REAPER MADNESSA 24-Hour Game About Dead People

By Steve Johnson

©2005, Fuqit Games

You’re Dead. Now What?Hey now, sparky, you don’twanna go over there. It ain’tpretty, and seein’ your ownmangled corpse sure as heckain’t gonna improve your dayone bit. Good thing old Samplucked you when he did; thatwoulda hurt like the dickens.Hi, I’m Jimbo, and I’m yournew boss? What’s that? No, youdon’t really have that jobanymore, or at least you won’twhen your boss finds out aboutyour unfortunate accident. Incase the whole “mangledcorpse” thing didn’t give itaway, you’re dead. Well, notreally dead, but you’re not aliveanymore. Some folks call itbeing ‘undead,’ but that kindatalk gives me the heebie-geebies. Anyway, since Sam’s

moved on to bigger and betterthings, you’re his replacement.Some people try to candy coatwhat we do and call themselves“terminal episode guidancespecialists” or some suchnonsense, but that’s just abunch of two-dollar words.You’re a Grim Reaper now,kiddo. Welcome aboard!

In Reaper Madness, players takeon the roles of Grim Reapers. It’stheir job to help the dead moveon to whatever awaits them in theafterlife. Most of the time, this is apretty simple thing—you just walkup to the soon-to-be deceased,snatch their soul, and then try notto stare too much or hurl whenthey get corpsified. Sometimes,though, the dead don’t want to

move on, and it’s up to you topersuade them that their time onearth is through. Even simple jobscan become difficult if the Reapergets too involved with the clientbefore he or she dies; somepeople you just wish you could letlive.

Aside from the whole “being an(un)living incarnation of death”thing, Reapers have other prob-lems to contend with. First off,there’s the whole “dying” thing todeal with; some people haveexistential crises about that sort ofthing. Even Reapers who canaccept death often have problemsadjusting. Dying is a lot likemoving to a new city. Suddenlyyou’re all alone in a strange newsituation without any of your oldfriends and safety nets to help youout. To top it off, Reapers havethe same drives and desires as theliving—they get hungry, thirsty,and horny just like the rest of us.Since Reaping isn’t a paying gig,that means a new Reaper has tofind some way to make money ifthey don’t want to be miserable.

The CampaignSince what’s left of your car haslocal plates, I’m gonna guessyou’re from around here, sothat’ll save me from having togive you a tour of our fair city.You won’t be corporeal againuntil your body’s either burnedor in the ground, so you get tostart the job by taking a vaca-tion. If you want to hangaround with me, that’s just fineby me. I can tell you a little bitabout what we do. You can goto your own funeral if you wantto, but I wouldn’t recommendit—best not cry over spilledmilk, or more accurately spilledblood. You ever been to Pedro’sHouse of Pancakes, junior? I’mheaded that way right now. Youcan’t really eat since you’re allghostly, but don’t worry. You’llget to sample the whole menuonce you’re up and breathingagain.

While it’s perfectly acceptable forthe Game Master (GM) to comeup with the campaign backgroundand then let the players createtheir characters, it’s usually bestto do these things as a group.When the players and GM worktogether to create the campaign,everybody involved feels moreinvolved in the game. Also, havingthe entire group make charactersat the same time increases thechances that the Player Charac-ters (PCs) will fit together into acoherent group. It also helpsencourage the players to establishexisting relationships between thePCs, which is a big improvement

on the “you meet in a bar” sce-nario common in RPGs. There-fore, it’s recommended that most(if not all) of the first game sessionbe reserved for campaign andcharacter creation. This chapterdescribes some of the things thatthe GM and players shoulddiscuss when creating the cam-paign.

ToneThe intended tone for ReaperMadness is “dark comedy,” butthere’s a lot of range there. Whilethe best games will go fromhorrifying to zany and back again,it’s a good idea to decidewhether, in general, your groupwants to focus more on the“dark” or the “comedy.” Knowingthe preferred baseline tone will bevery useful in coming up withcampaign details and characters.

SettingThe default setting for ReaperMadness is “real-life”—modern-day planet earth with nothingweird (or at least weirder thanusual) going on as far as mostpeople know. The informationhere assumes this kind of setting,but others are possible. If you’dlike to play a game about Reapersin 17th Century France, 24th

Century Mars, or your favoritesuperhero universe, feel free to doso. It might take a little extrawork on your part, but it could bea lot of fun.

Assuming you’re using the default

setting, there are still a few thingsto figure out. First off, where doesthe game take place? MostReaper Madness games will beset in a particular city. That meansthat you’ll need to come up with aname for the place, as well as ageneral idea of its size, character,and location in the world. A fewtips:

“Stock” CitiesSome cities (L.A., New York,Las Vegas) are so common inpop culture that even people whohaven’t been there feel like theyknow what the place is like. If thegame is set in New Orleans, allthe players will know to expectMardi Gras, Bourbon Street, andmaybe some weird voodoo stuff.If you’re using a stock city, it’sbest to pick one that most of theplayers have never been to, orhave only visited briefly. Other-wise, the game could get side-tracked whenever the localexpert/former resident noticessomething that’s out of place.

Familiar CitiesUsing a city that the players andGM are familiar with (yourhometown or the city where youall went to college, for example),has its advantages. For one thing,everybody knows what the cityand its inhabitants are like, wherethings are, and what bars to hangout in. Also, the juxtaposition ofthe familiar and the weird can helpcreate the sense of quirkiness thatworks well in this kind of game.Of course, if your group has

already played “My Neighbor-hood By Night,” this option mightnot be the best. As with “Stock”cities that players have visited,sometimes reality can get in theway here, so make sure every-body understands that this is thefictional version of your city,especially where minor details areconcerned.

Unfamiliar CitiesTired of stock cities and “RageAcross My Backyard?” Justdecide what size you’d like yourcity to be, and what part of theworld you’d like it to be in, thenlook at a map. The advantagehere is that you can use real-world facts and news for flavor(city government and chamber ofcommerce websites are great)without worrying too much aboutthe details.Fictional CitiesIf the there options above don’twork for you, you can always setyour game in a fictional city. Justdetermine the basic flavor of theplace (“Anytown, USA,” “Subur-ban Hell,” “The City”), come upwith a few interesting details, andmake up the rest as you go along.

Globe-Spanning AdventureWhile most Reapers will operatein a specific city, there’s no reasonthe team can’t travel all over theworld. Maybe they’re responsiblefor reaping soldiers who are killedin action, or specialize in planecrashes, earthquakes, or similardisasters. This kind of campaignleads to exotic locales and newplaces, but running a gamewithout permanent locations andcharacters can sometimes bedifficult.

The CrewOnce you’ve figured out thebasics of the city your characterswill be living in, it’s time to decidea few things about the PC group.Start off by deciding what kindsof relationships the charactershave with one another. Are theyone big happy family? Do theysee one another as strictly co-workers? Are there love trianglesor blood feuds? As the crewtakes shape, players will get abetter idea of what sorts ofcharacters they want to play, andhow those characters fit into thegroup. In addition to the basicgroup dynamics, you’ll want to

think about a few other details:

The BossEvery crew has a boss. He’s theguy who hands out assignments,handles problems, and makes therules. For the time being, you’llneed to have a general idea of hisleadership style and personality. Ishe everybody’s pal? A pointy-haired moron? A pompous ass?You’ll also need to decidewhether the boss will be a PC ora Game Master Character(GMC). While the boss role iswell suited for GMC status,making a PC the boss also has itsadvantages. It’s up to the groupas a whole to decide which optionwill work best for them.

