My friend Will got himself a cool, obscure RPG the other day called "Pandemonium!"I haven't sat down to read it yet, but the premise is pretty cool. The whole thing is based on the world of tabloids. The book design at once suffers (the text is hard to read at points, all crammed together) and benefits (lots and lots of cool pictures, probably made with my favorite low-tech design tools, a xerox machine and some tracing paper) from this association. Click here to see the book cover.

You play some strange character (Elvis Impersonator/Ufo Hunter, for one Archetype) lost in some strange world that, and this is the best part, is based on a real tabloid from the stores. That's right, no modules or source books or anything extra to buy. You just get a character, grab a tabloid, and start flipping through. The book has some tables that help structure/randomize (however you want to look at it) the events in the tabloid into a "cohesive" and playable story. Works for me.

So. Here's some tabloids to help you get started playing:

The National Enquirer : Top Stories today include Martha Stuart's hired lesbian bodyguards, and Mayor Guliani being secretly courted for the position of Vice President. (the second one is scary enough to warrant a follow up)

Weekly World News : Way more my style and closer to what the makers of Pandemonium had in mind. (Did you know they made Bat-Boy into an off-broadway musical?)

And if none of that suits your fancy, go over to the Tetley tea Quickbrew site, and make your own Tabloid cover. (which, actually, after a few minutes of shock - not at the content, but simply because you have to use what images and headlines Tetley provides for you - I found quite entertaining.)