Risus
Thoug
hts
of
the
Moment
by
L
a
rr
y
B
ul
loc
k
Risus, The Anything RPG is © S. John Ross and is freely available from the Cumberland Games website at: http://risus.cumberlandgames.com/
In 2008, I started Risus Thought of the Moment as a place to be a group blog about the greatness
that is Risus. It was started somewhat in protest at the way Wetpaint was working (or more
accurately not working) for Risusiverse and as a resource to post stuff for people who’s other free
hosting providers were closing up shop.
It never really took off as a group blog…mostly just me and an occasional soul or two. It has been a
lot of fun, but it’s purpose seems to be better filled in other ways.
Risusiverse has moved to a new host (http://www.risusiverse.com/) and is in capable hands. The
whole idea of a group website to post stuff of interest to Risus players has been handled much better
via the Risus Google+ page (https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/103112350476294391123).
This document is a collection of some of the best posts from the Risus Thought of the Moment site
as well as a few extra surprises. I hope that you enjoy what you find in these humble pages.
Aragorn
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Silent Ranger (4), Friend of the Elves (3), King of Man in Denial (3)!
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There - in less than a minute, I created someone from Lord
of the Rings.
Why Risus?
!
I don’t think I’ve ever posted my Why I Play Risus thoughts here, so I thought I’d rectify that.
As can be seen by my RPG History post (see sidebar), I’ve played a lot of different games and campaigns over the years (I’ve been gaming pretty much since 1980). Once upon a time, I used to think that the more details and rules that were crammed into the game the better I could define my character.
However, the more I tried to nail down my character to a set list of skills, abilities, powers, advantages, disadvantages and whatever-else-have-you, the harder to became to build the character that I had envisioned when I first started. I became very
dissatisfied with the whole thing.
Then I found Risus. That was that. I still enjoy reading RPGs, but mostly to mine
what I can use for Risus: setting materials. Now, my eyes kind of glaze over when I read whatever mechanics are in the rules, but there are a lot of
amazing settings out there ripe for use in a much more elegant system.
My RPG History!
Just to show that I’m not all Risus,
here’s a somewhat complete list of
commercial RPGs that I’ve owned/
played over the years (in alphabetical
order):
• AD&D (1st/2nd edition)
• Alternity
• Amazing Engine
• Amber Diceless
• BattleTech
• Bushido
• Car Wars
• Champions
• Chill (original Pacesetter)
• D&D (Original)
• DC Heroes (Mayfair)
• DragonQuest
• Gamma World
• GURPS
• Hunter Planet
• Man, Myth, and Magic
• Marvel Super Heroes Adventure
Game
• Marvel Universe Roleplaying
Game
• Shadowrun
• Star Frontiers
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• Top Secret
• Twilight 2000
• Vampire: The Masquerade
• Werewolf: The Apocolypse
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I will admit that I like to read through other RPGs (usually those that are freely available as as PDF)… however, when it comes time to actually try them out, I always start thinking about how much easier it would be to just use the setting for Risus.
The Colony
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Genre: Fantasy
Tone: Somewhat serious (but with some funny)
Campaign Options: Hooks and Tales, Pumping Clichés, Double-Pumps
Points/Dice: 10 dice
Description: The queen is dying. Use your ant magic to help spread the next generation of queen eggs to form new colonies. You must protect the eggs and guide them to a new home. Players take on the role of bugs in this take on insect life (complete with bug magic).
«this was a result of randomly using Escort Service and We’re on the Outside Looking In from the Big List of RPG Plots»
Samples of Play
People always seem to be looking for samples of play for Risus. Here are some nifty ones to check out at Silverlode:!
!
• http://www.velvet-edge.com/examples/chase_01.html
• http://www.velvet-edge.com/examples/combat_01.html
• http://www.velvet-edge.com/examples/combat_02.html
• http://www.velvet-edge.com/examples/combat_03.html
• http://www.velvet-edge.com/episodes/silverlode1908_ep_01.html
• http://www.velvet-edge.com/episodes/silverlode1908_ep_03.html
• http://www.risusmonkey.com/2010/01/moon-is-harsh-mistress-recap.html
• http://www.risusmonkey.com/2010/02/dragonspire-play-transcript.html
Note: this list was from a post to RisusTalk (http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/risustalk/). If
Humperdinck
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Prince bent on starting a war with Gilder (4), Hunter who can track a hawk on a cloudy day [3]!
!
There - in less than a minute, I created someone from
Princess Bride.
Serious Play
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When using Risus for serious play (hopefully not too serious though), here’s what I do: I rarely allow combat with inappropriate cliches. I don’t outright forbid them. However, in most combat situations, I use the “if both sides want to fight, it’s fantasy combat" philosophy. No extra dice bonus for doing something doofy (in most cases; sometimes it simply makes sense to keep it). This seems to work out fairly well.
It’s really just a matter of what tone you set.
Future of Roleplaying
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I wonder if the future of roleplaying is exemplified by The Backyardigans? Think about it…each episode, the characters are the same basic people, but they take on a role specific to that episode’s adventure. Pure roleplaying.
Putting this in context of a game, your character would have the same basic defining characteristics/ mannerisms/etc., but you’d get to expand yourself with the given role of the day. Seems like this would be easy to do.
Inappropriate Clichés
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I don’t really understand why people always want to pull this one out of their Risus game when they are being all “serious". If you are really in a “serious" game, does this really come up? I usually follow the idea that if both people want to fight, it’s fantasy combat and anything goes (for those Wizard vs. Fighter instances).
But what about something more mundane: folk guitarist vs. mob hit man? Odds are probably pretty good that the folk guitarist doesn’t want to fight. If this were a “serious" campaign, could it still work? I like to think so. It’s all in how you want to interpret clichés.
When the mob hit man pulls out his gun, what is the poor folk guitarist to do? Well, assuming your folk guitarist is any good, he’s probably had to deal with protest situations
(probably as part of one). What if the folk guitarist starts gathering protesters who harass the mob hit man? Or what if he distracts the mob hit man by playing just the right
song to remind the hit man of his carefree youth?
Anything is possible, just not very probable. If you reward your folk guitarist by granting him the ability to affect the situation with the hit man, you can really get some great roleplaying going on.
I wonder if Risus could use another option where you get to stage your own finale? The more dice you give up (that puts you out of action), the more say you get in what happens.
Am I old school because I think in terms of modules
instead of adventures?
Does anyone else use roleplaying games to define characters for stories they are writing? Risus works great for character thumbnail sketches.
Fun Links!
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For a good example of another RPG that would be fun in Risus, check out Exiles (http:// www.jasoncamp.net/stuff/ exiles/).
