Johnsonville: Cutthroat Capitalism
(Johnsonville for short) is a Tabletop Game developed by Project LETO and published in 2015. Referred to by the developers as a "Tabletop Party Game", Johnsonville is a game centered around the idyllic city of Johnsonville, a city owned entirely by the corporation Johnsoncorp, owned by the enigmatic Mr. Johnson, an eccentric billionaire who's put some of his vast fortune into his very own city!
3-6 players act as citizens in Johnsonville, one player acting as Johnson and dictating the events in a way akin to a Game Master from a standard tabletop RPG. The rest of the players are assigned "citizenly tasks" from a pile of Task Cards, and have to roll against Johnson to perform literally everything. Get out of bed? Roll the dice. Make a souffle? Roll the dice. Feed raw meat to the genetically engineered children of the city? You better get rolling, citizen! Rolling higher than Johnson means you succeed at the thing you do. Fail, and you don't do what you plan on doing, often with significant injury to yourself and the loss of two lifebucks.
The game focuses heavily on Rule of Funny, focusing more on what's will lead to the most comedy than what makes the most sense. The manual explicity tells aspiring players to focus more on entertainment than success, and the game's oddball tasks try to encourage it.
Johnsonville Cutthroat Capitalism can contain examples of:
- Big Eater: Johnson's brother Wilson is one, and his bootleg Kit encourages Players to be this.
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: Johnson and his brothers are this. They're all business rivals, and they all hate one another.
- Bloody Hilarious: Citizens of Johnsonville suffer many, many horrible injuries in the course of their daily lives. This is played entirely for laughs.
- Catchphrase: “Snazzy!” for everyone in Johnsonville.
- Comedic Sociopathy: Johnsonville runs off of this trope.
- Creepy Child: The Children of Johnsonville. They're genetically engineered monsters that Johnson regrets creating. They're trapped in the Elementary School until night.
- Dirty Communists: Communists are the official punching bags of Johnsonville, talk like Boris Badinov and live entirely off of Vodka.
- Extreme Omnivore: The Wilson-brand kit is always an Eating Kit. It allows you to eat anything once. Anything.
- Eccentric Townsfolk: The Citizens of Johnsonville are shockingly desensitized to the horrible injuries and odd Tasks they're assigned to perform. They're also capable of completely defying the rules of reality if the player rolls well enough.
- Fascists' Bed Time: All tasks must be completed before night. In a rare example of this trope, this is actually for the good of the citizens, because the Children come out at night.
- Quirky Town: In Johnsonville, nobody has a permanent job, instead being assigned daily Tasks. Everything is owned by Johnson, and acts that blatantly defy reality occur on a daily basis.
- I'm a Humanitarian: The Children of Johnsonville devour any citizen they can get their hands on.
- Insistent Terminology: Everything is Snazzy in Johnsonville. Except Communism.
- Johnson is not a corporate despot. He is an “eccentric billionare”.
- Kids Are Cruel: When they're genetically engineered monstrosities, this tends to be the case.
- Made of Explodium: Erikson kits always explode, no matter what they actually do.
- Major Injury Underreaction: While the Game Master is encouraged to come up with creative, painful injuries, there are no rules for being injured. Players can continue their tasks even as quadruple amputees missing half their skulls.
- Manipulative Bastard: Johnson is an evil, evil man, responsible for countless atrocities. Through careful PR Work, he's managed to cover his tracks and convince everyone he's just an eccentric billionaire.
- MegaCorp: Johnsonville is owned by Johnson Corp.
- Moral Guardians: Johnson can't stand Hooligans, Hippies, and that accursed Rock and Roll!
- New-Age Retro Hippie: Every single hippie in Johnsonville is one of these. Everybody hates them for it.
- Privately Owned Society: Johnson is responsible for literally every part of Johnsonville. The buildings, the food, even the air is Johnson Brand.
- Red Scare: Everyone in Johnsonville hates Communists. Being suspected of being a communist is often grounds for being brutally murdered.
- Sadist Show: One of the main points of Johnsonville is seeing what horrible things will happen to the Players this time.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Are the things Johnson does remotely legal? No. Does he have the money to ignore that? Yes.
- Secret Police: While not exactly a secret, the Enforcers more or less fulfill this role in Johnsonville.
- Seven Deadly Sins: Johnson and his brothers are based off of this.
- Stuck On Bandaid Brand: Everything is Johnson Brand. Everything.
- Teens Are Monsters: The Hooligans, greasers that blatantly defy the rules of Johnsonville and are often battled as part of a Task.
- The '50s: There's a thin layer of this over all the blatant anachronisms.
- Too Dumb to Live: Every single citizen.
- Too Incompetent to Operate a Blanket: the standard player and citizen of Johnsonville.
- Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: The Players are encouraged to act this way.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Happens rather often.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Johnson is a complete maniac who records the events of Johnsonville as entertainment and is responsible for hundreds of deaths. To the public, he's their benevolent, snazzy ruler!
- Would Hurt a Child: They're technically monsters that LOOK like children, but citizens are often forced to fight off Children.
- You Have Failed Me: Whenever Johnson punishes the Players, it's this trope.
