RISUS RPG: Classic Swords & Sorcery Campaign [likely NC someplace]

[RubySlippers]

Its an age of sorcery and mystery when barbarism crossed the land and mighty dragons flew across the heavens, its in the age that Trigon the Tyrant master of dark sorcery and the blade rose to power conquering all that feel before him. It was the Age of Champions when a few rose up to defend the land or just get into the fight for money or to bang lots of women or whatever the fucking reason your doing this game ...

RISUS Core Rules will be used they are here I know its hard to figure out ...

http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/risus15.htm

Basic 10 Dice in cliches' and okay them with me they should be kind of refined and have fun you get four things you can do, one fun aspect can add another for up to six.

Example: Buxom Female Warrior (fight well with weapons, distract men and some women with her body, sexy, fit, topheavy so has a few balance issues, tends to lose clothes during adventures) 4 Dice

If you fail in combat we can roleplay this cliche' as losing her balance due to her big tits and maybe losing some clothing until she is pretty much naked ...

NEW RULE: Ouchies
Normally easch time you lose you lose a die from your dice pool, with this you just take an ouchie (avoid that fate) if your the primary dice roller - assisting another doesn't count - and being big tough heroes get you highest cliche' that is combat or fitness or luck or magic savey (if combat effective based) as Ouchies plus 1. In the above example she would have 5 Ouchies. NPC's will have Ouchies if a significant thing like a leader of a bunch of fighters would have them to some degree, a dragon (tough hide) or the like. Its okay to have less since a mage is likely to be studying magic more than fighting.

Magic in this game is up to you its all dice pools so if your more specialized it helps if its that, in the case of a tie the specialist has the advantage over a general practitioner mage or such and difficulty rolls are 5 less to so magic not in combat.

Before you ask magic items of some power like a fancy sword of power is its own cliche as are races I will use the principles ask me if you want to be a race and we can work it out same for a magic sword of power or ring or amulet or the like.

I'm looking for maybe four players first come first served and would like one woman in the mix, you have to have the eye candy after all.

[Altair1983]

My curiosity has been peaked, I think this would be a lot of fun!

[Laughing Hyena]

I have no idea what this game might be about but I am intrigued. Mind a newbie?

[Ironwolf85]

I am interisted, I'm thinking of a few characters, including a cool female character because I haven't played one in a while

[RubySlippers]

Risus is great for new players and simpler fun games.

I will expalin cliches they are ,in game terminology, a class or archetype or occupation or race.

Lets say you wanted to be a mage lets have fun with cliches at a basic level let say you want to be one -

Version 1
Hedge Wizard (cast spells, use magic items, respect of the common folk, defend against attacks) 4 Dice

Version 2
Manipulative Enchantress (cast charm spells, enchant items with magic, seductive, drop dead gorgeous) 4 Dice

Version 3
Witch Bound to a Demon Lord (cast spells, use magic items, familiar demon -animal of choice-, doesn't age) 4 Dice

You could add a fun thing like for the witch add memorable due to sex appeal and another advantage like brew potions for noxious things. Fun things are usually a mixed bless like she would likely be good looking enough to seduce but would also not be easy to forget and likely have rapes happen if she is less tha eager to put out.

All are mages just different sorts of magic workers with different tactics and aspects so you can be flexible and have fun wiht cliches' and it does help to focus more a basic theif would be good overall but a catburglar would be good in a few key things which helps in basic rolls not contested (like climbing a wall they would find that easier and move undetected perhaps.

You get 10 Dice for cliches none over 4 Dice and its best to have 3 Dice or 4 Dice since that is useable range. You can learn new ones in the game. So I strongly recommend two at 3 Dice and one at 4 Dice.

Items of power are cliches like in LoTR the One Ring would be a cliche so would a major ring of power, a scoundrel could have a cloak of concealment as part of a cliche if it fit as a lesser magic item but it must make sense. Child of an Elven Hero might have a magic sword as a cliche proper like the legendary family (blade). A thief that happened upon a magic cloak and took it from its owner would get it as part of his cliche under a thief theme most likely. If you're not sure - ask.

