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by Larry Bullock

Risus Thoughts of the Moment

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.

played over the years (in alphabetical


order):

AD&D (1st/2nd edition)



Alternity

Amazing Engine

Amber Diceless

BattleTech

Bushido

Car Wars

Champions

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

(where things are kept so simple that it is easy to make


the game very close to perfect). Why put all of that effort
into another system which confuses complications with
perfection?

Chill (original Pacesetter)



D&D (Original)

DC Heroes (Mayfair)

DragonQuest

Gamma World

GURPS

Hunter Planet

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.

Man, Myth, and Magic



Marvel Super Heroes Adventure
Game

Marvel Universe Roleplaying

Aragorn!

Game

Shadowrun

Star Frontiers

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Top Secret

Twilight 2000

Vampire: The Masquerade

Werewolf: The Apocolypse


Silent Ranger (4), Friend of the Elves (3),


King of Man in Denial (3)!

There - in less than a minute, I created someone from Lord


of the Rings.

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!

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!
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!

For a good example of another


RPG that would be fun in Risus,
check out Exiles (http://
www.jasoncamp.net/stuff/
exiles/).

10 Essential Elements of a Great


Escapist Hero (http://io9.com/
10-essential-elements-of-a-greatescapist-hero-574081183)
A grand adventure needs an
inspirational hero. Not just a cool
person in a fancy suit, but
someone to believe in. Its not
quite true that a science fiction or
fantasy story is only as good as
its hero, but the heros greatness
is certainly a limiting factor. Here
are 10 essential qualities a hero
ought to have.

I think it would be great if all


Risus supplements were like
Geezer (http://
www222.pair.com/sjohn/
geezer.htm).

Firefly & Serenity for Risus


(http://www.arlecchino.org/
pasquariello/risus/)
Another Firefly guide. Beautiful
looking site design as well.
Someday Ill actually have to
watch this show.

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 theEssentials &
Oddities section. Good stuff for
anyone looking to make an
official" (and paid) Risus
supplement.

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.

The Different Types of Manliness


(http://feedproxy.google.com/
~r/TheArtOfManliness/~3/
t3nG3Ujn-ik/)
Some clichs usable for Risus
just what type of man are you?

Georges Polti's 36 Dramatic


Situations (http://
changingminds.org/disciplines/
storytelling/plots/
polti_situations/
polti_situations.htm)
Add some drama to you game

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.

Theory: why no stats!


Most roleplaying games use explicit statistics (stats) of some type to help define your character.
Risus doesnt bother with such things. The main reason: a clichs 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 clich. 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
clich description: a nimble swashbuckler (3) is little different from an incredibly strong
broadsword slinger (3) when it comes to effectiveness in a physical combat, but each would have
different target numbers for breaking down a locked door (assuming you didnt have a better
clich to use for that).

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)

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).

Why use Risus if you GM a different RPG!

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.

let them help a little old lady across


the street, or the genre equivalent
(blowing up a building is a common
substitute).!

The Risus Companion (p. 42)


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).

Where to now Mr. Peabody?!

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).!

A public service announcement brought to you by Risus TOTM.!

More Fun Links!

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)**!

*My Brute is a silly online game where you get to participate


in 3 combats per day (you dont 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).!

**Since Fuhsaz is pretty much a beginner, he hides a lot


behind his wolf-dog who seems to go through opponents
pretty quickly (thats why he has 6 full dice).!

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-anythingrpg-by-s.html)
Heres a nice review of Risus on the
Free RPG Blog.

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-rpginto.html)
Good notes for designing settings.

Risus Monkey: On Artifacts and


Gadgets (http://www.velvetedge.com/risusmonkey/2010/01/
on-artifacts-and-gadgets.html)
This should be required reading for
those interested in magical or
otherwise special gear.

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.

!
Jude Oak!

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)!

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).!

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 cant get a better
resource that the official series bible.
You might want to download the
one from Ronald D. Moores
Battlestar Galactica.

Handy chart explains how to write


like Grant Morrison (http://
www.io9.com/#!5748286/handychart-explains-how-to-write-like-grantmorrison)
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).

R is for Risus Companion (A Love


Letter) (http://
www.risusmonkey.com/2011/04/r-isfor-risus-companions-loveletter.html)
What he saidvery will written
piece on the Risus Companion.

Spawn Inspired Mechanic!


Its been a very long time since Ive 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-haveyou). 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 ingame consequences you want to
impose).!

You simply need a clich to


represent that your characters have
the power" (Id recommend that this be a double pump clich, and Id 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.!

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

a super hero campaign (and it was a lot more


fun than the typical sword and sorcery
campaigns Ive been in).

This whole idea probably works best if


the players dont 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?!

A Case for Stats in (and out


of) Risus!

Another Way of Thinking of


Stats in Risus!

Pretty much every RPG has them. Yet Risus


doesnt bother; it only has ratings for clichs.
What do they tell you about how strong your
viking warrior is? Risus should add stats in
some way.!

