NWoD Gameline- Klown: the Grinning

[Molly Mirthless]

Question for all klowns, klownettes, and other funny folks:
Those of you into TTRPGs- Are any of you into Chronicles of Darkness/ NWoD? Would any of you be interested in a fan game allowing you to play monster clowns?
I've been putting together a fangame tentatively named Klown: the Grinning (no relation per se to Killer Klowns from Outer Space), where you play as a human who can transform into a monstrous clown-being, who maintains (or predates on) the supernatural ecosystem of the Backstage, the strange dimension where everything that is dreamt goes when the dream's over.

I'd be thrilled to infodump on setting, factions, breeds, etc, if anyone is interested; or dump some of the placeholder 'art' I've been making for it.

 

[Molly Mirthless]

Spoiler

Icons for four of the five main Klown breeds: Whiteface, Pierrot, Auguste, and Hobo

 

[Molly Mirthless]

Spoiler

Cover art and mockups of the default blank pages.

 

[Molly Mirthless]

So, in Klown: the Grinning, you play as a Klown, a shapeshifting magical (often monstrous) clown, who is a human merged with the essence of the Backstage, the realm where everything that has been dreamed goes when the dream is over.You play as one of five breeds: Whiteface, Auguste, Pierrot, Hobo, or Grotesque, and as one of five factions: The Lords of Misrule, The Cult of Whizbo, Are We Funny Yet?!?, The Union, and a fifth yet to be decided.

THE BREEDS​

Whitefaces are persuaders, leaders… as much as anyone can lead Klowns -trying to wrangle so much as a single Troupe (player party) is like herding cats, if cats could slip banana peels under your heel while you were grabbing for their collar-. They tend to act like goofballs and hedonists, with the strongest sweet tooths of any Klown (mind you, that's saying something!)

Pierrots are poets, writers, famed for their sappy tragic love poetry and excessive moping; the archetypal Sad Clown. Don't underestimate them- while they're moping in the corner, they're keeping picture-perfect notes on everything you're letting slip, and they gossip.

Augustes are clumsy dopes, everyone knows that! Always tripping, whacking their heads on things, dropping bannanna peels everywhere. Kinda funny how, when they trip, it's always the people they get tangled up in who get hurt, while they never suffer a scratch. And isn't it odd how the only people who actually trip on their banana peels are the ones who were rude to an Aguste? …must be a coincidence.

Hobos are cousins to Augustes; the paints even look similar. Some folk even say a Hobo is just an Auguste who hit a bad patch and got glum. That's ignoring the huge muscles (the Unions makes them strong) and mean right hook, not to mention the Union politics and the secret Hobo language.

Grotesques are… well, ain't they a thing? Makeup that doesn't come out of any clowning manual I've read, some of them don't even HAVE makeup so much as clown masks FUSED to their faces! Scariest damn critters, Grotesques. Clawed hands, some of them, or long strong tongues. Any Klown can be a monster- most Grotesques can be Horrification made flesh. Also the local black coffee addicts.

THE FACTIONS
​

The Lords of Misrule are, well. If leading Klowns is like herding cats, the Lords of Misrule are happy to act as cat-herds. Don't worry, they won't pull out the shears and fleece yah! Drawing from medieval Court Jester ideals, and the British folk customs of the Feast of Fools (which were led by, you guessed it, the Lord of Misrule!), the Lords lead through example, persuasion, humor, and a willingness to say 'You know what? You'e right. This isn't working!' and do the opposite. Thus, the Lords celebrate the Feast of Fools, where once a year (in some places, once a month) they spend a day with every task, even the positions of highest leadership, being swapped around randomly. You think you can lead this Circus better, Lil Miss Union Hobo? Well, here's the tophat and whip! Get crackin'!

The Cult of Whizbo is unusual for a religion: they know their god isn't real… yet. Starting as a pre-internet in-joke, mutating into a meme during the days of Ceiling Cat the voyeuristic, He isn't actually real, and He won't be, u til His followers spread word far and hard enough for Him to have always been real. It's all very Postmodern, Chaos Magic, Aliester Crowley meets Terry Pratchett Power-of-Belief stuff, like if the Technephandic Heralds of Basilisk developed a real sense of humor. Whizbo is the God of Klowns, the great Trickster god. He's Prometheus in greasepaint, He's bald Coyote, He's even Clownthulhu if you ask the high-Nightmare cultists. He will arise, and He will tell the Final Joke, and He and His followers together will have the last laugh.

The Union is… look, it's a Union, ok, bub? It organizes Klowns, it guarantees good pay, OSHA adherence, medical coverage (and yeah, that includes dental, unless you're a Grotesque- nuttin' the docs can do about them fangs, bud; them's the breaks), and just generally looks out for the little guy. If you're a working class Klown, the Union has your back. Drawing from the rich history of Dust Bowl-era communist Union advocacy (think 'fighting for the 40-hour work break and weekends off, not Soviet Repression and gulags), the Union is not actually 100% Hobo. There're plenty of Agustes and Pierrots, a sizable minority of Whitefaces (albeit everyone else believes they're all young spoiled college-educated Bobos talking down to the hardworking working Klown).