The “Office”Most crews will have a base ofoperations, where they meet toget their assignments for the dayand discuss business. They mightmeet at the same bus stop at theappointed time, or conductbusiness over a pool game atZeke’s bar. Some crews evenoperate a real business (perhaps aprivate detective agency orconsulting firm), which provides

them with both income and acover for their real business.

SpecialtiesReapers can reap any sort ofsoul, but some crews and indi-viduals specialize in a particulartype of reap (murders, accidents,pets, terminal diseases, etc.).While making the group “generalpractitioners” allows for morevariation from game to game,some groups (especially thosewho travel all over the world)may prefer the “specialist” ap-proach.

RulesCertain rules apply to all Reapers,and are described later. For now,you just need to decide whatguidelines the crew (or just theboss) has decided to follow.Typical work rules like “nodating” and “the last one to leaveturn off the lights” can apply, butyou’ll probably want a few “ReapRules” (“get permission beforeyou take another Reaper alongwith you” or “no trading”) as well.Since Reapers can’t really befired (though they can be trans-ferred), you’ll also need to figureout how the boss enforces therules. Will characters who breakthe rules be yelled at? Given an“I’m very disappointed in you”speech? Punched in the mouth?

AssignmentsHow are assignments doled out?Does just tell everyone about theirReap and expect them to eitherwrite it down or remember thedetails? Does he write Reapdetails down on the back ofnapkins, hand them out in sealed

envelopes, or send them viaemail? Also, determine if the bosslets the Reapers have input aboutwhat types of assignments they’regiven. Maybe everyone is allowedto choose one type of assignmentthey won’t take (“no kids,” “Iwon’t go to Queens”), or areallowed to trade reaps. On theother hand, some bosses mayrequire that everyone do the jobtheir given, or randomly assignReaps.

ActivitiesFinally, decide if there are anynon-Reaping activities the crewdoes as a group. Maybe the bossconstantly forces them to do“team-building” activities, or theyalways go out drinking Wednes-day night, or get together to crashfunerals whenever the opportunitypresents itself.

GMCsYour GM is no doubt fully ca-pable of coming up with charac-ters on his own, and good playerswill end up with half a dozen ormore GMCs before they finishcharacter creation. Still, it doesn’thurt to come up with a fewrecurring characters as a group.When everyone contributes,you’ll usually end up with charac-ters who are far more interestingand believable than those createdby a single person. A few possiblecharacter types to consider here:

The BossIf the boss is going to be a GMC,let the players have some input.

Other Reapers If there are other Reapers orcrews in the city, come up withsome details about them. How dothey operate? Who are they?How do they get along with yourcrew?

Other People “In the Know”Though it’s rare, there are ahandful of regular people whoknow about Reapers, haveabilities that allow them to com-municate with disembodied souls,or have other powers related todead people. A few possibilitiesare described later.

Regular FolksThese are people who have noidea that Grim Reapers walkamong the living. Examplesinclude the bartender at the localpub, the bum who hangs out nearthe bus stop, and that smarmy guywith the tattoos. Coming up witha few colorful characters willmake the game more fun.

Your CharacterLookin’ good there, Skippy!‘Course, the last time I sawyou, you had that sucking chestwound, so I guess someimprovement’s to be expected. Ibet you’re hungry after all thatwandering around without abody. Here, have some pan-cakes. They’re so delicious theyjust gotta be bad for ya, but Iguess that don’t really matter;what with us bein’ dead and all.Once you’ve got some fooddown your throat, you can tellme a little about yourself. Itmight stir up some memoriesabout your old life, but that’sultimately a good thing. Nowthat you’re one of us, that life isover. It’s best for you to acceptthat right now. Otherwiseyou’re gonna run into problems.

Bring Your Character to LifeIt’s best to start out by creatingyour character on the day of herdeath. Don’t worry, we’ll bekilling her off soon. For now,don’t bother with figuring outcharacter stats, just focus on whothe character is, what her life islike, where she comes from, andwhat her personality is like. Ifyou’re having trouble, try answer-ing the following questions:

• What does she do for a living?• Where does she live• Who are her friends?• How does she dress?• Where does she come from?• What does she want out of life?(not that she’ll get it, since she’sabout to die)

• What does she do in her sparetime?• Is she outgoing, shy, or some-where in between?• What do other people think ofher when they first meet her?• What makes her happy?• What ticks her off?

Add Some Word and NumbersCharacters in Reaper Madnesshave the following Words (alsoknown as stats):Body describes the character’sgeneral physical health.Brain describes the character’smental abilities, including innateintelligence and education.Nerve rates the character’s self-confidence, courage, and will-power.Job describes what thecharacter’s does. In some cases,Job is an actual occupation thatthe character uses to earn a living(“investment banker,” for ex-ample), but it can also describethe character’s lifestyle (“hobo”),role in society (“housewife”), oreven dream career (“aspiringactress”).Gimmick is a special talent thatgenerally cannot be learned. Youeither have it or you don’t.Gimmicks can range from “dumbhuman tricks” (“can open beerbottles with her teeth”) to phe-nomenal cosmic powers (“om-nipotent”). Unless your game isset in a world very different fromour own (for example, a fantasyworld) or the GM gives youspecial permission to have somefreaky psychic power or magical

ability, you’ll want to stick closerto the “dumb human tricks” sideof things.Weakness is the character’s fatalflaw. While the character’sWeakness doesn’t have to be thecause of her tragic downfall, itshould at least be a major incon-venience. Think Shakespeareantragedy and Greek mythologyhere. Avoid annoying personalitytraits (“spits when she talks”),minor inconveniences (“afraid ofgum”), and “one-shot” Weak-nesses (“dark secret”). While it’sfine (and, in fact, encouraged) forcharacters to have all of thesetraits, they don’t really work asWeaknesses.Skills are talents, abilities, andknowledge that aren’t necessarilyrelated to the character’s job.Skills primarily reflect thecharacter’s hobbies and interests.Your character’s Skills don’t needto reflect her entire knowledgeand life experience, just things sheknows a lot about or doesregularly. All the other stuff iscovered by Body, Brain, andNerve. Each character starts thegame with three skills.Health Points are used to trackthe amount of physical punishmentthe character can take. SinceReapers can’t die, Health Points(or, more precisely, lack of HealthPoints) are primarily used todetermine how much pain thecharacter is in at any givenmoment.

Yum Yums are tasty pieces ofcandy, but don’t start eating themjust yet. They can be used to docool things in the game, which willbe described later, quite possiblyon page XX or in Appendix YZ.Tag Line is a witty phrase thattells others something about yourcharacter. You don’t have to use itfrequently or often. In fact, doingso can become very annoyingvery quickly.WWPHITM?(Who Would PlayHim/Her In The Movie?) If youwere making a movie about thegame, who would you cast toplay your character? Note: Ifyour Tag Line and WWPHTMmatch (for example “Come GetSome” and “Bruce Campbell”),you should probably work onyour character a little more.Dumb Fact: Some random tidbitabout your character: favoriteband, brush with greatness, secretperversion, etc.

