Rough Magic

a Risus Game

Rough Magic is a role-playing game of magic, mystery, and guns in 1960s Europe. Europe is united under the polished boot of the Franco-Prussian Empire, and hex use is ruthlessly regulated and (as a result) enormously profitable.

Think of a cross between Casablanca and Angel Heart.

Play is very loose, and players are encouraged to take initiative rather than simply hanging around and waiting for someone to kick in the door, guns a-blazing. Players are also encouraged to flesh out the setting and be creative, rather than passively accepting what has already been described.

Risus is the appropriate role-playing game (RPG) system for this game, because it is designed to provide a flexible and not-too-detailed framework within which to create a character, without getting bogged down by endless specifics before the game has even begun. A Risus character takes about 20 seconds to create, once you have an idea what kind of character you want to play.

Character Types

Here are some character ideas appropriate to Rough Magic. Feel free to make up your own.

• Expatriate Russian scientist or thaumaturge specializing in some secret, perhaps forbidden, techniques.
• Aged master fencer addicted to youth potions and trying to reclaim his lost honor (he "threw" a duel for money to pay his debts, and was caught).
• A teenage hex-addict artist and part-time prostitute whose semi-magical paintings reveal other worlds (or the viewer's inner self).
• A former police officer who spent the last 20 years in The Keep after being convicted of using illegal hex to catch criminals.
• A private investigator who made the mistake of crossing a rich and influential family early in the PI's career, and who has been paying for it ever since.
• The beautiful child of a rich and influential merchant prince who is fleeing a life of luxury to avoid an arranged marriage.
• A pawn of the Imperial Eye, threatened with a life of misery in The Keep unless the pawn agrees to spy for the Eye.
• A cynical veteran of the Ottoman War, disillusioned with war and with the reasons Empires send their children to die, but who would fight again for a just cause.
• A solitary hexmaster, trying to learn and perfect the art of magic without attracting the attention of the Imperial Eye.
• An embittered playwright whose works have met with critical and commercial failure.
• A spy for the Ottoman Empire, looking for clues to a new Ultimate Weapon that the Empire's warmages are rumoured to be working on.
• An attractive but penniless noble who has gone deep into debt just to avoid having the family mansion seized by the Empire.
• A street-wise young hex-pusher hoping for the Big Score that will pay for a new life in the Americas.
• A spy from the Russian Federation, hiding in Camaret-sur-Mer after discovering information that even the Czarina would be willing to kill to protect.
• An thaumaturge who was ostracized and de-certified by the IMA because the thaumaturge criticized the Empire.
• A devilishly attractive gambler with very few scruples and a heart of gold.
• A spy for the Imperial Eye, trying to track down the leader of an anarchist cult that seeks to overthrow the Empire.

These are just ideas. Feel free to adapt one or to make up your own. The thing to remember is that your character is special, even if what makes her special is not immediately apparent at the start of the game. You are not a cog in the machine: you are a lever, a lever that can move the world.

Supernatural Creatures

The world of Rough Magic is home to a variety of supernatural entities, and you can be one of them if you can make it interesting. Keep in mind that if you are a supernatural creature, you will probably be the only one of your kind that you know. In the world of Rough Magic, ghosts, goblins, vampires, and werewolves don't travel in herds. There are exceptions, of course... but not for you.

Also keep in mind that the vast majority of the world is populated by normal human beings. If they find out that you aren't one of them, a crowd of unhappy peasants with torches will be knocking on your door in the dark of night.

Character Creation

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. Examples of more contemporary Clichés would be Biker, Computer Nerd, Spy, Supermodel, and William Shatner (once a classically-trained actor -- now just a Cliché).

In Rough Magic, you should choose Clichés that best reflect the primary aspects of your character. A few typical Rough Magic Clichés are Alchemist, Hexmaster, Painter, Playwright, Private Investigator, Socialite, Spy, and Thaumaturge. You can use any of these, if they are appropriate for your character, but you should make up your own if they are not.

