The Assassins' Guild: Michaelmas 2003 Rules
The Assassins' Guild: Michaelmas 2003 Rules
Killer is a mock combat game for a large number of players. Each person has to try to survive whilst everyone else is 'killed'. The last person to be left alive is, not surprisingly, declared the winner. The game shall be open to people who live for much of the time within a five mile radius of Great St Mary's Church in Cambridge city centre, although others may be considered at the umpire's discretion.
If you have any questions about these rules once you have read them thoroughly, please ask for clarification from the Umpire as he will be only too happy to provide it.
Everyone who wishes to play should provide the Umpire with:
Anyone found to have supplied false or misleading details to the Umpire will be disqualified, but I'm sure it's not necessary to say that.
The main aim of the game is for everyone to have a good time. The aim of each player is to be the sole survivor.
You will be given details of your targets by the Umpire, in the dead of night (well - secretly anyway) shortly before the start of the game. Of course, you will not be informed about who your assassins are.
The following gives an outline of the various weapons which can be used against enemies. It is not an exhaustive list and players are encouraged to use their imagination; however, the Umpire may make any kills carried out with an unauthorized weapon invalid, so do come and check before using your latest creation in the heat of battle. In general, all weapons must be completely safe (for both people and property) and actually do something, to indicate to the victim that he/she has been killed. All non-obvious weapons must be clearly labelled.
Messy weapons and water weapons should be used sensibly; where the rules state "with care", no large-calibre water weapons (larger than a Supersoaker XP270 or a Storm Force 2) should be used, smaller water weapons should be carefully aimed and not used to excess. Don't use messy or water weapons against people carrying something expensive or wearing formal clothes; they might get annoyed.
Weapons should be specific to the victim - killing bystanders is to be avoided even when the effect is harmless.
The Chief of Police is likely to take a tough line over policemen/women using "non-standard" weapons (e.g. those that could easily endanger the lives of others, such as contact poisons). Police found to have breached the rules will be suspended or made wanted. Claiming you didn't read the rules properly will not be an acceptable defence!
Guns, knives, swords, grenades and darts will kill instantly if they hit the head or torso. If a limb is hit then it can no longer be used for the duration of the encounter.
Represented by water pistols, rubber band guns (or rubber bands fired by hand) and other soft projectile weapons. BB guns are NOT allowed.
You must get a definite hit with the main jet. If you just splash them with water (e.g. at extreme range or out of ammo) then it is only a flesh wound - they can carry on as normal. If they are hit in the head or torso then they are killed instantly.
If your private room contains expensive equipment (e.g computers) which may easily be broken by maniacs with water pistols, you may ask the Umpire and have it declared out of bounds for water- based weaponry only. Your assassin will be reminded of this. Note that other weapons may still be used, and also that you may not use water weapons out of such a room. Unless otherwise stated, the area around your room will still be a "water with care" zone.
Water pistols may not be used in shops, or in places which contain electrical equipment.
Water and messy weapons MAY NOT BE USED in the rooms of non players, and must be used with care in staircases and other indoor areas.
If small water pistols are used, it is a good idea to confirm the kill immediately with the victim who might not have noticed the hit if wearing thick clothing. This avoids arguments later, when the water has evaporated.
Rubber bands fired from the fingers, small rubber band guns, small Edison Giocattoli orange pellet pistols (i.e. with a hammer rather than a rifle mechanism, this specifically excludes the "Joe Devils" guns and all rubber pellet rifles) and all Nerf weapons are allowed. Anything else must be shown to the Umpire before use. The pellet rifles/Joe Devils may be permitted to some players, they must be registered with the umpire before use, and may not be used by players they are not registered to. Guns must not look like real guns. Pellet guns must not have the orange piece at the front of the barrel removed, and should be decorated in some way to make sure they look like toys.
Head shots should be avoided where possible with all forms of projectile weapon.
Represented by Vaseline, jam, mustard etc. This will
kill immediately after contact even if it is wiped off. This sort
of contact poison is deemed to be no longer effective if it has
dried enough that the victim does not notice it (be honest,
please...). If wearing non-porous gloves then it will have no effect.
