Wednesday, September 21, 2005

it's Latin for "laughter"

So I've decided to do my "Fantabulous Five" silly superheroes game using S. John Ross's excellent free comedy game Risus. I even signed up to join the International Order of Risus, thereby gaining access to the Risus Companion. Now Risus itself is only 6 pages, a powerhouse game packed into 6 pages, but still only 6 pages. I was a bit dubious about shelling out ten bucks for a 64-page supplement to a 6-page game, but let me tell you I was not disappointed. Risus is distilled awesome, but adding in the Companion only makes it better. Very little of it is actual rules add-ons, all of which are completely optional. Mostly the Companion looks at what makes the Risus system tick, sort of an extended designer's notes.

Anyway, here are some first draft stat blocks for three members of the Fantabulous Five:

Captain Ultra
caped ubermensch (4)
plumber (3)
member of the Arnim Zola Defamation League (3)
exemplar of truth, justice, & the American Way (1)

Hook: faints in the presence of fire, even a lit match

Blue Streak
suave superspy (4)
hi-tech rollerderby stunt jockey (3)
disco inferno (2)
former corporate sell-out (1)

Osprey
brash New Yorker (4)
winged wonder (3)
electronic tinkerer (2)
sports fan (1)

The number in parentheses represents a die pool of d6's. Standard Risus is exlusively d6 based. The optional rules allowing for other dice types were specifically designed for things like superpowers, but I don't thing I need them. The F5 crew are so low-powered the cubes ought to work just fine.

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