Risus TOTM

…would it be possible to run Kringle in Time in one sitting?

Let’s hear it for Brent’s forceful encouragement. I wholeheartedly agree with his call for better and more accessible content. As a content producer, I certainly hope to do my part. And as a content producer, I’d love to hear specific suggestions on what sort of material would best serve the community. New “serious” (or semi-serious) settings or adventures gift-wrapped in a pretty PDF? Ok, I can work on that (though my graphic-design kung fu is not up to S. John or Snikle standards). But what else? I’m certain the needs of experienced Risus users are different from those who are getting their first look at the system. I’m open to suggestions.

Risus is such a deceptively simple game that there doesn’t seem to be much call for a lot of crunchy supplements. But worked examples and GM advice might be very helpful to newbies. I know it took me a while to “get” Risus and I didn’t get there until I saw what other people were doing with it.

Risus, as we all know, is a “comedy system”, but as we also well know, it has the potential for so much more serious play. However, in the general perception of the RPG community, Risus is always relegated to the niche of bizarre or funny one-shots. Certainly much of that comes from S. John Ross’ own view point and promotion of Risus., but I wonder how much we as the primary visible fans are also responsible for this state of affairs? Even when one of our ‘serious’ home-brew settings is made public, it’s usually nothing more than a list of clichés and a few notes.  In my mind, RisusMonkey’s Silverlode Campaign notes were the best, but they were distributed over many html pages. A single .pdf document would have made the setting more accessible to those looking to play Risus.  We need to raise the ‘production values’ of our personal settings we place on the internet and make them accessible via a single document.

Why bother you might ask?

I hear a lot of lament that the various Risus webpages such as this one or Risusiverse or others are quiet…well they’re quiet because no one is playing, and they’re quiet because the game is not accessible to a newbie looking for cool settings to play. You make it accessible, and people will play, people will get involved. My buddy runs Risus games at a local convention, and the spaces are filled every time. People want to play Risus. If we want Risus to rise to greater success, if we want greater activity on the webpages and at conventions, then it’s up to us to make it happen.

I should apply damage at the end of the round.

I should apply damage at the end of the round.

I should apply damage at the end of the round.

This is supposed to be a group blog, but it hasn’t been very groupy for quite some time (where did the others go anyway?). If anyone wishes to join in as a full member, just send me an email at rumn8tr_at_gmail (don’t worry, tumblr is very cool and easy to work with), or if you just want to post a quick something once in a while, feel free to just Submit your Risus TOTM.

Trying to move the theme back to being more Risusy…Hopefully it still works right.

I thought I’d play around with the theme and see what else I could do. I kind of like the new look (of course, it matches with my other Tumblr sites). What do you think?

If anyone knows someone in charge at WetPaint, please tell them to get their site working with Safari (I kind of miss making updates to Risusiverse - just not enough to use a different browser).