Its all in your clich 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 clich rating tells you
how well all of these things work together
(the higher the rating the better).!

!
!

Clichs handle theskills, just fine, but with


detailed stats, there is no need for a When
Somebody Cant Participaterules - youd
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. Youd have to come
up with rules for how stats are applied to
clichs; youd probably have to change the
mechanics of the system; youd probably not
be playing Risus any longer.!

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 cant be
done as part of your clich description?!

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!

Here is an interesting picture of a Dromas (


Yndra - used by permission)!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yndra/4314204447/ !

A lot of people new to Risus see lack of stats


as a shortcoming. However, once you really
understand that a clich 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).!

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.!

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.!

How would you use the Dromas?!

Electric Knight!
Master of Electricity [4d20], Expert in Stick-Fu (3d8), Helpful and
Knowledgeable Wandering Priest (4d6), Lucky Shots: [][][][][][]!

Hooks: Always tries to ensure the safety of innocent lives. Walks


with a limp and uses a stick for extra support.!

Tales: Richard Daniels always knew that he was chosen, he just


isnt 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, its 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 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.!

*Time for Timer!

This is from a message cross


posted to the Risus mailing lists:!

Im fighting a personal war


against the dark forces of
boredom and monotony. Risus is
one of my weapons."!

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.!

Guy Hoyle via the RisusTalk mailing


list (a very cool list to be part of).!

!
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.!

S. John Ross; Risus Companion p.


63 - Halfway to Perfect!

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
theclich

For my first thought of the moment, a confession:!

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? Lets act like a pirate and everything will work.!

!
But it may be just my allergy to two-hundred-pages corebooks!
!
!

Feb 24, 2009 12:54 pm by jokingonzalez!

In the Grip of the Rules!

!
!

The Zen of Risus #132B663!

The more you tighten your grip,


Tarkin, the more star systems will
slip through your fingers.!

Princess Leia - Star Wars!

Yoda!

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.!

I find it a wonder that people still try to


make systems that have rules for
everything. Like Governor Tarkins
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 cant
do (except for those that enjoy being
rules lawyers); just harder.!

[Luke:] I cant believe it.!

[Yoda:] That is why you fail.!

GM Advice: Its a Trap!!

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.!

GMToolKit

Do or do not there is no try.!

Heres 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

(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 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).!

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.!

Whats in your kit?!

Updated Gamers Kit!


My Gamers Kit that I mentioned before
hasnt changed a whole lot, but it has been
updated a bit, so I thought I would
summarize my kit here:!

!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
Ive seen (its 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 is44: A Game of
Automatic Fear(by Matt Snyder and
available at http://storiesyouplay.com/44/).!

Gaming Social Contract!


How would you like to meet this out in the
wilderness.how would your players
react?What would you even name this?!

You can check out others at the source: WoodSplitter-Lee (http://wood-splitterlee.deviantart.com/).!

Ive seen a lot of discussion lately about how


important it is to have a social contract" for
your game. If you havent 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). !

Formless is very detailed (maybe more than


youll ever need for a Risus game), but it
does give you everything you might need to
think about.

8 Rules for the Risus GM!


1. Its OK To Say Yes
There arent a whole lot of rules to Risus, and its 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 (theres 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**
Its 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. Its supposed to be about having fun
and theres no wrong way to play" anyway.!
7. You Have Dice, Use Them, Trust Them
You cant 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 arent having fun, dont play. If you cant handle being
the GM (which isnt as easy as youd think since you are playing everyone else), let someone else
try and just be a player. Dont 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!

This guy looks like he would make a fun


character for a game. How would you stat
him out for Risus?!

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.!

You cant have too


many links!

Dungeon Crawl Risus - 1KM1KT


(http://www.1km1kt.net/rpg/
dungeon-crawl-risus )
Worth checking out for you D&D
Fans.

Pinky!
Idiotic white lab mouse who is best
friends with Brain (4); inept lab
assistant (4);TV trivia buff (3)!

Risus Trek: Starship Combat


Again (http://guywires.blogspot.com/2011/03/
risus-trek-starship-combatagain.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 Miriwhere 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 listyou 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. Its a
colonial fantasy setting where the
puritans didnt leave England for
religious freedom, but for
magickal freedom.

!!

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)!

Because I could resist the lure of the PULP-O-MIZER http://thrillingtales.webomator.com/derange-o-lab/pulp-o-mizer/pulp-o-mizer.html)

Lets Cook with Risus!


Before I explain why Risus is my utility system, heres 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 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.!

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
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.!

There really isnt a whole lot of referring to


rules necessary.!

So, how often do you need to refer to the


rules in other systems?!

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, Ive got it out
in the open (and will continue to pronounce it
in my own way since I dont speak latin).

Apologies to D&D Fans!


