Mr. Welch's Mad Musings: The World of Synnibarr

[@theblackpantslegion]

I love this episode because I hate this setting.

[@MrRourk]

Like Space Opera Unplayable

[@marcoantoniosalazarmatamor9496]

“(The players) will ruin the economy faster than Speedy Gonzalez on a Jolt Cola bender.” I had to stop the video for about three minutes because I couldn’t hear the rest of the film over my demented laughter.

[@phillipmele8533]

“At least it wasn’t written by a rape fetishist.” -Mr. Welch praising Synnibarr, 2019

[@Turntwobounceland]

Oh, boy. How did Raven c.s. McCracken know I wanted to take a calculus exam every time I cast magic missle?

[@allmight9840]

Ninja pillow attacks are beam attacks. Makes sense....

[@MARSHOMEWORLD]

A friend of mine had this wonderful trainwreck all the way back in the late 90's, but (hard to believe I know) we never got around to playing it. Just started a campaign(pain) and session zero took 4 hrs to make 3 characters. We've subsequently played once and...well, it's been alot more fun than it seems it would be at 1st glance, BUT this is largely due to the frequent exclamations of "McKracken!!!" we've elected to do every time the system seems too convoluted, or the math hits insanely ridiculous levels...or basically anything else the game's "Rules" fail at conveying in an efficient manner. I think we're going to turn the next session into a drinking game/RPG hybrid and this should smooth over any of the impending bumps & bruises the system has in store for us. I recommend this should become a game to play at Conventions. With booze. And by the way : kzbin.info/www/bejne/jGK2i2xuib-npqs You're welcome.

[@MARSHOMEWORLD]

@Maximillian Wylde Well Done, send them damn min-max her cheeks to the back of the line and then push them in a dumpster fire

[@MrBCWalker01]

It gets better--and I mean worse--when you read the one supplement. Those psychic ninja elves? They're ALL _literal Nazis_. Gestapo Nazi Elves. The Ninja? Broken into clans, each with their own rules adjustments; one of them is literally based off _Frank Dux_. Amazons? Ditto, from frigid she-bitches to Super-Barbie and so on. Every guild-trained adventurer is REQUIRED to endure a final test that STARTS with getting your arm cut off, then fighting some dudes for real, and hauling ass to someplace. At the end you eat the magic fruit that regrows your arm, but you have a scar where the stump was; if you fail _you have to do it again_. They put in an Elder God of Unmaking, whose's Avatar is a teenaged edgelord whiner giving Godhood AND this Elder God's power is more addicting than ANY drug. It takes the insanity of the rulebook and _gives it more insane context_. And yes, to this day McCracken defends BOTH books. At least it ain't FATAL.

[@theworldofsynnibarrsynniba6977]

We really enjoyed this. The reviewer has his points. This is why we took 12 years to redesign the system. Synnibarr3ed, is completely NEW. This go around we have instructional videos and a free tutorial on drive thru RPG. Thank you for your interest in Synnibarr. Make your Fate today.

[@Mr_Welch]

I would be more than happy to give it a review

[@twilight-2k]

Third edition was released in pdf form (and is (pretty sure) on DriveThru at least for backers). Skimming through, it did seem like an improvement over the old editions.

[@PhoenixFireZero]

Hardly high praise when the bar is so low

[@allmight9840]

Greetings from BPL

[@MsGorteck]

Oh my God, its Munchkin before Munchkin. One of your better reviews, thanks.

[@swytchblayd]

Munchkin as created by morons

[@ancientvaults]

You cannot beat the setting for depth of imagination and gonzo.

[@General-RADIX]

Synnibarr is the TTRPG equivalent of bizarro fiction (at least, that's my impression). Kind of a shame that it's a mechanical trainwreck that rewards munchkinism, 'cuz it seems like the surreal setting could be fun to use if you fleshed it out and properly connected some bits.

[@Kibbitz]

I got my copy decades ago. I don't remember what possessed me to buy it but I don't think I knew anything about it. My favourite part that I still remember about it is a description of McCracken making himself out to be some renaissance man who can do anything. Assuming I'm not misremembering.

