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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
The Game of Puppetland
The Types of Puppets
The Puppet Sheet
Creating a Puppet
Playing a Puppet
Punch and his Boys
The Nutcrackers
Puppet Master Puppets
Tales
Questions & Answers
Symbology & Themes
(Click any left arrow [ ]to return to this list)
INTRODUCTION
The skies are dim always since the Maker died. The lights of Puppettown
are the brightest beacon in all of Puppetland, and they shine all the time.
Once the sun and the moon moved their normal course through the heavens,
but no more. The rise of Punch the Maker-Killer has brought all of nature
to a stop, leaving it perpetually winter, perpetually night. Puppets all
across Puppetland mourn the loss of the Maker, and curse the name of Punch--but
not too loudly, lest the Nutcrackers hear and come to call with a sharp
rap-rap-rapping at the door.
Many years ago, there was a war in the real world. Many people were hurt
and terrible things happened. The Maker saw all that was happening, and
was sorrowful. His creations were the gentlest of creatures, and they were
terribly hurt by these tragedies. The Maker made puppets, and in the face
of chaos and violence he made a great creation: Maker's Land, a world where
all his puppets and all the puppets in the world could go and be safe until
the war was over.
It was in this way that Maker's Land came to be. One morning the world woke
up and all the puppets were gone. Hand puppets, finger puppets, marionettes,
and others--just gone. One morning the puppets woke up and they were found--in
Maker's Land, where no terrible humans could hurt them again.
In Maker's Land all was well. The puppet folk lived without fear, and spent
their days happy and free. No hands controlled them. No strings pulled them.
They could live as they cared, their every need met. All were safe and sound.
The Maker was the only human in the whole land, and he was good and kind.
He mended broken puppets, made new puppets, and kept out any trace of the
fleshy humans who now (except for the Maker) lived only in the puppets'
dreams.
Then came Punch, who fancied himself the greatest of all puppets. He crept
into the Maker's house one night with a great mallet, and he slew the Maker
as the human slept. With the Maker's death, no humans lived in Maker's Land.
But the flesh lived, for Punch took the Maker's face and made a cruel new
face for himself. That wasn't all he made, either: by morning, he had not
just a new face, but six loyal puppet-servants sewn of the Maker's flesh.
These six, whom Punch called his boys, stood beside Punch as he announced
to all the land that he was now the king. He was Punch the Maker-Killer,
and his word was law.
Punch and Punch's Boys now rule Maker's Land with hearts of cruelty and
a lack of mercy. All puppets exist to serve them. The puppets toil for hours
on end making new clothes, new homes, new food, new toys: whatever Punch
and his boys want.
At least, almost all of the puppets do so.
Across the great lake of milk and cookies lies the small village of Respite.
The village is run by Judy, who once loved Punch but does so no more. She
knows better than anyone the cruelties he is capable of. She knows the evil
that lies in his twisted heart. In her little village she runs a freehold
of puppets who have escaped from Punch's clutches. They have avoided the
terrible Nutcrackers, fled the cruelties of Punch's boys, and made their
way to Respite where Judy's small group of free puppets look towards the
day when Punch will be brought down and the Maker restored to life. When
Punch killed the Maker, Judy was there and she caught the Maker's last tear
in a thimble of purest silver. With this tear, the Maker can be brought
back to life, Judy says. This is her fondest dream, and the Maker's Tear
is her most cherished possession.
THE GAME OF PUPPETLAND
PUPPETLAND is very specifically a game, and should be thought of
as such. The object of the game is to defeat Punch the Maker-Killer and
save Maker's World. To do this, each participant in the game will be an
actor, and the character each actor portrays will be a puppet.
