The Gentle Ladies Tea and Monstrosity Destroying and Quilting Circle Auxiliary is a 'micro game', a bare-bones RPG using the Fuck Armageddon game rules and setting but with an entirely different tone and style.
Written in a breezy, Edwardian or Victorian lady's voice, the game explains how to defend one's self from the eldritch and possibly demonic horrors spawned by the 'pits' that are bringing about the end of the world. The only thing standing between your homes and the beasts of the pits is the titular group of ladies. The game assures us that even gentlemen can be ladies, because, as our narrator puts it, 'The End of the World is an Equal Opportunity Employer'.
Weighing in at 17 pages, with graphics that range from cleverly apt to quick, dirty and hilarious (the meat monster or Carmilla, for examples), this is a quick reading game, able to be read in a few minutes. The authorial voice works surprisingly well for laying out the rules and conventions of the game, which are quick-resolving and GMless, using a trait-based system where 1,2 or 3 on any given die is success and the maximum number on the die provokes a botch (and the player is expected to declaim 'Oh Fudge!' to let the other players know.)
The layout is excellent, with the information needed to play the game presented in roughly the order you'd need to have it, the rules explained clearly and the various fiddly bits of making player characters and NPCs, the differences between them and how one can become the other presented nicely and concisely. The last few pages are taken up by an optional advancement system and an excellent 'period' bestiary with monsters lifted from classic literature, from the above mentioned Carmilla to the beast from The Murders in the Rue Morgue. My copy had what looked like a formatting error or two, but nothing serious.
Conclusion: Fun, light and quick, The Gentle Ladies makes a great pick-up game for when you don't feel like running a regular campaign or you want something light and fun to introduce new (albeit adult, probably) players to the concept of role playing games. The tone is clever and well-done, faltering a time or two into modernity, but for the most part pitch perfect. Give this game a try.
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