Similarly, poison will take an appreciable time to diffuse through
anything thicker than, say, a towel. Powder, eg. talc is also
permitted. As contact poison is dangerous to anyone else who
might touch the surface in question, anyone using it in a
public area will be put on the wanted list. This includes a target's door
handle. That's worth repeating; contact poisoning a target's doorhandle will make you wanted. Ask the Umpire for further clarification.
Excessive use of contact poison, even by those
already on the wanted list, should be avoided.
Please take care not to use any substance liable to cause allergic
reactions.
Represented by a cardboard poster tube or a newspaper rolled up and stuck with Sellotape. Either should be clearly labelled "Cosh". The effect of a cosh depends upon the location of the hit:-
Head .......... Unconscious for 5 minutes. Body .......... Immobilised but conscious for 5 minutes. Arm or Leg .... The limb is immobilised for 5 minutes.
Foam, soft rubber, retractable plastic or cardboard knives
may be used. If the knife has been made by you eg. from cardboard,
it must be plainly labelled "KNIFE". Plastic ones which are more
obviously knives don't need this. Plastic swords are permitted,
but please be careful. Cardboard swords must be clearly labelled
"SWORD". A rolled up paper tube is a cosh, not a sword.
Plastic lightsabres count as swords and do not require labelling, but should be used carefully.
No metal knives may be used, including cutlery. Kills made with these
will be disallowed.
Pens and pencils may be used as knives providing that they are clearly labelled and used safely.
Latex weapons (as used in LARP games) will not be allowed in this game. Sorry.
Any fluffy toy will be allowed as a knife as long as it is registered first,
because Umpires like to see what embarrassing fluffy things assassins
have in their rooms. Many other unusual objects can be registered as knives, but check with the umpire first.
Cards, letters, parcels containing contact poison or some sort of audible detonator (letter bombs). Musical birthday cards are a special type of letter bomb, requiring no additional detonator or label. It will kill the victim if it goes off, although signing it from e.g. A. Sassin might be an idea. Poisoned letters should have a disclaimer reading something like
"This is a letter for the mock assassination game run by the Cambridge University Assassins' Guild. The substance contained within is [insert name of substance] and is completely harmless. Queries should be addressed to this term's Umpire, Ric Brackenbury of Selwyn College, to rab71@cam.ac.uk"
Powdered contact poison (talc, flour etc) must not be sent through the Royal Mail.
Cards, letters, parcels, etc. that are sent through the mail
service (University or Royal) or are handed to porters, and have
leaked their contact poison are deemed to have killed innocent victims.
Remember: Careless Talc Costs Lives.
'Blackmail' letters must be individually approved by the umpire before use. These are poisoned letters which offer a poisoned victim the chance of an antidote in return for promptly killing a player chosen by the sender. The receiver will be made wanted if the killing breaches normal targetting rules, but at least he won't be dead... perhaps a legal method of killing could be contrived. Note also that an inappropriate choice of target by the sender (e.g. a non-player) may end up making the sender wanted too.
Fake explosive devices may be constructed in order to blow up other players. It should go without saying that attempting to actually blow up other players with real bombs is strictly prohibited.
All bombs should be clearly marked with the words "FAKE BOMB" (the word FAKE must not be smaller than the word BOMB) and a disclaimer to the effect of
"This is a harmless imitation bomb constructed for the purposes of a game played by the Cambridge University Assassins' Guild. Please do not touch. Any queries should be addressed to the Umpire, Ric Brackenbury (rab71) of Selwyn College."
The disclaimer should be on the outside of the bomb, visible as soon as the bomb is seen. If you know what a real bomb looks like, ensure that your imitation bomb does not look like one. In particular, avoid leaving electrical wiring poking out of the bomb.
The basic component of any bomb is the detonator. This can be anything which, when triggered, emits some sort of loud noise as a signal that the bomb has gone off. Cap detonators, party poppers, balloon-and-pin arrangements and battery-powered buzzers are all suitable for use as detonators.
A detonator which goes off will kill anyone touching it, and may therefore be sufficient as a letterbomb or pigeonhole bomb. Most bomb-makers, however, will also want to include additional explosives, so that the target can be killed when not touching the detonator. Many substances may be used as explosive; good examples are water, plasticine, styrofoam packing chips or cotton wool, all held in a closed container such as a bottle or a box. Air only counts as an explosive if contained in balloons. If you are not sure whether something can be used as explosive, ask the Umpire.
