Games you like to read but hated playing

capmarvel · Post by **capmarvel** » Mon Jan 06, 2014 4:37 pm

I know there are all kinds of factors involved - game master, group of players, setting, etc - but just curious if there was a game (or games) you read and "loved" but found when you played it you disliked it. Also, games you read and didn't think much of, but after you played it you liked it.

kreider204 · Post by **kreider204** » Mon Jan 06, 2014 5:12 pm

Rolemaster, for sure. In fact, I never even had the guts to run it.

Fun to read, though!

Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Mon Jan 06, 2014 8:32 pm

Harn. Love to read it, but have never tried the system. As for surprised I liked it once I did play, that would be most RPG's I like to play. FATE, Chtulhu Tech, Eclipse Phase, Savage Worlds, etc...

alcyone · Post by **alcyone** » Mon Jan 06, 2014 9:27 pm

I don't think any games I liked on paper have ever disappointed, though maybe some I disliked on paper were a little more fun than I thought they'd be.

Buttmonkey · Post by **Buttmonkey** » Mon Jan 06, 2014 9:38 pm

I loved reading through Paranoia materials in the late 80s. Extremely funny stuff. I've never actually played it, so it's not really fair for me to say I "hated playing" it, but I can't fathom how it could work as a game in real life. It's dungeon master humor.

dunbruha · Post by **dunbruha** » Tue Jan 07, 2014 2:06 am

Dying Earth RPG. Hilarious to read, but I can't imagine playing it.

Relaxo · Post by **Relaxo** » Tue Jan 07, 2014 5:09 am

Rifts really sparks my imagination, but the one time we played it didn't work out. Which is weird because we ran some TMNT games and had a blast as a team of mutant warrior sheep.

Werewolf the Apocalypse, I didn't "get" on my first reading, but after playing it for about 10 minutes, it quickly became one of my favorites. I had a blast with WtA back in the day. it might be the best vicarious adrenaline combat blow off steam game for angry young men out there.

Similarly, Vampire and Mage seemed irritating to read, though in all fairness, I never played either, and Vampire sounds like fun to play.

Paranoia is another favorite, but it needs a deft hand from the GM, IMO. We only played once, but this game was epic and legendary for years to follow. we all got slaughtered, slaughtered each other, nearly destroyed everything by accident and again on purpose, completely lost track of our mission objections and somehow managed to get a few secret society goals done. We laughed until we almost pissed ourselves. I can't look at paranoia now without smiling. I think we only played that one game for fear of the follow up just not living up to the first game. the silly icing on the absurd cake was the GM set out bowls of M&Ms sorted by color, just waiting for someone to grab one that wasn't red. LOL!

Aside: I'm surprised there isn't a Paranoia edition of Munchkin... perhaps they're too similar in the 'screw your buddies' aspect, so the humorous skewer just isn't there.

Post by **finarvyn** » Fri Jan 10, 2014 11:07 pm

dunbruha wrote:Dying Earth RPG. Hilarious to read, but I can't imagine playing it.

+1 to this!

I think my brain is only wired to interpret certain types of RPG styles. I keep reading the SORCERER RPG and just can't get it to click in my brain.

Sir Ironside · Post by **Sir Ironside** » Fri Jan 10, 2014 11:19 pm

One word.

Prometheus.

alcyone · Post by **alcyone** » Tue Jan 14, 2014 3:46 pm

I've never played it, but I bought World of Synnibarr at half-price books, thinking, well, this has a lot of tables. i guess I like tables OK. We'll get it home and see what it's all about.

But I read it and couldn't understand it at all. It throws up some sort of protective madness shield that makes it impossible to read. Sometimes I get some chapters into it and think I might finally understand enough to make a character, but as soon as I look away my understanding is gone.

Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Tue Jan 14, 2014 10:06 pm

Aergraith wrote:I've never played it, but I bought World of Synnibarr at half-price books, thinking, well, this has a lot of tables. i guess I like tables OK. We'll get it home and see what it's all about.

But I read it and couldn't understand it at all. It throws up some sort of protective madness shield that makes it impossible to read. Sometimes I get some chapters into it and think I might finally understand enough to make a character, but as soon as I look away my understanding is gone.

