Purple Site Darlings, mainstream releases you're "supposed" to love, Monumental Works of Small-Press Genius--it seems like everyone around you is digging these titles, but you just can't seem to get into them? What's your list of these products you just can't seem to dig?
For me, I'd have to list Purple Site Darlings Nobilis and Weapons of the Gods, though those games have seen limited exposure outside that forum. I just plain hated the style of Nobilis, and though I really, really wanted to like WoTG, I couldn't get past the writing style, the non-intuitive (to me) rules, and a lot of required errata (which, to their credit, they later put on their website, but I had already gotten rid of the book by that point). I also picked up SpirosBlaak, which was recommended rather enthusiastically to me, and I did not like it at all (cool cover, though).
Some Forge games, but then I have to define "popular" in my title post, and I'll let some more argumentative soul take care of that.
Exalted. There, I said it.
Outside of that, I can't get enthused about Eberron. I mean, I'd play it if it were the only setting in town, but its pretty far down on my list for D&D. It's not dislike, just apathy, really.
I don't know about cold, but Mutants and Masterminds, while it seems like a thoroughly competant effort, never really EXCITED me enough to consider using it in place of my old supers gaming standbys -- Hero and DC Heroes.
Exalted - enormous dice pools, super powers, over the top setting (heroin pissing dinosaurs?,) anime illos, fake oriental martial arts, pretentious naming systems... everything guaranteed to turn clash off, all in one book. I'd rather have a nail in the foot. Any one of those is fine, I can deal. Two makes it iffy, but all together in one book? OUCH!
-mice
Quote from: flyingmiceExalted - enormous dice pools, super powers, over the top setting (heroin pissing dinosaurs?,) anime illos, fake oriental martial arts, pretentious naming systems... everything guaranteed to turn clash off, all in one book. I'd rather have a nail in the foot. Any one of those is fine, I can deal. Two makes it iffy, but all together in one book? OUCH!
-mice
I don't want to system bash here, but I'm completely with you on this one. Nobilis is another one that didn't particularly excite me.
Quote from: mattormegI don't want to system bash here, but I'm completely with you on this one. Nobilis is another one that didn't particularly excite me.
It isn't system bashing - I didn't say anything was wrong or broken with it, just that the game designers didn't have me in mind... :D
-mice
Quote from: flyingmiceIt isn't system bashing - I didn't say anything was wrong or broken with it, just that the game designers didn't have me in mind... :D
Personally I find the setting of
Exalted gorgeous and evocative, but unfortunately the system is much too crunchy for my taste.
Quote from: GrimGentPersonally I find the setting of Exalted gorgeous and evocative, but unfortunately the system is much too crunchy for my taste.
That's why there's more than one RPG. :D
-mice
Quote from: flyingmiceThat's why there's more than one RPG. :D
What, like
Wushu?
Wushu doesn't really do anything for me, either, by the way.
Exalted
Nobilis
Weapons of the Gods
D&D
If it wasn't for that last one I'd be fitting in just fine around here, wouldn't I?
I actually bought Exalted because of the hype (which was what the hype was intended to do, of course). All I can say is that those fanwanks/spammers on RPGnet read a completely different book than I did, because the book I read bore no resemblance to their decriptions, nor did it give even the vaguest inkling of being about the kind of stuff they claimed it was.
I cannot even
begin to get interested in a game involving Mormons, so
Dogs in the Vineyard, despite being a darling of many RPGnetters I respect, is a complete nonstarter for me.
Talislanta (sp?) never really appealed to me.
I never liked the WoD (old or new), although that probably is not too unusual here.
Quote from: Zachary The First... Exalted. There, I said it.
Outside of that, I can't get enthused about Eberron. I mean, I'd play it if it were the only setting in town, but its pretty far down on my list for D&D. It's not dislike, just apathy, really.
100 percent agreement with both of these.
