Anybody in the DFW area or thereabouts! A friend of mine is running a
Games Day on October 22 (see http://www.recgaming.com for time-space
coordinates). We could use some more people to run games (RPGs, board
games, card games whatever!) If you can do that, you get in FREE! Not
that we're charging an arm and a leg for attendance, of course.

At last, after several years of broken promises, I'll be running an
original Risus scenario, "The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Wu Ming Tsu", and I'd
love to have some members of this list on hand for the event.  The Games
Days have always been a lot of fun for me, and I'd like to see you there
in whatever capacity you'd care to be there in! (Grammer be damned!)

Hope to see you there!

Guy

Announcing the semi-official release of RisusGen 2 (
http://homepage.mac.com/unearthed/risus/risusgen2.html ).  This is a
javascript version of the original RisusGen (a nifty java based one).
RisusGen 2doesn't support all of the formats that the orignial does,
but it does make a decent looking (I think better) html version.

I've used RisusGen 2for the last few Risus Characters of the Week for
testing purposes.  Pretty nifty if I do say so myself.

I hope you like it.

Larry

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Have you considered writing any Risus supplements designed for use
with one of your Sparks sets?  It would be a sweet combo for
Cumberland Games fans.

At 03:47 PM 9/21/2005, you wrote:
>Have you considered writing any Risus supplements designed for use
>with one of your Sparks sets?  It would be a sweet combo for
>Cumberland Games fans.

Sort of!

I mean, my idea of using miniatures of any kind with Risus amounts to
holding them by the head, walking them around the table and saying "Pow!
Pow! Ka-PAM! Take that you orc, you!" and then having one miniature stomp
up and down on another miniature. The advantage of Sparks is that you can
take it a step further and set the defeated miniature on fire (not that you
should do this without a properly fireproof surface and perhaps the
presence of the Fire Marshall with a standby team).

But yeah, some of the "implied game worlds" I end up designing to flesh out
the sparks documentation (and web pages) are those that I've been sorely
tempted to run campaigns in. In particular, I'd still like to do a Darcy
Dare RPG someday using Risus, or a Risus campaign adventure drawing on the
implied events in Cairo Moon or Winter Forest.



|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

I'm a newbie.  :)  Just found this list and hoping it's still active.

I just sent off my SAE today for the IOR, and dropped off the RISUS PDFs
(Risus 1.5, the Companion, and the Big List of RPG Plots) at a local
printshop so I can have a nice velo-bound copy tomorrow.

I've also decided to start my first RISUS game, in the Star Wars
universe.  I assume folks here are RISUS vets, so hopefully ya'll can
tell me if this is a good setup email:

Unless you have better ideas, I'm going with Star Wars RISUS with the
following setup.  Feel free to distribute information from this email to
any interested gamers:

_*Setting
*_
The Republic, or rather, Empire, is roiling in the wake of civil war.
Count Dooku and General Grevious have been slain, and the Separatists
are collapsing under the advancing Grand Army of the Republic.  The Jedi
Knights have been declared enemies of the Republic by Chancellor
Palpatine, who has also declared himself Emperor of a New Order.

In addition to the Senate, the Emperor has declared that all systems
will now have regional governors, or moffs, that will bring rebellious
systems in line and help restore order to the galaxy in the wake of the
Clone Wars.

Players are those selected by the newly formed and secretive Imperial
Inquisition, tasked with rooting out and destroying jedi terrorists and
sympathizers...  or converting them to unquestioning fealty to the
Emperor and the New Order.  Secondarily, they are tasked with bringing
in any potential Force users for conversion.

PCs may have Force-sensitive clichés or not, as they choose.  The
Inquisition is a new order, however, and is made up as much by
mercenaries, bounty hunters, hunter-killer droids, and other (even
alien) scum as it is by fallen Jedi or Dark Side Force adepts.  Thus,
most any (properly motivated) character concept is welcome.

PCs report to Adjutant Valkeen, assistant to the newly appointed High
Inquisitor Rath.  Valkeen is a veteran of the Clone Wars, and used to be
known as XO-343.  He's a clone, and was chosen for his loyalty and
experience in hunting down Jedi during the Order 66 purge.  Rath is a
mysterious figure, usually cloaked in a simple gray robe with hood
concealing his features.  PCs will have little interaction with High
Inquisitor Rath initially...  if they're lucky.

_*Rules Crap*_

Characters are made normally, except for the following:

*Advanced Option: Hooks and Tales* is being used.  A Hook or Tale must
be approved by the GM before the extra dice are granted.  I require less
extensive Tales (usually a few paragraphs is enough for me) than what is
mentioned in RISUS.

*Advanced Option II: Pumping clichés* is being used.

*Advanced Option III: Double-Pumps* is being used, but is limited to
Force-powered clichés or clichés that otherwise grant extremely
super-human ability from time to time.  (i.e. the cliché "jedi knight in
hiding [3]" is a valid double-pump cliché, whereas "smarmy
sister-kissing farmboy [2]" isn't.  If you're unsure that a certain
cliché qualifies, then ask the GM.  Double-Pump clichés cost double, as
always.

*Advanced Option: Lucky Shots and Questing Dice* is being used.  This is
from the RISUS Companion (you /are/ a member of the Order, aren't
you?).  In short, a single cliché die can, instead, buy three /lucky
shots/ or five /questing dice/.  Using a lucky shot blah blah blah (I
basically copy/typed the option from the Companion here)...
_*
Tips and Tricks*_
For those new to RISUS, it's highly recommended to take four clichés,
one of which is rated at 4 (and is your "core" cliché).  The default is
the "countdown spread", which is used by the example viking on page 1 of
RISUS:  (4), (3), (2), (1).  If you're double-pumping a cliché (for
example, to make a badass jedi), then a 3 cliché spread with one
double-pumped three-dice cliché is recommended:  [3], (2), (2).

