Summer Vacation

Things are quiet here at the Risus Monkey. I'm in Northern Michigan with the family and access to the Internet is spotty. Look for my next post on Tuesday night.

Dark Fate Wilderness Geomorphs

Dark Fate RPG's Marcelo Paschoalin has been inspired by Dyson Logos and yours truly to embark on his own geomorph project. Instead of dungeon tiles, Marcelo is creating hex-based wilderness geomorphs. The first nine can be found here and he even whipped up little randomizer (found here).

Geomorph #73

This geomorph is a companion to the previous one. The two tiles were drawn at the same time and the east-west hallway in the south continues the other geomorph's central feature. At various levels, there are three distinct sections of the tile, one of which is a collection of rooms around a central courtyard that can only be accessed from entrances in the northwest.

Geomorph #72

Today's geomorph contains a series of rather ordinary rooms with limited connectivity across the tile. The most unusual feature is a one-way turnstile in the southwest that leads to (presumably) some kind of dangerous room. The secret door in the southeast is the only escape.

Geomorph #71

There is a stair in the northwest corner of this geomorph that leads to an apparent dead-end with a deep pool of water. There is a treacherous underwater passage that gives way to a completely enclosed air-pocket. Another underwater passage leads to the chamber in the southeast. The pools in the northeast and in the west, as well as the fountain in the southwest are also connected but are not traversable by normal means.

How long will there be air in that air pocket?

The Atlantean

Another character generated with ICONS and converted to Risus, this time a villain...

THE ATLANTEAN (Harriett Rushford/Binkhod Saranth)
Description: Slender and stern looking blond woman dressed in a black Atlantean wizard robe embellished with copper (orichalcum?) eldritch symbols. Perpetually angry and armed with a spear that crackles with arcane power.

Cliches: Reawakened Atlantean Wizard [4d8], Atlantean Warrior in the Body of an Disgruntled Housewife (3), Social Climber (2).

Hook: Dueling Personalities.

Tools: Wizard robes, spell ingredients, orichalcum spear that doubles as a wizard's staff.

Tale: As the wife of a famously eccentric professor of archaeology, Harriett Rushford felt like the laughingstock of the Silverlode social set. That was until she heeded the call from something in her husband's study. Slipping away during a faculty party, she discovered a crystalline bottle filled with the glowing essence of an imprisoned entity. Without hesitation, she unstopped the container and released the spirit of the renegade Atlantean Wizard, Binkhod Saranth. The ancient sorcerer fused with the disgruntled housewife, slew everyone in the house, and embarked on a campaign of revenge against anything remotely reminiscent of his/her former masters.

***

Reawakened Atlantean Wizard: Having supernatural senses and incredible willpower; casting spells (espcially a signature shrinking spell); telekinetically hurling objects with great force and reflecting attacks; reading surface thoughts and emotions.

Atlantean Warrior: Fighting with primitive weapons, being very coordinated (but not all that strong); being extremely pissed off; keeping a tidy home; cooking a mean casserole.

Social Climber: Brow-beating people into doing what she/he wants; political intrigue; spreading rumors; being catty.

***

THE ATLANTEAN (ICONS Version)

Prowess 5 [Great]

Coordination 6 [Superb]

Strength 3 [Mediocre]

Intellect 5 [Great]

Awareness 7 [Fantastic]

Willpower 7 [Fantastic]

Stamina 10, Determination 1

Powers: Wizardry 6 (Reflection, Shrinking), Telekinesis 7 (w/ Attacking option), Telepathy 2

Specialties: Occultism [Expert]

Qualities:

• Identity: Atlantean Wizard

• Motivation: Destroy Authority

• Motivation: Seek Power

• Identity: Social Climber

Challenges:

• Personal: Battling Personalities

• Imperfect knowledge of modern society

• Personal: Gender issues (man sharing a woman's body)

Bola Sue

Another character generated with ICONS and converted to Risus...

BOLA SUE ("Honey, I've got you by the balls!")

Description: In her mystery girl guise, Susan Saville appears as a scandalously clad pin-up girl with a domino mask and a belt full of bolas. She is often photographed by lucky newsmen while entangling boorish bad guys with her signature weapon.

Cliches: Enlightened Emissary of Shangri-La (4d10), Mistress of the Bolas (4d8), Famous Pin-up Girl (4), Mild-Mannered Travel Agent (2).

Hook: Pacifist (will not use lethal force against people).

Tools: Numerous compact bolas, readied for use.

Tale: Susan Seville's life changed forever when her tour group was almost obliterated in a Himalayan avalanche. With plucky determination and an almost preternatural eye for details, Susan was able to find safe passage for her group through a treacherous pass to the mountain paradise of Shangri-La. Recognizing her natural talent, the beatific inhabitants welcomed her into their utopian community and trained her in forgotten martial arts and esoteric disciplines. She would have continued to live among them but for troubling news from her homeland. Costumed villains were now wielding powerful Atlantean artifacts, threatening peace and heralding some unspoken future apocalypse. Susan was sent back into the world as an emissary, charged with using non-violent means to protect the innocent and advance the cause of peace.