I didnt mean to imply that you cant 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 reviewMy RPG History,
you can see that Ive 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 doesnt
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 youd ever
want right into your clichs (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 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.!

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 youve lost a die in a
conflict, you will most likely keep on losing. Lets
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). !

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.!

Clich 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 clich can be a big difference (and heaven help you if it
grows).!

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.!

Optional Rule: Spies Like Us!


Maybe its because I finished reading theInternational Spy Museum Handbook of Practical
Spying (http://www.spymuseumstore.org/4792.html), or maybe its just the book inspiring memories of
playingTop Secret (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Secret_(role-playing_game)), but Ive been itching to play
me a spy game.!

However, one thing seems to be missing from most systems:


rules for your agents cover. Heres my idea for adding covers
to Risus.!

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).!

Before undertaking each mission, a spy must document


specifically what their Cover Story clich 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 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.

I Spy Green Acres!


Genre!
Silly Spies!
Tone!

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

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 clich. However, you will most likely
enter into that world whether you want to or not
(out of sheer boredom).!

Hooterville

You are more than welcome to take any clich


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 (dont
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!

Risus: One Page Challenge - by Larry Bullock - October 11, 2011

Location, Location, Location



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.

Further Details?

Go to Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooterville

Chinese Hacking
Assassins?!

Castaways!

I dont 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.!

hand drawn with Penultimate

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-andcliches/character-gallery/castawaycharacters). I thought it would be fun to come
up with characters inspired from Gilligans
Island (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Gilligan's_Island) - only instead, it was
Conrad Mulligans Island. Conrad isnt 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).!

Adding Moral Attitudes to


Clichs!
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 clich too. Thanks to the sadly out of
print Alternity, here is a list for your
consumption. Just sprinkle some of these in to
your clich description and see how much
easier it is to know more about your character.!

Moral Attitude!
Anti-authority!
Apathetic!
Conformist!
Corrupt!
Despicable!
Ethical!
Gallant!
Honorable!
Just!
Selfish!
Unscrupulous!
Virtuous!
Worldly!

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.!

Favorite Dice Mechanics!


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 ones digit to see if
you had a critical success or failure). I dont 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?!


Im always a little surprised that the simple
d100 (or the simple % dice) isnt used in
more games. Think about it. Everything is
easy to understand if you think youve 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 viaRisusTalk (stuff like the


discussion which spurred this comment make
being in the group fun).!

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.!

Even Quicker Game Start!


Define your character with one clich(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 thatclich a rating like
normal.!

!
Start playing.!
!

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. Heres a quick
example (culled from real rolls):!
Setting: Tree Top Civilization!
Tone: Mythic!
Things: Neutrality, Note!

From this, Im 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). Theyve
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 theyve 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


arent picturing anything specific to help you
flesh out your setting. The game also
includes reference materials to give you a
clichd view of what your roles might mean.!

When you come across a situation where


yourclich doesnt seem to fit, come up with
a secondaryclich, right there on the spot,
but make sure you have a flashback or
something to remind you of the otherclich.!
This is a lot like in a TV series. You start out
as a hot-shot pilot who can out fly anyone
(4). Youre fine playing that, but then
something comes up where being a hot-shot
pilot isnt very applicable. You could stick
with the When Someone Cant Participate
rules, but you want to do something more.
Just add on that newclich 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 theclich
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).!

Once the setting is done, Id just switch to


Risus to actually run the game (although the
system included in Instant Game isnt bad at
all).!

While not mine, this is probably the best summary of


why to use rises that Ive seen in a long time.

Here is a a first pass at a map for you to fill in.

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.!

Ive been re-reading


A Series of
Unfortunate
Events (sure, on
the cover, its a kids
series, but deep
down its for
everyone).
However, these
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).!

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 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 clichin 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 cant 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 clichs, etc. Heres
an interesting article on Roleplaying with Kids
(http://www.squidoo.com/kidsrpg).!

The Bearable Weight of Being Light-Weight!


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.!

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.!

Kane Chronicles Concept!


A basic idea in the Kane Chronicles (http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kane_Chronicles )by
Rick Riordan) is that asorcerer 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 gods 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).!

This could make an interesting twist to a game


involving wizards and what not.!

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 gods total using your
magicalclich 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 cant use their comment system
anymore; its broken no matter what options I
use for authentication. So Im forced to offer
my comment as a submission instead.)!

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-clich. If the godclich gets too many dice, the character
becomes an NPC, and a horribly powerful
one. Perhaps the clich dice can be reduced
by willfully surrendering to the god (thus
using the god-clich) for one NPC action; the
more frequently its done, the smaller the
god-clich will be and the less effective the
temporary-NPCs actions might be. Do it
less frequently, and the player will have more
god-clich dice, but so will the temporaryNPC.!

The temptation to skirt the safety margins


will be a powerful lure of metagaming.!

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).!

What do you think?!

Do you dare enter the


Howling Caves?!
Genre!

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?!

