Wasn’t Synnibar the game that the author had a conniption fit with various gaming critics & Magazines when they said his game was for power lusting players?
Dammit. Someone beat me to Fatal, Spawn of Fashan*, AND Synnibar.
The worst I’ve read was a game called Mega. shudder It was some sort of monstrosity inflicted on us by a couple of scandinavian guys with way too much time on their hands. I spent 3 hours once trying to make a character with it and had to give up. I’d give more information about it, but I seem to be have succeeded at blocking out most of the memories. The salient points were: “Universal” system. Homebrew feel. Homebrew graphics. Horrible engrish fiction as examples. Not a single page in the thick hardcover book that didn’t have at least one table.
As for creeping rules stupidities, I really recommend digging up a copy of “Murphy’s Rules.” It’s a hysterical guided tour of the dumber end of the gaming spectrum.
I think, if the authors of that book ever made a sequel, they could devoted an entire volume to Palladium books. As much as I have fond memories of the settings, I still have to say Palladium gaming supplements are the poorest edited in the business. As an example, I recall reading a paragraph in one of the Rifts supplements that said something like (paraphrasing losely) “The Coalition makes use of many types of mutant dogs such as dobermans and bears…”
- Incidentally, I believe RPG.net has a great article somewhere by someone who tried to make a character under Spawn of Fashan. Glorious reading.
I was going to suggest Gamma World or many of the homegrown systems that my friends and I came up with threw the years until I saw Fatal. Damn that is bad. However, I downloaded the character generator and made a quick character. Actually I shouldn’t say it was quick since it took a while and reading through the site and the generator puts a major strain on your eyes. However, it finally produced a squeeky clean character in txt format.
And that was my character. I liked how I am 92 inches and 704 lbs with a 4.37 inch long manhood. Well, I assume the lengths are in inches. I also laugh that I am heterosexual but my anal circumference is 18 inches. I can probably destroy and clog toilets with Lieu now. 
No offense intended to our potty going doper.
The game’s author was, if I remember properly, a complete raving mad loon. He said somewhere (an interview?) that everything about the game was completely and totally authentic because it all comes from his personal experiences as insert long list of improbable professions such as green beret, bus driver, ad nauseum. Yes, even the parts with the shape-shifting ninja gnome wizards.
I see they have a copyright on their character sheet. I am assuming it is a copyright of the game.
Oh, hell. Here’s that article I mentioned earlier about the guy attempting to make a character in Spawn of Fashan: http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_6157.html
If you nose around the site you can also find the review of Synnibar mentioned by someone else earlier on.
While you’re at it, search for “Rahowa”, an RPG by a half-wit skinhead. It’s short for “Racial Holy War”. The name is probably the best part of the game. It’s actually more dreadful than it sounds.
Somebody really needs to mention the AD&D 1st Ed. Unarmed Combat & Pummeling tables.
OUCH!
As for Gamma World, back in the 80’s, I ran a campaign in a gaming shop that went on for weeks, & was very popular.
A good GM can work around the problems in the system, by good “fudging”.
The first couple of editions of Traveler were a horrid mess. They improved the system somewhat, but it still remained more of an exersize in “spreadsheet gaming” than actual fun.
My God… there’s one I’ve not heard before.
What the heck is formicophilia? Intercourse with ants?
Spawn of Fashan? Ha!
Take a look atHybrid
My car-wreck-curiosity got the better of me, so I just Googled it. Apparently it refers to a sexual interest in any type of insects.
Don’t act all innocent, bughunter! 
I wasn’t sure if I should have googled that one at work. I had no idea. Thanks Umbriel. The whole character sheet is confusing. They have explanations about what it is in the random generator but good luck reading it. It is dark marroon/red on black background in a dos prompt box that you can’t recolor or resize.
Crap, I forgot to add, formicophillia will make my character’s allergy to bee stings deadly. I definately won’t ever be playing that game though it is funny to have the character made for the train wreck factor.
Dang. tanstaafl beat me to it Hybrid is the ultimate in bad RPGs. Here is but one small sample.
RULE # 60 : C1 DP for a tall guy with height in ft. = [10*([2*LN(height)]^(1/2))] ; height in ft. for a guy = [e^(((C1/10)^2)/2)]. So, a mutant @ 20 C1 COM would have a height of 7.389 ft. NOTE that 20 C1 DP COM = 49.28 C2 DP = 24.286 COM for a low level male mutant @ 20 C1 DP ; so, [20 C1 COM] doesn’t exactly equal 20 COM @ DP = 44.721 C2 power level @ DP, even less so if COM is @ power level. THEN, a powerful sentient (energy-based) robot @ height of 1 million miles would get a 67 C1 default psyche or 67 C1 DP. Or, height = e^[(C2^(1/2)) / 2], ft. tall for a guy @ [# C2] : the powerful sentient robot @ 67 C1 DP with this latter equation would have a height of 2,347,290 or 2.3 million miles. NOTE that C2 = C1^LOG10(C1). Look @ RULE # 74, # 75, & # 76.
Okay, I have to give Hybrid some props – never in a million years did I expect to see an RPG that could bring together Spider-Man, Wolverine, Masters of the Universe, Green Lantern, and a brownie recipie … until now. :eek:
NSFW! Someone should have told me!
That would be Raven c.s. McCracken. I don’t know what the c.s. stands for precisely, but I have a few guesses most of which start with “complete.”
By all accounts the creator of F.A.T.A.L. is (shock of shocks) a college student at some fairly boring midwestern university from what I remember. I’m probably wrong.
Oops. Sorry, my bad.
As far as major market RPGs . . .well throw a rock at any the huge shelf of 1st year, 3rd party d20 games. Nearly all of them suck and most of them have broken, incomplete or contradictory rules.
One of my “favorites” is a pulp game called Forbidden Kingdoms that fails to define. . . hmmm, roughly 1 out of any 3 of their new feats or abilities. Neato, thanks guys.
Man, I’ve seen physics, calculus, and physical chemistry problems that were easier. What kind of character generator uses the natural log for something?
The James Bond RPG might actually be even more flawed. Never could understand the reasoning behind the players bidding against the GM to see which side would go first and at what difficulty level whenever the heroes went head-to-head against NPCs.
Somebody else might remember this game. I bought it when I was in 8th grade in 1989. It was a futuristic superhero game described on the back of the box as “not needing a PhD in math to make a character.” Great, I liked superhero games and this one looked interesting so I bought it.
Only to learn that in order to calculate secondary stats you had to figure out square roots, cube certain numbers, and do all sorts of other math problems. Pissed me off to no end.
Marc