From: hopcraft@spock.ecs.umass.edu (Geoffrey S Hopcraft)
Subject: Re: Killer or Assasin instructions/info requested
Organization: University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 22:36:44 GMT

In the interest of promoting a little campus chaos, I'm posting the complete
description for a scenario which I wrote up and used successfully at Swarthmore
(based loosly on the movie The Thing). Lots of good stories came out of this
one.

Notes and suggested changes are at the bottom.

------------------------------------ Begin ------------------------------------

The Thing needs friends. 

Unfortunately, the Thing only makes friends with others of its own race, and
there aren't any of those around. 

Its solution: Possession. With 90% of the law on its side, how can it lose? 

This is a scenario for a live role playing game, one in which everyone gets to
carry around weapons ranging from the straightforward water pistol to the
devastating banana, introduce themselves to people they've never met before,
and shoot them in the back. A game in full support of the old adage: "Do unto
others before they do it to you." Several of you may have played a "circle of
death" variation in high school, in which each person has one assigned target,
and all massacres happen in carefully controlled conditions and in an orderly
manner. No such luck here. 

One player is the Thing. He or she has a list of all players, a weapon, and a
bad attitude. It is the goal of every other player in the game to kill this
player (see Weapons, below). However, he or she will soon not be alone. Anytime
the Thing kills a player, that player is dead for one hour then rises as
another Thing, with the same goals and attitude as the first. The planet will
soon be swarming with Things, and only very careful play on the part of the
players will hold off the things until the Deus ex Machina day, when the End of
The Movie rises and decides on a winning team.

    
Special rules
------- -----

To transform a human into a thing, some thing must touch the human within one
minute after a kill. During this time the human may not move, dodge, or do
anything else that dead people don't do in the movies except stand and breath.
Note: the benefit of the doubt will be given to things, so wrapping oneself in
celophane is no protection. 

Any transformed human must openly wear a scarf for the hour immediately
following their transformation, during which time they may neither kill nor set
traps. Players not possessing any such neckwear should contact the GMs for the
latest in deceased fasions. Any scarves worn at other times, no matter how
decorative, will be taken as suicide by player and GM alike.


Scoring
-------

Humans get 4 points for each thing killed, and -2 points for each human killed.

Things get 1 point for each human transformed, plus 1/4 the score of that human
(though they always get at least 1 point). They also have -1 penalty for
killing their own teammates.

Any bystander kills (knocking off someone not in the game) will be treated
harshly according to the whim of the game master (though at least -4 points per
bystander). Everyone will have a list of the players, and cygnets should be
available around campus. Anyone testing their food or doors on bystanders to
see if they are safe will earn negative points for both themselves and their
attempted assasin if the bystander is killed.

Anyone killed or transformed should report this as soon as possible to a game
master - through college mail, VAX mail, or in person.

Note: The scoring system is an attempt to foment a little game balance and
realism, as expediancies such as killing off every player in the game to be
sure of killing the thing are frowned upon by other players. In order to
enforce this, any kill which brings your point total below -5 results in
immediate execution and the resserection of all those killed simultaneously.
Thus, writing "Bomb" on clothier bells is not a supported method of destroying
all within hearing range.


Weapons
-------                   

Banana : hold this within three feet of the opponent, and say "bang".

Rubber band : any hit other than the head will kill.

Water guns : a water pistol or light plant sprayer may be used inside or
outside if the temperature is at least 70 degrees. Heavier weapons (battery
operated types, not fire hoses) may be used outside only when the temperature
reaches 80 (that's fahrenheit, not kelvin). Head hits are still illegal.

Pets, pythonesque rabbits, etc. : An appropriately trained (say, in jujitsu)
stuffed animal will kill under the same conditions as a banana, though "sic
'em" or "play dead" is a more appropriate epithet. Of course, all stuffed
animals belonging to any player has been so trained.

A weapon (other than a banana and a stuffed animal) need not be fired by hand
to work!

Feel free to offer new weapon selections to GMs for consideration in future
games (that's offer to, not test on). 

Note on "Class B" (potentially dangerous) weapons: While the dart gun and
rubber band have the best range and concealability in the group, they do
require a minimum of skill in order to be certain of not damaging the target.
If you are going to use these, a half-hour's practice on Jim England will go
far towards insuring a safe game.


Bombs
-----

A bomb must physically do something to alert the corpse of his or her death.
Exploding baloons, strobe lights, and alarm clocks in shoe boxes are all fine.
The word "bomb" must be clearly printed on the outside of any explosive devices
(about 24 point) but the bomb may thereafter be hidden in a sock drawer. Alert
the GM of the time and place at which you set any traps, so any deaths can be
attributed to you.

It is perfectly possible to kill yourself on your own bomb, either while
setting it or by forgetting its presence. You may make dud bombs if you wish
for testing purposes, but any which are actually supposed to kill someone
really don't care who or what that someone is.

