SCARED STIFF has been a while in the making- I reviewed an earlier demo of the game, then called "B-Movie", about a year ago- but it's shaping up to be quite promising. Like IT CAME FROM THE LATE, LATE, LATE SHOW and GURPS ATOMIC HORROR, it explores the territory of low-grade horror/sci-fi movies where helpless victims are tormented by mutated monsters and evil masterminds. So far, however, it looks to tread that territory more successfully than the above two; so far, there's a pretty firm grasp on the mentality of such B-movies, which is reflected in the very cinematic, dare-I-say-"Narrativist" (I used the threefold model! Ick!) mechanics. As a demo it's quite close to a full game in itself, and is easily worth the download.
The file starts with more than a few separate forewords explaining the nature of comedy and horror (don't worry, this one is quick), what role-playing is all about, how the overall "RPG-13 B-Movie Gaming System" will be presented in various cinematic games, slightly customized for each genre, the mentality of B-movies and SCARED STIFF in particular. There's also a history of "Terra Bella", SCARED STIFF's world- remarkably like our own, except for the constant alien and monster attacks.
Many of the fundamental details of the system remain unchanged from the old B-MOVIE demo. Instead of Player Characters you have Victims of Circumstance (VCs), instead of a Gamemaster you have an Evil Mastermind (EM), and instead of attributes VCs have Flaws- the main ones are Weakness, Clumsiness, and Ignorance, while the secondary flaws (which fluctuate throughout each Misadventure) are Cowardice, Imbalance (mistakenly labelled as "Paranoia" or "PA" in some sections), and Superstition. Flaws range from one to twelve, with the average for a VC being about 7. Primary flaws are generated using either points or random rolling. If any of the secondary Flaws reaches 12 or more, the Victim goes Mental. Finally there's Lumps (get too many and you're knocked senseless) and Misfortune, which can be added to if the player wants something good to happen and subtracted from if the EM wants something bad to happen to the VC. (If Misfortune goes above 12, the character is in real trouble.) VCs try to overcome their Weaknesses by rolling above them on two six-siders, while Creeps controlled by the EM try to Exploit the VC's Weaknesses by rolling below them.
Some things have been added this time 'round- VCs now have Stereotypes, broad archetypes which modify Weaknesses, determining Challenges your VC is particularly good at (a Biker's Clumsiness is reduced when he's trying to drive a motorcycle), and also determining whether or not your Victim is Attractive (which makes him reputable to members of the opposite sex but also likely to be carried off by Creeps) and whether he's considered Reputable or Disreputable. The Stereotype list is surprisingly broad, ranging from cliched roles like Scientist and Journalist to Ageing Hipster (appropriate challenge: Know Obscure Details Relevant To A Single Past Chosen Decade) and Drag Queen (which has question marks in the Attractive and Disreputable spaces.) Your character "buys" equipment (or Goodies) by having each one add to Imbalance, Cowardice, and/or Superstition- if you're carrying a bazooka, it's probably because you've got something to be scared of. Models are given to help clarify Stereotypes and get a better fix on the character- you can be Bossy, Dependent, a Creator, and Adventurer, etc. You can also go without, but doing so gives you 2 Misfortune to start out with instead of 0. Better do some characterization. The Profile, Name and trademark Exclamations sections can also add to Misfortune if not filled out. A bit harsh, but it does encourage roleplaying.
As with the original demo, rules are given out for common b-movie situations like Chases, Hiding out (both have plenty of opportunities to add to or take away Misfortune), Mushy Stuff (which adds to Misfortune- haven't you seen any FRIDAY THE 13th movies?- but also takes away from some of the Secondary Flaws), and of course Combat. Most of the time, VCs can only be knocked senseless by a Creep's actions, but if their Misfortune is 12 or above than any Lumps they receive are instead added to
their Weakness, and if their Weakness reaches 12 they've Bought the Farm. Also effective is the rule for Scumbags. Remember what happened to Burke in ALIENS? Well, in this game, VCs who act like Scumbags get more Misfortune, and if their Misfortune goes to 12 or above because of it they get mysteriously carried off. Misfortune also gets handed out if you're too cautious, so remember to act appropriately stupid- by all means, open that door!
There are other rules like this- what being skeptical does to your Flaws, Warning the Innocent Bystanders (who obviously won't believe you), and Gadgets. This last one bears mentioning in a bit more detail, because it's basically your VCs' best shot at defeating the main Creep. Building a Gadget requires finding and assembling appropriate Goodies, overcoming Ignorance to design the thing, and taking the right amount of time.
The Evil Mastermind section details how to make Innocent Bystanders (take default flaws of 9 each and modify according to Stereotype), Chumps (Bystanders stupid enough to help the VCs), and of course Creeps. Instead of Flaws of their own, Creeps have Modifiers to the Flaws of the Victims- a strong Creep has a positive Weakness modifier, making it easier for him to toss around a weak VC. The size of a Creep determines his Lumps. Creeps also have Gimmicks- a vampire's invlunerability, a mad scientist's hypno-ray, etc. Each gimmick chosen for a Creep has to be offset by a defect- the vampire can be staked, the scientist is obsessed by a beautiful woman. The gimmick rules are a little vague at this stage, but then again they may have to be unless one wants a full GURPS-style advantage/disadvantage system. This part of the Creep generation process comes with plenty of advice on how to balance Gimmicks and Flaws, so at least an experienced GM should be able to make sense of it. (The full game will probably have completed Creeps, making it a little easier to see how Gimmicks balance out Flaws.) Fobiles, which offset a Creep's Flaw Modifiers (if they're positive), also make a Creep easier to handle- he may suffer from Loneliness, Egotism, Greed or Stupidity (called LEGS). Creeps must burn off points in their Fobiles by doing certain not-terribly-wise things- carrying off an attractive VC to burn Loneliness, gloating to burn Egotism, or getting Shiny Shtuff to burn Greed. (I'm not sure how Stupidity is burned off, but it seems obvious.) The EM section, and the demo, concludes with rules for Swarming (in which Misfortune is raised by having large numbers of Creeps act inefficiently) and Death Traps, which add Misfortune by taking a long time to work. It seems Dr. Evil wasn't that stupid after all.
The PDF file is attractively designed and well formatted, though it takes the latest edition of Acrobat Reader to display properly. It also reads well despite a typo or two (the Imbalance/Paranoia misunderstanding I mentioned earlier.)
The SCARED STIFF demo is a complete game in itself, with everything you really need to play. The only major drawback I can see is that some GMs may have trouble remembering all the various common sayings used as Official Game Jargon (though an index is included, and it may even be a benefit to others.) As a freeware sample it's superb, an appetizing taste of the full game to come (whenever that is.) I recommend heading down to http://www.playbmovie.com and checking it out. SCARED STIFF may very well end up giving the B-movie genre the RPG treatment it deserves.
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