Catch Your Hare

I’m travelling round the States for five weeks, starting this Thursday.

I’ll try to keep this blog updated with reports on where I am. The current itinerary is:

Thursday 7th August: Arrive in New York. Stay with my friend Halley.

Saturday 9th: Have dinner with some people in New York.

Monday 11th: Go to stay with Julia…

Tuesday 12th: …before travelling up to GenCon.

Wednesday 13th: Arrive at GenCon.

Monday 18th: Travel back from GenCon to New York.

Tuesday 19th: Start driving around the South, heading from New York in the general direction of New Orleans.

Wednesday 11th September: Fly back to the UK.

Do let me know if you’d like to meet up or anything.

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We played 4th edition D&D tonight, at Simon’s house.

Now, I’m not sure why it was so boring. Perhaps I don’t like D&D as much as I thought. Perhaps I didn’t understand the rules well enough. Either way, I was bored out of my mind.

In the first half-hour, I had to stop letting my head rest on the table apathetically. To do this, I used two batteries to support my head, so it didn’t quite hit the table. I had to put the negative terminals on my forehead, because the positive terminals would have left too much of a mark.

Working out how to do this was more fun than playing the game. However, Steve noticed me and asked me what I was doing, so I had to stop.

Then I rolled a die, but missed whatever I was trying to hit, and had to wait 20 minutes before my turn came round again.

During this 20 minutes, I learnt to roll dice with my nose. This is a specialised skill. Hit the die wrongly and the die merely slides instead of rolling. The correct action is a golf-style swing with your nose, hitting the die slightly above its centre.

Working out how to do this was also more fun than playing the game.

By now, all the monsters were dead. We did a bit of roleplay and found a map to another dungeon. (Note: the only treasure we found in the first dungeon was a map to another dungeon. Adventurers must hate that. “Oh, it’s only another fucking map.”)

Around this time, I left.

I will go back when they stop playing D&D.

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I bought some blank dice yesterday and wanted to write a game. So, after two hours of drawing on dice with marker pen and using nail polish remover to correct mistakes, here it is. It’s a thiefy game. I really like it.

Blackguard

Blackguard is a game for two players (might work with more, haven’t thought it through).

It takes about 15 minutes.

You need

Five special dice: three white Blackguard Dice, one red Danger Die and one blue Style Die.

They have special symbols on them.

The Blackguard Dice have:

• Two footprints, representing Stealth.
• Two speech bubbles, representing Charm.
• Two lock symbols, representing Breaking And Entering.

The Danger Die has:

• One exclamation mark, representing Danger.
• One question mark, representing Suspicion.
• Two pound signs, representing Swag.
• Two blank sides, which represent different things: see below.

And the Style Die has:

• Three stars, representing Success.
• Two pound signs, representing Swag.
• One exclamation mark, representing Danger.

Who’s Who

Decide who is the Criminal and who is the Taskmaster. If you can’t decide, roll dice.

The Criminal

If you’re the Criminal, choose a name and describe yourself briefly.

You have three skills: Stealth, Charm and Breaking And Entering. You are good at one of these; average at another; and bad at the last.

The Taskmaster

You’ll invent challenges for the Criminal.

To start

Decide, together:

• Where you will burgle: perhaps a mansion.
• What you will steal: perhaps a diamond.
• A mystery that will be solved when you steal it: perhaps “What do the secret engravings on the diamond say?”

Using pennies, keep track of:

• Obstacle Points: These are placed in the middle of the table. There are five to start.
• Alert Points: These are placed in front of the Taskmaster. At the start, there are zero.
• Cash: These are placed in front of the Criminal. At the start, there are zero.

Setting Challenges

If you’re the Taskmaster, you’ll decide:

• Where the Criminal is and
• What obstacles stop him getting any further.

Sometimes, this will be obvious: if, the previous turn, the Criminal failed to pick a lock, he is probably still outside the door.

When it’s not obvious – and particularly when the Criminal enters a new location – roll the Blackguard Dice for inspiration.

• If you get any Stealth, describe things that will let the Criminal move stealthily: shadows, a rope.
• If you get any Charm, describe people that the Criminal may charm: a guard, a crowd of partygoers.
• If you get any Breaking And Entering, describe physical obstacles that the Criminal may bypass: a lock, a barred window, a safe.

Don’t feel you must incorporate everything the dice give you: just give it your best shot.

Example: George rolls the dice and gets two Stealth and a Charm. He describes the Criminal finding himself in a drawing room. Houseguests are talking after dinner (and the Criminal could try to charm them). Much of the room is in shadow (so the Criminal could also creep past).