Following the example of other costumed heroes, Susan returned to Silverlode wielding specially fabricated bolas to entangle her foes, rather than harm them. With her incredible personal story, stunning good looks, and scandalously immodest attire she was an instant media sensation. Using the platform that celebrity gave her to better fulfill her role as emissary, "Bola Sue" (as the press named her) tolerated the attention. It wasn't long, however, before she constructed another secret identity to travel about the city unmolested by the adoring public. In the guise of Maria Cortez, mild-mannered travel agent for Golden Path Travel, she can now quietly obtain distance from the superhero brouhaha and resume some semblance of her former life (for a few days a week, at least).  

***

Emlightened Emissary of Shangri-La: Observing the smallest of details; calmly reacting to dangerous situations; making intuitive leaps; practicing a cinematic form of non-lethal martial-arts; meditating; resisting mental domination; being fearless; having fierce determination; speaking obscure languages; radiating kindness and compassion.

Mistress of the Bolas: Entangling foes with her signature weapon.

Famous Pin-Up Artist: Being famous, being beautiful, being adored by millions.

Mild-Mannered Travel Agent: Being well-travelled; escaping notice; booking trips; steering people towards where they need to go.

***

BOLA SUE (ICONS Version)

Prowess 3 [Typical]

Coordination 7 [Incredible]

Strength 2 [Poor]

Intellect 5 [Great]

Awareness 9 [Inhuman]

Willpower 8 [Amazing]

Stamina 10, Determination 2

Powers: Binding Devices 4 (Bolas)

Specialties: Acrobatics, Athletics, Martial Arts [Master]

Qualities:

• Catchphrase: "I've got you by the balls"

• Connections: Police Detective Nick Vallan

• Epithet: Mistress of the Bolas

• Identity: Enlightened Emissary of Shangri-La

• Identity: Travel Agent

Challenges:

• Personal: Pacifist (no deadly force on people)

• Devices: Limited number of bolas

• Social: Hounded by the press

Chronossar

Continuing my experiment with the ICONS random character generation system to help build characters to populate my as-yet-untitled Supers setting, I present the first villain of the series. Risus stats are presented first, followed by ICONS stats, followed by setting/continuity notes.

CHRONOSSAR ("The Commissar of Time")

Description: A permanently distracted young man with unkempt hair and darting eyes. His athletic frame fills out a vaguely militaristic hooded uniform emblazoned with a hammer, sickle, and hour-glass. He is never seen without his trade-marked Hammer of Time.

Cliches: Commissar of Time (4d8); Communist Saboteur and Spy (2); Brilliant and Under-appreciated Lab Assistant (2);  Former College Football Player (1).

Sidekicks: Grunt Squad of Future Selves (4)

Hook: Permanently distracted (massive penalties to alertness checks that aren't critical to his personal safety).

Tools: Atlantean chronocrystal "Hammer of Time".

Tale: The child of Dust Bowl refugees, Gary Huggins was recruited by Comintern agents while attending the Silverlode Institute of Science & Technology. Sympathetic to the communist ideal, he agreed to keep his affiliation secret in the hopes that he could work his way into a position where he could bring about the downfall of capitalist society. He finally got his chance after accepting a job in a Blue Horizons applied archaeology laboratory. While experimenting with mysterious Atlantean crystals, he suddenly found himself face to face with versions of himself from minutes into the future. He promptly stole the device and began serious work as a Comintern saboteur. It was only a matter of time before his constant time travel started to unhinge his mind. Dropping all pretense of subtlety, he donned a Soviet-style costume and announced his presence as "Chronossar" with a series of high-profile capers.

***

Commissar of Time: Slowing time to act fast relative to everyone else; traveling short distances backward in time (no more than minutes); receiving warnings from the immediate future (time-traveling duplicates count as sidekicks). Also includes monomaniacal ranting, collaborating with other villains, planning crimes, escaping when those crimes are foiled by heroes.

Communist Saboteur and Spy: Spouting communist propaganda; infiltrating restricted areas; stealing secrets; blowing shit up; contacting real members of Comintern.

Brilliant and Under-appreciated Lab Assistant: Science! (specializing in understanding ancient/alien technology); writing reports; filing paperwork; operating lab equipment; making coffee.

Former College Football Player: Being strong and athletic; tackling people; throwing things; catching thrown objects; taking a hit.

Grunt Squad of Future Selves: Appearing in moments of danger; teaming up with Chronossar.

