Joe McDonald

A story-game about a monster.

“And even as its claws sunk into a man’s shoulders, even as it tore through yet another one of my friends, I looked at its red-rimmed eyes and just had to wonder: had it just been crying?”

you are an adventurer

You have been slaying the evils of the world for countless years. You’ve slain goblins and orcs before, and seen their green blood etched across the rocky ground. You’ve slain small dragons, and dodged their last breath of fire. You’ve slain enemies, and once or twice you’ve slain friends.

Or maybe you haven’t, and you are new to the world of heroism. Maybe your sword is still virgin steel, and you’ve never witnessed the agony of bloodshed. Maybe you are still hot for your first real hunt. Maybe you don’t really know what you’re doing out here.

Regardless of your past, you are here now. You have been hired by the mayor of Joshuan to rid the forests of a deadly beast that has terrorized the town for months. You have been hired to kill a ferocious beast that you’ve never heard of before. An owlbear.

you don’t live in Joshuan

It’s a charming community, it really is. But its important to always keep this in mind: You do not live in Joshuan, and the people you are adventuring with are not your friends. You have been assigned to an adventuring party with a bunch of strangers. These people are do-gooders, paid mercenaries, and militia members. You don’t know if they have families or live alone; whether they have jobs or are transient bums; whether they are poor or have overflowing coffers.

you aren’t perfect

It’s important to admit that to yourself every once in a while. Sometimes you do the wrong thing. When you’re a powerful, broad-shouldered warrior, a single mistake can leave quite a lot of impact.

It’s important to keep that in the back of your mind: You’ve done wrong before, and you’ve seen the bloodshed that can result. You don’t like doing the wrong thing.

Updated June 6, 2006

Cadence

This chapter provides an outline of the world in which Perfect is played.

Cadence is a fictional country, but draws its inspirations from two major sources: The Victorian Era, and Dystopic Literature.

The country of Cadence holds many parallels to Victorian England, and was largely inspired by it. Coal factories and urbanization are fresh upon the world. Society is strictly regimented by social status, monetary influence, fashions and etiquette.

Now, take that whole setting and trap it inside a controlling and oppressive dystopia. The game is largely inspired by George Orwell?s amazing book, 1984. The setting pushes a cult of personality, as does Cadence. The conditionings from sources like 1984 and A Clockwork Orange provided a large basis of the criminal justice system in this world: simply arrest and reprogram criminals.

Other dystopic literature that this game draws upon includes Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World and Handmaiden?s Tale. Although not dystopic literature, Isaac Asimov?s Foundation has also played a significant role in inspiring this world. And finally, although itself not literature in the most common sense, the RPG Paranoia was a large influence on setting.

Apocalypse Scissorhands is a game of love, the Gods, and all the many messes mixing the two together can entail.

The Gods and You

The game you hold in your hands is a Role-playing game. Players assume fictional identities and narrate the lives of these characters.

The players of this game take up the roles of future lovers, struggling to connect with their soulmates. They guide these lovers through a variety of challenges, in order to connect with the one they love.

However, these characters are not alone, because they have an ally up above to help them on their way: Apocalypse, the God of Love.

One player, who is often called a Game Master, takes on the role of Apocalypse. Their job is twofold: narrate the world going on around the players, and play out Apocalypse?s valiant efforts to unite these lovers.

However, life isn?t all sunshine and rainbows. Apocalypse is new at his role as God of Love, and is finding it hard to adjust. This is coupled with the fact that he is resented by his former colleagues, The Marshals, and ignored by his new coworkers, The Prefects.

Apocalypse is the master of torture, torment, agony and destruction of the soul. You?ll need to utilize all four of these skills to bring the true love to be ? simply because those are the only real skills you have.

Good luck with that.