The Roshomon Effect

                                                     THE ROSHOMON EFFECT
                                                      By Dwight and Brandy Upton

                                                     An RPG for Game Chef 2017



What is this?

The Roshomon Effect is a game of unreliable narrators, each recounting the same tale before a magistrate who will determine the truth, render judgement, and sentence the guilty. Together the players will craft a story of murder as each spins a conflicting tale striving to evade the executioner’s sword and be found innocent.


Game Chef 2017

The theme is “borders”, and the fiction of The Roshomon Effect stands where truth and lies, perception and reality meet, blur, and diverge. The ingredients are yarn, smoke, echo, and cut. Each of these elements is a metaphor in play, with the stories (“yarns”) told by each suspect, the tale repeated each with it’s own variation (“echo”), the lies and misdirections told in desperation (“smoke”), and the conclusive finale in which the magistrate reveals the truth and renders judgement and a capital sentence (“cut”). We hope you enjoy the experience.


Setup

You will need:
 role cards, and judgement cards (included)
 index cards for writing clues and motives
 pencils or pens
 about half a dozen players


Summary of Play

1. Choose The Magistrate, and choose other roles
2. The Magistrate draws a victim from the role cards,
and will frame the crime with Clues
3. The Magistrate will choose the first Suspect
4. Each Suspect will narrate the same story,
changed by their own point of view
5. The Magistrate will interrogate each Suspect
6. Each Suspect gets one rebuttal
7. The Magistrate will relate the final, true story
8. The Magistrate will deliver sentences


Choosing The Magistrate, and Suspect roles

The table will choose as The Magistrate for the game, the most honest and reliable person as determined by the group. If all of you are scoundrels, you can roll a d6, draw for the highest card, or play rock/paper/scissors.

Next, everyone else will draw a Role Card randomly from the stack. All but the magistrate are Suspects, and you all place the card before you so everyone can see. After everyone has a role, The Magistrate will draw a final role card. This card is the victim of murder most foul, and someone is guilty.

The Magistrate will begin play. Your job is to determine who murdered the victim, and to suss out the truth by hearing the accounts presented by each Suspect, weighing them for veracity, and determining the sentences for each character as play progresses. It is your job to inform the other characters of the gravity of their situation. Inform the Suspects that each of them was seen in the vicinity of the victim on their last day and that their lives hang in the balance. Some will go free, some will face prison, and someone will be executed. Choose which Suspect begins the narrative, and demand they give an account of themselves. But Pay Attention, as you will have to tell the True Story after all the Suspects finish, using facts from each alibi as established in the narrative. You will then pass Judgement on each Suspect, issuing the Sentence cards


Framing the Murder

As Magistrate, you will frame the setting of the story, and the nature of the murder. You should account for the Time (era) and Place, as well as the apparent nature or Method of the murder. This need not be the final truth, and during the narrations, what may seem to be death by one method may prove to be otherwise. But as magistrate, you frame what is obvious.
You should include three to five details offered as clues to the crime or the scene. To do this, place the victim role card in the middle of the table, and with three to five index cards, write a word or very brief statement to lay the foundation for a narrative. Each card should offer a Clue discerned by one of the five senses. There should be at least three senses represented, and no more than two Clues for any sense.

For example, you may note that the day was particularly Cold, but the victim had only a light robe, that a woman’s Scream was heard, but the victim was a man, and that the victim has an Axe in their skull, but there is little blood. These offer variety, appealing to the senses of touch, hearing, and sight respectively, and the Clues may suggest several avenues for the story to go, but may not directly include anyone but the victim role.
Explain that all Suspects are under suspicion because they have a known relationship to the victim, and were in proximity before being rounded up for the investigation.


Suspect Narratives

The Magistrate will choose the first Suspect to relate the narrative. As the First Suspect, you have responsibility for relating the story of the last day of the victim as it relates to you. Each subsequent Suspect must follow up in turn by relating the same story, though it should be from their point of view only. Note, as Suspects you cannot deny either a relationship, or contact with the victim on that last day.

