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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. This text is an revised version of the French rules (the printed French version is different). 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 & socialism for the sole purpose of entertainment. No animals, nor children were knowingly hurt during the playtests of the game. Persona Creation The Actor shall throw two ten-sided dice & add thirty-nine to obtain the Persona's amount of Rage . He shall throw two ten-sided dice & add thirty-nine to obtain the Persona's amount of Despair . He shall throw one ten-sided die & add fifteen to obtain the Persona's Oldness . Unless some special Problem , this is exactly the Persona's Age . Then the Actor shall throw one ten-sided die & divide by two (round up * ). This is how many Problems his Persona has. The actor then determines each Problem for his Persona by throwing 1d100 & referencing to the Problem Table. If the Actor rolls twice the same Problem , he should either double its effect, or roll another Problem . The Actor may refuse a Problem for his Persona ; every time he does that, he must roll 2 Problems in its stead. If an Actor only rolled one (or two) Problem (s), it is advisable he should choose one other Problem to make his Persona more interesting. He now chooses a Name , such as Heathcliff, Gwynplaine, Jean Valjean... He then chooses a feature floating in the wind (hair / coat / scarf / kilt / whatever). The Actor should check the box corresponding to " Worried " & " Tired ", the default mental & physical states. Choosing an Occupation is optional (this occupation only brings status, not skill). * : always round to the number which is the most annoying for the Persona. Round up when in doubt.

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& now the infamous ... 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 ...) 36-36   You are a sex addict (once a day) 37-38   You smoke (12 hours a day) 39-40   You gamble (2 hours a day) 41-41   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 60-60   You are poor 61-64   You have ill health (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 74-74   You are a Muslim (or Buddhist) 75-77   You are a catholic 78-78   You are a foreigner (French, German...) 79-79   You are a Jew or Gypsy (no nationality) 80-81   You are obsessed with 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 97-97   You are mute 98-98   You are haemophiliac (triple your Oldness only when Wounded ) 99-99   You are deaf 00-00   You are an albino (without a big sword)

Basic Rule When not specified, a roll is a d100 roll (roll 1d10 twice, first die is the tens, second die the units, « 00 » means 100). A d10 is a ten-sided die : you can find it in every occult library or sex-shop, or you can use a Bible (carefully). You have two ways to check Rage , Despair or Oldness : roll above or roll below. If the roll equals the score, 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 , same if he need to notice something else than his own feelings (i.e. "Perception Roll"). 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 roll above his Oldness . Note that you must sometimes make a difference between physical & mental Oldness ; a Persona suffering from an illness (generally a romantic disease such as Tuberculosis, Polio or Syphilis) has a doubled Oldness , but only for the purpose of physical tests. Being ill does not make you smarter. Duel Both would roll below their Rage . Should one succeed & the other fail, the latter gets Wounded (see below). Should both succeed , both lose 1 Rage & the duel keeps on, if both would agree. Should both fail , they stop the duel & become friends, or something like that. They would not fight again for 1d10 days. Whatever the other's result, the victim of a fumble shall be Wounded . If both fumble , both are Wounded . Murder / Suicide The murderer should roll below his Rage twice. Two successes mean a perfect Murder. One success & a failure mean the victim is only Wounded . Two failures mean the would-be murderer couldn't do such an horrible act. He loses 1 Rage & gains 1 Despair One fumble means someone else was killed, not the Persona's intended victim. The murderer loses 1d10/2 Rage & gains 1d10/2 Despair . Two fumbles mean the wrong est person was killed (the murderer's true love if possible). The murderer loses 1d10 Rage & gains 1d10 Despair . To be Wounded A Wounded Persona should immediately roll above his Oldness . If he is only Tired :         A success means the Persona is Suffering from light wounds.         A failure means the Persona is Dying .         A fumble means the Persona is Dead , after the death speech, of course. If he is already Suffering :         A success means the Persona is now Dying .         A failure means the Persona is Dead , after the death speech, of course.         A fumble means the Persona is now Dead , without the death speech !!! To be Suffering A Suffering Persona can act normally (well ... as usual) without penalty. A Suffering Persona must try to roll above his Oldness every night. One success brings the Persona back to health, Tired . One failure means the Persona is now Dying . To be Dying A Dying Persona can't do anything except moaning, coughing, bleeding, etc. A Dying Persona must try to roll above his Oldness every night. Two successive successful nights bring the Persona back to life, becoming Suffering . Two successive failures kill the Persona after a lot of death speeches.

