't like", but most people reserve the term for a specific type of bad [[player]]...
:My own definition: a player who, through inexperience or immaturity, disrupts the game to the detriment of the other players, usually by any or all of the following:
* Creating a [[character]] that's inappropriate to the setting (Classic definition: A munchkin is someone who, in a game of courtly politics and intrigue in 16th century France, wants to play a [[ninja]].)
* Insisting his character either is or has to be the absolute ''best'' at ''everything'' he does.
* Roleplays poorly, seeing his character (and the other characters) as mere game pieces, without personality or motivations beyond advancing in the game.
* Relating to the last one: approaching all problems, obstacles, and frustrations with violence as a ''first'' resort
* Attempting to "win" the game, even at the expense of the other players, in situations where it would be inappropriate.

;Murphy's Law:"Anything that can go wrong, will." The premier law of the universe.
:Notes: What most people call Murphy's Law (above) is actually Finagle's Law (or, in the UK, Sod's Law). Murphy's Law is more specific: "If there are two or more ways to do something, and one of those ways will result in disaster, someone will do it." It was originally "If that guy has any way of making a mistake, he will"--referring to the technician who had just placed a series of sensors the wrong way around on the test subject of an accelleration experiment. Edward Murphy was the lead scientist.
:Murphy's Law is in this lexicon because, since RPGs are simulations of important (fake) events in people's (fake) lives, it crops up a ''lot.'' In particular, when making an elaborate plan, it is often necessary to include contingency plans in case of a [[RPG_Lexica:DEF|fumble]] at a critical moment. (See [[RPG_Lexica:VWX|Whiff]] for further details)
:See also: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murphy%27s_Law WikiPedia's entry on "Murphy's Law"]

;Murphy's Rule: (or just "Murphy"). A game rule which has bizarre or humourous consequences when applied to certain situations - typically those which would logically exist in the game world but are not those which the game was designed to model. A "murphy" can also be a description of the consequences of applying a rule to an outlandish situation, stated not as a criticism of the rules but purely for the comedy value. Originally coined as the name of a cartoon appearing in ''Pyramid Magazine''. A few examples of the typical format:
* In ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'', [[character]]s have a "Dexterity" stat, which is in fact used to represent agility as well as actual dexterity. Thus, every talented clockmaker is also a talented gymnast, and vice versa;
* In ''[[The Riddle of Steel]]'', in character generation the [[player]] must rank several properties of their character in order of importance. Ranking "social standing" last results in the [[PC]] being a slave. If the player has done this, all other aspects (such as combat skill, magical ability, etc) will have been rated higher than they otherwise could have been, thus meaning that slaves are the most talented and skilled people in the setting;
* In the second edition of ''[[Hong Kong Action Theatre]]'', an actor's fame is the ''only'' factor taken into consideration when assigning them to roles, thus enabling Arnold Schwarzenegger to be cast as a kung-fu ballerina.

==N==

;Ninja: A term with multiple different meanings, mostly derived either from the real myths surrounding Ninjas or from the famous spoof website, [http://www.realultimatepower.net "Real Ultimate Power"].
* As a noun, used with the original meaning: the Japanese term for an assassin, particularly one making use of stealth.
* As a noun, any character designed around the concepts of stealth, hand-to-hand combat, and one-hit kills.
* As a noun, a character which is sought-after for "coolness" value, and whose abilites are overestimated, even if irrelevant or ineffective in the particular situation or setting. ("Of course I can dodge the bullets of a machine-gun on full auto - I'm a ''ninja''!")
* As an adjective, sneaky or cunning.
* As an adjective, highly skilled in general.
* As a verb, to accomplish something in a highly skillful or spectacular way.

==O==
;OGL Heartbreaker: A game which, although it has an original world, uses an open-licensed gaming system or variation thereof instead of a system that is either has a standard license or that is proprietary and unique to that game world.

;One Roll Engine: A unique [[dice]] system designed by Greg Stolze and used in the game ''[[Godlike]]''. Rather than trying to match a particular target number, the player rolls a number of dice based on their [[character]]'s competence and are deemed to have succeeded if two or more of those dice roll the same value. The unique property of this system is that a single roll delivers ''two'' results: the number of dice that matched, and the value they matched on.
:Note: this system is copyrighted, so you must seek the author's permission to use it in any game you are designing.

;Open-ended roll: Any [[dice]] rolling system which includes the rule that any dice which rolls its maximum result should be rolled again, with the new roll added to the previous one to determine the final result. For example, if a 5 is rolled on an open-ended d6, the result is 5; but if a 6 is rolled, the dice is rolled again, and if a 4 is rolled on the second roll the overall result is 10 (the 4 just rolled plus the 6 rolled previously).
:See also: '''Exploding Dice'''

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[[Category:Terminology]]

2005-05-22T23:25:28Z

Almafeta:

You start with (Skills die size x 5) + (Intelligence die size) in skill points. (So if you had put d4 into Skills but had a d12 Intelligence, you'd have 4*5+12 = 32 skill points.)

A skill is ranked from d4 (mediocre) to d12 (amazing), and costs Die Size/2 skill points to purchase. (So a d4 costs 2 points, a d6 3 points, a d12 6 points, and so on.)