Clichés are defined in terms of Dice (by which we mean the ordinary six-sided kind you can scavenge from your old Yahtzee set). This is the number of dice that you roll whenever your skill as a Fighter, Supermodel, or William Shatner (for instance) is challenged. See "Game System", below.

Three dice is professional. Six dice is mastery. One die is a putz.

Characters are created by naming and describing them, and listing their Clichés. When designing your character, you have 10 dice with which to define his Clichés (a Normal Schmoe would be built on anywhere from 3 to 5 dice). You should have at least 3 dice in whatever it is that you are best at, and you can't have more than 5 dice in anything. A straightforward Professional Fencer character might look like this:

A character may have any number or combination of Clichés, but more than 10 different Clichés would be odd, considering the number of dice you get. Characters shouldn't begin their career with more than 4 dice in anything, but just because you're creating a character today doesn't mean that he's beginning his career! You should have at least 3 dice in whatever it is that you are best at, and you can't have more than 5 dice in anything.

Some Sample Clichés (And What They're Good For)

• Alchemist (Puttering, making potions, smelling bad, blowing up laboratories)
• American (Ridin', ropin', brandin', spittin', and shootin')
• Anarchist (Conspiring, writing pamphlets, running up large café tabs)
• Bimbo (Available in both genders. Distracting, teasing, not teasing...)
• Con Artist (Convincing other people to give you money, evading cops)
• Dock Worker (Beating things up, drinking, whoring, grunting, sweating)
• Gadgeteer (Building a radio transceiver out of a bent fork and some gum)
• Gambler (Betting, cheating, winning, running very fast)
• Gangster (Shooting, speaking with an accent, intimidation)
• Geezer (Wheezin', cursin', bitter reminiscin', failin' to understand kids)
• Kid (Being a sidekick to heroes, stowing away, distracting bad guys)
• Latin Lover (Seducing, loving, running from irate husband)
• Mad Scientist (Raving, world-domination, trying to play god, cackling)
• Martial Artist (Fancy hand-to-hand combat, stilted speech)
• Magician (Palming things, sawing ladies in half, public speaking)
• Motorcyclist (Motorbike riding, brawling, being Invisible to other motorists)
• Novelist (Drinking, brawling, cut-rate world traveling, introspection)
• Olympic Athlete (Running, swimming, jumping, skiing, javelin-tossing)
• Outdoorsman (Following tracks, building shelters, finding wild food)
• Photographer (visualizing three-dimensional spaces, surprising celebrities, running away from bodyguards)
• Policeman (Eating donuts, writing tickets, shooting civilians)
• Poltergeist (Being dead, throwing things, scaring people)
• Sailor (Cursing, brawling, drinking, whoring, tying knots)
• Shaman (Dreamwalking, communing with spirits, brewing beer)
• Sorcerer (Spellcasting, demon-summoning, speaking in gibberish)
• Soldier (Shooting, hiding, partying, catching venereal diseases)
• Special Forces (Following orders, looking stern, following orders)
• Swashbuckler (Stabbing things, swinging from ropes, sailing, romance)
• Thief (Sneakin' around gaining access and objects they shouldn't have)
• Vampire (Charming people, sucking blood, turning into mist or bats)

These are just examples to get you started - players should feel free to make up their own Clichés (subject to GM approval). The GM will assist in the "fine tuning" of any Cliché that he considers too broad or too narrow.

Game System

Whenever anybody wants to do something, and nobody is actively trying to stop him, AND the GM doesn't think that success would be automatic, the player rolls dice. If the total rolled beats the Target Number that the GM sets, success! If not, failure!

Proper Tools

Every character is assumed to be equipped with the Tools of the Trade (at least the portable ones). Private Investigators have a notebook, a pistol, cigarettes and a Zippo. Femmes fatale have a dagger, an expensive wardrobe, and a small pistol. Spies have a folding telescope, a small silenced pistol, and a set of lockpicks.