Explosives must be attached to the detonator either directly or, for example, with a piece of string. When the detonator is triggered, all explosives attached to it will explode. It is worth noting that if you can separate the detonator from the explosive without triggering the bomb, the explosive will become harmless (the detonator can still kill you, however).
Explosives must, in addition to the disclaimer, be marked with the volume of explosive they contain and the corresponding blast radius. The blast radius should be clearly displayed to someone seeing the bomb.The blast radius is determined by the formula:
blast radius in metres = 2.4 + 2.6 * ln(volume in litres) (logs taken to base e) Table of Bomb Volume vs Blast radius: v 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 r 0.6 2.4 3.5 4.2 4.8 5.3 5.7 6.0 6.3 6.6 6.8 v 6.0 7.0 8.0 10.0 12.0 14.0 16.0 18.0 20.0 r 7.1 7.5 7.8 8.1 8.9 9.3 9.6 9.9 10.2
When an explosive goes off, anyone within its blast radius (as measured from the centre of the explosive, should anyone use an explosive large enough that this is an issue) will be killed. However, objects between you and the explosive will decrease the effective blast radius:
It is possible for a sufficiently small explosive to have a blast radius of zero or less, but any explosive will still kill you if you are touching it when it goes off.
In general, bombs can only be triggered by some action of the victim; you may not detonate your own bombs by remote control or timer, and you may not arrange that the bomb will be set off by neighbours or bedders. You may, however, still be killed by bombs set off by the incompetence of your fellow assassins or yourself. Bombs with timers that delay detonation for a short while AFTER the victim triggers the bomb are allowed, if you manage to make one. Additionally, any kind of trigger may be used if the bomb is wholly within the target's room, because any assassin foolish enough to give you the opportunity to plant bombs in their room deserves to have one planted in it.
Bombs may be dealt with either by disarming them, or by detonating them from a safe place outside the blast radius. Bombs cannot be destroyed by other bombs. For people with smaller rooms worried about being able to get out of the blast radius of a large bomb, you may contact the umpire concerning the buiding of a bomb shelter/barricade/bunker in your room.
Whenever you construct, disarm or detonate a bomb, please describe the bomb's construction as fully as possible in the report you send to the Umpire. In addition, if you have any components of a detonated bomb (particularly electronics), please keep hold of them and the Umpire will arrange that they are returned to the original owner. None of the explosives or detonators used in a bomb which has gone off may be re-used within the same game by any player, but if you are able to disarm the bomb without setting it off you may keep it and attempt to use it yourself as long as it is returned to the owner at the end of the game.
You will find it difficult to do so because of the volume of explosive required, but building a bomb to destroy, for example, an entire college is in any case not permitted as it violates rule 1.2.4. (Attempting to do so will probably make you wanted anyway.)
Poisoned umbrellas may be used to transfer contact poison on to a player (as in the case of the Bulgarian Georgi Markov). However, you should be careful to avoid actual injury to the participant, and may well need to cover up the tip of your umbrella with something softer.
It is possible to use 'novelty' weapons which aren't in this list. There is an award each game for the most original weapon used. Previous unusual weapons have included buses (used to run someone over) or poisoned lipstick. Email the umpire before using such a weapon. A kill using a non-sanctioned weapon may not be accepted!
Tanks and shields will not be used in this game. This means that if you are hit in the back while carrying a rucksack, and the shot would have hit, you are dead, as the bag will not act as a shield. Also a weapon cannot act as a shield. If a weapon is hit, if the shot was on target the player is dead. Weapons are not destroyed by being hit. Also there will be no body armour.
Deaths should be reported to the Umpire as soon as possible after the event, stating all salient details (when, where, how, and whether any innocent bystanders were killed). It is best if both assassin and target report the death to make sure there is no mistake. Creative/amusing reports are encouraged; in fact, players repeatedly submitting boring reports will be made wanted "for bad press".
When a player is dead they may, if they wish, join the "police force" with the purpose of killing any wanted criminals, such as those who are found to have killed innocent bystanders. The members of the police force will be announced to all players.
