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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/synnibar_8.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:350:A typical day on the Worldship.]]
3'''World of Synnibarr''' is a tabletop role-playing game, the brainchild of one Raven c. s. [=McCracken=]. For most of the 90's, the game was considered by many gamers to be the [[WorstWhateverEver worst role-playing game ever]], but nowadays it has ceded that title to TabletopGame/{{FATAL}}, which is awful for altogether worse reasons (''Synnibarr'', for all its absurdity, at least doesn't pander to unrepentant misogynists).
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5The setting is an intense fever dream of science fiction, dark fantasy, comic book superheroism, and other over-the-top elements, with wars lasting for tens of thousands of years and a huge assortment of acid trip monsters (only one example of which are 72-headed hydras), all of whom are living inside a hollowed-out planet UsefulNotes/{{Mars}} that has been converted into a colossal Worldship, the titular ''Synnibarr'', which has been carrying the last remnants of humanity (and now innumerable other sentient species) across the Milky Way galaxy for the last 50,000 years.
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7Online reviews of ''World of Synnibarr'' can be found [[http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_4762.html here]], [[http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/10/10564.phtml here]] and [[http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_372.html here]].
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11!! This game provides examples of:
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13* AbsurdlyHighLevelCap: Level ''600'', with [[AGodAmI immortality]] starting at level 50.
14* AdjectiveAnimalAlehouse: The section detailing the Aquarian race notes that there's a Blind Owl tavern in the city of Terra. In the example adventure, while the [=PCs=] are staying in the city of Terra, they decide to go there.
15* AdventureFriendlyWorld: Every player character is charged with exploring a world covered with the remnants of ancient and long-destroyed civilizations, evil monsters are all over the place, and the shops of Terra never seem to have any trouble buying whatever mountains of loot the players bring back.
16* AfterTheEnd: Before ''{{TabletopGame/Numenera}}'', this game held the record for "greatest number of long-forgotten cataclysms in one place ever". Synnibarr even ''began'' with a cataclysm, as it is actually the planet Mars that was transformed into a Worldship to move humanity away from a doomed Earth. Then, over the next 50,000 years, Synnibarr's own civilization collapsed multiple times because of internal conflicts, alien invasions, and plagues. Today, few adventurers know much about Synnibarr's ''whole'' history... but there are all kinds of ruins for adventurers to explore (and loot).
17* AGodIsYou: At level 50, player characters become immortal, and from there can achieve ascending levels of godhood.
18* AlienInvasion: Over Synnibarr's history, six attempts to conquer the Worldship have been made by malevolent forces. Two of them were alien races who were [[InsufficientlyAdvancedAlien ultimately driven away]].
19* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Or Always Scarlet Aura, as this game would put it (and which some of its races very definitely are).
20* AndManGrewProud: How data about "Old Earth" (or even Synnibarr's own past) is typically presented.
21* ArtificialLimbs: One category of cybernetic upgrades.
22* AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever: Six-ton sea otters are one of the listed monsters players can face.
23* AttackReflector: Weremen can absorb a number of different attacks, choosing from physical, magic, psi, earthpower, mutations, alchemy, energy and chi. At higher levels of power they can reflect absorbed attacks back at the source.
24* CastFromHitPoints: Some spells can be enhanced by spending points of Constitution while casting them, thus increasing the effect of the spell (such as damage done).
25* CharacterAlignment: InUniverse. Has its own take on the system, called "auras". Stray more than one or two marks from the median, though, and characters rapidly turn into [[KnightTemplar Knight Templars]] who are mandated to kill anyone of the wrong alignment on sight.
26* CityOfAdventure: Terra, the starting city for typical campaigns.
27* DamageReduction: How armor works, with every "10th" of armor protection dividing incoming damage by a factor 10. Given how high damage levels can reach in ''Synnibarr'', characters need as many 10ths as they can get!
28* DesignerBabies: Amazons psionically teach and shape their children in the womb.
29* DeusExMachina: An actual game mechanic. If you're facing certain doom and are completely out of other options, you get a dice roll to determine if your chosen deity will intervene to save you.
30* DodgeTheBullet: The principle behind a character's "beam attack dodge" score. Characters in this game ''can'' dodge bullets and similarly fast attacks, but typically not as easily as they can evade melee attacks.
31* DoorStopper: 473 page rulebook; later editions go "well over 500".
32* EarthAllAlong: Well, ''Mars'' All Along...
33* ElementalCrafting: A prominent feature of the game, and for the intrepid player, yet another source of what would be game-breaking power in an ordinary RPG.