General Cave Notes!

The caves need to come across as very


spooky. Their is a random howling
noise that is hard to describe. A
friendly local from the last village the
PCs passed through warned them that
they were being driven towards these
caves. However, the dark forces
seemed to be closing in on them
before they could get too many
details. Their local contact described
the caves as having been abandoned
by goblins many years ago. Something
strange drove them away. Local
legend has it that the howling noises
are the tormented lost souls of some of
the goblins. However, they have a
chance of escape in the caves.

Map generated randomly at http://www.gozzys.com/


A note on entrances and Exits: The PCs will be entering
the caves from the south (A). There are 2 additional
means of entering/leaving the caves (B and C). The PCs
will need to find their way through to another exit.!
Random Encounters and Mood!
While exploring the caves, the PCs will hear strange,
howling noises every so often. Just what is causing
the noise is undeterminable. The noise is meant as
an aid to help build tension. Follow the noise with a
chance for a random encounter, but not every
occurrence of the noise should coincide with an
attack (feel free to use the Common Foes listed or
come up with your own).!
The PCs should also be worried about their
pursuers. They should hear occasional noises from
their vastly superior enemies. Who or what these
enemies are should reflect your current campaign.!
1. Abandoned Goblin Lair!
This cave was obviously once home to some sort of
humanoid, most likely goblins. There are a few rags

and scraps left behind. It looks like they left in a


hurry. There is one goblin skeleton stuck to a wall
with a spear.!
2. The Crossroads!
It should be obvious to the players that there has
been a lot of traffic in this area, mostly moving
along the east-west route. They will hear a lot of
activity to the West (from area B). Perhaps the dark
forces have reinforcements coming from that way.!
3. Troll Lair!
A particularly nasty cave troll (5) calls this portion
of the cave system home. He makes a living killing
wanderers along the crossroads (area 2). He isnt
stupid and prefers to attack stragglers and small
groups (if he is hungry enough). He can be found
anywhere throughout the caves. If the PCs find his
lair, and he hasnt attacked them before now, he will
here. Trolls have a habit of growing bits back (if he
beats a TN of 8 on a round he doesnt attack, he can
recover 1 die).!

Risus: One Page Challenge - by Larry Bullock - July 9, 2011

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.

Common Random Foes


Random Bat Horde (3) - if the bats cause more than
1 die of damage, the PCs will lose their source of
illumination.
Giant Multi-legged Insect (3) - crawls through bat
droppings eating the dead. Can climb walls. Slightly
poisonous bite will infect PCs (-1 to die rolls per die
lost against them for a short term)
Cave Bear (4) - this guy hangs around area C. He will
fiercely defend his territory.
Mushroom Men (2) - small fungoids who might trip
the PCs as they try to run away. However, they will
try to lure the party towards the troll.

The Greatest American Hero (Ralph


Hinkley)*!
A poor excuse for a super hero, but a caring man who wants to do
right, Ralph tries to help the best that he can.!

High school special education teacher (4), Inept wearer of an alien super suit [3], Lucky
Shots [][][][][][]!

Tools of the Trade!


Alien Super Suit that provides a variety of powers (including flying, invulnerability,
invisibility, and super speed; amongst others yet discovered)!

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.!

They are surprised to find that the lights come from


an alien spacecraft. The alien tells Ralph and Bill (by
way of the car radio) that they are to work together to
save the world and Ralph will be given the power to
change it. They are given a black case. Later Ralph
opens it and finds a red suit (with cape) which
endows him with superhuman abilities. Bill runs off
from fear, but later contacts Ralph, leading to an
awkward partnership as the two try to use the
powers of the suit (which Bill calls the magic
jammies") to fight crime.!

* we called him Captain Crash based on how he landed when he flew.!


**from the wikipedia article!

I never got all of the brouhaha over roleplaying


games myself (and thankfully neither did my
parents). When you think about it, a RPG is a
game of pretend, not that much different from what
people have played for generations (cowboys vs.
indians; spies; cops and robbers). RPGs simply
added rules to avoid the I got you!", No You
didnt!" fights that inevitably came about.

Remember the Randomness!


Way back in RPG once upon a time time, you would start
character creation by rolling up some stats and then picking
a class/skills to go with those random stats. In some ways, I
wonder if weve lost something with the way that RPGs
have you pretty much pick everything you want for your
character.!

I think that the randomness leads one to roleplay a


character that you might not have considered, and that you
can have a lot of fun doing that. Of course, theres a lot of
history with fudging the randomness so that it wasnt really
random at all. At least with a point based (or similar)
system, you dont end up with such unbalanced characters
as fudged randomness.!

Is it reasonable to have just an


adjective as one of your clichs?
The implication from the
Companion is that a clich like
Athletic isnt really much of a
clich at all since its just an
isolated quality, an adjective.!