Unlike an actor in a play, each character's lines and actions are up to
the actor, not to some script. Therefore the actors must be prepared to
get into the mindset of their character and say and do the sorts of things
their character would say and do. One participant does not play just a single
puppet, and this is the puppet master. The puppet master is responsible
for creating and/or presenting the game, and he or she serves as referee
for the game's rules and as an actor who portrays a number of supporting
roles. The actors portray the leading roles, and the puppet master portrays
the roles of all the supporting characters that the actors will meet.
Actors are unlikely to reach the object of defeating Punch right away. Each
time you play PUPPETLAND, you play a tale. A tale is, in effect,
a single game of PUPPETLAND in which progress is made towards the object
of the game. Over the course of a series of tales, the actors will strive
to achieve the object of the game and defeat Punch the Maker-Killer. When
they do, the game is over. This may take only a few tales, or it may take
many. How long it takes is up to the number of tales the gamemaster wishes
to tell, and how quickly and efficiently the actors make their way through
these tales.
As all games have rules, so does PUPPETLAND. This game has three important
rules.
The First Rule: An hour is golden, but it is not an hour.
A tale of PUPPETLAND can last no more than an hour. Puppets are special
and magical creatures, and can only move around and do things for an hour
at a time. The puppet master should keep a watch handy, and once an hour
has passed by then the tale for the evening must end. Note, however, that
the puppets are aware of this rule and always know how long they have before
the hour ends. When the hour ends, all of the puppets in Maker's World fall
asleep; when they awaken, at the start of the next tale, they are all safe
back in their beds where they begin every tale. Things outside are still
the same as they were at the end of the previous tale, except that all the
puppets (who survived) are back in their beds snug and warm. Wounds from
one tale are not carried over to the next tale-injured or maimed puppets
awaken whole and well again-but puppets who die never return. An hour is
golden.
A PUPPETLAND tale may seem to last more than an hour: for instance, the
puppets might make a long journey that takes many days. But time only passes
in the time it takes to talk about what you are doing. A puppet can say,
"I sleep for a week!" and a week has gone by, but only a few seconds
have passed on the clock. The clock is the arbiter of time, as it should
be; not the actions of the puppets. The time passed is the time in which
the tale is told, not the time in which the events of the tale occur. An
hour is not an hour.
The Second Rule: What you say is what you say.
During a game of PUPPETLAND, it is very important that as long as the actors
are sitting in their chairs, they say only what their puppet says. Every
word a player says while seated comes out of his or her puppet's mouth,
exactly as the actor said it. No actor should say anything while seated
that he or she does not mean for their puppet to say, at all, even if it's
"Pass the chips," or "I'm going to the bathroom." If
an actor wants to say something that their puppet does not say, he or she
must stand up and say it. If an actor wants his or her puppet to do something
besides speak, this must be stated as something the puppet says: for example,
if an actor wants her puppet to climb a ladder to a window, she would say
"I think I shall climb the ladder, and go in the window." If an
actor wants his puppet to take a hammer and smash a window, he would say
"With this hammer I now hold, I shall smash the window in!" All
forms of action that an actor wishes his or her puppet to take must be expressed
as dialogue spoken by the puppet, though the dialogue can be kept simple:
the puppet master is expected to infer appropriate action based on the dialogue
and need not have every step spelled out.
An actor cannot ask a question of the puppet master, for in Maker's World
there is no "puppet master" and hence no one to whom the actor's
puppet would address such a question. If an actor does not quite understand
something that the puppet master has said, or desires more information,
he or she should simply say something like "I don't quite understand
all this," or "I find this all most confusing." The puppet
master will then attempt to explain things better. The puppet master can
ask the actor a direct question, out of character, but it must be a yes-or-no
question and the actor must answer it by shaking or nodding his or her head:
he or she cannot speak except in character.
If the actor or the puppet master simply must converse out of character,
the actor must get up and come over to the game master, and the two must
hold their discussion in whispers so that no others may hear. If the actor
must then communicate information he or she has just learned to the other
actors, he or she should if at all possible sit back down and communicate
the information in the voice of his or her puppet. Out-of-character conversation
should be avoided at all costs and at any inconvenience.
