Cloak & Dagger The Assassins' Guild: Michaelmas 2005 Weaponry Rules


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; if you were carrying a real knife, you wouldn't be able to convince your target that it was a pencil by holding your thumb over the label, so don't do that either.

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, while 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.

Members of the police force may not use poisons in the course of their duties, and are recommended to make direct attempts only (guns, knives, etc.). Police should also take extra care not to use any weapon that may endanger innocent civilians. Kills made by police using illegal methods will be invalidated and the officers in question disciplined appropriately by the Chief of Police or the Umpire.

Except where noted below, most weapons will kill the target instantly if they strike any part of the head or torso. If a limb is hit then it can no longer be used for the duration of the encounter for any game-related purpose, including to fire, reload or hold a weapon, to open a door or window or to run away (although if you have to run away the Umpire will probably be lenient should you use an injured limb to take your weapons with you rather than leave them behind, as long as you don't use such weapons again in the encounter). Any assassin who continues to to use a limb which has been injured will find that any associated kills are invalidated and possibly that the exertion is deemed to have caused death from blood loss.

A. Direct Weapons:

A.1 Guns

Wooden rubber band guns, Nerf weapons, pea-shooters, toy pig catapults and rubber bands fired from the fingers may be used as guns. Other similar weapons may also be allowed, but you must contact the umpire before using one so it can be approved. A direct hit is required; projectiles rebounding off walls, etc. do not count. BB guns and pellet guns are NOT allowed; do not even bother asking. You should not use any weapon that looks at all realistic. "Firewheel" rubber band guns are not allowed. Try to avoid head shots with all projectile weapons.

If you are found to be using a realistic-looking gun you will be made wanted or removed from the game. No matter how safe it is, the law is quite strict on this matter, and the guild has no desire to see its members arrested.

A.1.1 Point-blank shots

If you have a clear shot (this implies that you can see your target) from less than a metre you may say "bang" rather than actually firing your weapon to claim the kill. You cannot do this if your gun has run out of ammunition, is jammed or is otherwise unusable (although if you only discover later that the gun is not working then the kill stands). Players should always do this if possible to avoid unnecessarily shooting people (and it's for your own good, since you avoid wasting ammunition or risking a misfire). You may make bang-kills with water weapons even if the water status of an area would not allow you to fire the gun.

Cap guns or other toy guns which produce a noise without actually firing anything may also be used to kill people from less than a metre. In the case of cap guns, the cap must go off for the shot to count. You may also use these weapons by saying "bang" just like any other. Again, do not use realistic looking cap guns.

A.1.2 Water weapons

Any water pistol or water gun may be used as a weapon. You must get a definite hit with the main jet for it to count - if you just splash the target with the edge of the spray or at extreme range then the hit does not count. (This means that with larger water weapons such as CPS super soakers it is actually possible to get quite wet without being hit by the main jet of the blast and therefore killed.)

Players may decide whether they wish to allow water-based weapons to be used in their own rooms or not; this information should be supplied to the Umpire at the start of the game. The default state is no water, which means that no player may fire a water weapon into, inside or through your room. If your room is a no-water area remember that you cannot fire water weapons inside it, into it or out of it either.

You may also request that your room be a water with care area, in which case small water weapons may be used inside it, but not larger weapons such as water bombs or CPS supersoakers, or a full water area, in which case anything goes. You may also inform the umpire of any equipment inside your room which may be damaged by water; this information will be passed to your assassins.

Corridors and other indoor areas in colleges are considered to be "water with care" areas unless otherwise specified. The area of corridor immediately outside a full water room is also full water. Thus you may fire a CPS from a full water room at someone standing just beyond the doorway and vice versa, but you may not fire along the corridor when standing just outside the room. You must not use any water weapons in non-players' rooms, shops, or any other neutral areas containing anything which may be damaged by water.

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.

Bottles of water, hosepipes, etc. may be used to represent flame-throwers. These should only be used outdoors in warm weather. Shaken-up bottles of lemonade or similar should not be used as the drink becomes sticky and unpleasant as it dries.

A.2 Coshes and clubs

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:-

HeadUnconscious for 5 minutes.
BodyImmobilised but conscious for 5 minutes.
Arm or LegThe limb is immobilised for 5 minutes.
A.3 Knives, swords, rabbits and other melee weapons

Knives made of foam, rubber or cardboard, plastic knives with retractable blades, pens and pencils may be used as knives. Anything which is not very obviously a knife should be labelled "KNIFE". Please be careful when attacking people with pencils or anything else vaguely pointy. Be extra-careful when throwing knives.

Arbitrary objects may not be turned into weapons simply by writing "KNIFE" on them; this may only be done to vaguely knife-shaped objects. No metal objects including cutlery knives may ever be used as knives.

Plastic or cardboard swords may be used as swords; cardboard ones must be labelled "SWORD". Toy lightsabres may also be used. Rolled-up newspapers or cardboard poster tubes are coshes, not swords.

Latex LARP swords and knives (or other LARP weapons) may not be used in this game.