However, Ive seen some players


doing just such a thing and
making their clich, Wealthy (for
instance), instead of Playboy
Millionaire Faking being a
Playboy (ala Bruce Wayne).
One tells you about the
character, the other really
doesnt do much.!

So, as a Risus GM, do you allow


adjective clichs in your
campaigns?!

I dont know if it is possible to add any sort of random


character generation to Risus (since there arent any stats).
Probably the best you could do is have semi-random setting ofclichlevels (roll d4 for aclich,
then roll d4 for anotherclich, etc.and keep addingclichsuntil you get to 10 points (if you go

Risus Random Character Generation Method!


How is this for an idea for random character generation?!
1. Get a hold of a bunch of notebook cards.!
2. On each card, detail a generic clichfor your campaign (include notes for what the clich is good for
and typical tools of the trade for the clich; also include notes as to whether or not the clich
requires double pumps).!
3. Deal out 3 or 4 cards to each player (it is up to the player if they want 3 or 4 clichs for their
character).!
4. The players get 10 dice (or whatever feels appropriate for your game) to divide between the clichs
on the cards.!
5. If your campaign allows it, your players can get bonus dice for Hooks & Tales (which can be spent
on the dealt our cards or another clich that they would like).!
6. The players can adjective-ify their clichs as they like (to flesh the character out more from the
generic; e.g. putting down Paladin of Dinar instead of just plain Paladin)

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. !

Well, I finally printed this out in color,


and I must say, it is better that way
(somehow).!

Making it a Bakers Dozen!


In the Risus Companion (not required for
play), S. John Ross refers to The Dozen
Endeavors; 12 things you might want to
incorporate into your clichs (Athletics;
Persuading; Communication & Protocol;
Detection; Driving, Riding & Piloting;
Gadgeteering; The Medical Arts; Wilderness
Mastery; Scholarship; Intrusion; Combat; and
Magic). I was wondering if we could make
this a bakers dozen.!

You know, for those bard-types, should there


be some sort of Music endeavor?!

What do you think is missing from the list?!

Pen & Paper RPGs Dying?!


Are Pen & Paper RPGs going the way of the
dodo? Does anyone really play them
anymore?!

I think that the answer is that they are still


played, and I also believe that their
environment put them on the endangered
species list from the beginning. It is
becoming quite difficult to find a brick and
mortar place to even purchase anything, let
along trying to find players interested in the
game.!

!
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?

However, it isnt dead yet, and there are


resources aplenty online to help you find
those lurking creatures known as roleplayers.
The Free RPG Blog listed quite a few
recently (http://thefreerpgblog.blogspot.com/
2009/09/free-resources-to-help-you-findplayers.html).!

So wrangle up some players and have some


fun. The hobby isnt going anywhere quite
yet.!

Inspiration from Alternity!


Let me just get this out, I think that Alternity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternity) was the best
RPG game that TSR (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TSR,_Inc.) ever put out (if you are interested,
there is quite a fan base out there athttp://alternityrpg.net/).!

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 know Im as guilty as anyone else for causing


delays. I went on vacation; been busy with other
things; couldnt think of something good to post;
etc., so I know I havent always been the best
player.!

Very strange dream to relate!

I was at a gaming convention and someone


was demoing a new game. The players
seemed confused/bored with it, but the GM
was really into it. I asked if they had played
Risus before. The GM tried to dis it, but the
players seemed into learning about it. I
started to demo a combat round with the now
disgruntled GM. They players seemed to be
very happy. The GM, not so much.!

I dont know if there is a better way to do things


though. The advantage of play by post is that
everyone doesnt have to be together at the same
time. That means you can play with people from all over the world and not be bothered with time
zone issues.!

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 Great Snowball Battle of


Rappahannock Academy,
February 25, 1863!
http://www.weatherbook.com/
Snowball.htm
Image by Scott Robinson http://www.flickr.com/people/clearlyambiguous/ and made available via a creative
Location, Location, Location!

The Incident Snowballs!

A freak snowstorm can happen anywhere. It should


be someplace that the PCs are familiar with and feel
safe enough that it would be weird for them to be
out and about with a bunch of weapons, but if they
are far from home, thats OK. Its your game.!

Not surprisingly, it shouldnt take too long before


everyone in town is involved in the snowball fight
in some way.!

Part of the challenge for this adventure is getting


the PCs to actually leave the house (or whatever
shelter they are in). Here are some options.

The Snow Thickens!

By the time the PCs are out of doors, the scenery


needs to be a winter wonderland, with kids out
playing in the snow, parents cursing trying to shovel
it up. There should be a large number of snowmen
around and the occasional snow fort.!

Somehow, this isnt your typical Christmas snow


(damn pollution (or whatever excuse you want to
use to make this possible (evil winter wizards work
too))). Any snowman that gets hit by a snowball
will magically come to life and try to get the person
who hit them unless they are a kid.!

The pizza delivery guy got stuck (on a 30 minute


or free run to the netherworld) and they have to
go get the pizza themselves.