If, through the course of an adventure, a character loses any of these vital totems, her Cliché operates on half the normal number of dice (or not at all, if the GM rules that the equipment was required) until they are replaced.

A Private Investigator (5), for instance, can interrogate a suspect without his notebook (3), but a Spy can't get into the Embassy's basement without her lockpicks. If the Spy manages to find substitute tools (a hairpin, perhaps), she can operate at half-dice.

Some special tools (a magic wand, a super-accurate sniper rifle, and so on) may give bonus dice to your Clichés when used. Characters never begin the game with bonus-dice gear; they must be acquired in adventures.

The Combat System

"Combat" in this game is defined as any contest in which opponents jockey for position, utilize attacks, bring defenses to bear, and try to wear down their foes to achieve victory. Either literally or metaphorically! Some examples of combat include:

• Arguments: People using whatever verbal weapons they have at hand to make their points. Truth is the first casualty.
• Horse-Racing: People on horses running around and around a dirty track, trying to get nowhere first.
• Dogfights: People in airplanes or spaceships flying around and trying to blow each other out of the sky.
• Astral/Psychic Duels: Mystics/psychics looking bored or asleep, but trying to rip one another's egos apart in the Otherworld.
• Sorcerers' Duels: Sorcerers using strange magicks and trying to outdo the other.
• Dueling Banjos: Banjo players using strange melodies and trying to outdo the other.
• Seduction Attempts: One (or more) characters trying to score with one (or more) other character(s) who is (are) trying to resist.
• Courtroom Antics: Prosecution vs. Defense. The goal is victory. Justice is incidental.
• Actual Physical Combat: People trying to injure or kill each other.

The GM decides when a combat has begun. At that point, go around the table in rounds, and let each player make an attack in turn. What constitutes an "attack" depends on the sort of combat, but it should always be role-played (if dialogue is involved) or described in entertaining detail (if it's physical and/or dangerous and/or normally requires contraceptives).

Attacks require rolls using the characters' Clichés. The GM must, at the outset of combat, determine what type of Clichés are appropriate for the fight. In a physical fight, Clichés like Dock Worker, Gangster, Motorcyclist, Novelist, and Soldier are appropriate. Clichés like Hairdresser and Latin Lover are not (but may still be used; see next section).

An attack must be directed at a foe. Both parties in the attack (attacker and defender) roll the dice in their chosen Cliché. Low roll loses. Specifically, the low roller loses one of his Cliché dice for the remainder of the fight -- he's been weakened, worn down, or otherwise pushed one step towards defeat. In future rounds, he'll be rolling lower numbers.

Eventually, one side will be left standing, and another will be left without dice. At this point, the winners usually decide the fate of the losers. In a physical fight or magical duel, the losers might be killed (or mercifully spared). In Courtroom Antics, the loser gets sentenced by the judge, or fails to prosecute. In a Seduction, the loser either gets either a cold shower or a warm evening, depending on who wins.

You needn't use the same Cliché every round (unless you're part of a team; see below). If a Viking/Swashbuckler wants to lop heads one round, and swing on chandeliers the next, that's groovy, too. However, anytime a character has a Cliché worn down to zero dice in combat, he has lost, even if he has other appropriate Clichés left to play with.

Dice lost in combat are regained when the combat ends, at a "healing" rate determined by the GM. If the combat was in vehicles (automobiles, speedboats, zeppelins) then the vehicles themselves are likely damaged, too, and must be repaired.

Inappropriate Clichés

As stated above, the GM determines what sort of Clichés are appropriate for any given combat. An inappropriate Cliché is anything that's left.... In a physical fight, Hairdresser is inappropriate. In a Sorcerers' duel, Dock Worker is inappropriate.

Inappropriate Clichés may be used to make attacks, provided the player role-plays or describes it in a really, really, really entertaining manner. Furthermore, the "attack" must be plausible within the context of the combat, and the genre and tone that the GM has set for the game.

All combat rules apply normally, with one exception: if an inappropriate Cliché wins a combat round versus an appropriate one, the "appropriate" player loses three dice, rather than one, from her Cliché! The "inappropriate" player takes no such risk, and loses only the normal one die if she loses the round.