To help this process work, imagine that somewhere, someone is "reading"
everything that the actors and the puppet master say, verbatim. This someone
is expecting to read a story, told like a story, with appropriate dialogue
and description. As a rule of the game, you must endeavor to make every
spoken word sound like part of a story rather than an out-of-game conversation
between a bunch of people at a table.
The Third Rule: The tale grows in the telling, and is being told to someone
not present.
The puppet master must realize that while he or she has a certain tale in
mind, that tale may not be the one that ends up being told. The actors must
realize that they are a part of the tale they are hearing: they create the
dialogue of the main characters. They should strive to make their dialogue
sound as colorful and appropriate as possible, and should also strive to
make the tale as entertaining and unpredictable as they can. Together, the
puppet master and the actors will create a tale better and more exciting
than any one of them could have created on their own.
Always imagine, as mentioned above, that an invisible reader is reading
every word that is spoken during a game of Puppetland, and they will be
most disappointed if the words sound bad or don't flow well or don't make
sense. Since this is a tale, it should always be told in the past tense
except for dialogue, which is in the present tense.
For a bad example of playing PUPPETLAND:
Puppet Master: "Okay, the door bursts in and there's
a bunch of those nutcracker guys standing there. One of them yells at you
to stop."
Actor 1: "Let's get out the back door, and fast!"
Actor 2: "I pick up the rock and throw it at a nutcracker!"
Puppet Master: "You throw the rock and smash the nutcracker's
jaw. He can't bite anymore."
For a good example of playing PUPPETLAND:
Puppet Master: "And then, the door burst down! Three
nutcrackers stood there, one of them still chomping on the doorknob. 'Stop,
you mangy puppets!' cried one."
Actor 1: "Run! Run out the back door! We must escape the
nutcrackers!"
Actor 2: "Where is that rock? Here it is! I shall hurl this
rock and smash your greedy mouth, nutcracker!"
Puppet Master: "The rock flew across the room and hit the first
nutcracker in the jaw. 'Rmmf!' cried the injured nutcracker. 'He cannot
bite nor chomp!' cried another. And he was right: the nutcracker's jaw was
broken in two."
THE TYPES OF PUPPETS
Four types of puppets are provided for play in PUPPETLAND. The puppet master
and the actors are welcome to create new types, but note that each type
has specific attributes and that new types should conform to this style
by selecting similiar attributes, or creating new ones that fit with the
existing ones. These attributes aren't just general descriptions; they are
exacting statements of what a puppet can and cannot do. All puppets can
talk, and move, and think, and pick things up, and do other basic actions.
The attributes characterize such actions and also set out less-common actions.
A finger puppet, who is "quick," can always outrun a hand puppet,
who is "not very fast," unless the finger puppet is badly hurt
or otherwise impeded from normal movement.
Finger Puppets are: short and small, light, quick, and weak.
Finger Puppets can: move quickly, dodge things thrown at them even
if they only see them coming at the last moment, and move very quietly.
Finger Puppets can not: kick things, throw things or grab things
because they have no legs or arms.
Hand Puppets are: medium size, sort of heavy, not very fast, sort
of strong.
Hand Puppets can: move at a normal pace, dodge things thrown at them
if they see them coming as soon as they are thrown, throw things, grab things,
hit things weakly, and move quietly if they are lucky and careful.
Hand Puppets can not: kick things, move quicker than a finger puppet,
or move quieter than a finger puppet.
Shadow Puppets are: tall and thin, light, quick, and weak.
Shadow Puppets can: move quickly; dodge things thrown at them by
turning sideways; kick things, throw things, and grab things; and become
invisible if they are careful and cautious.
Shadow Puppets can not: kick, throw, or grab things that weigh more
than a piece of paper; be invisible if they aren't trying; be invisible
to more than one puppet at a time; or get wet because getting completely
wet kills them.
