RISUS
THE ANYTHING RPG
by S. John Ross
WHAT'S THIS?
OKAY I'LL EXPLAIN!
Risus is a complete Role Playing Game (RPG) designed to provide an "RPG Lite" for those nights when the brain is too tired for exacting detail. Risus is especially valuable to GMs assembling a quick convention game, or any late-night beer-and-pretzels outing. While it is essentially a Universal Comedy System, it works just as well for serious play (if you insist!). Best of all, a Risus character takes about 20 seconds to create.
CHARACTER CREATION
EASY TO DO!
Characters are defined by Clichés (sometimes several of them). Clichés are a shorthand which describe what a character knows how to do. The "character classes" of the Neolithic Period of RPGs were Clichés: Fighter and Magic-User, Space Marine and Star Merchant. You can take Clichés like that, or choose a more contemporary one, such as Biker, Spy, Computer Nerd, Supermodel, or William Shatner (formerly an actor - now just a Cliché.)
Clichés are defined in terms of Dice (by which I mean the ordinary six-sided kind you can scavenge from your old Yahtzee set).
