Pyramid Pick
My Life With Master
Published by Half Meme Press
Written by Paul Czege
Cover by William Terrell
Illustrated by Colin Theriot
64-page 7-by-8½-inch book in PDF format; $8.95
The advent of the PDF format has given rise to both a number of publishers who wholly release in that format, and a proliferation of self-published games written by those who want to share their game with the hobby. Not possible without the Internet, this has coalesced into something of a sector of "Indie-RPGs," a counterpart to the mainstream of the hobby as much as the independent film sector is to Hollywood. This counterpart and the format is also the space in which to experiment and explore the nature of the RPG without the expensive costs of production, publishing, marketing and distribution. One such example of this is My Life With Master -- a roleplaying game of villainy, self-loathing and unrequited love, published by Half Meme Press.
Originally released at Gen-Con 2003, My Life With Master is perhaps the most interesting RPG of the year. As the title suggests -- and if you did not pronounce it with something of a groan or moan in your voice, not to say a touch of Peter Lorre's role of Joel Cairo from The Maltese Falcon, then go back and try again -- My Life With Master is a game about roleplaying the minions of a Master or mistress. More specifically, and in the default setting for the game, they are the malformed, malnourished, and misunderstood servants that serve the desires, demands, and wants . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: November 21, 2003
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