Fluffy animals may be used as attack animals as long as they are labelled "KNIFE", "ATTACK ANIMAL", "KILLER RABBIT", etc. Ideally all attack animals should be presented to the umpire first as the umpire likes to see what embarassing fluffy animals assassins keep in their rooms. Be creative with ways to use them, but if you wish to try something unconventional, then check with the umpire beforehand.

A.4 Garottes

Toilet roll or other soft tissue paper may be used to garotte an enemy. You must not use as a garotte anything which will not tear in half easily; particularly, handkerchiefs, scarves and ties must not be used as you could really strangle someone with them.

A.5 Grenades

Confetti in bags made from tissue paper or water bombs may be used. Use common sense with all of these. They will kill if they strike any part of the head or body. If they hit a wall and splash your head or body appreciably (ie. if you're wettish) you are dead. If you are only slightly splashed, you survive. Being splashed on the arms or legs will disable the limbs in question as normal.

A.6 Boulders and safes

An empty (large) box, or lump of expanded polystyrene may be labelled 'safe', 'fridge', 'anvil' or similar, and then dropped. It can kill if it falls at least a meter before impact. An anvil that falls a foot or more stuns the target as if it were a cosh blow to the head. A beachball (or similar very light ball ONLY) at least the size of a football may be labelled as a boulder and then rolled, dropped or thrown as a weapon (not kicked, however - that would break your leg) - any impact with significant speed may kill, including from rebounds (most weapons do not count on the rebound). You may also rig traps in which a boulder is positioned to fall on the victim, such as when opening a wardrobe.

B. Indirect Weapons:

B.1 Contact poison

Represented by Vaseline, jam, mustard, toothpaste or similar gooey substances, or by powder such as talc. This will kill immediately after contact with the skin 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). Gloves or anything else which prevents the poison from coming into contact with the skin will protect you.

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. In general, you may contact poison things that only your target is likely to touch. Ask the Umpire for further clarification. The Umpire will take a dim view of anyone felt to be overusing contact poison, even if they are already on the wanted list.

Paper planes with contact poison on the tip may be used as poisoned darts if they are appropriately labelled. Please take care not to use any substance likely to cause allergic reactions as a contact poison - the umpire will inform you if any of your targets have such allergies, but err on the side of caution in all cases.

B.2 Poisoned food or drink

Strongly-flavoured substances added to a victim's food or drink count as poison and will kill the victim as soon as they notice the taste. If the poison is dilute enough not to be tasted it will not work. Do not poison drinks in bars, clubs, etc., as observers may think that you are actually spiking your target's drink.. Note that experiments to establish the required dose may well end up killing the guinea pig. Be careful not to use as poison any substances which may cause allergic reactions, especially almond essence.

Food which normally tastes strong or spicy does not count as poison on its own. Buying your victim a Pizza Gamberi from Pizza Express does not count as a poisoning, nor does leaving an extra-strong Phileas Fogg tortilla chip in their pigeon hole.

B.3 Special Letters

Cards, letters and parcels may contain contact poison (see contact poison, above). Poisoned letters should usually be signed, eg. A. Sassin and must always 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, Martin Lester of Gonville & Caius College (assassins@srcf.ucam.org).

Anyone failing to replace the text '[insert name of substance here]' with the actual name of the substance in question will be made wanted for extreme stupidity.

You may wish to include a reminder to your target to report the letter to the Umpire, as many players forget to do this.

Alternatively, you may send "exciting" musical greetings cards (use ready-made cards only, please — not cards you have made yourself) to your targets. If such a card starts to play and you are touching it (even if you are wearing gloves), you are deemed to be so "excited" by the vibrations of the tinny, annoying melody that you become insane and commit suicide. Cards should contain a disclaimer such as:

This is an "exciting" card for the mock assassination game run by the Cambridge University Assassins' Guild. Queries should be addressed to this term's Umpire, Martin Lester of Gonville & Caius College (assassins@srcf.ucam.org).

If the card is also poisoned, then you should include the relevant part of the poison disclaimer too.

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. Also, be very careful sending special letters in any form to shared pidgeonholes, so that they do not inconvenience innocent people.

'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.

C. Miscellanea:

C.1 Other weapons

It is possible to use many other weapons not in this list. However, you must contact the Umpire to register any other weapon first so that the umpire can decide whether it is fair and safe. Any kills you make with an unlicensed weapon may be disallowed. Examples of previously-licensed novelty weapons include poisoned umbrellas (such as that used to kill Georgi Markov), double-decker buses and poisoned lipstick. In general you can probably licence anything that is completely harmless, and more difficult to kill with than the items in this list.

C.2 Shields

There are no shields in this game, and clothing, bags and weaponry will not block incoming shots. This means that if you are hit in the back while carrying a rucksack, and the shot would have hit your body had you not been wearing it, you are dead. Weapons may likewise not block shots and so hits to your weapon may count as having hit your arm or body as appropropriate if they would otherwise have done so.

C.3 Disallowed weapons:

None of the following weapons will be allowed:


Changes from the previous game

History

The history of this set of rules is fairly short:

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