Not to scare anyone off - but here are the Official Rules (which will be re-posted in an OOC Thread once the game gets going)...
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The Rules
The rules might look complicated at first glance (there’s a lot of information) but really, the only one that needs to know them by heart is the guy running the game (me). It should be easy for anyone to play and just ask what to do next if they suddenly get lost. Believe me though, It will make sense once we start playing. Feel free to ask questions and point out potential pitfalls. I’m willing to edit the rules as needed to make the game run smoothly.
To begin:
Everyone starts in the Drawing Room.
To Win:
Kill Doctor Lucky. Pretty simple.
How To Play:
Each Day of the Game, you make a Minimum of 2 Posts.
The 2 Posts are considered a Round.
If folks are all active enough, it is possible to play through more than 1 Round each Day.
Cards
Each Player starts with a Card Hand of 6 cards (I PM your Card Hand to you & we both keep track of what Cards you have/use)
You also get a new Card(s) with each Room Search (see below).
You can hold any number of any Type of Cards in your Hand.
Post 1: Move & Search
Everyone posts which Room they are moving to and searching around in. All ‘Rooms’ have a name, while the Hallways and Stairs do not. You can elect to move into a Hallway or Stairs if you like, but you can only Search or kill Dr. Lucky in a Named Room. You can also share areas if you like, but it may or may not be to your advantage to do so.
I’ll then Update the Game Map to show everyone’s position and PM each Player what they found in each Room (in the form of Cards).
Post 2: Play Cards & Kill Dr. Lucky
I will then Post Dr. Lucky’s position on the Map (randomly determined).
If Dr. Lucky is in a Room with you, then you are the Focus Player and get to try to Kill Him (or) Lure Him Around first and then try to Kill Him (see below).
If Dr. Lucky is not in a Room with a Player, then the Player Closest To Him That Has Not Yet Had The Focus becomes the Proximity Focus Player and gets a Free Move (see below) and to Play Cards and possibly maneuver to a point where he can try to Kill or Lure Dr. Lucky. Once everyone has had the Focus, The Initial Proximity Focus then gets determined by how many times each Player has had the Focus and so on...
If a Murder Attempt cannot be made by the Focus/Proximity Focus Player for any reason, then the Next Closest To Dr. Lucky (Regardless of Focus Count) becomes the Next Proximity Focus Player and gets to try it. In the event of multiple Players being the same distance away, then 1 will be chosen randomly to be the Next Proximity Focus Player.
Killing Dr. Lucky
To attempt a murder, you must be alone in a Named Room with Dr. Lucky, and you must be out of sight of every other player (if someone can stand anywhere in one room and look straight through doorways into the room you’re in, they can see you). You can only make one murder attempt per turn. You may play one Weapon Card to improve your murder attempt; otherwise, it has a basic value of 1. Without the Weapon Card, you're trying to kill the old man with whatever is on hand, or just poking him in the eye with your finger.
If you use a Weapon Card, your murder attempt has the value of that Weapon. For example, a murder attempt with a 4-point Weapon has a value of 4. The better your attempt, the harder it will be for your opponents to stop you. Once you've made your murder attempt, everyone else gets one chance to foil it, by playing Failure Cards.
Each Player may then play one or more Failure Cards, or Pass.
To foil a murder requires one Failure point for each point in the murder value. Failure cards are worth 1, 2, or 3 points each.
When spending Failure Cards to foil a murder, you must indicate when you are finished by Posting: “NO MORE” Or “PASS”
Pass simply means you refuse to (or can’t) spend any at all.
No More means you are done spending any.
For example, I might volunteer 1 Failure Card, then another Player PASSes, and another player puts 1 in Failure Card and NO MORE. I can still put additional Failure Cards in, but the other two Players are locked out. Be careful though, if you rely on others to play their Failure Cards and they don’t have any, you screw yourself and the murderer wins!
If it looks like the murderer is going to win because the last person to post doesn’t have enough Failure Cards (or claims it anyway), then that last Player can choose one other Player and Beg him to cover the difference. If that Player cannot (or refuses) and the difference remains unpaid – the murderer wins the game.
Note: Even though your early murder attempts probably won't succeed, it's important to keep trying, so that you force the Failure cards out of other players' hands. The fewer Failures everyone else holds, the better your chances of winning.
There are 20 Weapon cards, including many which, like the Billiard Cue below, are more effective in particular rooms. There are 42 Failure cards, including 26 1-pointFailures, 12 2-point Failures and 4 3-point Failures. Once used, Failure Cards are gone for good, but weapons can continue to be found in Room searches.
Luring Dr. Lucky Around
As long as you are in a Room with Dr. Lucky and have the Focus, you can elect (rather than trying to murder him immediately) to Lure him instead. This is done by leading the old fool around the mansion from adjacent Room to adjacent Room (but only through Rooms with a name – not the hallways or stairs).
In each Room you enter with Dr. Lucky, you get to search for a Card (or) stop and try to murder him. This is a handy way to get the old codger out of other Players’ Line-of-Sight.