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10 Essential Elements of a Great Escapist Hero (http://io9.com/ 10-essential-elements-of-a-great-escapist-hero-574081183)→
A grand adventure needs an inspirational hero. Not just a cool person in a fancy suit, but someone to believe in. It’s not quite true that a science fiction or fantasy story is only as good as its hero, but the hero’s greatness is certainly a limiting factor. Here are 10 essential qualities a hero ought to have.
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I think it would be great if all Risus supplements were like Geezer (http://
www222.pair.com/sjohn/ geezer.htm).
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Firefly & Serenity for Risus (http://www.arlecchino.org/ pasquariello/risus/)→
Another Firefly guide. Beautiful looking site design as well.
Someday I’ll actually have to watch this show.
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Risus: Submissions Guide (http:// risus.cumberlandgames.com/)→
Check out the official Risus: Submissions Guide at the official Risus site. They are towards the bottom of the Essentials & Oddities section. Good stuff for anyone looking to make an “official" (and paid) Risus supplement.
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The Different Types of Manliness (http://feedproxy.google.com/ ~r/TheArtOfManliness/~3/ t3nG3Ujn-ik/)→
Some clichés usable for Risus… just what type of man are you?
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Georges Polti's 36 Dramatic Situations (http://
changingminds.org/disciplines/ storytelling/plots/
polti_situations/ polti_situations.htm) →
Noble Quinn
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Description: Rugged warrior in his late 30s who seems to always be concentrating on something else. He walks with a slight limp and uses a quarterstaff as a walking stick/weapon (he sometimes pretends it has magical powers too).
Exiled Warrior King of Fuhsaz Seeking to Regain The Throne (4), Dabbler in the Magical Arts [3], Inventive Prankster (2)
!
Tools: quarterstaff, sword, light but functional armor
Hooks: Hunted by bounty hunters sent by the usurper of the Fuhsaz throne.
Tales: Noble Quinn was always seen as a kindly ruler; that is until he took an interest in the magical arts. The people grew fearful of a ruler engaging in magic and a revolution took place which took him out of power. He was able to escape, but he is still haunted by this betrayal of his people (not to mention hunted by the bounty hunters). However, he has been contacted by many loyal subjects who want him back (the new guy is a real problem).
Theory: why no stats
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Most roleplaying games use explicit statistics (stats) of some type to help define your character. Risus doesn’t bother with such things. The main reason: a cliché’s rating is a rating of your overall effectiveness in everything that goes into it. It represents more than just overall skill and/ or power. It is a carefully blended part of your character that takes into account how your
strength (or intelligence, or whatever) works with the cliché. Why do you need to know a
specific number for you stats, when it is how things work with what you know that is important? In Risus, stats are implicit/implied.
Now, if you want to explicitly ensure that some trait is above the norm, you can include it your cliché description: a nimble swashbuckler (3) is little different from an incredibly strong
Where to now Mr. Peabody?
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While many great Risus sites disappeared with GeoCities, much of the content remains available via the Wayback Machine!
(http://www.archive.org/web/web.php).!
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A public service announcement brought to you by Risus TOTM.!
Why use Risus if you GM a different RPG
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You are a GM and you really have never looked at Risus. That’s fine (I’m no longer surprised at the number of people who have never even heard of Risus, let alone never played it). However, you might want to check it out to see if Risus can be a tool for you to use.
The most basic use of Risus as a GM tool is to provide a shortcut way to define various things in your campaign. Why bother with stat blocks for every NPC. Just give them some defining characteristics and rate them on a scale of 1-6 (1 signifying a noob, 3 as professional, and 6 representing a top dog).
You could simply define the local blacksmith, Thron Garbek as so: dwarven artisan blacksmith (4). And with Risus, you can have multiple clichés, so Thron might also list Initiate in the Order of Reibir, Dwarven God of Gemcraft (2).
Risus clichés provide you with a character at a glance. You don’t really need to know what Thron’s individual stats are. Your players don’t interact with Thron’s stats, they interact with him as a person fulfilling a role in your campaign. You need to know something about how good of a blacksmith he is and maybe a few other defining roles for him.
Once defined by clichés, it is a simple matter to use your Risus defined NPCs in your campaign. If it becomes necessary, it isn’t even that hard to come up with your own game-specific information for a Risus generated NPC (I would do this off the cuff; usually all you are looking to do is determine something to roll against and using the rating for the clichés, it shouldn’t be too hard to come up with something).
…let them help a little old lady across the street, or the genre equivalent (blowing up a building is a common
substitute).!
More Fun Links!
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The Free RPG Blog: Brain off? Risus on. The Anything RPG by S. John Ross (http://
thefreerpgblog.blogspot.com/ 2009/03/brain-off-risus-on-anything-rpg-by-s.html)→
Here’s a nice review of Risus on the Free RPG Blog.
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How to turn your stock fantasy RPG into a unique delight (http:// feedproxy.google.com/~r/ TheFreeRpgBlog/~3/DRT7mIrSIoA/ how-to-turn-your-stock-fantasy-rpg-into.html) →
Good notes for designing settings.
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Risus Monkey: On Artifacts and Gadgets ( http://www.velvet-edge.com/risusmonkey/2010/01/ on-artifacts-and-gadgets.html)→
This should be required reading for those interested in magical or otherwise special gear.
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Risus Monkey's Random Map (http://www.velvet-edge.com/ RisusMonkeyMap.html ) →
I linked to what I think was the original of this before, but it is nice to see someone from the Risus community change it up a bit.
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Battlestar Galactica Series Bible (http://www.harvardwood.org/ resource/resmgr/hwp-pdfs/ battlestar_galactica_series.pdf)→
If you ever wanted to do an RPG for a TV series, you can’t get a better resource that the official series bible.
You might want to download the one from Ronald D. Moore’s Battlestar Galactica.
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Handy chart explains how to write like Grant Morrison (http:// www.io9.com/#!5748286/handy- chart-explains-how-to-write-like-grant-morrison) →
Just in case you wanted to come up with a little something off beat to your game; just use a d6 (take your pick on a 6).
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R is for Risus Companion (A Love Letter) (http://
www.risusmonkey.com/2011/04/r-is-
for-risus-companions-love-letter.html)→
What he said…very will written piece on the Risus Companion.
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will die to defend Fuhsaz (6)**!!
*My Brute is a silly online game where you get to participate
in 3 combats per day (you don’t really do anything but watch, but it is kind if fun). If you want to be a pupil of Fuhsaz, simply go to this site: http://fuhsaz.mybrute.com (I will get some credit if you join).!
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**Since Fuhsaz is pretty much a beginner, he hides a lot behind his wolf-dog who seems to go through opponents pretty quickly (that’s why he has 6 full dice).!
Jude Oak
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Curious Tinker happy to work for a meal (4), Honest go-between who seems to be accepted by everyone (3), Happy tin whistle player (2), Common Sense Philosopher (1)!