You must begin by telling who you are, what your relationship to the victim was, and then what you were doing in the area around the time of the murder.

On your turn as a Suspect, you have the option of doing two things as you relate your narrative:

First, you may take any of the Clue cards laid down by The Magistrate, and may make a single word or short statement modification to the card. Axe, for instance, might be amended to be a Woodcutter’s Axe, or a Battle Axe, or My Father’s Axe. So long as it is included in the narrative that everyone tells, and does not deny an already established fact, anything is fine. Note, that this might be amended multiple times, each time revealing a new facet of that clue. Axe, might become Battle Axe, which might become Sold Battle Axe, for example. You may then, at your option, either place the card back with the victim, or you may place the card in front of another Suspect, so long as you do so within the already established and repeated narrative. You might as the Soldier for example write Sold on the Battle Axe, before placing it in front of the Bandit, implicating the Bandit instead.

Second, you may write on a new index card, a new Clue, an alleged Motive, or an Alibi to assert your innocence. A new Clue should relate in an immediate and obvious fashion to the victim, and must be laid with the victim when first introduced, though it may move later. A Motive is laid down in front of another Suspect as long as they do not already have a motive connected to them. A Motive should be a single word or short statement such as, Jealousy, Cheated, or Insulted. After a Motive card is introduced, it can be modified just like Clues, by any Suspect as they repeat the established narrative and so long as the Motive does not violate that narrative. An Alibi card is placed in front of yourself, and serves to support your innocence, such as Love, or My Mother.

On your turn to tell the narrative as a Suspect, you must try to reincorporate as many elements as you can into the story. The more you can elaborate, the more you have an opportunity to create doubt about your own guilt, and suggest doubt about the other’s innocence. The only thing not allowed on your turn is to make a direct accusation against another suspect.

You may suggest… but you may not accuse yet.


Interrogations and Rebuttals

After each Suspect has repeated the narrative once, The Magistrate will ask each Suspect one or two questions about the narrative. It is during this time that Suspects may make a single direct accusation against another Suspect. So long as it does not violate the established narrative or modify any Clues, Motives, or Alibis already on the table, it is fine. The Magistrate may however move or amend cards at this time as the interrogation proceeds. Suspects who have an accusation against them may make one rebuttal to each accusation, so long as they can justify it within the established narrative.


The Magistrate’s Tale, and the Verdict

After each Suspect has one turn to answer questions and offer rebuttals, The Magistrate will tell the whole story again, repeating it in as much detail as possible. This is the true story, and the one upon which guilt and innocence are determined. This is where your tale as a Suspect will bring you exoneration… or execution.

After The Magistrate relates the story one last time, the Sentence Cards will be laid down, with the Innocent card laid on one of The Magistrate’s choice, followed by the Flogging card, then the Prison cards, and finally, the Death card. Justice served, the game is concluded.


* * * *


Inspirations

The most obvious one, is of course Akira Kurosawa’s 1950 film, Rashomon which is itself based on two short stories by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Rashomon, and The Grove; classics of the unreliable narrator story. But going back further, is that old childhood game of unreliable narratives, Telephone. Hopefully, this is a little more fun than Telephone.

                                                                      ROLE CARDS

                                                                 SENTENCE CARDS

Traditions

TRADITIONS

This is a game experiment about the facet of culture that makes traditions.  Peculiar things those... so many of them are things that had more concrete purpose at one time, and still exist as an echo long after the sound of the utterance is really remembered.  And yet they provide a shared experience that draws people together even when other parts of life fall apart... they can sometimes be hollow... and sometimes, they can be the hope that fills the hollows that life carves out of us.


The players will each take turns fleshing out a set of traditions for a fictional society.  The starting point for the society can be chosen in any fashion, but should be very simply framed, (e.g. "a society of nomads on the vast steppes of the east", or "a society of an island nation, in the midst of a technological revolution", or even "a river society ascending from the chaos of a century of war".  A general idea of place, and time period is sufficient, though some brief hint of circumstances might be included.

