MGibster
Legend
Once in a while we come across an RPG that surprises us. Maybe we had low expectations and were surprised by how much we loved it. Or maybe we had high expectations and it disappointed us on every level. I'm curous about what RPG release surprised you and in what way? It can be a base game, a setting book, an adventure, a supplement of some kind or whatever. I'll go first.
Underseas for Rifts. This came out in 1994 when I was pretty close to the tail end of my interest in all things Palladium, and being that this was a book all about stuff happening underwater I had about zero interest in this. For some reason I picked it up anyway and I loved it. A big floating city called Tritonia, the descendants of the U.S. Navy still making splash, a giant squid bent on devouring the world but promising his minions 20 years of power before being eaten, and a few other factions meant this was actually a very interesting setting. It did suffer from Palladium's habit of promising to publish more details in the future (how's Mechanoids coming along?), but it was a fun bit of fluff.
The Merchant's Guide to Rokugan was released in 1999 and I bought it as soon as I saw it at the game store. Reading the blurb on the back cover, this book was supposed to be all about, well, the economy. The book was to detail the class of half-people (merchants) who wielded a lot more power than anyone recognized, tell us all about the Unicorn caravans moving goods from outside the Empire, and even campaigns revolving around economic activities that were the lifeblood of the empire. It was only when I got home and started reading that I realized I had purchased a pig in a poke. This book wasn't about the economy, it was all about a secret organization called the Kolat who had been spending the last thousand years plotting to destroy the Hantei dynasty. Boy, was I ever disappointed.
Underseas for Rifts. This came out in 1994 when I was pretty close to the tail end of my interest in all things Palladium, and being that this was a book all about stuff happening underwater I had about zero interest in this. For some reason I picked it up anyway and I loved it. A big floating city called Tritonia, the descendants of the U.S. Navy still making splash, a giant squid bent on devouring the world but promising his minions 20 years of power before being eaten, and a few other factions meant this was actually a very interesting setting. It did suffer from Palladium's habit of promising to publish more details in the future (how's Mechanoids coming along?), but it was a fun bit of fluff.
The Merchant's Guide to Rokugan was released in 1999 and I bought it as soon as I saw it at the game store. Reading the blurb on the back cover, this book was supposed to be all about, well, the economy. The book was to detail the class of half-people (merchants) who wielded a lot more power than anyone recognized, tell us all about the Unicorn caravans moving goods from outside the Empire, and even campaigns revolving around economic activities that were the lifeblood of the empire. It was only when I got home and started reading that I realized I had purchased a pig in a poke. This book wasn't about the economy, it was all about a secret organization called the Kolat who had been spending the last thousand years plotting to destroy the Hantei dynasty. Boy, was I ever disappointed.