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Jude is a simple man who just loves to figure out how things work and how to fix them. He’s not out for a lot, a simple meal or whatever someone can afford to pay him. His easy go-lucky nature has him sometimes sent on errands for people across social classes, usually delivering messages. For fun, Jude plays the tin whistle; usually happy tunes for the local kids. While not overtly religious, Jude doesn’t mind talking philosophy with people.!
——!
Spawn Inspired Mechanic
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It’s been a very long time since I’ve checked out a Spawn comic (http://www.spawn.com/comics/ series.aspx?series_id=1), but the basic premise behind it was a guy made a deal with the devil for power, but each time he used the power, it would bring him closer to the end (permanent death). I thought that this would make an
interesting premise for roleplaying.!
!
This could work for any sort of supernatural ability (magic, super powers, psionics, what-ever-have-you). The characters have whatever ability fits with the campaign.
However, they can only use the ability so much before it burns out (and they die or whatever other in-game consequences you want to impose).!
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You simply need a cliché to
represent that your characters have
the “power" (I’d recommend that this be a double pump cliché, and I’d allow funky dice just to make it interesting). The characters want to do something nifty with this power. Feel free to let them. Assign a target number to pull off the effect they are looking for - if they beat it, great; they can do whatever they were trying to do. If it is a combat situation, it is up to the GM if what they want to do is done as a regular combat or as a target number. In either case, keep track of their target
numbers that they beat (or the roll that they beat in case of a combat). Keep a running total going of what they have accomplished using their powers. Once the total reaches a certain point (set by the GM), they are done.!
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Let’s say you are playing rough, and the characters will die if they use up their power (an alternative would be that they would become
“slaves" to whatever granted them their power in the first place and would have to do whatever was asked of them). You set the campaign limit for the power at 1,000. Once they’ve gotten to 1,000 (or higher), it’s time for the end.!
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This whole idea probably works best if the players don’t know how much “power" they started out with and have no real indication of how much “power" they use when the do something with it. What do you think?!
What is your favorite roleplaying genre? I would answer sword and sorcery, but the longest campaign that I was ever part of was a super hero campaign (and it was a lot more fun than the typical sword and sorcery
A Case for Stats in (and out
of) Risus
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Pretty much every RPG has them. Yet Risus doesn’t bother; it only has ratings for clichés. What do they tell you about how strong your viking warrior is? Risus should add stats in some way.!
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Clichés handle the skills, just fine, but with detailed stats, there is no need for a When
Somebody Can’t Participate rules - you’d
simply get a set number of dice based on a relevant stat.!
!
Of course, adding stats makes Risus much more complex than it needs to be. Risus thrives in an atmosphere of open,
freewheeling roleplaying. You’d have to come up with rules for how stats are applied to clichés; you’d probably have to change the mechanics of the system; you’d probably not be playing Risus any longer.!
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Plus, where do you start with stats? How many should there be: 3, 6, 12, 20? Does a small set of numbers really tell you much of anything about your character that can’t be done as part of your cliché description?!
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A lot of people new to Risus see lack of stats as a shortcoming. However, once you really understand that a cliché can be more than
Viking Warrior (3), but could be Ax wielding, grog guzzling, champion arm wrestling, Viking Warrior (3). The only limits are you imagination and the
sensibilities of the campaign (or lack thereof).!
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If you really think you have to have stats, you might be better off sticking with something else. However, if you are will to let yourself be creative, Risus is definitely more fun.!
Another Way of Thinking of
Stats in Risus
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It’s all in your cliché ratings. A rating
encompasses everything - not just raw skill, but also natural talents, physical, mental, spiritual, etc. attributes, and just about anything else most traditional RPGs require dedicated stats for. A cliché rating tells you how well all of these things work together (the higher the rating the better).!
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You have no need to worry about a specific rating for stats (and think about it, how can you really know what your stat ratings are anyway).!
Audience Participation
Exercise: Dromas
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Here is an interesting picture of a Dromas (©
Yndra - used by permission)!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yndra/4314204447/!
Now, it is up to you to decide just what the heck Dromas is/are and detail how you would fit this into your game.!
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Electric Knight
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Master of Electricity [4d20], Expert in Stick-Fu (3d8), Helpful and Knowledgeable Wandering Priest (4d6), Lucky Shots: [][][][][][]!
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Hooks: Always tries to ensure the safety of innocent lives. Walks with a limp and uses a stick for extra support.!
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Tales: Richard Daniels always knew that he was chosen, he just
isn’t sure who has been chosen by. He is an initiate in the Followers of the Way, a wandering order that attempts to help those in need. In some sort of strange vision, he was given control of electricity and even to generate it, but it cost him good use of his left leg. When we awoke, he also had his staff, which he uses for support and as a weapon if necessary.!
(Electric Knight is a 200 point character (with 12 extra points for the hooks and tales).!
(yes, it’s fun to play with HeroMachine - http://www.ugo.com/channels/comics/ heroMachine2/ ))!
anonymous asks:!
Why do people suck and not like Risus?
risus said:!
!
I think what you are asking is a logical fallacy (hasty generalization if you are implying that people suck because they don’t like Risus). Risus is the Anything RPG, but that doesn’t mean Risus is the Everyone RPG.!
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For those of us who have grokked Risus, it is a prefect system. It just works best for us. That in no way implies that Risus will work best for everyone. Like everything else, you can’t “knock it till you try it, put a little on your plate, don’t make a face before you taste it, some kids think it’s great!"*!
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As far as people sucking goes…that’s kind of the way of the world (and we all suck in some way). People are people and all that.!
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This is from a message cross posted to the Risus mailing lists:!
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“I’m fighting a personal war against the dark forces of
boredom and monotony. Risus is one of my weapons."!
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Gothikork!
“I always allow the “Boxcars and Breakthroughs" option, because I think you should always have at least a slight chance of whacking the hell out of your opponent.”!
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Guy Hoyle via the RisusTalk mailing
list (a very cool list to be part of).!
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“Risus fans don’t just assume that Risus is halfway to a game
they’ve always wanted. As the ‘Risus guy’, it’s my pleasure and privilege to stock my Risus web page with links to dozens of individual expressions of what Risus can be. It’s a herd of unicorns, many of them lovelier than anything I’d have come up with on my own.”!
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S. John Ross; Risus Companion p. 63 - Halfway to Perfect!
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A strange thought: I personally hate it when people try to put others into convenient little stereotyped buckets, yet I love a roleplaying game where the premise behind it is to embrace the cliché…
For my first thought of the moment, a confession:!
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What amuses me of Risus is that its strength is based on collective knowledge. Everybody knows what a pirate is good at, so why spend time and words trying to precisely define it? Let’s act like a pirate and everything will work.!
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But it may be just my allergy to two-hundred-pages corebooks…!
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In the Grip of the Rules
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“The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.”!
Princess Leia - Star Wars!