***

CHRONOSSAR (ICONS Version)

Prowess 3 [Typical]
Coordination 4 [Good]
Strength 4 [Good]
Intellect 4 [Good]
Awareness 1 [Weak]
Willpower 3 [Average]

Stamina 7, Determination 1

Powers: Time Control Device 3 [Super Speed, Fast Attack, Duplication 5, Precognition 4, Danger Sense 5]
Specialties: Science (Physics)

Qualities:
Epithet: Commissar of Time
Catchphrase: "Let's try that again!"
Catchphrase: "I saw that one coming"
Connections: Comintern

Challenges:

Personal: Criminally insane

Personal: Squeamish (won't kill directly)

Devices: Powers depend on his Atlantean Hammer of Time
Social: Secret identity (still works at Blue Horizons)

***

NOTES

Silverlode Institute of Science & Technology
Founded in 1908 just prior to the discovery of Atlantean ruins in and around local mountain peaks, the Institute was uniquely positioned to study the strange artifacts that were discovered therein. Renamed Silverlode University in 1924, it was expanded to include liberal arts and social sciences. Science and engineering students still technically enroll into the "Institute".

Blue Horizons
Technology company specializing in exploiting the exotic minerals and Atlantean artifacts native to the region.

UPDATE (7/24/2010): At Sea of Stars' suggestion, I've replaced all references to "Rod of Eternity" with "Hammer of Time".

Geomorph #70

Today's geomorph is a companion to yesterday's tile (they were drawn at the same time). This one features two large halls. The western room adjoining the eastern hall overlooks the western hall. I imagine that the denizens of the dungeon could have some great parties here.

Geomorph #69

Today's geomorph features two perpendicular halls with various connecting passages. I imagine some kind of temple complex, though a throne room also comes to mind.

Risus Supers

It's too early to be thinking about what system I might might use for my as-yet-unnamed future Supers game. But since this is a Risus blog, I figure I should think about system enough to post Risus versions of the various characters that will help define the setting. For the last couple days, I've been mulling over various rules options and conversion schemes. Here's what I settled on:

Funky Dice
I seriously considered using the "Rescaled Risus" suggestion from the Risus Companion. Ultimately, I discarded that approach in favor of using Funky Dice. I like Funky Dice for several reasons. First, I like being able to use my entire dice collection. More importantly, I like the wider range of power levels that you can get with Funky Dice. It's hard to model the entire range of super characters (from sidekicks to cosmic paragons) with only six levels (and only four levels for starting characters). I've also used Funky Dice successfully in past games and I am comfortable with how they function in play.

Benchmarks
I'll set starting point levels for player characters when I actually get around to running the game. In the meantime, a set of benchmarks would be useful for classifying where a given NPC fits in the continuum of superhero power. I'm going to roughly base things off the Power Levels (PL) of  Mutants & Masterminds. A character's peer group (i.e. team members, allies, common foes) roughly determines the total number of dice/points available. The type of Funky Dice that can be assigned to super cliches is unrestricted but it will generally match the Power Level. 

Power Level	Point Total	Typical Funky Die
Pulp Hero (PL6)	10 dice/60 points	d6
Street Level (PL8)	80 points	d8
Typical Supers (PL10)	100 points	d10
Powerful Supers (PL12)	120 points	d12

Hooks & Tales
I'm not going to factor Tales into the point totals and I'm only going to use Hooks if they provide concrete disadvantages like weaknesses or vulnerabilities.If a Hook is included, it gives back 10% of the Point Total as per the standard Risus rules.

Lucky Shots & Questing Dice
I discussed the interaction between Funky Dice and Lucky Shots/Questing Dice in this post back in December. Questing Dice are an especially useful way to model stunts, special tactics,or gadgets. The cost of 3 Lucky Dice or 5 Questing Dice is equal to 10% of the starting total. They add dice with the same number of sides as the cliche being augmented.

Sidekicks & Shieldmates
Cliches for sidekicks are purchased at 1:3 cost as per the standard rules. Funky Dice can be used, though the Sidekick may not exceed 4 dice in any cliche is may not have any cliches that are more powerful than the base character's best cliche. 

Converting From ICONS
To convert the ICONS-generated Ebon Knight, I'll set his power level to be "Street Level (PL8)". As a normal human, he will be limited to six-sided dice. His ICONS ability scores are mostly appropriate to 4 dice cliches, though his Prowess would seem to imply a a higher level of ability. I could set one or more cliches at level 5, though that would preclude him from being used as a starting character. Instead, I gave him a bunch of Questing Dice that reflect the boost he gets from his special gear.

EBON KNIGHT (Risus Version)

Description:The Ebon Knight races through the rougher neighborhoods of Silverlode on a super-charged motorcycle clad in jet-black armor and wielding a similarly-colored broadsword. On the job as a machinist at Blue Horizons as "Black Angus" MacTavish, he appears as a powerfully-built African American man, usually covered in grease and sweat. 

Cliches: Armored Vigilante of the Night (4), Motorcycle Knight (4), Miracle Metalworker (4)

Questing Dice (Ebonite Armor & Sword): [] [] [] [] []

***

Armored Vigilante of the Night: Defending the weak, helping the helpless, finding evil-doers to vanquish, slugging it out with bad-guys, bashing through doors/windows/scenery.