The traditions that the players will deal with in turn are the following:

- Birth
- Childhood
- Becoming recognized as an adult
- Romance
- Marriage
- Religious participation
- Facing conflict
- Death

For each tradition, players will take turns, each player choosing one question to answer, and answering the questions that describe the tradition.

The questions are these:

1) What is the tradition?  Does it have a name, or an idiom associated with it?
2) How did it start?
3) How does it strengthen the community?
4) How might it weaken the community?
5) How does this tradition change?  What causes the change?

Not every question need be answered, but the more that are, the clearer the tradition will be understood.  Note, where the tradition starts and where it finishes might be very different indeed.  Over time, a tradition that begins with a hard practical purpose may become a symbolic habit that no longer has practical use, but nonetheless, still brings the community together.  The interest is in exploring how that happens.

Detail is important.  Try to engage multiple senses in the description of the practices.

Game of Death (first draft)

This is a game inspired by:

Bruce Lee's Game of Death (HERE is the important part of the unfinished film)
and games like Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat, and Tekken.

This is the not-yet-play-tested version.  That makes it about as safe as a beginner martial artist with only one or two techniques... wild, overconfident, and and lacking in refinement.

* * * * *

This is a game about dramatic martial artists pushed to the edge and solving problems with punching.

Lots of punching.

* *

YOUR FIGHTER

On an index card, answer the following questions concisely and dramatically:

Name... this should be cool, memorable, and dramatic.  It should fall from the lips of others with awe.

Look... this is what makes you distinctive in one or two short, but colorful phrases.  Metaphors and similes are good starts.  It could be distinctive dress that would look like a costume on anyone else, but on you looks devastatingly cool and dangerous.  Or it could be that you are devastatingly inhuman and dangerous... but oh, so cool.  You can use this once per game to refresh damaged attributes when you have a chance to describe how awesome you look in entering the scene.

Drive... this is the straw that broke the camel's back.  This is the thing that pushed you down the path of no return... for victory or death.  This is what drives you to fight.  You can use this once per game to refresh damaged attributes when you can describe a flashback that shows how your drive pushes you through the scene.

Ally... this is one other fighter that you have crossed paths with before, and know you can trust in a fight.  Why?  Note: this might have been your Rival at one time.  You can use this once per game to refresh damaged attributes when meeting your ally triggers a flashback that shows how your ally gives you the strength to push on against the odds.

Rival... this is one other fighter that you have crossed paths with before, and there will be blood the next time you do.  Why?  Note: this might have been your Ally at one time.  You can use this once per game to refresh damaged attributes when meeting your Rival triggers a flashback that shows how your rival makes you committed to pushing on against the odds.  You must defeat your rival before you can push forward!

Next, note the following three attributes with nine points to distribute among them, with a minimum of 1 in each.  Write your levels for each on the blank line, and then leave an equal number of boxes blank.  The remaining boxes should be boldly marked out.

Kung-Fu... this represents your training and skill in martial arts.  This is the number of dice you have have available to roll to attack your opponents.

Chi... this represents your vitality and inner power.  This number determines what you must roll equal to or below on each die when you attack to try to damage your opponent.

Insight... this represents your ability to see through illusion into the reality of things.  This is the number of times you may discern the true weakness of your opponents Kung-Fu or the deceptions left to hinder you on you quest.  When you use your insight, your opponent cannot get a bonus from their special techniques on an attack, and any lost Kung-Fu, or Chi (one but not both) is immediately refreshed up to the level of Insight.  For example, if a minion scores three successes, your Kung-Fu is 4, and your Insight is 2, you may recover 2 Kung-Fu by marking off one box of Insight.

