Quote from: enelson;358919Any love for Ysgarth (or was it Ysgard)?

Ysgarth... my group in high school played almost a year of it, like 1-2 sessions a week.

Loved that game, but man was it crunchy.

Quote from: jdurall;358951Ysgarth... my group in high school played almost a year of it, like 1-2 sessions a week.

Loved that game, but man was it crunchy.

I only saw advertisements for it. Was it a D&D heartbreaker? How was it crunchy? Tell us more.

Quote from: enelson;358966I only saw advertisements for it. Was it a D&D heartbreaker? How was it crunchy? Tell us more.

You can call almost all fantasy games from the early '80s D&D heartbreakers, though I don't think that the term means much any more.

It had a setting that was inspired by our ancient world, with the central city being Ptolemias, and cultures inspired by the Celts, Norse, Picts, Anglo-Saxons, Romans, etc.

Skill based system, some loose professions, and combat paid attention to things like slashing/piercing/crushing weapons and how much armor protected against each damage type. Lots of attention paid to social roles and rules. Lots and lots of skills.

If I recall correctly, it used percentile dice for a lot of task resolution.

If anything, I'd call it a RuneQuest heartbreaker.

Quote from: David R;358446Khaotic. Here's a summary from tBP.

Now available for free, courtesy of the author: http://www.hauntedattic.org/khaotic.html

Quote from: The Butcher;358546Do non-English language games count?

Because if they do, I'll tell you about Desafio dos Bandeirantes.

Bandeirantes were adventurous types who led expeditions (bandeiras) deep into the uncharted territories of Colonial Brazil, between the late 16th and early 18th centuries. All were oved by economic interests, most were freebooters, and quite a few were slavers; nonetheless, traditional takes on Brazilian History paint them as brave explorers who expanded the timid borders of the Portuguese colony into something resembling modern Brazil.

Released in 1992, the game plays up the "explorers of the unknown" angle, but without whitewashing, portraying the ugly realities of prejudice and slavery (there was even a sourcebook on the quilombos, hidden settlements built by escaped slaves).

And of course, it tacks on supernatural elements inspired on Brazilian folklore and religious beliefs. So in addition to gun-toting Portuguese bandeirantes and Native scouts, your bandeira can include miracle-working Jesuits, Native shamans, Yoruba medium-priests and even vaguely Hermetic European "warlocks".

And you could expect to face native beasts such as the anhangüera (demon-possessed fire-breathing animals), kanaíma (cannibals reincarnated as werejaguars) and jurupari (nightmare spirits who strangle people in their sleep), as well as more prosaic fare -- vampires, werewolves, mermaids and even the Devil itself.

The system is solid old-school goodness. Classes, levels, hit points, and distinct mechanics for combat (2d10 + weapon or dodge skill) and non-combat tasks (1d100 roll under skill), complete with sketchy B&W illustrations. No drama points or any of this newfangled crap. Men were men, women were women, and vampires were just the second toughest monster in the beastiary chapter.

Ah, the memories. I should really dust off my copy and try and run it some time.

That sounds very interesting. I saw a review of the Brazillian Hero Quest-style boardgame RPGQuest a while ago, but it seemed not to have any local flavour in it at all.

Maybe I missed the question being asked earlier in the thread, but what qualifies a game as obscure?  I ask simply because I've played a number of games that appear to have or have had very few players, but they should've received wide enough distribution that I wouldn't naturally think of them as obscure...

I'll toss GenreDiversion into the hat, although I'm also not sure if it qualifies as obscure... I just know I'm the only person in my social circle that runs it, and both times I've run it I've loved it. It's remarkably light-weight and simple (meaning it gets the hell out of the way), yet at the same time very flexible. For example, the 5 abilities (Fitness, Awareness, Creativity, Reasoning, Influence) and 5 ratings (normally 0-5 although higher are possible in settings which feature supernatural levels of ability) are simple and quick, being broad. They can be further refined, if desired, with ability gimmicks, making a character who, for example, might have decent fitness (4), but be stronger than they are fast or dexterous (Musclebound gimmick). Still simple yet providing more than adequate flexibility and options IMO. Task resolution is equally simple and quick, just adding relevant abilities and pursuits (skills) versus difficulties and penalties and voila. There's some other factors, such as "overkill" (doing really well in a task) and calamities (think ya can figure this one out), but nothing really fiddly. Combined with the supernatural rules this game is great for just about any genre, from western (Coyote Trail), to sci-fi (Hard Nova), to even my personal fav 80s cop drama (Miami Nights, fantastically great setting), and even noir (Mean Streets). There's more, but you'll hafta check Precis Intermedia's site for more.

P.S. I really come across as a dang shill, but I don't care... love the game

Providence was awesome. I still have the core books.

Nightlife was awesome. Kinda World of Darkness sans literary ambitious.

Pandemonium was awesome. Roleplaying a Weekly World News reporter.

Dark Inheritance was my favorite D20 game ever. Modern occult horror/action/whatever. I loved the way they provided different organizations as campaign frames depending on what kind of game you wanted to run.

Well I dont know how obscure it is, but it is new. Simon Washbournes new "Dogs of W*A*R" is awesome.
From Simons AD post,
"DOGS OF W*A*R – The Real Man's Role Playing Game! Using the rules first seen in the fantastic Barbarians of Lemuria, this great new role playing game gives you the covert adventure and gung-ho thrills of men's action adventure novels of the 70's and 80's. Dogs of W*A*R allows you to create an experienced character ready to play in minutes and straightforward rules that don't get in the way of role playing. DOGS OF W*A*R - All action...all danger...all guts!"
I just picked this up yesterday, and I am really enjoying it.

Quote from: The Butcher;358546Do non-English language games count?

Because if they do, I'll tell you about Desafio dos Bandeirantes.

Bandeirantes were adventurous types who led expeditions (bandeiras) deep into the uncharted territories of Colonial Brazil, between the late 16th and early 18th centuries...

That sounds awesome.

!i!

Quote from: Thanlis;359245Providence was awesome. I still have the core books.

There was some babble about a new edition on the mailing list done by someone who picked up the writes from Nicolas Jequier. Unfortunately it has been more time than I'd expect from a game actually moving forward to get published. Mind you, I've had hold ups with my own game, High Valor, so perhaps it is just something similar. Factors beyond the new publishers control.

Quote from: Weru;358478Bifrost volume 1: Faerie . . .



Published in 1977, I bought it on a whim around '81 - '82. It looked like a cool and evocative fantasy game. It wasn't. There's a reason it's obscure. The system was a mess of overly complex, math heavy sub sytems (from what I remember) which is a shame as the setting had a nice Dark Ages norse vibe.

Also, my FLGS never stocked the other volumes so even if it had been playable/good I was on to a loser.

Another vote for Bifrost.

I own all of the four volumes, and i regard it as a wonderful unknown gem.
Being originally a UK fantasy rpg, i think the game didn't quite hit the US market at the time for distribution problems of something like that, hence its low notoriety.

Man, this was a different RPGsite!

Justifiers RPG.  You're Betas, an uplifted animal, working for megacorps who made you until you can pay back the cost of uplifting you.  You and other Justifiers explore potentially valuable planets too dangerous to send a human to.   Of course there is corporate espionage, labor unions, ancient alien tech, etc.  Meh system but a good idea that was well supported for a time.

Ars Magica.

You're a wizard in mythic europe (historical medieval europe + magic). Or, you can play a noble. merchant, soldier etc who serves a wizard or works with them. Solves the linear fighter quadratic wizard problem nicely.