Motorcycle Knight: Riding a motorcycle;  fighting with sword and other medieval weaponry; motorcycle repair.

Miracle Metalworker: Forging weapons and armor; working with exotic metals and alloys; building simple machines.

Questing Dice: Ebon Knight is perfectly effective in his cliches with mundane medieval gear. He may employ his Questing Dice to represent the advantages granted to him by having nigh-invulnerable armor and an extra sharp sword.

Geomorph #68

This geomorph was conceived as a corners piece, with each corner of the tile containing two exits. Of course, I couldn't leave it at that. The underground stream in the northeast cascades down a tunnel and splashes into the cavern in the southwest. That cavern can also be accessed by a secret door in the large room in the southeast. There is another cave leading up from the pool to small fountain that is fed by the stream.

Geomorph #67

Today's geomorph features a central chamber (circular in my original conception) with four ground-level entrances and two successively higher bridges or catwalks. I imagined something akin to green-house or botanical garden filled with towering trees. The walkways above the ground floor would pass through different levels of the tree canopy. Of course, there are many other possible interpretations of the tile.

GM's Little Helper Cards

Jim Pacek over at Carjacked Seraphim has developed a nifty little randomizer tool to help nudge your creativity. It's a PDF called GM Helper Cards and it... duh... is a bunch of cards that help GMs. It's late and I'm little bit punchy but these really are a cool idea. Each of these 81 different cards contains 13 different random nuggets. You want a random name? Draw a card. You want some tactics for your bad guys? Draw a card. You want a map? Draw a card a card and get a random geomorph from the Risus Monkey Geomorph Project (and some of Dyson's as well).  I'm going to hunt for some card-stock and print off a stack as soon as I can. I love it when the RPG community producing handy little tools like these.

Ebon Knight

Thus begins what might turn into an ongoing project. I'm going to to start constructing a Golden Age Super-Hero setting organically through characters, bite-sized bits of inspiration, and actual play reports (with human players or with the Mythic GME). I did a little of this back for Beyond Sanctuary, but recently released superhero RPGs and Trey's awesome City/Strange New World setting have inspired me to give it another go. 

Today's post (and I suspect many future posts) will use the random character generation system from ICONS to get my creative juices flowing.

EBON KNIGHT ("Black Angus" MacTavish)
   Prowess 6 [Extraordinary]
   Coordination5 [Excellent]
   Strength 5 [Excellent]
   Intellect 5 [Excellent]
   Awareness 5 [Excellent]
   Willpower 4 [Good]

   Stamina 9, Determination 4

   Powers: Invulnerability 4 (Ebonite Armor), Strike 5 (Ebonite Sword)
   Specialties: Athletics, Drive, Mechanics, Weapons (Blades) [Expert]

   Qualities:
      Identity: Brilliant but under-appreciated machinist at Blue Horizons
      Catchphrase: "Chivalry ain't dead!"     
      Vehicle: "Sable" the suped-up motorcycle
      Base: Mountainside workshop outside of town
      Motivation: Romantic notions of justice and honor

   Challenges:
      Connection: Harold Farmsworth, obnoxious supervisor at Blue Horizons
      Personal: Legal entanglements back east 
      Social: Oppressed minority
      Social: Secret identity
      Devices: Powers depend on his sword and armor

Angus MacTavish's was born twenty-five years ago to a young black maidservant on the grounds of disreputable country manor just outside of Savannah, Georgia. Left without a mother or any kind of family, the infant boy was adopted by the kindly Scottish blacksmith who effectively managed the estate for their eccentric and mostly unseen master.

For a time, life was idyllic. The old smith home-school the vigorous young lad in his own trade and instilled in him notions of romantic chivalry. It wasn't long, however, before the realities of the Jim Crow south shattered the innocence of "Black Angus" (as he came to be called). Accused of a crime he certainly did not commit, a lynch-mob assaulted the decaying estate and killed his adopted father. Angus put up a ferocious fight but in the end he was forced to escape on motorcycle. He didn't stop running until he arrived in the mountain metropolis of Silverlode, Colorado.

Angus took a job as a machinist at the famous Blue Horizons corporation. Even in progressive Silverlode, he encountered injustice at every turn. Drawing on the ideals of his adoptive father, he vowed to fight back as a champion of the underdog. Using his extraordinary talents (and some experimental alloys appropriated from his employer), Angus forged himself a suit of nearly indestructible armor and a matching sword. Now he rides forth on a custom motorcycle as the Ebon Knight, righter of wrongs and hero to the hopeless.

A Risus version will be forthcoming as soon as I work out how I'll be scaling super heroes in this setting.

Geomorph #66

Today's geomorph was vaguely inspired by this post over at the Land of Nod. The idea is that it is a series of interconnected caverns created by hive-minded burrowing creatures. Of course, it could just be a collection of caves.

As an aside, thanks to John Fiore over at World vs. Hero for the kind words about my geomorphs. I'm honored to be mentioned in the company of real cartographers.