In RISUS, /every cliché is special!/  Remember that inappropriate
clichés, when properly leveraged, can provide more raw power than an
entirely appropriate cliché.  Being a Kindly Grandmother With Lots Of
Little Yapping Dogs (3) can be supremely powerful when trying to solve a
murder mystery!  So don't be afraid to have one or two off-beat clichés
or that one cliché at one die in value.  You never know when those
"hobby" clichés will come in handy.

At the end I inserted the IOR shield.

>I'm a newbie.  :)  Just found this list and hoping it's still active.

Yep! I use it mainly for Big Serious Official Announcements (because Risus
is nothing if not gravely serious), but it's also open to posts of new
Risus material and articles, which your post just happened to contain ;)
So, welcome aboard and thank you for contributing!

For a more open-to-the-wind Risus discussion forum, be sure to also join
RisusTalk, Guy Hoyle's list. You can find a link on the Risus homepage.

>I just sent off my SAE today for the IOR, and dropped off the RISUS PDFs
>(Risus 1.5, the Companion, and the Big List of RPG Plots) at a local
>printshop so I can have a nice velo-bound copy tomorrow.

As the weather begins to cool, Kringle _will_ call out to you ... tempting
you ... singing to you ... making lewd suggestive gestures ... And we're
getting to just about the perfect time of year to start prepping and
planning for a half-dozen holiday themed sessions, I daresay ...

>At the end I inserted the IOR shield.

Imprimatur Domi, Amen :)

Or Imprimatur Printshop, as the case may be ...



|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

Over the next few days, I want to do a thorough link-check and update
to the Risus homepage, and that includes adding any new Risus sites
that I've overlooked (or that someone told me about months ago but that
I managed to forget about on account of basically being a meathead).

So, if there's a Risus link that should be on the Risus homepage but
isn't, email me at sjohn@... and let me know! Thanks :)

Hi there,
I'll be running a light Pulp adventure at Games Day in
Arlington, TXthis Saturday, Oct. 22nd. The system is
Risus, the ANYTHING RPG; the rules are simple and the
characters will be created there (though some
pre-genned characters will be available).

THE FIENDISH PLOT OF DR. WU MING TZU!
"Earthquakes threaten to destroy the city! Pogo stick
gangs running amuck! Chinese restaurants closing by
the score! Coincidence? Or all part of... THE FIENDISH
PLOT OF DR. WU MING TZU??? Return with us now to the
thrilling days of TWO-FISTED CRIMEBUSTERS, HIGH-FLYING
DAREDEVILS, GUN-TOTING CRUSADERS, and FIGHTIN’
PHENOMENOLOGISTS! The ARGONAUT SOCIETY is sending you
an ACTION-PACKED INVITATION to DANGER! Are you GUTSY
enough to RSVP???"

Rules for Risus are available for FREE online at
http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/risus.htm

Games Day
10AM-10PM
Bob Duncan Recreation Center
2800 S Center St, Arlington, TX
(817) 465-6661
Map:
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=bob+duncan+community+center,+arlington,+tx&spn=0.0\
31561,0.055610&cid=32735556,-97107778,10498473728645255022&iwloc=A&hl=en

Just an FYI...I've set up a Frapper Map for Risus Fans to share their
approximate location.  You can check it out at
http://www.frappr.com/risusfans  .

>Just an FYI...I've set up a Frapper Map for Risus Fans to share their
>approximate location.  You can check it out at
>http://www.frappr.com/risusfans  .

What's really cool is that (owing to the ZIP-code-scale of it) if you zoom
into street level on my flag you learn that I live in a golf course. Awesome :)

Hopefully, as the world turns folks get around to checking their email, the
map can become a graphic depiction of just how _international_ the IOR has
become. If we get a representative sampling, there'll be a big cluster in
Germany with other folks sprinkled around the globe.



|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

It's always a pleasure to see a new layer added to the "Risus Rosetta's
Stone" This time around, we have:

http://www.geocities.com/tomislavsimat/risus.htm

Risus, in Croatian, courtesy of translator Tomislav Šimat



|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

http://www.atomicairship.com/RisusRoyale.htm

A new and unusual contribution to your Risus (inspired) library! Click and
see! Groovy stuff from Mark R. Brown.



|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

hi to all!
first of all, let me introduce myself. my name is gustavo, i've been
playing rpgs for ages, now, and i'm a retired master (lack of time & a
good group, mostly) currently devoted to rpg theory (reading and
writing stuff).

gurps made me forget the wargame approach of d&d (where it all began,
like most of you i guess), fudge & risus made me forget the simulation
approach of gurps and i never went back. i also developed my own
system which is actually a mixture of ideas from fudge and risus itself.

yesterday i got the companion and now that i'm a member of the order
(waiting for his number) i feel more entitled to write here something
and i want to share with you this little no-brainer thing i've been
thinking lately.

before starting, i'm better at cooking pasta, pizza and playing
mandolin than at writing english, as i'm italian, so sorry.

=== RISUS UUUOOOOOHHH ===

= Introduction =
Everybody loves zombies. You can shoot your math teacher as soon as he
turns into an undead walking creature with the excuse it's an enemy
for the living and that you're killing an already-dead corpse. You can
shoot some 10 of them and safely run away to reload your rifle. You
can kick them and see their buttocks fly away.

= Anatomy of a Zombie =
A Zombie core clichè may be like this:

Zombie (telling living from dead, wanting to eat you, moving slowly)

This is, as said, just a core. Depending on the setting and on the way
you think of zombies, this may vary. This average zombie can still be
used as-is in in non-zombie-specific settings.

Their clichè level can have the usual range 1-6 depending on how
dangerous they are from a Newly Born Zombie (1) to a Zombie Lord (6).

Basically a Zombie is a very stupid walking creature wanting to eat
living beings. As appetizer they usually have brain. They apper to
know by instinct who is a zombie and who should be. They're not fast,
but they tend to move in groups of too-many-for-my-ammo. Occasionally
they have rudimental weapons like axes or choppers. Chainsaws are
often found in zombie settings, to split them apart or even carried by
them. For some strange reason, they appear to be somehow related with
leprous and a have a propensity for losing pieces of flesh and limbs.
They also have a terrible taste for clothing and seem to take
inspiration from post-transformation Hulk (the incredible one).