[Ironwolf85]

hmmm...
I've had two characters in mind for a while
A male gargoyle with a skin of metal, growing up in an orphanage, and having a gift for ice magic, nice guy but a womanizer.
Female Saber toothed tiger furry (I actually have a decent background) she is a former privateer (pirate with royal backing), swashbuckler, tough, hot, and with enough notches on her headboard to brag to her male crewmates during a drinking game.

[BenedictWolfe]

Looks nice, though three guys have already voiced interest. I'll keep my eye on this, in any case.

[RubySlippers]

Its pretty simple a system and its going to be classic cheesy fantasy think Sword and the Sorceorer, Hawk the Slayer, Deathstalker and my favorite Sorceress (with two playmate twins as the main characters). hee hee hee

Oh for the Gargoyle there is a city of the race but are stone and live in a high mountain peak on the Stone City of Gar so are not metal. However if you want to be a metal mage you could magically have metal armor added in as one of the powers and you could generate metal chains and blades from your body going that route. Their magic is usually holy or base elemental stone, metal and fire themes.

For the furry sort there is the Dark Kingdom where mages and dark practitioners of forbidden magics are always experimenting or the Beast Lands a land where the subjects flee to forming a kingdom to its East.

EDIT -

I'll keep this simple the first four players that post a character with name, description -pics are nice and  three cliches (unrefined is find just note for now is it a race or profession or other (this would be things like overall sets of traits in a theme not attached to a race or profession - a female of the human race might have Natural Beauty and have things related to that undefined someplace else). If not sure note what you want in a cliche. I'm going to lock initial cliches into two at 3 Dice and one at 4 Dice with race ones 3 Dice only.

The coins in the game are as follows -

Tin Coin (a Tin or Tinner) = 100 Tin Coins are in 1 Copper Coin
Copper Coin (a Copper or Cop) = 100 Copper Coins are in a Silver Coin
Silver Coin (a Royal or Roy) = 100 Silver Coins are in One Electrum Coin
Electrum Coin (a Regal) = 100 Electrum Coins are in one Gold Coin
Gold Coin (a Crown) = 100 Gold Coins in a one Crested Gold
Crested Gold (a Crown with a Red Ruby in a Spot in It) = No Higher Coin

Silver Coins are the top common coin in use even then most people don't see many if you want an idea of cost a nice cottage, outfitted with provisions in the celler for a year and decently furnished would be 20 Royals which is a middle class home or shop. So most coins you will see are Tins or Cops you can get a nice room at a good inn, meals for a day, a nice looking whore for the night and some good drink for 1 Cop.

You start the game with your needed gear (assumed you have basic items such as light armor for a warrior and weapons) plus 20 Cops.

[Meliai]

I've never played this system before, but it looks really fun! Been a while since I've done a less serious sort of game

Here's a rough idea for my character, though I know there's already been 4 people expressing interest so if all 4 of them are still in I'll bow out.

     

Selune "Luna" Arista, freelance witch
Luna is petite and curvy, with olive skin and white hair. She has bright green eyes and needs glasses to read, and thanks to that pesky tail finds wearing pants very uncomfortable. She's insatiably curious and sort of naively innocent, having only recently slipped out of her Master's grasp and run off to see the world.
Clichés: Witch (4), Catgirl Chimera (3), Curious Scholar (3)

Witch (Cast spells, curse people, intelligent talking spellbook, regenerative healing, demon patron, summon demon)
Luna's magic comes from a "backer" of sorts, a demon or spirit who lends her his power. A part of this backer's mind has possessed her spellbook and speaks to her through it, occasionally making demands and threatening to withhold her magic if she doesn't comply. He's a total pervert.

Catgirl Chimera (sex appeal, quick and flexible, athletic, animal communication)
Luna was born an elf, a peasant in the Dark Kingdom, but her natural aptitude for magic was noticed early and a local mage lord took her as his apprentice. He doesn't seem to have valued her very highly though, as she apparently ended up as a test subject for some of his transmutation spells. Thanks to her new DNA she can communicate with some animals on a basic level, though they aren't always helpful.