Looking Ahead: Supers?

As usual, I'm having a hard time living in the moment. We resume our regular Gurps Knights of the Astral Sea game on Saturday night and while I'm super excited, I can't stop thinking about whatever game I'm going to run after that. Part of it is Gamer ADD. Part of it is having all/most of my prep-work done. And part of it is the fact that I'm really really getting a kick out of a bunch of new games that I have either recently purchased or that are coming down the pipe (DC Adventures, I'm looking at you!).

Next week, I'll also have a lot more personal time to write and do creative stuff. Because the wife and kids will be visiting folks out of state, I'm going to have computer time right after work when I'm feeling most creative. Typically, I have to wait until the kids go to bed and by then I'm usually so brain-fried that I can barely manage a regular blog post and a little reading.

I guess I don't want to waste that time.

So what am I thinking about specifically? Supers, for one. I've never run a super hero game and I've always wanted to. It hasn't bubbled to the surface of "things that must be done" until recently because it overlaps a bit with my Buffy the Vampire Slayer game and I've had other interests. But with Truth & Justice, ICONS, and the upcoming DC Adventures I am really anxious to give it a shot. I've played in some amazing supers games. My first gaming group that I joined after moving to DC was doing Gurps Supers at the time and my character from that campaign is still one of my all-time favorites. I also fondly remember a couple of Gen Con supers events that totally blew me away. One was a silly Gurps 4e Mystery Men game where I played I.R.Eskimo Dan (armed with harpoon and pocket calculator). The other was a slightly more serious Mutants & Masterminds game run by Pirate Cat and featuring an all-star cast if EN World regulars.

If I did Supers, my current thought is that I'd do a Golden Age game in the late 30's/early 40's to get a little distance from Buffy. Major influences would be Astro City, various works by Alan Moore, and Hellboy. There might be alternate history elements and I'd consider pulling my Silverlode setting forward in time to serve as home base (it's either that or Detroit). I'd love to grow the setting organically and for that I may need to start a new Mythic GME game (or World vs. Hero) in the absence of an opportunity to play with others. I'm going to avoid selecting a system just yet, though you can bet that I'll be posting Risus material on this blog.

Geomorph #65

Today's geomorph is another underground lake. This time there are two rocky islands overlooking a maelstrom, separated by a treacherous bridge (the statues might be evidence of an old temple). A series of large stepping stones provides the only access to these islands. These stones are in turn accessed by one of four caverns that descend into the area. A fifth passage rises up to a ledge that overlooks the water in the southwest.

Sister Systems: FATE

My posting volume is light right now because a) work is once again pretty busy and b) I've recently purchased several awesome new games that I'm really getting a kick out of reading: Diaspora, Dresden Files RPG, and ICONS. All are derived from the excellent FATE system.

I remember FATE when it was just a twinkle in the eye of its designers, appearing as a set of rules options for Fudge in the Fudge Factor fanzine. The designers, Fred Hicks and Rob Donoghue, had an awesome idea to scrap the notion of predefined character ability scores. They figured that skills already encompassed a character's inborn traits. To capture that extra special something, they invented aspects. Aspects could embody positive attributes, negative attributes, advantages, and disadvantages all at once. Sometimes at the same time. In that sense, they seem to possess the spirit of Risus cliches.

Aspects are the heart of FATE (and they are really the only bit that makes ICONS Fate-related at all). The basic idea is that a character has some number of these aspects (typically 10, though it can vary). These aspects are a word or a phrase that describes something important about the character or something important to the character. Examples include but are not limited to talents, weaknesses, relationships, motivations, and signature equipment. Positive aspects can be invoked to provide in-game bonuses relating to the underlying quality of the aspect. The real innovation, however, is that negative aspects could be invoked by the GM (or the player herself) to limit or hinder the character. Such an invocation (called a compel) grants the character Fate Points which can be used to fuel more positive aspect invocations.

I love this. As a Gurps guy, this was a real eye-opener. In Gurps, taking disadvantages granted you more points to spend on making your character badass. Often times it seemed like players could take relatively benign disadvantages that had no real negative effect in order to pump up their characters positive traits. But in FATE games, you often choose take negative aspects instead of positive ones because you need at least some negative aspects to generate Fate Points. Imagine spending valuable resources during character creation to take a negative trait!

The concept of aspects are also easily expanded to cover non-character elements. In addition to player characters and npcs, scenes and location can have aspects as well. Characters can invoke them to get bonuses or compel them to earn them Fate Points. Characters can also use maneuvers to place new aspects on scenes, character, and objects, creating this wonderful narrative-driven style of play. 

That's the theory, at least. I've only played one game of Spirit of the Century. It was pretty good but I don't think I'll have the true measure of the system until I can run it for myself. Hip-deep in two ongoing games, I'm not sure when I'll get the chance. Until I do, however, I'm going to keep mining the FATE games for ideas that can be ported over to the games that I do play (not to mention future blog posts here at the Risus Monkey). For example, FATE has this wonderful system of collaborative character generation that could possibly be adapted to Risus and other games. And the Dresden Files RPG has an amazing framework for City/Setting creation that is almost entirely system neutral.

