Characters and Cliches |

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To help you get started with Risus, we expand upon the list of sample characters and cliches given in the basic Risus rules. We encourage you to add your own sample characters and cliches to the ones we provide here. We also encourage you to check out Anatomy of a Cliché, an excerpt from The Risus Companion.

Adding Your Characters and Clichés

Standard practice is to add your character to an existing genre of characters. If your character is particularly detailed, feel free to add it as a new page associated with the appropriate genre.

If necessary, feel free to create a new genre type and add a link to it here by copying the generic template below, adding it to the end of the page, changing the name and description of the genre, and adding a new page for your clichés and characters. Don't forget to link to those pages (use the +Link button on the EasyEdit Toolbar!)

If you have a really cool character that you'd like to have on a page all to him/her/it/self, there is a fancy characterRisus sheetCharacter templateSheet template available. Just select it when you create a new page. Please continue to link your character to a specific genre.

Genre

For convenience' sake, we have broken down the lists of Characters and Clichés into genres (and, in some cases, sub-genres). These are not hard and fast categories, however; there's a tremendous amount of overlap between some categories. Shadowrun is Fantasy and Cyberpunk, for instance, while Star Wars is largely Science Fiction and Fantasy.

The All-Embracing, All-Inclusive, Funktastic Compendium of Stupendous Stock Characters and Superfluous Stereotypes

A nigh-universal list of cliches, suitable for use in a variety of genres.
cliches

Comedy, Toons

Pure silly stuff.
Examples: Bugs Bunny, Roadrunner, Pinky & The Brain, PeeWee's Big Adventure
characters | clichés

Castaways

Gilligan's Island inspired characters and clichés.
characters | clichés

Cthulhu/Horror

Scary stuff.
characters | clichés

Cyberpunk

Man meets machine.
Examples: Neuromancer
characters | clichés

Espionage

Eye Spy.
Examples: James Bond, Alias, Spy Kids
characters | clichés

Fantasy

Axes and Magic.
Examples: Lord of the Rings, Conan the Barbarian
characters | clichés

Martial Arts

High-leaping hard-kickin' poorly-dubbed action!
Examples: Kung Fu Hustle, Mr. Vampire,
characters | clichés

Modern

Everyday stuff.
Examples: Law & Order, American Splendor
characters | clichés

Pirates

Swashbucklers and pirates in an age of discovery and exploitation.
Examples: Pirates of the Caribbean
characters | clichés

Pulp

Two-fisted action/adventure in the early 20th Century!
Examples: Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Mummy
characters | clichés

SciFi

Science fiction wanna-bes.
Examples: Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Andromeda, The Lexx
characters | clichés

Star Wars

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.
characters | clichés

Superheroes

A place for super heroes and villains.
Examples: Justice League of America, The Avengers
characters | clichés

Victorian/Edwardian

Old world England. The stuff of Romance.
Examples: Sherlock Holmes, Flashman
characters | clichés

Western

Cowboys abound.
Examples: Rawhide, Rustler's Rhapsody
characters | clichés

What the $#@~?

Strange things that don't fit in anywhere else.
characters | clichés