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I find it a wonder that people still try to make systems that have rules for everything. Like Governor Tarkin’s dilemma, the more you try to tighten everything up, the harder it ends up being. Harder for the GM to keep everything in place; harder for the
players to know what they can and can’t do (except for those that enjoy being rules lawyers); just harder.!
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I like how Risus just presents some basic guidelines and lets you go from there. No fuss, no muss. Once you get used to the flying by the seat of your pants feeling, Risus is very liberating.!
The Zen of Risus #132B663
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“Do or do not… there is no try.”! Yoda!
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When it comes to Risus, Yoda is just a padawan. The real power of Risus is in the fact that players can, and are encouraged to, try anything. Sure, you might not always succeed, but you can always try.!
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[Luke:] I can’t believe it.!
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[Yoda:] That is why you fail.!
GM Advice: It’s a Trap!
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Here’s a bit of advice for new GMs: Never create your own character to go adventuring with the players. Odds are that your players will end up feeling like sidekicks floating around with your character. You have enough going on without taking away the fun from your
GMToolKit
(http://webcommando.com/iPhone/GMToolKit.html)!
If you happen to have an iPhone (or the more reasonably priced iPod touch), you might want to check out GMToolKit. It does some pretty nifty stuff.!!
Of course, it has a build in dice roller, simply click on the die type you want to roll and you’ll see your result (no nifty animation or noises, but it does the job for random number generation). It also lets you roll multiple dice (you can specify die type, number of rolls you want (good for rolling up stats for games that use such things), groups (which is where you specify the number of dice you want to roll), and any modifies (up to +/- 99).!
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As a bonus, there is a feature to have a standard dice roll running in an automatic fashion (from 0.5 seconds to 10 seconds). This is helpful if like to have numbers running by automatically (for any type of check you might want to do at a glance).!
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However, dice rollers are nothing really new. GMToolKit also gives you a random name generator; a place name generator; and a room generator (which gives you contents to put into a room at random).!
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Gamer’s Kit
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Every gamer can give you a list of what kit they’d like to have it stranded on a desert island (type of thing). Here’s mine. The
Risus ruleset that is bundled with the Big
List of RPG Plots as as booklet, with the
booklet version of The Risus Companion
stuck in between the sections of the Risus/ Big List booklet, something to write with and on, and some dice (up to 6 of each type).!
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My kit is portable enough to travel anywhere quite easily. Unlike some people who have to lug around 3 (or more) hardcover books, I have a sleek 78 pages booklet.!
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What’s in your kit?!
Updated Gamer’s Kit
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My Gamer’s Kit that I mentioned before hasn’t changed a whole lot, but it has been updated a bit, so I thought I would
summarize my kit here:!
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• !!Risus / Risus Companion / Big List of
RPG Plots sandwich style book (made by
putting the Companion booklet file in
between the sections of the Risus / Big List of RPG Plots booklet file.!
• !!Instant Game - one of the best quick, random, campaign/setting generator that I’ve seen (it’s a freebie available from Animalball Games (http://
www.animalball.com/games.html)). Works with any game system.!
• !!Dice (variety, but mostly d6).! • !!Pencil!
• !!Paper!
• !!Something Different: another game for
diversity. Currently, it is 44: A Game of
Automatic Fear (by Matt Snyder and
available at http://storiesyouplay.com/44/).!
Gaming Social Contract
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I’ve seen a lot of discussion lately about how important it is to have a “social contract" for your game. If you haven’t heard of this, it is basically the ground rules for what style of play your are going for (funny, serious, Indiana Jones, etc.). I agree that this is something important to do. Instead of blathering on about what might work, I will simply direct you to read Formless (http:// www.pigames.net/collaborative/index.php? action=read&page=183). !
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Formless is very detailed (maybe more than you’ll ever need for a Risus game), but it does give you everything you might need to think about.
How would you like to meet this out in the wilderness….how would your players react? What would you even name this?!
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You can check out others at the source: Wood-Splitter-Lee (
8 Rules for the Risus GM
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1. It’s OK To Say Yes
There aren’t a whole lot of rules to Risus, and it’s never any fun to argue about what few rules there are. Just let your players try anything and adjust the target number accordingly.!
2. Go With the Flow
Risus encourages your players to try anything. Go ahead and let them. Everyone will have more fun.!
3. Not Everything Needs to Be Resolved With Combat
If the players are supposed to win an encounter, let them. Use a single contest die roll to determine how well they succeeded (there’s a difference between living and surviving; find out where they are on the spectrum with a single roll).!
4. Use The Tools At Hand
Some might argue that if you are using props with Risus, you probably are thinking too hard. However, sometimes props help to set the mood or just help the players envision what you described with your feeble word smithing.!
5. Preparedness Makes Us Powerful**
It’s a good thing to have some clue as to what is going in your campaign, so be prepared to ensure that your players have a good time. Sometimes that means having to throw your “plans" out the window when the players take the campaign in a different direction than you were planning.!
6. When In Doubt, See Rule #1
Keep things fun and say yes to what your players want to try. It’s supposed to be about having fun and “there’s no wrong way to play" anyway.!
7. You Have Dice, Use Them, Trust Them
You can’t beat the rattle of dice to determine the outcome of some situation. Use them often. Trust in what they tell you. Live with the results.!
8. Be A Player
Part of playing the game is to have fun. If you aren’t having fun, don’t play. If you can’t handle being the GM (which isn’t as easy as you’d think since you are playing everyone else), let someone else try and just be a player. Don’t give up, just have fun.!
!
*This post was inspired by Eight Rules That Will Make You a Better DM.!
**Herman Goering!
helloboneshelloheart (http://
helloboneshelloheart.tumblr.com/post/ 8554004778):!
Carnal by nightrhino!
!
Gwyn Axpix
!
Goblin maiden looking to marry a wealthy adventurer to take her away from it all (4), Street merchant who always seems to have what people need (3), Insatiable flirt who likes to play with knives (3)!
!
Gwyn is a young goblin maiden who happened to have been raised by a nice couple of humans (poor but very well liked in the community). !
She resides in a seedier part of town, and even there, she has to deal with mistrust from most everyone. She is only tolerated by most because of her parents. !
She has put up with prejudice most of her life. However, she has become an
accomplished merchant who always seems to either have (or can acquire) whatever gear someone is looking for.!
Always one with a friendly smile, she is quick to flirt with any member of the opposite sex. Of course, her way of using knives as part of her flirting ritual scares away most of the men she meets. She is hoping for a Prince Charming adventurer to sweep her off her feet and take her out of her life to something more exciting.!
Volo
!
hyper-intelligent, overconfident raven (4); shadow caster [2]; Magical Enchantment: speak [2] !
!
Hooks!
Volo can only cast spells that have verbal and material components. He hasn’t figured a way to cast spells that require gestures. He also has trouble casting spells with material components as it is hard to get a hold of them.!
Tale!