Marionette Puppets are: tall and stocky, heavy, slow, and strong.
Marionette Puppets can: move slowly; kick, throw, or grab things
as heavy as they are; and hit things very hard.
Marionette Puppets can not: dodge things thrown at them, or move
very quickly.
THE PUPPET SHEET
The puppet sheet is the piece of paper that an actor will describe his or
her character on, and will keep handy during play to refer to. It contains
all of the information about an actor's puppet that isn't just made up at
their discretion; rather, it contains the information that is set for the
puppet right from the start and can't be changed. Each puppet sheet has
five parts. These parts are listed below.
Name: This is the puppet's name, as chosen by the player. Names in
Puppetland are usually composed of two pieces. The first is the puppet's
common name, the name by which other puppets refer to him or her informally.
This name is always a name that would be familiar to most actors, such as
"Sally" or "Jim" or "Nadja." The second is
the puppet's unique name, a name by which no other puppet is known. The
unique name is usually descriptive of the puppet, like "Red Buttons"
or "Tassle Hair" or "Purple Hat." A puppet's full (or
formal) name consists of both names strung together, like "Sally Red
Buttons" or "Jim Tassle Hair" or "Nadja Purple Hat."
Picture: This is where the player draws his or her puppet, to the
best of his or her ability. Even if this is just a stick figure, it is fine.
The important thing to remember is that this drawing must be done at actual
size. An actor's puppet can be no larger than the picture box, and is
assumed to be exactly the size it is drawn at. Therefore, the actor should
keep in mind the type of puppet he or she is playing when making this drawing.
A marionette will take up much more room than a finger puppet. Ignore
the jigsaw puzzle lines at first. They will be used during play, and
do not affect initial puppet creation.
This puppet is: Here, the actor copies the information given under
the "(Finger/Hand/Shadow/Marionette) Puppets Are:" heading given
previously. He or she also adds information as desired; this is discussed
in the next section.
This puppet can: Here, the actor copies the information given under
the "(Finger/Hand/Shadow/Marionette) Puppets Can:" heading given
previously on page xx. He or she also adds information as desired; this
is discussed in the next section.
This puppet can not: Here, the actor copies the information given
under the "(Finger/Hand/Shadow/Marionette) Puppets Can Not:" heading
given previously on page xx. He or she also adds information as desired;
this is discussed in the next section.
CREATING A PUPPET
Each actor chooses one of the above four puppet types. This should be done
as a group. Each puppet type has advantages and disadvantages, and an ideal
group will have at least one of every puppet type for maximum versatility.
Two actors should avoid playing the same puppet type unless they either
have a good reason for it (e.g., the puppets are part of the same family)
or because there are already actors playing all four puppet types.
Once each actor has chosen their puppet type, they need to give their puppet
a name and draw a picture of their puppet on the character sheet. No actor
need also be an artist to do this; even primitive drawings are acceptable.
It is important for the actor to visualize their puppet and try to express
that visualization on paper, no matter how primitively. Remember that the
puppet should be drawn at actual size; that is, however big the actor
draws the puppet, that is really how big the puppet is. Two actors should
be able to hold their character sheets up side-by-side and immediately know
whose puppet is bigger, or taller, or whatever. Drawings of puppets should
make a point to show what limbs are or are not present.
Once each actor has chosen a name and drawn a picture, the actor should
then write the following information: what the puppet is, what the puppet
can do, and what the puppet can't do. This information should be copied
from the list just given earlier, but the player must choose three additional
items to add to each list. These additions must be approved by the puppet
master. For example, take a look at the following puppet. Items in bold
are additions made by the actor.
Name: Sally Red Buttons
Puppet type: Hand Puppet
This puppet is: medium size, sort of heavy, not very fast, sort of
strong, very clever, quite pretty, and good at magic
tricks.