Quote from: AkrasiaI cannot even begin to get interested in a game involving Mormons, so Dogs in the Vineyard, despite being a darling of many RPGnetters I respect, is a complete nonstarter for me.
Talislanta (sp?) never really appealed to me.
I never liked the WoD (old or new), although that probably is not too unusual here.
100 percent agreement with both of these.
Mow I actually like the setting in Dogs - it's just the system I don't care for.
I know I'm wierd...
:D
-mice
Very few games have no merit, and the following titles are not they. However, it's not unfair to say that, man, I just don't dig 'em:
Exalted -- The Best Game Other People Like But That I'm Not Interested In, Apparently.
Nobilis -- Revolutionary, from what I hear, but...my disinterest in it borders upon the epic. The bards will write sagas!
And thus he came, Pink Tie blazing,
Upon Borgstrom's Book, the Flower-Tome,
The Book of Nobles, Coffee-table game.
His eye fell upon it, and then fell right off.
"Where's the damn robots?" he said,
And went off to play Toon.[/SIZE]
Shadowrun -- You got ice cream in my soy sauce!
Quote from: droogExalted
Nobilis
Weapons of the Gods
D&D
If it wasn't for that last one I'd be fitting in just fine around here, wouldn't I?
Same here...except for the last one on the list. Not cold exactly, but definately lukewarm.
Regards,
David R
Quote from: David RSame here...except for the last one on the list. Not cold
Is it you who lives in Malaysia? Next time I make it there we should hook up.
Quote from: droogIs it you who lives in Malaysia? Next time I make it there we should hook up.
Yup. Sounds good. Just let me know when you will be over here.
Regards,
David R
Insert Licensed Property Here -- Generally speaking, that is. I'm not entirely sure as to the reasons why, other than I typically don't find that my enjoyment of a work of fiction carries over to an enjoyment of a game sharing its setting.
I can see the attraction of having a setting that everyone knows and shares a common sense of theme/mood, but I don't find the games to be particularly intriguing. This is particularly true of games that come out of a work of fiction that is specifically geared towards one central character, such as Farscape. Absolutely adore the show, but it's about John and anything that's likely to be done within the game is going to seem either: 1) redundant; 2) missing the point of the show; 3) both in some mixture.
Forgotten Realms -- Doesn't matter the incarnation of the setting, it's never done anything for me. I'm a Greyhawk kid, I guess. Though I do rather like Al-Qadim, which I guess is supposed to be part of FR, so there's that exception.
In this case, I could see my interest going up if I were a player under a DM that I thought was going to present an interesting game. I'm much more willing to put aside my reservations when it comes to being a player.
Quote from: AkrasiaI cannot even begin to get interested in a game involving Mormons, so Dogs in the Vineyard, despite being a darling of many RPGnetters I respect, is a complete nonstarter for me.
I've got nothing against Mormons, because honestly I don't know much about them. But there's not a damn thing about DitV that even remotely interests me.
Ditto Exalted. Downloaded the first edition corebook when it was a freebie on DriveThru. Read it. Deleted it. In theory, it sounded interesting; in practice, not so much.
Sounds like more of a thread to bash RPG.net darlings.
Im going to say Star Wars - because I read the original WEG ruleset at the same time as Paranoia and noticed similarities in the writing and comedy.
Quote from: flyingmiceanime illos, fake oriental martial arts, pretentious naming systems... everything guaranteed to turn clash off, all in one book.
Is there anything more lame and embarrassing than a bunch of WASPy honky dorks trying to ape Asian culture as learned through Dragonball Z reruns on Cartoon Network and PlayStation games?
It is always just wretched.
Quote from: Dr Rotwang!
And thus he came, Pink Tie blazing,
Upon Borgstrom's Book, the Flower-Tome,
The Book of Nobles, Coffee-table game.
His eye fell upon it, and then fell right off.
"Where's the damn robots?" he said,
And went off to play Toon.[/SIZE]
Hehehe... nice one.
