Wuthering Heights roleplay
By Philippe Tromeur

Introduction
This work is an adaptation of René le jeu de Rôle Romantique for British gentlemen. Here the Work of reference shall be Wuthering Heights, of course.
Some original rules were not translated; in the French version, you'll find rules about large battles, psionic powers, vampyres, martial arts and more ...

Disclaimer
In all the rules, the male gender (he, his, etc.) will be used for our examples. This of course implies the game is not suited for the feeble minds of our ladies.
This work deals with such themes as suicide, despair, homosexuality and socialism for the sole purpose of entertainment.

Persona Creation
Throw two 10-sided dice and add 39 to obtain your amount of Rage.
Throw two 10-sided dice and add 39 to obtain your amount of Despair.
Throw one 10-sided die and add 15 to obtain your Oldness. Unless some special Problem, this is exactly your Age.
Throw one 10-sided die and divide by two (round up*). This is how many Problems you have.
Determine each Problem by throwing 1d100 and referencing to the Problem Table. If you roll twice the same problem, you should either double the effect, or roll another problem. You may refuse a problem ; each time you do that, you must roll 2 problems in its stead.
Choose a Name, such as Heathcliff, Gwynplaine, Jean Valjean, Fox Mulder...
Now you are done and may start playing.

* : always round to the number which is the most annoying for the Persona. Round up when in doubt.

Problem Table
01-04    You are without a family
05-08    You are a republican
09-12    You are a socialist
13-15    You are a baptist / methodist
16-18    You are a monk or pastor
19-22    You are an homosexual
23-25    You are an alcoholic (5 pints a day)
26-28    You are a drug addict (1 hour a day)
29-31    You are honest
32-35    You are in love with someone from your family (Mother, Brother ...)
36       You are a sex addict (once a day)
37-38    You smoke (12 hours a day)
39-40    You gamble (2 hours a day)
41       You play the bagpipes (1 hour a day)
42-44    You sing (1 hour a day)
45-48    You play the piano (1 hour a day)
49-52    You are a poet (4 hours a day)
53-56    You read too much (8 hours a day)
57-59    You dress improperly
60       You are poor
61-64    You are unhealthy (double your Oldness but not your Age)
65-66    You are old (double your Oldness, with your Age)
67-70    You are naive
71-73    You are a bad guy
74       You are a muslim (or buddhist)
75-77    You are a catholic
78       You are a foreigner (French, German...)
79       You are a Jew or Gypsy (no nationality)
80-81    You are obsessed by the occult
82-83    You are ugly
84-85    You have a bad sight
86-88    You are small
89-90    You are bald
91-92    You are thin
93-94    You are fat
95-96    You are Irish
97       You are mute
98       You are hemophiliac (triple your Oldness only when Wounded)
99       You are deaf
100      You are an albino (without a big sword)

Basic Rule
You hay two ways to Check a Quality. Roll above. Roll below.
If the roll equals your Quality, it's a Fumble. A romantic Fumble should make one's life a real pain ...

Rage Checks
A violent action requires the Persona should roll below his Rage
To refrain from reacting too violently, a Persona should roll above his Rage

Despair Checks
To make an important decision the Persona should roll above his Despair
To be sincere, a Persona should roll below his Despair

Oldness Checks
To test his wisdom, one should roll below his Oldness
To test his physical well-being, one should Surpass his Oldness

Duel
Both would roll below their Rage.
Should one succeed and the other fail, the latter gets a Wound (see below)
Should both succeed, both lose 1 Rage point and the duel keeps on, if both would agree.
Should both fail, they stop the duel and become friends, or something like that. They would not fight again for 1d10 days.
Whatever the other's result, a Fumble shall give you a Wound.
If both Fumble, both are Wounded

Murder
The murderer should roll below his Rage twice.
Two successes mean a perfect Murder
One success and a failure mean only a Wound
Two Failures mean you couldn't do such an horrible act. Lose 1 Rage, gain 1 Despair
One Fumble means you killed someone else, but not your intended victim. Lose 1d5 Rage, gain 1d5 Despair.
Two Fumbles mean you killed the wrongest person (your true love if possible). Lose 1d10 Rage, gain 1d10 Despair.

Wound
A Wounded Persona should roll above his Oldness. The die roll is modified by the kind of weapon.
punch          d100 + 20       2 meter fall
knife, stick   d100 + 10       5 meter fall
sword, pistol  d100            10 meter fall
rifle          d100 - 10       20 meter fall
cannon         d100 - 20       50 meter fall
A failure means the Persona is Dying
A fumble means Death, after the death speech, of course.

Dying
A dying Persona must try to roll above his Oldness every night.
Two successive successful nights bring you back to life.
Two successive failures kill you.
The roll is modified by the conditions.
battlefield        d100 - 15
at home, in bed    d100
hospital         d100 + 15

Suicide
Once Despair reaches 90 or above, the Persona must Murder himself.
If he fails, he loses 1d10 Rage.

Mania
If Despair reaches 10 or below, the Persona is happy and spends the days doing useless but funny things.
After that, he gains back 1d10 Despair.

Madness
If Rage ever reaches 90 or above, the Persona must try a very risky task.
After that, he loses d10 Rage.

Zen
If Rage ever drops to 10 or below, the Persona loses all energy and must spend the day reading, meditating, dreaming...
After that, he gains 1d10 Rage.

Ghost
If a persona dies before the end of a Tragedy, he might become a Ghost, 2d10 minutes of gameplay later.
A Ghost may act on the physical world by rolling below his Rage and losing d10 points of Rage after that.
He may appear and speak to one other character by rolling below his Despair and losing d10 points of Despair after that.
Ghosts can fly slowly, but can't go through solid objects. They disappear when their Rage or Despair reaches 10 or below, or at the end of the Tragedy. They never gain Rage or Despair.

Emotional Shocks
During a Tragedy (an 'adventure'), the persona will go up and down Rage and Despair scales.
A strong shock (death of a friend ...) will make you gain / lose d10 points in Rage or Despair.
An important event (love success / failure, death of someone ...) make you gain / lose d10/2 points
Some events / situations may make you gain / lose 1 point (good / bad weather, small success / failure ...).

Aging
Every Christmas, the Persona must roll above his Oldness ; a failure means he shall be Dying d10 x d10 days later.
A Fumble means a heart attack (death).
Every April, 11, the Persona has 10% to gain a new Problem.

Rewards / Evolution
Should some persona survive a novel (a gaming session), give one of them the possibility to lose a Problem.
If a persona's Rage or Despair is greater than 55, they lose d5 points.
If a persona's Rage or Despair is less than 45, they gain d5 points.
Add 1d10/2 to your Oldness (1d10/2 years pass).

End word
Such is Wuthering Heights, English adaptation of French Masterpiece René le jeu de rôle romantique. If you have any comment about the game (or the grammar), write to Philippe Tromeur at: pht@i.am
Also visit Philippe Tromeur's RPG Page.