B-Movies. Those movies that are so bad, so predictable, so serious and yet so funny you have to watch them again and again. Scared Stiff claims to be
the B-movie roleplaying game and I think that it certainly is a good contender for that title.
No doubt some of our more regular readers have heard about the Scared Stiff demo - which received quite a favourable review. Now the main product is due to release - Guildhall press are still touching up the final elements of the product - check out www.playbmovie.com for more information. However I was sent a review copy to check out and confer as to whether the game is worth the purchase or not.
The game uses a simple and effective layout - some nice art as well. The system itself comes in two forms - Dice or Diceless. The Standard system uses a combination of 2d6 and points known as "misfortune points." Players are given a series of stats that refer to their weaknesses. Note that - weaknesses, not strengths. Whenever a character wishes to perform an action they must overcome a related weakness with 2d6 - pretty simple.
Misfortune points, however, are a different story. In a standard game player characters (called "Victims of Circumstance" or VCs) can choose to take on misfortune points to lower flaws, or gain them whenever they do something that is against the setting conventions of the genre. In a diceless game, VCs can literally bid with their lives by taking more MPs in order to overcome a "Creep" (The name for any bad guys in the game.) Gain too many Misfortunes and your character will be facing a very grisly end...
Night of the Damned!
First off let's look at the faults of this game. While the book purports to have a Core rules section - the RPG-13 rules - and a separate Genre section, the game seems to be heavily biased towards slasher flick mechanics - all the rules cover various slasher conventions.
Secondly there are simply not enough decent examples of the rules - particularly the more convoluted rules that can easily confuse a newbie player.
Finally, the book still isn't actually available for purchase. Only the demo, which is free to download.
Methods in the Madness
Yet despite these misgivings, the game is brilliant. I found that the rules expertly capture the feel of a B-grade horror film. There are rules for chase sequences, where the distance to "safety" is measured by the number of chances a "Creep" has at hitting a character.
Also, the book opens with a great "what is roleplaying" section that even goes so far as to guide players into how to play a game effectively so that everyone gets to enjoy the game. This is almost worth the price of admission alone.
Plus how can you hate a game that names the GM - "Evil Mastermind."
Every nuance of the game reeks of atmosphere - from having VCs built up from character stereotypes - of which there is a sizeable list to choose from - to a wonderfully detailed section on how to Mastermind a misadventure. (Which includes tips on keeping the humour deadpan and enjoyable.)
Finally there are several great genre settings to use and a list of Creeps that includes everything from Jason to Godzilla - or at least their legally friendly equivalents.
In Summary
I loved the game and hopefully GHP will be quick about getting it up and out to players. Just one mention - a character sheet please.
I know that I'll be getting my local group playing this next weekend when we go to the local 10 hour B-Movie Marathon. (Midnight to 10am!!)
Filled with great atmosphere and rules while it doesn't break any new ground per se - not like Mechanical Dream or Godlike - it succeeds to create a truly faithful and enjoyable game. Check it out.
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