I actually ran a very fun year long campaign, and agree it was a challenge to figure out the rules, but if you want help, let me know.

capmarvel · Post by **capmarvel** » Fri Jan 17, 2014 12:19 am

I'm trying to "enjoy" Savage Worlds...it seems like I should enjoy it...but some of the math throws me off. I've had some discussions on their forums and has some intelligent answers to my questions ...still, I believe it's a game I'll have to play to really make up my mind about it.

Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Fri Jan 17, 2014 1:20 am

capmarvel wrote:I'm trying to "enjoy" Savage Worlds...it seems like I should enjoy it...but some of the math throws me off. I've had some discussions on their forums and has some intelligent answers to my questions ...still, I believe it's a game I'll have to play to really make up my mind about it.

Yeah, I am not a big fan of their resolution system. The numbers just feel wonky to me. Same deal with CORTEX, but I still manage to have fun despite the weirdness of the numbers to me.

kreider204 · Post by **kreider204** » Fri Jan 17, 2014 1:42 am

capmarvel wrote:I'm trying to "enjoy" Savage Worlds...it seems like I should enjoy it...but some of the math throws me off. I've had some discussions on their forums and has some intelligent answers to my questions ...still, I believe it's a game I'll have to play to really make up my mind about it.

I played SW almost exclusively for a few years, but started to get "bugged" by more and more of the system. Of course, if you express this at their forums, you get piled on by everyone, including the "impartial" moderators, which (fair or not) further turned me off to the game ... You might look into the Ubiquity system, especially Hollow Earth Expedition - it does a lot of what I like in SW, but without the wonkiness ... I believe the HEX rulebook is out in a new cheap travel-sized edition, you might check into it. In the meantime, you can find the quickstarts on their website (which seems not to be loading at the moment, but I'll post a link when it does).

(EDIT: Here we go: http://www.exilegames.com/downloads.html Look for the Free RPG Day adventures - they contain the quickstart rules.)

Sir Ironside · Post by **Sir Ironside** » Fri Jan 17, 2014 2:27 am

kreider204 wrote:
capmarvel wrote:I'm trying to "enjoy" Savage Worlds...it seems like I should enjoy it...but some of the math throws me off. I've had some discussions on their forums and has some intelligent answers to my questions ...still, I believe it's a game I'll have to play to really make up my mind about it.
I played SW almost exclusively for a few years, but started to get "bugged" by more and more of the system. Of course, if you express this at their forums, you get piled on by everyone, including the "impartial" moderators, which (fair or not) further turned me off to the game ... You might look into the Ubiquity system, especially Hollow Earth Expedition - it does a lot of what I like in SW, but without the wonkiness ... I believe the HEX rulebook is out in a new cheap travel-sized edition, you might check into it. In the meantime, you can find the quickstarts on their website (which seems not to be loading at the moment, but I'll post a link when it does).

I never played SW but have seen the system and I have had the Cortex system from Margaret Weis Productions (http://www.margaretweis.com) and thought that Cortex was a good rules system though SW never grokked with me, although they are similar.

YMMV and all that.

Breakdaddy · Post by **Breakdaddy** » Sat Jan 18, 2014 10:49 pm

Man, when I first played Twilight 2000 I totally hated it. Im a huge fan of the genre and military style campaigns but it was fiddly and the rules felt heavy and in the way of fun.
Fast forward a few years and my buddy Doug ran us thru a 2nd edition Twilight 2000 game. I was totally hooked. It rocked so hard I wanted to play that game exclusively for a good long while. I dont remember if the rules were that different but I do know Doug was an excellent GM for that game. Sadly we only every played under him twice before his home life got slaged and he had to reprioritize. I bought and still own the 2nd edition yellow box. Would love to play again.

I love me some Savage Worlds, but I get why there are folks who dont. Ive had discussions with people who loved and those that hated it and when we discussed reasoning, I could really see both sides. Still, I would play SW in a heartbeat if presented the opportunity.

tylermo · Post by **tylermo** » Sun Jan 19, 2014 8:49 am

Jason, come up to Southeast Missouri, and we'll play some Savage Worlds! Sci-fi Companion and Super Powers Companion revised coming very soon!

Eisenmann · Post by **Eisenmann** » Sun Jan 19, 2014 7:36 pm

Castles & Crusades.

I kid! I kid!

Not sure if there's been a game that I've hated playing. It's been more along the line of, "Okay, game X does this better for me than this one."

Troll Lord Games

Games you like to read but hated playing

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