My weird RISUS Game
So, it’s been a while since I’ve roleplayed on rpol. But I had a few friends interested in trying RISUS a few months back. I’d been trying to find a way to play with a few of these people for a while (Including my long time girlfriend) and others are long standing friends. Unfortunately over the months of planning the RISUS game the roster of players rotated. Long story short, three of the players were in a another game together and they had a falling out. My girlfriend and a long time buddy decided to bow out last minute. But, my last player introduced me to a new friend who had a fairly interesting character concept. So I invited them to fill out one of the empty slots.
We started the game three weeks ago on Discord, and I feel like I should just explain what’s been going on with my game.
The concept was fairly simple. I wanted to work in a small space (A regional map), in a modern setting, with limited NPCs. So, the hook was that everyone but a few people suddenly vanished from the world. The characters would have to try to explore this world and (if they wanted) figure out what caused the end of the world. To be honest, I was just hoping they’d want to loot stuff so I could fill the world with fun items.
The cast?
Emmet, a son of a CEO and a volunteer paramedic. He’s a millennial who LOVES social media. I moderate on a server with this guy, and he’s one of the people a part of the fallout. He carries a diary around. (More on this layer)
Lena, a punk rebel. It’s been a bit slow in the player’s thread who plays Lena, but she puts out quality posts. I love her player like a big sister.
George, a LARPER who is mildly convinced that his LARP has suddenly come to life. He calls himself the Georuler Rage and wears a cape over his backpack. Player has been my best friend for years.
Evelyn, a slightly neurotic museum curator with a caffeine addiction. This is the one player I didn’t know, but Emmet’s player vouched for her. I didn’t know this at the time, but they’re ex’s.
Basically, with the exclusion of George, nothing too off the wall right off of the bat. Note: This is all our first time with the system, and Evelyn is the only person in the campaign who hasn’t been a DM before.
We started quietly.
I brought each player into their own thread. Now, as a DM the first thing you’d expect any player to do is look for something wrong. I failed to take something very simple into account: all of the characters were somewhat detached from reality.
Lena goes into the kitchen and grumbles about her family leaving a mess of spilled cereal and broken glass and not waking her up for school that day. George begins to find his family’s breakfast on the floor and just decides to call his dead. Emmet grabs his dog (Charles the Corgi) and goes to watch television.
It takes George realizing his father’s iPhone is in the house, and Emmet seeing ominous warning messages on the television (Including a guy unplugging a camera so that the public broadcasting channel would display a standby screen) to prompt them to leave. The three characters moving quickly all fail to notice that there’s no one else outside of their houses... And a huge line of parked cars.
George, Evelyn, and Emmet all head to a cafe designated as an important plot location in game. Emmet and George arrive first. Instantly George comments on Emmet’s hair, “So, you are an elf or gnome?”
Emmet instantly starts writing in his journal. They have me jokingly create a diary channel where they start narrating their awkward thoughts instantly. In game, this is happening in front of George. And, Emmet’s player asks OOC, “Can George see the journal?”
To spice things up in this in game, I decide to have the players each roll 1d6. Emmet (thankfully) rolls higher than George. But this establishes a precedent. Emmet: 1. Must write out his thoughts in the diary channel, and 2. Must roll a contest roll against anyone who is within the same room as him to see if they catch a glimpse of his page.
George finds muh plot item (His pot head sister’s phone) in the cafe. He unlocks it and pulls up a random selfie. George then inquires if Emmet has seen the girl in the photo. Emmet says no, but notices that there’s someone familiar in the selfie. The man from the television.
Now, Emmet asks for the phone. George’s motivation is to locate his family, and is thus reluctant to give his phone up. After a bit of negotiation Emmet is allowed to swipe on the phone twice in exchange for George petting Charles. Emmet is... short... And the table has a tablecloth and comes up to the middle of his chest. Charles the Corgi is on Emmet’s lap.
As Evelyn enters the cafe, she sees Emmet looking INCREDIBLY uncomfortable and George stroking something underneath the table. Evelyn elects to, as many great Samaritan’s have, ignore the problem.
Once Emmet has gained the information that the photos were taken at a nearby country club around 2 am, George is very into petting Charles. The dog appreciates the pats, but Emmet does not. So, he signals for Evelyn’s attention... And then, when she fails to notice that, he throws a packet of honey meant for tea at her.
As Evelyn enters, Emmet writes in his diary again. He wins the diary contest rolls against both players. The diary has gradually devolved into insulting George. So this is good for Emmet.
The three people decide to head to the country club... And it’s only as they drive there that the trip realizes that there is a distinct lack of people in the world around them... Which weirds them out, but none of them really want to be together to begin with.
As they reach the club... An emergency broadcast comes on from the radio. Evelyn identifies that someone is talking to them live, Emmet finds the radio station and dials their number. This causes them to come in contact with the first of seven NPCs I planned for this game, Helios. He was the one on the beach that morning, and left when everyone suddenly vanished into thin air. He made it to a city about 60 miles away via motorcycle. Then promptly says he’s out of gas, and that there’s standstill traffic on the road.
He leaves the group with his Twitter and Instagram... And Emmet pops into my dm channel with him. We discuss over voice chat that it would be fun if Emmet was following Helios already, and had a celebrity crush on him. I am all for NPC connections! It makes my job easier. Or at least past experience said that... Fatal mistake.
Emmet instantly decides that he wants to split off from the group. He goes into the clubhouse to collect supplies and make a trip to major city in the region (Silicaport). Evelyn follows him and, naturally, tries to talk him out of splitting the party. Emmet flies off the handle when he hears the faint hum of a vacuum.
“ROOMBA!”
The poor boy rubs head first into their first combat encounter: The Roomba of Death. Basically, a Roomba with a bunch of knives, razors, etc. attached to it. Evelyn and Emmet spend a few posts scurrying around. Evelyn trying to disable the Roomba, Emmet miserably failing his rolls and screaming about the “EVIL ROOMBA!”
In the end, Evelyn incapacitates the Roomba for long enough to turn it off and take the blades off of it.
Emmet then decides that it’s time to go. But first, before he goes lone wolf for his waifu, he gets George’s help. They make two difficult team rolls and eventually manage to wire the Roomba to be able to be controlled by George’s computer. Both players gained an extra Cliche to reflect this (Roomba Master). This basically means they get an extra d6 to roll per every Roomba in their party. They can have up to 10 Roombas.
They named the Roomba of Death Squeegee.
This is where we are now... George and Evelyn are rerouting to meet up with Lena. Emmet is soloing it for ig reasons, in a minivan painted like the Mystery Machine. It’s been a while since I’ve been so excited for a game.
Not sure who will read this, but I’m having fun.