Risus

Risus: The Anything RPG is a rules-light generic role-playing game (RPG) written, designed and illustrated by S. John Ross of Cumberland Games & Diversions. Risus is available free on the web. It was first published online in 1993. Earlier versions of the game were titled GUCS: The Generic Universal Comedy System (a parody of GURPS) and were distributed privately beginning in 1989.

== History == Risus (Latin for “laughter”) is a comedy game (often described by its creator as a "joke game") and uses a cliché (character class) system inspired by the broad "career scale" skills in Greg Gorden's DC Heroes RPG (Mayfair Games), and later influenced by Atlas Games' Over the Edge. The core systems of Risus owe their largest debt to the Ghostbusters RPG published by West End Games, and to Tunnels and Trolls by Ken St. Andre. The game itself also cites GURPS as an influence, along with FUDGE, another free RPG released to the web a year earlier. Several more recent games have been, in turn, influenced by Risus.