Understand what all the Wordsmean? Great! Now it’s time toassign numbers to (some of)them. To determine your Num-bers, roll d10+6. Now do itagain. Continue until you’ve gotfive Numbers between 7 and 16.Assign these Numbers to thefollowing Words (in any orderyou like): Body, Brain, Nerve,Job, and Gimmick. Yourcharacter’s Weakness Number isthe same as her Gimmick Num-ber, and her Health Points areequal to her Body Number. Nowroll a d20 and divide by 5; that’show many Yum Yums you have atthe beginning of the game. Skillshave Bonuses rather than Num-bers: assign a +3 Skill Bonus to

one skill, +2 to another, and +1 towhatever’s left. Tag Line,WWPHTIM?, and Dumb Factdon’t need Numbers.

SAMPLE WORDSYour character’s Job, Gimmick, Weakness, and Skills can bewhatever you want them to be, as long as the GM agrees (or youcan convince him) that they’re appropriate for the campaign.Since this sort of open-endedness intimidated some people, I’veprovided a list of Words that should work well in a ReaperMadness game. It’s up to you and the GM to determine thespecific game effects for your character’s Words.

Jobs: Aspiring Musician, Bartender, Career Temp, ComputerNerd, Con Artist, Dead Celebrity, Door-to-Door Salesperson,Drag Queen, Drug Dealer, Exotic Dancer, Funeral Director, Goth,Hippie, Meter Maid, Outdoorsman, Petty Criminal, Preacher,Real-Estate Novelist, Reporter, Short Order Cook, Slacker,Teacher, Used Car Salesman, Veteran, Waiter/Waitress

Gimmicks: Always Find A Parking Space, Citizen of the World,Clue Magnet, Empathy, Everybody’s Buddy, Green Thumb, HardBoiled, I’ve Seen Worse, King of The Road, Lifetime of Experi-ence, Prepared For Anything, Well-Read, Wisdom of Solomon

Weaknesses: Addict, Coward, Dames, Emotional Scars,Flashbacks, Gullible, Low Pain Threshold, Old, Phobia, PunchingBag, Really Creepy, Uneducated, Unlucky, Weak Stomach

Skills: Acting, Breaking & Entering, Eavesdropping, Chess,Cooking, Drug Lore, Freeloading, History, Internet Junkie, LipReading, Reaper Lore, Register Jockey, Seduction, Self-Defense,Snappy Dresser, Stealth, Useless Trivia, Video Games, Violinist,Wilderness Survival

Your Untimely DemiseNow that you know what thecharacter was like when she wasalive, it’s time to kill her off. Sincedeath is a significant event in aperson’s (un)life, you’ll want tocome up with some juicy (andpossibly graphic) details here.While it’s perfectly acceptable tokill your character through “nor-mal” means (car crash, terminal

illness, bad oysters), coming upwith something unusual and quirkyis recommended. A cool oramusing death might earn yousome extra street cred with otherReapers (“When her decapitatedhead went flying across the room,it scared Colin Quinn so bad hejumped out the window to hisdeath! It was AWESOME!”), orat least give you a dumb nick-name (“Mr. Auto-Erotic Asphyxi-ation”).

In addition to deciding how yourcharacter died, you’ll need tothink about how death has

changed her. While a few peopleare shallow, stupid, or just plainmean enough to survive deathunchanged, most will have emo-tional scars. Even those who canaccept their death may havetrouble letting go of their old life.Decide how death changed yourcharacter’s life.

Livin’ La Vida MuertaSince you’re dead, showing up atyour old house or day job mightcause a wee little problem. Even ifyou could somehow hide yourdeath from the people you onceknew, there’s another problem:you no longer looks the same.While other Reapers and a fewfolks with special powers see youas you were in life, most peoplesee your differently, or ratherdon’t really see you. To regularpeople, Reapers look plain andunremarkable. Reapers who wereextremely good-looking in life canstill manage to turn heads, but ittakes a lot of work. The appear-ance change serves two purposes:It keeps people that Reapersknew in life from recognizingthem, which could be awkward;and their new, average appear-ance helps Reapers “blend in,”which makes their job easier.

Reapers can’t die, so beinghungry and homeless won’t killyou. But that doesn’t mean it’snot miserable. Unless you want tostand out in the cold all daylistening to the increasinglydisgusting noises your stomach ismaking, you’ll need to come upwith some way to earn a living.Here are a few tried-and-truemethods of post-death survival:

SquattingSince you can’t take it with you,most dead people won’t mind ifyou take their wallet and crash attheir old place for a while. Thebiggest drawback to this livingarrangement (aside from theoccasional brain matter in thecarpet) is that it’s temporary.Sooner or later, the money’sgoing to run out or the apartmentwill be rented out to somebodynew.

CrimeThere’s no record of your newfingerprints, face, and nameanywhere in the system, so it’spossible to make crime pay. Untilyou get caught, that is. There’s nodiplomatic immunity for Reapers,and once you get busted you’regoing into the system. To makematters worse, there’s a chancethat those nice fellows from theIRS will show up at your doorwanting to know why you haven’tpaid taxes since, well, ever.

Cash MoneySome employers are more thanwilling to pay you in cash withoutever asking for any form ofidentification. With this option,you can explore such excitingcareers as drug mule, migrantworker, and crack whore!

Buried TreasureGood luck!

Get A Real JobNot as glamorous as some of theother options, but it is morereliable and generally less danger-ous. You’ll have to find a way to

create a new identity for yourself(complete with documents andreferences. Since medical de-grees, bar admissions, and otherdocumentation for glamorous jobsare tough to forge, being a highlyskilled professional won’t neces-sarily get you into a higher taxbracket. But assuming you’ve gotsome marginally marketable skills,you can probably find work.You’ll just have to juggle thedemands of Reaping with thebone-numbing tedium of wageslavery.

Your Life With TheThrill Kill KultIn addition to determining thedetails of your character’s newlifestyle, you’ll have to figure outwhat she’s like as a Reaper. Isshe kind and caring to her clients,or distant and emotionless? Arethere certain kinds of jobs thatshe refuses to take, or certainsorts of clients that she prefers?How does she feel about being awalking minion of death? You’llalso need to figure out how shefits in with the crew of Reapersshe’s working with.

And Now For SomeMore Crunchy BitsNow that you’re dead, you get acouple more words to add toyour character sheet. The first is abrand-new Job: “Reaper.” ThisJob is used for Reaping souls, andusing the special abilities thatcome with being a Reaper: hidingin plain site, healing really fast,spotting bogies, and the like.These are described on pagesection QZ, which you can find

on page XX. The Reaper Job canalso be used for things likerecalling bits of Reaper lore andchecking to see if you knowanyone in the Reaper communitythat can help with a particularproblem. Your Reaper JobNumber is something that you andthe GM will need to negotiatebased on your character’s con-cept (and the number of YumYums you’ve got lying around),but here are some guidelines:

Body Still Cold: 6Newbie: 8Knows What She’s Doing: 11Old Hand: 14Should I Call You “Grim” or“Mr. Reaper?”: 18

The other word you’ll need toadd is WWPDHITM? (WhoWould Play Dead Him/Her InThe Movie?). Since most peoplesee Reapers as completelyaverage folks, you’ll probably

want to avoid A-list (and possiblyeven B, C, and D-list) actorshere. If you don’t know theactor’s name, don’t worry. Mostpeople will know who you’retalking about when you say “thatguy who played Nancy’s dad inNightmare on Elm Street.” (JohnSaxon, in case you’re wonder-ing).