Geomorph #64

Today's geomorph is a bit of a funhouse. There is a central passage that features a revolving cylinder. On one end is a series of isolated rooms. On the other end is a large chamber with a prominent statue. Two of the entrances into this large chamber are sloped passages, presumably trapped and guarded with hidden arrow slits.

Geomorph #63

Not every geomorph has to be packed with interesting features. In order to make a well-rounded dungeon, some tiles should be rather mundane. This is one such tile. The most interesting thing that can be said for it is that it has a large room in the northwest corner that has two narrow access passages that might constrain movement. The rest of the geomorph is wide open and most entrances to rooms are through archways rather than doors.

Geomorph #62

Today's geomorph might appear to be a little complicated. There is a circular dwelling carved out of a towering rock formation that is accessed via a narrow ledge that runs from the northwest to the southeast. Passing under an arch in this ledge is another ledge that runs from the southwest to the northeast. A winding natural stair descends into a low-lying cavern that spans the entire tile (passing under bridges formed by both of the high ledges). The three remaining entrances to the geomorph are natural balconies of varying heights above the cavern floor.

Target Numbers and the Single Scientist

In the detailed after action report of my recent Moon Soldiers Must Die! adventure, I mentioned that I used a "Declare Facts" rule to great effect. What I meant by this is that I employed a mechanic to allow characters to use "scientific" (knowledge) cliches to declare previously unknown facts about the setting, which could be used to the character's immediate benefit. In another post back in January, I discussed this at length and mentioned that Spirit of the Century, Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies, and similar games inspired me to try this in Risus. Of the two possible mechanics that I proposed in that January post, I ultimately settled on the one that didn't require Lucky Shots or Questing Dice. I figured that almost any character could put this rule to good use and that limiting it to characters with non-standard options was probably being overly restrictive.

Target Numbers and the Single Scientist
(Inspired by the "Target Numbers and the Single Showoff" section of the Risus Companion)

Scientists, Sages, and Fusty Old History Professors are more than just a mouthpiece for the GM - revealing details of a meticulously created fantasy world like some crazy bearded prophet just back from the burning bush. In Risus, they can be more like deputy godlings, inventing the Truth to the betterment of themselves and their companions with nothing but a Target Number roll against a cliche that implies knowledge of persons, places, or things.

Minor Fact (TN5): New information adds color to the scene and might provides the character with a small benefit (e.g. "The desert nomads of Gargalahar are known to export a particularly potent spirit produced from over-ripe pucker-fruit pouches"). This includes the creation of minor characters that have little game impact.

Moderate Fact (TN10): A moderate fact provides a definite mechanical benefit such as helping to deal with one small obstacle (e.g. "It's a little known fact that a strong brew of beezelnut pressings can counteract the effects of all  but the most potent of pucker-fruit spirits. He should be sober in no time."). Minor characters created may offer some assistance in a scene.

Major Fact (TN15): Information of this nature actually allows a character to single-handedly overcome most of the challenges in a scene (stealing the spotlight from the other characters in the process) (e.g. "I can diffuse the situation with the suspicious desert nomads because I used to drink pucker-fruit spirits with Chief Dakon the Inebriated"). Significant recurring characters can be introduced that may assist the character or party on an occasional basis.

To the above Target Numbers, add a modifier based on how likely it is that the cliche implies knowledge of that setting detail: +5 if the cliche implies a secondary knowledge, +10 if the cliche implies marginal familiarity, and +20 if the cliche is completely unrelated to that setting detail.

Geomorph #61

Today's geomorph is a spiraling mine shaft, complete with a mine cart. The stairs are of indeterminate slope and are likely to quite steep at the lower levels (though it depends on connecting tiles).

Call of the Wild

Continuing his quixotic quest to produce one 8-page Risus setting per month from now until the Apocalypse,   Brent Wolke has created Call of the Wild. As with Future Imperfect before it, this one is also a very interesting and unique take on the post-apocalyptic genre with pseudo-Native American spiritualism amongst the ruins of abandoned cityscapes. Look to his Engine of Thwaak website for both settings and continue to watch this space for news of subsequent releases.

Encounter Risical!

The venerable Guy Hoyle has mixed the chocolate goodness of Risus with the peanut buttery Encounter Critical to create Encounter RISICAL! Head on over to the Obsidian Portal to get a generous helping of two great S. John Ross confections all rolled into one kitchen-sink science-fantasy wrapper.

