You’ve been invited to the castle on Treachery Hill by the enigmatic Thomas Murder. Only to get there to see he’s nowhere to be found. The doors lock behind you and your fellow invitees. Your only guidance is a note by Murder claiming you were brought here by fate to weed out a blood-thirsty spirit hiding amongst you.
Requires: 1 Game Master (GM), 4 or more other players, sticky notes or index cards, pencils and 2 six-sided dice (2d6).
Starting the game: The players will write down their character’s name and description. The GM will then have the players roleplay their characters introducing themselves to each other. Finally the GM will have every player close their eyes and give one player a token. That player is now the Killer and is tasked with killing the other player characters.
From there starts the first Daylight Segment. Players will sent to seek answers and a way of escape within the castle, navigating puzzles and traps created and described in narrative terms by the GM. Anytime in this phase a player wishes to perform an action deemed considerably risky by the GM, the GM will give them the option to take 1 or 2 points of Strain to perform it. Alternatively, the player can decide to Push It and roll a d6. If the result is above 3, they succeed without taking Strain. If the result is a 6, their Strain reduces by 1. Otherwise they fail their action and take twice the amount of Strain as the initial cost of success. Other players can take Strain to decrease or increase the initial cost by 1 per Strain gained.
If at any point, a player is forced to gain Strain that would raise their count over 5, their character dies, failing their action. Characters can also die from assault or failures involving hazards.
Dead characters have 3 Ectoplasm points they can spend on successes or failures for the living players. Cost 1 Ectoplasm per challenge, regardless of the Strain cost. Ectoplasm cannot be regained.
About every 20 minutes of Daylight, the GM will call a Night Segment. Players will all submit a index card/sticky note/etc to the GM stating their character will perform one of the following actions:
If at the end of a Night Segment, at least one player is targeted by an attack,
an Ambush Segment initiates. The GM rolls a d6, (2 if the target had Stood on Guard). If the highest result is higher than the targeted player’s Strain plus 1, the player lives. Else, they die.
If only two players remain, the Killer kills the other surviving player and the game ends. If the players escape, the game ends.
The GM has final say on how the rules are to be interpreted.
© 2024. This work is openly licensed via CC BY-SA 4.0