ANATOMY OF A REAPWe meet here at Pedro’s everymorning at 8 a.m. sharp, rainor shine. Anybody who’s lateowes me breakfast. Unlessyou’ve got a good memory,bring a pen and something towrite on. I’ll give you thedetails about your reap:name—at least as much of it asI know, address, time of death,and final thought. The addressis where the death takes place,not where the client lives, butyou probably already figuredthat out, right kiddo? For yourfirst Reap or two, there’ll besomebody along to help out andshow you the ropes. After that,you’re on your own. Don’t eventhink about trying to get out ofReaping. Interfering withManagement’s plan only causesproblems. You’re stuck hereReaping until Managementdecides to move you up, so it’sbest not to rock the boat.

The Boss Gets the ListAll bosses have an indirect line ofcommunication with someone orsomething working for Manage-ment (the generic term for theentity or entities responsible fordeath). While no face-to-facecontact with “middle manage-ment” is permitted, each boss hassome control over how assign-ments, transfer requests, and thelike are communicated. The mostcommon method of communica-tion, especially when olderbosses, is to arrange a safe dropbox where the two parties can

exchange information. More tech-savvy send and receive informa-tion using email, text messaging,and faxes. In any case, at somepre-appointed time each day, theboss receives a list of the peoplehis crew is responsible for Reap-ing. The client’s full name is neveron the list (nobody really knowswhy). Usually, each entry willinclude a first initial and last name,but occasionally the Reaperdoesn’t even get that much.

Clients Are AssignedEach boss has his own methodfor determining how clients areassigned. Some try to match theReap to the Reaper, others let theReapers pick and choose, orassign clients randomly. There areprobably also a few particularlysadistic bosses who assign clientsto the Reaper most likely to havedifficulty accomplishing the job.Reapers are given the client’s(partial) name, final thought, andtime of death, as well as thelocation where the death will takeplace.

The Job SiteIt’s a good idea to arrive at yourclient’s place of death a little early,because you’ll need to figure outa number of things if you want todo your job successfully. The firstorder of business is figuring outwho your client is. Since for somereason Management doesn’t liketo give out client’s full names,you’ll probably have to ask somequestions and do some snooping

to determine who you’re sup-posed to Reap (family reunionscan be particularly tough). You’llalso need to try to guess how theclient is going to die: sometimesit’s obvious, but this is unfortu-nately rare. Look around forpotentially deadly situations, andkeep an eye out for bogies—thedemons who cause death [de-scribed on that magical, mysticalpage XX]. If you seem them, it’sa safe bet that the death will besuicide, homicide, or accident.The bogies that cause disease and“natural” death are long gone bythe time the client actually kicksthe bucket.

The ReapOnce you’ve figured out whoyou’re supposed to Reap, you’llneed to yank their soul. You cando this at any time, but it’s best todo before the time or death,especially if you think the deathwill be messy. All you need to doto pluck a soul is touch the client.Once the soul’s out, the rest ofthe spirit will join it as soon as thebody dies. If for some reason theclient doesn’t show up for theReap, that mean’s Managementhas for some reason changed hisplan and the person gets to hangaround a little longer.

Helping the Client DealOnce the body’s dead, the mind,spirit, personality and other non-fleshy parts will join the soul,resulting in what most people calla ghost (for more detail, see

ancient and honorable page XX).It’s your job to explain whathappened to them and help themaccept the fact that they’re dead.Most people accept their faterelatively quickly, but some willhang around for a while. Sinceyou’ve got to deal with them untilthey move on, it’s best to do whatyou can to help them deal withtheir deceased status.

Sending Them OnOnce the client has accepted thatthey’re dead, the gates of what-ever comes next will open up tothem. The gates look different todifferent people: some see thetraditional bright tunnel of light ordeity of their choice, while otherssee vast libraries or lush paradisesfull of virgins. Essentially, they seewhatever they think “Heaven”should look like. Who knowswhether this is actually what theyget in the afterlife. Since mostpeople probably wouldn’t enter ahellish wasteland full of demons,there’s a good chance this is just afancy light show.

Tough ReapsSooner or later, every Reaperruns into problems. Sometimesthe complication is because theclient doesn’t want to move on,sometimes it’s because theReaper screws up or has asudden existential crisis. A fewcomplications that the Reaper canrun into are described below,along with what happens when areap goes south.

•If the Reaper fails to pluck theclient’s soul before death, the soulis trapped in the body until

somebody plucks it. Being in thebody at the time of death is verytraumatic, especially if the deathisn’t exactly peaceful. Beingtrapped in a lifeless corpse is evenworse. Just to put icing on thecake, any scars or disfigurementthat the body suffers at the time ofdeath are carried on with the soulinto the afterlife. So if you fail toReap a person before they getblown up, they’ll have to spendeternity as tiny chunks o’ soul.Even if you’re not too concernedabout the effect your screw-upwill have on the client’s immortalsoul, it’s useful to realize thattraumatized ghosts sometimeshave a hard time moving on towhatever comes next.

•If the Reaper gets stupid andsaves a person from dying whenits their time, the soul wastesaway. Think of it like keeping milkaround past the expiration date. Ifthe soul stays in the body longerthan Management decides itshould, it spoils. People withrotten souls inevitably turn intoeither ambitionless, lifeless au-tomatons or mean-spiritedsociopaths.

•Clients who miss their appoint-ments are given a “stay of execu-tion,” and their souls don’t rotaway by those who are unexpect-edly saved from death. But it’snot a good idea for Reapers to“arrange” for a client to miss hisappointment. For one thing,Management doesn’t like this,and will send bogies to tormentthe Reaper for seven days andseven nights. If you’ve never beentormented by sadistic minions of

death, you’ll just have to trust thatit’s unpleasant. Causing a personto miss an appointment thatManagement expected them tomake can also cause a chainreaction, with additional peopledying as a result of the client’scontinued existence. That canmean extra-long workdays forReapers until Management getshis plan back on track. Like manyrules, this one has an exception: ifa D-Vu [described on mostwonderful page XX] gets in-volved, you’re allowed to helpthem make sure the client misseshis appointment.

•Refusal to Reap is the one thingthat can kill you. Even if theclients are handled by otherReapers, Reapers who consis-tently shirk their duties cease toexist. No light show, no whatevercomes next, just oblivion.

•Some ghosts won’t want tomove on as quickly as you’d likethem to; they want to accomplishone final task, or send a messageto a loved one, or just don’t wantto leave. When this happens, youhave to act as their bail bonds-man, keeping a constant eye onthem until they’re ready to moveon. If you let a ghost give you theslip, you’re responsible forhunting him down and convincinghim to move on. If you fail to doso in a reasonable time period,Management will let the bogieshave their way with you until thesoul moves on.

We’re not the only things thatgo bump in the night, ace.You’ve already heard a little bitabout ghosts and bogies. Thereare also the sixers, who can seedead people. Sometimes theycan actually help us out when itcomes to making ghosts moveon, but sometimes they sticktheir noses where they don’tbelong and become real painsin the butt. Then there are theD-Vus, who cause people tomiss their appointments. If youever feel like you’ve donealready done everything you’redoing, there’s probably a D-Vuaround somewhere. There arealso zombies, but not therotting walking corpses yourthinkin’ of, and maybe even afew things I don’t even knowabout.