Finally, you will create and make note of this:

Techniques... these are your signature moves, your deadliest combos, and your most lethal weapon skills.  You get to create three of them.  They must have awesome and dangerous names to strike fear and wonder in the hearts of those who behold them in action.  They follow a naming convention something like this:

- (adjective or adverb)
- (noun)
- (verb or adverb)
- (noun)

So you might be a master of Viper Style Kung-Fu, and your techniques might be named something like, "Coiled Shadow Bites the Moon!", or "Thousand Venomed Fangs Strike!".  To use a technique, you will forcefully declare it by name before you attack, and you gain it's effect as designed.  You should have a good idea of what the technique looks like in action and what effect it has on an opponent, and should be able to narrate it when it happens.
Building your technique, you may get any bonus or combination of bonuses you choose to your attributes as long as they total 3.  For example, Thousand Venomed Fangs Strike! might give a bonus of +3 to Chi when you use it, while Coiled Shadow Bites the Moon! gives you +2 to Kung-Fu and +1 to Insight when you use it.

THE TOWER

The Warlord of Ultimate Evil sits upon his throne in the Tower Pagoda of Death.  There are nine levels to ascend before you can face the ultimate master.  Each level is guarded by a wicked minion, each more deadly than the last.  You must defeat the defender of each level before you can pass to the next.

When you enter a level, the opposing player (playing the Warlord and the minions, i.e. the Tower) will briefly set the scene for that level of the pagoda, and describe the minion who guards the stair upward with lethal intent.  The guard will give a warning to you, giving one last opportunity to flee.  Should you refuse, mortal combat will begin!

The minion is rated based on the level they defend.  They will begin with a Kung-Fu rating, and a Chi rating equal to the level they are on, with Chi topping out at 6, while Kung-Fu will progress... yes that means that the Warlord will have a Kung-Fu of 9, or 9 dice to roll, with a Chi of 6 when the game begins.  Write the levels for each on the blank line, and then leave an equal number of boxes blank.

What about the boxes above and beyond the ratings of 6?  They are made up by the power of Gu.

Gu is the power of black sorcery.  It has to do with poison... and venomous animals... and pestilence... and sorcerer's ghosts... and shape shifting... it is dreadful, awful stuff.  And the Warlord, and his most trusted minions on levels 7 and 8 might have it.  Whenever the power of Gu is used, mark off one box.  This allows the player of the tower to shape-shift in some dramatically horrible way, and use any technique that has been used by a fighter in the tower, one time per use of Gu.

COMBAT

When you confront an opponent in combat, both sides roll all their Kung-Fu dice at the same time.  All faces that are equal or below the Chi rating are successful attacks.  The player with the most dice will begin by putting a die forward on the table showing the result (successful or not) and describe briefly and colorfully how the attempt to attack either succeeded or failed.  Anything goes as long as the result is not final, unless a successful die causes the final box to be crossed off for the opponent.  Then, you may describe the fatality.  The description should be short, dramatic, and forceful, and can include any number of attacks, acrobatic maneuvers, and broken pieces of scenery.  After the first player puts out a die and gives the brief description, the other player responds likewise, and so back and forth till all dice are accounted for, boxes checked, and one side determined the victor, or another round called for.

Both sides mark off as many boxes from their attributes as successes inflicted by the other side.  As mentioned, the minion must give fair warning and offer you a chance to flee in cowardice before combat begins.  If you refuse, combat ensues as described.  The exception to this rule, is if you the fighter choose to begin with a technique.  If so, the technique bonuses are applied first, then dice are rolled.

If you suffer hits from the minion, Insight may be used immediately as described.

If you lose all Kung-Fu or Chi boxes, you can no longer fight.  If you lose all attribute boxes, you die, but you are raised in service to the Warlord as the new undead defender of the last level you passed with all your former attributes and techniques.

Breakthrough Attacks

There is a special case attack, when you roll three or more dice that are consecutively higher (i.e. 1,2,3,4,5,6).  This allows you to make the choice of a breakthrough attack, in which you attack your opponent so forcefully, that you knock them through the floor (or ceiling if you so choose) to an adjacent level.  You must have a minimum run of three dice to make this attack possible.  If you have more dice, and they continue in a run, each die after counts as a successful attack for damage as well. If you merely have three in a run, you do no additional damage, but you do knock them through the floor, and you need not fight them further.  This attack is possible on any opponent except the Warlord, though the Warlord may make this attack against you should you live to face him on the ninth level.  If you have enough dice to make two continuous runs, you can knock your opponent through two levels.