Volo is a raven that was raised to be a familiar for Jericho Shroudchanter. However, Jericho chose to experiment on Volo to give him more power. He succeeded. Volo became super intelligent and able to cast spells; however in the process Jericho turned into a drooling idiot. Volo was happy to serve Jericho Shroudcaster. He does feel guilty of what happened to Jericho and is working to restore him back to normal.!
!
You can’t have too
many links…!
!
Dungeon Crawl Risus - 1KM1KT (http://www.1km1kt.net/rpg/ dungeon-crawl-risus )→
Worth checking out for you D&D Fans.
!
Risus Trek: Starship Combat Again (
http://guy-wires.blogspot.com/2011/03/ risus-trek-starship-combat-again.html)→
Guy posts some interesting thoughts on what to do with starships in a Star Trek TOS campaign. The basic approach is to make them Tools of the Trade. I think this is a good approach, but my only question is how do you know when to penalize the player for not having their tool with them? If they are on the planet, are they screwed? Or are they OK as long as they remain in constant contact with the ship (sort of like in Miri where they were screwed without their communicators)?
!
How would you handle ships in a Star Trek type campaign?
!
Risus First Run (http:// www.reddit.com/r/rpg/ comments/kmreq/
i_ran_risus_for_the_first_time_las t_night/)→
A reddit post detailing a groups first run through with Risus. Sounds like they had an amazing time.
!
Story Generator - TV Tropes (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/ storygen.php) →
Yet another reason to belong to the RisusTalk list…you get to find out about cool stuff like this.
!
We The People http:// engineofthwaak.blogspot.com/ 2012/02/risus-we-people.html)→
An alternate history setting for Risus is 8 short pages. It’s “a colonial fantasy setting where the puritans didn’t leave England for religious freedom, but for magickal freedom.”
!!
Pinky
!
Idiotic white lab mouse who is best friends with Brain (4); inept lab assistant (4); TV trivia buff (3)!
!
Hooks!
Never ponders what Brain is pondering!
!
Brain
!
Genius white lab mouse bent on world domination (4); ad hoc inventor [3]; arch nemesis of Snowball (Questing Dice) [][][][][]!
!
Hooks!
Let’s Cook with Risus
!
Before I explain why Risus is my utility system, here’s a quick review of what Risus is about:!
!
Risus is billed as “The Anything RPG”. It was designed 20 years ago as a beer and pretzel, comedy system. However, once you are all “Kwai Chang Caine” about the system, it works for any style of game you want. Being a free system, it is well worth checking out (http://
risus.cumberlandgames.com/ ).!
!
The rules are a quick read (being only 6 pages long); like Othello, it takes a minute to learn, and a lifetime to master. Your character is defined by clichés: shorthand methods to describe
something about your characters and what they might be good at.!
It can be something as simple as Fighter: 4 (the 4 being the number of dice you roll when your ability as a fighter is being tested), but it can be quite amazing once you sprinkle some spices into your cliché.!
!
You could sprinkle a little salt and be a Dwarven Fighter: 4 (if you are into the species thing); or really add the jalapeños with something like Kardakeep Home Guard Ax-wielding Fighter with a Lust for Blood: 4. Technically, they are all just Fighters, but adding some description into your cliché turns a boring character soup into a hearty stew. It gives your character some background (a home, a role, a specialized weapon, and a roleplaying hook).!
!
You usually get 10 dice to define your character, and their are options available to earn a couple more dice, but you can define a really strong character with the defaults.!
Risus utilizes a dice pool to resolve conflicts. Take your rating and roll that number of dice. You need to know what type of conflict you are in: a test against a target number (for something quick and easy); a single action contest against another character; or full out combat. If you beat the target number or the dice total from your opponent you win (in combat, if you lose, your cliché rating will drop by one until you run out of dice). There are some nuances in there, but that is the gist of things in a nutshell. You can read the rules in a few minutes and see the details for yourself.!
!
So why is Risus my utility system?!
!
Simply put, I love the flexibility of Risus. You really can use it for anything. Any genre, any setting, anything at all, and it will never leave you feeling like you are missing out on anything. I also love the simplicity of it all. You don’t have to spends hours or days building your perfect character. You can probably build a wonderful character that you’d enjoy playing in minutes.!
!
I prefer a system that encourages creativity. Once you are riding the zen of Risus, it is amazing the things you will come up with. In Risus, you are encouraged to ignore Yoda’s advice and TRY. Even my kids love it and have a great time with it.!
!
Another factor in my choice of utility system is the pressing specter of time. Simply put, I don’t have a ton of it. While there are a large number of awesome games out there, I find it much easier to harvest the settings and other concepts and just use Risus as the system. Risus really does work for anything.!
!
I will be honest. Risus isn’t necessarily for everyone. It plays a little more loosy-goosy than some structured, try to define everything a player can do and try to hold them to some semblance of the game’s reality, system. You might hear whispers in the dark about how there is a “death spiral” inherit in Risus where once you start losing a conflict, you have little hope of winning (to which I like to remind people that losing in Risus does not necessarily mean death like it does in other more serious games).!
!
Risus just works for me. It might work for you if you give it a chance.!
Legend of Zork as Inspiration
!
If you were looking for an online time waster, Legend of Zork (sadly gone from the web) did a pretty good job. However, I was thinking that the concept would work out pretty good for a Risus game.!
!
The basic concept is that you are a recently fired door to door salesman in a fantasy realm (so you might have been selling magic helmets or something). You still have your sales sample and a bit of loose change. What do you do now? Might as well go
They say that confession is good for the soul. So here is a Risus confession: I pronounce the game name rahy-suhs - sort of like rye bread plus some sus to go on it. However, Risus is technically a latin term (for laughter). It should be pronounced
something along the lines of reee-suss (sort of like recess, actually). There, I’ve got it out in the open (and will continue to pronounce it in my own way since I don’t speak latin).
Plundering Talislanta
!
Talislanta was one of my favorite settings back in the days; something truly original and not a derivative of everything else that was out there. Stephan Michael Sechi has decided to call it a day (well, a couple of decades) on Talislanta and is offering everything for free download.!
!
You should really go check it out at http://www.talislanta.com/ where they are building a nice support community to keep the game alive for the fans.!
As Talislanta is based on using set character types, it would be very simple to use Risus to play (if you aren’t interested in learning another system, that is).!
How Often…
!
How often do you need to refer to the rules in a game? If it is Risus, probably not very necessary once you understand the basics. There are 3 basic times to roll: a single action conflict (winner of one roll takes all), a full combat, and a target number roll. The mechanic is always the same, roll a number of dice equal to your cliche level and add up the result. Higher is better.!
!
There really isn’t a whole lot of referring to rules necessary.!
!
Apologies to D&D Fans
!
I didn’t mean to imply that you can’t roleplay with D&D. I was just musing that it seems that the implicit goal of the game is to collect
cool stuff so that you can become invincible. I know that it is all play style. If you review My RPG History, you can see that I’ve played for quite some time (and quite a bit of it was D&D).!