I also guess they stink of rottening flesh, but I'm not sure of it.

If one gets bitten by a Zombie, but does not become its dinner,
chances are she will turn into a zombie as well. The best way to
prevent your best friend to become a zombie once bitten is to
carefully separate his head from his neck. Exception for this are
treated in the "Origin Of Zombies" section. The time from "Gee, he got
me!" to "UUUUUUoooooohhhh" is up to the GM. Generally they turn into a
Zombie in the less appropriate moment (when the group is stuck into an
elevator, for example). Or within half an hour or a couple. Whatever.

= Types of Zombies =

There are various kinds of Zombies down there, these are the most
common. Every Zombie clichè, as said, can appear in different formats
(1-6), but remember the rule of thumb: the more they are, the less
they're strong (unless you belong to the Evil Game Master specie or
one of the players stole your girlfriend). So, let's welcome hordes of
Stinky Michael Jackson Looking Zombie (1), but be careful of using a
thousand You Read Into My Eyes I'm Gonna Eat You Zombie (5).

.Zombie-Zombie
This is the average zombie. He walks saying "Uuuuuuooooohhhh" and is
attracted by the tasty flesh you happen to carry with you. A good shot
in his forehead would make it a Dead UnDead (0). As a special feature,
he suddenly remembers he can actually move faster when a player is
near (say some one or two meters) and tries to catch her (treat this
like a pump).

.Carl Lewis Zombie
This is a zombie seen, for example, in 28 Days Later(c) by Danny
Boyle. Not only they never forget they can move fast, but they have
pieces of jaguar DNA into them.

.Former-Something Zombie
A former-pronstitute, a former-filling station attendant, a former
Osama Bin Laden. When you look at this zombie it is soon clear that he
had a life before having a death and that he had a work. Indeed, this
is just like the Zombie-Zombie, but better shaped-out and with some
twists. A Former Lumberman Zombie (3) would try to kill you with his
axe, a Former Geography Teacher Zombie would try to tell you what the
main cities of Sudan are talking directly into your brain.

.Zombie Lord
This is usually a Zombie Leader (6). A Good example is the one in
Romero's Land of The Dead(c). Leader of a group of Zombies, he's
stupid but not *that* stupid. Say he's smart enough to understand that
a glass wall can be broken to take the people hiding behind it or to
appreciate a soap opera. Because of this his followers can perform a
little bit more intelligent actions. Whenever the Zombie Lord dies,
the others go back to their no-brained existences.

.Aunt Mary Zombie
This is a must have. Remember to include, here and there, a zombiefied
parent.

.Fuffy Zombie
According to some scientist, bitten animals can turn into zombies as
well. Remember the doberman in Resident Evil. No use to call them
Fuffy or other stupid names, if you try to pet them you'll become a
One-Handed Stupid Guy (2). Throwing sausages to distract them is also
useless, you'd better throw your left foot. Any beast can do the work,
from dogs to cats, rats, bats. I'd love to see a zombie chimpanzee.

.Nerd Zombie
This zombie is not really a nerd, but the GM almost certainly is. He's
running a Zombie game but he's in need of trolls, goblins and
beholders. So, here come monster zombies. Imagine them like you
prefer, but they gotta be huge, ugly and nasty. Possibly Five Eyed
John Cena Sized Dribbling Roaring Manticore-Like Zombie (6). Big
amounts of them in every Resident Evil related product.

.AlmostDead UnDead
This is a classic. He's just gained 5 bullets from your magnum and
he's lying down on the floor. You approach the corpse to loot it just
to discover he's not a Dead UnDead (0) but an AlmostDead UnDead (1),
with just that little life into him to allow him to bite you one last
time. Any Zombie can be an AlmostDead UnDead before definitely die.

= Origin of Zombie =
But.. Where do they come from? Hypothesis on the subject are numerous.

.SWOOOFFFFF Zombies
They have been magically created by some sort of evil wizard with an
attitude toward necromancy. If you want to end the game in a joyful
way, invent something stupidly hippy like once the wizard is killed,
all the zombies and de-zombiefied. They're usually created via an
enchantment, a wand, a spell. Usual stuff, but the sound of the
sorcery is always SWOOOFFFFF.

.Mad Scientist Experiment Zombies
They're the brainchild of a mad scientist, an evil experiment, a
para-governmental occult organization called Parasol or similar. This
is a more "scientific" approach to zombies. Think about making them
out of radiations, viruses and things like that. This also means
there's probably a hard-to-find cure to the desease. Nerd Zombies are
also common, if you choose this option.

.Who Gives a Damn, Shot & Run! Zombies
Needless to say, the most common ones.

= Running a Zombie Campaign =
Zombies are good if thrown in any fantasy or horror settings among
vampires and werewolves. If you're not going for something original,
of course.

But they're also great for a Zombie-centric game. Modern world is
perfect for the purpose. Choose a large city, so there are more people
to turn into zombies and more zombies to kill.

Running a Zombie Campaign is easy. The characters wake up and find out
that there exists no more a civil (?) society but everyone apart from
them is walking strangely with a queer appearance and mostly is trying
to make a supper out of them.

The characters appearingly have never turned on the tv in their lives,
never been to the cinema, never roleplayed, never bought comic books
so they don't instantly realize there's a zombie outbreak going on and
it takes a while to understand it.

Characters' main aim is (or should be) to save their butt. Optionally
find a cure to save the world or just escape in Bangladesh or a far,
far place to start over a new zombie-less life.

The main plot elements are the PCs running and shooting. This may be
boring or funny according to the place where they run and shoot and
the kind of zombies. This is up to the GM. Vary the locations, put
them in trouble.

There are essentially two ways of doing the things: loads of zombies /
loads of weapons or few zombies / few weapons. Loads of zombies / few
weapons is an option too.

