Bawk!

Last night, I invited a couple friends over, and ran my Robot Chicken RPG. OMG! It was riotous time! We laughed really hard.

A few highlights:

• Cornelius of the Apes won the Beauty Contest - not because he was any sexier than the other competitors, but because his "talent" eliminated the competition. It was a painful-looking form of breakdancing, augmented with a d12 in the Horrendous Flatulence skill. When quizzed about it by the judges he said: "Talent competition? No - I, I was just walking."
• Jesse Ventura seduced the Red Z-G figure that we claimed was Mark Rein*Hagen. Should I ever see Mark again (not terribly likely, since I'm no longer working in the industry), I probably owe him an apology for the things done to him in effigy at my game. It started as respectful and well-intended "homage" / faux-cameo... but this was Robot Chicken, after all. Amy took the initiative by undressing the Jesse Ventura doll so he could show up wearing nothing but a strategically taped-on sock. Mark was an NPC, and thus only got a d8 to resist his advances.
  
• Ben Franklin sold Lizards on kite strings to the British Army, but they still invaded the Colonies once tea-time was over.
• Pimpzilla did not destroy Tokyo, but he did get his Ho (aka Marion Ravenwood).
• Turns out that's not a saddle on the Carrion Crawler, it's a bike helmet his mom makes him wear in case he falls over again. He's a little slow... and he likes to pet furry or soft things. Which, with him being a carrion crawler, doesn't go over so well.
  
• Blue Squadron was having relationship problems. I guess that's why some folks don't agree with Ewok-on-Rancor love. Magic Beans were eventually dropped down the Death Star's heat port, which resulted in a huge spiraling beanstalk growing out in an ever-expanding circle. It's unclear whether or not that stopped the rebel base from getting destroyed.
  

Despite using just two dice and no character sheets, the game takes a lot of space. The toys absolutely made the game. Ridiculous nonsense occurred that would not have without them, such as Cornelius' "walking" and Governor Ventura wearing just a sock to Mark's place. Everyone used their toys like toys, not just miniatures or a character sketch. Funny voices, shaking them a little when you talk, hitting the other toys with your toy to attack, etc. It's like we were all 8 years old again - except with dirtier humor.

Much fun was had by all, but there's a few changes I'm tempted to make for next time:

1. The point system didn't work as smoothly as I'd hoped. There were scenes where players did hilarious things, but scored hardly any points at all. In the future, I'll lighten up the scoring a little bit. If you make the whole group laugh, that should be worth 25 points, and probably every time you roll a d12 (in other words, every time you use your Depth Card) it should be another 5 or 10 points.
   
   
2. Celebrity Guest Stars are really important for making the game feel like Robot Chicken. I'll need to go down to Archie McPhee and pick up an Edgar Allen Poe, a Sigmund Freud, and a Marie Antoinette action figure sometime. Then poor Z-G Mark R-H will be safe. (Again, I'm very sorry, Mark.)
   
   
3. Each skit starts out crazy, and then slowly winds down. The more structured the skit was, the better. While nothing actually ran overlong, and everyone had a blast, it felt like there was some danger of a skit wearing out it's welcome. One option is to put a TV remote in the middle of the table. If anyone is getting bored with a Skit, they just grab the remote, which signals one of the "Channel Flips" the show does (and thus ends the Skit). With that in mind, the GM should probably have one or two instant gags prepared he can throw in between scenes to be the channel flips.