Macho Women with Guns
Encyclopedia
Macho Women with Guns is a comedy
role-playing game
created by Greg Porter and published by Blacksburg Tactical Research Center
(BTRC). (A D20 System
version of the game is also available from Mongoose Publishing
.) Nominally a science-fiction game, it parodies both action films and other role-playing games.
Administration. Taking advantage of the earthly chaos, Satan
has dispatched his female minions, the Batwinged Bimbos From Hell, to rebuild society in a form he approves of. The Vatican
has responded to Satan's plans by dispatching its elite group of warrior nuns, The Sisters of Our Lady of Harley-Davidson to combat the bimbos. The two groups of women compete (sometimes violently) to rebuild civilization by vanquishing post-apocalyptic menaces and male chauvinism.
Dimensional warps caused by the conflict have opened connections to a series of parallel universes
, each of which represents a different genre environments, such as fantasy
or science fiction
. These universes, along with Earth, constitute a campaign setting
that Macho Women with Guns calls The Machoverse.
Player characters in Macho Women with Guns are statuesque females with a penchant for revealing clothing, who engage in combat with otherworldly menaces (like the Puppies of Tindalos), satirical representations of male chauvinism, such as Drunken Frat Boys, and occasionally each other. (Non-female opponents in the game are usually referred to as critters.)
system. Each character begins with 75 points which are used to buy attributes
and skills. The five attributes (Strength, Dexterity, Macho, Looks, and Health) are rated on an open-ended scale with a minimum starting score of eight. Skills are ranked by the bonus they provide to task resolution roles, i.e. "+1", "+2", etc.
MWWG uses a roll of three six-sided dice for all task resolutions, including combat. The base chance of a character succeeding at an action is determined by the character's score in a relevant attribute (usually Strength or Dexterity), adjusted by situational modifiers (including skills) determined by the gamemaster. The player of that character then rolls three six-sided dice -- If the sum of the dice is less than or equal to the adjusted number, the character succeeds at the action. Most die roles in Macho Women with Guns use six-sided dice, but four-sided and three-sided dice may be needed for some rolls.
A signature mechanic of Macho Women with Guns is the Macho Attack, which allows a player character to intimidate their enemies with a display of raw charisma by making a roll against his character's Macho score. The opponent then rolls against his Macho score (with modifiers determined by the player character's roll). An opponent who fails his Macho roll is temporarily stunned by the player character, and unable to act.
The following year, BTRC released two supplements written by Porter. The first, Batwinged Bimbos From Hell (ISBN 0-943891-08-6), introduced key background details of the Machoverse, as well as rules for aerial movement. The second supplement, Renegade Nuns on Wheels (ISBN 0-943891-07-8), featured more information about the campaign setting, and rules for ground vehicles. Especially in the vehicular damage system, it parodied the flow chart-approach of Renegade Legion
's Interceptor.
BTRC also released a slightly-revised version of the original rule booklet (ISBN 0-943891-06-X), which included cross-references to the new supplements. Although the inside cover of the revised booklet identifies it as "Second Edition, May 1989", there were no major rules changes. (Few, if any, gamers acknowledge this booklet as a different edition.) Porter's collection of adventures for MWWG, The Final Chapter (Part One) (ISBN 0-943891-12-4) was published in 1990.
In 1994, BTRC published a 70-page softcover book entitled Macho Women with Guns (2nd Edition) (ISBN 0-943891-27-2), which combined and expanded material from the four earlier books (Porter 1994a). It was supported by a single collection of adventures published in 1995, More Excuses to Kill Things. (ISBN 0-943891-31-0) http://www.btrc.net/html/catmain.html#MWWG BTRC has not published any new MWWG material since 1994, but eight other game companies have produced products under license from BTRC.
The first licensed products to appear were translations for overseas markets, some of which added new material. In 1994 Brazilian game company Devir Livraria Limitada released a Portuguese translation (Porter 1994b) titled Mulheres Machonas Armadas até os Dentes [Macho Women Armed to the Teeth]. German publisher Spielzeit released an 84-page translation using the title Macho Weiber Mit Dicken Kanonen. http://www.drosi.de/systeme/macho_weiber.htm. In 1995 Italian publisher Nexus published Maschiacce armate pesantemente (ISBN 88-86149-08-5) http://www.mclink.it/com/agonistika/giochidiruolo/altri.htm#maschie.