In the first kind of game the PCs find often a weaponry, a
police-station and similar places to take kilos of ammo they'd
eventually move into zombie corpses.

In the second kind of game, there are fewer zombies, but they're
angrier and above all there are very few weapons and ammo. It's hard
to find them and PCs (gamers, actually) swear every time "one shot,
one kill" does not work. Think at any Resident Evil game (any but
Resident Evil 4).

If you're obsessed with background and narration, there must be a way
to stop the plague. Invent a decent arci-enemy controlling the whole
thing and having the key (magic medallion, sonic weapon or chemical
antidote) to stop it. Throw in some non-zombie foes like white collars
supporting The Enemy, bribed military police and so.

That's it. And remember: have fun, shoot and run.. Fast!

gustavo di pietro

What with the postage stamps and the mugs and the cute little membership
cards and all, I’m pleased to announce that I’m finally happy enough with
the way POCD technology works to make some Risus _books_ available. If
that’s enough of a pitch for you, go directly to:

http://www.lulu.com/sjohn

… and pick your poison! There are two books. The sane, sensible one is the
80-page “Risus Deluxe,” which combines Risus, the Big List of RPG Plots,
and the Risus Companion in a single perfect-bound softcover for $20.

The considerably less sane, less sensible one is the one you can bug eyes
out with when you drop it on a gaming table, because we live in a universe
where six-page freebie comedy games do not make a healthy THUNK. The “Risus
Excessively Deluxe” edition compiles the entire Risus library into a single
200-page tome, including (deep breath) – Risus, The Big List, The Risus
Companion, Ring of Thieves, A Kringle in Time, Geezer (as you’ve seen it,
plus a half-done map), and a brief gallery of Risus imagery, including
things like the 1936 ad, the postage-stamp design, early (pre-LCB) PDF
pages and that kind of thing, plus a cheeky new Introduction. $35. Would
also make a reasonably astonishing gift.

I had some good experiences with Lulu with the recent “Beyond the Storm”
charity project. I ordered a copy of the softcover and it really was up to
spec, with a strong but flexible glue on the binding that’s held together
through a lot of rough treatment (I read my books on the bus, so they put
up with a lot of scooching, folding-back, crushing, sliding, and whatnot)
so I figured it’d be fun to compile these Risus collections.

With the exception of the new pages, these are all directly printed in
grayscale from the PDFs themselves, so each section retains its original
page numbering and layout. The only thing I really fiddled with was the
full-page character sheet, which I reduced a little in scale so you could,
if need be, photocopy it from the book without unnecessary spine-squashing
(it appears in both the Deluxe and Excessive versions).

And that’s pretty much the size of that! More stuff to announce soon; happy
Risusing!


|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

Hi again, everyone! This should wrap up the posts about the "Risus Deluxe"
and "Risus Excessively Deluxe" softcover compilations. I got my Excessively
Deluxe in the mail today and I’m Snoopy-dance happy with it … So, I’ll be
adding a link to the Risus homepage and making the softcovers officially
available to passers-by to the website.

I've changed the URL at Lulu to
<file:///C:/Desktop/http://www.lulu.com/cumberland>http://www.lulu.com/cumberlan\
d


The book arrived quickly. I ordered (the 200-page Excessively Deluxe) on
Sunday evening using the second-cheapest shipping option (Priority USPS). I
would have gone for the very cheapest, but Priority means there’s a
tracking number and the price-difference wasn’t huge, so …

They shipped it out Tuesday night, and the postman handed it to me this
(Friday) afternoon, for a grand total gap of less than five days from order
to arrival. Pretty sweet (and faster than the last item I ordered from
Lulu, so I guess it Just Depends).

The quality of the book is pretty admirable. The binding is excellent; it
feels like it’ll survive a gamer stampede. I was concerned a little about
the digital printing process (Would the colors on the cover look wrong?
Would solid areas of black interiors look blotchy?) but none of my concerns
were justified. The cover looks – for better or worse – exactly as I
designed it, with perfect crispness on the vector text (on the spine) and
nice color reproduction and gloss on the rest of it. The solid black areas
inside (including the jet-black Risus logo on the title page) are blackety
black from nighttime on planet midnight, where everything is black.

So … Woo :)

It is insane, though. The phrase “200 pages of Risus” doesn’t really belong
anywhere sensible. Heck, “80 pages of Risus” (for the saner but
still-insane Deluxe version) is still pushing the envelope of reality.

It’s a pretty good kind of insane. I’ve been flipping through it and
smiling … I think I shall curl up on the couch and play through Ring of
Thieves tonight; I haven’t played that in a while.

If you’ve ordered either book, let me know how quickly it arrives and if it
meets your standards of Spiff. It’ll also just be fun to hear from folks
who’ve got it.

This brings me to the one snag with Lulu. They don’t provide me with
customer information at all – not even just names. This means that while
anyone who purchases either the “D” or “ED” softcover is (of course) now a
member of the International Order of Risus if they weren’t already, I can’t
actually enter them into the rolls of the Order automatically. So if, on
the remote chance that you’ve (A) ordered one of these softcovers and yet
(B) weren’t already an IOR member, email me and let me know, and include
the DATE on which you ordered (very important) so I can match you up with
the only info I’ll have in my records. At that point, I’ll include you in
the IOR membership and you can, if you like (and you should like) claim
your membership card normally (see the Risus Companion webpage for how
that’s done). If you bought the Excessively Deluxe version, I can also
provide you with a complete PDF set of the player handouts, since ripping
them out of the book probably wouldn’t be cool)!
Anyway, I’m happy with this particular bout with Lulu and I’m sure I’ll do
more in future (including with the next Risus mega-module release). Fun stuff!