BogiesBogies are the demonic creaturesresponsible for causing death.When clients experience “unex-pected” deaths (a death thatnobody saw coming), bogies areusually on the scene at or shortlybefore the time of death. They’rethe ones who weaken the ropethat’s hauling up that safe, dropbanana peels are in particularlydangerous places, blow out pilotlights, and cause “mechanicalmalfunctions” of all types. Bogiesare rarely around for deaths thateverybody knows are inevitable(natural causes, terminal illness).Their work was done when theyhelped the client smoke that firstcigarette or get his cushy job atAsbestos, Inc.

Bogies are very good at not beingseen (usually you see somethingindistinct out of the corner of youreye, if anything), which is a goodthing, because they’re ugly as hell.Imagine a gremlin (from themovie) crossed with a hairless ratand you’ll have a good idea ofwhat they look like. Most livingpeople can’t see Bogies at all.The only exceptions are crazypeople and people with specialpowers (D-Vus, Sixers, and thelike).

When they’re not coming up withnew and unique ways to offpeople, Bogies spend their timetormenting Reapers who haveannoyed Management (usually byscrewing up The Plan). AnReaper who has been unfortunateenough to receive their specialattention will attest that Bogies aresadistic little buggers.

D-VusD-Vus (as in “déjà vu”) areotherwise normal humans whohelp out dead people who are latefor dinner (trapped in their bodiesat or after the time of death).When a D-Vu encounters such anunfortunate, the soul inevitablyasks for help, often in a verycreepy Return of the LivingDead sort of way. When thishappens, time suddenly “rewinds”itself to “earlier this morning” andthe D-Vu’s job is to help makethe client miss their appointment.The D-Vu is the only personwho’s fully aware that the day isrepeating itself, but occasionally

the Reaper who was supposed topluck the client will notice thateverything seems awfully familiar.Whenever time is rewound, boththe client and the Reaper get asecond chance: the client maymiss his appointment and live alittle longer; the Reaper gets achance to fix a Reap that wentbad. D-Vu intervention is the onlytime a Reaper is allowed to helpthe client miss his appointmentwithout getting special attentionfrom Bogies.

GhostsAs mentioned previously, as ghostis whatever’s left of a person(soul, intelligence, personality)once his body stops working.Everyone who dies becomes aghost, at least for a little while.Reapers remain ghosts until theirbodies are disposed of, at whichpoint they assume their newcorporeal form. Regular deadpeople remain ghosts until they’reready to accept their death andmove on. Most people do this ina reasonable timeframe, but somewant to hang around. When thishappens, it’s up to the Reaper tokeep tabs on the ghost and help itwork out its issues. A few ghosts“jump bail” and give their Reaperthe slip. When this happens, theReaper has to find the ghostbefore Management gets mad andsends in the bogies.

Ghosts are completely incorpo-real and are normally invisible toregular people. Even though theyhave no physical bodies, all

Other Death-Related Career Opportunities

ghosts have latent telekineticpowers which they can use toaffect the material world. Theymay also make themselves visibleto regular people for short peri-ods of time. Using these abilitiestends to scare the crap out ofpeople, but it can sometimes betherapeutic for the ghost.

SixersSixers are living humans who seedead people. In addition to beingable to interact with ghosts of allvarieties, Sixers see zombies,Reapers, and other “special”people for what they really are, orat least as something that’s notnormal. Most people who pub-licly claim that they can see orspeak with the dead are notSixers (they’re just frauds).

SnitchesSnitches are regular people whohave been given some specialinsight into The Plan. Whenthere’s an unexpected change inthe plan, snitches can sometimesprovide a few tips on how to setthings right. Snitches are usuallyreally damn creepy.

Special AgentsRemember how we said thatsome people who live past theirexpiration date become socio-paths? When those sociopathsinevitably go on their killingsprees, they’re known as specialagents. It should be noted that notall mass murders, genocidalmaniacs, and madmen are specialagents. Many terrorists, hit-men,and government officials haveperfectly functional souls, they justdon’t know how to use them.

ZombiesWhen most people here the word“zombie” they think of the walkingcorpses in all those great GeorgeRomero movies. In the world ofReaper Madness, however, azombie is a person whose soulhas been removed from its bodythrough unnatural means, usuallyby an evil magician of somestripe. Since Reapers are skilledin the care and feeding of souls,they can sometimes help makethings right again.

Game RulesSince Reaper Madness is a verycharacter-driven game, it’spossible to go entire sessionswithout ever resorting to rollingdice and doing math. Still, therewill be times when you need toknow whether a character canactually do whatever it is shewants to do. When this happens,you’ll need to roll a d20. This rollis compared to the character’sNumber for whatever Wordgoverns the action (as determinedby the GM). If the character hasskills that are appropriate to theaction, or if the GM decides thatoutside factors will positively ornegatively influence her chance ofsuccess, these modifiers areadded to the Number. If thecharacter rolls less than or equalto his Number (including modifi-ers), the action is a success.Higher rolls are better. Think of itlike The Price Is Right—youwant to get as close as you can tothe Number without going over.

While a simply rolling under theappropriate Number can oftendetermine an action’s success,there are some cases where theroll must be higher than a particu-lar Difficulty Number (DN) inorder for the action to succeed.The most common instances aredescribed below.

Competing with an-other PC or GMC: If twocharacters are actively challengingone another, they each make theappropriate roll; if both rollssucceed, the higher roll wins thecontest; if one fails and one

succeeds, the character who wassuccessful wins; and if both failtheir rolls, neither gains an advan-tage. Essentially, the character’sDN is his opponents roll.

Character is doingsomething extremely difficult:Even if nobody’s trying to impedethe character’s progress, sometasks are too difficult to settle withjust a simple roll. Therefore, theGM may at any time rule that thecharacter must beat a set Diffi-culty Number for an action tosucceed. Simple tasks shouldhave relatively low DNs (5), whiletruly Herculean tasks will involveDNs in the 15-20 range. If theDN is higher than the character’sNumber, the task is impossible(since all successful rolls will belower than the DN).

It’s Mostly Luck:Whenever an action mostlyinvolves blind luck, rather thanskill or superior ability, the GMrolls a d20. The result is thecharacter’s Difficulty Number.

Most actions can be handledusing the rules described above,but there are a few commontypes of actions that require someadditional rules. These are de-scribed in the following sections.

Weakness RollsWeakness rolls work just likeregular rolls, but in this case afailed roll is preferred. Basically,the Weakness Number representsthe power the Weakness has overthe character. If the roll succeeds,the character suffers the negative

effects of his Weakness.

ReapingIn most cases, no roll is requiredto pluck a soul, since all thecharacter needs to do is touch theclient. If for some reason the GMfeels that this isn’t as easy as itsounds (the client is surroundedby bodyguards, afraid of thereaper, etc.), he may require thatthe Reaper make a Job roll inorder to pluck the soul. If theclient is actively avoiding theReaper, the roll is resisted by theclient’s Body roll. If the difficultyis due to other factors (body-guards, crowds, etc.), the GMshould set a DN based on thesituation.

