The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Three large obstacles frequently stand in the way of roleplaying sessions: finding the time, the money, and the people. Deep 7's line of "1PG's" - downloadable beer-and-pretzels mini-RPGs with character sheets and rules on a single page and multiple quickie adventures - is an admirable attempt to overcome all three of these obstacles.

1PG game sessions are designed to last about a couple of hours. Everyone in the group can purchase the inexpensive games, making online gaming sessions much easier to manage and thereby expanding one's pool of potential players. And the rules - such as they are - may be learned in a matter of minutes.

So how does all this work in practice? Well, let's take a look at one 1PG in particular - namely, Shriek: The Game of Teen Horror.

THE SETTING

Shriek is a humorously gory tribute to any horror movie in which teenagers get hacked up, mangled, and/or eaten. The five adventures included cover zombies, psycho killers (of both the Jason and Leatherface variety), vampires, and mutant cockroaches. Beyond that, the game really has no actual setting. Once the adventures have been played, the GM is on his own. So long as Shriek is played as a throwaway game, this really isn't a big problem.

THE RULES

Characters have four main attributes, all of which are fairly self-explanatory: Buffness, Looks, Craftiness, and Brains. Roll 1D3 for the character's score in each. Several skills fall under each attribute: Buffness covers Hold Liquor, Gym, and Whup-Ass, Looks covers Fashion Sense, Pose, and Seduction, Craftiness covers Gearhead, Shopping, Dance, Driving, Drama, and Mixology, and Brains covers Geekery, Pop Culture, Bookworm, and Debate. Roll 1D6 and divide the result between these skills.

The system uses an ultra-basic 1D6 roll-under mechanic for task checks. A 1 is always a success and a 6 is always a failure.

Characters also get 1d6 in Wits (sanity points), 1d6 in Guts (bravery, to keep from losing one's Wits), and 2d6+5 in Blood (hit points). The Popularity stat starts at zero unless the player rolls less than either the PC's Buffness or Looks attribute, in which case it increases by one at the beginning of each adventure; this stat comes into play when the PC needs to ask a favor.

Encounters with something scary call for Guts checks, and a failed Guts check results in the loss of 1 Wits point. Characters with low Wits and/or Guts could have a very short game…

Finally, the players roll 1d6 on the "Status Table" to flesh out their characters. The possible results are "Loser!" (you're a nerd), "Occult Lore", "Wheels" (you've got a car), "Bitchin' Wardrobe!", "Fake I.D.", and "Psychic Powers". The scope of the latter is completely between the player and the GM - the only mechanic is a Brains roll to use the power.

Combat involves Whup-Ass rolls for attacks and Gym rolls for evasions. If both attack and defense rolls succeed, the roll that succeeded by the largest margin wins. Weapon damage is fixed, with Buffness added to hand weapon attack damage. Damage ranges from zero (for Punch) to 40 (for getting hit with a train). (As an aside here, for some reason the main weapon table isn't alphabetized - a minor but annoying problem.) Armor defends against damage and is hit location-specific, with the body divided into six hit locations that each have an equal chance of being hit.

Characters are to be awarded one Character Point per survived adventure, and these may be added into Attributes, Skills, Wits, Blood, Guts, or Popularity.

And that's it. If you're hoping for any details on supernatural abilities, prepare for disappointment. The closest the game comes to that are a general range for Blood points for monsters, a rule that vampire and zombie bites turn the PCs into monsters at the worst possible times, and a rule stating that vampires must be struck in the heart with a stake them. (Presumably the latter requires a hit on the Torso on the hit location table - the rules don't actually say.) Again, if you want to use these rules beyond the five provided adventures, you're on your own.

THE BOOK

Shriek comes as a 10-page zipped Acrobat document: a cover page (attractively designed as a horror movie poster), a table of contents, a character sheet/rules page, a referee's page, five adventures, and an ad page. The Deep 7 website makes the point that $4.95 is a pretty good deal for 10 pages when the ready-to-play nature of the game is taken into consideration; however, the game could easily have done without the cover, table of contents, and ad page. These pages might have been devoted to details that could expand the game's usefulness beyond the included adventures.

The game contains no artwork beyond that on the cover and the cover shots on the ad page; however, none is really necessary. The writing is quick and to the point, as one would expect with such a game, and they squeeze a lot of information in a small amount of space. (All the more reason, then, to lament the loss of those 3 pages to cover, ad, and TOC.)

The adventures make up the bulk of the book, and they're all amusingly cute in a Tales from the Crypt kinda way. All could benefit from some form of rudimentary map to save the GM some time, and the stats of the foes were left out in several places. Unless the GM runs a lot of character interaction unrelated to the story, players who create social-heavy characters are bound for disappointment - each adventure basically sets the scene and commences with the slaughter. (Call of Cthulhu this ain't.)

CONCLUSION

Are you looking for an inexpensive little game with a quick-and-dirty rules system to use for your horror campaign? If so, Shriek is not the best choice - genre-specific rules and settings are almost nonexistent.