I really wanted to like Nobilis but I find it unreadable and I'm not overly sure as to what to do with it either.
Weapons of the Gods - Left me cold from day one due to the fact that I've realised recently that I absolutely hate kung-fu films. Any RPG with asian influences that isn't utterly realistic and all about Samurais cutting each other to shreds on a whim is going to be lost to me.
GURPS - Too many rules. I refuse to have anything to do with any RPG that has a 300 page core book which is nothing but rules. Life is too damn short.
Any Superhero game - I don't read superhero comics, I never have. Not interested in the least. The fact that these games usually come with hundreds and hundreds of pages of rules makes this even worse. I don't mind pulp so much but even then, I couldn't ever write that kind of shit.
Any traditional fantasy game EVER - I don't read fat fantasy and for me, the rules of genre are like the rules of culinary excellence laid down by Escoffier... they're made to be broken. So D&D worlds, Earthdawn, Various fantasy games all leave me utterly cold. I have as much interest in that shit as I do in romance novels. The only fantasy games I really actively like are WHFRP because it's not really about being heroic (ideally) and Stormbringer simply because it's an excellent system.
Oh yeah, I've never been able to get into
Superhero games. I've got nothing against the genre, but for some reason I just can't get excited about a Supers RPG.
Quote from: palehorseI've got nothing against Mormons, because honestly I don't know much about them...
Well, aside from the fact that Mormonism involves belief in some fictional entity (cough*God*cough), it requires its adherents to refrain from the consumption of
coffee and
alcohol.
Any deity that requires that shit is definitely
not a 'loving' one. :mad:
Quote from: YamoIs there anything more lame and embarrassing than a bunch of WASPy honky dorks trying to ape Asian culture as learned through Dragonball Z reruns on Cartoon Network and PlayStation games?
It is always just wretched.
Talk about hitting the nail on the head.
Quote from: Dr Rotwang!
"Where's the damn robots?" he said,
And went off to play Toon.[/SIZE]
Go with the Chancel Resources "Extrapolative Technology" and "Weird Science: Advanced Robotics", and perhaps "Magical Inhabitants: Cybernetic Soldiers" or some such thing. Of course, playing a robot as a
PC wouldn't present any kind of a problem: one of the Nobles from the book is a futuristic nanotech assemblage, after all.
Quote from: Mr. AnalyticalI really wanted to like Nobilis but I find it unreadable and I'm not overly sure as to what to do with it either.
"When in doubt, send in an Excrucian with a flower rite." Investigating the occasional Breakthroughs and the disturbances which follow in the style of
Sapphire and Steel is very much the default scenario in the game.
Anything by White Wolf, especially Vampire - why should I play a homicidal monster again? The rules do nothing for me as well.
Any game that's sold purely on the basis of its setting. Talistlanta. 7th Sea. Deadlands. They get nothing but indifference from me.
D&D and other D20 based games. They seem to cover in great detail stuff that I don't want covered in great detail.
Weapons of the Gods physically pained me, because gaming desperately needed a good game for running campaigns in historical China, but the moment I heard it was a Borgstrom project, I knew this WASN'T going to be it. I figured, and I was right on the money on this one, that it would be a wordy incoherent jumbled mess of a game filled with pretentious poetry, fiction, posturing, and self-aggrandizement.
Luckily, Qin is here now. Qin is the anti-borgstrom.
RPGPundit
Quote from: flyingmiceExalted - anime illos
Other than a couple of covers by the person who did the graphic design work for the Magna Carta console RPG, where is this anime illustration people keep referring to in Exalted? All I ever see are the illos by the person that used to do Jovian Chronicles, and they bear no resemblance to anime/manga whatsoever.
I have the same issue with BESM, although a couple of the artists for that game did at least have an "anime" style. But most of them didn't.
Exalted--yuck
WotG- see above
Nobilis
DitV
there are many others, but then i can be picky.