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.!

It shouldnt take too long before the town is amuck


with laughing kids and screaming adults.
However, once darkness sets in, even the children
arent safe from the snowmen.!
The Armory!
If you are feeling particularly nice, you can have the
snow forts armed with ice balls left behind from
some of the more ornery kids. These can count as
bonus dice gear against the snow man zombies
who are made with a particularly soft snow (+1
die).!
Jingle Bells!
Just like any zombie apocalypse, there seems to be
no end of snowmen around. The PCs even
occasionally see them making other, even larger,
snowmen. The PCs simply have to survive until
midnight. At midnight, they will hear the ringing
of sleigh bells. All of the snowmen will cover their
ears and fall apart. Ho, Ho Ho! Merry Christmas!

Risus: One Page Challenge - by Larry Bullock - December 16, 2011

Getting them out of the house

Utilize one of the PCs hooks to have to go and


rescue someone stuck out in the mess.
If all else fails, have the house collapse under the
weight of the snow. This one might be
particularly useful to get them out of the house
without equipment.

Common Random Foes


Random Brat Kid Horde (4) - A bunch of hooligans
looking to defeat the PCs with their coordinated
snowball fighting skills. If they win, the PC will get
the whitewashing of their lives.
Poor Frightened Dog (2) - maybe in a fenced yard,
maybe tied up, maybe running lose. All of the
activity is really messing with these poor pooches
and they are running scared. If they feel corned,
they will attack. They might organize into a pack of
wild dogs (4)
Snowman Zombie (3) - If one of the snowmen
around town gets hit by a snowball, they will
magically come to life. Odds are, they will move
through the snow faster than your average PC.
Snowman Goliath (5) - if it starts to get dark, the
snowmen will have built a few of these
monstrosities to add to the terror.

Uresia - From the Hip Review!


Once upon a time, Guardians of Order (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guardians_of_Order) arose to protect the roleplaying
landscape against the forces of Chaotic
Market. Guardians of Order fought valiantly,
but in the end, the relentless energy of
Uresius (http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/blueroom/uresius.htm) is a new
Chaotic Market slew them. Like fallen armor
version of the Risus rules, recast for use with Uresia. The layout and
and weapons of a valiant hero, pieces of
everything blends right in with the new All-System-Library version of
Guardians of Order were picked up by
Uresia; complete with a new sampleclichlist to go along with the
others in an attempt to continue the battle.
setting; and a couple of different optional rules that are fairly common
A token fell from the sky. The rights to
in use from the Risus Companion (specifically, Lucky Shots and
Uresia: Grave of Heaven fell back to their
Questing Dice). It also adds a new method for determining character
creator. Years have slowly crept by. Uresia
advancement which is pretty slick.!
has returned.!
However, one thing that really struck me is that the combat system
Imagine a fantasy world where the Gods
changed from a die pool roll to high die wins. Kind of interesting to
fought long and hard enough to kill
see the Deadly Combat option (Best of Set) from the Companion
themselves; where the heavens literally fell
used, even it doesnt include the Goliath Rule option.!
to the world below; reshaping the surface of
the world. A broken ring of islands is all that
Does anyone have any opinions on this?!
seems to remain. Remnant magic drew
survivors. The ring of islands outside left to
the trolls.!
Uresia: Grave of Heaven is that fantasy world. The book is part of Cumberland Games and Diversions (http://
www.cumberlandgames.com/) All-Systems Library. No specific roleplaying system is implied or required (although fans of
Risus can use the Risus-ified version of those rules: Uresius: Grave of Anything - http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/blueroom/
uresius.htm). A quick note: while there is nary a mention of any RPG in the book, the book does provide rules for a
Uresian board game called Mastery.!

!
!

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).!

Fantasy/Alien Race: Thingol!


Thingols are natives of the High Forest. They
have sleek, muscular bodies with impossibly
black skin. They usually have long, untamed
black hair unless they are tainted with magical
ability. If they have magical ability, their hair is
a bluish-white color.!

Using The Magic of Lord of


the Rings!

Ever wonder this about Lord of the Rings


Gandalf is supposed to be a great wizard, yet
you never see him really do much in the way
of magic until after he is Gandalf the White
(and even then, he didnt do a whole lot). My
theory is quite simple: Sauron/Saruman
have a great magic detection system in place
triggered by any strong magic. If Gandalf
had cast anything powerful, they would know
exactly where he was. This is why you dont
see him cast anything more than a Light spell
in the mines (at least until he is fighting the
Balrog, and at that point, he didnt have much
choice).!

This could be something that is easy to


replicate in your game if magic is getting out
of hand. Give it some sort of consequence.
If your players are abusing the freeform
nature of Risus, simply have more and more
powerful summoned creatures appearing out
of thin air in the vicinity of where the magic
was cast. Sooner or later they will put it
together and have a whole new issue to deal
with.!