Blending InBecause most Reapers look likemovie extras to the living, theyhave an innate ability to blend inwith a crowd. As long as thereare other people around, theReaper is not doing anything todraw attention to herself, and theobserver is not specificallylooking for the Reaper, she canuse this ability to avoid noticefrom people who are looking for“anything unusual.” The observermakes a Brain roll, which isresisted by the Reaper’s Job roll.

Spotting a BogieUnless bogies are actively tor-menting someone, they tend tohide themselves pretty well. Theliving can’t see them at all, andeven Reapers have a hard timenoticing that they’re around.

Whenever a Reaper looks forbogies, she makes a Job roll,resisted by the bogie’s Gimmickroll.

CombatAs might be expected, combat ishandled by a resisted roll betweenthe two characters who want beatone another up. There are twotypes of combat: hand-to-handand ranged. Hand-to-handcombat includes brawling, fencingand other up-close-and personaltypes of combat. If the combat-ants are throwing, shooting, orspitting things at one another, usedranged combat.

The main difference between thetwo forms of combat is that inhand-to-hand combat, bothparties have the ability to causedamage. The outcome of the rolldetermines who gets the upperhand and who gets hurt. In rangedcombat, only the person shooting,throwing, or chucking the weaponcan cause damage. If the de-fender wins the roll, he simplyavoids getting hit by whatever’scoming towards him.

Damage is determined by sub-tracting the losing roll from thewinning roll. If the loser failed hisroll, treat it as a zero for purposesof calculating damage. If bothrolls fail, nobody causes damage.As noted previously, only theattacker can cause damage inranged combat. If the winningcharacter is using a weapon, thedamage is increased by 1 to 5points, depending on the size,deadliness, and coolness of theweapon being used.Damage is subtracted from thecharacter’s Health Points. SinceReapers can’t die, and other

people only die if there’s aReaper assigned to them, reach-ing zero Health Points usuallymeans that the character is badlyhurt, but will probably pullthrough.

HealingOne of the benefits of beingundead is that you heal up fast.Whenever a Reaper takes dam-age, he may roll his Job Numbereach day. If the roll succeeds, hegets back a number of HealthPoints equal to his roll. The livingheal a lot slower, but since this isa game about Reapers, we’llleave the details as an exercise forthe GM.

Yum YumsYou know that Yum Yums aredelicious pieces of candy, butyou’re probably wondering whatthe heck they have to do with thisgame. Simply put, they are thesingle most important mechanic inthe whole game. What can youdo with Yum Yums? Anything youwant, as long as you can talk theGM into it. To use Yum Yums,simply give some of your candy tothe GM. A few common uses forYum Yums include:•Re-rolling an unsuccessful roll.•Increasing the value of your roll.•Increasing damage inflicted uponan opponent.•Decreasing the amount ofdamage you take from an injury.•Subtly altering reality in yourcharacter’s favor.•Improving your character•Food (this has no game effect)The specific effects of Yum Yumsare entirely up to the GM. Ingeneral, players who come upwith cool uses for Yum Yums, orneat explanations of how the Yum

Yum expenditure fits into the storyshould get more out of Yum Yumsthan players who just hand themover and say “I’m gonna use themto reduce that damage.”

Character improvement is theexception to the “up to the GMrule” mentioned above (on a pagethat might or might not be XX). Ifyou want to raise your character’sBody, Brain, Nerve, Job, orGimmick Number by one, ordecrease your Weakness Numberby one, it’ll costs you 3 YumYums. Raising a skill bonus byone costs 2 Yum Yums. Newskills can be learned (with a +1Skill Bonus) for 3 Yum Yums.New Jobs cost 15 YYs, and havea starting Number of 7. If youwant to get a new Gimmick, youhave to spend 20 Yum Yums. Thestarting Number for a newGimmick is 5. New Weaknessesare free.

Earning Yum YumsSince you only got 1-4 Yum Yumsduring character creation, I’mguessing you’ve already figuredout that it’s possible to earn moreduring the game. How do youearn Yum Yums? Simply put, bycontributing to the game. A fewpopular methods of earning YumYums are:•Good role-playing.•Coming up with a creativesolution to a problem the charac-ters encounter.•Accomplishing one of yourcharacter’s goals.•Creating interesting GMCs,locations, and other campaignelements.•Saying something really funny(preferably in character).•Buying the GM beer.

Running the GameAs the GM, you’ve got a toughJob. While everybody else justhas to worry about role-playing asingle character, you’ve got torole-play every single GMC thatthe characters meet, often withlittle or no preparation. Not onlythat, you’ve got to come up withinteresting plots, create or re-search background information,set the mood, decide how toapply the rules to situations in thegame, settle arguments anddisputes between players, and(most of all) make sure every-body has fun. This may sound alittle intimidating at first, but onceyou get the hang of things, you’lldo just fine. While time and spaceconsiderations make it impossibleto explore the fine art of GameMastering in depth here, thissection does provide a few tried-and-true tips, as well as someinformation that seems particularlyuseful for a game like ReaperMadness.

Let the Players HelpJust because you’re the GMdoesn’t mean you’ve got to doeverything yourself. Most playersprefer games where they feel theyhave input—it makes them feelthat they have “ownership” in theworld. Use this to your advan-tage. For starters, encourage theplayers to come up with detailsabout the setting—GMCs,locations, plot ideas, whatever.Whenever they contribute some-thing to the game, reward themwith praise and Yum Yums. Thiswill not only encourage them to

help out even more, it mightconvince other players to comeup with a few ideas. Just makesure that the players understandthat you have veto power oversome setting information.

When actually running the game,let the players do some of yourjob for you. If a players characterisn’t in a particular scene, havehim take on the role of a GMC orhelp you run combat. Not onlydoes this keep you from having todo everything, it keeps everyoneinvolved in the game.

Plan Just EnoughAt the very least, you need arough idea about what’s going tohappen in the next game session.Who are the clients? How dothey die? What’s the tone of thissession? What impact will it haveon the ongoing story? For somepeople, these vague ideas willwork just fine—the rest can beimprovised. Others will want togo into a bit more detail, andmaybe even write some stuffdown. That’s perfectly ok, but becareful; too much planning can bejust as bad as too little. Too muchscripting can make the charactersfeel railroaded, and too much timespent working on the game canlead to burnout. The key is todiscover the right amount ofplanning for your group’s gamingstyle and the game you’re playing.This takes a little experimentation.

CommunicateIf you’re not sure how the players

feel about the game, ask them.Find out what they like about thecampaign, what they don’tparticularly care for, and wherethey’d like the story to take theircharacters. It could be that whatyou thought was a lovable GMCannoys the player to know end,or your players were expectingsomething a little less dark. Listento their concerns about the game,and do what you can to fixproblems and increase everyone’senjoyment of the game.

Setting the MoodSome sessions will only work (orwill work a lot better) if you cancreate the right atmosphere. Thisis especially true of games that areespecially dark. There are lots oftricks you can use to help set themood: music, special lighting,props, and a lot more. Figuringout how to make those sorts ofthings work will go a long way.Unfortunately, no matter howhard you work to set the mood, itwon’t work if the players aren’tinto it. A single out-of-charactercomment can completely ruin themood you’ve so carefully estab-lished. The best way to keepplayers in the right frame of mindis to reward those who get intothe spirit of the game, whileminimizing the distractions fromthe less considerate.

