My friend, Rich, asked me today about a supers game that his friend could play with his children. I suggested Risus. This wasn’t going to work out of the box, though, because he said:

I recommended it to him, he thinks it may be a little too simple for them.

So, off the cuff, I recommended this:

Risus Plus

So, take your normal character, for instance:

Winter Wolf

Claws of Frozen Steel 4D
Whaddya mean, attitude? 3D
“Gotta protect the weak …” 2D
Ice Queen 1D

and add this template:

Defense:
Gritty Hero – 8
Pulp Hero – 10
Costume Hero – 12

Health:
Gritty Hero – 10
Pulp Hero – 20
Costume Hero – 30

Now, we’ve got Winter Wolf with some hit points and an AC. This means that she can’t be knocked out of the fight until those hit points are gone AND a cliche has been reduced to zero.

So, if Winter Wolf were a pulp hero:

Winter Wolf

Claws of Frozen Steel 4D Defense 14
Whaddya mean, attitude? 3D Defense 13
“Gotta protect the weak …” 2D Defense 12
Ice Queen 1D Defense 11
Health 20 Defense 10

Question 1:

So, how much health do I reduce when I attack? Answer: Subtract the defense from your roll to determine how much health is lost.

Question 2:

So, how do you reduce cliches? Answer: You have to aim for the cliche and hit its defense. Take your base defense and add the cliche’s level to it to determine its defense rating. Each time you hit the cliche and exceed its defense, it lowers by one. Also, unless you declare an attack as being against a cliche, it’s assumed to be hitting health.

Question 3:

So, how do I recover health? Answer: This will vary by who’s playing it, of course, but I think you should get your health back any time you have a scene where you reinforce one of your cliches but don’t actually get into a fight. Like, where you tell the story of how you got your claws, or explain to your comrades why you protect the weak.

Any other questions? Anything I missed? I’m not sure what happens with this and the funky dice option, but there you go.