Risus: The Anything RPG by Ariamaki

1 Overview

Overview

posted by Ariamaki Original SA post

Hello thread, I'm Ariamaki, and this write-up is going to cover a long-time personal favorite of mine, the jester king of generic systems: RISUS!




Risus is a lot of things to a lot of people.
Most of them are ridiculous.
The things AND the people, to be clear.


It's a game, after all, made by people (well, person). And people (well, person) are capable of mistakes. But the game is still rock-solid, and as a base for other things? May be the best generic system out there. Period.

Risus is inspired, according to the creator (one S. John Ross , who is a pretty swell fellow I have chatted and gamed with on occasion) , inspired by West End Games' old Ghostbusters P&P game, as well as the original DC Heroes system. Over time, he says he also got major spurs from Over the Edge by Atlas Games , and both GURPS and FUDGE . I myself am not familiar with all of these, but the ones I do recognize have some pretty heavy influence.

This write-up will probably be several write-ups, actually: First we're going to cover the Risus Core (a hard term to use when it is generously considered 6 pages, probably 3-4 in pure text) in more detail than said core book does itself. Next up, "What amounts to a 64-page user's manual for a six-page RPG", the Risus Companion , which I personally feel is the most important read in the history of the hobby, no matter what system you play . It's that good. And finally (for now), in time for the holidays, we'll be covering / playing the game's most infamous adventure module, A Kringle in Time .

For now, a quick quote from the Companion before we kick off the festivities next post:

S. John Ross posted:

As you read, keep a song in your heart and this sacred mantra in your thoughts: Everything is easy, everything is covered, and there is no wrong way to play.

Next time: The core book, Page 1 (and maybe even 2!)