(C) 1996 by Jacob Williamson

Welcome to the land you've been waiting for--

Godot!

Once upon a time, there was a far away kingdom, a land of noble heroes, wise old men, great wizards and the on-and-off Great Quest to Save the World.

In Godot, however, Toon characters will meet every one of their favorite Fairy tales in person (poison apples aren't just for Cinderella anymore!) In this magical land everything is fantastically, amazingly bigger than life. It's a little like Texas in that respect. A shoemaker isn't just a shoemaker--he's a Good, Kind-Hearted Shoemaker who is visited by Elves in the dead of night. A Princess isn't just a Princess, but is a Princess Cursed By a Wicked Fairy Queen and Protected By a Fairy Godmother. A chambermaid isn't just a chambermaid, but is a very efficient chambermaid.

Godot is a land spun from daydreams, woven from a tapestry of tales. The people of Godot are all legends (again, like Texas), so anyone who seems...familiar--say, that little girl with the red cloak--is probably on a collision course with some sort of destiny.

CHARACTER TYPES

Each person you meet in Godot will be a really special person. He might be a King cursed to pretend to be a butcher, or he might be a butcher cursed to be a King. You never know! Here's a list of the types of people you might encounter, and something about their habits:

Princes and Princesses
Princes are reserved figures. All they -really- want is the perfect wife. When they go on a quest, they don't want glory. Gold, gems, wishes and that elusive wife are their usual goals. Princes tend towards self-pity and often mourn their lot in life. When discontent with the duties of the palace, Princes will dress as commoners and travel amongst the local populace.

Princesses, on the other hand, are the centers of palace activity. This is a survival trait, for when Princesses are on their own they have a regrettable tendancy to be captured by witches, ogres, giants, dragons, and other riff-raff. A good King must keep one eye on his daughters at all times. Princesses also don the costumes of the poor working class, but neither Princesses nor Princes ever come to terms with the whole lower-middle-class perspective. Royalty is used to worship, love and adoration, even when they are wearing rags. Thus, royalty stands out in a crowd. A typical quote for both Princes and Princesses might be "Ugh! That nasty man splashed mud on me! Don't you people know who I am?!?"

Cursed (Pronounced "Ker-sed") Royalty
Members of Royalty are frequently the targets of vile Curses. It is virtually impossible to recognize a Cursed Prince for what he is, as he will never look quite like a Prince. More often he will look like a wombat. Cursed Princes wander the lands of Godot like tourists wander theme parks--no day would be complete without one. Cursed Princesses seem to be very common as well. Many lie asleep in Godot's towers, forests and coffee shops. Others will marry an ogre in the none-too-distant future. Yet others are simply Doomed.

Wicked step-parents and step-sisters are curses unto themselves, but are much to formidable to set against a lowly player character. Try some in-laws, instead.

Hard-working Commoners
Shoemakers, butchers, puppet-makers, watchmakers, fishermen--these are the people who start the story. Hard-working Commoners find the fish that grants wishes, learn that the local madman is a cursed Prince, and try as hard as they can to go to the ball. All a Hard-working Commoner wants out of life is a Happy Ending. In Godot, EVERYONE gets a Happy Ending whether he wants one or not. He just needs to suffer a bit for it.

Knights
Brave, stout fellows who slay dragons and rescue Princesses when the Princes are busy. Other than that, knights don't have much in the way of personalities.

Fairy Godmothers
Each Fairy Godmother is sworn to protect a single person, usually a Prince or Princess, but occasionally a Hard-working Commoner. It's in their union contracts.

Wicked Fairy Queen
These nasty ladies just want to make trouble--with their magical powers, they can wreak more havok than a dragon with hay fever! Wicked Fairy Queens hate everyone, particularly Princes, Princesses and Hard-working Commoners.

