Risus Egyptian Mythology Adventures

Risus Egyptian Mythology Adventures ^TM

About Risus

For those of you not in the know, “Risus is a complete Role playing Game (RPG) designed to provide an ‘RPG Lite' for those nights when the brain is too tired for exacting detail.” It is available as a free download from S. John Ross' Risus: The Anything RPG site (you can download a zip file containing the rules in rich text, text, and Adobe Acrobat format).

Setting Overview

This setting is a mix of the myths and legends of ancient Egypt, tomb raiding pulp fiction and classic dungeon crawl.

Advanced Options

Ma'at:

Ma'at is a brand-new feature exclusive to Risus Egyptian Mythology Adventures ^TM (okay, you can adjust it for another setting if you want.) Ma'at is a concept in ancient Egyptian religion that proper social behaviour is intrinsically linked with the metaphysical cosmic going-ons of the universe. All characters have a Ma'at score which represents both how faithfully they adhere to social/religious conventions and law (shaving eyebrows before going to the temple, not robbing tombs, accepting your place in the social hierarchy, respecting the dead, etc) and how powerful they are in the cosmic scheme of things. Your Ma'at score is a number from 0 to 6, with most PCs having a score of 0, 1 or sometimes 2. This is what different Ma'at scores mean (from highest to lowest):

• 6-Godly: This is the highest Ma'at score any mortal can have and is reserved for the Pharaoh, great god-king of Egypt

• 5-Sacred: Important priests of good deities such as Ra, Isis and Hathor.

• 4-Priestly: Lesser priests of good deities such as Ra, Isis and Hathor.

• 3-Devout: People outside of the nobility and priesthood who strictly adhere to the principles of Ma'at.

• 2-Deviant: People outside of the nobility and priesthood who mostly adhere to the principles of Ma'at.

• 1-Renegade: Tomb robbers, murderers and other such people who ignore the principles of Ma'at.

• 0-Blasphemer: Priests of and people who worship evil deities such as Seth, Asep and Sobek.

Luck Shots:

Lucky shots are optional, but recommended.

Pumps and Double Pumps:

If you want to make this setting even more ridiculous than it already is than this is the option for you.

Hooks and Tales:

Hooks and tales can be used in Risus Egyptian Mythology Adventures ^TM as long as you remember that it's all about one-dimensional, faceless adventurer-types raiding burial tombs for loot, dungeon crawl style, and that therefore you should avoid any unwanted character depth that these features might add.

Character Cliches

• Former Architect: This knows all the ins and outs of burial tombs, because they used to design them. Tools of the Trade: Blue prints

• Brute: This is the equivalent of the classic fighter class. Muscle for hire. Tools of the Trade: big, scary club

• Priest of Set, God of Desert Storms and Murder: This is a nastified version of the classic cleric class with a bit of assassin mixed in. They'll slit your throat if you're not careful but they're the best people to have around if you need someone to summon a deadly desert storm for you. Characters with this cliche have a Ma'at score of 0. Tools of the Trade: A throat-slittingly shark knife.

• Priest of Sobek, God of Water and Crocodiles: This is another nastified version of the classic cleric class, this time with Hydrokinesis (water magic) and a demonic crocodile minion instead of Desertokinesis and a trusty knife. Characters with this cliche have a Ma'at score of 0. Tools of the Trade: Demonic crocodile minion. (Can work as steed, bodyguard or meat shield.)

• Priest of Apep, God of Fire and Serpents: Yet another nastified cleric, now with a demonic snake minion and pyrokenesis. Characters with this cliche have a Ma'at score of 0. Tools of the Trade: Evil snake minion. (Can't be used a steed, but very good at biting)

• Tomb Raider: This is the equivalent of the classic rouge class. They dismantle traps, unlock doors and take more than their fare share of loot. Characters with this cliche have a Ma'at score of 1 unless they have a cliche that gives them a lower ma'at score. Tools of the Trade: Lock picks, a pair of +2 sneakers of sneaking.

• Young, Runaway Noble: This one used to be a child of some noble, but they found that boring so they joined a group of murderous kleptomaniacs adventures. Tools of the Trade: Nice clothes, their most important toy.