Myself, I like Exalted's comic-book look at pan-asian mythology. It's no stupider than when the Japanese make a mockery of their own legends and history (see Samurai Champloo, Giant Robo, Dragon Ball.)
Something that's both popular and not for me 1st edition-style D&D. d20 won my heart with its 5' squares and feats and CR. 1st edition has thus far resisted all my efforts to decode Gygax's writing. d20 just clicks in my brain more easily.
I started out with straight-up D&D and it was a blast and a half. I really missed its simplicity when I moved "up" to 2nd edition. 3rd edition (which hit when I was still in high school) seemed to take care of all the things I missed from D&D (simple, direct rules) and hated from AD&D (the punching table, d6 millenia to craft up a dagger +1, druid advancement...)
I don't feel the need to change up.
(If any of the above posters still have their WotG copies, PM me a price. As much vitriol and spooge as this game's produced online, I have to see it for myself.)
Exalted.
Forgotten Realms.
About 95% of all d20 stuff.
Most wuxia/martial arts stuff: I used to like it a lot more, but I think the overexposure made me get tired of it. Now I can only take it in small, tightly controlled doses.
Spycraft 2.0: I really wanted to like this one, and indeed there's definitely parts of it I like, but in the end it was just too complicated for my tastes. I won't rule it out, though, as I may warm up to it at some point.
Serenity: Not enough setting info that I can't easily find elsewhere, and the system, while passable, is not unique enough to make me want to use it rather than one I know better (such as Savage Worlds or D20 Modern/Future).
Dogs in the Vineyard: I too think the premise sounds neat, but the system is too narrative-focused for me (and what's with all the combinations of different dice?).
I don't care for Exalted, when I first heard of it I thought "Gilgamesh RPG" based on what they said of it--that was cool--faux D&D through Wuxia was not what I wanted.
A lot of 2 editions seem to lose the spark of the 1E game...in general (M&M 2E for me, loved 1E found 2E too complex)
Gamma World d20.
See, I missed all Teh Drama-Llama around the author and the creation before I actually spent money on it.
I like 1-4th Ed Gamma World. It was fucking beat a mutant with a yearbook fucking great! Mutated badgers, death ray guns, powered armor, out of control robots! Cool ass mutations and 1950's pulp radiation effects!
So I ran out and bought d20 Gamma World with a grin on my fucking mug and a song in my metal little primary fluid pump.
And read the most craptacular thing ever.
I rarely talk about it, because of the "This isn't your daddy's Gamma World" comment made me want to scream "IT'S FUCKING GAMMA WORLD, ASSHOLE!"
See, when I bought it, I had certian expectations. Gamma World == Cool ass mutants, out of control robots that could whip Demogorgon's ass, and all that fun stuff.
Oh, and to that fucking bright guy who inferred that we didn't understand how radiation worked in the 1980's, that's why it was changed: Eat cock.
Why Eberron Left Me Cold
Take a continent about the size of Asian Russia. Give it a population of around 15 million people. That's total, for the entire continent. Even with the technology available to the typical band of Homo erectus the place is underpopulated. There is no reasonable way those people are going to be able to support incipient agriculture, let alone a magical railroad. Hell, they don't even need agriculture, the resources available to hunter/gatherers are more than adequate to support their numbers.
With medieval technology good farmland can support a hundred or more people a square mile. What with wasteland and marginal terrain, figure an average of 50 people a square mile. So the continent of Khorvaire should have up to 375 million people. More if we're talking steam age technology, as exemplified by the lightning rail.
And where did the lightning rail come from? How did the basics develop, and why don't we see that level of technology in other areas of life? I mean, based on golems and constructs as they are, the warforged are almost plausible, but the lightning rail has no antecedents. As such it makes no damn sense whatsoever.
BTW, huge continent maps have a far different look than small island maps. The map for Khovaire looks like the map for a small island.
Quote from: T-WillardGamma World d20.