Curious Scholar (Broad & varied knowledge base, information gathering, use magical items, dangerously curious)
Curiosity hasn't killed the cat yet, but it gets her in an awful lot of trouble

Gear: Spellbook, glasses, cute witch's robe, pen & ink, parchment, leather satchel

[RubySlippers]

Add tp Catgirl Chimera this -
athletic

Add to Curious Scholar -
use magical items and I recommend replace terrible luck with dangerously curious

For Witch -
just an option but this will fit add demon patron and summon demon -note no control if you're a bad witch and failing your master it could also punish you in a way your not likely to mind really- but if your good with the boss it will help you do a task if reasonable

Overall looks good.

[Meliai]

All fixed up! Hopefully the rest of the interested parties are still around

[Garreth]

I'm also new to this system, but it looked so interesting I could not resist submitting my character. I don't know if there are still open slots for this and if they're not I'm alright with this.

Jason Oarborne


Jason is the strong and amiable owner of the local pub, The Creaky Oar. As such he is always well informed with the rumours going around in his own city. Travellers from different parts of the world also tell their tales in his pub so he is fairly well up to date on them as well. He always has a listening ear for his customers, one never knows what useful things you can pick up. Jason is a man of discipline, who values his steady day rhythm of working out in the morning and gathering supplies for this pub, running the pub until late at night and then cleaning and various other jobs. Pub Brawler (4), People Person (3), Muscle Man (3)

Pub Brawler (Fights well in close quarters, does well in fist fights, and fights with improvised weapons, also fights well when intoxicated.) Having to regularly toss unruly customers out of his pub, Jason is able to keep order by simply being a better pub brawler than most of his customers.

People Person (Appears trustworthy, persuasive and personable. Able to get people to open up, able to remember a large amount of gossip from all around the world.) As a bartender, Jason is very good at providing a listening ear for people's troubles and people seem to instinctively trust him with their worries.

Muscle Man (Strong, muscle bound. Works out regularly, excels at arm wrestling and other feats of pure strength. Good stamina.) Almost all the time Jason spends alone is time he spends working out. He reasons to himself that he needs to remain in shape in order to keep order in his bar but in actuality he his enjoys putting his body to the test and getting the best out of himself.

Gear: Regular clothing, leather boots, all purpose dagger.

[RubySlippers]

Noted above one Cliche at 4 Dice and two at 3 Dice to start. You can learn new ones to add later.

I suggest Pub Brawler at 4 Dice.

People Person 3 Dice.

Muscle Man (strong, feats of strength, great arm wrestler, hard to exhaust) 3 Dice.

It would give you under my house rule 5 Ouchies and would be what you want.

[Garreth]

Thusly edited. I was going by the rules I read at the link you provided, but hadn't taken in all of your house rules.

[RubySlippers]

Its just one or two dice are fine for supporting another in battle or trying simpler things. Like if you had Mage 1 Dice you could try to start a campfire and might in a nice roll but in a fight your only option is if the above female character was in a fight you could add a die to the pool with something like a spell to put sand in the eyes of the opponent. Its easy to go up in dice though doing things just starting out its not a good idea.

So the house dice rules to make sure you start at a professional level in three cliches one really good like your a nasty unarmed fighter, fine by me.

We could use a third maybe a scoundrel and burglar sort in some area. I will start monday with the sacking of the town by the forces of Trigon and its not going to be pretty.

[Ironwolf85]

Hmmm.. My thought was that gargoyles became the mineral they were hatched near, why gargoyles on a building fit the style. Deon was hatched in a cast iron oven, and thus has metallic skin, the metal mage sounds interisting.

DeonRaised in an orphanage by the sisters of holy light. Deon was a rambunctious child, his rookery killed when the temple attacked them for harassing/eating parishioners, the children were spared and scattered.

Gargoyle (tough to hurt due to steel skin, fly with wings defying common sense, intimidating in combat, fight well unarmed) 4
all the wonders of the species, being born in an iron oven has it's advantages

Metal Mage (cast spells based on metals, outer coating of living metal, form living metal into many forms and shapes, use living metal in combat) 3
though with minor formal instruction, much of his talent was inborn and inventive, but encouraged.

Ladies Man (use liquid metal objects for fun, handsome figure of gargoyle manhood, great at romance, run away from angry spouses or lovers) 3
it is far more fun to be exotic and sexy than scary, it also gets you a free drink or two at bars, and feels sooo much better, luckily he has a metal kink and enjoys the feeling.