This puppet can: move at a normal pace, dodge things thrown at her
if she sees them coming as soon as they are thrown, throw things, grab things,
hit things weakly, do magic tricks, charm a puppet into doing
her a favor, sing very well, and move quietly if she is lucky
and careful.
This puppet can not: kick things, move quicker than a finger puppet,
tell a lie, swim fast, hurt another puppet who hasn't or
won't hurt her or someone she cares for, or move quieter than a finger
puppet.
Once an actor has done all of the above, he or she is ready to play.
PLAYING A PUPPET
The examples of play given above should make it clear how a game of Puppetland
is played. Interactions are adjudicated entirely by the puppet master, using
the attributes of the puppets involved as a guideline. For example, if a
Nutcracker hurled a rock at Sally Red Buttons (described just above), she
could avoid it (as described in her "This Puppet Can" attributes)
if she sees it coming in time. Again, all such actions are at the puppet
master's discretion, and they should serve the interests of the story as
the third rule said.
The jigsaw puzzle portion of the character sheet needs explanation. That
portion of the character sheet is simply a large box with the outlines of
a jigsaw puzzle within it, into which you draw the picture of your character.
This particular jigsaw puzzle (for every sheet is the same) has sixteen
pieces.
During play, the actor will fill in a piece of the jigsaw puzzle with a
pencil or pen when certain things happen. These things are:
- When the puppet does something it shouldn't be able to do (if Sally
Red Buttons told a lie, her actor would fill in a piece of the jigsaw puzzle).
- When something especially bad happens (if Sally Red Buttons was taken
prisoner by the Nutcrackers and had one of her legs crunched off, her actor
would fill in a piece of the jigsaw puzzle).
Note that "bad" damage is still healed normally when the next
tale begins like all other damage. However, filled-in jigsaw puzzles are
nevererased. They always remain filled in. Once all sixteen pieces are filled
in, the next time a tale ends the puppet never wakes up again. They are
dead, and can no longer be played. Death is rare in Puppetland, but it is
inexorable in its approach.
The puppet master always determines when a puzzle piece should be filled
in, and is always the final authority in this matter.
PUNCH AND HIS BOYS
Punch the Maker-Killer is a megalomaniac. A twisted and vicious puppet,
he has been corrupted by the ways of humans, and was so before the Maker's
Land ever came to be. That he kept this corruption hidden deep within his
bitter heart-so that even the Maker couldn't see it-is tribute to his high
intelligence and cleverness. Punch is a wily, cruel puppet who lives only
to exert power over others and gain more power for himself. He is selfish
and bestial, freely abusing those near him when it suits him to do so. Punch
is vindictive and takes even the smallest slight as a personal affront worthy
of being burned alive at the stake-his standard punishment for any disobedient
puppet.
Punch wears a red cloak and hobbles about under the weight of the great
deformity on his back. At all times, he wears a hood over his entire head
made of the dead flesh of the Maker. He has cut eye and mouth holes in this
fleshy hood so he can see and eat, and wears atop the hood a red cap that
he dipped in the Maker's blood. Punch the Maker-Killer carries with him
a great mallet. When angry, he usually chooses an innocent puppet nearby
and beats him to death with the mallet in an explosion of fury.
Punch's Boys are six in number, and if anything the puppetfolk are more
afraid of them than they are of Punch-for it is the boys who go out and
enforce Punch's insane edicts. They are the ones who glide through the streets
of Puppettown and the roads of Puppetland each night, their feetless forms
moving swiftly through the air like vengeful spirits. The boys are hollow
cloaks of human flesh, cut from the dead skin of the Maker. Their names
are Spite, Haunt, Grief, Vengeance, Mayhem, and Stealth.
Spite: Largest of the boys, Spite is a bully with a loud voice and
a face contorted in anger and jealousy. He wanders the streets and the roads
and rips an arm off of any puppet who he feels is trying to look better
than he does. Spite paints his face to look more normal, but only succeeds
in increasing his gruesomeness. He has maimed dozens of puppets in his time,
and has no intention of stopping.
