My Life with Master

My Life with Master is a 2003 roleplaying game of "villainy, self-loathing, and unrequited love" where players take on the roles of The Igors serving under a Mad Scientist or other evil Master, the latter played by the Game Master but collectively created by the group.

It is one of the standout modern indie rpgs, to be namedropped at every occasion for the sake of your indie rpg cred.


 * Bittersweet Ending: Not in every game, but game ends generally tend toward this.
 * Blessed with Suck and Cursed with Awesome: All henchmen have "More Than Human" and "Less Than Human" qualities which give them awesome powers at the expense of being, well, human.
 * Evil Overlord / Mad Scientist: Many Masters.
 * Failure Is the Only Option: For the Masters, anyway. Endgame starts when someone successfully resists an order from the Master.
 * GMPC: The Master is always one of these, although s/he is created jointly by the players.
 * The Igor: This game places you in this role for an evil master.
 * Incorruptible Pure Pureness: There's one Innocent NPC per game whose presence helps the PCs keep their humanity.
 * It Got Worse: If a character acquires too much Self Loathing through doing the Master's work, things get worse for the community through a "Horror Revealed," and if it gets too bad...well, the Torches and Pitchforks start coming out.
 * Lower Deck Episode: The premise of the game is to make The Igor and The Renfield the stars of their stories.
 * Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Usually what gets the henchmen to rebel against the Master.
 * Our Vampires Are Different: A vampire Master may be in it for the feeding or the breeding.
 * The Power of Love: The whole point of the game is for henchmen to redeem themselves by connecting with the townsfolk.
 * The Renfield: Many characters.
 * Überwald: The setting of most games of My Life With Master.