Infamous
By The Warden
Let’s take a look at the big picture: there are thousands of different roleplaying games available. From popular publishers to independent systems to homemade remedies, it just may be possible to find at least one RPG on any topic, film, novels, series, moment in history, or comic book somewhere. And there are some leaving people scratching their heads wondering why it must exist.
As much as our hobby highlights the best, most innovative mechanics and settings, there are some rotten eggs in the pile we rarely like to talk about in civilized forums. We’re quick to loathe them, call them names, curse at them publicly, and turn our back on them until it’s time to answer some kind of trivia question at a con. We outcast them. It’s ironic in a sense because the person or people who wrote it never intended to gain such harsh revulsion. Behind every game is hope and ambition; even someone intentionally setting out to design a bad game will do so with heart and enthusiasm. There is a lot of horrible examples in any entertainment or art form (take a look at Uwe Boll and you’ll see what many consider to be the prime example), but a small division of their fans grow to appreciate bad films, for instance, and seek them out simply because they are so bad.
To my knowledge, we don’t have anything like that within the roleplaying community. Do any of us actually appreciate bad games enough to the point of trying it out because it’s supposed to be incredibly broken? If so, share the stories; I’d love to hear them.
As you can tell (and to fulfill my promise from last week), I’m going to talk about “bad games” yet I find it hard to sympathize with some due to the nature of the work. They do qualify for this topic, there’s no mistake about that and it’s quite obvious to see why they’re so panned, but it was built with someone’s hard work and dedication. For some reason.
SUBJECTIVITY
Obviously, I think we can all agree the definition of “bad” is subjective. I’ve read about Tunnels and Trolls being one of the worst RPGs in existence, yet they’re still around today and there are fans of the game. Personally speaking, I think original D&D is incredibly flawed and dull – there, I said it. But I’m certainly not expecting that sentiment to be shared.
For the purpose of my selection, I’ve gone with sheer astonishment as my guide. What I’ve chosen below is based on my reaction of “What the #*%* would they need that for?!” and something tells me some of you might know where I’m going with this.
F.A.T.A.L.
I must profess, I have not read it in its entirety. For research purposes, I downloaded a copy and immediately deleted it in an effort to avoid attracting the unwanted attention of Internet databases searching the Internet for predators. When you see rules and charts for determining the size of certain orifices, it’s time to decide right then and there if you really need to go any further. That’s what I did, and there were still 950 pages to go. If you haven’t picked up the hint yet, this book contains very vile and sadistic content. If D&D had to receive grief in the 1970s for satanic imagery, this one is way overdue for a protest or two.
But it’s not the topic that has relished the prize of Worst RPG Ever; it’s also the mechanics. Character creation takes four hours to complete and you’re stuck with the choices made for you with dice rolls… oh, and you can even die during character creation and have to start over again. You need to do algebra throughout the game. There are more charts than you can organize in a single chart. Everything done in the game requires rolling on a random dice chart. Everything! And there may be more, I just couldn’t bring myself to find out firsthand.
F.A.T.A.L. is a game thriving on complication and is developed with more attention to detail than a deity would need to rule the universe. Even if the sadism, sexuality, and other vile pieces of this game were removed, it’s near unplayable as written. I had to sign out at algebra. For all intents and purposes, this game should have faded into oblivion long ago and now exists as geek folklore. It’s the RPG equal to the Star Wars Holiday Special, save for its creator denying it ever existed.
It’s the price paid when it comes to this kind of work. Not to become F.A.T.A.L., but to risk not only failure, but also infamy for failure. This is the fear those with stage fright have when confronted with the challenge of standing in front of a crowd to deliver a speech, except one of them actually had their clothes tear off on stage and everyone in the crowd started laughing. If you don’t think your work could ever get that bad, you may need to stop and think for a second.
Think back to the first game you ever created as a kid. It doesn’t even have to be a RPG; it can be any game whatsoever. Like that one where you ran a murder mystery in the field behind your house and told all your friends to bring their BB guns because you were going hunting for a murderer and when you turned out to be the murderer (because who else invited could be the murderer, right?), everyone raised their rifles and shot the killer. Yep, that idiot pelted by his friends was me and I was 15. If things really got out of hand, I’d be that dumbass kid in the paper or the latest You Tube video. Trust me, we are all capable of really dumb ideas.
WOW, THERE BETTER BE A POINT TO THIS…
Relax, there is. No one’s perfect. There is incredible risk in placing your soul out there for the world to see and even game design involves an expression of the soul. There is heart in those words – all words from every game – because a roleplaying game is about telling a story and all story needs heart for people to listen, heed, and embrace. When your work sits out there for the world to judge, you could be scarred and likely will be (everyone feels someone’s sting throughout their career) until you find the right audience for your work. Everyone’s faced that risk. The difference between those who proceed and those who would stand back is spirit. And the ability to heal scars.
To everyone who has tried and put their soul out there for the world to see, thank you for your time and dedication to do what the others never tried. Please keep the algebra to a minimum.
Follow Us!