[@jameseast9229]

I just picked up a copy at half price, and even having seen this Mad Musings before hand, I'm suprised how hard it is to parse literally anything in this book. I know what I sound like to normies when I talk about hexcrawls and percentile dice now. I personally think you undersold just how dense and incomprehensible the text can be at times. Great Review, still didn't stop me from wasting my money on a shelf piece though.

[@Grummar]

I guess the difference to the likes of FATAL is that while FATAL was conjured up by a sick mind, Synnabarr sprung from an idiotic mind.

[@plumfun6750]

:) My copies of Synnibarr (you heard that right...I have *4* copies; plus the one and only "Companion" book...only 2 of those). I think I GM a game or three every few years. C'mon...you NEED a multi-year break from it to regain your SAN! .. Synnibarr: I describe it as "An rpg written by a 14 year old hopped up on acid who saw Palladium Rifts RPG but then blacked out and woke up in the anime section of the video store...and thought to himself 'This will be AWESOME!'. Oh, did I mention the kid was also Chaotic Neutral?" :) Yeah. One thing I can honestly say about Synnibarr? We have NEVER had a bad time! Ever. It is, easily, the *best* system out there for running a completely ridiculous, confusing, WTF-is-going-on?!? anime campaign. Nothing screams ANIME like hearing "I punch the bridge for...470,000 points of damage! Does it come down?". ... Pro Tip for any brave enough to try Synnibarr: If it feels good...do it. You can NOT derail, screw up, or otherwise 'break' the rules; hard to break rules that are so broken that smashing them with a midnight-sunstone sledgehammer is an improvement. Think of it like adding the colour black to a pail full of black...you can do it, but it's not going to make any difference. ... Man. Synnibarr. Fun game for the sheer absurdity and well, just f'kin existing in our reality! NOTE: I do NOT accept ANY responsibility if anyone goes insane, or has their pet run away, or girlfriend/boyfriend leave them after even reading the book in part or in whole! :)

[@tf2redpie]

“At least it’s not FATAL” -new slogan Synnibarr

[@OhWolfy84]

I have a copy of this because a friend knew one of the guys who helped make it and got a bunch of free copies of it, and he passed it along to his friends. We played one campaign of this. It was increasing levels of stupid BS that ended shortly after one players blood mage turned a fire drakes hands into to mounds of marshmallow peeps, and my giant was tossing around 5 tonne pieces of palladium like captain americas shield. I could also do more damage throwing handfuls of bullets with my giant than I would have done had I used the gun they came with. Stupid game, but fun simply because of schadenfreude at our dm’s levels of mental anguish over exactly how stupid this game is.

[@OhWolfy84]

The dm was also the friend that gave us the books and convinced us to play it with him. We’ve never let him forget it either.

[@tssteelx]

You know if it wasn't for the story continuity errors, the complexity and the unbalanced game play that makes rifts looked like Bethesda. This kind of sounds like it be fun to play as a comedy game. Like you go out and fight giant, flying, laser shooting bears in your giant glitter boy mech and use your physic mind powers to trap the bear in bear statis.

[@twilight-2k]

I find it a better game than the Palladium Rifts (but after playing it multiple times, I've come to hate the Palladium system).

[@mostlyjoe]

See this game is one of what I considered the three core focuses that role-playing games came out around that time. You had the ones that were pushing hard on technical achievement: like Phoenix command, you had the ones that were pushing on a specific play style: your d&ds, and then you had the ones that were style over substance: This monstrosity and what would eventually become white wolf.

[@SwordlordRoy]

When describing the grand Fustercluck that is the Megaverse of RIFTS is less confusing... EDIT: I wonder how this compares to "Dungeons: The Dragoning 40000 7th edition"...

[@dreadedpixel9022]

Welch if I die of asphyxiation because I can't stop laughing I'll haunt you just to keep watching

[@Twilightcz]

14:27 "Armored latrine"?

[@kevinbirge2130]

The game makes complete sense and I had zero trouble grasping the rules. But then again, I owned and played Magic Realm and Third Reich when I was a kid. Those things make everything else seem easy.

[@mykediemart]

Long ago I thought that game had a cool name ... look forward to the Arcanum review I have that one.