34* EnergyAbsorption: This is the main class feature for Weremen.
35* EnergyBeings: Alentiens, along with any character who has an energy form power.
36* EnergyWeapons: Present and accounted for in the weapons section.
37* EvilCounterpart: What Scarlet Tigers are to Golden Tigers.
38* FantasticDrug: Several varieties.
39* FriendToAllLivingThings: Characters with the Blue aura.
40* ForestRanger: The Archer class borrows a bit from this trope's playbook.
41* GameBreaker: [[InvokedTrope This is presumably the entire point of the game]]. A typical ''Synnibarr'' campaign will feature any number of moves that ''would'' be gamebreakers in an average RPG, but since ''this'' game's power level is so high, here such power-gamer antics are just part of the fun.
42** [[{{Unobtainium}} Pelleum]], a metal 11.5 times as dense as steel, costs $1000 an ounce. A 2.7 lb, 1" ball of pelleum for use in a sling? $1.
43** [[HollywoodCyborg Cybernetics]] add their hit point total to your character's hit point total. In other words, you can drop $5,000 dollars for 50,000 [[HitPoints life points]] at level 1, hitting the mortal cap.
44** AintNoRule saying that you have to pay the extra cost for a [[{{Unobtainium}} Pelleum]] arm blade when you spend skill points.
45* GenreBusting: It would be easier to list the genres that this game ''doesn't'' touch on at some point.
46* IKnowYourTrueName: The Amazon special ability Call Spirits requires the user to know the name of a dead person in order to summon their spirit and speak to them.
47* KiManipulation: The explanation for the powers of Amazons, Ninjas, and Golden/Scarlet Tigers.
48* LanguageOfMagic: Venderant Nalaberong is a language that was used by the Elder Gods to create the [[TheMultiverse Centiverse]]. Anyone who knows how to speak it can perform ultra powerful magical spells that are the strongest force in the Centiverse and can't be stopped by any other power.
49* LaserBlade: ''Synnibarr'' has these, too.
50* LoadsAndLoadsOfRules: Among tabletop games, ''Synnbarr'' is among the most well-known examples of this trope.
51* LostTechnology: Looting ancient (and obscenely powerful) technology is a common pasttime among Synnibarr's adventurers.
52* MagicAIsMagicA: Not only do magic spells function the same way every time they're cast, many other forms of power (psionics, shaman songs, earthpower) follow very similar rules to magic, as well.
53* {{Magitek}}: Literally in the case of Bio Syntha Cyborgs, technological beings who can have mutations and powers of their own.
54* MassiveRaceSelection: Playable races include Humans, Gnomes, Giants, Winged Warriors, Aquarians, Cyborgs, Psielves, Dwarves, Chameleon Drakes, Mutants... and no fewer than ''30'' of the monstrous races from the Monsters chapter.
55* TheMultiverse: Or the Centiverse, as it is known on Synnibarr.
56* {{Munchkin}}: This game is ''made'' for this kind of player. It's the only tabletop RPG where it is ''codified in the rules'' that players may override the GM and be rewarded for doing so. Only a masochist or [[TooDumbToLive complete fool]] would agree to run a game with strangers.
57* MyKungFuIsStrongerThanYours: The rivalry between the Ninja and Tiger classes - "It is sometimes said that one Golden or Scarlet Tiger can defeat five Ninjas of the same level. (Of course, Tigers are the ones who say this.)"
58* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: Or, given that this is ''Synnibarr'', Ninja Superhero Pirate Zombie Mutant Robot God.
59* NoCampaignForTheWicked: Zig-zagged. PlayerCharacters can be Bio Syntha Cyborgs (B.S.C.'s), with one of four specializations. But players are forbidden to be Omni B.S.C.'s (with all four specializations), because Omnis are insanely evil. Then again, other PC classes (like Scarlet Tigers) can ''only'' be evil.
60* NonIndicativeName: The setting uses "were-" as a prefix in numerous places (Weremen, Werestorm, etc). Contrary to what you might expect, it never refers to anything relating to lycanthropy.
61* OurCentaursAreDifferent: Cattars have the lower body of a tiger and a humanoid upper body.
62* OurElvesAreDifferent: Psielves, who are psionic operatives with pointy ears.
63* OurGiantsAreBigger: Another of the many playable classes/races, and (predictably) among the physically strongest.
64* OurMonstersAreWeird: One of the calling cards of this game. Where most fantasy [=RPGs=] are content with throwing bears (or, at worst, [[DireBeast dire bears]]) at a party, ''Synnibarr'' will give you flying bears with laser eye-beams!
65* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Vampires in ''Synnibarr'' are ''Mutant'' Vampires.
66* TheParagon: Beings with a Gold aura are expected to behave like this.
67* PeoplePuppets: The main tactic of the alien Bendra'Katar, who use a virus to dominate victims.
68* ThePlague: An intelligence-destroying plague was the last thing to bring ruin to Synnibarr. At the time when the [=PCs=] appear, civilization has only begun to recover from the plague and reassert itself.
69* PointBuildSystem: An option for players who want to play a "non-classed" adventurer. However, your point total is determined by your stats (which all players have to roll), so you're still at the mercy of the RandomNumberGod!
70* PoliceAreUseless: Notably averted, at least in the Terra Isles (where most adventurers hail from). ''Notably'' because the law enforcement in Terra have the gear to detain even god-level [=PCs=]!
71* PoweredArmor: Present, and generally the highest source of protective 10ths from armor.
72* PrecisionGuidedBoomerang: A Dwarf Hammer will return to the dwarf who threw it from up to 1,000 feet away. This ability only works once per CharacterLevel of the dwarf per day, and takes a while to do so.
73* PsychicPowers: Many classes have access to psionic spells, and they're the main feature of the Shadow Master class.
74* RandomNumberGod: Die rolls determine everything, including your Character Class/Race.
75* {{Railroading}}: {{Enforced}}; see below.
76* RankScalesWithAsskicking: Post-mortal characters get higher up in the divine hierarchy as their levels climb.
77* RulesLawyer
78** Rule Zero of every role-playing game is supposed to be either "The GM is always right" or "The rules shouldn't get in the way of the story", right? Not so in the World of Synnibarr! The GM is required to write his adventure notes down before the game begins, and then show them to the players after the adventure is over -- and if the GM deviated from his written notes, the GM is required to award them bonus experience points. Worse still, the rulebook states that the GM "may not, however, deviate from the rules as they are written, for if he or she does and the players find out, then the adventure can be declared null, and the characters must be restored to their original condition, as they were before the game began." As such, rules-lawyering is openly encouraged in this game.
79** Any GM can tell you that avoiding either of the above is flat-out impossible, [[{{Railroading}} unless you put the whole thing on rails.]]
80* ScaryDogmaticAliens: The Neria Bendix, one of the most technologically advanced - and hostile - species in the Centiverse.
81* ScavengerWorld: While the Worldship has many technological ruins from past ages, much of its (current) population still lives in medieval conditions.
82* SchizoTech: Technology in ''Synnibarr'' varies from medieval to modern day (at the time the game was published) to science-fiction realms - often even within the same adventuring party!
83* ScienceFantasy: Magic, gods, cyborgs, and starships, all cranked up to eleven.
84* SerialEscalation: As it's perfectly possible - and legal - for player levels to jump double-digit amounts after a single adventure, ''Synnibarr'' lends itself to this trope nicely.
85* {{Stripperific}}: The illustration of the Amazon class.
86* SuperBreath: The purpose behind the famous equation which determines how hard your character can breathe.
87* SuperpowerLottery: Many classes have randomly-rolled powers of one sort or another. For the Mutant class, this is their main feature!
88* SuperReflexes: A perk of Ninjas, Tigers, and characters in energy form, who may [[DodgeTheBullet dodge beam attacks]] with their normal dodge score.
89* SuperSerum: Psisheen Adreemus, the substance used to create the Shadow Master class.
90* SwissArmyAppendage: Easily achievable with a cybernetic limb.
91* TakingTheBullet: An option for players who make a successful "heroic attempt" roll on another player's behalf, although the attack itself doesn't necessarily have to be a bullet.
92* {{Telepathy}}: The Aquarian race has telepathy that works on sea creatures. It allows communication as well as hypnotic control.
93* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: Characters without armor can get splattered very easily in this game, given that mortal-level beings are limited to 50,000 life points and the worst attacks can do hundreds of thousands or even ''millions'' of damage.
94* UnskilledButStrong: Giants and strong monster races can fall under this, being able to dish out high amounts of melee damage even at low levels.
95* WellIntentionedExtremist: Gold aura characters, who will kill even friends and allies who show the slightest inclination towards evil.
96* WorldOfBadass: As one reviewer noted, this is the only game where a PC can jump straight from 1st to 20th level after one adventure, earn and spend $500 million on gear, and still legitimately be considered a wuss.
97* WorldOfWeirdness: ''Synnibarr'' campaigns end up in this territory almost by default.
98* YouAllMeetInAnInn: This is an official part of the game, as a prominent bartender in Terra literally has the ability to "find and see adventures".

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