Police may only use direct kill methods on wanted criminals. However they may use bombs on incompetents only.
Sucessful police officers may earn promotions to higher ranks provided they demonstrate skill and fairness in their application of the law. The actions of the police force will be coordinated by the high-ranking Chiefs of Police.
Police may also attack players openly bearing weapons in "pre-emptive self-defence", but once a weapon is out of direct sight the player cannot be killed by police. Police should not collaborate with assassins unless the target is a wanted criminal.
Police officers should take great care not to kill innocent victims. In general, police who kill innocent bystanders will be permanently suspended from duty, whether they are innocent players, non players or ducks.
The umpires will consider individual cases though, and if there are extenuating circumstances the officer will be allowed to resume his duties. These would include bystanders who deliberately threw themselves in front of a criminal to stop a bullet, or if the police misidentified a passer-by with reasonable cause. If police shoot innocent players, the players will not be killed, but the police will be suspended anyway, so there!
Police officers can be made wanted for corruption if they are seen with live criminals, or if they fail to kill wanted/incompetent members of their own college in what the Umpire deems to be a reasonable length of time. Police officers will be warned about their conduct before this happens.
Police officers may be made incompetent for failing to make attempts on wanted or incompetent players. They will of course be excused if there are none of these around for them to kill.
Police officers who show exceptional bravery or devotion to duty may find that death is not the end...
You may legally kill any of the following:
Note that someone in the process of making an attempt on someone else is *not* a valid target in this game, unless of course they are bearing weapons.
You may, of course, kill any player not in the above list, but they are considered to be innocent victims and you are liable to become wanted.
There are a number of ex-players around whom people find it amusing to shoot. If not playing, they are entirely innocent and should not be attacked. However the umpire may have sympathy in certain cases. Also these people will have some say in the fate of their attacker(s).
No assassination attempt may be made if victim or assassin is in an out-of-bounds area. The following are always out of bounds:
Assassinations CAN take place in the Phoenix User Area, Cockroft 4, departmental/college computer rooms etc, but only as follows:
Should the situation occur again, computer rooms in libraries are defined as computer rooms, not libraries. A computer room is, in general, defined as a place where the public (or any clearly defined group, e.g. members of a college) are permitted to use computers. Players' private rooms do NOT count.
"Formal college dining halls" shall be taken to mean in a hall
for the purpose of eating food which is served to the table. I am
aware that this applies to some colleges' informal dining arrangements.
Any meal where you get the food yourself from a servery is in
bounds.
The Lazerquest Society, CULLS, has special out of bounds privileges, in that you are also safe when directly arriving at or leaving the LQ venue.
Players should not abuse no-kill zones. You may not take a suspicious letter into a no-kill zone and open it in safety, nor should you walk into a no-kill zone to detonate a bomb from.
Any further suggestions should be communicated to the Umpire as soon as possible. Please use your common sense!
Once the game starts, you must make a reasonable kill attempt within the second week of the start of the game. After two weeks have passed, you must make an attempt within one further week of your previous attempt. After this, you must make an attempt less than one week after your previous attempt, until the end of the game. If you do not make an attempt by your incompetence deadline, you will be added to the incompetent list and hence become a valid target for any player or police officer.
At the start of the game, sending a poisoned letter will keep you
competent. After three weeks, probably only other indirect or direct attempts will
keep a player competent. It is likely that at the end of the game only
direct attempts will suffice. This is to keep the game running at a good
pace.
Note that a legal kill will always keep you competent, however it is achieved.
Players who are on the wanted list for incompetence can
be removed if they catch up on kill attempts in a way specified by the Umpire.
This will probably initially involve making 2 separate attempts, later on an attempt that would normally count for competence and a direct attempt will be required. Exact details will be posted on the website or email the umpire for clarification.
As there is therefore no incentive to make attempts in the first week, after one week the Umpire will award a style bonus to roughly 20 players who have made a significant contribution in the first week of the game. The umpire will define "significant contribution" as he sees fit. This will result in the player's incompetence deadline being extended by a few days. This is the only time a style bonus will be awarded in the game.
WARNING: "Attempts" made on friends and allies solely for the purpose of extending one's competence deadline will not count towards competence.