Thingols do have natural claws that arent


really long enough to seriously hurt anyone,
but Thingol assassins have been known to
poison their claws to incapacitate an enemy.
They also have a natural ability to twist their
bodies in ways that seem unnatural for other
races. They eschew heavy clothing or armor
as it confines them in their movements.!
Thingols are considered primitives by most of
the world. Perhaps it is because they are
mostly solitary hunters which prize freedom
and self-sufficiency above all else. They rarely
consider anything property" if it isnt
something they carry with them; and they
rarely bother with the company of civilized"
people (let alone other Thingols). However,
Thingols have no trouble using most of the
tools of the civilized world.!
If you have artistic ability and would like to
submit a picture of what you think a Thingol
might look like, feel free to submit it (Id be
happy to see your interpretations).!

An Interesting Hook for a Wizard!


Cursed by a rival wizard, you are stuck with an awful stutter. Any magic that requires a verbal
component is very difficult for you unless you sing it out. This has led to a nickname of the
Crooning Wizard which drives you crazy; you are becoming quite (in)famous for it.!

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).!

I dislike random woodland encounter tables


that have the party meeting up with 1d6
wolves, 1d4-1 brown bear or 14d10 squirrels.
Ive spent a little bit of time in the woods
being relatively quite and sedate, with food.
Once, a bear came in to my camp to
investigate and got scared off by a dog.!

5 things gamers get wrong|Troll in the Corner!


http://trollitc.com/2010/05/5-things-gamers-get-wrong/

Beware of that 140 rabid squirrel tribe when it


decides to attack though.!

You are out trick or treating, and


the starving-for-brains zombie
horde [10] just came around the
corner and spotted you. What do
you do?

Full Contact Magic!


Full Contact Magic (http://engineofthwaak.blogspot.com/2013/02/full-contact-magic.html)is a
clever little supplement freely available over at the Engine of Thwaak (http://
engineofthwaak.blogspot.com/). Basic idea, is that the world was created by magical Lords and
Ladies, who for unknown reasons left their creation before it was quite finished (some say a war
back in their home world pulled them away).!

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.!

Overall, this is another great free setting for Risus!!

Stuff Ive Done at


Risusiverse!
I was a founding member of the
Risusiverse site. As such, I have
moved quite a bit of content from
various web sites Ive ran to it.
Here are some highlights:

The Interview (http://


www.risusiverse.com/home/
adventures/the-interview) - a
sample adventure showing how
rolling works in Risus - converted
from javascript by an un-named
savior (probably Dan Suptic).

About that Gumshoe!


The Gumshoe RPG system (http://www.pelgranepress.com/site/?page_id=672)
takes a slightly different approach to RPGs. In traditional games like D&D,
the emphasis is on being a bully (beat someone up and take their stuff).
Gumshoe is about having a structured story (usually along the lines of a
mystery, but it can be pretty flexible).!

While it is possible to do structured storied in your D&D game (and Ive


played in many), traditional games leave everything to chance. If you fail a
critical role, you wont notice that secret door which leads to the important
dingus. Stuff like that. Gumshoe makes it impossible to fail because you
dont bother rolling for things that are critical to the story.!

History of Risusiverse (http://


www.risusiverse.com/home/
history-of-risusiverse)- what it
says on the tin.

Gumshoe (as presented in Esoterrorists), has around 60 skills/talents that


will automatically succeed if you try to use them and there is something in
the scene that can be revealed through their use. These things do have
ratings (whats an RPG without ratings of some sort), but the gist of a
rating in these talents is that you can spend some of your rating to add
extra cool to what you find out (if there is anything extra to find; cool GMs
will let you make something up too). The extra cool" is nothing that is
necessary to figure out the mystery, but they do let your character seem
extra special.!

Forget Something (http://


www.risusiverse.com/home/
optional-rules/forget-something) optional rules for clich
adjustment.

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).!

Castaway Characters (http://


www.risusiverse.com/home/
characters-and-cliches/charactergallery/castaway-characters) Gilligans Island re-imaged for
Risus.

!
!
!

Skill That Clich (http://


www.risusiverse.com/home/
optional-rules/skill-that-clich)ways to differentiate clichs.

Diceless Risus (http://


www.risusiverse.com/home/
optional-rules/diceless-risus)options for using no dice at all.

Alternity Inspired Dice Mechanic


(http://www.risusiverse.com/
home/optional-rules/alternityinspired-dice-mechanic)- obvious,
really.

Saga Rules (http://


www.risusiverse.com/home/
optional-rules/saga-rules) - a
card based mechanic.

A Matter of Size (http://


www.risusiverse.com/home/
optional-rules/a-matter-of-size) dealing with size differences
between characters.

!
!

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.!