If, on the other hand, you find yourself in need of a pickup RPG session, and if your needs are simple, Shriek could be just what you need.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 3 (Average)

Shriek: The Game of Teen Horror
Author: Todd Downing, Samantha Downing, Ron Dugdale, Hans Piwenitzy, Mike Stephan Category: game Company/Publisher: Deep 7 Line: 1PG Cost: 4.95 Page count: 10 SKU: D71PG001 Capsule Review by Dan Davenport on 05/08/00. Genre tags: Modern_day Horror Comedy	Three large obstacles frequently stand in the way of roleplaying sessions: finding the time, the money, and the people. Deep 7's line of "1PG's" - downloadable beer-and-pretzels mini-RPGs with character sheets and rules on a single page and multiple quickie adventures - is an admirable attempt to overcome all three of these obstacles. 1PG game sessions are designed to last about a couple of hours. Everyone in the group can purchase the inexpensive games, making online gaming sessions much easier to manage and thereby expanding one's pool of potential players. And the rules - such as they are - may be learned in a matter of minutes. So how does all this work in practice? Well, let's take a look at one 1PG in particular - namely, Shriek: The Game of Teen Horror. THE SETTING Shriek is a humorously gory tribute to any horror movie in which teenagers get hacked up, mangled, and/or eaten. The five adventures included cover zombies, psycho killers (of both the Jason and Leatherface variety), vampires, and mutant cockroaches. Beyond that, the game really has no actual setting. Once the adventures have been played, the GM is on his own. So long as Shriek is played as a throwaway game, this really isn't a big problem. THE RULES Characters have four main attributes, all of which are fairly self-explanatory: Buffness, Looks, Craftiness, and Brains. Roll 1D3 for the character's score in each. Several skills fall under each attribute: Buffness covers Hold Liquor, Gym, and Whup-Ass, Looks covers Fashion Sense, Pose, and Seduction, Craftiness covers Gearhead, Shopping, Dance, Driving, Drama, and Mixology, and Brains covers Geekery, Pop Culture, Bookworm, and Debate. Roll 1D6 and divide the result between these skills. The system uses an ultra-basic 1D6 roll-under mechanic for task checks. A 1 is always a success and a 6 is always a failure. Characters also get 1d6 in Wits (sanity points), 1d6 in Guts (bravery, to keep from losing one's Wits), and 2d6+5 in Blood (hit points). The Popularity stat starts at zero unless the player rolls less than either the PC's Buffness or Looks attribute, in which case it increases by one at the beginning of each adventure; this stat comes into play when the PC needs to ask a favor. Encounters with something scary call for Guts checks, and a failed Guts check results in the loss of 1 Wits point. Characters with low Wits and/or Guts could have a very short game… Finally, the players roll 1d6 on the "Status Table" to flesh out their characters. The possible results are "Loser!" (you're a nerd), "Occult Lore", "Wheels" (you've got a car), "Bitchin' Wardrobe!", "Fake I.D.", and "Psychic Powers". The scope of the latter is completely between the player and the GM - the only mechanic is a Brains roll to use the power. Combat involves Whup-Ass rolls for attacks and Gym rolls for evasions. If both attack and defense rolls succeed, the roll that succeeded by the largest margin wins. Weapon damage is fixed, with Buffness added to hand weapon attack damage. Damage ranges from zero (for Punch) to 40 (for getting hit with a train). (As an aside here, for some reason the main weapon table isn't alphabetized - a minor but annoying problem.) Armor defends against damage and is hit location-specific, with the body divided into six hit locations that each have an equal chance of being hit. Characters are to be awarded one Character Point per survived adventure, and these may be added into Attributes, Skills, Wits, Blood, Guts, or Popularity. And that's it. If you're hoping for any details on supernatural abilities, prepare for disappointment. The closest the game comes to that are a general range for Blood points for monsters, a rule that vampire and zombie bites turn the PCs into monsters at the worst possible times, and a rule stating that vampires must be struck in the heart with a stake them. (Presumably the latter requires a hit on the Torso on the hit location table - the rules don't actually say.) Again, if you want to use these rules beyond the five provided adventures, you're on your own. THE BOOK Shriek comes as a 10-page zipped Acrobat document: a cover page (attractively designed as a horror movie poster), a table of contents, a character sheet/rules page, a referee's page, five adventures, and an ad page. The Deep 7 website makes the point that $4.95 is a pretty good deal for 10 pages when the ready-to-play nature of the game is taken into consideration; however, the game could easily have done without the cover, table of contents, and ad page. These pages might have been devoted to details that could expand the game's usefulness beyond the included adventures. The game contains no artwork beyond that on the cover and the cover shots on the ad page; however, none is really necessary. The writing is quick and to the point, as one would expect with such a game, and they squeeze a lot of information in a small amount of space. (All the more reason, then, to lament the loss of those 3 pages to cover, ad, and TOC.) The adventures make up the bulk of the book, and they're all amusingly cute in a Tales from the Crypt kinda way. All could benefit from some form of rudimentary map to save the GM some time, and the stats of the foes were left out in several places. Unless the GM runs a lot of character interaction unrelated to the story, players who create social-heavy characters are bound for disappointment - each adventure basically sets the scene and commences with the slaughter. (Call of Cthulhu this ain't.) CONCLUSION Are you looking for an inexpensive little game with a quick-and-dirty rules system to use for your horror campaign? If so, Shriek is not the best choice - genre-specific rules and settings are almost nonexistent. If, on the other hand, you find yourself in need of a pickup RPG session, and if your needs are simple, Shriek could be just what you need. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 3 (Average)