Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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 whos other free
hosting providers were closing up shop.
It never really took off as a group blogmostly just me and anoccasional soul or two. It has been a
lot of fun, but its 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.
Larry
Risus, The Anything RPG is S. John Ross and is freely available from the
Cumberland Games website at: http://risus.cumberlandgames.com/
My RPG History!
Just to show that Im not all Risus,
heres a somewhat complete list of
commercial RPGs that Ive owned/
Why Risus?!
I dont think Ive ever posted my Why I Play Risus thoughts here, so I
thought Id rectify that.
As can be seen by my RPG History post (see sidebar), Ive played a lot of
different games and campaigns over the years (Ive 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.
No roleplaying game is perfect. Therefore, I use Risus
Aragorn!
Game
Shadowrun
Star Frontiers
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Top Secret
Twilight 2000
Vampire: The Masquerade
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:!
!
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.
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
you really like Risus, you might want to join.
The Colony!
Genre: Fantasy
Tone: Somewhat serious (but with some funny)
Campaign Options:Hooks and Tales, Pumping Clichs, DoublePumps
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 Were on the
Outside Looking Infrom the Big List of RPG Plots
Humperdinck!
Serious Play!
When using Risus for serious play (hopefully not too serious though), heres what I do: I rarely
allow combat with inappropriate cliches. I dont outright forbid them. However, in most
combat situations, I use the if both sides want to fight, its 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.
Its really just a matter of what tone you set.
Future of Roleplaying!
I wonder if the future of roleplaying is exemplified
byThe Backyardigans? Think about iteach
episode, the characters are the same basic people,
but they take on a role specific to that episodes
adventure. Pure roleplaying.
Putting this in context of a game, your character
would have the same basic defining characteristics/
mannerisms/etc., but youd get to expand yourself
with the given role of the day. Seems like this
would be easy to do.
http://www.nickjr.com/shows/backyardigans/index.jhtml
Fun Links!
Inappropriate Clichs!
I dont 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, its 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 doesnt want to fight. If
this were a serious" campaign, could it still work? I like to think so. Its all
in how you want to interpret clichs.
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, hes probably had to deal
with protest situations
(probably as part of one).
I wonder if Risus could use another
What if the folk guitarist
option where you get to stage your
starts gathering protesters
own finale? The more dice you give
up (that puts you out of action), the
who harass the mob hit
more say you get in what happens.
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.
Noble Quinn!
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)
You are a GM and you really have never looked at Risus. Thats fine (Im 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 clichs, so Thron might also list Initiate in the Order of Reibir,
Dwarven God of Gemcraft (2).
Risus clichs provide you with a character at a
glance. You dont really need to know what Throns
individual stats are. Your players dont interact with
Throns 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 clichs, it is a simple matter to use your Risus defined NPCs in your campaign. If it
becomes necessary, it isnt 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 clichs, it shouldnt be too hard to come up with
something).
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).!
Here is My Brute*,
Fuhsaz, in Risus
terms:!
Gladiator-in-training
(4), Dog Trainer (4),
Wolf-dog sidekick who
will die to defend Fuhsaz (6)**!
!
Jude Oak!
Jude is a simple man who just loves to figure out how things
work and how to fix them. Hes not out for a lot, a simple meal
or whatever someone can afford to pay him. His easy golucky 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 doesnt mind talking
philosophy with people.!
!
The above is my character for a Steam-Metropolis style
campaign called Metropolitan Skies (being done as a play
by post/message board).!
Lets 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
What is your favorite roleplaying genre? I
set the campaign limit for the power at
would answer sword and sorcery, but the
1,000. Once theyve gotten to 1,000 (or
higher), its time for the end.!
longest campaign that I was ever part of was
!
!
Audience Participation
Exercise: Dromas!
Electric Knight!
Master of Electricity [4d20], Expert in Stick-Fu (3d8), Helpful and
Knowledgeable Wandering Priest (4d6), Lucky Shots: [][][][][][]!
anonymous asks:!
risus said:!
I think what you are asking is a logical fallacy (hasty generalization if you are implying
that people suck because they dont like Risus). Risus is the Anything RPG, but that
doesnt mean Risus is the Everyone RPG.!
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 cant knock it till you try it, put a little on your plate, dont make a face before you
taste it, some kids think its great!"*!
