A New Age…

A couple of weeks ago, I got my two oldest boys to try out a game of Risus. They had a great time (and had enough fun to entice the youngest to want to play as well). And so it begins…

Why not d100?

I’m always a little surprised that the simple d100 (or the simple % dice) isn’t used in more games. Think about it. Everything is easy to understand if you think you’ve got x% chance to succeed. So why so many different dice? Is the curve really that different?

Confession one: my favorite d100 system was Amazing Engine. I loved how you could look at the 1s position to know if you had a critical. The original Top Secret gets a close second.

Confession two: I think that the answer is just that it is fun to roll lots of dice. The more the merrier. We have been conditioned by Yahtzee.

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)

Taug Maciver is a failed priest from Inverness-shire, Scotland who left for America when he was excommunicated from the church. He has stayed in various Scottish settlements in Appalachia and Darien, Georgia.

He works as a tinker, but is helping to fix more than people’s mechanical devices, he helps to fix their spirits.

He is currently working his way across Texas, looking for word from God as to what his path should be.

NOTE:  this is for a Ranger Company X game taking place towards the end of the US Civil War.

Gotta Catch ‘Em All

I wrote about issues with Pokemon as a setting previously (Pikachu, I Choose You!). However, if you had to play as the Pokemon itself (al a Mystery Dungeon), what could you do? This came up on the RisusTalk mailing list.  I thought I would share my response here.

I’ve seen quite a few episodes of the show and whatever bits of the video games that they boys want to show me…

This might be useful:  http://www.pokemon.com/us/pokedex/

So you can see how many you have to chose from.

Basically, you have Pokemon of different types and each type has a benefit/weakness against certain other types (sort of a rock-papper-siscors) thing.

Wikipedia has a neat chart:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokemon_types#Pok.C3.A9mon_types

I don’t know how you would want to translate this into Risus terms.  Maybe something along the lines of number of die that can be used for rolling purposes (1/2 cliche if it is a type you have trouble with; only for rolling, not for damage if it is a type you have trouble with; 2x normal dice for rolling, normal for damage).

I don’t know how well a specific Pokemon would translate into Risus terms.  Maybe you use Questing DIce and/or Lucky Shots to represent some of the special moves they can learn.

If you check out the Pokedex, you can see all of the Pokemon and the special moves they can learn.

If you look up Squirtle (a common starting Pokemon), you would see that he (or she) could learn the special ability of Torrent (and it is weak to Electric and Grass Pokemon).

I would definitely not play this with 10 die characters.  Maybe 5 die (especially if this is some sort of beginners to roleplaying setup).

Here’s an example:  Cocky, Sunglasses Wearing Squirtle Dude (4), Torrent [],[],[],[],[],[]

Here’s another:  Mischievous Munchlax on a Diet (4), Pickup [],[],[], Thick Fat [],[],[]

Maybe I’ve thought too much into this…I have an urge to post this up as Risus TOTM.

Have fun with it! It is Risus, there’s no wrong way to play.  Just be Arceus (4), God Powers [],[],[],[],[],[],[]. 

;-P

Larry

Yet Another Edition…

In case you’ve ignored the news (I’ve tried, but this one got through), Wizards of the Coast is starting work on another edition of D&D.  They want player feedback and what not because they think it will be possible to make everyone happy.

Good luck with that…