Example: George rolls the dice and gets two Breaking And Entering and a Charm. He describes the Criminal finding himself in a passageway outside a guarded room. There is a guard (whom the Criminal might charm to open the door) and the door is locked (which the Criminal might pick, without the guard seeing him).

Getting past the obstacle

The Criminal now describes how he will get past the obstacles. Between you, decide which skill it involves: Stealth, Charm or Breaking and Entering.

If the Taskmaster likes the Criminal’s idea, he may give him the Style Die.

Then, the Criminal rolls:

• The Danger Die
• The Style Die, if he was given it.
• A number of Blackguard dice, depending on which skill he is using.
  • One die for his bad skill
  • Two dice for his average skill
  • Three dice for his good skill

Finally, look at the dice to see what happened:

• If any Blackguard Die shows the symbol for the skill used (Stealth, Breaking And Entering or Charm), the Criminal gets past the obstacle! Take away an Obstacle point.
• If the Style Die shows a Success, the Criminal also succeeds, in the same way.
• If any die shows Swag, the Criminal has found something to steal! Describe what it is. (It’s not the main thing you came to steal.)
• If any die shows Suspicion, the Criminal has drawn attention to his presence. Perhaps he made a noise or left scratches around a lock. Add one Alert Point. (Ignore this if another die shows Danger)
• If any die shows Danger, the Criminal has been discovered! Add one Alert point and one Obstacle point, which you will use immediately (see below).
• If no Blackguard Dice show the correct Symbol and the Style die doesn’t show a success, the Criminal failed to pass the obstacle, and may not try that particular way of bypassing this obstacle again.

Note that many things may happen at once. Whatever happened, describe it, together.

Danger

When Danger is rolled, the Taskmaster describes the Criminal being discovered. He immediately sets this as a challenge. The Criminal describes attempting to escape by running, hiding, charming the guard or similar. Dice are rolled as usual.

• If the Criminal succeeds, describe escaping from the discoverer.
• If the Criminal fails, describe being captured: the next obstacle will be escaping from imprisonment.
• If Danger is rolled again, someone else discovers the Criminal as he attempts to escape.

Afterwards, one way or another, the burglary continues as before.

Alert

As Alert increases, so does the chance of discovery.

• 0 or 1 Alert points: It’s all quiet.
• 2, 3 or 4 Alert points: The guards are suspicious. If the Danger Die shows a blank, reroll it (once).
• 5, 6 or 7 Alert points: The guards know you’re here. If the Danger Die shows a blank, count it as Suspicion.
• 8, 9 or 10 Alert points: The guards are searching for you. If the Danger Die shows a blank, count it as Danger.
• More than 10 Alert points: The guards are tearing the place apart to find you. Now, Danger adds two Obstacle points instead of one and, if the Danger Die shows a blank, count it as Danger.

End of the game

When there is Obstacle Point left, the Taskmaster describes one last obstacle between the Criminal and the thing he came to steal. This challenge requires a roll, as normal.

If the roll succeeds, the Criminal has what he came to steal! Together, describe the Criminal’s escape. Then solve the mystery.

If you want to carry on playing, solve the mystery so that you create another thing to steal and another mystery to solve.

For example: Sparrow, the Criminal, has stolen a diamond. The mystery was “What do the engravings on the diamond say?”

Deciding they want to play on, they answer the mystery by creating another thing to steal and another mystery: “The engravings identify a map in an ancient library. But where does the map lead to?”.

And Sparrow must steal the map.

Clarifications

1. Sometimes, you’ll get no alerts during the game. That’s fine! Just play again: solve the mystery so that you create another thing to steal and another mystery.
2. The Criminal may deal with obstacles in an unanticipated way. For example, the Taskmaster might roll Breaking And Entering and Charm, and describe a guarded, locked door, anticipating that the Criminal will pick the lock or charm the guard. However, the Criminal may use Stealth, if he can justify it: for example, waiting until the guard enters the room and creeping after him.
3. Backstabbing and acts of stealthy violence are Stealth. Toe-to-toe fighting isn’t allowed. You’re a thief. Run!
4. If the Criminal wants to do something unusual, then: if it’s about physical objects, it’s Breaking And Entering; if it’s about social interaction, it’s Charm; if it’s something that must be done undetected, it’s Stealth. If in doubt, choose together.
5. Sometimes, the dice can be difficult to interpret. Don’t worry. Make sense of them, as best you can, when you describe what happened. Make sure the Obstacle and Alert points are updated correctly.

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