THE GAME OF DEATH

Suppose there are multiple fighters attempting to assault the Tower?  This is the true Game of Death.  Many enter... one will leave.  The power of the Warlord alone can release one from the precincts of the Tower after entry, and to have that power, you must be the final victor against all.

When multiple fighters enter, they may roll off against Insight to determine the order in which they will go, all rolling at the same time with any who fail to gain successes being eliminated from the order until one fighter has rolled alone.  The order of play then proceeds in order of most successes to least.  A fighter may fight and continue until one of the following conditions occurs:

- they choose to stop and wait
- the end of a fight in which they used a point of Insight to recover
- they die

After that fighter's turn ends, the next may attempt to assault the Tower, facing new minions at each level even if the previous fighter defeated them.  The Warlord has great power after all, and an endless supply of minions.  The only way to stop the minions is to end the Warlord.

Allies and Rivals

If at any time you should proceed on your turn and come to a level with a fighter who is either your ally or rival, you may make use of your Ally or Rival attribute as described previously.

ENDGAME

When one fighter remains at the top of the Tower, having defeated all opposition as well as the Warlord, they become the new Warlord, and can either begin a new reign of oppression and terror, or abdicate, leave the Tower, and go from whence they came, as a hero.  Take a moment to describe the epilogue with pathos and feeling!

The Henchman - Submitted for the 200 Word RPG Challenge

So I'm running on about 4 hours of sleep at work today (coffee!... oh, beautiful coffee!). The first actual draft, v. 1.1 came in at ~550 words. I wrote in Notepad so I didn't have the word count showing as my editor is far too ready to stomp on my creative brain. That was a good thing. Then the editing process began.  

I edited. Then I edited some more. I spent all day on my day off doing this, and still, down to the wire, I was at 220 words. In flew SuperWife to leap tall paragraphs, and punch out word count in a single bound. We shouted, we kvetched, I explained game design vocabulary, she complained, we collaborated, and here is the very brief version! (NOTE: this game would not have happened, at least on time as a contest submission, without her. Thanks B!)

I will post the original later for comparison.

Several things were ingredients in the final stew. While I have been a fan of Call of Cthulhu for decades, Polaris was the first game I ever read in which the mechanics fed into the narrative and the PCs are assured death in the end, rather than just very likely. Becoming, is a game that comes close, with the mechanics feeding the narrative of how the PC is changed and what they sacrifice along the way, but the idea of a story about actual character death it turns out, can be just as interesting as a book or movie of the same idea. It is the Kobayshi Maru principle; how we face death is at least as important as how we face life. The notion of making a story about that is compelling.
Another idea that I wanted to play with, was the idea of what is under the face of a story. I love stories with strong face characters, and I won't deny the need for a strong face either in fiction or fact to a movement. The army that defeated Rommel may not have been nearly so effective had it not had George Patton as the face. We remember Patton because he led a victorious army... who was it that Rommel beat first? Unless you are a WW II history buff, you probably don't know. But the army, the men who crewed the tanks did the fighting, and sweating, and bleeding. They were the ones who died. They mattered. That was the second ingredient in the stew. What kind of story can a game tell about the henchmen that follow the face?
Then the other ingredients are the seasonings. While the first two elements form the core of the narrative idea side of the game, the other elements compose the mechanics that have to be married to the narrative. Good design marries mechanics that directly encourage the kind of play that you want the narrative to be about. So I thought about how to do that. I wanted it to be a collaborative game, because the henchmen are the people that back up the face, or they all fail. I also wanted there to be some uncertainty about the outcome to bring the fun and interest of tension to the game. And I wanted there to be some competitive element to push the players to excel as well. Castle Panic is a game that very effectively brings elements of cooperation and competition with uncertainty of outcome. I also thought about game theory and the Prisoner's Dilemma, in which tension comes of rational people trying to weigh self-interest and altruism and failure for everybody all at once. All of this fed into the otherwise simple mechanics for task resolution.
The final ingredient, was trying to find a very simple way of structuring it. I wanted to use a finer grained Hero's Journey a la Joseph Campbell, but settled on a basic three act structure.

