I could tell you what Risus is, but it would be easier to just let author S. John Ross describe it himself:
"Risus is a complete Role Playing Game (RPG) designed to provide an "RPG Lite" for those nights when the brain is too tired for exacting detail. Risus is especially valuable to GMs assembling a quick convention game, or any late-night beer-and-pretzels outing. While it is essentially a Universal Comedy System, it works just as well for serious play (if you insist!). Best of all, a Risus character takes about 20 seconds to create!"
The rules are available for free at Ross's site, and it really is as easy as it sounds. Of course, it's universal, so that poses some problems for blind character creation. For this exercise, I'm going to go with a traditional D&D-style fantasy game.
Risus characters are built using clichés, short descriptive statements that form a part of the character concept and serve as the mechanical building blocks of the whole game. A cliché is rated in the number of dice you roll when performing an action. Starting characters get 10 dice to spend on their cliches.
My character will be Sir Reginald Avery-Lexington, a charming, beefy knight in heavy plate armor who likes to ride around the countryside fighting brigands and attending tournaments. There's money in the first and women in the second, and between the two, he keeps himself pretty busy.
For my first cliché, I'll define the core of Sir Reginald's personality. At heart, he is an honorable--if somewhat dim-witted--warrior for justice. There are any number of ways to describe that, but I'll try and keep it short and pithy. I also want this cliché to be Sir Reginald's best, and since no starting cliché can have more than 4 dice, that's where I'll put it. Sir Reginald is a "Crusader who's sure the joke isn't on him (4)."
Sir Reginald reveres women--he reveres them all over the place. Giving him the cliché "Chivalrous womanizer (3)" not only defines his kind-hearted lechery but provides an interesting contradiction to his personality.
It is a maxim of fantasy RPGs that adventuring is a great way to make money, and while Sir Reginald was born into privilege, he sees no reason why he shouldn't benefit from fighting evil. He is a perfect example of the cliché "The rich get richer (2)."
With my final die, I'm going to call on an advanced option found in the Risus Companion called "Sidekicks and Shield-mates." No knight can be considered truly dashing without a bevy of minstrels, men-at-arms, and other hangers on following him around and touting how brave he is. Instead of buying a final cliché of my own, I'll spend the last die to get a sidekick squad of "Merry Sycophants (3)." This group serves as an NPC ally and will generally be available when I need them.
And that's it, honest! Equipment doesn't really matter in Risus; you're expected to have whatever equipment you would need to fulfill your clichés. So, Sir Reginald has armor, sword, shield, horse, fat sack of cash, whatever.
Sir Reginald Avery-Lexington
Description: Tall, dashing knight in shining armor. Flowing blond hair, blue eyes, great smile, IRON HARD ABS!
Clichés: Crusader who's sure the joke isn't on him (4); Chivalrous womanizer (3); The rich get richer (2).
Sidekick: Merry Sycophants (3)