Lets say youre a top-notch investigative photo journalist (4) examining


crime scene photos for clues. Are you really going to fail? Not if there are
clues to be found. However, the quality of your roll dictates the quality of
the clues you might notice. If you roll well, you might notice a business
card on the floor next to the body, slightly near its left hand (at least where
its left hand should be), covered in blood. If you dont roll well (even fail
the roll), you might only notice a minor clue: footprints in the blood that are
obviously from a womans stiletto shoe.!

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. !

Either way, youll be having fun!!

A Few Final Links!

More Stuff Ive Done


at Risusiverse!

Dyson Logos' Marvellous Random


Dungeon Maker (http://
www.chomisis.net/dyson/)
Check out a nifty piece of online
software.

Because the list was too big for


one sidebar.

Making an Addictive Game!

limyaael: On escaping Tolkien clichs.


(http://limyaael.livejournal.com/
181634.html)
An excellent read on Tolkiens classics
and what people can do to separate
themselves from his work.

Ive been playing way too much Book of


Heroes(available for iOS and Android http://www.insidesocialgames.com/
2013/02/04/book-of-heroes-ios-review/)I
think what makes it so addictive is that you
have multiple quests or story lines all going
on at the same time. I think that we have to
remember that when working on adventures
for good old fashioned RPGs.!

The Tao of Rules Hacking (http://


berinkinsman.wordpress.com/
2011/04/26/the-tao-of-rules-hackingfree-pdf/)
Berin Kinsman has put together his
previous posts on Rules Hacking
together into a nice PDF which he
ransomed off and is now giving away
as a free PDF. Well worth reading.

Let players have more say in what quest they


want to work on at a given time. UnlikeBook
of Heroes, you can add a timeline to the
quests so that they dont linger while players
are off doing something else. You can add
inrepercussionsfor the times when they
ignore something for too long.!

NPC Trait Generator (http://


www.pbegames.com/npctrait/)
A random way to build up traits to
make your NPCs seem more lifelike.

!
!

Risus: Anatomy of a Cliche (http://


berinkinsman.wordpress.com/
2004/01/17/risus-anatomy-of-acliche/)
Just in case you havent read the Risus
Companion, you can read a section of
it over at Berin Kinsmans site.

Land of the Lost (http://


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Land_of_the_Lost_(1974_TV_series)_ge
ography_and_technology)
I think that this would be the perfect
setting for a game. I loved Land of the
Lost when I was a kid. Good resources
at the Wikipedia article I linked to here,
too.

10 Civilizations That Disappeared


Under Mysterious Circumstances
(http://io9.com/5928085/10civilizations-that-disappeared-undermysterious-circumstances)
Just in case you needed some
inspiration to add some lost civilizations
to your campaign, check out this IO9
article that lists 10 from good old Earth.

Risus on Reddit (http://


www.reddit.com/r/risus/)
If you are a Reddit user, you might
want to check it out

!
!

Make your game addictive!!

Risus GM Guide (http://


www.risusiverse.com/home/ruleelucidation/risus-gm-guide)- a
first stab at advice for running
Risus.

Ars Incanttio (http://


www.risusiverse.com/home/
settings/ars-incanttio) - a modern
magic system based on Ars
Magica.

Something Familiar (http://


www.risusiverse.com/home/
settings/something-familiar)setting for being a wizards
familiar.

Paladin (http://
www.risusiverse.com/home/
settings/paladin) - converting
Clinton R. Nixons Paladin to
Risus.

Risus Playground (http://


www.risusiverse.com/home/
settings/risus-playground) taking Risus to the school yard.

!
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.

Risus Software (http://


www.risusiverse.com/home/
software) - specifically RisusGen
and RisusGM, I didnt create the
other software.

Wiki-based RPG (http://


www.risusiverse.com/home/wikibased-rpg) - rules for a group
wiki to handle an RPG.

Fantasy Adventure Kernel #132B4EA!


Start the players out in a town (hopefully one where they know some people, maybe their
hometown). This is a mining town. However, something has happened at the local mine, and the
miners are afraid to return. People would like the PCs to investigate.!

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.!

Fantasy Adventure Kernel #132B53E!


The players are following a caravan trail through a forest (see Fantasy Adventure Kernel
#132B4EAfor a possible start). During the night, they notice camp fires in the far distance (well back
from the trail, deep in the forest, almost imperceptible). Upon investigation, it appears to be a bandit
encampment (are they human bandits, or something else? Thats up to you).!

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?!
!

Fantasy Adventure Kernel #132B54B !


As part of a bit of loot from a recent adventure, characters find a well worn map (something of your
choosing). The map should not reflect anyplace discernible to the players (a mystery place).
However, the players should be able to spot four places (ruins). There is strange script on the edge of
the map.!

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."!

Fantasy Adventure Kernel #132B5AE!


The players are moving along a seemingly deserted section of roadway between cities. They are
approached by a floating apparition claiming to be the ghost of Archibald Blade (a knight of some
renown). He is looking for help on his quest; he knows that Calibros is after the Sword of Mystarcana.!

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).!

What will the party do?!

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