Editing Risus

{{Short description|Role-playing game}}
{{about|the role-playing game|the Roman god of laughter|Risus (mythology)}}
{{italic title}}

'''''Risus: The Anything RPG''''' is a rules-light generic [[role-playing game]] (RPG) written, designed and illustrated by [[S. John Ross (game designer)|S. John Ross]] of [[Cumberland Games & Diversions]].<ref name="gamegrene">{{cite web| url=http://www.gamegrene.com/node/113|title=The Homebrew Review, #2: Risus| year = 2001| publisher=Gamegrene.com|access-date=2007-09-30}}</ref><ref name="RPGnet">{{cite web| url=http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_4955.html| title=Risus: The Anything RPG (review)| last = Bullock| first = Larry| year = 2001| publisher=[[RPGnet]]|access-date=2003-09-30}}</ref><ref name="PnP">{{cite web| url=http://pen-paper.net/rpgdb.php?op=showcreator&creatorid=1019| title=S. John Ross| publisher=pen-paper.net| access-date=2007-09-30| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930200952/http://www.pen-paper.net/rpgdb.php?op=showcreator&creatorid=1019| archive-date=2007-09-30}}</ref>  ''Risus'' is available free on the web. It was first published online in 1993. Earlier versions of the game were titled '''''GUCS: The Generic Universal Comedy System''''' (a parody of ''[[GURPS]]'') and were distributed privately beginning in 1989.

== History ==
''Risus'' ([[Latin]] for “laughter”) is a comedy game<ref name="RPGnet"/> (often described by its creator as a "joke game") and uses a cliché (character class) system<ref name="gamegrene"/> inspired by the broad "career scale" skills in [[Greg Gorden]]'s ''[[DC Heroes|DC Heroes RPG]]'' ([[Mayfair Games]]), and later influenced by [[Atlas Games]]' ''[[Over the Edge (role-playing game)|Over the Edge]]''. The core systems of ''Risus'' owe their largest debt to the ''[[Ghostbusters (role-playing game)|Ghostbusters RPG]]'' published by [[West End Games]], and to ''[[Tunnels and Trolls]]'' by [[Ken St. Andre]]. The game itself also cites ''[[GURPS]]'' as an influence, along with ''[[FUDGE]]'', another free RPG released to the web a year earlier. Several more recent games have been, in turn, influenced by ''Risus.''

Despite the game's small size and admittedly joking nature, there are more than 30 fan-authored websites devoted to ''Risus,'' some including several rules variants, simple worldbooks, and wholly rewritten adaptations of the game. ''Risus'' itself has been translated into Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Esperanto, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.<ref name="cumb">{{cite web|url=http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/risus.htm| title=Risus: The Anything RPG homepage |access-date=2003-09-30}}</ref> In December, 2003, Cumberland Games began to support the free game with commercial supplements, beginning with the ''Risus Companion'' and the founding of the International Order of Risus.  An example of another commercial product is ''A Kringle in Time'', "an adventure about saving Christmas from ancient evil."<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.ogrecave.com/reviews/kringle.shtml| title= A Kringle in Time (review)|last=Katz|first=Demian| publisher=www.ogrecave.com|access-date=2007-09-30}}</ref>

''New Risus'' won the 2001 inaugural [[RPGnet]] award for ''Best Free RPG''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/columns/awards05dec01.html| title=RPGnet 2001 Award Results| publisher= [[RPGnet]] |access-date=2007-09-30}}</ref>

==''Risus Companion''==

''The Risus Companion'' is the first commercial supplement of ''Risus''. S. John Ross wrote and published<ref name="PnP" /> the ''Risus Companion'' on the 10th anniversary of ''Risus'' on the [[World Wide Web]], in order to provide a foundation for ''Risus'' as a commercial venture. ''Risus'' itself remains free of charge, allowing ''Risus'' fans the option to support ''Risus'' if they choose and be materially rewarded for doing so. The ''Risus Companion'' is an electronic document in [[Portable Document Format|PDF]] form, made available to all members of the International Order of Risus.

==Reception==
In a review of ''Risus'' in ''[[Black Gate (magazine)|Black Gate]]'', Ryan Harvey said "I can enthusiastically recommend ''Risus'' to anybody with an imagination, regardless of his or her experience with those funny-sided dice. Not only are the rules so slim that they fit onto six pages (with two dedicated to optional rules), but the system runs entirely on clichés that any one who has seen a movie, read a book, or gotten around more than St. Symeon the Stylite, will recognize and know how to act out."<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.blackgate.com/2009/05/26/risus-rules-lite-to-the-min/ | title=Risus: Rules-Lite to the Min – Black Gate }}</ref>

==Notes== 
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.cumberlandgames.com/ Cumberland Games & Diversions]
*[http://www.risusiverse.com/ ''Risusiverse'': a ''Risus'' fanzine in wiki format]

{{RPG systems}}

[[Category:Comedy role-playing games]]
[[Category:Role-playing game systems]]
[[Category:Role-playing games introduced in 1993]]
[[Category:Universal role-playing games]]