Dragons and Monsters
Some are just misunderstood, some are angry, some are cursed Princes, but these creatures just can't help causing problems. Dragons like to eat Princesses, but other monsters have their own mental problems. Minotaurs (the bull-headed ones) enjoy running around and destroying fast-food eateries. Werewolves are hungry, and their diet isn't as pretty as would be hoped. Gnolls just wanna have fun.

Elves
Elves are fine-boned, graceful creatures with pointy ears. Some are very, very small. Others are as tall as normal humans. All are very pretty to look at and have excellent taste in clothing. Some Elves watch football, drink beer, belch and scratch themselves, but only when they think no one's watching. Some elves make a tidy profit creating and selling beautiful Elven art. Dragons work for less, but can't hold paintbrushes.

Dwarves
Dwarves are a hard-working race of short people. All Dwarves have beards. Even lady dwarves have beards. Most Dwarves work and live underground, mining gems and digging tunnels. Dwarves like to sing songs while they work. Ace Records has recently released a compact disk entitled "The Best Dwarf Mining Songs of 533," featuring such classics as "Hi Ho," "Ding Dong (The Witch ate Bread)", "Underground Dirt Tango" and "John Henry, He Could Hammer." Call number @646557.3, Ethnic Music.

Big Bad Wolves
Big Bad Wolves tend to be single-minded in their activities. They endlessly persecute innocent pigs, little girls in red capes and little boys in the company of cats, birds and ducks. Big Bad Wolves aren't just misunderstood, they're BAD.

NEW SHTICKS

Shticks in Godot are a highly individual matter. Not just anyone can, say, break a curse with a kiss. For this reason, the New Shticks for Godot are divided up into groups, based on what type of character can get which shtick. If a player to give his Princess a Fairy Godmother shtick, he has to check it with the Animator, and it has to be funny. Giving a Fairy Godmother the Magic Kiss shtick isn't funny, while giving a Princess DragonBreath is VERY funny. Except, of course, to the Prince.

Royalty Shticks
Kings, Queens, Princesses and Princes can all buy these shticks. The occasional Baron or Earl is welcome to them as well. Every King was once a Prince and every Queen was a Princess, so an old fogey of a monarch can get any royalty shtick he wants.

Servants (3 points) Really classy Kings and Queens are surrounded by a flock of servants, loyal helpers who delight in doing menial chores. Servants will cook food, dust furniture, shine the royal shoes, brush the royal hair, comb the royal teeth (wait a minute, reverse those last two), and do an almost unlimited array of little tasks. Convincing servants to do a BIG chore, such as building a boat or slaying a dragon, requires a shtick roll. No one pays servants. They just wait obsequiously for their next chore.

Magic Kiss (4 points) So you say you've got a Prince who's been changed into a frog? No problem! What, an evil Fairy Queen has put you to sleep for 365 years? Don't worry, here's the solution! With the fabled Magic Kiss, any Prince or Princess, King or Queen, can break curses! All you've got to do is kiss the curse's victim. Note that many curses can't be broken this easily. The Magic Kiss is one of the most common curse-breakers, but is not universally effective. And if your character has been changed into a Gooey Swamp Monster, he might have a hard time finding a kisser...

Attract Cute Woodland Creatures (2 points) It's bothersome, at times. Just as soon as you sit down for a nice, peaceful musical number in the forest, a horde of bunnies, birdies, deer, raccoons, chipmunks and squirrels surrounds you. Isn't that always the way? At least your character will eat well...

Royalty with the Attract Cute Woodland Creatures shtick are always surrounded by mice, chipmunks and birdies. This type of critter--cute, tiny, harmless--will follow the character to the ends of the earth (and possibly beyond!) as long as the shtick-user doesn't do anything disgustingly out of character. If Royal individual, usually a Princess, tries hard enough, she can attract deer, owls, and even bears! It's all in the songs you sing.

If the character does something gross, like swearing or mooning the King, the animals might become embarrassed and leave for several scenes.

