Die Laughing 2 is a supplement for Die Laughing, the RPG that puts the laughter in slaughter.Â
And you can get the core game as part of this campaign, too!
Die Laughing is a short-play, GM-less tabletop roleplaying game where players portray characters in a horror-comedy movie. Everyone's going to die. It's just a matter of when and how funny you can make it. Even after your character is gone, there are multiple ways for you to remain involved and influence the story right up until the bloody end.Â
Die Laughing requires just a couple minutes of preparation to play. Players pick their characters and make a few quick choices. You pick a monster and you're ready to go. It takes 1-2 hours to play, depending on how many player are involved.
Die Laughing 2 provides you with new characters to get killed and monsters to murder them with. Additionally, it provides a new rule-set, Film Style. You can use Film Styles to tailor the horror and comedy (and the drama) to a particular style of horror movie.
Why is the game built around making a movie? Easy. Lots of people work on a movie.Â
When your character dies (and they almost certainly will), you become a producer on the movie and exert your control to help make the story better, funnier, or deadlier. Or to just screw around with things. Just like a real producer on a real movie.Â
And there's some other stuff in there to help keep you busy once your character is six feet under. Or chopped into little bits. Or turned into a sexy vampire. Or whatever.Â
During each scene in Die Laughing, one of the characters is the lead character (and that changes from scene to scene). That character's player decides who will be in the scene with their character. One of the players portrays the director, setting their character aside temporarily to help set up and guide the scene (that also changes from scene to scene). Everyone in the scene plays the scene out. Sometimes the monster attacks during the scene. Sometimes it doesn't.
Resolving Scenes
At the end of each scene, everyone with a character in the scene makes a trait check by rolling their dice pool to determine whether their character succeeds in the scene or not. Then everyone narrates that success or failure for their character, thus pushing the story forward.
Character Death
As the game goes along, your dice pool decreases based on the results of those trait checks. This decrease is a countdown to your character's death. When you run out of dice, your character dies and you narrate their death.
After Death
Once your character is gone, you become a producer. In addition, you can still be the director. Finally, there's a unique rule for each monster that influences your involvement in the game after your character is gone.Â
While the book is pretty much done, there are a few things we can do with stretch goals.
FORM FILLABLE PDFs - UNLOCKED - If we hit $2000, backers will receive form-fillable PDFs of all 32 character archetypes available between the core book and supplement.Â
MORE PAGES - UNLOCKED - If we hit $3000, we'll add six more pages of film styles and alternate roles you can take on when your character dies.Â
The supplement is 36 pages long. It's written, edited, laid out, and has been proofed. It's ready to go very shortly after this campaign ends. Â The core game book is 100 pages long.Â
PDFs and books for both the core game and supplement will be fulfilled through DriveThruRPG.com. Â
Special Note on Shipping Cost
Your pledge does not include shipping. Shipping will be charged separately via Backerkit's pledge manager after the campaign ends.
Special Note on the Pledge Manager
This supplement is ready to go. We will be collecting shipping money and any add-ons you want very shortly after the campaign ends.Â
Following is an approximation of shipping costs in US Dollars, based on where you live:
Two alternate roles to play after your character is gone
A list of common horror tropes
Blank character archetype and monster pages (so you can make up your own)
A bunch of other talky stuff that helps you understand the game
Glorious black, white, and blood-n-guts red artwork
Die Laughing 2 supplement
8 more character archetypes
8 more unique monsters (description, rules stuff, setting choices, etc.)
Rules for applying film styles to your game (styles like Gothic, B-Movie, and Grindhouse)
Blank film style page (so you can make up your own)
Glorious black, white, and blood-n-guts red artwork (plus a dash of toxic green)
Game Designand Layout: Craig Campbell (he/him) is an architect, ENnie nominated RPG designer, podcaster, and the owner of NerdBurger Games. He is the designer of the award-winning CAPERS RPG, as well as several others. He has freelanced for a variety of other RPGs, enjoys exploring worlds not often explored in RPGs, and is a firm believer in the idea that there is no such thing as "too many games." Die Laughing is his heartfelt homage to the horror books and movies he's loved all his life.Â
Artwork: Beth Varni (she/they) is a freelance illustrator working in games and comics. She also runs an Etsy shop where people can order custom ttrpg character art.
Front Cover and Graphic Design: Todd Crapper (he/him) is an ENnie award winning game designer and freelance graphic designer. He feels he is, in part, defined by his love of The Changeling, Dead Alive (aka Braindead), and the Friday the 13th series.Â
Editing:Coyote Crow (she/her) is an author, editor, and freelance game designer. While her first loves are horror and dark fantasy, she specializes in all manner of weird fiction, and is especially fond of stories told by new, historically marginalized voices. She firmly believes there can be no exquisite beauty without some strangeness in the proportion.