Haunt: Haunt is greatly feared by those puppets who plot against
Punch, for Haunt can feel the wispy emotions of betrayal. Haunt never attacks
or hurts any puppet. Instead, he is drawn towards feelings of betrayal and
vengence and it is near the source of these feelings that he spends his
time. Haunt floats grimly around and around in an ever-tightening circle.
Whenever the other boys happen to run across the voiceless Haunt circling
ceaselessly, they begin searching house to house within Haunt's circle looking
for traitors. Anyone they even suspect of harboring disloyalty to Punch
is sentenced to the flames.
Grief: Grief is a tool of Punch's justice. One of Punch's first edicts
was "Everyone must always be happy!" and it is this edict that
Grief has especial responsibility to enforce. Grief wanders aimlessly, seeking
those who are not trying to be happy. Those he finds who are obviously sad,
for any reason, he rips limb from limb.
Vengeance: Vengeance is also a tool of Punch's justice. When Haunt
or another boy finds a traitor and they aren't in a hurry, they summon Vengeance
to the scene. Vengeance's specialty is hurting puppets, or at least hurting
traitors. He knows many ways to make a puppet scream, and delights in finding
new ways he hasn't thought of before.
Mayhem: Many, many puppets fear Mayhem constantly for he is Punch's
implement of random destruction. Mayhem is seen very rarely, but when he
is seen it is because he is coming to kill. Mayhem arrives in a village
suddenly, and begins killing puppets seemingly at random. He never speaks,
never explains. He just rends puppets part from part, dragging marionettes
by their strings through the snowy streets or setting fire to a screaming
finger puppet just to watch it go bouncing and sparking through the streets.
Stealth: This boy is seen even less often than Mayhem, because he
can pull off his cloak of skin and reveal nothing underneath. Stealth's
specialty is spying. Since he can become invisible, he tries to follow suspected
traitors and find out what they're up to. Twice, some brave puppet has found
Stealth's discarded cloak of flesh and tried to destory it, but failed both
times. Stealth cannot speak or communicate in any way without his cloak,
and for this reason can be considered somewhat vulnerable.
THE NUTCRACKERS
In addition to his boys, Punch has a small army of Nutcrackers who maintain
order and enforce the laws. These red-suited soldiers stomp endlessly through
the streets of Puppettown and the land beyond. They are not very bright,
but their great fierce mouths are sized just right for shattering the joints
of marionettes or crushing the parts of any puppet. Punch's boys are more
feared than seen. The Nutcrackers, on the other hand, are seen daily and
remind all the puppets of the land just who is boss.
PUPPET MASTER PUPPETS
Besides the four puppet types available for actors, the puppet master has
three additional puppet types available for his or her use. These puppet
types-some of whom are unique individuals, rather than general types-are
described here.
Name: Punch
Puppet type: Unique (Marionette)
This puppet is: tall and stocky, heavy, slow, cunning,
impatient,
cruel, and strong.
This puppet can: move slowly; kick, throw, or grab things as heavy
as they are; command the nutcrackers and boys; order any puppet
to do anything and kill them if they don't; work magic; and hit
things very hard.
This puppet can not: dodge things thrown at him, feel emotions,
survive without his mask of flesh, allow disobedience, or
move very quickly,
Name: None of them have real names
Puppet type: Nutcracker
This puppet is: tall and stocky, heavy, fast, and strong.
This puppet can: move quickly; kick, throw, or grab things as heavy
as they are; order any puppet to do anything and kill them if they don't;
crunch parts of puppets or other things with their teeth; and hit things
very hard.
This puppet can not: dodge things thrown at him, feel emotions, allow
disobedience, betray Punch, or move very quickly,
Name: Spite
Puppet type: Unique (Flesh)
This puppet is: short and stocky, heavy, slow, and strong.