Best of the holiday season to everyone; more (on other matters) soon!



|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

Tail Kinker (Timothy Groves) has three nifty Risus PDFs he's just let me
know about: One for Star Wars, and one each for Vampire and Mage (looks
like the old-school variety of each). Groovy stuff! They're on his RPG page:

http://tailkinker.contrabandent.com/rpg.htm




|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

It's been mentioned on Risus Talk, but I thought I'd mention it
here... my "Risus Monkey" site is up and running at http://www.velvet-
edge.com/risusmonkey.html. Feel free to check it out and send me
comments at risusmonkey @ gmail.com.

Tim Ballew

PS Thanks to Stefan Shirley for the use of the "Risus Monkey" name.

>PS Thanks to Stefan Shirley for the use of the "Risus Monkey" name.

Whenever I see that particular play on words I (after wincing for the
9,000th time) fondly remember James "Spongy Head" Sullivan, who - among all
those who've enjoyed that particular title-joke - most elevated it to art
by enhancing it with eerie Jay Johnson impressions (yes, from the routine
with the monkey puppet). After a couple of years of tormenting me with it,
he eventually reached the point where he'd just reflexively say
"monkeyjoke" whenever I'd say "Risus."

It's yet another thing I chalk up to karmic payback for what I said to Doc
Cross in the summer of '93.

Think about it for a minute and I bet you'll be able to guess _exactly_
what I said to him, and picture exactly the facial expression Doc gave me
in return. I deserve eternal punishment, it's true.

But to make it a game ... the first person to email me with the correct
quote gets any single current Cumberland PDF or font of thier choice as a
freebie ;)



|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

Congratulations to Chuk Goodin, who nailed it while I was still fiddling
with the stopwatch ;)

And yes ... I said "What's up, Doc?" to Doc Cross when he was becoming
well-known for writing TOON material. His facial expression was ... a
wince, of course, a look of disgust, I think ... but most of all, it was a
look of sudden, utter exhaustion, as if he'd just instantly aged a decade.

I will forever pay the price :)

[And, as an end-note, I've added a permanent link to "Risus Monkey" under
Tim Ballew's entry on the Risus page ... If anyone knows of any more sites
I need to be linking to, keep 'em rolling in]!



|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

This is a boring post. Feel free to skim or skip, but I have to ask
(cross-posted to three mailing lists, which makes it extra tedious, I know) :(

Those of you who order from Lulu ... Please drop me an email when the
process is done and tell me how it went. I'm collecting as many reports as
I can because I'm assembling a web-page about it, a kind of consumer's
guide to getting the most from what is, I've found, a very excellent
service overall. I've got my EC softcover and hardcover right here and
they're just adorably cool :) I really like the cream stock, too; very easy
on the eyes. Of course, a Wooky in a bikini top enhances that.

So far, the only "troubles" I've had with Lulu haven't been with Lulu at
all but with the Post Office. The cheapest form of shipping seems fraught
with odd delays and perils ... I had my proof copy of Fief sit in Denver
for 9 days, and in one case a copy of Risus Companion was lost for several
weeks to parts unknown. When that happened, Lulu stepped in and sent me a
replacement by Priority. So they seem very cool all around, but I want to
gather general experiences, info on the gap between ordering and printing,
printing and shipping, and so on, in order to help future customers get
their best from it.



|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

A groovy new Risus piece submitted by correspondence. This needs a home on the
web, but the author has no webspace! If you've got a Risus site and you'd like
to host it for him, contact him at the info at the end of the article (and let
me know so I can make sure the main Risus page links to it) :)

================================================================================\
================


Risus
Mariachi



A Risus setting created by Dan Suptic ©2006
A note about Risus
Risus is a free and easy to learn role playing game (created by S. John Ross)
that is used to play Risus Mariachi.  Simply go to the freebie page on
http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/risus.htm and download it there.  The whole system
is 6 pages long, and that’s all you’ll need to play.  Download it, print it,
heck, even put it in a nice 6-page binder.  So long as you understand it, you’ll
be able to play Risus Mariachi.

The world of Risus Mariachi
All across the USA are people who love music.  Some people love rock and roll,
some love rap, and some even love disco.  But you and your companions know the
truth.  The best music in the world is…Mariachi!  Yes, that beautiful Spanish
guitar, the folk harp, and the guitarrón and vihuelas make the perfect musical
performance that people will love.  But a lot of muchachos and muchachas are
lured into less perfect music by many performers around the country.  So it is
you and your band mate’s duty to convert these misled peoples to the wonder of
mariachi, and to also stop the other band’s seemingly endless bids for world
domination.  Yes, you will play for crowds, hone your mariachi playing skills,
and battle the other non-mariachi bands and their minions as they try to take
over the world.  Welcome to Risus Mariachi.  ¡Olé!

Character Creation  Me Llamo Risus
In Risus Mariachi, you play a Spaniard mariachi band member who has come to the
USA to impress and possibly convert the ignorant masses to the great beauty of
mariachi.  You need appropriate clichés to play for crowds, to fight the minions
of other bands, and to speak good enough English to get information to and from
the locals.  Options I and II are both used (hooks and tales, and pumping
clichés).

Musical Clichés  Me Canto
In order to entertain (and hopefully convert) fans of other music types, you
have to have some ability to play music.  In fact, it works better if your whole
group can play, so make sure everyone in the group takes at least 1 cliché in
some type of mariachi instrument playing.  Some example clichés follow.

Spanish guitarist
Bass player
Muted trumpeter
Spanish vocalist
Tambourine or maracas percussionist
Folk harp player
Violinist

This cliché will be quite important as it is used to gain new followers in the
mariachi culture and to deplete other bands of their fan base.
Combat Clichés  ¡Estoy Enojado!
Sometimes you have to beat down a group of angry heavy metal fans to get to your
gig.  Sometimes a rapper will try to bust a cap in your skull for trying to
steal his fans.  Sometimes a group of disco lovers will walk up ready for a
break-dance style beat down.  But fear not, hombre!  Just because you are a kind
and peaceful mariachi player doesn’t mean you can’t fight back!  And taking a
decent combat cliché like the ones below will ensure you come out with your
cajonés attached.

Brawler
Wrestler
Bullfighter
Boxer
Desperado
Bandito
etc.