!
In Risus, cool stuff is available (Bonus Die Gear), but the system doesn’t seem to encourage a deep burning desire for more cool stuff.!
!
Of course, it helps that in Risus you can bake all of the cool stuff you’d ever want right into your clichés (and you are only limited by your imagination and the conventions of the particular campaign you are playing).!
!
(the lolcat was from tiffa130 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tiffanyday/3841124035/) and is CC licensed)
Taug (TOOK) Maciver
!
Vagabond Scottish Tinker with a knack for inventing things out of scraps (4), Former priest seeking redemption (3), Self-sufficient outdoorsman (3)!
!
Tale!
Taug Maciver is a failed priest from Inverness-shire, Scotland who left for America when he was excommunicated from the church. He has stayed in various Scottish settlements in Appalachia and Darien, Georgia.
He works as a tinker, but is helping to fix more than people’s mechanical devices, he helps to fix their spirits.
He is currently working his way across Texas, looking for word from God as to what his path should be.!
!
And You Can Dance
!
There was a recent discussion on the RisusTalk
mailing list about the “Risus Death Spiral." The notion is quite simple, once you’ve lost a die in a conflict, you will most likely keep on losing. Let’s say your using Musketeer (4) against a grunt squad of Royal Guards (4). You roll a 12, and the Royal Guards gets a 15. Now, you are effectively a Musketeer (3) still going against those Royal Guards (4). Unless you get really lucky in your rolls, odds are that you will lose the conflict.!
!
That is, however, unless you learn the Risus jig. There are always options (some involving optional rules). !
!
A good option is to team up with your fellow players against those dastardly Royal Guards (4).
Assuming there are three of you on your team, even if they are less skilled and are Museteer (3), odds are you will add at least one 6 to your next roll (1 in 6 change for a dice to come up a 6; 6 dice being rolled by your team mates; do the math). That should go a long ways towards helping you knock those Royal Guards (4) down a notch.!
!
Another option, assuming you are using the Pumping option, is to pump up a die or two on your next roll. Sure, you’ll be more hurt in the end (and maybe even out of the battle if you lose), but if you’re worried about a death spiral, you think you’re dead anyway. If you win, you can always switch to a backup cliche.!
!
Just like on Mythbusters, failure is always an option. Combat is only deadly if you say it is (and to the victor, the right to determine the fate of the loser). If your Musketeer is defeated by those Royal
Guards, odds are you will just be captured and brought to the Pretender to the Throne (4) so he can gloat over you before throwing you in the dungeon (where you can be rescued later).!
!
If you are using any of the options from the Risus Companion, there’s always the possibility of throwing in a lucky shot or questing dice, too.!
I think that part of the perceived problem has to do with the fact that when you are just looking at numbers, there isn’t much difference between a 3 and a 4. However, when you are talking about cliche levels, this is the difference between a professional and an advanced professional on his way to being a master.!
!
Plus, if you started out on equal grounds (4 vs 4), it is hard to get your head around the fact that if you’ve lost a round, your effectiveness has gone down (in that D&D game, you are just as good at HP-1 as you are at HP-50). Being worn down has no effect on how well you do in that game, yet it makes all the difference in Risus.!
!
Is this another instance where Risus gets it better than so-called real games? I don’t know about that. I think that in Risus, the idea is to get your conflict over quickly so that you can get to another conflict lickety-split.!
!
Conflicts aren’t supposed to take hours to resolve. Where’s the fun in that? Get done with one, move along to the next. Repeat until the adventure is over.!
Oh no! I’m losing…
!
Cliché Death Spiral
!
You are up against a Wild Snarling Beast From the Nethers (4) using your Cunning Barbarian
Warrior (4). You lose the first round and your effectively a Cunning Barbarian Warrior (3). The odds are now against you. The odds say that that Snarling Beast is going to be having a Barbarian Warrior for dinner. A one die difference in a cliché can be a big difference (and heaven help you if it grows).!
!
With a 4 die cliché, you can expect to roll between 4 and 24; with a 3 die cliché, between 3 and 18. If my math is right, the 3 die cliché only has a 71% chance of winning the next round (since one possible result can’t beat the lowest roll of the 4 die cliché), and the poor 2 die cliché is down to a 43% chance of winning the next round (two possible results are lower 4, so no chance there).!
!
Is this good or bad? Since combat is only deadly if you say so, it really shouldn’t matter. Sure, you might lose the contest (and the contest will be over quickly), the effects don’t have to mean you are dead and gone. Perhaps that Snarling Beast doesn’t like the smell of your Barbarian Warrior and just throws dirt over your prone body and walks away. Sure, you might have some scratches for a while or something, but you’ll recover. You don’t have to win to have fun.!
!
Risus combat is meant to be over fairly quickly (unless someone gets really lucky). The advantage to this is you are not spending an hour rolling dice for one encounter. As a bonus, Risus combat is over so quickly so you can get on to another battle elsewhere (maybe you’ll even win next time).!
!
If you really want a way to try to help yourself out of the spiral (assuming you’re one of those players that always has to win), here are some suggestions.!
!
• Check with your GM to see if you can Pump your clichés. If you can, you will get some bonus dice (at a cost, so make sure you have an alternate cliché to use).!
• If you really only like combat-like stuff, have more than 1 cliché in it (it may seem a little extreme to have 2 (or more) fighting clichés, but hey, it’s your character).!
• Figure out a way to make an inappropriate cliché work (this is a lot of fun especially if you can pump it; imagine that Snarling Beast snoozing once you hit him with your Lute Player for The King (3) cliché that you pump up to 5 dice (sure you’re out if you lose, but if not you win)).!
!
Optional Rule: Spies Like Us
!
Maybe it’s because I finished reading the International Spy Museum Handbook of Practical Spying (http://www.spymuseumstore.org/4792.html), or maybe it’s just the book inspiring memories of playing Top Secret (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Secret_(role-playing_game)), but I’ve been itching to play me a spy game.!
!
However, one thing seems to be missing from most systems: rules for your agent’s cover. Here’s my idea for adding covers to Risus.!
!
A spy can take a special cliché simply called Cover Story. This cliché cannot be ranked higher than a player’s specific spy cliché. If you have Roguish Confiscation Agent (4), the best you can have for your Cover Story cliché is a (4).!
!
Before undertaking each mission, a spy must document specifically what their Cover Story cliché entails. Perhaps something along the lines of Investment Banker. For all intents and purposes, for the length of the mission, the spy is also an Investment Banker (4).!
!
When the mission is over, the spy can pick a different Cover Story. Maybe next time out, she wants to be a Fashion Photographer (4).!
!