As far as people sucking goesthats kind of the way of the world (and we all suck in
some way). People are people and all that.!
Gothikork!
!
Risus fans dont just assume that
Risus is halfway to a game
theyve always wanted. As the
Risus guy, its my pleasure and
privilege to stock my Risus web
page with links to dozens of
individual expressions of what
Risus can be. Its a herd of
unicorns, many of them lovelier
than anything Id have come up
with on my own.!
!
But it may be just my allergy to two-hundred-pages corebooks!
!
!
!
!
Yoda!
GMToolKit
(http://webcommando.com/iPhone/GMToolKit.html)
Of course, it has a build in dice roller, simply click on the die type
you want to roll and youll 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).!
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).!
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).!
!
The app is worth checking out. Plus, it is free!!
!
Gamers Kit!
Every gamer can give you a list of what kit
theyd like to have it stranded on a desert
island (type of thing). Heres 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).!
*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!
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 hasnt 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 forJericho 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.!
-Volo was designed to be used with the Something Familiar setting (http://
www.risusiverse.com/home/settings/something-familiar).!
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.!
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!
Deep down has a heart of gold (especially in regards to
Pinky)!
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 clichs: 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 clich.!
You could sprinkle a little salt and be a Dwarven Fighter: 4 (if you are into the species thing); or
really add the jalapeos 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
clich 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
clich 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 dont have to spends hours or days building your perfect
character. You can probably build a wonderful character that youd 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 Yodas advice and TRY.
Even my kids love it and have a great time with it.!
I havent been granted the luxury of just being a player of any RPG in 20+ years (unless you
count a couple of awesome play by post games). I enjoy how easy it is to define everything in
Risus so that coming up with adventures isnt a chore (not that I usually follow a script any more,
but it is nice to have some prepared notes). Everything from challenges to NPCs can be defined
quite quickly with no real fuss (especially if you are into Shemping as presented by Asparagus
Jumpsuit:http://asparagusjumpsuit.wordpress.com/games/systemless-game-aids/).!
Another factor in my choice of utility system is the pressing specter of time. Simply put, I dont
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 isnt 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
games 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.!
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
adventuring to try to get by.!
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 arent 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.!
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 peoples 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.!
NOTE: this is for a Ranger Company X game taking place towards the end of the US
Civil War.!
Oh no! Im losing!
Probably the hardest thing for new Risus
players to get their heads around is the fact
that losing dice in a cliche does not equal
physical damage. In Risus, it isnt over until
you are out of dice, and the winner is the one
who decides what happens to you (using the
conventions of the genre you are playing in;
hopefully with a wink towards keeping it fun).
Sure, the Nasty Troll with a Toothy Grin (4)
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, youll be more hurt in the end (and maybe even out of the battle if you lose), but if youre
worried about a death spiral, you think youre 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, theres 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 isnt 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
youve 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 dont 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 arent supposed to take hours to resolve. Wheres the fun in that? Get done with one, move
along to the next. Repeat until the adventure is over.!
With a 4 die clich, you can expect to roll between 4 and 24; with a 3 die clich, between 3 and 18.
If my math is right, the 3 die clich only has a 71% chance of winning the next round (since one
possible result cant beat the lowest roll of the 4 die clich), and the poor 2 die clich 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 shouldnt matter. Sure, you
might lose the contest (and the contest will be over quickly), the effects dont have to mean you are
dead and gone. Perhaps that Snarling Beast doesnt 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 youll recover. You dont 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 youll even win next time).!
If you really want a way to try to help yourself out of the spiral (assuming youre one of those players
that always has to win), here are some suggestions.!
Check with your GM to see if you can Pump your clichs. If you can, you will get some bonus dice
(at a cost, so make sure you have an alternate clich to use).!
If you really only like combat-like stuff, have more than 1 clich in it (it may seem a little extreme to
have 2 (or more) fighting clichs, but hey, its your character).!
Figure out a way to make an inappropriate clich 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) clich that you pump up to 5 dice (sure youre out if you lose, but if not you win)).!
Remember, theres no wrong way to play. Just have fun with it.!
A spy can take a special clich simply called Cover Story. This
clich cannot be ranked higher than a players specific spy
clich. If you have Roguish Confiscation Agent (4), the best
you can have for your Cover Story clich is a (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 clich 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 dont know if such a rule is necessary (most likely, it isnt). I thought I would submit it for flavor. An
agents 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.!