There are two sizes of bombs: 

Personal - This must nearly fill a school mailbox (hints? me?) and will kill
anyone within five feet who is not completely protected by a solid relatively
immobile material (doors, matresses, and hiding within a drawer are all safe,
being behind a speaker is not).

Impersonal - These must be at least the dimensions of a shoebox, and will clear
out a room. Hiding in your closet is safe, but it is bad form to ask
non-players to bring you meals there. An impersonal bomb has a range of 15'
outside.


The Bomb Squad
--- ---- -----

This is a group of trained professionals who will cheerfully attempt to disarm
any bomb. If you see or know of a specific bomb, leave the room alone for 1/2
hour and contact the GM as soon as possible. After the time limit, you may
tamper with the bomb with relative impunity - it is considered to have already
been expl ... um, disarmed by the squad. Note, however, that the squad will
cheerfully ignore any bombs set while they are working. Note also that the
squad will not work on two bombs for one person at once, so specifying "A bomb
in each of those four drawers", while legal, will take two hours (and will
still leave you open if there are multiple bombs in any drawer).


Poison
------

A piece of paper with "poison" written on it can be taped to the bottom or
underside of a plate or the underside of a glass. Anyone eating or drinking a
mouthfull is considered dead.


Restrictions on play
------------ -- ----

All killing must be done between the hours of 9 AM - 12 PM in the presence of
zero or one witness (ie. anyone not playing in the same room as either the
murderer or corpse). Witnesses outside must be within 150' of either killer or
killee. GMs are witnesses!
                                                              
No-one may impersonate a police officer, a security officer, a professor, or a
GM (meta-gamers take note). Other fake messages are fine.

If asked "Are you dead?" you must answer truthfully. 

No-one may kill their own roommate (awww ...). 

Any professor or security officer counts as two witnesses, so people having
advisee meetings are safe.

No kills are allowed in a moving vehicle, and no road blocks are allowed to get
around this restriction.

Witness limitations only apply to the setting of bombs and poison, but keep in
mind the bystanders rule ...


Winning
-------

On each team, the person with the highest score wins for the team, and receives
eternal fame and fortune from some third party whom you should find yourself.
You need not be alive to win this prize - posthumous fame is usually much
easier to come by.

The team with the highest total score (not counting negatives) earned by anyone
while on that team wins.

If the original thing is killed before transforming anyone, the killer still
recieves points but a new outbreak of thingness may occur at any time. The
thing (whoever she/he is) should report this immediately.

Bribes over US$100 to the gamemaster override any of the above rules, with the
exeption of prizes, awards, and other meta concepts.


Time of play
---- -- ----

The scheduled time for all this is 9AM Saturday, September 17 until 12PM
Tuesday, September 21. Should you have any problem with this, tell a GM. Don't
worry if you won't be on campus the entire time, though. In real life i'd
probably be moving to the falklands right about now.

Additionally, if you have not yet informed a GM, please send a private note
regarding whether you would mind being the first thing.


    	- Geoffrey S. Hopcraft '90	Palmer 212
	- Laura A. Almasy '90		ML4
	- The Thing '78			He's right outside your door ...

------------------------------------- End -------------------------------------

In doing this again, I'm not sure I'd make the GM a witness. It means people
are more willing to hang out around you, but on the other hand you don't get to
view as many of the kills. Your choice, I guess.

The 'sanity' rules (off hours, no roommate kills, etc) are really good to have.
Remove them only if you have a truly dedicated bunch.

GM's should be careful of security: one of the players read my unprotected
email account to find out who was a thing. Fortunately (and very amusingly),
they were killed and transformed three minutes later while walking out of the
computer center.

For lots more ideas on weapons and scenarios, see the Steve Jackson game
"Killer", which I highly recommend.

The game can be perfectly well played with just stuffed animals bananas, bombs,
and poison, if you're concerned about safety or the police. Even so, you have
to be careful: someone in this game was disarmed by staff (and finished soon
thereafter) while trying to smuggle a banana into the library.


It would be nice to have a reliable way of identifying the things (although
spying is often used successfully). Three suggestions surfaced:

1) Things may only maintain their disguise for 24 hours. After that, anyone may
see that they are a thing (by asking them, regardless of the number of
witnesses present).

2) If three or more humans are in a room with a single other person, the humans
may ask that person if he or she is a thing, and the person must respond
truthfully. If there is another unknown thing in the room, however, the person
may lie (regardless of the number of humans present).

3) The things must all adopt a style of dress, a behavior pattern, or some
similar signal which observant humans will eventually pick up on. Something
like "All things must wear brown socks" or "All things must greet people with
questions (such as 'how are you?')". This is likely to increase rather than
reduce the paranoia, but should offer lots of amusing conversation. "Jessica
made the Vulcan hand sign earlier. Do you suppose that's it?" "I don't know;
Leif is wearing a really loud tie today ..."

Of course, I like the last one best.
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