However, here is where Cover Story changes things a bit. You still have some memory of your previous Cover Story (and only the most recent cover story). However, you effectively work at 1/2 of the cliché level (round down). So if our Roguish Confiscation Agent (4), using the Cover Story of Fashion Photographer (4) needed to do something as an Investment Banker, she could, but it would be as an Investment Banker (2).!
!
There may be times when that (2) works out better than the (4) due to difficulties and target numbers.!
!
I don’t know if such a rule is necessary (most likely, it isn’t). I thought I would submit it for flavor. An agent’s cover story is an important part of any mission and I thought it would be interesting to allow agents to change their cover story between missions.!
About I Spy Green
Acres
!
In I Spy Green Acres, you play the role of secret
agents infiltrating a UN created land: Green Acres.!
Green Acres was set up to be a zone that owed allegiance to no one country. Everyone was welcome without question. Of course, it soon became a hot bed of intrigue as it was
discovered that Green Acres had connections to host countries.!
No one who enters Green Acres knows for sure where it is. The UN has been very secretive about its location. The only way into our out of Green Acres is via the railway terminal at Petticoat Junction. When Green Acres first opened its doors, those tired of the political world were flocking to get in. Among the refugees, however, were those who wanted to know the secrets of those choosing to live there (and their contacts back home).!
!
Character Creation
!
Characters are created using the standard Risus rules with 10 dice. Feel free to use Hooks & Tales (it might be interesting to know why your character moved to Green Acres).!
You are not required to take any particular espionage cliché. However, you will most likely enter into that world whether you want to or not (out of sheer boredom).!
You are more than welcome to take any cliché that implies knowledge in mad scientist type roles (a la Frankenstein, Dr Jeckyll, etc.). No one said that you were a good guy in the outside world.!
Smarter Than the Average Pig...
Scientists in Green Acres like to ticker with things “man was not meant to know.” With GM approval, you may chose to be an intelligent animal or construct as your character. However, in these cases, cuteness counts for a lot (don’t expect the townsfolk to treat a construct very nicely).!
Welcome to Green
Acres
!
You step off of the train into a small terminal called Petticoat Junction. You can tell that the station used to be nice, but it has fallen into disrepair. You are greeted by a fairly attractive young lady who escorts you to Mr. Haney. !
Mr. Haney is a sort of traveling salesman who brings items people might be interested in directly to them in the back of his old pickup.!
He offers to take the PCs to their new home in Green Acres. HAVE FUN!
Location, Location, Location Hooterville
The closest thing to a town in Green Acres. Closer to a village in size, but most services can be found here; usually 20 years behind the times.
!
Petticoat Junction
The only means to get into or out of Green Acres, this once bustling railway station now sees very little traffic. The locals uses the old railway water tower for cooling off in the summer heat.
!
Other Small Towns
Pixley, Crabwell Corners, Stankwell Falls.
!
Hooks and Tales, Pumping!
Description!
A supposed political free zone is set up by multiple countries: Green Acres. Of course, since residents still have ties back to their home countries, politics are far from absent, with most countries using Green Acres to spy on each other.!
You might find all sorts of interesting people in Green Acres. The newer residents have not yet blended in and appear as “city slickers” since they are usually 10-20 years ahead of the times in Green Acres.!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Acres http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Spy_(1965_TV_series)
Risus: One Page Challenge - by Larry Bullock - October 11, 2011
Chinese Hacking
Assassins?
!
I don’t know if you listen to the Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe (http://
www.theskepticsguide.org/ you really should), but they have a segment in the show called Science or Fiction (where the host comes up with 3 stories where two of them are fact, and one of them is fiction, and you are supposed to figure out which one is the fiction along with the co-hosts). !
!
On a recent episode, the fiction article was that there were Chinese hackers
manipulating medical records to assassinate people. I was thinking that this could make for an interesting thing to put into a game, especially in a cyberpunk setting. Imagine the lonely little hacker out there hacking into your body upgrades and causing all sorts of havoc.!
Castaways
!
One of the more fun bit of imaginings I have done is posted over at Risusiverse under the Castaways section (http://
www.risusiverse.com/home/characters-and-
cliches/character-gallery/castaway-characters). I thought it would be fun to come up with characters inspired from Gilligan’s Island (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Gilligan's_Island) - only instead, it was
Conrad Mulligan’s Island. Conrad isn’t much more than a pure Gilligan rip off. The rest of the cast has some interesting twists:!
!
• Skipper / Captain Bill Howdy - a once great captain whose career fell apart due to a Twisted Sister song.!
• Mr Howell / Mr. Rudy Moneybanks - a once rich man who lost it all; actually the one who caused the shipwreck (hoping to kill himself and his wife in the process).! • Mrs. Howell / Mrs. Rudy Moneybanks -
charity organizer extraordinaire.!
• Ginger / Cinnamon Star - actually believes she can do the things she did in her
movies.!
• Marry Ann / Annie Marie - secretly a ninja who will kill anyone who finds out.!
• Professor / Doc Jones - con man with a meager ability to invent gadgets who is on the run from the law.!
Penultimate (http://www.cocoabox.com/penultimate) is a pretty cool tool for doing RPG stuff. I made this sample page in just a few minutes, and exported it to my Dropbox (https://
www.dropbox.com/) so that I could post it here. It also syncs with Evernote (http://www.evernote.com/) if you like that one. The page from the notebook was exported as a PNG file.!
!
The basic idea for an RPG would be to create a notebook of room/campaign notes, maps, etc. You can import regular pictures if you like as well (so you can write and draw around them.!
!
All in all, a pretty cool tool.!
!
edit: forgot to mention that it has different paper styles (including graph paper).!
Does anyone else have fond memories of Amazing Engine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Amazing_Engine)? The system was
workable, but the setting books were, dare I say, amazing. My favorite was For Faerie,
Queen, and Country.!
!
Amazing Engine settings are ripe for easy
use in other systems, especially something simple like Risus.!
Adding Moral Attitudes to
Clichés
!
Back in the old days, you gave hints as to how your character would behave via an alignment. It is real easy to add something similar to your main cliché too. Thanks to the sadly out of print Alternity, here is a list for your
consumption. Just sprinkle some of these in to your cliché description and see how much easier it is to know more about your character.!
!
There are a lot of great games out there using a variety of dice mechanics. Once upon a time, I wrote up how to use the Alternity dice mechanic (http://www.risusiverse.com/home/
optional-rules/alternity-inspired-dice-mechanic) in Risus. I wrote up using the Saga card-based system (http://
www.risusiverse.com/home/optional-rules/saga-rules) too.! I also have a soft spot for percentile-based system. D100 is just fun. Perhaps my favorite for that was Amazing Engine
(especially the bit where you checked the one’s digit to see if you had a critical success or failure). I don’t know if it could be made to work with Risus or not, but I still like it.!
!
Do you have a favorite dice mechanic?!
Why not d100?
!
