Puppetland is a roleplaying game in which you are a Puppet in the Maker’s Land–a special place which the Maker created to keep the puppets away from a terrible war in the real world. The puppets lived without fear, without any hands to control them or strings to pull them. The only human in Maker’s Land was the Maker, who would mend and repair broken or torn puppets. All was happy in Maker’s Land.

Then came Punch, who slew the Maker with his great mallet, taking his flesh to make a new, cruel face for himself and made six puppet-servants called his Boys. Punch was now the Maker-Killer, and those who didn’t obey his commands would suffer greatly.

But, in the small village of Respite, which lies across the great lake of Milk and Cookies, there is a puppet named Judy, who once loved Punch but does so no more. She was there when Punch slew the Maker, and caught the Maker’s last tear in a silver thimble. With this tear, the Maker can be brought back to life. Thus, puppets that declare themselves free of Punch’s terrible rule gather to Respite, and plan for the day they overthrow Punch.

Welcome to Puppetland, where you assume the role of a puppet. This puppet can be one of the following: Finger Puppet, Hand Puppet, Shadow Puppet, or Marionette Puppet. Each has certain things they can and cannot do (for example, the Shadow Puppet can dodge things thrown at them, but can not get wet, because getting wet kills them!)

Once you choose a puppet, you take the character sheet and draw your puppet. This puppet will be the actual size of the puppet, so be careful in how you draw it! Then you write down what the puppet is, what the puppet can do, what the puppet cannot do, and add three additional things to each list.

There are Three Rules that makes playing Puppetland special. The first is a game of Puppetland lasts only an hour. During the game, a week can pass by, but “the time passed is the time in which the tale is told”. During the next session, the characters will find themselves safely in bed. The second rule is when your sitting at the table, what you say is what you say in character. If you want to say something out of character, you have to stand up and say it. And if you want to do something, you have to state is as something your puppet would say, like: “I think I shall finish reading this book.” The third rule is: imagine that a game of Puppetland is a tale being read by an invisible reader. Better make that dialogue colorful, folks.

Another thing about Puppetland is the Jigsaw Puzzle found on the character sheet. If you do something the puppet can’t do, or take damage, you fill in a piece of the Puzzle. Once the Puzzle is filled in, the character will be gone forever after the current session.

That’s enough about Puppetland–let’s talk about Power Kill.

Power Kill is a roleplaying metagame–not an actual game, but an additional layer of a game to an RPG you are currently playing. The setting is the Real World, and only comes into play during and after the regular gaming sessions. What it all boils down to is that the Power Kill Character (PKC) is the real character, and the roleplaying character is the schizophrenic character, and the Power Kill sessions are psychiatric sessions. From there, it gets stranger…

The Verdict:

Puppetland is a diceless roleplaying game, and a good one. This game is meant to capture the feel of a children’s storybook, which is why the author insists on in-game dialogue and narration. It’s a good effort, and worth taking a look at.

Power Kill, on the other hand, is absolutely odd, but it’s also worth a look, if only for the questions it brings into focus (which will not be brought up here, as the Power Kill section is only three pages long!). Since you can get both for one price (a low price at that), Puppetland/Power Kill is worth picking up.