In August 1998, Archangel Entertainment released Fun Guys from Yuggoth: The Macho Women Card Game (a pun on H. P. Lovecraft
's sci-fi poem "Fungi from Yuggoth"), and its one supplement, A Fistful of Cardboard: Fun Guys from Yuggoth Expansion. http://web.archive.org/web/19990429093323/http://www.archangelent.com/MWWG.html
Two companies produced licensed gaming miniatures for Macho Women with Guns. Simtac LLC created a line of metal miniatures. http://theminiaturespage.com/man/?id=machowomen In 2001, Cumberland Games began distributing a TrueType
font that allows gamers to print an unlimited supply of paper figures for use in Macho Women with Guns. http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/sprkmwg.htm
In 2002, French gaming company Le Septième Cercle released a 112-page French-language version of the 1994 rules. The French version retains the English title. http://www.roliste.net/detail.jsp?id=4683
In August 2003, Mongoose Publishing
produced a D20 System version of Macho Women with Guns (ISBN 1-904577-33-4), written by James Desborough and Nathan Webb. Three supplements (only available in PDF format) are available for the D20 version of the game: Macho Women with Guns - Diet Edition, Adolf Hitler - Porn Star, and The Sex Presidents. http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/rpg/series.php?qsSeries=25
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
created by Greg Porter and published by Blacksburg Tactical Research Center
Blacksburg Tactical Research Center
Blacksburg Tactical Research Center, Inc., or BTRC is an American game publishing company most famous for publishing the Timelords and EABA role-playing games.-Role Playing Games:*Timelords, 1987*Macho Women with Guns, 1988...
(BTRC). (A D20 System
D20 System
The d20 System is a role-playing game system published in 2000 by Wizards of the Coast originally developed for the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons...
version of the game is also available from Mongoose Publishing
Mongoose Publishing
Mongoose Publishing is a prolific British manufacturer of role-playing games, miniatures, and card games, actively publishing material since 2001...
.) Nominally a science-fiction game, it parodies both action films and other role-playing games.
Setting
Macho Women with Guns is set in a near-future America where society has collapsed due to the misdeeds of the ReaganRonald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
Administration. Taking advantage of the earthly chaos, Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
has dispatched his female minions, the Batwinged Bimbos From Hell, to rebuild society in a form he approves of. The Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
has responded to Satan's plans by dispatching its elite group of warrior nuns, The Sisters of Our Lady of Harley-Davidson to combat the bimbos. The two groups of women compete (sometimes violently) to rebuild civilization by vanquishing post-apocalyptic menaces and male chauvinism.
Dimensional warps caused by the conflict have opened connections to a series of parallel universes
Parallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
, each of which represents a different genre environments, such as fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
or science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
. These universes, along with Earth, constitute a campaign setting
Campaign setting
A campaign setting is usually a fictional world which serves as a setting for a role-playing game or wargame campaign. A campaign is a series of individual adventures, and a campaign setting is the world in which such adventures and campaigns take place...
that Macho Women with Guns calls The Machoverse.
Player characters in Macho Women with Guns are statuesque females with a penchant for revealing clothing, who engage in combat with otherworldly menaces (like the Puppies of Tindalos), satirical representations of male chauvinism, such as Drunken Frat Boys, and occasionally each other. (Non-female opponents in the game are usually referred to as critters.)
System
Character generation in Macho Women with Guns uses a character pointCharacter point
Character points are abstract units used in some role-playing games during character creation and development.Early role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons assigned random values to a player character's attributes, while allowing each character a fixed number of skills...
system. Each character begins with 75 points which are used to buy attributes
Attribute (role-playing games)
An attribute is a piece of data that describes to what extent a fictional character in a role-playing game possesses a specific natural, in-born characteristic common to all characters in the game. That piece of data is usually an abstract number or, in some cases, a set of dice...
and skills. The five attributes (Strength, Dexterity, Macho, Looks, and Health) are rated on an open-ended scale with a minimum starting score of eight. Skills are ranked by the bonus they provide to task resolution roles, i.e. "+1", "+2", etc.
MWWG uses a roll of three six-sided dice for all task resolutions, including combat. The base chance of a character succeeding at an action is determined by the character's score in a relevant attribute (usually Strength or Dexterity), adjusted by situational modifiers (including skills) determined by the gamemaster. The player of that character then rolls three six-sided dice -- If the sum of the dice is less than or equal to the adjusted number, the character succeeds at the action. Most die roles in Macho Women with Guns use six-sided dice, but four-sided and three-sided dice may be needed for some rolls.