Art Making Art (generally speaking : painting, poetry, dance, music ...) consists into trying to transmit one's own feeling to someone else. Hence the rules for Art : First, the Actor choses if he wants to roll below his Artist's Despair (if he wants to communicate his sadness) or above it (shall he want to communicate his joy) Then he shall throw the dice and see if he makes the roll If he succeeds , the Artist achieves what he wants If he fails , the result is rubbish If he fumbles , the result is shocking Then every person who watches / listens / reads / tastes the results reacts. If the result of the artist is rubbish , everyone knows but few will tell. If the Art is shocking, some people might Rage against the Artist. If the Artist expressed what he wanted, there shall be a roll to see if the spectator is moved by this Art. The person makes the same kind of roll than the artist did (above / below Despair ).       - If he succeeds , he is completely moved by the Art, and Shall gain / lose 1d5 Despair (depending on what the Artist wanted)       - If he fails , he is only politely interested in it       - If he fumbles , he is moved by the Art, in a negative way, and shall gain / lose 1d5 Rage / Despair (what is the most dramatic) Love Trying to seduce someone is trying to make someone share one's feelings. So : the rules for seduction exactly follow the rules for Art (see above). I won't repeat myself, so I give an example : Lord Vincent Smallpees (R51 D58 O21) wants to seduce Lady Margaret Whateley (R45 D55 O23), the wife of his best friend Alfred Thompson. He choses to tell her he's been loving her for such a long time, that his heart will shatter if she ever refuses to be kind, or something like that. His Actor choses to roll below Vincent's Despair ; he rolls : it's a 11, which is a Success. Cowabunga ! Now let's see how Lady Margaret will react to this sincere expression of personal suffering. As Vincent's Actor did, Margaret's Actor shall roll below her Despair ; he rolls : it's a 55, which is a fumble ! Margaret suddenly remembers her loved father, dying from a heart attack during a dinner. Could she kill her best friend, this dear Vincent ? Could she betray her husband ? Margaret feels panicked ; she gains 1d10/2 Despair : 9 / 2 = 5 ! She is completely seized with angst and flees Vincent, crying. Vincent gains 1 Despair. His rolls under this new value of Despair, which means he can't react. Margaret runs towards the cliffs ... Emotional Shocks During a Tragedy (an 'adventure'), the Persona will go up & down Rage & Despair scales. A strong shock (death of a friend ...) will make the Persona gain / lose d10 points in Rage or Despair . An important event (love success / failure , death of a relative ...) make the Persona gain / lose d10/2 points. Some events / situations may make the Persona gain / lose 1 point (good / bad weather, small success / failure ...). Effects of important gains & losses of Rage & Despair If a Persona gains 5 Rage or more at once, he suffers from a sudden fit of violence, aimed at the object / person which caused the last important gain of Rage . Depending on the situation, this might mean screaming at someone, breaking something, a Duel , a Murder ... After his wrath calms downs (1d10 minutes), the Persona loses 1d10/2 Rage . If a Persona gains 5 Despair or more at once, he suffers from a sudden fit of angst. Depending on the situation, this might mean catatonia, Suicide ... If he survives this 1d10-minute-long crisis, the Persona loses 1d10/2 Despair . If a Persona loses 5 Rage or more at once, he suffers from a sudden fit of apathy. After 1d10 minutes of meditation, the Persona gains back 1d10/2 Rage . If a Persona loses 5 Despair or more at once, he suffers from a sudden fit of joy. After this 1d10-minute-long happiness, the Persona gains back 1d10/2 Despair . Effects of extraordinary values of Rage / Despair If a Persona's Rage ever reaches (or rises above) 75 , he suffers from a sudden fit of violence (see above). If a Persona's Despair ever reaches (or rises above) 75 , he suffers from a sudden fit of angst (see above). If a Persona's Rage ever reaches (or falls below) 25 , he suffers from a sudden fit of apathy (see above). If a Persona's Despair ever reaches (or falls below) 25 , he suffers from a sudden fit of joy (see above). Effects of cumulative gains & losses of Rage & Despair Once the character has gained more than 10 points in Rage or Despair in less than a week, he goes up one level into madness. All Persona start at " Worried ", then become " Troubled ", then " Deranged ", then " Absent ". To be Worried A Worried Persona is a fully functional (yet fictional) character in a Tragedy, only more sensitive than the banal person. To be Troubled A Troubled Persona seems to react normally to the outside world, but is in fact obsessed with his own Problems . This state is normally 1d10 days long, after which the Persona is only Worried . To be Deranged A Deranged Persona does not seem to react normally to the outside world, being so obsessed with his own Problems . This state is normally 1d10 weeks long, after which the Persona becomes Troubled . To be Absent An Absent Persona does not react to the outside world at all except for basic needs (breathing, eating, sleeping, writing poetry ...). This state is normally 1d10 months long, after which the Persona becomes Deranged .

Ghost If a Persona dies before the end of a Tragedy, he might become a Ghost , 2d10 minutes of play later. A Ghost may act (subtly) on the physical world when his Actor rolls below his Rage . He shall lose d10 points of Rage after that. He may suggest something to a living character when his Actor rolls below his Despair . He shall gain 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. Ghosts can't sense or affect each others. A Ghost never gains Rage or Despair ( or loses them for other reasons than ghostly actions ). Ageing Every Christmas, the Persona rolls d10xd10 : this is a number of days after which the Persona becomes ill ( Suffering ). Every April, 11, the Persona has 10% to gain a new Problem . Rewards / Evolution Should some Personae survive a tragedy (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 d10/2 points. If a Persona's Rage or Despair is less than 45, they gain d10/2 points. Add 1d10/2 to the Persona's Oldness (1d10/2 years pass). End word Such is Wuthering Heights Roleplay , English adaptation of French Masterpiece René le jeu de rôle romantique . If you have any comment about the game (or the grammar or anything), write to me at this address : philippe.tromeur[at]wanadoo.fr Philippe TROMEUR