Line #19 TabletopGame/MyLifeWithMaster


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4	''My Life With Master'' is a [[TabletopRPG role-playing game]] of "[[http://www.halfmeme.com/master.html villainy, self-loathing, and unrequited love]]" where players take on the roles of {{The Igor}}s serving under a MadScientist or some other kind of evil Master, the latter played by the GameMaster but collectively created by the group. The goal of the game is for one of the minions to gather enough courage and to defy the Master in an attempt to kill them, thus freeing the world from their tyranny.
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6	Created by Paul Czege of [[Creator/TheForge Half Meme Press]], ''MLWM'' is one of the standout 2000-2010 indie [=RPGs=], alongside ''TabletopGame/Sorcerer2001'', ''TabletopGame/DogsInTheVineyard'', and ''TabletopGame/ApocalypseWorld'', due to its value as marriage counseling for codependent polycules.
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8	!!The game provides examples of following tropes:
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10	* BittersweetEnding: Not in every game, but game ends generally tend toward this. Depending on the final stats of the game world and the individual characters, the [=PCs=] might flee the town, be killed, be DrivenToSuicide (possibly of a TakingYouWithMe nature), be [[HeelFaceTurn accepted by the townsfolk]], or even [[ThenLetMeBeEvil develop into a new Master]].
11	* BlessedWithSuck and CursedWithAwesome: All henchmen have "More Than Human" and "Less Than Human" qualities which give them awesome powers at the expense of being, well, human.
12	* EvilOverlord[=/=]MadScientist: Many Masters.
13	* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: For the Masters, anyway. Endgame starts when someone successfully resists an order from the Master.
14	* FromBadToWorse: If a character acquires too much Self-Loathing through doing the Master's work, things get worse for the community through a "Horror Revealed," and if it gets too bad ...well, the TorchesAndPitchforks start coming out.
15	* {{GMPC}}: The Master is always one of these, although s/he is created jointly by the players.
16	* GothicHorror: The entire game is predicated upon this genre, with the master and their henchmen representing the darkest recesses of Romanticism.
17	* TheIgor: This game places you in this role for an evil master.
18	* IncorruptiblePurePureness: There's one Innocent NPC per game whose presence helps the [=PCs=] keep their humanity.
19	* LoveRedeems: The main game mechanic. The only chance the [=PCs=] have to win is to form bonds (even if they are [[StalkerWithACrush one-sided]]) with the townsfolk that give them strength to defy the Master.
20	* LowerDeckEpisode: The premise of the game is to make TheIgor and TheRenfield the stars of their stories.
21	* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: Usually what gets the henchmen to rebel against the Master.
22	* OurVampiresAreDifferent: A vampire Master may be in it for the feeding or the breeding.
23	* ThePowerOfLove: The whole point of the game is for henchmen to redeem themselves by connecting with the townsfolk.
24	* TheRenfield: Many characters.
25	* RolePlayingEndgame: The game has one of the best-known Campaign Endgame rules, which says that as soon as any one of the playable [[TheIgor minions]] successfully defies the Master's orders, they ''must'' attack and kill the Master, ending the campaign. Since it usually takes a bit of time, other players have time to get in on the action or simply to hash up their stats, which determine their character's ultimate fates in the epilogue, which occurs as soon as the Master perishes.
26	* RomanticismVersusEnlightenment: This dichotomy is explicitly hard-coded into the game system. The master represents the dark side of Romanticism, while the townsfolk represent Enlightenment, and their respective influences on the environment are denoted with the Fear and Reason stats. The minions are caught smack in the middle, and thus have individual stats to represent both, namely Self-Loathing and Love, which stack with the corresponding "global" stats for the purpose of defying the Master's orders.
27	* {{Uberwald}}: The default assumption of the setting.
28	* WeaksauceWeakness: All henchmen have a condition which impedes the use of their "More Than Human" quality, which can possibly be this. Inverted for "Less Than Human", which can be ignored if the requirement is fulfilled. It isn't unusual to have the same condition for both.

Context TabletopGame / MyLifeWithMaster