This is also an important cliché, but it should not be the main focus of your
character.  Even if you can hit a bull’s-eye from 200 feet away with a .22 cal,
your true love and purpose belongs to mariachi!

Special cliché  English Speaker  Yo Hablo Inglés
Your character has just come off the boat/plane/etc from Spain or Mexico. 
Therefore, it can be useful to take the English Speaker cliché.  At least one
character in the group should take this at a reasonable level; otherwise, it’s
hard to get around the good ol’ US of A.  You never need to roll against your
English Speaker cliché  the level of this cliché simply determines how you have
to talk when you’re talking in character.  Whenever you’re explaining actions to
the GM, or explaining things to the other PCs, you may use your normal voice,
regardless of your English Speaker cliché.

English Speaker (0)  You must always speak in Spanish.  If you can’t speak
Spanish, you must talk in as close to Spanish as you can fake.  Most people
outside of your band don’t understand a word you say.

English Speaker (1)  50% of what you say has to be Spanish or fake Spanish.  You
must talk with a heavy accent (rolling your R’s, etc.)

English Speaker (2)  You have a moderate Spanish accent.  10% of what you say
must be in Spanish or fake Spanish.

English Speaker (3)  You have a slight Spanish accent.  Once or twice in a
conversation, you will throw in a Spanish or fake Spanish word.

English Speaker (4)  You may use your normal voice all the time.  A little
boring, but useful if you are not good with Spanish or accents.
Handy Spanish phrases
Yes  Sí
No  No
Good  Bueno
Bad  Malo
Help  Ayuda
Run  Corra
We’re on fire! (as in, we’re rocking hard)- ¡Estoy en fuego!
Hello - Hola
Goodbye - Adios
Hello (city)  Hola, (city)
Goodnight (city)  Beuno noches, (city)
One, two, one, two, three, four  Uno, Dos, Uno, Dos, Tres, Quatro
Prepare to die! - ¡Preparas a morir!

Entertaining and Converting Fans - ¡Escuchame!
One of the most important parts of this game (and your character’s life) is to
entertain and even convert groups of fans to the mariachi type.  Whenever you
and your band play for a group of fans, you use the Teaming Up option in the
main rules.  Whoever is the Leader at that show counts all their dice when they
roll, and the other band members contribute any sixes they roll.  If you don’t
beat the entertain target number, the crowd gets annoyed and forces you off the
stage.  If you beat the entertain target number, but not the convert target
number, the crowd really enjoys the show, but stays true fans to their original
type of music.  If you beat the convert target number, this local of fans is now
a mariachi fan base!  To find the target numbers, just look under Fan Type to
find what type of fans you’re dealing with.  If you don’t see the Fan Type,
select one that is as close to the fan type as possible.

Fan Type                                   Entertain TN      Convert TN
Mariachi                                         0*                      0**
Salsa, Mexican polka, anything Spanish   5                      10
Classic rock, blues, classical, ska             10                      20
Hard rock, alternative, new age         15                      30
Heavy metal, hip hop, rap                       20                      40
Death metal, speed metal, techno                25                      50
Very esoteric regional music, Björk             30                      60

* it takes no effort to entertain mariachi fans
** they’re already mariachi fans  you don’t need to convert them

If another band tries to entertain or convert mariachi fans away from your fan
base, use the same table above, but instead of looking at the fans (which will
be mariachi), look for the performer type in the fan type field.  Therefore, if
a New Age group tried to play for a crowd of mariachi fans, they would need to
get a 15 to entertain them, and a 30 to convert them to New Age fans.
Inevitable Battle - ¡Es el tiempo para muerte!
Mariachi is pure, holy, and el mejor buena música.  Other types of bands hate
mariachi and all it stands for.  While mariachi band members are naturally
peaceful and kind, there comes many times where they must defend themselves. 
Attacks come from many fronts, but the main 3 are from fans, hired security, and
band members.  ¡Es malo multiplica de tres!  The samples provided below are just
samples  feel free to make your own fans, security, and band members.

Sample Fans

Metal head  Brawler (2), Mosher (2)
Hippie  Bottle chucker (2), Drug user (4)
Cowboy  Marksman (3)
Goth  Apathetic fighter (2), Apathetic drinker (4)
Gansta  Gangster (2), Brawler (2)
Rave Junkie  Hyperactive berserker (3)
Old time rocker  Ass kicker (2), Whiner (4)
Alternative rocker  Brawler (2), Whiner (2)
Punk  Thug (2), Skateboarder (3)
etc. etc. etc.

Sample Security Personal

Rent-a-cop  Marksman (2)
Rent-an-actual-cop  Marksman (3), Brawler (2), Taser expert (2)
Big beefy bruiser  Brawler (4)
Karate Cop  Martial arts (3)
Taser cop  Taser expert (3)
Pepper spray cop  Crowd control personnel (3)
etc. etc. etc.

Sample Band Members

While both fans and security can be pretty generic characters, it’s always good
to have your band members be fully fleshed out.  Band members should be built
around 10 dice, so as to present a true threat to your PCs.  The band members
below work well as leaders of their bands; build bands around these iconic
characters.  ¡Qué especial!

Bling-a-thang
Rapper (4), Gangster (3), Legal loophole expert (3)

Dorian Greyblood
Creepy goth singer (3), Actual real life necromancer (4), Whiny goth (3)

Paul McSampson
Country music guitarist (4), Bar room brawler (4), Binge drinker (2)
Attax
Heavy metal drummer (4), All around thug (3), Drug dealer (2), Songwriter (1)

Timothy Salderson
Classical pianist (4), Fencer (4), Poet (2)

DJ Suptic
Techno DJ (4), Mixer (3), Discordian (3)

Sian Sukaru
Asian sitar player (3), Martial artist (4), Zen monk (2), Artist (1)

Björk
Crazy singer (4), Crazy songwriter (3), Crazy Icelandic ninja (3)

Adventure Seeds - ¿Qué haces ahora?
These adventure seeds will help set up a Risus Mariachi campaign, or breathe new
life into an existing campaign.  Feel free to adjust the specifics to your own
group’s liking.