A signature mechanic of Macho Women with Guns is the Macho Attack, which allows a player character to intimidate their enemies with a display of raw charisma by making a roll against his character's Macho score. The opponent then rolls against his Macho score (with modifiers determined by the player character's roll). An opponent who fails his Macho roll is temporarily stunned by the player character, and unable to act.
History
The original Macho Women with Guns was designed in 1988 by Greg Porter, owner of BTRC, in a period of less than two-weeks. http://www.gamewyrd.com/echoes/porter_16.php The 12-page booklet was published in August of that year, and became BTRC's most popular product. http://e23.sjgames.com/credits.html?t=publisher&n=BTRCThe following year, BTRC released two supplements written by Porter. The first, Batwinged Bimbos From Hell (ISBN 0-943891-08-6), introduced key background details of the Machoverse, as well as rules for aerial movement. The second supplement, Renegade Nuns on Wheels (ISBN 0-943891-07-8), featured more information about the campaign setting, and rules for ground vehicles. Especially in the vehicular damage system, it parodied the flow chart-approach of Renegade Legion
Renegade Legion
Renegade Legion is a series of science fiction games that were designed by Sam Lewis, produced by FASA, and published from 1989 to 1993. The line was then licensed to Nightshift games, a spin-off of the garage company Crunchy Frog Enterprises by Paul Arden Lidberg, which published one scenario...
's Interceptor.
BTRC also released a slightly-revised version of the original rule booklet (ISBN 0-943891-06-X), which included cross-references to the new supplements. Although the inside cover of the revised booklet identifies it as "Second Edition, May 1989", there were no major rules changes. (Few, if any, gamers acknowledge this booklet as a different edition.) Porter's collection of adventures for MWWG, The Final Chapter (Part One) (ISBN 0-943891-12-4) was published in 1990.
In 1994, BTRC published a 70-page softcover book entitled Macho Women with Guns (2nd Edition) (ISBN 0-943891-27-2), which combined and expanded material from the four earlier books (Porter 1994a). It was supported by a single collection of adventures published in 1995, More Excuses to Kill Things. (ISBN 0-943891-31-0) http://www.btrc.net/html/catmain.html#MWWG BTRC has not published any new MWWG material since 1994, but eight other game companies have produced products under license from BTRC.
The first licensed products to appear were translations for overseas markets, some of which added new material. In 1994 Brazilian game company Devir Livraria Limitada released a Portuguese translation (Porter 1994b) titled Mulheres Machonas Armadas até os Dentes [Macho Women Armed to the Teeth]. German publisher Spielzeit released an 84-page translation using the title Macho Weiber Mit Dicken Kanonen. http://www.drosi.de/systeme/macho_weiber.htm. In 1995 Italian publisher Nexus published Maschiacce armate pesantemente (ISBN 88-86149-08-5) http://www.mclink.it/com/agonistika/giochidiruolo/altri.htm#maschie.
In August 1998, Archangel Entertainment released Fun Guys from Yuggoth: The Macho Women Card Game (a pun on H. P. Lovecraft
H. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
's sci-fi poem "Fungi from Yuggoth"), and its one supplement, A Fistful of Cardboard: Fun Guys from Yuggoth Expansion. http://web.archive.org/web/19990429093323/http://www.archangelent.com/MWWG.html
Two companies produced licensed gaming miniatures for Macho Women with Guns. Simtac LLC created a line of metal miniatures. http://theminiaturespage.com/man/?id=machowomen In 2001, Cumberland Games began distributing a TrueType
TrueType
TrueType is an outline font standard originally developed by Apple Computer in the late 1980s as a competitor to Adobe's Type 1 fonts used in PostScript...
font that allows gamers to print an unlimited supply of paper figures for use in Macho Women with Guns. http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/sprkmwg.htm
In 2002, French gaming company Le Septième Cercle released a 112-page French-language version of the 1994 rules. The French version retains the English title. http://www.roliste.net/detail.jsp?id=4683
In August 2003, Mongoose Publishing
Mongoose Publishing
Mongoose Publishing is a prolific British manufacturer of role-playing games, miniatures, and card games, actively publishing material since 2001...
produced a D20 System version of Macho Women with Guns (ISBN 1-904577-33-4), written by James Desborough and Nathan Webb. Three supplements (only available in PDF format) are available for the D20 version of the game: Macho Women with Guns - Diet Edition, Adolf Hitler - Porn Star, and The Sex Presidents. http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/rpg/series.php?qsSeries=25