The “Mini-Solo Adventure”ProblemSince most Reaps are single-character affairs, some scenes willfocus on a single character. With a

little luck, the players who aren’tinvolved in the scene will be sointerested in the ongoing story thatthey’ll happily sit back and watchthe action when their character isoff screen (as long as you makesure every character gets his fairshare of game time). If someonestarts fidgeting too much, you canalways give them a GMC to play.More likely, characters whoaren’t involved in the scene willstart talking amongst themselves,playing video games or CCGs,and generally distracting you andthe player currently involved in theaction. There are few ways tohandle this problem:

• Set Up A “WaitingRoom”: Depending onwhere you’re playing, youmight be able to just sendthe players who re boredto another room, prefer-ably one where they canfind something to occupyby their time while they’rewaiting their turn. The keyto making this solutionwork is to make it clearthat the players whoaren’t currently involvedare free to stick aroundand watch the scene, butare expected to keepdistractions to a minimum.Players who aren’tinterested in the scene arewelcome to go play videogame or throw darts orwhatever in the otherroom—going to the“waiting room” is a wayto keep from beingbored, not a punishmentfor disrupting the game.

• Actual Solo Adven-

tures: If you expect aparticular solo scene tobe particularly timeconsuming or uninterest-ing to the other players,have the player comeover before the game oron a different night torole-play the scene. Aslong as everybody cankeep the timeline straight,this will allow in-depthcharacter developmentwithout losing players toboredom.

• Play By Post/Email:Since many scenes in aReaper Madness focuson a single character, thesetting is especiallysuitable as a play-by-postor email game. If youdon’t want to do theentire game online, youcan always do the solostuff via email or post,and save the game timefor interaction betweenthe characters.

Death ScenesBefore you start the regularcampaign, you might want toconsider running solo “death andearly Reaper life” adventures foreach player. This will give bothyou and the player a chance tobetter understand what thecharacter’s life was like, how hedied, and how he dealt withmaking the transition from livinghuman being to Grim Reaper.Death Scenes can be anythingfrom short, ten-minute summariesto complete solo adventures. It’sup to you, the player, and thegods of spare time.

Deep Dark Secrets ofthe Reaper MadnessSettingAfter reading through the informa-tion about Reapers and all thatgood stuff in the earlier part of thisbook (you know, page XX),you’ve probably got somequestions about how everythingfits together. For example, who orwhat is Management? Hoe doeshe decide when a Reaper gets tomove on to whatever comesnext? What exactly is “whatevercomes next?”

Those are some great questions,but I’m not going to answer them.Death is the great big mystery,and in the world of ReaperMadness, dying doesn’t neces-sarily solve anything. In fact, it canmake death even more incompre-hensible. I feel that keeping “thetruth” about death ambiguous isimportant to making the gamework. Too many details takes outall the mystery and makes thesetting a lot less interesting. If youdon’t agree with my thinking andwant more details, that’s yourprerogative as a GM. But you’llhave to come up with them onyour own, because I’m not telling.

Plot IdeasThe plots and stories in yourgame will ultimately depend onyour setting, tone, and (especially)characters. Still, some of the basicconcepts of the setting suggest afew general types of plots thatyou can use in your game. A feware detailed here.

Bail JumperA ghost escapes from one of theReapers, and it’s up to the crewto track him down and bring himto justice (or maybe his eternalreward).

Busy DayFor some reason, an unusuallyhigh volume of people are slatedto die today, and it’s up to thecrew to make sure they all getwhere they need to go.

Death Takes a HolidayEvery seven years, Reapers andbogies get a day off and nobodydies. How will the crew spendtheir well-earned vacation?

Fresh MeatA new Reaper joins the crew, andit’s up to the PCs to show her theropes.

Funeral for a FriendA well-liked friend of the crewwill die today. How do youknow? The boss got the informa-tion this morning, and one of youhas to Reap him.

Group ReapThe crew are assigned to handlean accident or catastrophe with aparticularly high fatality rate.

Happy Death Day to YouIt’s the anniversary of a Reaper’sdeath. Celebrating death seemskind of weird, and it’s hard tomourn someone who’s standingright next to you. So how doesthe crew mark the occasion?

Past LivesOne of the Reapers runs into

someone or something thatreminds her of her ante-mortemlife. This could make her re-examine her outlook on being aReaper, and might require her todecide whether or not to interferewith the life of a friend or relativefrom her previous life.

The Real WorldThe characters encounter prob-lems with the non-Reaper aspectof unlife: personal relationships,jobs, money, and all the otherproblems that normal people faceeveryday are fair game for thisplot.

RewindOne of the Reapers wakes upwith a strange recurring feeling ofdéjà vu. That’s because she’salready lived through today oncebefore. She botched a reapyesterday, and a D-vu has set theclock back in order to save theclient.

Those Meddling SixersA Sixer interferes with a Reap,and the crew has to fix theproblem.

Upright CitizenOne of the living (perhaps apolice officer or tabloid reporter)notices that one or more of theReapers has a bad habit ofshowing up wherever people turnup dead. In addition to theirnormal Reaping duties, the crewmay have to deal with uncomfort-able questions, unwanted public-ity, or a police investigation.

Sample Characters

Jimbo (Reaper Boss)Body: 12Brain: 11Nerve: 13Job: Cowboy (11); Reaper (15)Gimmick: Everybody’s Buddy(12)Weakness: Not As Young As IUsed To Be (12)Skills: The Great State of Texas+3; Fishing +2; History +1Tag Line: “You understand whatI’m sayin’, Sparky?”WWPHITM? Tommy Lee JonesWWPHDITM? An extra fromBlazing SaddlesDumb Fact: Never wears a hat.

Jimbo was born in the 1923 on acattle ranch in East Texas. Afterserving in World War II, he joinedthe rodeo, where he won a fewbuckles for bull riding. When hestarted to get to old for that sortof thing, he took a job tending tothe animals. In 1977, Jimbo wastrampled to death by a broncowhen the bolt broke on theanimal’s stall. He’s been a Reaperever since. Jimbo is likable,honest, and hard-working. If hewore six-shooters and a ten-gallon hat, he could easily bemistaken as an aging Texas goodol’ boy right out of central casting.

Wayne Foster (Sixer)Body: 10Brain: 13Nerve: 12Job: Funeral Director (14)Gimmick: Sees Dead People(12)Weakness: Addict (12)Skills: Drug connection +3; PickUp Hookers +2; Scrabble +1Tag Line: “Leave me alone!”

WWPHITM? Oliver Platt (thinkHuff)Dumb Fact: Cocaine’s a hell of adrug.

When five-year-old WayneFoster told his parents that hetalked to dead people, theychalked it up to combination ofoveractive imagination and life in afamily-run funeral home. ButWayne knew what he saw, andhas got older the spirits becomemore demanding and frightening.By the time he was 12, Wayne’sparents had sent him to therapy, amental hospital, and even churchhoping that someone could makehim stop imaging that he could seethe dead. Eventually, Waynefigured out that it was best topretend he couldn’t see theghosts. They were still there, butat least staying quiet kept theshrinks at bay.

Given his “gift” for seeing ghosts,the last thing Wayne ever wantedwas to become a mortician, butFoster & Sons is four-generationold family business, and the oldman wouldn’t even entertain theidea that Wayne would be any-thing but a funeral director whenhe grew up. When his parentsdied, Wayne inherited the busi-ness and all the ghosts that hangaround the place. At least thebooze and drugs help ease thepain.