*Acrobatics (AG): Dodging, ducking, weaving, leaping, and tumbling.
*Body Hardening (ST): Being very freaking tough. Add half your Body Hardening die (2 for d4, and so on) to your Soak.
*Climbing (AG): Going arboreal. Your climbing speed is (Climbing/2) meters per round with this skill, 1m per round without.
*Computers (IN): How to work with computers and other such electronics.
*Diplomacy (CH): Convincing others to not kill you.
*Domestic (CH): Running a home, bar, brothel, hotel, or what have you.
*Drive (AG): The ability to operate a vehicle. Unlike in the movies, there are few 'running gun battles' done with people behind the wheel; most cars can't work well at all, much less well enough to work like they do in the movies.
*Endurance (HT): Being able to resist tiring.
*Feral (Special): Being able to rely on your animal instincts. Unlike most skills, Feral is based on your Race die.
*Firefight (AG): Shooting at short range.
*Fixit (IN): How to repair something.
*Hunting (IN): Getting prey, whether by trapping or by stalking.
*Intimidation (CH): Scaring the crap out of someone.
*Language (IN): The ability to speak another language besides your native language. The number of languages you know is your Die Size/2; the more langauges you know, the better you are at languages.
*Leadership (CH): Bullshitting with a straight face and organizing people under your command.
*Lockpicking (AG): Opening mechanical locks.
*Martial Arts (AG): The practiced art of fighting. Not significantly different from Melee in practice, except that it's hard to defend against and doesn't teach you much about defending from actual attacks: the two are at -2 to defend against each other.
*Medicine (IN): Healing someone using what you have at hand. Since there are so many techniques to learn, from diagnosis to pharmaceuticals to surgery to post-surgical care, Medicine costs double (4 for a d4 and so on).
*Melee (AG): Brawling and using non-ranged weapons.
*Occult (IN): Knowing what rituals do what, and most importantly, what not to touch.
*Perception (IN): Noticing something.
*Performance (CH): Showing off for dramatic purposes, or playing music.
*Rope Use (IN): From binding people to creating shelters and buildings.
*Science (IN): All that liberal arts stuff that isn't going to do you much good in the post-nuclear wastelands.
*Seduction (CH): Getting what you want. Also the skill on your character sheet most likely to get you teased.
*Sniping (AG): Shooting at long range.
*Stealth (AG): Being very very quiet.
*Style (CH): It's not about being good -- it's about looking good.
*Survival (IN): The ability to live off the land. Since you have to be careful not to eat fallout-tainted or dangerously mutated food, where you did not in the 20th century, Survival costs double (4 for a d4 and so on).
*Swimming (ST): Being able to move in the water. Your swimming score is 1m/round if you don't have Swimming, Swimming/2 if you do.
*Tactics (IN): Your ability to fight with others. Also add your bare Tactics die to your Initiative (that is, you roll your Tactics Die with your Agility Dice).
*Weight Lifting (ST): The amount of weight you can bench is (Strength Die + Weight Lifting / 2), squared, in kilograms. You can carry one-third of this on your back.
*Willpower (Special): Stubbornness, bullheadedness, and the like. Willpower, like Feral, is based on your Race die.

Specializations are also available for any skill. You can buy a specialization in any skill at 1/2rd the normal price for the skill. If you wanted to add Willpower/Resist Torture d8 to your normal Willpower of d6, you would pay 2 points: the normal cost of Willpower d8 is 4, and divided by 2 is 2.

[[Category:Irradiated Fur]]

Almafeta:

[[Category:TEARZ]]

There are nine stats used by TEARZ™:

* Strength (ST), or your physical prowess.
* Perception (PC), or your mental awareness.
* Fortitude (FO), or your health and resistance.
* Hotness (HT), or how good you look.
* Charisma (CH), or how charming you are.
* Intelligence (IN), or how smart you are.
* Wisdom (WS), or how clued in you are.
* Agility (AG), or your physical prowess.
* Movement (MV), or how fast you are.

These stats range from 1 to 30 (or 10 to 50 for divine characters), with 10 being average.

To generate them, roll 3d6 for each stat. If the result is 15, add 1d6; if the result is 16, add 1d8; if the result is 17, add 1d10; and if the result is 18, add 1d12. Then, assign the roll to the stats however you like it.

==Modifiers==
Each stat also has a modifier, that may or may not be used, figured as below:

<center>(Stat/3) - 3, round down</center>

Note on your Tale Enabler™ sheet the Modifiers for your stats.

====A Note From Shanya Almafeta====
Note that a certain other gaming system seems to have a similar modifier system, which is 'stat' divided by 'integer' minus 'same integer', 'round down'. Note that they also seem to have many of our 'Attributes', also use 'd20s' to play, and have characters come in 'levels.' Being the benevolent people that we are here at TEARZ Books, we here at Chine Games will not be sueing these Johnny Come Latelies. But, if they begin to intrude on our Intellectual Wonders™, than they will have our crack team of lawyers on them faster than a speeding suit of Mark XVII Fancy Boy Power Armor™!

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Back to [[TEARZ:Main_Page|the main page]].