Since Risus lives on the d6 pool (unless you like to get down and
funky), I am wondering if anyone has every tried using Liars Dice
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liar's_dice) rules for combat? It seems to
make sense to me. It would somewhat mitigate pool size differences
and add something else to the combat.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Spy_(1965_TV_series)
Comedy!
Campaign Options!
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
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).!
Hooterville
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!
Further Details?
Go to Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooterville
Chinese Hacking
Assassins?!
Castaways!
!
All in all, a pretty cool tool.!
!
Moral Attitude!
Anti-authority!
Apathetic!
Conformist!
Corrupt!
Despicable!
Ethical!
Gallant!
Honorable!
Just!
Selfish!
Unscrupulous!
Virtuous!
Worldly!
Instant Risus?!
If the notes for adventure design in the
Companion arent enough for you (or you
dont have the Companion since it isnt
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.!
!
Start playing.!
!
A Series of Unfortunate
Events!
Starting Out!
If you were going to get
kids started with
roleplaying, Risus
makes a great choice.
It doesnt require any
special tools that
people arent going to
have (most people can
scavenge six-sided
dice from old board
games, and finding
paper and pencils
arent terribly difficult),
and it can be taught to
someone pretty quickly.!
Sure, it is tempting to want to add more to the system. I have been guilty of that (especially
withArs Incanttio - 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.!
I personally love how liberating it is to have a system that can easily be applied to any setting,
any genre, anything at all.!
Risus on Fire?!
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).!
!
Would this work in a campaign? Especially over the long haul?!
!
Im 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 Kings 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).!
Fantasy!
Tone!
Serious!
Campaign Options!
Hooks and Tales, Pumping,
Double Pumping!
Description!
Pursued by dark forces, the
players are forced to enter the
Howling Caves. Will they evade
their pursuers? Will they find
their way to safety? What lurks
within the caves?!
4. Strange Obelisk!
A strange obelisk has been carved in the middle of
this cave. There are strange writings on it that the
PCs do not understand. Maybe they should copy it
down.
High school special education teacher (4), Inept wearer of an alien super suit [3], Lucky
Shots [][][][][][]!
Hooks!
Ralph lost the instruction manual to the super suit so everything is trial and error (quite
often error). Without the suit, Ralph has no super powers.!
Tale**!
Ralph Hinkley is a teacher of special education students. Determined to get through to
them, Ralph took them on a geological survey" field trip to the desert. Coming back from
the field trip later that night, the school bus breaks down. Ralph starts to walk back through
the desert to get help and he encounters a swerving
car driven by FBI Special Agent Bill Maxwell (Culp)
that stops just in time to avoid hitting Hinkley.
Maxwell insists that he could not control the car.
Then two bright purple lights appear in the sky and
they both jump in the car and try to get away, but the
car will not start and the doors lock by themselves
trapping them inside.!
Risus Stunts!
While Ive grown to not want to tweak Risus at all, a possible idea for you would be to give each
clich a number of stunts equal to the clichs rank. So, if youve got Star Spangled Avenger with
a Shield [5], you would have up to 5 stunt
points (verb form) for use with that clich.
Each stunt point lowers the target number
for a related task (for single action
My core book" for Risus is to print off
conflicts, etc.), or acts as team die for
the booklet versions of the PDF files
combat situations.!
(Risus + Big List of RPG Plots and the
Companion (stuck in between Risus
So, for your Star Spangled Avenger, lets
and the Big List of RPG Plots in that
say you have a stunt of throwing shield
booklet). I get one book with everything
like a boomerang (3), you could roll 3
I need. !
!
Is it possible to cram too much into a
single clich? If you read over Anatomy
of Clich (from the companion), you
can add all sorts of spices to your
Barbarian (3) clich to make your
character really come alive. However,
dont you think its possible to take it too
far and have so much in one clich that
you would seem psychotic if you added
more?
Like pretty much every mainstream RPG, Alternity defined characters with ability scores, skills,
etc. However, when you boil it down to its essence, your character was:!
A member of a Race!
who practiced a Profession!
who had a central Motivation driving them!
and a Moral Attitude to define your value system!
and 2Character Traits to give you hooks for roleplaying!