Geomorph #60

And now for something a little different. Tonight's geomorph is based on the climactic scene from last Friday's Moon Soldiers Must Die! game. There is a ventilation shaft running to the surface in the southeastern corner. It dumps out in a machine with weird-science machinery. There is a catwalk leading northwest to an irregular room with a large window (a command center in Friday's game). The is a mess of tubes and wires just to the west of the northern end of the catwalk and there is a wide open area below with an escape rocket and various other machines of war. Perhaps a little out-of-place in a standard fantasy dungeon, but then again perhaps not.

Moon Soldiers Must Die: After Action Report Continued

Here's a very brief highlight reel from Friday's awesome Moon Soldiers Must Die! game:

• When the klaxons announced that the Venusian Queen was under attack, Penelope "Nice Ass" Franklin ran back to the stateroom of her sugar daddy to raid his safe for valuables. Never underestimate a player's desire for phat loot, even in a game where wealth is only a special effect.
• PP-138 calmly directing passengers to observe proper emergency protocols. The last one to leave the Interplanetary Lounge, "he" pulled a C-3P0 and calmly walked through a firefight between Moon Soldier Pirates and colonial marines. Everybody ignores the robot.
• Quasar Jones was a walking kung fu blaxploitation movie. Ripping off his bartender uniform (shades of Isaac from the Love Boat) to reveal his martial arts gi, he proceeded to singlehandedly decimate an entire squad of Moon Soldiers with a dozen of razor sharp (and sometimes explosive) afro picks. 
• Rescuing a stock lounge singer from a Fate Worse Than Death at the hands of lascivious Moon Solders, Penelope blasts a hole in the deck of the Venusian Queen to land in the midst of the other player characters (currently embroiled in yet another firefight).
• With the ship's systems failing, PP-138 directs his robot minions to restore gravity. Of course, commanding a staff of housekeeping robots meant that the best he could do was restore gravity along a totally incorrect axis. 
• Escaping by rocket, the party survived running the gauntlet of Moon Soldier attack ships... alas, only one character could fly using Rocketship Pilot (1). Because of that, they crash-landed into a Venusian swamp in a scene very reminiscent of Luke's arrival on Dagobah.
• PP-138 is a walking radio. Of course, he cannot listen in silently and must broadcast everything through his trumpet-like mouth. Cycling through numerous colonial radio stations, he discovers alien communications indicating planet-side Moon Soldier activity.
• Jungle trek montage sequence where Penelope and Tom Angel progressively loose their clothing to the mildly corrosive atmosphere. Penelope is left wearing nothing but leaves and her corset when the party is forced to hide from a Moon Soldier patrol. At the end of the montage, the party realizes that the rescued lounge singer was eaten by an elusive swamp creature in the previous scene.  
• Cleaning up from the sweaty trek, moist towelette dispensers become a running joke.
• Herr Doktor Professor von Hauptmann uses the new "Declare Facts" rule (which I will definitely go into further in subsequent posts) to explain his past run-in with a renegade Moon Soldier while solving the mystery of the murdered Doctor Rotwang (apologies to the real Dr. Rotwang). Not a direction that I expected but it set up a much more satisfying conclusion as the renegade Moon Soldier returned in the adventure climax.
• Penelope also makes use of the "Declare Facts" rule to proclaim that the human bandit queen leading native Venusian insurgents against the invading Moon Soldiers was a former New York City prostitute. The two hit it off spectacularly.
• Tumbling down a ventilation shaft into a reactor room worked by dozens of robot minions. PP-138 was making progress in expressing solitary with his fellow mechanical manservants when Herr Doktor cannot resist pushing the shiny red secret base self-destruct button. Much combat ensues.
• Herr Doktor's dramatic face-off with his nemesis that he declared earlier in the session. Amazing luck keeps him in the fight long enough for Tom Angel and Quasar Jones arrive on the scene to finnish things off (the latter arriving dramatically by sliding down a zip-line on his nunchucks).
• Penelope saving herself from a potentially lethal fall by grabbing a bunch phallic hoses. That Hooker cliche sure is coming in handy...
• PP-138 destroying the Moon Soldier mobile artillery unit by walking right up to shouting "Intruder alert!". Nobody notices the robot.
• Herr Doktor blowing his roll to pilot the escape rocket out of the self-destructing secret lair. Amazing follow-up rolls save everyone but Penelope from fiery death, and Tom Angel saves her "nice ass" with an astounding but of selfless act of heroism (i.e. jacking the difficulty of his own roll way u to save her as well).
• Classic "hero shot" has the player characters walk away from the exploding carnage. The bandit queen swings down into the arms of Quasar Jones.

Moon Soldiers Must Die: After Action Report

After talking up Moon Soldiers Must Die! for several weeks now, I finally was able to run the game last night. In a word: Astounding! Given that most of us hadn't played together for more than a session or two (if that), it totally felt like a convention game. And it felt like a great convention game. Non-stop fun, amazing moments, and a total gonzo vibe.

Things began a bit slow. People were late to arrive and there was the obligatory foraging for food. But once everyone was seated, we began creating characters.