Home base
This is a good seed for the beginning of a campaign.  The PCs enter the USA with
no money or place to live.  They must find a gig, preferably with fans that will
be easy to convert.  Once they find a local with loyal mariachi fans, the PCs
can start to build a power base to spread the music.

Jail break
The PCs have ended up in jail after a really bad show.  They must gather a team
of skilled inmates by converting them to mariachi fans.  First problem, all the
inmates are either heavy metal or rap fans.  Second problem, the PCs have no
instruments.  Third problem, the PCs are set for execution by elevator music in
one week.

The race for the stage
Some huge city has an opening for a band to play.  The catch is, the populace of
the city has been listening to such dull music, that any band that plays for
them will win them over as fans!  The PCs must sign their band in person, and
will have to race against metal head, goths, punks, and hippies to get to the
prize.

Blue man blues
The PCs find out one of their fan bases has been turned into Blue Man Group fans
(use statistics for new age fans).  They found a way to play a show right after
the Blue Man Group, but because of the unique nature of how Blue Man Group
performs, not only must they outplay them, they must also put on a more
interesting and bizarre show.  Good luck!

A plea for help
One night, after a really good rehearsal, one of the PCs finds a note is his
tequila bottle.  It seems a city far away has come under the total grip of Björk
fans.  The writer of the note is sending a desperate plea to free his city from
the grip of the fans.  The PCs must hone their skills until they are ready to
take on the crowd of Björk fans and win them back over to the light.  The light
called...mariachi!

Stage fright
The PCs are on stage performing when out of nowhere, skeletons attack!  For
real!  It’s the work of Dorian Greyblood, the evil, goth singing necromancer. 
Dorian is trying to win back a fan base the PCs recently stole from him, and
won’t rest until the PCs are dead.  Looks like it’s time to pay Señor Dorian a
visit.

Character Example  ¡Hola, Amigo!
Here’s an example of a character ready to jump into the world of Risus Mariachi.
If he can a few band mates and a place to call home, he’ll be ready to start
converting fans to the greatest cause in the world  mariachi!  ¡Bueno trabajo,
hombre!

El Torrido
Bass player (4)
Bandito (4)
Cook (3)
English speaker (1)

Hook  Alcoholic  If El Torrido ever gets his hands on a few drinks, he will
drink himself stupid.  While drunk, all of El Torrido’s cliché roll results are
divided by two, rounded down.

Tale  El Torrido grew up in the town of Meso Pueblo in the northern parts of
Mexico.  His father taught him from a young age to love and respect mariachi
music.  El Torrido was a street punk, who soon learned he had a knack for overly
dramatic criminal flair.  When El Torrido turned 16, he got a job at the local
Wal-Mart (they’re everywhere, aren’t they?).  Once he saved up some money, he
bought himself a 5 stringed bass and started teaching himself some great
mariachi tunes.  On his 20th birthday, he bought a plane ticket to the USA and
landed in Denver Colorado.  He still can’t speak English to well, but when the
going gets tough, he reverts to his younger days as a little bandito and scares
problems away with his two silver plated desert eagles (painted with gold
frillwork to look very impressive).  El Torrido is now looking for bandmates to
help him get going in the strange new world.

Adios, mi amigos
Well, that’s the world of Risus Mariachi.  I hope you enjoy running it.  If you
have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at dantopia5@...
Until then, keep that guitar tuned, muchachos.  ¡Adios!

I've added Dan's original "Risus Mariachi" file (in Microsoft Word .DOC format)
to the mailing-list Files section; it's much prettier than the crude plaintext
paste in my prior post :)

I want to play the Guitarun!




|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

If you download the Risus Mariachi document, you can go ahead and
change all the text to black color, instead of half red text and half
black text.  I'm red/green colorblind, and my computer seems to like
to randomly change the color of my text.

>If you download the Risus Mariachi document, you can go ahead and
>change all the text to black color, instead of half red text and half
>black text.  I'm red/green colorblind, and my computer seems to like
>to randomly change the color of my text.

Computers learn and exploit our weaknesses; it's all part of the eventual Rise
of the Machines.

My computer is always distracting me with photo wallpapers of my favorite pop
stars and actresses, for example. It's uncanny. Sandra asks me "Oh my god, what
is she wearing?" and I can only shrug in perfect, innocent ignorance.



|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

Saha!

>Date: Sun, 26 Feb 2006 16:45:32 -0500
>From: "Risus Monkey" <risusmonkey@...>
>To: "S. John Ross" <sjohn@...>
>Subject: Re: [Risus] Risus Mariachi, by Dan Suptic
>
>
>Risus Mariachi is now being hosted at the Risus Monkey:
<http://www.velvet-edge.com/risusmonkey/mariachi.html>http://www.velvet-edge.com\
/risusmonkey/mariachi.html.
>
>Tim

|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

As an point of possible interest or momentary amusement, the next person to join
the International Order of Risus (either by ordering the Risus Companion or by
ordering one of the Lulu titles and immediately reporting the order as per the
website) will be assigned #300.

Which isn't to say they'll be the 300th member, or even the 300th customer, or
the 300th card ... We've already got well over 300 members, an
impossible-to-determine number of customers somewhere just over 300 (probably)
and somewhere in the middle-two-hundreds as far as issued cards go (not everyone
bothers).

Wow, quite a lot of fiddly numbers for something Risus!

Anyway, the next person to join is member #300 ... which is to say, the 300th
person added to the regular (non-prefixed) roster. :)

Groovy!



|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

Here Ye!  Here Ye!

This is an official, honest-to-goodness call for articles for
Risusiverse, the unofficial magazine of all things Risusy!

We ar currently in the beginning of the final stages of planning this
fabulous new project and would like to pick YOUR brains for material.