This puppet can: kick, throw, or grab things as heavy as they are;
tear off a puppet's limb; yell loudly all the time; order any puppet to
do anything and maim them if they don't.
This puppet can not: move quickly; allow disobedience; betray Punch.
Name: Haunt
Puppet type: Unique (Flesh)
This puppet is: short, light, fast, and weak.
This puppet can: move quickly; sense a puppet's disobedience; circle
a disobedient puppet closer and closer.
This puppet can not: allow disobedience; betray Punch; hurt anyone.
Name: Grief
Puppet type: Unique (Flesh)
This puppet is: tall, heavy, of average speed, and strong.
This puppet can: kick, throw, or grab things as heavy as they are;
notice a puppet's obvious sadness; kill any puppet who is sad.
This puppet can not: allow disobedience; betray Punch.
Name: Vengeance
Puppet type: Unique (Flesh)
This puppet is: short, heavy, slow, and strong.
This puppet can: kick, throw, or grab things as heavy as they are;
torture puppets; find new ways to torture puppets.
This puppet can not: allow disobedience; betray Punch.
Name: Mayhem
Puppet type: Unique (Flesh)
This puppet is: of medium height, of average weight, fast, and very
strong.
This puppet can: move quickly; kick, throw, or grab things as heavy
as they are; kill a puppet in seconds.
This puppet can not: allow disobedience; betray Punch.
Name: Stealth
Puppet type: Unique (Flesh)
This puppet is: short, light, fast, and weak.
This puppet can: move quickly; kick, throw, or grab things as heavy
as they are; take off his cloak of flesh and become invisible and silent.
This puppet can not: allow disobedience; betray Punch; communicate
without his cloak of flesh.
TALES
Each tale will consist of the puppets doing their best to stop Punch, find
the Maker's body (which Punch has hidden), and bringing the Maker back to
life with the Maker's Tear saved by Judy. In addition, they must protect
Judy and her freehold of Respite, and do what they can to save innocent
puppets from the ravages of Punch and his boys.
Tales may come from the mind of the puppet master, or may be instigated
by actors who have a particular goal in mind and seek to go about it.
Typical tales might include:
- Dealing with one of the boys, perhaps once and for all.
- Rescuing a puppet who has been targeted by Haunt.
- Stopping a cadre of Nutcrackers from finding Respite.
- Infiltrating Punch's palace to find the Maker.
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
A net-capable game master known as 'Cheese' asked a number of questions
that I thought should be included in these rules. Hopefully you'll find
these of use.
#1: What are the dimensions of the picture/jigsaw puzzle box that the
players draw their puppets in?
I never decided, but I'd assume it would be most of a sheet of paper since
the attributes & info wouldn't take up very much. Call it 8"x8"
or so.
#2: What is up with "magic"?
The Sally Red Buttons sample character can do "magic tricks" but
that's just meant to be sleight-of-hand stuff. Punch can "work magic"
and by this I meant that he could make living puppets from the Maker's skin
and presumably other kinds of alchemy-sorcery. I wouldn't say that he could
throw fireballs or anything, but he can probably do sinister transformational
stuff like turning a captured puppet into stone or something. It'd be more
processes than weapons.
#3: What are some of the other skills unmentioned?
I hadn't made up any more besides what are in there, but they're intended
to be common-sense kinds of things. What can a puppet do? That's what you
ask to figure them out.
#4: How does Judy go about restoring the Maker? She just pours the Tear
on his skin?
I never dealt with this. Presumably if you got Judy, the Maker, and the
Tear all in the same place it would work itself out. I'd suggest that she
has to pour the tear back into the corner of the Maker's eye; the tear would
flow back into the Maker and restore him to life.
#5: In the group I may run, I think I'm going to start with them being
puppets in Puppet Town and then finding out about Respite and travelling
there. Would they start in Respite if they got beds and moved there later
on?