Here it is!

HENCHMEN: The Game of the Daring Band that Follows (v 1.5)
Requirements: 4 Henchmen, 1 NP Hero, 4 index cards; 16 Light tokens, 20 Dark tokens, Crucible for Tokens, pencil.
Write name and how you serve the Hero.
ACT1: Four Scenes
Framer vividly describes scene and foreshadows the Dark (Omen, Rumor, Victim, Minion), annotating card. Everyone receives one Dark Token, including Hero.
Narrator then shares meaningful Bond with Hero; annotating card. Hero receives one Light Token. Other players may contribute up to two times during ACT1.  One Light Token per share. Repeat until all Henchmen Frame, and Narrate.
ACT2: Four Scenes
1ST Framer ties foreshadowing from ACT1 and reveals Dark force and fateful Risk to overcome.
Everyone secretly puts 1-3 Tokens into the Crucible. Narrator pulls tokens one at at a time and narrates confronting Risk.  Light Tokens aid victory, Dark Tokens - defeat.
If Dark Tokens outnumber Light, either sacrifice life and keep Dark Tokens as Glory, or retreat, passing Risk to another. If Light outnumbers Dark; defeat the risk. Can use Light Tokens in personal pile. Any Light Tokens gained pass to Hero. Repeat.
ACT3
Place Hero’s Tokens in Crucible.  Take turns drawing one Token, and describe the Hero’s Glorious final confrontation.  More Light = Heroic Victory. More Dark = Glorious Sacrifice.

Pollyanna And The Goblins (v.2)

Once upon a time, there was a pleasant young girl named Pollyanna.  She found herself in an orphanage one Christmas, and she was the last one to get a gift out of the charity barrel.  Though she was hoping for a beautiful doll like the one she'd seen in the shop window, all she actually found was a pair of crutches.  She was at first sad, because what did she need crutches for?  But then she remembered what her wonderful Dad had taught her long ago... always find something good about every situation you are in.  Then she cheered up, because the crutches reminded her how glad she was that she didn't need them.

And then the goblins came to burn down the orphanage...


                                    * * * * * * * * *

This is a game in which players take turns as goblins putting Pollyanna into a jamb... until Pollyanna gets out.  But being a sweet and positive child, she does not fight goblins with bloody violence... she fights back with optimism!

SETUP

Each player will have as many tokens as there are players.  A stack of index cards will be shared by all.

The most disgruntled player will be the goblin chief the first round, and the player to their left will begin as Pollyanna.

Each player will take one turn playing Pollyanna while the other players play the goblins that turn.  After each time that a player acts as Pollyanna, the role of Pollyanna passes to that player's left.  After everyone has had one turn each as Pollyanna, the game will conclude.  There is a little more to the structure, but this is the basic structure of the game.                
                                                 
The players, beginning with the first round Pollyanna, will                
frame the story, determining the stakes, the locations that                              
Pollyanna must traverse to deal with the goblins, and the first                        
hazard the goblins inflict upon Pollyanna and the orphanage.

FRAMING THE STORY

Pollyanna will begin by describing the scene, answering each of these questions briefly but colorfully:

1) What time is it?  The time of year, and the hour included.
2) Where in the orphanage is Pollyanna?  Write this on an index card with the time.
3) What is Pollyanna doing?

THE STAKES

Next, the player who begins as the chief goblin will begin listing the stakes - those things which Pollyanna must defend, or recover.  The goblins will each list one stake, each of which Pollyanna may make a single modification to if she likes.  The goblins will answer the following questions when naming the stakes:

1) What is at stake?  This can be another orphan, a birthday cake, or any other concrete thing.
2) Where is that located in the orphanage?  Write the location on an index card, with the stake noted beneath.  The things at stake should be things that Pollyanna will really care about enough to go after.
3) How do you get there from where Pollyanna is?  This path should include no more than three elements.  For example, "down the hall, up the stairs to the attic, and in the wardrobe on the left". Briefly note this on the card, and place the card adjacent to Pollyanna's card in relation more or less to her location.