I’m always a little surprised that the simple d100 (or the simple % dice) isn’t used in more games. Think about it. Everything is easy to understand if you think you’ve got x% chance to succeed. So why so many different dice? Is the curve really that different?!
!
Confession one: my favorite d100 system was Amazing Engine. I loved how you could look at the 1s position to know if you had a critical. The original Top Secret gets a close second.!
!
Confession two: I think that the answer is just that it is fun to roll lots of dice. The more the merrier. We have been conditioned by Yahtzee.!
“It occurs to me that there is no set of rules so simple that people will not want to come up with their own spin on it on the
Internet ;-)”!
!
Guy Hoyle via RisusTalk (stuff like the
Instant Risus?
!
If the notes for adventure design in the
Companion aren’t enough for you (or you
don’t have the Companion since it isn’t required to play Risus), you might want to check out Instant Game (http://
www.animalball.com/games.html) from Animalball. This is a game all about creating a setting with a few judicious roles of
percentile dice.!
!
At a minimum, you roll 4 times: once for setting, once for tone (although you might want to skip this one and tailor it to your play group), and twice for things. Here’s a quick example (culled from real rolls):!
!
Setting: Tree Top Civilization!
Tone: Mythic!
Things: Neutrality, Note!
!
From this, I’m picturing a place where there are fairy-like beings who live in the trees (complete with buildings and what not that blend into the trees Ewok-style). They’ve maintained their neutrality with the rest of the world (violently at times; they just want to be left alone and have the power to ensure that they are), but they’ve just received a
mysterious note from a nearby kingdom and must decide what to do.!
!
There are other tables you can roll on if you aren’t picturing anything specific to help you flesh out your setting. The game also includes reference materials to give you a clichéd view of what your roles might mean.!
!
Once the setting is done, I’d just switch to Risus to actually run the game (although the system included in Instant Game isn’t bad at all).!
Even Quicker Game Start
!
Define your character with one cliché (the one thing people would notice about the character right off the bat or the main thing that defines who your character is/what your character does). Give that cliché a rating like normal.!
!
Start playing.!
!
When you come across a situation where your cliché doesn’t seem to fit, come up with a secondary cliché, right there on the spot, but make sure you have a flashback or something to remind you of the other cliché.!
!
This is a lot like in a TV series. You start out as a hot-shot pilot who can out fly anyone (4). You’re fine playing that, but then
something comes up where being a hot-shot pilot isn’t very applicable. You could stick with the When Someone Can’t Participate
rules, but you want to do something more. Just add on that new cliché to fit the situation and give it some dice (so you can have
naturally talented artist (2) suddenly
appear on your character sheet). Just try to add some back story to where the cliché came from.!
!
You will need to keep track of how many dice your character has left to spend (up to
whatever the maximum was set by the GM).!
Starting Out
!
If you were going to get kids started with
roleplaying, Risus makes a great choice. It doesn’t require any special tools that people aren’t going to have (most people can scavenge six-sided dice from old board games, and finding
The big question is, where do you start? On the old Risus list (http://
games.groups.yahoo.com/group/risus/), there was a discussion of just having the kids make up someone with only one cliché in a genre that they understand (i.e. have the kids be a Jedi in Star Wars). That way, they
already have a concept about what their character can and can’t do, and they already have a clue as to the “rules" of the genre.!
!
Once the kids know the basics, it is easy to move them on to multiple clichés, etc. Here’s an interesting article on Roleplaying with Kids (http://www.squidoo.com/kidsrpg).!
A Series of Unfortunate
Events
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books can be mined for an interesting roleplaying setting.!!
You have a secret organization that
went through an internal schism. Part of the group maintains tradition and is out to help the world; the other part wants to use their knowledge and skills to have their way with the world. The difficulty is knowing for sure who is on what side of the schism, and each side knows the secrets of the other (since they came from the same root).!
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Players could be like the kids in the books and be outside of the organization and trying to figure out what is going on and who to trust, or players could be members of the organization. Which side? Only they know for sure.!
The Bearable Weight of Being Light-Weight
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Risus is a light-weight system. The entire rule set fits within 6 pages in the PDF (complete with a couple of high quality stick figures). However, it is amazing how well the subtitle of the
“Anything RPG” actually fits without tweaks.!
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Sure, it is tempting to want to add more to the system. I have been guilty of that (especially with Ars Incantâtio - http://www.risusiverse.com/home/settings/ars-incanttio). However, once you get your head around the three types of conflicts, and understand how they can be applied to pretty much any situation, it becomes easier to see just how complete Risus can be as is.!
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Kane Chronicles Concept
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A basic idea in the Kane Chronicles (http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kane_Chronicles )by Rick Riordan) is that a sorcerer can channel the power of the gods to go ballistic on their enemies. This seems to be a one god limit (you are basically linked up with a given god and will share many traits with that particular god). However, when using the god’s abilities, the god has a tendency to want to take over, and puny mortal limits mean nothing to them (they have a peculiar habit of using up the people they are sharing power).!
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This could make an interesting twist to a game involving wizards and what not.!
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Maybe you could do this in Risus to simulate the concept: You could have the god listed as a sidekick, and every time the god helps out, you have to roll against the god’s total using your magical cliché to keep from losing a die or
something along the lines of the GM acting as the god gets to dictate your next action (even to the point of double pumping yourself out of the fight). The sharing of personality traits and what not is really just roleplaying window dressing.!
(Since Disqus changed the way they do things, I can’t use their comment system anymore; it’s broken no matter what options I use for authentication. So I’m forced to offer my comment as a submission instead.)!
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re: Gods as sidekicks. Instead of losing dice for using god-powers, go the other direction: every time you use the divine connection, ADD a die to the god-cliché. If the god-cliché gets too many dice, the character becomes an NPC, and a horribly powerful one. Perhaps the cliché dice can be reduced by willfully surrendering to the god (thus using the god-cliché) for one NPC action; the more frequently it’s done, the smaller the god-cliché will be and the less effective the temporary-NPC’s actions might be. Do it less frequently, and the player will have more god-cliché dice, but so will the temporary-NPC.!
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The temptation to skirt the safety margins will be a powerful lure of metagaming.!
Risus on Fire?
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I was wondering if a roleplaying game would work using a basic formula like most TV series use? Take Burn Notice (http://www.usanetwork.com/series/burnnotice/). I love the series, but it has a pretty basic formula: a season-running storyline (which takes up very little of the story of the week (usually)) that is cut into the story of the week (in which Michael has to go and help out some poor soul with his MacGyver/Bond skills).!
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Would this work in a campaign? Especially over the long haul?!
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I’m thinking that it probably would. Take a typical fantasy adventure. The “weekly episode" might be driving the goblins out of the local mines one week, and rescuing Princess Penelope the next. The season-running storyline might be the King’s advisor trying to get rid of the PCs (because he really wants to be in charge and without the PCs around, he might finally get rid of Princess Penelope).!