Thus, a chef in her kitchen is dangerous when cornered and attacked unfairly. Beware.

When in doubt, assume that the aggressor determines the type of combat. If a sorcerer attacks a dock worker with magic, then it's a Sorcerers' duel! If the dock worker attacks the mage with his cutlass, then it's Physical Combat! If the defender can come up with an entertaining use of his skills, then he'll have the edge. It pays in many genres to be the defender!

Note: If the sorcerer and dock worker both obviously want to fight, then both are aggressors, and it's "Fantasy Combat," where both swords and sorcery have equal footing.

Teaming Up

Two or more characters may decide to form a team in combat. For the duration of the team (usually the entire combat), they fight as a single unit, and are attacked as a single foe. They roll a number of dice defined by the most powerful Cliché in the team (the "Team Leader" -- a title that must be designated if there is a tie), plus one die for each team member beyond the first.

Clichés being added together need not be identical, but they all must be equally appropriate or inappropriate. This means five Vikings could band together in physical fight with no problem. It also means that a Photographer, a Parakeet Trainer, and a Career Counselor could team up in a physical fight if they have a really good description of how they'll use their skills in concert to take out the Vikings!

Whenever a team loses a round of combat, the team's dice-value is reduced by one (or three!) normally. In addition to this, one team member's dice are reduced, as well! Any team member may "step forward" and voluntarily take this personal "damage" to his dice. If this happens, the noble volunteer is reduced by twice the normal amount (either two dice or six!), and the team gets to roll twice as many dice on their next attack, a temporary boost as they avenge their heroic comrade. If no volunteer steps forward, then each member of the team must roll using the Cliché they're currently using in the team: low-roll takes the hit, and there is no "vengeance" bonus.

Disbanding

A team may voluntarily disband at any time between die-rolls. This reduces the Cliché each team-member was using in the team by one, instantly (not a permanent reduction -- treat it just like "damage" taken from losing a round of combat). Disbanded team-members may freely form new teams, provided the disbanding "damage" doesn't take them out of the fight. Individuals may also "drop out" of a team, but this reduces them to zero dice immediately as they scamper for the rear. Their fates rest on the mercy of whoever wins the fight!

Lost Members

If any member of the team leaves the team for any reason (either dropping out or having his personal dice reduced to zero), the team's value is instantly reduced by one die to account for the loss. If the team leader ever leaves the team for any reason, the team's value is not affected: rather, they must disband immediately (or after their next attack, if the team leader was taken to zero by volunteering for personal damage!)

Quick Contests

Many conflicts that arise in the game cannot be defined as "combat" -- they're over too quickly, defined by a single action. A classic pistol-duel isn't combat - the two duelists simply turn and fire, and then it's all over. Two characters diving to grab the same gun from the floor isn't combat. Two cooks preparing chili for a cookoff isn't combat; there's no "wearing down of the foe" and no jockeying for position.

Such "single-action conflicts" are settled with a single roll using the contestants' appropriate Clichés (or inappropriate Clichés, with good role-playing). High roll wins.

When Somebody Can't Participate

It will often occur that characters will find themselves involved in a Combat or quicker conflict where they simply have no applicable Clichés, even by stretching the imagination. Or maybe one character will have an appropriate Cliché, while the others feel left out. An example might be a pie-eating contest. One character was wise (or foolish) enough to take "Disgusting Glutton (2)" as a Cliché. The other characters are astronauts or accountants, neither of which traditionally engorge themselves on pie.

In situations like this, give everybody two free dice to play with, for the duration of the conflict. This includes characters who already have appropriate Clichés. In the example above, the astronauts and accountants would get Pie-Eating (2), while the Disgusting Glutton would be temporarily increased to Disgusting Glutton (4). The Glutton, naturally, still has the winning edge, but anyone can try to eat lots of pie. This "temporary promotion" applies only in opposed conflicts, not in challenges based on Target Numbers.

