so yeah, we played kill puppies for satan, and it didn't suck. here's what happened. oh, and just so we're clear, yes, this is going to be one of those actual play posts for kill puppies for satan that is all lower-case letters and run on sentences and shit, so if that's gonna bother you either stop reading now or, if you wanna be a turd, skip to the end.

anyway.

bob is a 30-something out of work clown/entertainer. he kills puppies for satan. shayne is an 18-year-old high school senior. she is a goth chick or at least tries to be, and she kills puppies for satan. danny is a fucking loser redneck working on his second senior year of high school. he kills puppies for satan. a-lexus is this crazy fucked up 17 year old chick. she kills puppies for satan.

so they're hanging in bob's mom's basement, and somebody says hey! let's go kill some pets and start some shit! and so that's what they do. you don't need all the sordid details. here are the highlights:

they kill a dog and somebody calls the cops.

the cop stops them on the street (they're on foot), and they set a car on fire with some evil to distract the cop and get away.

they go to the local convenience store and get caught shoplifting, so they beat the shit out of the clerk and start going through the register.

right about then somebody else comes in the store. and it's the same cop, who says, "hey! you kids!" (even though bob is 35) and gives chase. they get away with the surveilance tape of them beating the shit out the clerk for later viewing pleasure.

they decide it's time to leave town, so they go to the next town. they see a sign advertising live reindeer petting thing setup at the local mall for the holidays. you know where this is going.

on the way to the reindeer they stop at the pet store, cause every mall has one. bob dives back-first into the rabbit pit, crunch. gets escorted out of the mall. comes back into the mall. (duh.) a-lexus crushes a cage full of hamsters. shayne buys a kitten and leaves its body floating in the toilet of the women's bathroom.

danny distracts the security guard while a-lexus kills reindeer number one by turning invisible and strangling it dead in front of all those fucking kids. shayne goes all super speedy and spills the blood of reindeer number two out of a well-cut gash in the throat.

soon after, the group convenes on a bench nearby to watch the chaos they have wrought. while eating a jumbo tub of popcorn.

while we played kill puppies for satan, we played christmas carols on the hi-fi. cause, you know, 'tis the season.

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This was one of the player's first time role-playing ever. How cool is that?

Fun was had by all. There was much laughter and shenanigans and stuff like that going on, which the game lends itself to, mostly by the benefit of the Color that oozes from its pores. The Color carries the game; there's nothing in the mechanics to facilitate humor. This is a game which relies on the group being on the same (or at least a similar) page. We were, so it was a fucking blast.

I noticed the rules stayed pretty much out of the way for most of play. When rolls were made, it was with a mixture of frustration and joy that I noticed that the bulk of the rolls were failures. It's interesting because the characters are such losers, they should fail most of the time. Yet the dice make it so that your characters can't suck the way you want them to. They suck in other equally funny ways. Very funky.

Everyone was on board with the whole "these characters are losers who don't deserve the success we nevertheless want them to have" premise. I was pleased that everyone got it and was willing to run with it.

Anyway, that's my kill puppies for satan Actual Play post. Vincent, thanks for game.

I played in the session as well, and thought I’d a few brief comments.

I think this was a good first game for someone daunted by roleplaying. The emphasis is on the character interactions and fun. The minimal mechanics let the noob dive into play, not having to worry about the calculus of the rules or feel pressure from gamist competition.

A fun game with the exact right sort of group for the flavor.

People playing puppies at this time of year, it always fills my heart with mean, bitter warmth. I mean, live reindeer!

Thank you for the holiday cheer.

-Vincent

Hey, no problem. Anything I can do to spread holiday cheer...

Regarding puppies being good for newbies, yeah, I tend to agree. The game encourages a madcap, chaotic style of play that I think players find appealing. There's a real sense of freedom. But I'll also throw in a strong proviso that the group has to be on board with the game's premise. I could see it easily going the other way with a bad group, i.e. a nightmare for a new player. The group was perfect, I mean perfect for this game. It rocked.

By the way, the reindeer's names were Elmo and Patsy. Get it? That's okay, none of my players did either. Elmo and Patsy is the group that originally recorded "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer." Ha, I kill me...