Other Shticks: Incredible Luck, Fancy Shooting (with an arrow), Bag of Many Things and Wild Acrobatics are also common royalty shticks. Members of royalty are by no means limited to these shticks. When you're wealthy, you can hire tutors for just about anything.

Dragon/Monster Shticks
Without really special shticks, a dragon's just an overgrown lizard! And where's the glory in fighting a big lizard?

Scary (4 points) This monster is SO HIDEOUS that he scares anyone who looks at him! Whenever anyone sees the monster for the first time, they must make a Smarts check--if they succeed, they will either run screaming away for 1d of turns or be Boggled. The monster will need to make a shtick roll whenever he WANTS to scare someone away. If a Scary dragon is going to face down a knight, he would have to make a shtick roll. Even if he succeeds, the knight will still get a Smarts roll.

DragonBreath (5 points) With this shtick, a dragon, monster or the occasional Princess can spit out gobs of fire, acid, poison gas, radioactive hot cocoa, or any other pain-causing substance known to modern science. With a successful shtick roll, the creature can use his breath to cause 1 die plus his shtick score in Nasty DragonBreath Damage. If his shtick roll fails, the monster will not be able to use his DragonBreath for 2 dice of turns. Worse yet, if the creature tries to use his weapon before he's "recharged," he'll have to wait another 2 dice of turns!

Energy Sap (6 points) Energy Sap is a very powerful, completely non-funny shtick. If he chooses, the Animator doesn't have to let it into his adventures, and should think twice before letting a player's character use it.

Energy Sap has two effects--first, it puts any creature into a deep sleep which will last 3 dice of turns. Next, the Energy Sapper (or just "sap") can steal 1 point per turn from any of that creature's skills, and add it to his own hit points or skills. These transferred points will remain until the sapper has fallen down--then they'll instantly be transferred to the sapped character. Stolen points will also be given back to the character at the end of an adventure.

The sapper must make a shtick roll to put a creature to sleep--he doesn't need to roll to steal points. To steal energy, the sapper must be able to touch his victim. If the Energy Sap shtick roll fails really horribly, the shtick might work in reverse, pumping up the victim and debilitating the Sap.

Other Shticks: Monsters and Dragons can have many other shticks--Shape Change, Incredible Strength and Toughness, as well as any Supertoon shticks, are excellent choices. When choosing shticks for a monster, remember Wizard's Law, number twenty-five: If the knights who go to fight the monster come back to take up macrame, the monster's TOO POWERFUL!

Hard-working Commoner shticks
Due to a complex system of natural selection, Hard-working Commoners don't get all of the fantastic shticks that other characters can have. Wicked Fairy Queens will never attack some booring schnook on the streets--they're only attracted to Princess and Princesses, heroes, and other people with neat shticks. Here is the only known Hard-working Commoner shtick:

Blend Into Background (2 points) This shtick is just like Invisibility, but only works when the commoner isn't doing anything conspicuous. To blend into the background, the commoner must do what he's supposed to do, be that cobbling shoes, baking pies or screwing the lids onto Ace Ye Olde Tuthpayste tubes. Even a character who makes a successful See/Hear/Smell roll cannot find a Commoner who is blending into the background.

Elf and Dwarf Shticks
The so-called approximatelyhuman races--the Elves and the Dwarves--are the oldest inhabitants of Godot. The Elves, keepers of the forests, guardians of the rivers and lakes, rule in areas untouched by Man (also untouched by Dog, Wombat and Toaster). Elves are steeped in ancient wisdom, privy to the secrets of Wizards and Politicians. Dwarves, the self-styled "Kings Under the Mountains," also know an awful lot of stuff, but their knowledge focuses more on rocks and mining.