Gear: pen & ink, parchment, leather satchel full of metal scraps, money, snacks, Boots, Jacket.

[RubySlippers]

I am limiting players to three cliches two at three dice and one at four dice, anything under three dice is pretty much of marginal use.

Here is my recommendation -

Gargoyle (tough to hurt due to stone skin, fly with wings defying common sense, intimidating in combat, fight well unarmed) 4

Metal Mage (cast spells based on metals, outer coating of living metal, form living metal into many forms and shapes, use living metal in combat) 3

Ladies Man (use liquid metal objects for fun, handsome figure of gargoyle manhood, great at romance, run away from angry spouses or lovers) 3

Okay doing this you get the basic gargoyle with practiced racial abilities, add in your metal appearance think a liquid living metal outer skin you can use in combat and your good with the ladies and likely can be as well endowed or not as the lady pleases. You could swap the first two cliche dice if you want to be more of a mage and an average gargoyle adult to start.

[NotoriusBEN]

what a bummer that frank frazetta doesnt have many mages in his art. lots of hot ladies and barbarians... no magic men >.>
well, I'll toss my mage into the game, even if it is a bit mage-heavy.

Jason - Why can't I do cool things? He shoots fire, she summons demons, you can disappear in front of people.
Tim - Sure you do, its called "Hit with Hammer"

Timory Nansen
Lecherous Court-Bard
(4 Skullduggery, 3 Womanizer, 3 Performer)

Studied from a young age with the Mistress Entertainer, who had him perform *extra curricular* activities as well. After leaving her tutelage, he received a job performing acrobatic feats and prestidigitation for one of the High Rulers as an entertainer. He didnt mind much since it let him peruse the upper echelons of the fairer sex and pick up ''generous tips'' from the nobles. For the most part, it was a pretty sweet gig until he was found fooling around with the daughter of a prominent noble. Since then, he has been scraping by as a 'two-bit hack' at local inns and taverns.

Skullduggery (Usual Rogue-fare, open locks, trap-disabling, knife-work, sneaking)
He studied under a prominent Entertainer who taught him the more than how to impress a crowd. She must have been a spy or something else with all the knife training and other bits of illegal fare she had him get out of in the mornings.

Womanizer (Charmer, Provacative, and Debonair to ladies at least. Intelligent Women and Men-in-general think he's a prick)
He may have most ladies wrapped around his fingers, but those that have a high sense of self-worth or intellect find him borish. Again it would be his Mistress that shaped him. She used him as much as he used her and he didnt really develope a chivalrous attitude to the lady-folk, especially when the Mistress moved on to the next pupil.

Performer (Acrobatic, Sleight-of-Hand, Attention Grabber, Score Tips)
As an entertainer, Timory had to learn all the trades and tricks. Having a crowd in front of him, amicable or hostile is where he feels he can do his best work.

Gear: Knifes, Bag-o-Tricks, Thieves Tools, Fine Clothing, Flashy/Morose reversable Cloak

Arcanist Version

Timory Nansen
Lecherous Arcanist
(4 Arcane Magic, 3 Womanizer, 3 Performer)

Studied from a young age with the Mistress Enchanter, who had him perform *extra curricular* activities as well. After leaving her tutelage, he received a job performing acrobatic feats and prestidigitation for one of the High Rulers as an entertainer. He didnt mind much since it let him peruse the upper echelons of the fairer sex and pick up ''generous tips'' from the nobles. For the most part, it was a pretty sweet gig until he was found fooling around with the daughter of a prominent noble. Since then, he has been scraping by as a 'two-bit hack' at local inns and taverns.

Arcane Magic (Generalized magic-use, Magic Missles, Levitation, Polymorphism, Invisibility)
He studied under a prominent Enchantress who taught him about the arcane universe. He trained hard with all the incantations and curses she had him get out of in the mornings.