GOBLIN TROUBLE

The chief goblin will now describe the way in which goblin mischief begins.  He can name one particular fact that will cause Pollyanna trouble, and will put a token on a location working from the point farthest from her.  The troublesome fact can be anything that the devious goblin chooses relating to the location, or something that the Goblin has chosen to bring to the mayhem.  For example, suppose the Goblin places a token on a location noted to be "The Kitchen".  He may with his token declare that he is putting a dead coyote in the stove.  The fact introduced by the token is the dead coyote, and it is in a kitchen so of course there is a stove which requires no token to declare.

AND WORSE GOBLIN TROUBLE

The next goblin to act continues in kind to declare mischief with a token, either making the previous trouble worse, or moving inward to a new location, placing a token on that card, and declaring a new fact.  For example, the second goblin may place a second token in The Kitchen, declaring "...with your birthday cake..." which is a fact that aggravates the first fact.  Alternatively, he may choose to place a token on the next card called, let's say, "The Dining Room", and declare that he has lit all the candles in the room.

After placing a token, the goblin notes the fact briefly on the card (e.g. "dead coyote").

Troubles should can be pretty much anything the goblin chooses from the merely annoying such as defacing the founder's portrait, to the dangerously malicious like knocking over the lit candles onto the table cloth.  Narrative and creative freedom are encouraged.  The only stipulation, is that whatever trouble the goblins create, they cannot harm either Pollyanna, or any of the stakes in an immediate, direct, or permanent fashion.  Anything else goes.

Pollyanna may act as well at this time, if she chooses.  If at any point while the goblins are making mischief, Pollyanna decides that she does not like the fact laid down by a goblin, she can give one of her own tokens to the offending goblin, and modify the troublesome fact with a "...yes, but..." statement.  She cannot nullify the fact entirely, but she can add a condition to it.  For example, if the goblin in the Dining Room knocked over all the lit candles onto the tablecloth, Pollyanna might put a token in and say "...yes, but the table cloth is still wet from spilling all the sun tea on it at lunch".  The wax will surely ruin the table cloth, but it won't be catching fire.

GOBLINS AND STAKES

Goblins may choose to make mischief in a way that potentially threatens the stake, as long as they recall that they may not harm the stakes in an immediate, direct, or permanent fashion.  If for instance, Pollyanna's birthday cake is in the oven, the dead coyote cannot be used to smash the cake directly, nor may they eat it (though licking the frosting with their nasty tongues is just fine), and the rotting coyote carcass inside with it will not immediately ruin the cake, but Pollyanna must certainly act fast or it soon will spoil the cake.

POLLYANNA'S TURN

After each goblin has had a chance to make mischief, Pollyanna gets her turn.  With an indomitable optimism, Pollyanna now has the opportunity to observe and declare ways that any mischief the goblins make is actually helpful to her, and harmful to them.

She gets to make one optimistic declaration for every goblin in play on her turn.  This declaration directly addresses any particular trouble of her choice.  She may declare one optimistic fact for each goblin for free (that is, she does not have to give a token to that goblin).  The new fact is noted on the card below the previous one.  For example, she will begin by saying something like, "well even though the goblins put the dead coyote in the oven with my birthday cake, at least my cake was on the top rack".  This is helpful to her, though not particularly harmful to the goblin cause.

However, just like the goblins, Pollyanna can add facts to facts that she has already declared.  Unlike her initial declarations though, she must give a token to the goblin who made the mischief before she can add a second declaration to the first.  For example, if she noted that her birthday cake was on the top rack, and then decided to add "...and I'm really lucky that the smell of warm chocolate cake is irresistible".  Then she gives the goblin who put the dead coyote in the oven a token.

