lasko@regina.DEC (09/30/84)
how notice them, picking up Plot Points for being silly, or following
their Beliefs and Goals. Plot Points can then be used to improve on Skills
or Shticks.
The mechanics are simple also: To use a Skill or a Shtick, make the level
of the skill on two six-sided dice. The rules state that two always succeeds,
and give lots of special cases for twelves (If you roll a twelve when using
your Break Down Door skill, the door disappears, or wasn't locked anyway,
etc.) Fighting is a little more complex: both characters roll their Fight
skill, and if only one succeeds, the other takes a die of damage. If both
succeed, or fail, the fight goes on, until you drop from exhaustion.
And what happens when you lose all your Hit Points? You Fall Down. That's
it. TOON characters never really die, they just Fall Down, and have little
stars dance around their heads. Three minutes later, the character can get
up, and keep going.
The rules are written in a tutorial style: it starts with a few simple
rules, then a short adventure, then give you the rest of the rules (with
lots of examples along the way), with more complicated rules set off
by stars. All that takes the first 36 pages.
The next section of the book talks about being an Animator, and how one
can set up a TOON adventure, plus guidelines for handling typical cartoon
plot devices, such as Illogical Logic, Boggling, Sawing through Branches,
Coincidences, Independent Shadows, Instant Fine Print, Sound Effects,
Portable Holes, and lots more. All of it is highly entertaining reading.
This section, combined with the four adventures at the end of the book, give
you a good idea on how the game should be played: SILLY.
In the beginning of the book, there is a message for "Experienced Roleplay-
ers", and I quote from it here. "TOON isn't like any other roleplaying
game you've ever known. In most RPGs, the idea is to plot and plan--to
think before you act--and to make sure your character survives... Forget
All That. Survival? Who cares? You can't ever really die, so you've got
nothing to lose by jumping right into the thick of things...Think before
you act? No chance...the action in a TOON game should be fast--insanely
fast. Remember, you're supposed to be a cartoon character. When was the
last time you saw a cartoon character do something logical? ACT before you
THINK"
There are some inherent problems with the game: the Fighting rules may
be a little too abstract for some players, timing and sequencing of character
actions can get to be a burden, and the nature of the game limits you to
twenty to thirty minute sessions. The latter is probably it's biggest fault:
I can't see spending an entire evening playing cartoon after cartoon--but it
is great for a short break in a longer role-playing session!
When you get down to playing it, it's insane. The Animator should be
someone with a devilish talent for the silly, and the players should have a
taste for the unusual. But where else can you get a bunny rabbit, a Little
Green Man from Mars, a dim-witted detective, and a dachsund together for a bit
of role-playing fun? I highly recommend this game.
Tim Lasko
{decvax, allegra, ihnp4, et. al.}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-regina!laskotoml@oliveb.UUCP (Dave Long) (10/03/84)
[Grab it all! Own it all! Drain it all!]
TOON is great, however, don't buy the rulebook unless you are planning to
have it for the silliness of it. The rulebook is great reading on rainy days,
but con a friend into buying it, or borrow it and copy down the skill list.
TOON is just cartoon impromptu, and not much more. All the special cases
for skills are straightforward enough, and all items work as they should.
The best thing to do is to copy down or memorize the skills, then watch
the Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show one Saturday to get some scenario ideas, and
start playing.
What we have found that works is: Get everybody that is playing together
to watch the BB/RR Show, then play at the end. The Animator will have plenty
of fresh ideas of what to do, and the player-characters will have a better
idea of what they can do in TOON. The average SQ (Sanity Quotient) goes *way*
down after this.
The best thing to do, I feel though, is to just play whenever enough
people feel silly enough. You may play in the wierdest places, but it helps
the game, and we've never yet been taken up to the local mental health
institute.
--
-- Dave Long --
{fortune,idi,ios,hplabs,tymix}!oliveb!toml
{allegra,ihnp4,msoft,tty3b,uvacs}!oliveb!tomlsteven@qubix.UUCP (Steven Maurer) (10/05/84)
[+]
I too, like TOON. It is the best you can do with an
essentially unsimulatable genre. Why is it unsimulatable?
Because almost all cartoons have two classes of character
types, "Heros", and "Dupes".
A "Hero" is like Bugs Bunny. He is not looking for trouble,
but somehow it comes for him. He always wins. He is always
impervious to all attacks.
A "Dupe" is like Wile E. Coyote. He trys to get the hero,
but looses either because of the hero's cleverness, or because
he has terrible luck.
The problem with TOON, is that few people want to play a Dupe.
Heros Dupes
----- -----
Bugs Bunny The Coyote (Caneous Hungryus)
Tweety Bird Yosemite Sam
Micky Mouse Sylvester
Road Runner Elmer Fudd
Daffy Duck (early version) Daffy Duck (later versions)
The baby Chickenhawk The Martian
Popeye The Big Ape
The Sheepdog Wile E. Coyote ("my card")
Jerry Brutis
Tom
Non Heros/Non Dupes
Foghorn Leghorn
The Dog
The turtle(s)
Bugs Bunny (rarely)
Granny
Shorty
Whimpy
Olive Oyl
Tom (occasionally)
Jerry (occasionally)
The Bull Dogtoml@oliveb.UUCP (Dave Long) (10/06/84)
[Grab it all! Own it all! Drain it all!]
Dupes are sometimes more fun to play than Heros. TOON is perfect in the
sense that it doesn't matter what happpens. My favorite character,Herr Doktor
Verrueckter, is a Mad Scientist (DUPE). He may fail in his efforts all the
time, but when he gets gronking, he *outperforms* all the Heros. It isn't
what happens, but *how* it happens that matters in TOON. Everybody has to
admit that Wile E. Coyote is easier to be totally silly and hammed up with
than the Road Runner. (Although Tweety Bird is a good Hero)
--
-- Dave Long --
{fortune,idi,ios,hplabs,tymix}!oliveb!toml
{allegra,ihnp4,msoft,tty3b,uvacs}!oliveb!toml