Violence (role-playing Game)

Violence (role-playing Game)

Violence: The Roleplaying Game of Egregious and Repulsive Bloodshed is a short, 32-page roleplaying game written by Greg Costikyan under the pseudonym "Designer X" and published by Hogshead Publishing in 1999 as part of its New Style line of games. Violence is a parody of conventional dungeon-bashing games, set in a contemporary metropolis where player characters run from room to room killing the occupants and stealing their stuff. In a style reminiscent of Mad, it is relentlessly user-hostile, taking time out to insult the reader wherever possible (it opens with the words "Welcome to Violence, you degraded turd"), and uses a mechanic whereby experience points can be bought for hard cash from the designer or publisher. Despite innovative games design and exhaustive lists of equipment and weapons (including both belt and orbital sanders), monster types, and possible scenarios, it is largely and deliberately unplayable.

Cover art was by Clint Langley. A Spanish language edition exists.

In August 2005, Costikyan released Violence under a Creative Commons license (Costikyan 2005) and made it available for download.