Summertime for a summer game.
The Game: R'lyehwatch
The Publisher: Third Chair Games/Hedgemaze Press, I guess?
Degree of Familiarity: None, but it ain't very complex
Books Required: Just the one
It's a concept so obvious I can't believe it's never come up: a mashup of Baywatch and Lovecraft. You play lifeguards in the town of Sunset Hills, there are cults to the various elder gods (the followers of the Black Goat of the Woods get distracted by kittens), and you're just trying not to let people drown and/or get eaten by things.
What's interesting is that the book (zine, really) plays all of this completely straight, which I think would be the best way to handle the game. Not try to make it not funny or silly (because it's both), but just playing the situation for what it is.
Anyway, I suspect making a character will take all of about five minutes, so here we go!
Step One: Pick Brawny, Agile, or Crafty as my primary stat. Umm...I'll take Crafty.
Step Two: Pick a Role (I could also make one up). I'll be the Gizmo, pretty obviously modeled on MacGuyver.
Step Three: Pick or make up a Perk. Ooh, since Gizmos can have machiney kinds of things, I'll take a speedboat as my Perk! It's called Stripéd Bass (the emphasis on "ed" is important). I think my guy likes to make little improvements and gadgetry to the boat, probably one per episode.
Step Four: Pick or make up a Quirk. Rather than pick something normally associated with brainy characters (Allergic, Cautious, etc.) I'll pick Loud. My guy just doesn't have much CONTROL OVER THE VOLUME OF his voice.
Step Five: Tokens. I get three grit and three luck.
Step Six: Name. I haven't used the random rolls for this guy yet, so I'll randomize his name. "Joel Duncan," I can dig it.
Joel is dorky looking, but in a Baywatch sort of way, which means he's nerdy-hot rather than beach-hot. He's got numbers and equations tattooed on his chest and arms, and he's always tinkering with the Bass when he's not trying to haul unfortunate swimmers away from sharks n' Shoggoths. Joel has black hair in some kind of alternative cut, and you can usually find him in swim trunks and an open button down shirt or a t-shirt with something sciencey on it.
And that's it! Like I said, about 5 minutes. Not that you can tell that from reading this, obviously.
