Quote from: GrimGentSplatterpunk instead of Gothic-Punk, and heavier on the punk aspect than WoD ever was; and I honestly wouldn't say that it was crazier than, say, the first edition of Mage: The Ascension.

I don't think you can even compare the two. It's less than serious and that puts it in a different playing field.

Quote from: pigames.netI don't think you can even compare the two. It's less than serious and that puts it in a different playing field.

White Wolf Magazine (Inphobia) used to feature an occasional article for Nightlife... Anyway, it's not as the WW games were always filled with the ol' doom & gloom. Changeling, anyone?

Quote from: pigames.netCan we limit this to actual games and not stuff you've invented?

I suppose...sorry.

The games that I've actually run haven't been that strange, come to think of it... To an outside observer, Puppetland would probably seem the oddest.

Quote from: GrimGentWhite Wolf Magazine (Inphobia) used to feature an occasional article for Nightlife... Anyway, it's not as the WW games were always filled with the ol' doom & gloom. Changeling, anyone?

Speaking of Changeling, I think it was probably the best of the Storyteller games. I suppose it could qualify for crazy, although it wasn't overly so.

P.S. Rotwang, if I see Encounter Critical mentioned one more time, I'm going to find your house and take it from you

Quote from: pigames.netSpeaking of Changeling, I think it was probably the best of the Storyteller games.

I'd say that it would have been better off without any connections to the World of Darkness.

Quote from: GrimGentI'd say that it would have been better off without any connections to the World of Darkness.

Agreed! I don't have a problem with World of Darkness (well, the old one), but not everything belongs in it.

Quote from: pigames.netP.S. Rotwang, if I see Encounter Critical mentioned one more time, I'm going to find your house and take it from you

What's with the hate?

Furthermore, good luck.  I can get more.

Quote from: Dr Rotwang!What's with the hate?

Furthermore, good luck.  I can get more.

Explain Encounter Critical in one paragraph. What is the fascination?

Quote from: pigames.netExplain Encounter Critical in one paragraph. What is the fascination?

Advanced Robodroid Doxies in the Jungle of the Ape Sultans?

ENCOUNTER CRITICAL IN ONE PARAGRAPH
The most rampantly un-selfconscious chunk of Moutain Dew-dripping SF/fantasy monster-mash early RPG creation ever constructed by hand of man.  It's like a Twinkie, and the creamy filling is the pure, sugary love of games and what they can be about.  Also, it allows for cybernetically-ehanced caveman criminals.

Seriously, Brett.  Get a copy.  It's free.  Look it over.  Beneath its rough (VERY rough) exterior of Wookies who can eat their own excretions beats the very love of this hobby.  

Remember what Isaac Asimov said about the golden age of SF being "Twelve"?

Encounter Critical is everything great about Rifts, World of Synnibarr, and Arduin boiled down into a fun little package.  When I ran it the party consisted of an elf ninja/psychic, a sexually frustrated half-elf half-vulkin sorceress, a robot that was a satanist, Ensign Checkov, and Thundarr the Barbarian.  They fought a wizard who was building a rocketship.

You are kidding me, right?:confused:

Quote from: pigames.netYou are kidding me, right?:confused:

Nope. Not that I've ever actually run the game, but that's pretty much how I'd imagine it to turn out.

(Wait a sec... No one in the thread has linked to EC yet? 'Ere you go.)

Quote from: pigames.netYou are kidding me, right?:confused:

Nope.  

On the surface, it's a realy WTFer.  But believe me, when you hold it in your hands, and you read it...things change.

The game reads like something written by a couple of gamers in their teens, ca. 1978.  They're concerned with their design being "right", going so far as to claim that their game is the only one that takes into account "real scientific realism"...but they're a little more concerned with finding a way to game (and celebrate) the things that they love -- and they love SF and fantasy. They love it a lot.  

The first time I read over EC, I thought, "Bwuhh...?"  It was kind of dumb, frankly, and kind of spastic.  It was like this bizarre monstermash with radioactive monsters and killer bee girls and phasic swamps, whatever the hell those are.

There came a point of transcendence for me, however, about halfway through the book -- when I realized that I was reading a love letter to gaming.  

EC is about the sheer, lunatic joy of the hobby -- of pretending to be things we aren't, of emulating those sources that give us joy, those nerdy little pleasures that get our legs a-jiggerin'.  It's everything about gaming that's kind of crazy and kind of odd and kind of sad and kind of dumb, but it's presented with such love and such honesty that you can't help but love it.  

It's one of the things that has got me re-thinking my approach to gaming.