However: You cannot move into a Room that the two of you have already been in AND if you move into a Room occupied by another Player, then That Player Steals Your Turn. You stop and the new Player becomes the Focus Player and picks up where you left off. In the case were more than 1 Player are in said Room, then I’ll randomly assign the new Focus Player.
Playing Cards
The Player with the Focus (in other words: with Dr. Lucky in a Room or Closest To Him), gets to play Cards. Other Players do not play any Cards, until the Focus Player tries to kill Dr. Lucky (or the Focus jumps to them).
Additionally, you can only play Failure Cards when you don’t have the Focus.
Basically there are 4 Card Types (Move Cards; Room Cards; Weapon Cards; & Failure Cards;)
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Move Cards: These cards can move you or they can move Dr. Lucky. There are 14 move cards, including 8 Move-1's, 4 Move-2's and 2 Move-3's. When you play one of these cards on Dr. Lucky, you can send him in any direction.
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Room Cards: Use these cards to jump either yourself or Dr. Lucky to a particular Room. There are 20 different Room cards.
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Weapon Cards: (As noted above), are played to kill Dr. Lucky
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Failure Cards: (As noted above), are played to foil other Players’ murder attempts against Dr. Lucky
You can play any number of Move, Room, or Failure Cards at one time, but only 1 Weapon Card with each attempt to Kill Dr. Lucky.
Free Move
In addition to playing Move Cards: the Player with the Focus gets 1 Free Move each Round – which he/she can use (or not) to go move from where they are to any adjacent Room, Hall, or Stairs. The Free Move can be used before, during, or after playing Cards.
Failing To Do The Old Man In
When you make an attempt to kill him Dr. Lucky and fail, you scare him off; he disappears from the Rooms and that starts a new Round.
And His Little Dog Too!
Dr. Lucky has a hateful little Ankle-Bitter lurking around the mansion too (under the couches and such). Its name is ‘Mr. Smiles’ and it will also be moving around the Rooms, but it doesn’t have a counter. You’ll know when it’s in a room with you though – because it will be biting the crap out of you.
In other words, if you choose a room (during the Move Phase) with Mr. Smiles in it, you can’t Search it (you get no Cards). Additionally, if you Lure Dr. Lucky into a Room with Mr. Smiles in it, you don’t get to search the Room and must make an immediate attempt to kill Dr. Lucky or will lose the Focus.
Mr. Smiles can’t be killed, but you can drop-kick him into another Room. After Mr. Smiles attacks, you get to PM me which Room you kick him into; and he’ll stay there until the end of the next Move Phase for the other players to run into. Mr. Smiles does not attack Players in a Room he is drop-kicked into until after the next Move Phase
If Mr. Smiles hasn’t been placed by a Player, then he moves randomly at the same time as Dr. Lucky. If two Players are in the same room when Mr. Smiles attacks, then Focus Player gets to decide where to place him.
If Mr. Smiles is in a Room with Dr. Lucky when you try to Kill DR. Lucky, Mr. Smiles automatically counts as 1 Failure Card. This means the attempt is easier to foil, because Mr. Smiles is helping to protect his master. The good news is that you take the rotten little ankle-biter out with the old man if you actually manage to succeed.
Map Notes
Numbers on the Map will not be used for the Forum Version of the Game. The dotted ‘wall’ between the Gallery and Dining Hall is a banister railing. You can actually see over it. You can also see up and down Stairs.
Card Swapping Madness!
If you want to barter with other Players for Card trades via PM, you can do so - but actually transactions have to go through me and will only go through during the Opening Phase of each Round (where you are choosing your Rooms to Search)...
The risk here is that you let other players know what Cards you have, so it may or may not be worth it - but if you want, go for it!
Only PM me (both players) to make the trade once both parties have come to a final agreement. I don't want to be involved with the back and forth lead up to any trades.
Posting/Not Posting
Please post which Room you are moving into early (or in advance) if you know you’ll be offline long.
Once Dr. Lucky moves into a Room (or you get the Focus) the Focus Player has 6-8 hours to post or he loses the Focus to the next Player, who then has 2 hours to post, and so on…
When the Focus Player makes an attempt to kill Dr. Lucky, you have 6-8 hours to respond with Failure Cards. If you do not post within that time, I will randomly spend (1 or zero) of your Foil Cards in your behalf.
If the attempt to kill Dr. Lucky succeeds: then that Player WINS & Game Over.
If the attempt to kill Dr. Lucky fails: then the Round is over and we go on to the next Round (posting which Room you are headed into to search. You’ll have 6-8 hours to post a Room or again, one will be assigned to you randomly.
The Game Continues in this manner until someone finally kills Dr. Lucky.
I’ll us PMs to Update you on your Card Hands each Round and to pass notes. You are free to collude with each other via PMs if you think it would help, but please do post a lot in the game itself. Role Playing is encouraged and funny/entertaining stuff can earn you a free Unique game Cards that you can use to screw over the other Players.
Again, don’t sweat the rules too much but feel free to reply below with questions / suggestions / observations ^_^