A Word Or Two About Scale

No standard time or distance scale is provided for Risus; it really depends on what kind of action is happening. However, the GM should endeavor to stay consistent within a single conflict. In a physical fight, each round should represent a few seconds, and characters should act accordingly. In a long-term fight between a married couple, each round might represent an entire Day (Day one: Husband "accidentally" burns Wife's favorite dress in the oven, Wife "accidentally" feeds Drano to Husband's prize goldfish, and so on until there is a victor).

Character Advancement

At the end of each adventure, each player should roll every Cliché that was used significantly during the game (using their current number of dice). If the dice land showing only even numbers, this indicates an increase by one die for that Clichés. Thus, advancement slows down as you go. No Cliché may go higher than Cliché (6), although if Pumping is allowed (see below), they can be pumped past (6).

Anytime you do something really, really, really spectacularly entertaining that wows the whole table, the GM may rule that you may roll instantly (in the middle of the game!) for possible improvement, in addition to the roll at the end of the adventure.

Adding New Clichés

There may come a time when a character has grown and matured enough to justify adding an entirely new Cliché to her character sheet. If the player and GM agree this is the case, and agree on what the new Cliché is, the player rolls for Character Advancement as usual, but any of the new dice earned may be put toward the new Cliché instead of the ones that earned them. This can also be applied to "in-game" improvements, if the situation warrants it.

Optional: Hooks and Tales

Normally, a character is created using 10 dice. With this Advanced Option, players can bargain for extra beginning dice by giving their character a Hook or a Tale. In Rough Magic a character may get one or the other, but not both.

A Hook is some significant character flaw -- an obsession, a weakness, a sworn vow, a permanently crippling injury -- that the GM agrees is so juicy that she can use it to make the character's life more interesting (which usually means less pleasant). A character with a Hook gets an extra die to play with.

A Tale is a written "biography" of the character describing his life before the events of the game begin. The Tale needn't be long (two or three pages is usually just fine); it just needs to tell the reader where the character is coming from, what he likes and dislikes, how he became who he is, what his motives are. Some Tales are best written from the player's omniscient perspective; others are more fun if written as excerpts from the character's own diary. A character with a Tale provided before gameplay begins gets an extra die to play with.

Optional: Pumping Clichés

In an emergency, any character may pump his Clichés. If a Vampire Hunter (3) comes face to face with a Nosferatu (6), it might be necessary.

When a Cliché is pumped, it receives a temporary boost in dice. This boost lasts for a single round of combat, or a single significant roll otherwise. However, after that round or roll is resolved, the character loses a number of dice equal to the number she gave herself in the pump. This is treated like "injury" to the Clichés sustained in combat, and must "heal" in the same fashion.

A risky maneuver, but worth it. Pumped Clichés are legal in any situation except single-action conflicts.

Optional: Double-Pumps

If this option is used, characters may be created with double-pump Clichés. These Clichés, when pumped, give you two dice in the pumped roll for every die you'll lose at the end of it. Thus, a Sorcerer (5) could be a Sorcerer (11) for a single combat round, at a cost of three dice. This option may be appropriate for Clichés based on supernatural powers, such as wizards, werewolves, ghosts, and so on. They're also appropriate for any other Clichés the GM approves them for.

Double-pump Clichés cost twice as many starting dice to buy. Thus, the following would be a legal starting character:

The hard [square brackets] indicate a double-pump Cliché. Since it costs double, Sinsibilus is effectively a 10-dice character.

If the GM considers any Clichés to be too universally powerful, he may require that it be purchased in this way, to insure some sort of balance. Overall, double-pump dice are less useful than ordinary dice at the beginning, but since they improve at the same rate as ordinary dice, they are a good "investment".

Copyright © 1999-2001 Brandon Blackmoor
Based on Risus: The Anything RPG, Copyright © 1993-2001 S. John Ross.
Risus and Risus: The Anything RPG are trademarks of S. John Ross. All rights reserved.
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