Long ago the usenet groups for role-playing games had a problem with a user called “Marcus Arronous NRN”. And “tsr0″. And “Hitesh”. And “C++”. And more. It seems that he was a bit vocal and persistent in getting attention about his homemade RPG, Hybrid. Despite the amazing premise of the RPG — everything in it was derived from a single rule! — he couldn’t seem to stir interest in it.
This is probably because Marcus Arronous NRN, et. al. was batshit insane, as was his game.
Hybrid began its life as “the one-sentence RPG”. Then it became the “one-paragraph RPG”. Then he got a web page (be patient, I shall link there in a moment) and it metastasized.
There are now over 500 rules to Hybrid. “Not a problem,” you imagine. “Most RPGs have plenty of rules.” True, but they don’t have rules like this.
RULE # 223: You can using the cloning equation to figure out the # of people that you can effect telepathically. And, you can use the nuclear equation to figure out the radius within which that you can affect others, but you can use topology to increase the maximum distance that you can affect some particular individual. And, the same method of topology, you can, also, generate or simulate singularity (black hole): % = X^X, where X = (C2/M); or, % = Y^Z, where Y = (C1/10) & Z = exponent, which is inverse exponent that is used on his Life Span.
And no, reading rules 0-222 don’t make it any clearer. See for yourself: The Hybrid RPG Website.
You’ll notice that the rules aren’t in order. I assure you that the early rules are in there, just buried. At some point the “rules” become political/societal/just plain crazy observations, instead of anything having to do with the game.
RULE # 228: Pilot Varsity makes an excellent dip pen.
RULE # 229: Rate of $ inflation seems to double every 10 years; cause is due to politically incorrect reasons.
The author is particularly interested in Marvel Comics, and he talks as though the Marvel Universe RPG was the inspiration for Hybrid, but there are also references to other pop culture phenomena in the rules. You’ll come across Star Trek, Digimon, Godzilla, Smallville, Buck Rogers (TV series), Yu-Gi-Oh, Doctor Who, Xena, The Powerpuff Girls, Star Blazers, Wishmaster, and plenty more, including other — actually playable — RPGs.
There are a number of rules that refer to “building a nuclear bomb for the price of a beer can” but I think it’s too soon to worry. The whole thing is like an intricate fractal of crazy; the deeper you look, the more crazy you see.
He’s also very concerned about women.
RULE # 332: Feminism, Pandora’s Box, is the result or side effect of giving away too much rights & powers to women by foolish men & corrupt politicians & western religious fanatics in USA & other Christian nations, with the worst offenders being USA & Israel, which has not only has a white (Russian women) slave trade but Israel may cause World War iii(3) by kidnapping & raping Russian women, and USA with their insane sodomy laws, where some states make it illegal to kiss your own wife or/and girlfriend…
(it goes on for some time.) He then obsesses about rape for a while, opining that “there is no rape if a man rapes his girlfriend, since before feminism, men were allowed to rape his wife, since most women are frigid or have mood swings, as long as she is his girlfriend during the time that he rape his woman, the same if she his wife” (Part of a large digression in Rule #0.)
At one point he develops a new stat for the game: ARV (Anti Rape Variable), for which the value of the US is 4. Islam has an ARV of 2. But before you think this is condoning Islam (note: he doesn’t seem to like Jews either), check out Rule 375, in which the Hybrid RPG has equations to determine the perfect religion. Islam falls short.
It’s easy to think this guy is just having a laugh, just a troll. That’s what the usenet groups used to think. But consider that he’s been at this for at least seven years. He has gone back and revised some of these rules; there are references to current shows such as Dexter in older rules, as well as references to current events. I’ve been popping in on the site for a few years now and can verify that although he was never very woman-friendly (an earlier version of Hybrid allowed players to be a male or an animal but not a woman) the anti-feminism and rape stuff is fairly recent.
If you want to back away now and pretend you’ve never ventured into this man’s mind, I don’t blame you. But if you’d like to see more, then you need to bookmark The Hybrid RPG Blog. Active since 2006, and updated as recently as March 19, the blog traces the continuing development of the Hybrid RPG/the author’s psychosis. The current entry describes Rule 550.0183 which has to do with predicting someone’s GPA, supposedly.
On the one hand, the Hybrid Author is a bizarre man with no communication skills, hatred of women, poor understanding of (but utter faith in) science and math, and encyclopedic knowledge of RPGs, the Marvel Universe, and other pop-culture ephemera. If those things make him crazy, then you’ll need to commit most of the remaining geek world as well.