Oh, and to that fucking bright guy who inferred that we didn't understand how radiation worked in the 1980's, that's why it was changed: Eat cock.
I've known how radiation worked since the early 80's (as a child), and still loved Gamma World, and Marvel comics--sometimes you do stuff cause its FUN for it not to be like the real world.
So yeah, I agree.
Quote from: Zachary The FirstPurple Site Darlings, mainstream releases you're "supposed" to love, Monumental Works of Small-Press Genius--it seems like everyone around you is digging these titles, but you just can't seem to get into them? What's your list of these products you just can't seem to dig?
Unknown Armies tops my list. Bought it in plastic wrap while I was living in Tokyo because of how good various people were saying it was. Ugh.
Quote from: John MorrowUnknown Armies tops my list. Bought it in plastic wrap while I was living in Tokyo because of how good various people were saying it was. Ugh.
It stuck me as very self-indulgent. And "edgy" in a very dated 90s sort of way.
Oh, that reminds me. There used to be a lot of hype online about Over the Edge. I happened to get a copy of this book. It was given to me for free. That should have been a warning light right there.
Not until I later discovered the Forge, did I ever see another such random half baked set of concepts masquerading as a RPG as Over the Edge. Utter crap.
The more amusing thing came when I tried to get rid of it. RPGs are difficult to find a buyer for even in the best of times, but when the book in question is such obvious and horrendous crap as OtE was, well, I had my work cut out for me.
Finally, after months of being unable to even unload the book on anyone else for free, in exasperation I offered $5 to a gamer acquantance of mine to just take the book and keep it out of my sight. He took me up on my joke, and I delivered the cash. I found it pretty amusing at the time, and still do: Over the Edge, the RPG book so bad I had to PAY someone to take it.
He quit gaming altogether after reading it. Coincidence?
Quote from: YamoIt stuck me as very self-indulgent. And "edgy" in a very dated 90s sort of way.
That's not a bad summary of it. That, and "yucky". Not in a good way, either. Sort of in a "floor of an adult theater" sort of way.
Exalted & Weapons of the Gods: Though I like wuxia, I have not been able to finish the 1st ed of Exalted since I got it... in 2002.
D&D and all the D&D ripoffs out there: Typical D&D game seems bland as turkey shit for me. Specially the FR setting. I have to make an exception with WHFRPG, which rocks my socks.
Superhero games: I've never been interested on them, though I like SH comics.
OTOH, I like Nobilis and UA. Different people...
Shadowrun 1st Ed.
Magic made just about every piece of technology pointless.
Exalted.
I got the free download from drivethru on a promotion, the core book had a really good sword and sorcery style setting, great stuff.
And then there were rules, many, many rules. Copious rules on freeflowing wuxia action, and I do not see how exactly one gets a high flying freeflowing game from that many rules.
Just painful. I understand that the sourebooks filled in the setting too so they even killed that bit.
Re Over the Edge, the rules work very well. The setting is adolescent shite that is just a bunch of US perceptions of what overseas is like written as if the authors had never flown further than Milwaukee, but the rules work very well for a light game set in a roughly contemporary setting.
That's the thing about Amaja, it's supposed to be an extreme version of a European nation as seen through American eyes. As presented in George Orwell's 1984 as interpreted by Terry Gilliam's Brazil. It was written over the top.
Whatever paranoid fantasies you ever had about Central European Warsaw Pact states can be found in Amaja, turned up to 12.
Quote from: mythusmageThat's the thing about Amaja, it's supposed to be an extreme version of a European nation as seen through American eyes. As presented in George Orwell's 1984 as interpreted by Terry Gilliam's Brazil.
Ahem... You left out the obvious influence: Interzone (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_Lunch).
QuoteWhy Eberron Left Me Cold
Take a continent about the size of Asian Russia. Give it a population of around 15 million people. That's total, for the entire continent. Even with the technology available to the typical band of Homo erectus the place is underpopulated. There is no reasonable way those people are going to be able to support incipient agriculture, let alone a magical railroad. Hell, they don't even need agriculture, the resources available to hunter/gatherers are more than adequate to support their numbers.