Sure. Presumably, the puppets will wake up wherever they feel safe and
consider "home." Otherwise, the nutcrackers would be at their
door every morning out for puppet stuffing.
#6: How BIG do you feel Puppetland is? I mean, is it the size of the
world? Is it as big as a regular human-sized town? Are there mountains?
How far from the real world is it?
I always imagined Puppetland as being a human-sized city, only scaled
down to puppet dimensions. But not a huge city...maybe a thousand puppets,
maybe just a few hundred. It's meant to lay on the shore of a great lake
of milk & cookies, ringed by mountains. Respite is on the far side.
That's as much of the world as anyone knows about; if anyone went up in
the mountains, I'd rule that they hit the painted felt backdrop that forms
the "sky" of Puppetland. Part of me thinks that Maker's World
is actually a huge puppet stage/playland built by the Maker in the back
of his shop, and that if a puppet cut through the felt sky backdrop and
jumped out, he'd be in a dusty storeroom in an abandoned puppet store in
a largely-deserted Jewish ghetto in Germany circa 1941.
#7: How do the character interactions go? Okay...a Finger puppet is quick
enough to dodge anything if it sees it right off... so if a nutcracker snuck
up on it, the puppet wouldn't know? I mean, how do you know if you hit someone
with your hand, or is it just a 'well, it's pretty obvious that you might
just do damage'... GM discretion and all that...
Beats me. I meant for it to be run pretty much freeform, taking the
attributes of the puppets as guides to what might happen. So, I'd say that
it amounts to GM fiat, modulated by the creativity of the players in verbalizing
their actions. You could potentially play it using Everway cards or tarot
cards as a mediating device, I presume; for that matter, you could roll
dice, pick a number between one and ten, or what have you if you'd like
that kind of element. I presumed that there wouldn't be much hand-to-hand
combat...instead, it'd be stuff like "Let's push the big rock on top
of the Nutcrackers!" I mean, imagine a bunch of puppets in a knock-down,
drag-out fight...it's not a very compelling image. Hopefully, the players
will find other solutions and the GM can provide for such solutions.
#8: If you can't answer these questions, I can... =)
Good! It's that kind of game.
SYMBOLOGY & THEMES
PUPPETLAND is a game about children, and what happens to us as children.
The gameplay is meant to create the kinds of stories one finds in a children's
book; hence the insistence on in-game dialogue and narration. But because
the elements in the setting are not the sort of thing one usually finds
in children's books, I hope to allow players of the game to get a look at
the realities of the childhood experience through childhood trappings, yet
with an adult sensibility.
The world of the game is a world of innocence that has been corrupted.
This is a timeless theme, and one that I hope has a lot of resonance for
the game's participants. Actors in the game adopt the roles of child-like
puppets-the kinds of folk who say things like "Gracious! The nutcrackers
are at the door!" The threats faced by the puppets are bizarre and
often senseless, presented much as children perceive the world of danger
that lies beyond the safety of home and family.
PUPPETLAND presents a world in where a single adult-the Maker-has created
a world in which children-the puppets-can live safely. But the puppet Punch
has entered adulthood, or is trying to, and has usurped the rule of the
Maker. Punch is an adolescent, full of rage and confusion and the desire
to strike out against authority. Judy is also an adolescent, but has apparently
followed a different path than her ex-lover.
The world, then, is a world of childhood and innocence that has just begun
to feel the pains of growing up. Maker's World may be a beautiful place,
but all children grow up and perhaps it is the destiny of Maker's World
to grow up, too. Judy claims that the Maker's Tear will restore everything
to the way it was; will it? That's up to the Puppet Master. Perhaps Judy
is mistaken, and it's time for the inhabitants of Maker's World to grow
up now that their parent is gone. Perhaps Punch can be redeemed. Perhaps
Judy's correct, and Maker's World is a golden land where no one need ever
grow up.
The choice is yours.
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