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In Short

The Good: Maid was originally published in Japanese and the translation to English is just fantastic. It’s extremely funny if you happen to share its sense of humor. The game concepts are easy to grasp, and most of the product focuses on game support and optional rules taken from Maid’s two supplements (which are included here).

The Bad: Either you will like this game, or you won’t. This may be a hard sell for some GMs, even as a one shot game. Those who don’t like playing female characters or who are strongly adverse to adult situations probably won’t care for Maid.

The Physical Thing

That said, as a comedy game with no real setting, this isn’t the sort of book you buy to fall in love with the evocative artwork. While the production standards don’t hold up to other companies, the book remains easy to use and is packed with content.

Please note that I bought my copy at Gen Con ’08 and, as a prerelease copy, it may slightly vary from what you buy. For example, the version currently available has a few full color pages.

Under the Cover

Maid asks you to take on the role of, well, a maid! You take care of the master and his estate, whether that means doing laundry or fighting off the space aliens that just landed in the backyard. In performing your duties you acquire Favor, the core game currency, and through Favor you either become a better maid or manage to keep your Stress from getting out of control. Simple die rolls using 1 to 3d6 are used to generate numbers between 1 and 6 and 111 and 666, respectively, and the mechanics are easy to grasp. With the basics out of the way let’s start building a character to better illustrate the game!

Example Master CW: So we’re going to show off how to build a character in the Maid RPG. A lot of the discussion, examples, and support is presented in the game book in a back and forth dialogue between characters which is part of what makes it so much fun to read. Maid Michiko: Your reviews suck and you’re going to get complaints from people that don’t like to read examples. Also, you’re kinda lame for adopting the exact same gag presented in the Maid book. CW: Thanks for volunteering, Michiko! Now, according to the book you have six Attribute scores: Athletics, Affection, Skill, Cunning, Luck, and Will. For each of these we roll 2d6 and divide by 3, rounding down. Of course, there are plenty of suggested variations for kind hearted masters who want the players to play the maids they prefer. I’m not one of them. Rolling straight down the line we get an Athletics of 2 (6/3), Affection of 1 (4/3), Skill of 3 (11/3), Cunning of 3 (9/3), Luck of 2 (6/3), and Will of 2 (7/3). Maid Michiko: Wow, I’m pretty awesome! What’s next? CW: Maid Types! We roll 1d6 twice and consult a table, applying bonuses and penalties. It says here that you’re Pure and Sexy, giving you a net +1 to Affection and -1 to Will. I sure am a lucky master… Oh, and we get to determine your uniform colors. I like my pure sexy maids to wear… brown. Ah well, no one said you were a snappy dresser. Maid Michiko: Hey! There’s nothing wrong with a simple brown uniform. Besides, I don’t need a fancy outfit to turn heads. CW: I guess. Anyway, now we get to roll for some of the really interesting stuff. You have two Special Qualities, which according to the table are… that you’re covered in piercings and killed your parents. Holy shit, what kind of maid are you? Sexy Killer Maid Michiko: One with a tiny inheritance I suppose. They had it comin’, anyway! CW: And, of course, you have red hair and black eyes. I wonder if other masters end up with such… interesting servants. It says here on the Maid Roots table that the master is actually your secret enemy, and that when you suffer a Stress Explosion you act like a spoiled child. Wait, I’m your secret enemy and you’re a murderous orphaned punk? Sexy Killer Maid Michiko: Well, every girl has to start somewhere. I probably killed my parents just to get the basics down. Besides, there are other maids here, right? Maybe one of them can protect you. CW: I hope so. Every maid has a power based on her highest Attribute. Since yours is a tie, let’s go with Cunning. According to the table you’re skilled with… Traps. That’s just fantastic. You also have a starting Favor of 2 and Spirit of 20. This is going to be interesting…

Character creation is very fast, and an entire group could be done in as little as 10 minutes. Once everyone has a maid, the standard way to play will involve either the maids responding to random events, scripted scenarios, or just a competition for the master’s favor. Each of these options can be long or short, making the game a fine choice for filling in time when the whole group can’t play together but you’ve still got some folk that want to game.

Resolution primarily happens in one of two ways. Actions unopposed by characters are against a difficulty set by the GM, ranging from 4 to 10. Simply roll 1d6 and multiply it by the relevant Attribute. For opposed actions the higher roll ones and the loser suffers Stress equal to the difference. When Stress exceeds the Spirit rating the maid has a Stress Explosion and behaves accordingly. Opposed actions include combat, and since we’re dealing with Stress and such there’s no real worry about death unless it’s story appropriate (or if Death is the Stress Explosion).

Favor is the currency of the game. It is generally acquired by performing maid duties and pleasing the master of the house, and it can be spent like XP in other games. If Favor is reduced to zero (perhaps due to buying off Stress) then the maid is either dismissed or forced to downgrade an Attribute to get enough Favor to stay in play. Favor can also cause Random Events to occur, allowing any game participant to spice things up.

That is the core of the game. Attribute checks, opposed rolls, and Favor management. The setting is the Mansion, which doesn’t change too dramatically. As you can imagine, the rules take up a fairly small portion of the book. The rest deals with optional rules and support. Let’s take a look at those.

Optional Rules and Support

The core game rules are done after 30 pages, leaving 186 pages for support. The first type of support is optional rules, and quite a few of them. Play as a Butler or even a Butler in training. Create the mansion using a set system, or play as the master of the mansion. Include Tragedy in your game for drama. Make use of the Seduction and Comforting rules if you want to add a little romance to the game. In short, there are simple rules that can be added in to provide a variety of different experiences. The goal of the options is to help a group tweak the core game to tell the sort of story they’re interested in.

Replays are short Maid sessions written out for the reader to take in and understand the mechanics. There are three of them and they’re cute, fun to read, and informative. There are also 11 Scenarios, moderately fleshed out adventures, that really showcase just how far you can take the basic premise of the game. Please be our Demon King is easily my favorite, since it involves maids that work in a dungeon and are fed up with its current ruler. Someone has to set the traps and make sure the monsters are where they’re supposed to be, after all!

On the whole I find the level of support to be extremely high.

Maid and Adult Content

Maid has a cute and silly approach in general, but there is sexual content here. Players can roll up fetishes and other sexual characteristics, some of the game text highlights sexual tension between characters, and having sex with the master is one possible way to earn Favor. If you don’t like that then you can certainly avoid it with little trouble. I think it’s cute and presented in a humorous way, and those who have enjoyed a few of the more comical (or even hardcore) hentai titles will probably find it to be laugh out loud funny like I did. Just be aware that it’s here and you can either embrace it or avoid it based on your preferences.

My Take