The nice part with Alternity was that you were rewarded for roleplaying to your Motivation,
Moral Attitude, and Character Traits (I know, a rarity for TSR).!
The Motivations included in the core rules were: All for Love, Cant Get Enough, Deeper
Meaning, Discovery, Find the Truth, Fun First, Helping Others, Loose End, On a Mission,
Personal Power, Staying Alive, Trust in Higher Power, Vengeance, Winning is Everything,
and Yearn to Learn.!
Moral Attitudes (an echo of the old fashioned alignment system) included were: Anti-authority,
Apathetic, Conformist, Corrupt, Despicable, Ethical, Gallant, Honorable, Just, Selfish,
Unscrupulous, Virtuous, and Worldly.!
Character Traits are labels to show how your character usually acts. Included were:
Aggressive, Amoral, Calm, Cheerful, Compassionate, Confident, Courageous, Cowardly,
Curious, Dependent, Egotistical, Energetic, Flippant, Follower, Foppish, Friendly,
Frivolous, Generous, Hateful, Helpful, Honest, Humble, Humorless, Humorous, Illogical,
Independent, Kind, Lazy, Leader, Logical, Mysterious, Ominous, Optimistic, Passive,
Peaceful, Pessimistic, Precise, Quiet, Rash, Religious, Romantic, Rude, Selfish, Skeptical,
Suspicious, Talkative, Thoughtless, and Trusting.!
Sure, you could probably do all of this in Risus with judicious use of adjectives when you define
your charactersclichs. However, in some games, it might be interesting to keep track of your
Motivation, Moral Attitude, and Character Traits outside ofclichs. It makes some sense as
these things are really just roleplaying cues that reflect the character as a person regardless of
what you do or what type of creature you might be.!
However, it works best if there is some kind of in-game benefit to using these attributes. I havent
thought too much about that yet (maybe a modification of a target number or something). That
will probably come with another post. What are your thoughts?!
Play by Post!
Has anyone had good luck with a play by post
game? Im part of one right now that is using
Risus rules, and it is a lot of fun. However, the
waiting gets a little frustrating.!
I dont know if there is a real solution for the waiting. I guess that if there were a way to enforce some
sort of post frequency, that might help. I still kind of like the stuff I put together for play by wiki over at
Risusiverse (http://www.risusiverse.com/home/wiki-based-rpg), but that only really works if you are
going to have a GM-less (or very GM-lite) game. I dont know if any of it could be applied to Play by
Post. What do you think?!
The original Wilburys were a stationary people who, realizing that their civilization could not stand still
forever, began to go for short walks - not the traveling", as we now know it, but certainly as far as the
corner and back. They must have taken to motion, in much the same way as penguins were at that time
taking to ledges, for the next we hear of them they were going out for the day (often taking lunch or a
picnic). Later, we dont as yet know how much later, some intrepid Wilburys began to go away for the
weekend, leaving late Friday and coming back Sunday. It was they who evolved simple rhythmic forms
to describe their adventures.!
A remarkable sophisticated musical culture developed, considering there were no managers or agents,
and the further the Wilburys traveled the more adventurous their music became, and the more it was
revered by the elders of the tribe who believed it had the power to stave off madness, turn brunettes
into blondes and increase the size of their ears.!
As the Wilburys began to go further and further in their search for musical inspiration they found
themselves the object of interest among many less developed species - nightclub owners, tour
operators and recording executives. To the Wilburys, who had only just learnt to cope with wives,
roadies and drummers, it was a blow from which many of them never recovered.!
A tiny handful survived - the last of the Traveling Wilburys - and the songs gathered here represent the
popular laments, the epic and heroic tales, which characterize the apotheosis of the elusive Wilbury
sound. The message of the music travels, as indeed they traveled and as I myself must now travel for
further treatment. Good listening, good night and let thy Wilbury be done !
Does anyone else think that the Traveling Wilburys (http://www.travelingwilburys.com/history/) would make for a fun
campaign?!
Snowball Fright!!
Genre!
Any!
Tone!
Silly Horror!
Campaign Options!
whatever ones you want!
Description!
Buried in snow on Christmas
Eve, whats a poor soul to do but
cause a little trouble with the
wet, well-packing, white stuff.
Too bad the supernatural got
involved.!
Truth is stranger than fiction dept.!
