Pyramid Review
Pie Shop: A Role-Playing Game by Mr. Toad
Written & Published by Mr. Toad
Illustrated by John Tenniel
68-page Saddlestitched black & white book; $20.00
Pie Shop: A Role-Playing Game by Mr. Toad is another entry in the roleplaying genre of the "Nasty." This is best typified by the old Hogshead Publishing's New Style games, Violence: The RPG of Egregious Bloodshed and Puppetland/Powerkill. Pie Shop though, is not the outrageously satirical rant upon the style of play espoused by the world's leading RPG that is Violence, but more the social commentary of Puppetland/Powerkill that forces us to confront the casually violent nature of our actions in so many games.
Right from the out, Pie Shop gets to its point. It is a roleplaying game that descends into the hobby's equivalent of the septic tank by asking you to roleplay a serial killer. Not a mere killer with a cause or a conscience, but a sick individual driven to commit murder for often the most spurious, though no less compelling of reasons. And while guilty of such acts, such a killer does not feel the guilt of his act. In true La Femme Nikita-style, the killer has been caught, convicted, and locked away. Which is where they found him. Since he is not so well-known, they (whomever they are) have offered him a deal, which he accepted and was set free to kill again. Not for himself, but whenever he receives a telephone call that will give the instructions and a target. And that, is all there is to Pie Shop.
Characters in Pie . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: June 24, 2005
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