[My Life With Rudolph] The Wolf

The Wolf

Self-Loathing:  1  [2]  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Weariness:  1  2  [3]  4  5  6  7  8  9

More than Human: Wily & Cunning except when Dealing With Children

Less than Human: Can't Pick Things Up/Use Tools except with His Mouth (prevents Biting & Talking)


The Wolf was one of the most popular PC minions, except he wasn't in the original T.V. special but I added him to round out the options for the players. Using tools was a real problem for him, especially since most players wanted him to bite things and people. And being fooled and bested by children was always good for a laugh.

[My Life With Rudolph] Hank the Elf

Hank the Elf

Self-Loathing:  1  2  3  [4]  5  6  7  8  9 Weariness:  [1]  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9

More than Human: As Tall As He Needs To Be except when around Xmas Trees

Less than Human: Practically Blind except when His Glasses Are Knocked Off


Hank was another of the least favorite PC minions. I think it was because Hermey was such a powerful character and they usually didn't remember the tall elf. One player did have a good time trying to burn down the Christmas Tree Forest using the glasses.

[My Life With Rudolph] The Bumble

The Bumble


Self-Loathing:  1  2  [3]  4  5  6  7  8  9 Weariness:  1  [2]  3  4  5  6  7  8  9

More than Human: Incredibly Strong except when Missing Teeth

Less than Human: Only Speaks Monster except when Person Can't See Him



The Bumble (aka The Abominable Snowmonster of the North) usually losting his teeth before the end of the game, as Rudolph ordered a Bumble-Tooth necklace to wear from his minions. One player refused to communicate with the other players except speaking "monster" whenever he was asked a question or talked to. At no point in either game did The Bumble ever speak clearly because no one took advantage of his talking normally if the person he was talking to couldn't see him.

[My Life With Rudolph] Charlie-In-The-Box

Charlie-In-The-Box

Self-Loathing:  1  2  [3]  4  5  6  7  8  9 Weariness:  1  [2]  3  4  5  6  7  8  9

More than Human: Mechanical Genius except when working on stuff He Didn't Build

Less than Human: Stationary (must be carried) except when Drunk On Elf-Wine


Players running Charlie-In-The-Box always were trying to score Elf-Wine, otherwise he couldn't move at all, unless someone carried him around. Mostly they failed to do even that. They usually failed to monkeywrench Santa's sleigh, too, because it was Elf-built. One player did manage to steal Santa's donut but ate it in a fit of pique!

[My Life With Rudolph] Yukon Cornelius

Yukon Cornelius

Self-Loathing:  [1]  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Weariness:  1  2  3  [4]  5  6  7  8  9

More than Human: World's Greatest Prospector except when looking for Silver & Gold

Less than Human: Cowardly except when Backed Up By His Friends


Another favorite PC minion, Yukon Cornelius is usually played as a wild-card. One player developed a connection with The Magic Baby Seal and Rudolph ordered Yukon to bring him the magic skin of the Baby Seal for his experiments. Yukon killed the Baby Seal and ate the body, then went totally wild-eyed crazy. Much fun was had by all.

[My Life With Rudolph] Sam the Snowman

Sam the Snowman


Self-Loathing:  1 [2]  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Weariness:  1  2  [3]  4  5  6  7  8  9

More than Human: Popular With Everyone except With Elves

Less than Human: Can't Run Or Jump except When Singing


Sam the Snowman was always a popular choice for players. And each time, they fought against the first command given by Rudolph: "Burn Down the Christmas Tree Forest!" Both players plead with Rudolph "I'll melt in the flames!" And both failed in their rolls to resist!

[My Life With Rudolph] Hermey

Dr. Hermey Trismegistus, D.D.S.  

Self-Loathing:  1  2  3  [4]  5  6  7  8  9 Weariness:  [1]  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9

More than Human: World's Greatest Dentist except when Someone Is Singing

Less than Human: Filled With Murderous Rage except when Making Toys


One player treated Hermey as a German, vis da ax-oont und all. He proceeded to act very much like Dr. Strangelove, always offering "comfort" to his "patients," including Fireball when he removed the reindeer's legs using a lumber mill.