When Pollyanna makes a declaration that is both helpful to her, and bad for the goblins, she may take that trouble token.  If Pollyanna had declared "...the luckiest part is that now, the goblins are fighting among themselves over who gets to eat the cake..." she will have made a declaration helpful to her ("top rack" because it keeps her cake safe), and harmful to the goblins ("fighting among themselves over cake").  She gets to take the trouble token for her own use, and then mark a line through cake on the card, which now makes it safe from further mischief.

AFTER EVERYONE HAS HAD A TURN

All tokens not in play on cards are now passed to the left, and the player to Pollyanna's left becomes the new Pollyanna.  Play proceeds from the last point as described.

GETTING RID OF THE GOBLINS

On the last round, when the last player to play Pollyanna takes her turn, any tokens in hand can be used to add facts that may conclusively defeat goblins, by spending one token at a time per fact.  The facts must all build on already established facts to be valid.  For example, Pollyanna has previously declared that the goblins are fighting over the cake in the kitchen, so she might now spend a token to declare "...and I sure am glad that all that fighting made the littlest goblin decide to go home!" which effectively removes the goblin from play.

The only way the goblin may counter this at this point, is if he still has a token in hand, and decides to use it to make a "...yes, but..." declaration.  For example, the littlest goblin player may have decided to go home, but spending that token could declare "...yes, I've decided this fighting makes me want to go home, but only after the chief goblin goes first...", or "yes, I've decided to go home in a huff, but not until I've gobbled the cake...".

WINNING

Pollyanna wins under the following conditions:

1) All of her stakes have been lined out of play
2) None of the goblins have any tokens left, and none are in play on cards (all are in Pollyanna's hand)

The goblins win under the following conditions:

1) Pollyanna fails to preserve any of her stakes before all tokens are in play
2) Pollyanna has no tokens in hand, and she has failed to protect all of her stakes

*** Picture:  "Hope" at http://redreevgeorge.deviantart.com/

Prestige: The Game of Terrible Compliments

The Crown has called a great feast to determine who will be appointed to rule new land on the marches.  All the best have come to seek the honor.  You, however, are the one that will win this.  This is a feast of pomp, and manners, and fine beverages... an event of great boasts... and compliments for all contenders that will with florid politeness grind them all beneath your heel...

THE GAME

All players will see that their cups are filled with a tasty beverage to enhance loquacity and perspicacity.  The host shall sit in role of The Crown, and the rest of the players as peers.

Next, players will in rounds regale the company with a boast, one each in turn, outlining each of the following in such a fashion as will bring amazement to the heart of The Crown:

- First, a claim against your most noble pedigree.  What is the single greatest fact of your most noble birth that sets you above the peasants, and apart from your less worthy peers?
- Second, the fact of your greatest virtue.  What aspect of your character shows you to be more than worthy in heart and mind from churls and villains?
- Third, a deed of great merit.  What is your single greatest accomplishment, showing you fit not only in word but in action, to hold stewardship of the cantankerous marches for The Crown?

When these meritorious boasts have been laid before The Crown, and for all to see, everyone will then take turns giving a compliment to the peer of choice, extolling the greatness of the claimed boast, for it is just, and right, and proper that the peers hold unity before The Crown for only a churl, or villain, or rabble-rousing insurrectionist would not stand firm in the unity of the state.  HOWEVER, let us not forget, that should The Crown be more impressed with your rivals than you, you will gain nothing!

Thus, you must give a compliment of splendid form, that nonetheless shows the truth of the matter such that, in the end there can be no doubt that whatever boasts your rivals claim, they are in fact weak, shabby, and silly accomplishments indeed... proving the boaster unfit to rule the marches.

After everyone has had a chance to lay a compliment, a moment to savor the fine beverage will be observed before another round is taken to address a compliment to another of your peers.  Should the company wish, as many rounds as it takes to compliment each player can be taken, but should brevity be required, two rounds is sufficient.

After the rounds have been completed, the crown will choose who is most worthy based on their accomplishments.  Glory upon their house and their name!