THE WHY FILES

Player Information

By Guy Hoyle ©2004

A Campaign for Risus, The Anything RPG by S. John Ross © 1993-2000 (http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/risus.htm

Player Info

Once you were part of a special Government task force. You probed into reports of the paranormal: intelligent tapeworms, alien s tampering with human DNA, backwoods cannibalistic witch cults, mutagenic spores, the Presidential election of the year 2000… anything weird, strange, odd, or just plain ookie made its way into your casefile. They called them… the Why Files.

Until the budget cuts hit. Your task force found itself the target of departmental hatchet-men and political enemies, who asked hard questions, like “Why don’t you ever bring back any evidence?” and “Haven’t you ever actually solved a single case?”. It wasn’t your fault that the Tapeworm Man skipped bail, and it’s hard to arrest a guy whose home address includes an astronomic catalog number. Naturally, other directors also saw this as an opportunity to rid themselves of annoying or embarrassing agents who know little or nothing about the Why Files, which makes the current situation more unbearable.

So here you are, performing covert surveillance on a suburban neighborhood where somebody’s cousin’s friend of a friend thinks something odd might be happening. Wolves running amuck. Strange, cult-like activities. Maybe even Communists. Your Boss has made it very clear that he won’t stand for any of that paranormal rubbish; there are no such things as grey aliens, werewolves, and Hitler’s brain in a tank. Any hint of that in your reports and you’ll be manning phones in the Butte, Montana office for the next 10 years.

Your mission: move into a vacant house on Maple Street and establish a cover as a typical suburban family. Observe and report all suspicious activities. If such activities appear to be against the interests of this country, do your best to contain them; call for reinforcements if containment is not possible. Above all, do not allow the residents to suspect that you are other than what you seem to be.

Character Generation Guidelines
You have 10d6 dice to split up amongst your cliches (see list of suggested Cliches below). You may put a maximun of 4 dice in any one cliche.

Example Family:

George Hassenpepper, Bumbling Master Spy (4), Compulsive Fitness Freak (3), Stoic Tough Guy (2), Reluctant Man of the House (1)
Gracie Hassenpepper, Enthusiastic Explosives Expert (4), Wannabe Actress (3), Pretend Soccer Mom (2), Tabloid Scholar (1)
Greg Hassenpepper, Irksome Teenager (4), The Boss's Nephew (3), Kid Genius (2), Garage Band Member (1)
Avery Hassenpepper, Amateur Profiler (3), Perky but Ruthless Cheerleader (3), Intense Gun Nut (2), Mischief Magnet (2)
Kennie Hassenpepper, Gadget Guru (4), 40-Year-Old Midget Who looks Like a Kid (3), Washed-Up Alcoholic Special Agent (2), Lady's Man (1)
Doreen Hassenpepper, Skeptical By-The-Book Special Agent (4), Bratty Younger Daughter (3), Black Ops Wannabe (2), Juvenile Feminist (1)
Uncle Buddy, Would-Be Master of Disguise (4), Forensic Chef (3), Obsessed Conspiracy Nut (2), Former Black Ops Agent (1)
Bingo, Canine Secret Agent (3), Self-taught Expert on the Occult (3), Cowardly Glutton (3), Garage Band Member (1)

Advanced Options

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 and/or a Tale.
A Hook is some signifigant character flaw - an obsession, a weakness, a sworn vow, a permanently crippling injury - that the GM agrees is so juicy that he can use it to make the characters 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.

ADVANCED OPTION II: PUMPING CLICHÉS
In an emergency, any character may pump his Clichés. If the Ninja(3) comes face to face with a Monster(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 he gave himself in the pump. This is treated like "injury" to the Clichés sustained in combat, and must "heal" in the same fashion.
Pumped Clichés are legal in any situation except single-action conflicts.

ADVANCED OPTION III (Double Pumps) and IV (Funky Dice) are not used in this campaign.

LUCKY SHOTS
For each of your "starting dice" sacrificed before play begins, you can get 3 "lucky shots", which may be used to boost die rolls once per game session. Only 1 Lucky Shot can be used to boost a single die roll. Lucky Shots recharge at the beginning of a game session, but do not carry over to the next session.

QUESTING DICE
Like Lucky Dice, but more focused. For each starting dice sacrificed, you can get 5 "questing dice" that can be applied to any roll that is connected to a character's "personal quest" (such as getting assigned to another part of "The Agency"). Only one dice can be used to boost a single die roll. Questing Dice recharge at the beginning of a game session, but do not carry over to the next session.

SIDEKICKS and SHIELD-MATES
The player can spend 1 of his starting dice to obtain a 3-dice NPC, such as a secretary, a best friend, a special pet, etc. It can even be a group (the members of a Garage Band, Mom's Garden Club, etc.). This NPC can be increased by experience like any other character in the game.

 

Character Concepts

You are a member of “The Bureau”.  You might be a special agent or one of the support specialist (Fingerprint Analysis Specialist, Crime Scene Investigator, Intelligence Research Specialist, Research Dentist, Combat Accountant, Forensic Janitor, etc.). The typical Agent is an adult male or female American citizen of any age or ethnic origin. 

In this particular situation, however, it is important that the agents involved be able to disguise themselves as a “typical American family”: parents, children, household pets, crazy relatives, etc.  In the past, “The Bureau” has had occasion for Juvenile or Teenage Agents, specially-trained Animal Agents (dogs, monkeys, parrots, etc.), and other types of non-standard Agents.  These may be useful in this assignment.  If Juvenile or Teenage Agents are not available, however, it may be necessary to assign an agent who can pass as a typical juvenile or adolescent.

Risus Cliches

The following clichés are just examples of the kinds of clichés that can be found in the Situation Conspiracy setting. Feel free to combine them or come up with your own (I get to approve them, however).

Secret Agents
Each character should have some kind of secret agent cliché, since everyone in the house is a secret agent of one kind or another.

Cover ID
Since the agents are undercover, they’ll also have some cover ID(s).

Signature Roles
This is the defining quality that makes your character stand out from the others; it’s probably what got you into the Why Files in the first place, and what got you dumped on Maple Street most recently. It’s probably what causes the zaniness to ensue.