Now, I should mention that in a typical convention game or one-shot, I would supply pre-generated characters. Why waste valuable time creating characters? But this is Risus and I had confidence that the players could come up with amazing characters in a matter of minutes. I also had an ace up my sleeve...

Just-In-Time Characters Generation
Borrowing from an idea presented in Spirit of the Century, I decided to allow characters to get started without all their cliche dice assigned. All that I required was a name, a description, and their primary cliche. Anything else could be assigned during play. I've never used this rule before but it totally met all my expectations. It got us playing quickly, and those undefined cliches proved to be fantastic get-out-of-jail free cards for characters in sticky situations.

Anyway, here are the characters that the players created for the game (with all deferred cliches added in):

Herr Doktor Professor Otto von Hauptmann
Cliches: World's Greatest Consulting Detective (4), Retired Master Swordsman (3), Antique's Dealer (2), Rocket Pilot (1)
Tools: Ceremonial Plutonium Rapier

Penelope "Nice Ass" Franklin

Cliches: Hooker With A Heart Of Gold (4), Quick Draw Shootist (3), Former Track Star (2), Sassy Dame (1)

Tools: Victorious Mongoose Concealable Raygun, moisture-resistant corset.

PP-138

Cliches: Tin Can Robot With Raygun Eyes (4), Robotic Head Steward (3), Undefined (2)

Lucky Shots: [] [] []

Tools: Detachable antenna, staff of house-keeping droids, moist towelette dispenser.

Major Tom Angel Jr.

Cliches: Silent Strongman (4), Skilled Marksman (4), Ballroom Dancer (1)

Lucky Shots: [] [] []

Tools: Electromagnetic Slugthrower with Depleted Uranium Ammunition, Wicked Commando Knife, Enormous Chin

Quasar Jones 

Cliches: Brotha' With An Attitude (Shut Yo Mouth!) (4), Kung Fu Master (3), Bartender (1)

Lucky Shots: [] [] []

Questing Dice (When Wielding Afro Picks): [] [] [] [] []

Tools: Immaculate Afro, Countless Razor-Sharp Afro Picks (some explosive), Nunchucks, Gi (worn under bartender uniform).

I'll get into some of the highlights from play tomorrow.

Moon Soldiers Must Die: Rules and Cliches

I will be using Risus for tomorrow night's Moon Soldiers Must Die! one-shot. This is mostly due to my comfort with the system and my lack of time to actually plan the game for the other systems that were under consideration. I still want to run PDQ, FATE, Danger Patrol, and various old school sci-fi games, but they will have to wait until my schedule is more favorable.

The particular set of Risus rules that I will be employing are as follows:

Characters: 10-dice characters with cliches and concepts that are appropriate to a Rockets n' Raygun-style Retro SF game (see below for examples). Characters will be passengers or crew aboard the luxury space liner Venusian Queen.

Character Options: Hooks, Double-Pumps (must be justified), Sidekicks & Shieldmates, Lucky Shots, and Questing Dice. No Tales and no Funky Dice this time around.

Just-in-Time Character Definition: To get playing quickly, players need only define one of their cliches. At any time during the play, the character can assign remaining dice to new cliches, Lucky Shots, Questing Dice, or even Sidekicks.

Play Options:  Pumps, Deadly Combat (as detailed in the Risus Companion), Monkey-style combat, and Ad Hoc Teams. 

Science! Using the rules for "Target Numbers and the Single Showoff" (the magic "system" from the Companion detailed here), characters can use the scientific or academic abilities implied by their cliches to declare facts to help define the local scene and the setting in general. The Target Number will depend on the actual usefulness of these facts and/or the disruption they might cause to the setting.
 
Get Me Outta Here: I'm considering using an experimental and untested rule that will allow characters to make a healing roll if they try to retreat and break out of combat. Depending on the situation, disengaging after the heal check could be a Simple Contest or could continue as full-fledged Combat (chase).

Sample Space Opera Cliches Appropriate to the Scenario

• Alien Manservant
• Archaeologist
• Bartender
• Bureacrat
• Colonial Marine
• Colonist
• Doctor
• Famous Athlete
• Fighter Jock
• Kid
• Lounge Singer
• Mechanical Manservant
• Mercenary
• Missionary
• Personal Trainer
• Planetary Explorer
• Rocketship Captain
• Rocketship Engineer
• Secret Agent
• Shock Trooper
• Steward
• Stowaway
• Tourist
• Xenobiologist

The above list of cliches is by no means exhaustive. Players will be encouraged to spice up their cliches with advice from the Anatomy of a Cliche article over at Uncle Bear.

Image of LCB Astronaut from the Risus LCB Dingbats font.

Risus Perks

Dan Suptic strikes again! The author of Risus Mariachi, Arcadomai, and Dao Sheng (all hosted on this site) has created a suite of new "perks" for Risus characters. Operating like Lucky Shots, Questing Dice, and Sidekicks, these little bennies can give your character an extra bit of gamist mojo just when you need it. Check them out over at the Risusiverse.