Do Dwarfly Things (3 points) This shtick is sort of a basic Dwarf kit. Do Dwarfly Things will let a given Dwarf find the depth of a mine, the location of all the best gem-spots and almost any other little detail about the underground world. The act of cutting a priceless gem is also a function of Do Dwarfly Things. Blacksmithing, Gold-working, the polishing of fine stones--all of these fall under the general blanket of Dwarfly Things.

This shtick is a must for all those who want to do things as the Dwarves do them. If your character is trying to impersonate a Dwarf, the ability to Do Dwarfly Things will let him blend perfectly with the Dwarven society ("I don't know, Ironfingers--that's the -tallest- Dwarf I've ever seen...")

Brew (2 points) Elves and Dwarves never agree on anything! Elven wine, the Drippings of Spring, is a delicate substance, airy and yet piquant with just a hint of snurkberry. A knight armed with Dwarven spirits could take the scales off a dragon without opening the bottle. Even so, both races enjoy after-dinner nightcaps, although their methods of production differ significantly. A character with the Brew shtick can create beverages to suit Elves, Dwarves, dragons, Porcs, or any other species you can think of. Be careful, though--a botched roll can result in almost anything--even poison! Roll on the Random Bottle Contents table (Toon, page 205) to find out the actual nature of a poorly-brewed beverage.

Do Elvish Things (5 points) Elves are known for their ties with Nature. A character with the Do Elvish Things shtick can sneak around in the woods without being found, using only the trees as cover. An Elf's bond with the forest is very strong indeed--a successful Shtick roll can bring any number of woodland creatures to the Elf's aid, and a really good roll can bring forest Faeries to his side! If a character wants to melt almost invisibly into the woods, track an enemy in the dead of night, or walk without the faintest trace over damp grass, he needs Do Elvish Things. Special note: Elves are out of their element underground, in the city, on the moon, in the arctic, or in any other place that doesn't smack of the forest. Do Elvish Things MIGHT work in these situations, but the shtick should fail in the most rediculous manner possible--"Mommy, why is that man pretending to be a woodchuck?"--whenever it would be funny.

Other Shticks: Approximatelyhumans can have any of the shticks available to normal characters. They don't have to have any of the above shticks, which are only the traditional approximatelyhuman abilities.

Fairy Godmother & Wicked Fairy Queen Shticks
Fairy Godmothers and Fairy Queens don't always have "normal" shticks. Fairies cast spells, exactly like Dungeons and Toons wizards. No matter how powerful she gets, a Fairy Godmother can never cast Wicked Fairy Queen spells, and the reverse is true for the Wicked Fairy Queens. Both groups can cast the normal Dungeons and Toons spells, if they know the words.

Fairy Godmother Spells...

Birthrite (4 Points)
Spell Points: 3 Range: Touch Duration: Life!
Casting Time: 4 Turns Area: One Infant Damage: N/A
Birthrite may only be cast on a new-born baby by her Fairy Godmother, and is usually the first spell a Godmother gives to her young charge. The Birthrite blesses the infant with a +3 bonus to any skill OR gives the baby a very nice shtick, whichever the Animator believes will be funnier in the long run. The traditional Birthrite, cast by three Godmothers, gives the recipient Beauty, Happiness and Good Oral Hygeine.

Five-Minute Makeover (3 Points)
Spell Points: 2 Range: Touch Duration: Trigger
Casting Time: 3 Turns Area: 1 Creature Damage: N/A
A must for the Fairy Godmothers of hardworking commoners who are actually Princesses, the Five-Minute Makeover produces beautiful clothing, washes and blow-dries hair, manicures and polishes nails, does makeup and basically gives its target the perfect outfit and appearance for any occasion. However, all of the effects of the spell vanish when their Trigger occurs. When a Fairy Godmother sends someone into the world with this spell, it is vitally important that the victim wears boxer shorts under her magical garments.

