For the month of October, I am focusing on Books About Assorted Scary Things, which includes clowns, as Pennywise and Mr. King remind us. My fellow writer, Kim Frandsen, arranged for me to experience vs. Stranger Stuff: Send in the Clowns Special Edition, Fat Goblin Games‘ “mini-RPG” in which the heroes are 1980s vintage teens and preteens, perhaps not too different from me and my high school friends. In other words, it’s an homage to movies like Goonies or the earlier E.T. and the current TV series Stranger Things. This PDF as well as the standard vs Stranger Stuff, are available free at Drive Thru RPG. (PDF supplements are also available for under US$10 each.)
There is a lot packed into this 54 page PDF–rules, a couple towns, a make-your-own-town map, and 3 short scenarios, all about creepy clowns. The mechanics are VSM Engine, a new one to me, and very simple, using standard playing cards rather than dice to resolve combat and checks. Stats are minimalist–Toughness, Brains, Muscles–plus Good Stuff and Bad Stuff (advantages and disadvantages). Equipment is limited, mostly to toys and entertainment items of the times–skateboards and bikes, VHS tapes, dolls and action figures, high-powered water guns, etc. Other weapons are mentioned in the Damage rules as well, which The Kids (PCs) could easily find, in variety stores or Dad’s toolshed.
Speaking of damage, as is right for a game about youngsters, damage is mostly nonlethal; Damage severe enough to affect stats is called “Pain” and Toughness 0 equals unconscious not dead. There is an optional Hard Mode for groups that want to use Stranger Stuff to emulate horror movies about age 18+ teens and college students, rather than tween to middle school adventure movies.
Most of the PDF is the three clown modules. (SLIGHT SPOILERS) While each one is standalone, there are sidebar suggestions for GMs who want to loosely link them as a mini-campaign. The first, “Creepy Clowns,” is a short (probably 1 session) adventure centered on a fall fair. It is a good choice if your players are younger (elementary age), as the titular clowns range from literal schoolyard bullies to supernatural, but not too horrific. The other two, slightly longer, scenarios, “The Case of Cap’n Freezie” and “Silhouette of a Clown,” both use the trope of a mistreated person from years ago returning, in some form, to haunt or terrorize locals. These two are definitely not for the youngest gamers, in my opinion. Not only are they scarier than “Creepy Clowns,” but both have NPC children of The Kids’ ages as targets of the clowns.
In addition to rules and scenarios, Send in the Clowns has several pages of facts about clowns. There are several pages of “lingo,” clowning terminology, antics, and descriptions of the different types of clowns (makeup and costuming) such as Pierrot and Auguste. These are not necessary for running the scenarios, except for enhancing GM descriptions of NPCs and actions. However, I found them very interesting.
Overall, this is a pretty good and simple RPG, especially if your group needs a change of pace or you are looking for a con game to run. If you like it, there are more modules and supplements at Drive Thru (such as vs Ghosts and vs Moon Men setting books and “The Mad Gasser” and “Krampusnacht” scenarios), ranging from $1 to $10 in price.
Linda Whitson
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