Are We Funny Yet!?! (and, no. Punction's not optional) are, basically, a postmodernist performance art collective. The devil, as always, is in the details. Namely, you try imaging an art collective run by the unholy lovechild of the kind of art professors whose courses all involve the word 'postmodern' and who can't speak without namedropping Anna Halprin or Li Xinmo or Peter Rigly and uses words like 'flash mob' and 'reality phreaking' and Spontex (the political spontaneity thing, not the cleaning products) -whew, take a deep breath there- on the one hand, and the freaking Joker on the other. They're not all psychos. Really. I pinky promise.
Just most of 'em.


You draw upon the powers of emotion (gathered from trips Backstage, involving yourself in adventures with the various Figments that live there, or playing White Rabbit to the various human Alice's who have fallen out of their own heads into the Backstage) to power twin Klown powers, Hilarities and Horrifications, depending on whether you want to do funny joyous things or scary monster clown things.

You have a twin Karma meta, Laughter and Nightmare, which effect how much you can wield hilarities and horrifications.

A lot of the lore and most mechanics are up in the air at this point- really, I'm looking to workshop with other people who have ideas.

 

[Molly Mirthless]

Increasingly, I'm thinking of ditching the dual Karma meter, and maybe even dual powers. Trying to be a game for Princess The Hopeful- style Heroics In A World Of Darkness and Vampire-style Monsters We Are Lest Monsters We Become is not working.

So. Your energy is called Flash (carny slang for fancy prizes), and you get it from dazzling Marks (humans who dreamed their way out of their own heads and into the Backstage. Joh, wonder, laughter? That'll work, but, uh… fear is quicker, and stronger. Frankly, it's just BETTER.

You Flash fuels powers called Chicaneries. Benevolent Chicaneries are called Hilarities, scary or cruel ones are Horrifications. Chicaneries that produce illusions are called Razzle

If you die Backstage, you don't die in real life (usually. A Klown has to WORK at it to kill someone.)

Klown domains are called Circuses , and some are actually nomadic, called Traveling Circuses. Many famous clown-related locations, especially those too small to support a full-time Circus, like Coney Island, the Clown Motel in Nevada, Gibsonton in Florida, etc, are kept open for Traveling Circuses to set up shop in temporarily, usually for no more than a year or two.

The governing body of a Circus, Traveling or Static, is called the Court of Fools, and consists of the Ringmaster (who is charge, also called King/Queen of Klowns), the Louis (second-in-command, from Lieutenant) the Fuzz or Big Guy (like a Kindred Sheriff), the Baker (the treasurer, because they're in charge of the dough), and others. Each Circus has their own colorful name and theme. For example, Miss Eclair's Asylum is a Victorian Asylum-themed Traveling Circus that currently is staying at Coney Island.

Klowns are created when a human performs the Giggling, a ritual that involves traveling in your dreams, out of your own head and into the Backstage where you paint an egg with the facepaint you'll wear in Klown form (you don't choose, the Backstage itself moves your hand for you- helpful to those of us with no art skills!). Your Egg (always capitalized) cracks when you die an unnatural death. A full Troupe of Klowns, one from each major Breed, can perform a ritual to repair a dead Klown's egg if they died unnaturally, resurrecting them, but this costs XP from all of them, and an entire story to acquire the necessary Wonders from the Waaaay Backstage.

 

[Dan O'von]

So... Where would Rodeo Clowns fit? They SEEM inherently Union.

What would each of the Circuses specialize in as far as supernatural powers go?

Most importantly, what happens if a member of the Troupe fails to be entertaining?

 

[Molly Mirthless]

Rodeo Klowns are a minor breed, but definitely exist! They, like Mimes, Jesters, Harlequins, etc, will be getting a short write up! There's no breed that's inherently any faction, even if some factions are one-breed-heavy, but yeah, Rodeo boys are mostly good Union Klowns.

Circuses don't, per say, specialize in particular Chicaneries, any more than Vampire Domains specialize in specific Gifts. That's for Breed and Faction. (And also, I, uh… haven't made up any specific Chicaneries).

As for failing to be entertaining… then they gotta be scary!

Spend too long with no Flash in your system at all, and you get The Morbs, a dreadful condition that wears away at your magical existence, until your egg cracks and you're just a human again until your Troupe fixes it.

Fortunately, the Morbs don't crack an egg THAT badly, so it's not like bringing a Klown back from the dead!

(Also, sorry I can't seem to reply? Internet's bugging up here, I also didn't get a notification of your post)

 

[Molly Mirthless]

Also, there's a Discord now!

Join the Klown: The Giggling Discord Server!

Discord for the CoD fangame Klown: the Giggling | 2 members

discord.gg

I'll be posting (cleaned-up) versions of my rambles and images, and also uploading images, music, and videos that have inspired me.