Mousemorph (4 Points)
Spell Points: 1 Range: 20 feet Duration: Trigger
Casting Time: 2 Turns Area: 30' circle Damage: N/A
Mice, squirrels, shrews, you name it--if it's a very small mammal, Mousemorph'll turn it into a very large mammal. The Fairy Godmother casting this spell turns all little bitty mammals within 30' into horses, elephants and coach drivers. The mousemorphed critters will follow instructions given by the Fairy Godmother as long as these orders are simple and don't involve walking over cliffs.

Vegamorph (5 Points)
Spell Points: 2 Range: Touch Duration: Trigger
Casting Time: 2 Turns Area: One Vegetable Damage: N/A
Vegamorph may only be cast on non-intelligent fruits. When a fruit is Vegamorphed, the Fairy Godmother turns it into almost any large, man-made item. Some traditional Vegamorphs, handed down from Godmother to Godmother, have been Pumpkin-into-Coach, Tomato-into-Cottage, Banana-into-Anti-Aircraft-Gun and Avocado-into-Green-Volvo. Vegamorph is obviously one of the Fairy Godmother's most versatile spells.

The great Fairy Godmothers of old have used many great and powerful spells. Mistress Glindetta of Godot, the greatest Fairy Godmother of legend, could grant Wishes and move entire castles on a good day. Nowadays it is a rare Godmother who can perform such a feat. Of course, nowadays it is a rare Godmother who has the patience to cast these spells, as a simple Wish can take five or six days to cast, most of that time being devoted to finding the proper wording for the spell.

Wicked Fairy Queen Spells...

Curse (5 Points)
Spell Points: 5 Range: 10' Duration: Special
Casting Time: 1 Turn Area: Special Damage: N/A
No fairy tale would be complete without an appearance by one of the thousands of poor cursed Princes who wander the land. Many a cursed Princess lies sleeping in towers surrounded by overgrown rosebushes. Chances are, these individuals have had an unfortunate run-in with a Wicked Fairy Queen armed with Curse.

Many Curses are simple shape-change effects. Other notable Curses are the Hundred-Year Naps, Blindnesses and Growing Noses of the Grimms' fairy tales. Curses are very diverse magical spells and have only two things in common: They are activated by a Trigger and can be broken by some predetermined event. The greatest curses involve four or five Triggers.

A Curse may be cast on places and things as well as people. Cursed swords, cursed castles and cursed forests are the sorts of things Godot thrives upon. The largest Curses are generally the easiest to break.

Know Trigger (3 Points)
Spell Points: 2 Range: 30' Duration: 5 Turns
Casting Time: 3 Turns Area: Special Damage: N/A
Wicked Fairy Queens often share their notes about the Curses they've cast, and they always try to stay on top of the activities of the Fairy Godmothers in the area. By use of the Know Trigger spell, a Wicked Fairy Queen can determine the exact triggers of a Curse (or any other Triggered spell such as Vegamorph) by simply glancing at the enchanted creature. The Wicked Fairy will generally use this information to put victims into vulnerable situations where the Queen can use her victim's Triggers to her own advantage.

Really Fantastic Shapechange (7 Points)
Spell Points: 8 Range: 0 Duration: 7 Turns
Casting Time: 3 Turns Area: Self Damage: N/A
No spell is quite as dramatic as a Wicked Fairy Queen's Really Fantastic Shapechange. By judicious use of this spell a Fairy Queen can change herself into a huge dragon (with firey breath and big claws), an awful Ogre (with a really huge club) or almost any other giant magical creature. The Really Fantastic Shapechange is often, but not always, used in the exciting conclusion to a very long adventure. This is usually the case because a single use of Really Fantastic Shapechange can completely drain its caster's spell points.

While both species of Fairy can use all of the spells found in Dungeons and Toons, they have demonstrated several spells of choice. Fairy Godmothers have always used Protection, Heal and Friendliness to keep their charges safe, while Wicked Fairy Queens have a notorious fondness for Egg-Saladball, Invis-O-Dust and KAPOW!. Both enjoy Rampaging Rabbit, and neither would touch Sidney's Stinky Sneakers with a ten-foot pole.

