CMU Killer/Assassin Rules (Beta)

Xander Veerhoff, Dan Blandford

 

 

The Primary Rules:

1. Each player has a balled up sock inside another sock. This is their weapon. Each player has a target. The player's job is to make sure these two things come into contact.
2. A player "hits" someone by whacking him or her with a weapon. Weapons can be swung or thrown.
3. When a player hits their assigned target, that target is "killed" and is out of the game. The player who made the kill is assigned the target that previously belonged to the killed player. The circle gets smaller.
4. A "permissable target" is a person (not necessarily a player) who is holding a weapon in plain view, or who is clearly taking hostile action (for example, charging and shouting "DIE!!!!"), or who was recently doing either of these things. "Recently" means about five minutes, but the general idea is, suddenly hiding your weapon does not make you suddenly not a target.
5. When a player hits someone who is neither their assigned target nor a permissable target, the player who attacked is stunned for 24 hours.
6. Some areas are considered "safe". Any hit made on a player who is entirely inside a safe area is considered void. Any hit made by a player who is entirely inside a safe area is also considered void. See also: Don't be a jerk.
   Safe areas are:
   1. Bedrooms.
   2. Bathrooms, that is, any room containing a toilet and shower.
   3. Restrooms, when being used for their intended purpose.
   4. Anywhere within eyeshot of a human being who is in the same room, and is not the assassin or assassee. It doesn't matter if they're actually looking.
   5. Nowhere else. There will probably be people in any of the other areas that were previously safe, but if there aren't, you're not safe.
7. The game will run until there is one player left. That player is the winner. The player(s) who made the most kills shall receive honorable mention.

Additional Rules:

1. If it appears that the game is slowing down, the judges may take action to ensure a speedy resolution. Such action could include requiring all players to do something (such as attending a KGB meeting) that makes them vulnerable, or summoning all players to a neutral area for a sock duel.
2. Special Events. If the umpire gets bored or inspired, he may schedule one or more special events to take place during the game. Such events will be optional-participation but may be entertaining.
3. All living assassins must be present at the Monday KGB meeting when the Assassin Committee makes its report. (See the note on "Events" for details about the safety of this act.) If more than one living player successfully attends the Assassin Committee report, more information may be provided at that time.
4. When you are eliminated or stunned, or when you eliminate or stun someone else, you should notify the umpires by email. This is to establish some sort of record keeping. Also, if you die, feel free to post to the bboard that you are dead. This will allow updates to reach the other players faster.
5. Don't be a jerk. This game is for fun. Be honest about whether you are eliminated or stunned. And apply the reasonable person principle to the rules.
6. The management is not responsible for any trouble you might get yourself in. Umpires take no responsibility for your actions.

 

Notes:

Weapon - A weapon is a balled up sock inside of another sock. No other weapons will be used in this game. Each player can carry two weapons. A player would be wise not to throw both of these at once, as doing so would leave him/her with no melee weapon for defense.

 Stockings can be used as weapons, if you don't mind probably ruining them. Tube socks are also good. Range is your friend. Weapons may be pulled out of your hand by another weapon during a duel. Weapons may be thrown. You can pick up an opponent's weapon and use it against them, but may not keep them as trophies. Sock-chucks are allowed but probably are a bad idea.

Hits - A player hits someone by whacking them with a weapon. It must be hard enough that they feel the impact. It must actually contact their skin or clothing. Backpacks don't count. NO HITTING PLAYERS IN THE FACE. Any hit to the face is considered void. Hits to the side/back/top of the head are legal.

 

Events - when an "event" is safe, this means that the room(s) containing it are safe areas from (the scheduled start time, or when the person in charge begins addressing the group, whichever comes first) until the person in charge indicates the event is over. If the event goes outdoors, then anywhere within eyeshot of the leader is considered safe.

 

Honesty - Players are not required to tell other players if they are in the game. If asked, they may lie about whether they are actually involved in the game. If they are stunned or dead, they may not lie about their condition. Dead players may not tell live players anything about the game (who killed them, who their target was, etc).

 

No Teasing The Players - Players of this game can often be paranoid and jumpy, particularly if other people have socks in plain view. People not in the game may be tempted to take advantage of this. Don't. People who are not in the game, or people who have been killed, may not openly display weapons, and may not deliberately take suspicious actions in order to make the players paranoid. The primary reason for this rule is that several people have remarked: "It's more fun to sit out than to play, because you can still hunt people but there's no paranoia." If you want to make people paranoid, sign up to play.

 

Sock Duels -

If two players come into a situation where they are aware of each other and attempting to kill each other, they may begin dueling. First player to get hit dies. If both players hit each other at the same time, preference is given depending where they are hit. Limb hit < Torso hit < Neck or head hit. If both players hit each other in the same area at the same time, they stand back to back, count off 3 paces together then resume the duel.

 

 

Umpires:

There is one umpire in this game: dkb.

Umpires may not participate in the game. People who are not umpires may not claim to be umpires.

All rulings of the umpires are final. Any questions, comments, suggests, requests for adjudication, notifications as described below, etc. should be emailed to all umpires with a subject of ASSASSINS to ensure prompt response.

Any event in the game: killing, stunning, etc., requires umpire notification by _both parties_ to the event. If you do not do this, you are at risk of disqualification!

For fun, when you notify the umpire of your death, please give a few details about how your assassin was able to catch you. This will appear in your epitaph at the end-of-game report.

 

 

Bibliography:

 

The Cambridge University Assassins' Guild webpage, http://www.srcf.ucam.org/assassins/. 

 

Killer, a game by Steve Jackson Publishing.

 

Recollections of members of the Nuclear Proliferation Club.

 

Xander's neighbor David, who had a sock fight with him at 11pm instead of studying.