Below you will find our current guidelines for submissions.  All
submissions should be sent to risusiverseATgmail.com, and not here,
thankyouverymuch.  Oh, and by the way, Risusiverse is FREE!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Risusiverse Submission Guidelines
Risusiverse
A free online magazine devoted to Risus roleplaying

Submission Guidelines
Consider this your invitation to submit something. In order to meet
our deadlines (what's that?), we need material. What kinds of
material? All kinds. Without good material, this `zine would not
exist. So consider this a mutually beneficial opportunity: you send
stuff in to us, we publish it and you can bask in the glory of having
your work published. Here are some things to consider when planning a
submission:

What Gets In
+ Written articles and/or art that relates to Risus in some way or is
of a non-system specific nature that might be of some use to Risus
gamers.
+ Material that has already been published (on a personal webpage,
for example) is acceptable as long as there are no legal issues
regarding our republication.
+ All forms of artwork are acceptable – hand drawn, computer
generated, computer modified photographs, etc. – as long as it is
converted to the proper image format for our use (.gif, .jpg,
or .png). Stick figure art is especially appreciated. Art work
submitted that is not related to a specific article will most likely
be used to enhance the content of another article (full credit will
be given).
+ You must be the legal owner of the submission and you retain
responsibility for it (works released under an appropriate Creative
Commons license will also be considered).

What We Don't Want
+ We don't want your story of the week or other work of fiction
(including but not limited to a play by play of your current
campaign – however, we are interested in publishing interesting
characters; we're just strange that way).
+ All submissions should be appropriate for a general audience (it's
not us, but our mothers might check this out, so try to keep it
family friendly).
+ We aren't really looking for any ongoing, regular thing (column,
series, etc.). However, we won't say no to good content (but if you
really want it labeled as an ongoing thing, you need to contact us
with a darn good proposal first).

How We Want It
+ Plain text (i.e. a .txt file) works best for us (while we might be
cognizant of html, TWiki markup, bbcodes and what not, we really
don't want to have to deal with that here). However, we do appreciate
it if you try to include indicators of what are your headers,
section, subheads, or anything else that might help us format your
file. Try to avoid sidebars if possible (the simpler, the better).

Since your name will be going on the thing (and we're just lazy),
make certain your article:
+ passes a basic spelling check
+ has consistent grammar
+ says what you wanted it to say in a concise manner (this one can be
pretty tricky)
+ All graphics must include the artists signature or other defining
mark (don't expect us to keep track of your art for you).

Standards and Practices
"Risus", not "RISUS"
"Roleplaying", not "Role-Playing"
"Gamemaster" or "GM", not "Game Master" or "Game-master"
"Player Character" or "PC"

How To Send It To Us
+ All submissions should include the authors email address and real
name. Neither of them need to be published, but we need to have them.
If you wish to have your email address suppressed or your work credit
to a handle or nickname, include that information in your email
message. Unless you specifically tell us otherwise, we will list your
real name and email address with the article.
+ All submissions should be included in the body of the email,
attachments can cause unnecessary difficulties
Article submissions should be emailed to risusiverse at gmail.com –
please put "[SUB] Title of Submission" in the subject line of your
email. For example: "[SUB] Rock-Scissor-Paper Risus Resolution". If
you have associated art to submit, attach it to your message
(compressed with .zip compression to save on server space and
bandwidth).
+ If you have an independent art submission you should email
risusiverse at gmail.com – and attach your images (compressed
with .zip compression to save on server space and bandwidth).
Once you have submitted your article, please do not send updates
later on. Once the article has entered the editing process, it is a
great deal of work to incorporate your changes. Make sure you are
happy with your article before you submit it.

What You Get
+ All the glory of being published in the premiere Risus fanzine.
+ You retain all copyright to your material, but grant Risusiverse
perpetual non-exclusive rights to publish your work online and to
edit/update it as necessary.
+ No payment or compensation is available for authors or artists (or
staff for that matter). No other rewards are promised or implied.
Sorry.

What Happens Next
All authors and artists should receive an email within 7 days about
the status of the article. If you do not receive a reply in 14 days
please send a follow-up email to risusiverse at gmail.com. Be sure to
mention the title of the article you are asking about.

Questions regarding these guidelines can be sent to risusiverse at
gmail.com.

Groovy new Risus action in space, by Aaron Breland:

http://aaron.ellery.googlepages.com/home




|| S. John Ross
|| Husband · Cook · Writer
|| In That Order
|| http://www.io.com/~sjohn

I'm running L5R using Risus starting next week and I've cobbled
together this dueling mechanic for my game. What do you think? Too
much? Broken? Not necessary? (Well, duels couls be resolved a lot
easier, sure, but I wanted them to feel "special".)

Dueling:
Duels are a big part of the setting, whether with swords, magic,
kung-fu, or haikus. So I've made up some special rules for them.
These mostly fit for iaijutsu sword duels, but can also be applied
to other duels.
In a duel, both participants roll their cliché they are using for
the duel, but keep their dice secret. They may pump, double pump,
and spend lucky shots on this roll. Then the first round begins and
the duelists can call either focus or strike.
• If either duelist calls strike on the first round, they both
reveal their rolls. Instead of adding dice together, compare the
faces for best of set. Whoever rolled highest on the fewest dice
wins the duel.
• If both call focus, they may each bid one die from their
roll towards their final total, and they go another round.
• Rounds continue until either duelist calls strike. If you
have no dice left to bid, you must call strike.
• When strike is called after the first round, each duelist
reveals the dice they bid and uses only those dice to determine best
of set and high dice. Again, whoever bid the highest on the fewest
dice wins the duel.
• In the event of a tie, both duelists suffer the same result
as if they both lost!
• The loser suffers whatever result was agreed upon before the
duel. So that could mean death, injury, humiliation, whatever
This system will need playtesting.

Let me know what you think!

-Jason

Very sparse for right now, but my house rules are up at:

http://loretech.net/Risus/risus_house_rules.htm

Eventually I'm going to have an entire campaign up there.  Stay tuned!