Cirque du Strange

Journalist Richard Cobbett has penned an article called "Cirque du Strange", which is essentially a list of what he feels are the fifty weirdest moments in PC gaming. A handful of RPGs are mentioned (as well as some amazingly bizarre stuff), so it's worth a look when you have the time. Here's #17:
Invisible Children of the Apocalypse

Political correctness. Got to love it. Unless you're Fallout, the adult RPG forced to get rid of all its killable children at the last minute to appease the European market. The problem is, they're not all gone. Some are only invisible, getting in your way during the game, and with one pet dog still chasing and panting at its hanging on master. How sad. Sniff. A single sad tear falls.

And #33:
Plot, The Magic Dragons

Novellas used to come with games all the time, helping - amongst other things - to explain the tech, and tell a more complicated story than the game itself could handle. Starglider, for instance, covered up its wireframe graphics with talk of a special tactical HUD. Crappy old RPG Drakkhen takes the cake though, setting up an epic, plot of blood and Armageddon courtesy of an island of evil dragons, only to instantly defuse it by making your team waste most of their time sorting out the dragons' love lives and gossip needs instead of getting medieval on their tails.

Or how about #39:
ION Storm's Ivory Tower

Why did John Romero's dream company crash and burn? Many reasons. Here's just one. Using approximately a jillion dollars of EIDOS' money, the new company bought penthouse offices in a huge glass-topped tower in Dallas. Spotted it yet? The team melted in the heat and light, unable to even see their screens without making a tent of their cubicles with heavy black, hot cloth. Like so much of the ION Storm story, stylish and showy. Just not very smart.