The Storm!
This is a good old-fashioned, heavy, wet, super
packing snow. Roads are pretty much impassible,
so if anyone wants to get anywhere, its walking
time (hopefully the PCs have boots made for such
an occasion). Just walking around should be
extremely difficult (the kids, being lighter, dont sink
in as much and they have sleds). And just like any
good scary story, the power goes out too.!
The Incident!
Once the PCs are out and about (see Getting them
out of the house), it happens. A large wad of snow,
hits one of them in the back of the head (GM picks
his favorite hot tempered target). The PCs will hear
the sound of children laughing. !
If the PCs shake it off and try to ignore it, let them
get pelted by a few more snowballs. If they still
ignore it, have a large barrage of snowballs rain on
them and have them lose a die in their most
applicable snowball-fighting clich.!
!
!
This 114-page PDF (also available in dead tree format - http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/uresia.htm) provides you a
synopsis of 16 of the larger island-nations (about 30 full pages of details and information to whet your appetite for more).
You are also provided with a nice hamlet-sized morsel called Rogans Heath with enough details to feel that you actually
know the residents of this nice little place. You are also given an amazing view into Shadow River, a bustling city with
enough districts and uniqueness to keep your players intrigued for quite some time. You also get a quick glimpse into
more traditional roleplaying elements in the Beneath and Beyond section (dungeons, ruins, and the like).!
Once you are introduced to the world and some of its inhabitants, you get into more traditional roleplaying elements. You
are provided a variety of character races to use as examples: Beastmen (Hramath), Wise Beasts, Centaurs, Dwarves,
Elves, Demons, Humans, Mushroom Trolls (the Mourfa), Snowmen, Slimes, Satyrs, and Troll-Landers. You are given
some notes on how to flavor magic for different styles presented in the world section, the scale of the world, and a fully
realized section for how to price things in Uresia (and how to use that to your advantage when applying it to your RPG
engine of choice).!
There is one table in the game that you can roll against, and it is a lot of fun: the Big Table of Life-Altering Moments.
Simple rolls 3-5 d1000s (i.e. 3, 10-sided die) and make note of the resulting rolls. Look them up on the table and make up
your background story to fit the results. While the table will give you seemingly generic results, you can have a lot of fun
applying things like You found out how liberating a great disguise can be to your characters background story.!
!
!
A word on scale: Uresia is a pretty big place. The islands roughly take up the same area on a map as the US (or, as the
text describes: Uresia, combined, is the same overall size as Western Europe (twice that if you include the Troll Lands)).!
So, the book provides you with enough details to have fun with most of the major islands (from a geo-political stance at
16). There are thousands of islands. This equals the perfect opportunity to expand upon Uresia and add islands of your
own design. Anything can be possible in a world where the heavens have crashed into the world. You could easily add
something from your current campaign as a nation in Uresia, and the rest of the world wouldnt even blink.!
I think that is the shining thing in Uresia. You are given enough to have fun with it as is, but you can tweak to your hearts
content too. You can easily make it your own (and you can use whatever RPG system you like to play in it). It is definitely
one of the best world books I have read in a very long time (and is gorgeously laid out as well).!
If you try not to sing out your spells, the difficulty of your spell goes way up. If someone calls
you the Crooning Wizard, you are liableto loose your temper, which makes it even harder to
cast your spells.!
You have not yet been able to find a remedy (your rival says he has one but there is no way
youd stoop to asking him for it).!
Of course, the world descended into a bit of chaos, but has settled back down a bit more. It is
now a somewhat respectable fantasy world.!
Full Contact Magic provides information for the 13 tribes (the races created by the Lords and
Ladies). The tribes seem to follow the fantasy tropes; you can see where each tribe fits in with
more traditional fantasy RPGs without looking too hard. The tribe I am most intrigued by is the
Geisa - a ghost-like group formed from when magic goes wrong.!
Where Full Contact Magic breaks the mold a bit is in the magic (which you might expect based !
on the name of the supplement).!
There are two magic styles detailed in the supplement: Arcanomancy (magic involving machines
of all types) and Ethermancy (a magical communication internet). Many other magical styles are
mentioned, but no details are present and left for the GM to determine just what they might
mean (which strangely enough includes the titular Full Contact Magic).!
