The Penguin Harlequinade

Some forms of art are prized by their aficionados but demand a high degree of acculturation to understand. Something like Noh drama, Indonesian wayang, and high opera are more than a little mysterious to those not in the know; less obviously so, because we are more acculturated to them, are things like the Broadway musical and the fantasy-grind MMO.

One of such form, highly regarded by its fans but inexplicable to those not familiar with its conventions is commedia dell'arte, a Italian dramatic form of medieval origins.

Like Noh, commedia dell'arte masks its players; unlike Noh, its focus is on slapstick and farce. Its enthusiasts find it hiliarious. The rest of us gaze in wonder on masked figures prancing about, declaiming wildly, and whacking each other with slapsticks, concluding, for the most part, that yes, the Italians truly are all mad.

The commedia dell'arte would not, therefore, seem to be the most prepossessing inspirational material for a tabletop roleplaying game. The Penguin Harlequinade makes it plausible, however.

It does so mainly by focussing on the farcical aspects of the form. In a tabletop (as opposed to live action) setting, pratfalls are not likely, of course. But in the context of a tabletop game, the existence of a set of stock characters, easily explained and therefore easily roleplayed, is a strong advantage.

The strength of the rules set is, indeed, its description of these stock characters and how they may be played; the game system itself is workable but unexceptionable. What feels missing, however, is more of a sense of how the authors expect the gamemaster to run this thing. They say, in closing:

"The ideal, from your point of view, should be a situation where you crack up laughing involuntarily every time you try to review the players' current plan aloud. Any time the players are working towards a goal you find insufficiently entertaining, it's your duty as GM to mess it up."

In this sense, The Penguin Harlequinade can be viewed as owing something of a debt to Paranoia -- but how you are expected to achieve this desirable goal seems somewhat mysterious. The rules suggest sowing chaos by giving players action points for agreeing to chaotic actions, and by purposefully planting misinformation with the players; yet more would be helpful here, even so much as an "example of play."

Still, it's an amusing and imaginative conceit.