[My Life With Rudolph] Fireball

Fireball

Self-Loathing:  1  [2]  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 Weariness:  1  2  [3]  4  5  6  7  8  9

More than Human: Quick As A Flash except when Around Does

Less than Human: Stupidly Gullible except about Reindeer Games


In one of the games, Fireball was ordered to get someone to chop off his legs so that Rudolph could fit him with new, bionic legs. The player spent the whole game trying to convince the other players to chop off Fireball's legs. Everyone refused until he asked Hermey the Dentist, who used his ... medical skills ... to perform the deed. Unfortunately, Rudolph was killed before he could complete his bionic plans.

[My Life With Rudolph] Clarice the Doe

Clarice the Doe

Self-Loathing:  1  2  [3]  4  5  6  7  8  9 Weariness:  1  [2]  3  4  5  6  7  8  9

More than Human: Very Charismatic except with Other Does

Less than Human: Exceptionally Vain except when near Mrs. Claus

One of the first PC minions I made for My Life With Rudolph and surprisingly Clarice was only used during one of the games. I so wanted to say "The lambs, Clarice! The lambs!" more.

[My Life With Rudolph] The Commands

Part of the joy of My Life With Master is that the GM (as the Master) gets to command the PC minion to commit horrendous or simply embarrassing crimes. The PC minion can try to resist, but failure increases their Self-loathing or Weariness as well as having to perform the task, or for them to just give in, so they can attempt to develop a relationship with their Connection (and thereby generate Love, which will allow them to resist the Master during the end game).

Whether they resist (and fail) or comply, the rules only stipulate that they have to make an attempt at completing the task ordered by their Master and I have found that the players were pretty ingenious with ways to screw up their task while keeping to the letter of the order.

Part of the problem running the Master is that it requires a GM to have a good list of tasks for the minions to accomplish.

So I came up with 75 dirty deeds for the minions to do for My Life With Rudolph:

1. Burn down the Christmas Tree Forest
2. Kidnap Mrs. Claus
3. Murder Mrs. Claus
4. Plant explosives in toys
5. Murder a reindeer and bring me the meat so I can eat Venison
6. Disrupt trade negotiations between the Island of Misfit Toys and Santa
7. Start an elf strike
8. Sell drugs to the young reindeer
9. Promote elf prostitution
10. Bully Christmas Town shopkeepers for protection
11. Rig the Christmas Town elf elections
12. Murder the magic seal
13. Burn down the toyshop
14. Get me the Naughty/Nice list
15. Destroy the weather station
16. Drink this experimental, yet possibly poisonous, beverage
17. Arrange for only half the elves to be paid on payday
18. Bring me Santa's magical snow globe
19. Derail the Polar Express
20. Monkeywrench Santa's Sleigh
21. Insult the Heat Miser ambassador
22. Insult the Snow Miser ambassador
23. Start a fight between the Heat Miser embassy and the Snow Miser embassy
24. Steal Jack Frost's magic wand and plant it to get someone in trouble
25. Mislabel the toys so that girls get toy guns and boys get dolls
26. Dig up the ancient elf that died last year and put the corpse in Santa's bed
27. Desecrate the elf cemetery
28. Introduce Satan worship to young, angsty elves and summon a demon!
29. Eat this experimental, yet possibly poisonous, cookie
30. Mess up the printing press in the Christmas Wrapping shop to print black skull paper
31. Kill an elf, grind up the corpse and put the meat in the elf soup
32. Make a cake, decorate with dynamite "candles" and deliver to Santa
33. Assassinate the Chief Elf and pin the crime on one of the reindeer
34. Murder the Island of Misfit Toys ambassador
35. Switch the Naughty and Nice on the Naughty/Nice list
36. Devalue the Christmas Town currency that causes a run on the Bank
37. Change the Purchase Order for round wheels to square wheels
38. Try on this experimental, yet possibly flammable, coat
39. Steal me Santa's brain!
40. Start a riot on Elf Day
41. Expose Mrs. Claus' wild youth in the press
42. Brew illegal hooch and start a speakeasy
43. Form a suicide hotline and pressure an elf who calls in to kill himself
44. Taint the elf and reindeer emergency blood supply
45. Water the candy cane trees with urine to taint the flavor
46. Monkeywrench the generator station on Christmas Tree Lighting Day
47. Try on this experimental, yet possibly brain-damaging, hat
48. Start a fight between the Elf Freight Association and the Flying Reindeer Association
49. Embezzle funds from the Christmas Tree Forest Rodent Protection Society
50. Open an illegal gambling den
51. Destroy life-saving equipment in the Elf Hospital
52. Steal Santa's heart medication and sell it on the street
53. Break all the windows in Santa's house with rocks
54. Rig the bank mortgage department to send out eviction notices to all the reindeer
55. Start a protest: Occupy Christmas Town
56. Rig the toyshop HR department to send out pink slips to all the elves
57. Monkeywrench the machinery in the Ornament shop to produce skull ornaments
58. Photograph and publish nude pictures of Mrs. Claus
59. Convince the Winter Warlock to cast a bad spell
60. Spike the Christmas Town water supply with a potion that causes Red Nose Syndrome
61. Destroy the whole Letters to Santa mail distribution system
62. Bring me Santa's donut!
63. Add Ex-lax to the chocolate candies
64. Build a trebuchet and open Elf Flying Classes
65. Legally sell Christmas Town property to Walmart
66. Legally sell Christmas Town property to Russia
67. Start an "Say No to Santa Fascism: It's OK to cry" advertising campaign
68. Start a black market ring
69. Steal plutonium from the Christmas Town Reactor and complete Rudolph's nuclear weapon
70. Make crystal-meth and douse the reindeer apple supply
71. Convert one of the old toy shops to manufacture guns and sell them to both the Heat Misers and the Snow Misers
72. Try on this experimental, yet possibly explosive, jet-pack
73. Start the cult of the snowman and lead some elves and reindeer to freeze to death during a worship service
74. Unplug the milk refrigerator
75. Capture an elf/reindeer/animal and tie him up in the woods for the wild wolves to eat

[My Life With Rudolph] The Setting

As I mentioned earlier, I've run two games of "My Life With Rudolph," using the excellent My Life With Master rules.

In each game, the minions of Rudolph were denizens of Christmas Town, from the classic 1964 Rankin/Bass stop-motion television special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

I took 8 of the characters from the show for minions: Clarice and Fireball (the two other reindeer young friends of Rudoph), Yukon Cornelius, Hermey the Dentist Elf, Sam the Snowman, Hank the Tall Elf, Charlie-In-The-Box and The Bumble. I also added a 9th minion, a magical Talking Wolf.  Each of these minions has some ability that is more than human and another ability that is less than human.

I started each game by handing out the characters and letting the players choose which they wanted. I explained the rules and let the players divide a set amount of points between Self-loathing and Weariness for each character. We discussed possible connections the PCs would have in Christmas Town, then I set the Fear and Reason levels for the game and we started.

I told them that Rudolph summoned them to his cave for the first of his orders to them:

"Burn down the Christmas Tree Forest!"

In the first game, at this first evil command from Rudolph, one of the players said to the rest of the group "Yeah, guys, this is the high-water mark. Things are not going to get better from this point on!"

[My Collection] My Life With Master

My Life with Master, by Paul Czege, is "a roleplaying game of villainy, self-loathing, and unrequited love" and it's really, really twisted. The player characters are minions of an evil master, tasked to do his evil bidding.

There are several reviews (1, 2, 3) and more (4) linked on the game's home page.

I've run the game twice for my groups (a one-shot each during the 2010 and 2011 holiday seasons) using the same holiday setting that I call "My Life With Rudolph." I'll write up in the notes and post them for you.