Monty Python's Cocurricular Mediaeval Reenactment Programme (RPG) - Sensible Middle Class Bundle

Standard hardcover Sensible Middle Class Edition of Monty Python's Cocurricular Mediaeval Reenactment ProgrammeINCLUDESSensible Middle Class Edition - Standard HardcoverCustom Dice SetPDF EditionMonty Python’s Cocurricular Mediaeval Reenactment Programme is a rigorous course of study intended only for serious students of English History. It is by no means a complete and comprehensive manual for running imaginative, highly unpredictable, Mediaeval-themed role-playing games based upon the complete comedic output of Monty Python with one’s friends.This officially licensed book features: An original rules-lite gaming system with spam.Guidance on designing adventures with spam.Ready-to-run quests, spam, and guidance on designing one's own adventures.Character creation, spam, bestiary, spam, and Dramatis Personae sections.Tables for generating all sorts of things with spam.Spam.Though the Programme is set in Mediaeval England, it draws upon Monty Python’s entire catalogue to render up an interactive world full of their unique characters, creations, and sensibilities. All of this may be brought to bear for long-term campaigning or just a single evening of educational advancement. Participants need not be familiar with Monty Python’s work in order to participate, nor is role-playing game experience required. (The latter would be entirely useless, as this is emphatically not a role-playing game, and if you do have extensive experience with such things, you are likely too silly a person to participate in this Programme and should stop reading immediately.)The Head of Light EntertainmentMuch of Monty Python’s educational output was broadcast by the illustrious British Broadcasting Company under the watchful, benevolent eye of the Head of Light Entertainment. In this Programme, the person taking on the role of learning facilitator is referred to as the Head of Light Entertainment. They are charged with being in charge, or, to be specific, with arbitrating, refereeing, interpreting rules, issuing rulings, meting out punishment, taking on the roles of any characters encountered by the Participants, hosting cut-in television programmes, and, occasionally, being God. Needless to say, this person is to be afforded the utmost respect and referred to exclusively as either Head of Light Entertainment or, for efficiency’s sake, HoLE.Each session begins with a die roll on the Heads of Light Entertainment Table to determine which HoLE persona the facilitator will be taking on. Should the HoLE at any point find themselves dead or sacked (due to factors including the accrual of overmany complaint letters from the viewers at home), a new roll is made on the table. Amongst the many HoLE options are such illustrious personae as Jimmy Buzzard, the Good Fairy of Programme Control, Dino Vercotti, Mr. Ian Throat MP, and a penguin. ParticipantsAn excerpt from the Participant Chapter. We wish to apologize for the appearance of the pages in this chapter. Those responsible for the vandalism have been thoroughly scolded. Art by Elliot Lang.The role of the Participant is, first and foremost, to deepen their understanding of British History through vigorous, earnest adoption of an alter ego or avatar, referred to as a “Participant Character” or “PC.” The choices, each of which comes with a certain “Special Serious Ability” and a choice of equipment, retinue members, and conveyances, are:ClericEnchanterHermitKnightMonarchMonk/NunNe’erdowellNoblePeasantTroubadourEach Participant Character has up to five attributes known as “Traits”. These Traits, from which there are twenty to choose, have quite Serious names, like Valour, Purpose, Decorum, Chastity, and Wisdom in the Ways of Science. However, each Trait also has a Silly expression. How Serious or Silly a PC is in a particular Trait determines what die is rolled when using that Trait. Here is a smashing chart that represents this Serious-Silly dice continuum:StrewthingShould the result of a roll be the maximum possible result for the die rolled, the Participant has “Strewthed” the deed or test. The Participant does two things immediately:Increases that Trait by one degree toward the Serious end of things by marking their character sheet. Thereafter, any deed or test of that Trait will use the new, larger, more serious die…until it changes again.Rolls the new, larger die and adds the result to that of the first roll. SpammingShould the die roll result in a 1, the Participant has made a hash of things or “Spammed It”. The Participant must do two things immediately:Decrease that Trait by one degree toward the Silly end of things by marking their character sheet. Thereafter, any test of that Trait will use the new, smaller, sillier die…until it changes again.Receive a Demerit from the HoLE. DemeritsIf the result of any roll or series of rolls brought on by Strewthing totals 20 or higher, the Participant has gone and taken things a bit too seriously, which, education aside, is a bit off-putting. The Participant has earned a Demerit in the form of a token.Additionally, if a Participant rolls a 1 on the first roll of a test (i.e., Spams It), they earn a Demerit in the form of a token.Participants can also earn Demerits by offending the sensibilities of their Head of Light Entertainment. Each HoLE is offended by different things, so Participants are encouraged to observe their HoLE carefully to learn how to avoid racking up Demerits. Dire ConsequencesWhen a Participant earns a number of Demerits that meets or exceeds the Head of Light Entertainment’s tolerance for such things, they must immediately roll on the HoLE’s Dire Consequences Table and suffer as indicated. The HoLE has access to all of these tables and will report on the result. Participants do not have visibility into these things as they are unworthy of such knowledge at this stage of their educational development. Dire Consequences, which vary according to which HoLE persona is in charge, range from being squashed by a giant foot to being transported to a state-of-the-art 1970s television studio to generating a complaint letter from viewers at home to being hit over the head by a raw chicken to being transported to the deck of ship at sea to being called away to another sketch to…oh, you get the idea. MeritsHoLEs can be offended, but they can be placated too. When a Participant does something that agrees with the sensibilities of the current HoLE, they earn a Merit in the form of a token. Participants can turn in a Merit at any time to receive one of the following benefits:Give themselves an advantage on their next die roll: they can roll two dice and take the preferred result. Participants can turn in as many Merits as they like to “buy” extra dice for their next roll, but they cannot spend Merits after a roll has been made to try again.Cancel a Demerit. A Merit can cancel an existing Demerit or one that the Participant has only just earned in order to avoid a Dire Consequence. QuestsAs ‘twas for our heroic forebears, for Participant Characters life is questing. The Programme narrative is largely driven by specific goals set out by the Head of Light Entertainment, discovered by the participants, or issued directly from God Himself. While Participants are free to engage in whatever activity they choose, they are encouraged to take up the Great Endeavour, whatever that may be, rather than just mucking about. But to each their own one supposes.Slaying monsters...that's worthy endeavoring! Art by Kyle Patterson. Get On With It!Well, there’s also the chance that you and your party find yourselves contestants on a quiz show, being badgered for a quid or two to keep the Programme moving, falling into a vat of dung, having to kneel because the Pope has just tuned in, or using your PC's Special Serious Ability to do something truly extraordinary…but this has gone on rather long enough, hasn’t it?The boulderous and banned in seven countries thirty-sided die...used exclusively for Special Serious Abilities and stunning medium-sized oposums. I’d planned to cover Special Serious Abilities, but you went all “Get On With It”, so now you’ll have to ask your HoLE about your SSA. Look, there's no use moaning about it. No. I said no. Oh you do go on.