With medieval technology good farmland can support a hundred or more people a square mile. What with wasteland and marginal terrain, figure an average of 50 people a square mile. So the continent of Khorvaire should have up to 375 million people. More if we're talking steam age technology, as exemplified by the lightning rail.
And where did the lightning rail come from? How did the basics develop, and why don't we see that level of technology in other areas of life? I mean, based on golems and constructs as they are, the warforged are almost plausible, but the lightning rail has no antecedents. As such it makes no damn sense whatsoever.
BTW, huge continent maps have a far different look than small island maps. The map for Khovaire looks like the map for a small island.
I'm a geographer/cartographer.
You are truly speaking my innermost thoughts.
Still, I love my Warforged Scout Scout.
QuoteWhy Eberron Left Me Cold
Take a continent about the size of Asian Russia. Give it a population of around 15 million people. That's total, for the entire continent. Even with the technology available to the typical band of Homo erectus the place is underpopulated. There is no reasonable way those people are going to be able to support incipient agriculture, let alone a magical railroad. Hell, they don't even need agriculture, the resources available to hunter/gatherers are more than adequate to support their numbers.
With medieval technology good farmland can support a hundred or more people a square mile. What with wasteland and marginal terrain, figure an average of 50 people a square mile. So the continent of Khorvaire should have up to 375 million people. More if we're talking steam age technology, as exemplified by the lightning rail.
And where did the lightning rail come from? How did the basics develop, and why don't we see that level of technology in other areas of life? I mean, based on golems and constructs as they are, the warforged are almost plausible, but the lightning rail has no antecedents. As such it makes no damn sense whatsoever.
BTW, huge continent maps have a far different look than small island maps. The map for Khovaire looks like the map for a small island.
I'm a geographer/cartographer.
You are truly speaking my innermost thoughts.
Still, I love my Warforged Scout Scout.
Quote from: BalbinusRe Over the Edge, the rules work very well. The setting is adolescent shite that is just a bunch of US perceptions of what overseas is like written as if the authors had never flown further than Milwaukee, but the rules work very well for a light game set in a roughly contemporary setting.
I would never have thought of Over the Edge in that sense in the very least. Rather, it is an RPG inspired by the truly wierd gonzo shit in the spirit of William S. Burroughs and Hunter S. Thompson, set in a third-world banana republic.
It isn't "realistic" in the least, but its not meant to be. Its supposed to be surrealistic, by definition. And I don't see it as very adolescent at all.
RPGPundit
Quote from: RPGPunditI would never have thought of Over the Edge in that sense in the very least. Rather, it is an RPG inspired by the truly wierd gonzo shit in the spirit of William S. Burroughs and Hunter S. Thompson, set in a third-world banana republic.
It isn't "realistic" in the least, but its not meant to be. Its supposed to be surrealistic, by definition. And I don't see it as very adolescent at all.
RPGPundit
I definitely see the Burroughs and Thompson influences, but things like noose neckties and frat houses in a European context are to be adolescent, not terribly surrealistic and in the latter case showing a profound ignorance that Europe is not America.
I was a bit harsh though, it has moments of surreal genius too and the Burroughs is very much there to be seen. It is to Burroughs as UA is to Tim Powers so fair point. But it does feel very American to me, I think it would work better if relocated to the Caribbean as it just has no European cultural feel to it at all.
I also think it suffers from having a bit too much in it, some of the ideas are great, some are a bit lame, and all at once means I can't believe it at all as it doesn't follow even twisted dream logic and so I cease to care. There is a logic to the Interzone, albeit a symbolic logic.
Well, as I recall it, I haven't read Burroughs in about 20 years but as I recall stuff made thematic sense still.