Sampleclichs abound, and there is quite a nice sampling of a game world to build from. I liked
the concept of the island/continents actually floating on the ocean as opposed to being fixed.
There is enough detail to get a feeling for the setting without being too draconian.!
And no, you dont succeed in everything you try. You have an extra set of
skills that work like they do in more traditional RPGs where you roll dice
and everything (and since Esoterrorists is a horror RPG, you have a pretty
good chance of getting killed by some horror summoned by Esoterrorists).!
!
!
!
!
!
Im not going to bother getting into dice specifics. The system is simple
and straightforward (just the way I like it). All you need is some d6s.!
Now, can anything here be applied to Risus? You bet.!
Most people seem to be under the impression that when you roll the dice
in Risus, if you dont roll well enough, then you fail. That doesnt have to be
the case. The roll can also be an indication of how well you succeed" at
something.!
Gumshoe is a great system that works well for its chosen genres. It gives
you a bit more crunch that pure Risus (and some people really like their
crunch). However, it isnt that hard to stick with Risus. !
!
!
!
!
Paladin (http://
www.risusiverse.com/home/
settings/paladin) - converting
Clinton R. Nixons Paladin to
Risus.
!
A seeming staple at Risus Thought of
the Moment were an ongoing series of
Kernels - little snippets of an adventure
to help give a semblance of structure
to a fantasy adventure. These were
little more than notes that a wily GM
could use to shape quite a campaign
while still tailoring the adventure to the
game being run. These Kernels
seemed to be popular, so what follows
are those posts in one continuous
stream.!
Enjoy.
Also, the supply caravan from Tulan is a week late. Darren Trinet (a local caravan master (who could
know one of the PCs personally)) is concerned as he is about to set out on a caravan to deliver what
they have from the mine and to get supplies for the town with the proceeds. Hed like the PCs to
come along on the caravan to help scout the trail for trouble.!
What will the PCs do? Are the events related? Maybe. Thats up to you. This is just a kernel to get
you started.!
This seems to be a fairly mobile group. No permanent structures, quite a few tents. This group seems
well organized. Smartly placed watch fires are scattered to hinder anyone from approaching the
camp unseen. Near the watch fires are either large dogs or wolves (hard to tell which). The animals
are chained near the perimeter fires and look hungry.!
!
What will your players do?!
!
Heres a translation of the script: Search each ruin and search it well, for in each you will find a key.
The four keys together will form a map - the map to the treasure of Keplar. The four are also the key.
Do not let this map fall into the hands of Calibros."!
However, he insists on coming along with the party, and the only way to do that is for him to ride along
with one of the players (a minor form of possession). He will not assist the players unless allowed to
accompany them.!
!
Is it worth allowing the ghost his way for the information he possesses?!
!
Fantasy Adventure Kernel #132B60A!
The ghost ofArchibald Blade wants to take the characters into the network of caves where he died. He
would like the players to recover some of his gear, but, more importantly, his maps.!
!
When asked about his death, he only remembers cold, slimy tentacles.!
!
Do the players dare to brave the caves?!
!
Fantasy Adventure Kernel #132B670 !
The players came across some mapsthat lead the way to an out of the way island. The island has 4
keeps marked on the map. The players checked with a local scribe/cartographer, Atsef Ogfogo, and it
appears that this is a very old map for the Isle of Cormara. No one has heard from this island nation in
many generations, but Atsef provided you with a general idea where to find it.!
!
Do you go to investigate what happened to Cormara and to see what can be found in the keeps?!
!
Fantasy Adventure Kernel #132B7F5 !
Arriving at Cormara, the players find themselves on the outskirts of a keep that seems to have fallen into
ruin. It is a fairly standard keep design, square, a tower at each corner, but the tower on the north east
side (near the water) seems to have collapsed. The rest of the keep is covered in strange plant life.!
!
Do you date to enter the first keep of Cormara? Will you find any special keys?!
!
Adventure Kickstart #1332A0F!
It is a happy day in the kingdom; the young King has found true love and is to wed his beloved. The
brave adventurers are invited (along with most of the nobles and other high ranking officials).!
The couple complete their vows. Suddenly, something terrible happens. The King and his new Queen
are murdered in front of everyone. It appears as if the culprit is one (or more) of the PCs (incriminating
arrows or some such that could be tied back to the PCs).!