Yes, It Is An RPG Game

In my endeavors writing the ENWorld column, Pretty Darn Fun (A Weekly Look at New PDFs), I've seen a wide range of role-playing games. Many look awesome and make me wish I had more disposable cash. Some make me scratch my head wondering what the target audience is. While I realize people are diverse and have a wide range of likes, here are a few RPGs that leave me wondering...

Maid the Role-Playing Game

This is a Japanese import and billed as the first Japanese rpg to be released in English. In it the player characters play, well, maids to the master (the GM). Not just any maid but the "fetishized modern maid" (their words, not mine). And then giant robots and ninjas kidnap the master and the maids have to rescue him. To complete the game there are rules for playing in different time periods, adding romance and seduction, 11 adventures and an equipment section that gives the PCs wonderful costumes. To keep things fair there are also some rules for butlers.

Roller Girls Vs.
This is a supplement for QAGS (Quick Ass Game System). It is about roller derby girls...fighting "cannibals, dinosaurs, hyperintelligent apes, Nazi time travelers, fratboys, and zombies". And for those of us who don't know the rules for roller derby they have been included. Interesting thing is that one of my former gamers is a Roller Girl and she had heard of this product already...but she has yet to kill zombies at a derby match.

'45: Psychobilly Retropocalypse
"HE was a mutant with a gift for the guitar and an eye for the ladies. SHE was a hotrod-racing bombshell on the lookout for love. IT crawled from the wastes of Nashville crater, seeking human victims."..."All the cool cats dig '45 daddy-o, are you hip to the scene? '45 is so cool, it's radioactive, man!"
First they take some over-the-top charactrers and then throw them into a nuclear bombed out WWII where B movies are the setting. I don't even know where to start such a game, but I'm sure the game would be so bizarre it would have to be fun.

Panty Explosion Perfect
Not to be outdone by Maid, we have an rpg about highschool girls with psychic powers that have to balance their grades with killing ghosts and demons. All with an anime look and feel to it. However, the publisher of the game, Atarashi Games, is not one to rest on their rpg laurels, no, they have a full gamut of games available. First, they have Panty Explosion Classic, the same game but with their first edition rules (yes, apparently this game demanded a second edition). Second, they have Classroom Deathmatch a game where you play one of 50 highschool students forced to fight in televised deathmatches...with bear traps and grenade launchers; but, its ok, when you die you can simply play one of the other 50 children.

Intergalactic Cooking Challenge
This science fiction rpg transports the player characers to the far reaches of the universe...so they can cook...against alien chefs...to the death. To keep things interesting the PCs need to scour the space lanes for rare ingredients all the while avoiding the intrigues of rival chefs. It looks like the designers have gone out of their way to allow this game to be run as a full-blown campaign instead of just a one-shot. Think of the possibilities!