[@patrickholt2270]

It sounds like his approach to balancing the game was to add zeros every time he added another genre of weaponry or tech. Sword versus anti-tank gun? Well to make both viable options, lets multiply the damages of both, and all armour hit points by 17, and round down to the nearest 1000. How did this get published, even? It appears he also wrote some fiction books. I can only assume that they are every bit as epic, groundbreaking and edgy as the works of Garth Merenghi.

[@patrickholt2270]

@Max Wylde I've never heard of Don Dohler. It sounds like some films that would just take time out of my shrtening supply to get to know, for a so-bad-its-good thing I could just pass.

[@joluoto]

Okay, this is a trip.

[@SerpenThrope]

"Second Worst RPG." So you're not even going to acknowledge Racial Holy War or HYBRID? Lol.

[@Mr_Welch]

Hybrid is not playable in any form. RHW goes for shock value and I'm not going to give it that acknowledgement. I would put blood and choice on the list of worst ever but again it also goes for shock value. I do round out the bottom five with Phoenix command but it's the only one that's not a complete train wreck just unplayable

[@SerpenThrope]

@@Mr_Welch Is there a connection between Phoenix Command and Phoenix Dawn Command, btw? Its weird to me that the names are so similar.

[@Mr_Welch]

@@SerpenThrope No, just the name. The two games don't resemble each other at all. One's a hyperrealistic modern combat RPG and the other is a card based ancient fantasy RPG.

[@robertb7293]

Unless I missed it; RaHoWa has no rules for chance to hit other than special attacks. Only 'inferior' races have special attacks, so it's not even playable as the intended PC master race. Even if you can stomach its retarded propaganda, it isn't even a game.

[@AnEnemySpy456]

I've heard that RHW isn't even possible to play because the creators used up all their effort on making rules for their racist caricature enemies and forgot to make any for the player characters to use.

[@Turntwobounceland]

Can anyone truly understand the World of Synnibarr?

[@jamesadamsfl]

The only thing appealing about this whole thing was the descriptions of the bears. I might incorporate those into one of my settings for laughs.

[@plumfun6750]

Well, all I have to say is this: Best damn RPG for anime rpg'ing, bar none! .. Other than that...this is an RPG written by a drug-addled 14 year old who also just happens to be Chaotic Neutral. .. In other words...FUN FUN FUN! :) I can honestly say, every time I've played this game (well, DM'ed it...er "Took the roll of Fate"), I have NEVER had a bad time. It's always been fun and entertaining....but probably not in the "serious mode" that Raven was expecting.

[@CreatorRob]

Anyone recognize the scene @ 9:00?

[@stephendrobinski2426]

How do you reduce damage by more than 100%? Does 101% heal you by 1%?

[@Mr_Welch]

You divide all damaged by 10,000.

[@aortaplatinum]

Written by your local schizophrenic mathematician I am foaming at the mouth

[@allmight9840]

If you are lucky this game would be the best rpg. Start off as 50th level immortal god with tons of cash and legendary artifact all before you start.....

[@AlexisVolk97]

My KZbin app crashed hard 5 min. in, was probably a sign.

[@themaninblack7503]

This is the funniest review ever!

[@micromints1735]

Tbh this sounds kind of awesome

[@eldergeeks7301]

I have run this in the past, and I ran it for years. And yes, it's awful. And bizarre.

[@hellhammerCCCP]

Wtf were they thinking?!

[@richmcgee434]

Pfft. Synnabarr's bad, but it's no Realm of Yolmi, kid. Hell, it's not even as bad as the endless churn of Rifts books over the years. At least there's only 500-ish pages of Synnabarr out there compared to however the hell many trees Palladium has murdered over the years.

[@tarekokail]

True, but you *can* follow Rifts and understand the rules. Synnibar... not so much.

[@kennieminski7080]

How the fuck did this get printed in the first place? This was not the era of self publishing.

[@bugzilla1]

Better or worse than FATAL?

[@Mr_Welch]

Better in the fact that it wasn't written by somebody working out his fetish

[@williamst.romain7393]

Fatal? Never heard of it.

[@Mr_Welch]

You're not missing anything that you wouldn't want to miss anyways.

[@Se7enBeatleofDoom]

To be fair. You need a really high IQ to play The World of Synnibarr.