Womanizer (Charmer, Provacative, and Debonair to ladies at least. Intelligent Women and Men-in-general think he's a prick)
He may have most ladies wrapped around his fingers, but those that have a high sense of self-worth or intellect find him borish. Again it would be his Mistress that shaped him. She used him as much as he used her and he didnt really develope a chivalrous attitude to the lady-folk, especially when the Mistress moved on to the next pupil.

Performer (Acrobatic, Sleight-of-Hand, Attention Grabber, Score Tips)
As an entertainer, Timory had to learn all the trades and tricks. Having a crowd in front of him, amicable or hostile is where he feels he can do his best work.

Gear: Arcanist's Cookbook, Etched Rod, Fine Clothing, Flashy/Morose reversable Cloak

[Muse]

That's four.  i'm SOL.  Have fun everyone, looks like a great game.  :) 

[Meliai]

Hmmmm, if it'll help the party balance I'd be happy to convert Luna to a more rogue-y type of adventurer so we'll have someone who's sneaky and able to deal with traps and such. Say, swap her Witch cliche out for whatever the vaguely medieval equivalent of the Indiana Jones/Lara Croft Adventurer Archaeologist would be. Ruin Explorer?

If I have time once I've finished up my posts for the night I'll write up an alternate version and let Ruby make the call tomorrow.

[NotoriusBEN]

you dont need to meliai,

I'll switch if its truely warrented. I thought I could cover some of the rogue aspects by being able to "Knock" open locks and such "theive" with my performer skill. Its not true skull duggery, but I thought the dynamic of 3 mages and a warrior were more interesting than the usual party lineup.

It gives Ruby some room to exploit us to, since she said there is NC and such.

[RubySlippers]

Arcane Magic is simply in my game a general mage the basic skills you would get are -

General Magic, General Arcane Lore, Defensive Magics, pc chosen specialty area - examples for reference Magic Circles & Symbols or Shapechange or Brew Potions or Has Familiar or Healing Rotes (simple healing spells of all sorts) not getting one you can try any spell but will not be as good if its not noted. But you would likely have something special your good at or were trained to use.

Performer I'm going to add one thing - Score Tips Performing.

And by the way a decent scoundrel rogue of good nature would be handy if you find a deadly trap a spell likely won't cut it to disable that will require skill. A jack-of-all-trades sort might work one rogue cliche, one fighter cliche and one worldly knows alot cliche sort. You have plenty of magic.

[Garreth]

I'd feel a little less underpowered if you didn't all have powerful magics too. I'm sure my character will have his uses, but they're quite specific if magic substitutes for so many things.

[NotoriusBEN]

alright, give me a few minutes to rewrite him. I'll flip out the magic for rogue things, but Im keeping the pick. its prestidigitation.

EDIT**
ok, he's more rogue-like now. Like some Fools and Bards, he had a double life, or at least trained for one, since nobles are so finicky and grudging

[RubySlippers]

I'd feel a little less underpowered if you didn't all have powerful magics too. I'm sure my character will have his uses, but they're quite specific if magic substitutes for so many things.

It all even out the dice pool is still 3 or 4 Dice if you have to activate a magic power gate neither spell casters could do it, an arcane wizard has a chance if they have a specialty in Circles & Runes a very decent chance. Likewise an arcanist in general would not work with metal magic as good as the gargoyle but could give it a shot the witch can't at all. And yes it matters when you meet a power circle and have to use it to summon a ghost to talk to with no arcane magician your shafted or have to get around that like the witch risking summong a demon (she can't control them just summon it could be ill favored).

And the fighter guy is a fighter guy, is anyone else a fighter in fact your a fighter on two counts when crap hits the fan you can resort to two cliches in combat the others one. But your damage is the same as a mage hurling a lighting blast. Not to mention when you get items to add dice spiked gloves would add one die, a sledgehammer you could use and you could have the arcane mage make you items. Plus are you wearing armor yet even getting later a leather armor suit would add a die. Your in the best position in fact to get fast extra dice to pools over any of the others. Lets say you buy a sledgehammer, leather armor and the arcane or metal mage zaps the sledgehammer with a permanent improvement and the armor there you go immediately a +2 Dice to your two combat pools. That means Pub Brawler 6 Dice and Muscle Man 5 Dice plus an extra two ouchies for the armor.

Its a matter the group as a whole getting creative with what you have.