Elizabeth Warren (D-Vu)Body: 12Brain: 12Nerve: 12Job: Crime Scene Investigator(11)

Gimmick: D-Vu (10)Weakness: Short Fuse (10)Skills: Trivial Pursuit +3; Skiing+2; Drinking Games +1Tag Line: “Shut the hell up!”WWPHITM? Liv TylerDumb Fact: Favorite movie:Gone With the Wind

Up until a few years ago, LizWarren was a typical crime sceneanalyst. She believed that every-thing could be explained byscience, and that ghosts and otherparanormal phenomena were justold wives tales. When the victimwhose murder she was investigat-ing grabbed her arm and askedfor help, she was more than a littlesurprised, but a few minutes latershe woke up safe and warm inher bed. The next day wasamazing similar to her previousnight’s “dream,” up to and includ-ing the suddenly animated corpse.When she woke again andsubbed her toe for the third timein a row, she realized that some-thing was very wrong with theworld. Deciding to honor thecorpse’s request, she took whatshe knew about the case andtracked down the victim beforehis death and slashed his tires.That night, she didn’t get the call,and the next day time had re-turned to normal. A few similarincidents have happened since.Liz doesn’t have the faintest ideaof what’s going on, but is confi-dent that sooner or later she’ll finda way to explain her strange timeslips.

Jimmy Douglas (Snitch)Body: 15Brain: 11

Nerve: 9Job: Cemetery Man (12)Gimmick: Knows When You’llDie (13)Weakness: Batshit Crazy (13)Skills: Knows A Lot AboutDeath +3; Horror Movies +2;Soap Operas +1Tag Line: “Jimmy knows secretthings. Do you want Jimmy to tellyou about them?”WWPHITM? Tony ToddDumb Fact: Favorite movie:Faces of Death IV

Jimmy Douglas has always beenfascinated with death, and not in aparticularly healthy way. Through-out his life, Jimmy has studieddeath in all its forms, from horrormovies to ancient mythology.Eventually his research paid off,allowing Jimmy to get a glimpse ofwhat Death has in store for aperson just by looking at them.Given his favorite topic, it’s notsurprising that Jimmy took a jobas a grave digger when he was15, eventually working his way upto Cemetery groundskeeper. Thiswork suits him well, mainlybecause it involves almost nocontact with the general public.His morbidity, lack of communi-cation skills, and borderlineschizophrenia tend to creeppeople out.

Michael WilliamThrogmorten (SpecialAgent)Body: 12Brain: 12Nerve: 10Job: Serial Killer (13)Gimmick: Nice, Quiet Boy WhoKeeps To Himself (14)

Weakness: Sociopath (14)Skills: Torture +3; Stealth +2;Cooking +1Tag Line: “Would you like toplay?”WWPHITM? Christian Slater

When Mike was 12 years old, henearly drowned, but was saved atthe last minute by a kindly oldman. Shortly after the accident,Mike became increasingly with-drawn, but parents and teachersjust chalked it up to puberty.Though he was an above-averagestudent, Mike skipped collegeand has spent most of his adult lifeworking dead-end jobs. Michaelis a polite, well-groomed youngman, but otherwise he doesn’tleave much of an impression.

What most people don’t know isthat Mike is a sick, twistedcannibal. For years after his near-death experience, Mike felt thathe was missing something in hislife. When he was 16, he found it.A beautiful little girl named Suzie.Her screams were like music tohis ears, and her spleen tasted likeprime rib. Mike has killed plentyof children since that day, butthere’s just something specialabout your first time.

Creature StatsBogiesBody: 9Brain: 12Nerve: 15Job: Minion of Death (14)Gimmick: Semi-Invisible (17)Weakness: Sadistic (17)Skills: Break Things +3; WreakHavoc +2; Bite +1

GhostsGhosts have the same stats thatthe person had in life, but theirinvisible, incorporeal form makesit difficult for them to use most oftheir abilities. A ghost can appearto the living by making a success-ful Nerve roll, resisted by thevictim’s Brain roll. In addition, allghosts have latent telekineticability. If they want to use thisability to affect the material world,they make a Nerve roll against aDN determined by the GM basedon the task they’re trying toperform.

ZombiesBody: 17Brain: 0Nerve: 0Job: Mindless Slave (18)Gimmick: Hard to Kill (19)Weakness: No Free Will (19)

Reaper JargonAppointment: The time andplace of a person’s death.Big Day: A day with a particu-larly high volume of Reaps, oftenthe result of a chain reaction.Bogies: The creatures that setthings in motion for a death tooccur.Boss: The leader of a Reapercrew.Chain Reaction: A series ofunplanned deaths that result froman unauthorized change of plan.Also known as a “hiccup.”Change of Plan: When a personfails to die because of a missedappointment.Client: A person whose soul thereaper takes.Crew: The term I decided to usefor “PC group,” largely because

the only “flavory” option I couldcome up with was “Murder,” (asin crows) which sounds dumb.Day Off: Every seventh year,there’s a single day during whichnobody dies. It’s a day off forboth bogies and Reapers.Death Day: The anniversary of aReaper’s death. Some crewstreat it sort of like a birthday.D-Vu: A person with the ability to“rewind” time in order to preventa person from dying.Expiration Date: The time atwhich a person is fated to die.Ghost: What’s left of a personafter the body dies.Group Reap: A job that requiresmultiple reapers, usually a majortraffic pile-up, explosion, firefight,or other event with a high casualtyrate.Hot Bogie Lovin’: Beingtormented by Bogies as punish-ment for screwing up The Plan.Late for Dinner: Term used todescribe a soul that is still in thebody at (or after) death.Management: Culturally neutralterm for the entity or entities thatReapers work for. Other popularnames for this person (or people)include Death, God, Hades,Allah, The Grim Reaper, Yahweh,The Powers That Be, The God-dess, The Grim Reaper, Osirus,The Man Upstairs, The Angel ofDeath, and Lemmy.Middle Management: Peopleor creatures that act as messen-gers between Management andbosses. Even the bosses are notallowed direct contact with them.Reap: When used as a noun, asingle soul-taking assignment; ajob or assignment. When used asa verb, to remove a person’s soul.

Reaper: One who reaps; A GrimReaperRotten Soul: The soul of aperson who has been allowed tolive beyond his allotted time onearth.Pluck: To remove the soul of aperson who is about to die. Alsoknown as reaping or popping.Some call it yanking or jerking,but these terms are rare becausethey sound dirty.Sixer: A person who can sensethe dead.Snitch: A normal human withsupernatural knowledge aboutManagement’s plan.Soul: A person’s essence.Special Agents: People withrotten souls who engage in massmurder, serial killing and otherexciting pastimes.The Plan: Management’s cosmicschedule of life and (especially)death.Whatever Comes Next: Theafterlife.Zombie: A person who has hadhis or her soul removed.

Sources & InspirationalMaterialsRecommended ViewingDead Like MeSix Feet UnderTru CallingTwin PeaksThe Sixth SenseFinal Destination (1 & 2)Cemetery ManSoul SurvivorsThe Serpent and the RainbowVery Bad ThingsHeathersAmerican BeautyThe Addams Family

Recommended ReadingStiff, Mary RoachDeath: The High Cost of