Y'know what I like about OTE? It's weird. Like, I don't want to think too hard about it, it's so weird. It's like this big mish-mash of cultural influences, SF, horror, paranoid delusions, weird science and surrealism. I just look at it and go, "Baboon Rent-A-Cops? Okay! I'm down with that."
I'm totally turned off by Iron Heroes.
Quote from: Dr Rotwang!Y'know what I like about OTE? It's weird. Like, I don't want to think too hard about it, it's so weird. It's like this big mish-mash of cultural influences, SF, horror, paranoid delusions, weird science and surrealism. I just look at it and go, "Baboon Rent-A-Cops? Okay! I'm down with that."
Hmmm, I am becoming very tempted to sig your last line. Should the temptation overcome me, would you mind if I did? :D
Exalted - other than the cover of Savant & Sorcerer I don't see the appeal.
Quote from: Dr Rotwang!Y'know what I like about OTE? It's weird. Like, I don't want to think too hard about it, it's so weird. It's like this big mish-mash of cultural influences, SF, horror, paranoid delusions, weird science and surrealism. I just look at it and go, "Baboon Rent-A-Cops? Okay! I'm down with that."
That's fantastic. And I agree. OTE is one of those games where you just roll with the punches--accepting strangeness, the macabre, and the unknown just seems easier with OTE, somehow.
Quote from: Zachary The FirstThat's fantastic. And I agree. OTE is one of those games where you just roll with the punches--accepting strangeness, the macabre, and the unknown just seems easier with OTE, somehow.
I loved it for the setting. It was seething with coolness.
It was what got me to take a chance on the system.
Which of course, led me to hate the system.
I'd do the game in FUDGE, or a dozen other systems. I think OTE's system is a freaking joke.
Quote from: Mystery ManI'm totally turned off by Iron Heroes.
Really? I'd be interested to hear what left you cold.
Quote from: Caesar SlaadI loved it for the setting. It was seething with coolness.
It was what got me to take a chance on the system.
Which of course, led me to hate the system.
I'd do the game in FUDGE, or a dozen other systems. I think OTE's system is a freaking joke.
I saw
Over the Edge being born in the pages of
Alarums and Excursions. Tweet's aim was to produce a game emulating the weirdness of the writings of William S. Burroughs, and he designed the system he did to illustrate the insane surrealism. He wanted it to be a disturbing, disquieting experience. From your reaction it would appear he succeeded. :)
The system he designed for
Everyway was made that way to fit the feel he was going with that game.
Not a big fan of Exalted, either, but it's not really the game's fault - just my own personal druthers. I don't enjoy anime or manga - which I'm reminded of every time I see this line - and the setting isn't my cup of tea.
I know quite a few people who do enjoy it, though, so I'm sure for the right person it's a good game.
I think Exalted is much more anime/manga dependant than the kool-aid brigade is willing to admit. They'll just too happy to tell you about how it's based on the Ramayana and the Metamorphoses and so on, right up until they launch into how the fights are JUST LIKE INU YASHA OMG.
I like Exalted, and it has everything to do with my enjoyment of fantasy manga. If I wanted to play tragic high fantasy, there are six million ways to do it without cartoon broadswords and dinosaur-fu. If I want to run Giant Robo in pan-Asian myth, Exalted's a perfect fit.
Quote from: fonkaygarryReally? I'd be interested to hear what left you cold.
No one thing really, it just doesn't do it for me.
Avadnu is another one that just doesn't grab me at all.
Quote from: Mystery ManNo one thing really, it just doesn't do it for me.
Avadnu is another one that just doesn't grab me at all.
I went out of my way to pick up IH and a few supplements on the cheap. I like the idea behind it, but so far it's not enthusing me to play it.
Avadnu, on the other hand, is the bees knees to me. The freshest thing I've seen for d20 fantasy in a while. Hits on fantasy horror tropes without being an exact photocopy of what came before.
As a genre, any game based on anime or manga just holds no interest for me.