PLACES TO GO
While some characters will be content to explore the intrigue of their own castles, Knights and Princes will often want to go on epic quests to find their wives and slay their dragons. Here are some locations that a questers are virtually required to visit...

Ip
Godot's sister kingdom, Ip is a modest country only marginally wider than its name. When not waging brief wars with Godot, Ip and its merchants deal brisk trade in spagetti, toothpicks and shoelaces.

Frue-Fru
Fabled Frue-Fru, city of a thousand pastries, cannot be found on any map. In other cases this might mean that the city has magically vanished; in Frue-Fru's case, the city has simply wandered off. Frue-Fru's shining gates were first built to protect the city against attacks from its neighbors, Ip and Godot. Two hundred years later, the Sorceress-Queen Gidla the Grand saved the city from another such attack with a great and powerful teleportation spell. Since then, the city has developed a reputation for appearing wherever it is least wanted.

Frue-Fru is home to the greatest Academy of Magic this side of Mouskatonic, the Frue-Fru Eldrich Academy (or simply Frue-Fru U.). The teleporting city is also the home of more bakeries than any other metropolis on the planet. An appearance by Frue-Fru is always heralded by the scent of pastry on the wind. Guacamoleballs will follow.

The Oceanavian Islands
The volcanic islands of Oceanavia are sources of an unlimited amount of gold and fine furs. If it's foreign, it's from Oceanavia. Many sailing ships go out to hunt the rare creatures of the Oceanavian islands. The Oceanavian Unicorns and Griffins are rare and exotic creatures that can only be found here. No creature is as rare or as feared as the Great Oceanavian Foogle. This majestic creature is, after all, the only one of its species.

PEOPLE (AND OTHER THINGS) TO MEET
Any person or thing that could possibly be encountered in Godot is listed in the Character Types above. Nine-tenths of any encounters will be with Cursed Royalty. There are apparently a good deal more members of Royalty than there are Hard-Working Commoners.

THINGS TO DO

Little Red Riding Hood, Inc. The characters are the wealthy owners of the Bake-N-Run Pastry Shoppe, the only bakery in Godot that delivers. When the Shoppe's oven is cursed by a short-changed witch, you and the shop staff have to go to distant Frue-Fru to get the magical flour which alone can break the curse. Can you find Frue-Fru, break the curse, bake the pie AND deliver it to Grandma's house before she switches bakeries? Look out for Big Bad Wolves and pie fights...

Snow White and the Seven Vertically Challenged Individuals Protect the Princess from the Wicked Fairy Queen. Find the handsome Prince to break the spell. We all know the story. It's much more entertaining when the dwarves are imported from another cartoon setting, such as Crawl of Catchoolu. "You're Silly, and you're Dumpy, and you're Tacky, and you must be Zok-Hotdog, He Who Contains Beef By-Products!"

Sleeping Beauty and the Forty Thieves The fair Princess Belledonna Laetli has been cursed by a Wicked Fairy Queen and has fallen into an enchanted sleep. The only way to break the curse is to go on a quest to the far-off islands of Oceanavia, pull the Sword from the Stone and bring back the tail feather of the Oceanavian Foogle. However, the Princess herself must perform these great feats. Is it possible to fast-talk the comatose?

The Beans Stalk Jack A dark spell is sweeping the land. The Wicked Fairy Queen Gertrunae Nefaria has forced all of the legumes of Godot to rise and attack their farmers. Meanwhile, the Fairy Godmother's union is on strike for higher wages and the royal family has conveniently left for an extended vacation. Can the characters restore order to the kingdom? Perhaps with the aid of the Armies of Ip and the wizards of Frue-Fru these horrid beans can be defeated. Perhaps the bakers of Frue-Fru can use them in a new cake.

Characters & Sidebars...

(c) 1996 by Jacob Williamson