Whenever you make an attempt on the life of another player or an innocent, successfully assassinate him or her, are attacked youself, or become involved in any other game related incident, you must notify the Umpire as quickly as possible. Reports are encouraged to be dramatic and are often creative; if your report does not clearly state the exact details of the event, make sure that you tell the umpire the raw facts. If you can, confirm the exact details of the event with the other assassins involved — though be careful about exposing youself to danger, when doing this.
Players may gather after an incident to discuss what happened, and will be under a no-kill zone during the discussion, until the players disperse.
In general, all players concerned should submit reports; the Umpire can update the game news more quickly and with fewer problems if this is done.
A witness is any player or non-player who is in a position to see an assassination take place. Witnesses can, of course, talk about the assassination to other players.
In game terms, dead witnesses tell no tales but provoke investigation. The police force has a very up-to-date forensic department, and players do not escape the Wanted List by disposing of witnesses.
Each player may begin the game with one pseudonym of their choice,
which may be used in the news in place of their real name, to conceal who has done what. Every time they legally kill another two assassins, they earn the right to use one
more pseudonym; but only so long as they remain on the right side of the
law (ie. not wanted for any reason).
Police Officers and wanted criminals have no secrecy; their pseudonym(s)
are always published together with their real names.
Players may at any time make a choice of the penname under which subsequent reports involving themselves are to be published - subject to that penname being either their real name, or their first pseudonym, or any of their pseudonyms (if a player has earned one or more extra ones). Obviously, the actual pseudonyms themselves may not be altered once devised.
If you are responsible for the death of an innocent victim (see rule on Permissible Targets) then you are put on the Wanted List (a public file containing the names and addresses of known criminals).
Getting other people to open your mail/door for you will make you responsible for them (if they die you will become wanted, unless you have a very good explanation). Non-players MAY NOT defuse or detonate bombs intended for you.
Players who incompetently _attempt_ to murder innocent victims will also be put on the wanted list. If an innocent person is killed by genuine mischance, and players could not be expected to foresee this they may appeal to the Umpire. Poisoned letters are considered attempts on those to whom they are addressed; poison on door handles will be considered to be an attempt on the life of ANYONE who may reasonably be expected to try to open the door. So if you poison a communal door, you have attempted to murder innocents, and are on the wanted list. To discourage indiscriminate contact poisonings (which get tedious), it's now assumed that people other than a room's occupant could reasonably try to open its door.
If you are on the wanted list the police will come after you...
This term's Umpire is Ric Brackenbury (assassins@srcf.ucam.org) of Selwyn College.
The primary method of contacting the Umpire is through email, though players are welcome to visit. The Umpire is immortal. No one may be killed in the Umpire's staircase, which is also a no-water-weapons zone. The Umpire's room is E16, Selwyn Old Court. The Umpire will however take a dim view of players who run into his staircase in order to escape an attacker, as there is only one way back down!
If you have any queries, send mail, or visit the Umpire (but try to arrange the meeting beforehand), preferably before the query becomes a matter of life and death (yours or anyone else's).
Player-Umpire communications may be made public at the end of the game for everyone's enlightenment and amusement. If you do not wish a certain communication to be made public, please tell the Umpire.
NOTE: It is the responsibility of players to read their e-mail and read the news to see whether they have been put on the wanted list. Players are deemed to know that they are wanted/police as soon as the Umpire sends e-mail to that effect or publishes the details on the website. They are not wanted/police before this.
This may seem a bit unfair, but is less so than expecting the Umpire to guess if a player has logged on recently. Players are not wanted before the Umpire announces the fact and therefore are not automatically permissible targets, even if people know they will be wanted soon. Of course, you may shoot anyone displaying a weapon.
The game has its own World-Wide Web pages, which will host these rules and game news:
<URL:http://www.srcf.ucam.org/assassins/>
To avoid waste of bandwidth, game news will not be distributed by email.
The game also has its own newsgroup (ucam.rec.games.assassin) which players may use for discussion, etc.
The game has a IRC chat channel hosted on the SRCF. Players are welcome to join and discuss the game or whatever they are doing at the time. See Jonathan Hogg's Assassins FAQ for more details on both the newsgroup and IRC.
The history of this set of rules is thought to be:
[Back to assassins index]
[Rule changes for this term]
