MAID: the Roleplaying Game Original Japanese version by Ryo Kamiya Original Text and Concept Copyright 2004, 2005 2008 Sunset Games This book was laid out by Ben Lehman on a Apple Macintosh PowerBook G4 12", using Adobe InDesign CS3 software. The body font is Gill Sans Light, a beautiful san-serif designed English translation by Ewen Cluney by Eric Gill, the single most perverse typographer to ever live. I figured a perverse game deserved a perverse font, but also English Text Copyright 2008 Kuroneko Designs that our readers deserved something easy to read. Published in English by Kuroneko Designs The titling font is Myriad Pro Black, because it looks nice First Printing, Early August 2008 with Gill Sans. Second Printing, Late August 2008 EBII speaks in Monaco because it was better than the alter- All Rights Reserved natives. Table of Contents v Maid: The Role-Playing Game Chapter Page Introduction 1 Core Rules 7 Character Creation 7 Action Resolution and Combat 20 Stress and Favor 23 NPCs 24 Random Events 25 Replay: At the Mansion of Madness 31 Basic Scenarios 39 Please be Our Demon King 39 Happy Birthday 41 Optional Rules: New Character Types 47 Butlers 49 Masters 56 Setting and Mansion 62 Optional Rules: Seduction and Comforting 69 Optional Rules: Costumes, Items, and Events 79 Table of Contents Costumes 79 Items 92 Events 111 Weather 122 Optional Rules: Apprentices 125 Two Additional Replays 129 Are the Maids Burning 129 Maids at the End of the World 140 Additional Scenarios 151 Black Cat Mansion 151 Maids Take the Stage 155 Miko RPG! 158 Rise of the Demon KIng 163 Treasure Hunt! 167 Operation Love Academy 169 Maid Board Game: Maidenrangers of Love and Justice 172 Invincible Justibine 175 Liberty: The Final Maid Maiden 179 Example Characters 190 Afterwords 201 Credits and Thanks 207 vi Introduction 1 Introduction So, What is the Maid RPG? Welcome everyone. It’s a pleasure to meet you! My name is So, finally, let’s explain Maid RPG itself. Put simply, in this game Hizumi Kokorono, and I work as Kamiya-sama’s maid. Sorry the GM is the “Master” and the players take on the role of his to just throw out a greeting like that. I’m kind of nervous… maids. If you think this isn’t the kind of game you’d like to play, Maid RPG, Kamiya-sama’s little game book, with its very few you’re probably right. Still, we hope you’ll enjoy reading the illustrations and somewhat confusing rules, is rather infamous book. If it sounds appealing to you, you might share some of in Japan. Kamiya-sama’s interests, and you should perhaps read it with Oh, Kamiya-sama is telling me to tell you that the senti- the goal in mind to someday actually play the game. ment expressed above is the opinion which could only pos- The PCs are maids that serve the Master, and their ad- sibly be held by someone “Who is sick and bitter inside”, and ventures generally take place inside of his mansion. The game that you shouldn’t listen to that person. So, please try to keep can take place in a fantasy setting, in outer space, or just a an open mind. mansion in modern-day Japan. Within that setting, all kinds of So, what was I talking about? Oh yes. Maid RPG. This ep- stories are possible. That is, unless you want to do a realistic och-making revolutionary game, laden with random tables, portrayal of modern maids; that might be a problem. Maid was first published in Japan by Sunset Games on December RPG is basically for slapstick comedy mixed with a little light 30, 2004. drama. I suppose a serious love story isn’t out of the question, but a silly, lighthearted approach works best for this game. What is an RPG? The maids’ daily lives in the mansion frequently become I’m going to try to explain what a role-playing game is. If you challenging adventures. The mansion might have a mysterious already know, feel free to skip over this section. secret weapon underneath it that’s going to activate soon; An RPG is a game where the participants create a story the master could be tormented by a terrible monster; and so together. One of the participants takes on a special role called on. However, a maid’s most formidable opponents are usually the Game Master (GM), and the others are called “players.” the other maids who serve the same master. The maids who It’s the GM’s job to introduce the story and prepare the sce- seem like they ought to be your friends will often become nario. Each player creates a single character, called a Player your greatest rivals. Character (PC), which they then use to play within the sce- So, in this game the maids try their best to gain the favor nario created by the GM. of the NPC “The Master”, and in doing so the group can cre- Within this imaginary world, the players can have their ate countless stories. characters do things that they themselves wouldn’t want to do or would find impossible. Part of the GM’s job is to ob- More on How to Play serve and process the PCs’ activities. He or she takes on a To those of you who are having a hard time understanding godlike role, taking responsibility for the world in which the the game, or want to play and just don’t know what to do, PCs exist. Background characters controlled by the GM and we’ll be happy to help. not by the other players are called non-player characters So, um, anyway. I’m sure I mentioned this before, but in (NPCs). this game there are maids (player characters, portrayed by However, RPGs are different from board and card games the players) and their master (portrayed by the GM), so their in that they’re not simply a game where you win or lose roles are a bit different from other typical tabletop RPGs you through the process of struggling against one another. For may have encountered. The GM still creates the scenario, but this reason, there’s no need for the GM to be an all-out an- for this game the scenario doesn’t need to be very long or tagonist entity, working against the PCs; it’s just not that kind elaborate (Not that you can’t do it that way, mind you). And, of game. of course, the players each create and control a maid char- The GM needs to explain to the players the situation the acter. PCs are confronting. The players then decide how their PCs The Master, his Maids, and the Mansion where they all live: react. From there, the GM arbitrates how the PCs’ actions These three “M”s are constant, and regardless of the world affect the situation, and explains what happens next. Then the in which the game takes place, it’s about the everyday lives process begins again. of these elements. In the mansion, everyday life has action, in- A story is created through this back and forth process, trigue, rivalries, laughter, tears, bloodshed, and so on. In order and eventually a scenario will be completed. Not all endings for the maids to act out freely within this exciting and happy are happy ones, and sometimes a scenario will conclude fast- lifestyle, the most important thing is for the players to have er than intended. RPGs are unpredictable, and while things is imagination. won’t always go the way you want, that’s part of what makes As a player, you need to appreciate your maid’s appeal, them so amazing. and express that feeling through acting. If you can do that, a So anyway, why don’t you try to get together some friends moving performance will result. Maybe. This is stuff that Kami- for a game? Well, for this particular game you’d better make ya-sama came up with, so don’t take it too seriously. In any sure it’s the kind of thing they want to play. It’s pretty weird, case, I’m pretty sure there’s no other game quite like this one. after all… And that’s important... Maybe. 2 Introduction Oh, and there’s also something I’d like to warn you about. ● Friends: You need at least two other people to play The maids in this game can get away with doing all kinds with. of crazy things, but they do have limits. The rules give you a rough idea of what a maid can and can’t accomplish. Maids ● You might also want a stopwatch, since some rules and who aren’t good at athletics will have a hard time running effects in the game go by real time. around the mansion, and will probably have a hard time with tasks that require considerable manual dexterity (Although you can probably get by anyway by currying favor with the Things you probably won’t need master). ● Shame: Feeling shameful about pretending to be a Maid? In handling things like the maids’ Special Powers and Favor, That kind of defeats the purpose. not to mention the GM’s handling of the game, the laws of physics can become a bit twisted and weird. Because of that, ● A maid costume: Not that you can’t, but it’s not neces- you need to be careful of what rules the game does have, sary to play.