Cloak & Dagger The Assassins' Guild: Mayweek 2006 Rules


1.0 Introduction:

Assassins is a game of mock assassination for a large number of players. In the Mayweek game, each person has to try to kill as many of the others as possible as often as possible while avoiding the attempts of others to do the same. At the end of Mayweek, whoever has the highest score is proclaimed the winner.

Note that the Mayweek game is substantially different from the Assassins games which run in the Michaelmas and Lent terms. Players are encouraged to familiarise themselves with these rules, especially the conduct and ‘area of play’ sections, as the Umpire will take a dim view of those who break them.

If you have any questions about these rules once you have read them thoroughly, the Umpire will be happy to provide clarification.

Because the Mayweek 2006 game looks to be quite small, the winner will be awarded a MA at the Umpire's discretion.

1.1 Signing up for the game:

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.

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.

Note that by signing up to play you are agreeing to report any assassins-related events which you are involved in for the period in which you remain alive. You are also giving permission for other players to try to 'kill' you by the legal methods described in these rules, and to enter your room without warning should you leave the door unlocked or the window open. You also consent for your name to appear on the Guild website now and in the future in connection with the events of the game.

1.2 Conduct:

2.0 How to play:

The game, in brief:

2.1 Killing people:

The weapons rules describe the various weaponry you may use to eliminate other assassins. Note that due to new legislation introduced in the UK in 2004, you are not allowed to use any toy gun that looks like a real gun, as this is illegal.

2.1.1 Legal targets

You may legally try to kill either of the following types of person:

Note that it is, of course, possible to attack people who do not fall into any of the categories above. Should you do so, you will be penalised for killing or attempting to kill innocent victims.

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. These people will have some say in the fate of those who do attack them.

2.1.2 Rules of engagement

You may use all manner of ruses against another player. However, there are some things you are not allowed to do:

2.2 Accomplices and non-players

Non-players may, if you wish, act as accomplices on your kill attempts. However, accomplices cannot attack or kill anyone (but they can still be attacked). You are responsible for the safety of your accomplices, and should they be killed you will be held responsible, which means that you may be penalised. You should not allow your accomplices to be seen bearing weapons at any time; particularly, you should not use armed accomplices as decoys, and should you do so the kill may be disallowed. If killed, accomplices resurrect after three hours, as players do.

Attacking people not involved in the assassins game is strongly discouraged, and you will lose points for doing so. Players who do this persistently may be removed from the game.

If you are involved in a battle in a public place with non-players present, please respect their wishes and allow them to pass in safety. Non-players are not to be used as cover.

2.3 Ceasefires

The codeword "ceasefire!" may be used by any player or accomplice in the event of an emergency such as injury or porterial intervention. Should this occur, players should cease all assassins-related activity, put their weapons away and, if appropriate, leave the area. Players cannot be killed during a ceasefire; anyone attempting to violate one will be penalised or disqualified. A ceasefire should only be called in emergencies; particularly, you should not attempt to call one in order to advantage yourself in a battle, and you will be penalised if you do..

2.4 Suicide

Suicide is not allowed in this game. If you wish to be removed from the game, please inform the Umpire who will make the necessary arrangements.

3.0 The Area of Play:

There are some places and circumstances which, for reasons of safety and sanity, are considered out-of-bounds. No-one may kill anyone or be killed when they are out of bounds; any kills made in an out of bounds area will be annulled, and in severe cases the offender may be castigated by the Umpire.

3.1 Out of bounds areas

The following areas are out of bounds at all times:

Events, garden parties and college ents are all in bounds. However, players are expected to show common sense at such events. In particular, water weapons and messy weapons should not be used at any such event (this includes May Ball queues). It is no-one's fault but your own if you are thrown out of anywhere for being a gun-toting maniac.

Players on bicycles are in bounds, but should only be attacked if there is no possibility of causing accident or injury. Players should also avoid firefights across busy streams of traffic, as this is rather dangerous.

Some players may be out of bounds when carrying heavy or valuable equipment to or from a society meeting or the like. If you think that you should at any point be out of bounds for these purposes, ask the Umpire. Likewise, if you want to know whether a given player will be out of bounds at a certain time, ask the Umpire.

3.2 Water status

In bounds areas may have restrictions placed on what sort of weaponry may be used in them, and are divided into three categories:

Note that water weapons inappropriate for the water status of the area may not be fired into or out of such an area. For instance, you may not stand in a no water area and use a water gun to shoot a player standing outside.

The following areas are always No Water:

The following areas are Water With Care:

The following areas are Full Water:

Care should be taken when attacking players carrying large items, musical instruments or electrical equipment. Such players should not be attacked with water weapons or other messy devices and be careful not to surprise them such that they drop whatever it is that they are carrying. The Umpire will take a dim view of people who run to pick up random musical instruments whenever they see another assassin - you should not use this rule to gain a tactical advantage from a musical instrument, as with any other situation which may make you temporarily out of bounds.

If you are not sure whether a given time or place is out of bounds or not, or what its water status is, please contact the Umpire.

Similarly, if there is something not mentioned on this list you think should be out of bounds, or should have its water status lowered, ask the Umpire to consider it.

4.0 Reporting:

Whenever you are involved in any assassins-related incident, such as successfully or unsuccessfully trying to kill another player or innocent, being attacked or killed or witnessing a killing, you should submit a report as soon as possible. The Assassins' Guild website will have an interface which players may use to submit such reports. If anything odd happens and you are unsure of how to report it, email the Umpire.

Reports submitted by players will be added to a list of events on the game news page. Reports are encouraged to be dramatic and creative and may also be intentionally misleading, although outright lying is frowned upon.

If you cannot be sure what happened in an attack, you may agree upon a "discussion phase" with the other assassins involved in order to clarify who was hit, who is dead, etc. Players involved in the original incident cannot kill one another while in the "discussion phase", although any entirely different assassins who might happen to be passing may attack you with impunity. Players whose vital status is in dispute are not allowed to fight back during a "discussion phase".

Since the game news is updated automatically by computer, it is important that you resolve exactly what happened in a particular incident with all those involved before you leave. If a consensus cannot be reached, you are recommended to arrange a duel or other equitable means of deciding. Players duelling to resolve a dispute in this way cannot be killed by other players for the duration of the duel (although arranging 'duels' which last for hours in order to become invincible will not work).

The automated reporting system adds reports to the website as soon as they are submitted. However, if anything is wrong with the reports on the website, let the Umpire know and he will fix it.

4.1 Pseudonyms

There is no secrecy in the Mayweek game; the list of all assassins is available on the website at all times along with all their pseudonyms and other statistics. However, whenever you submit a report, you may do so under a pseudonym for general amusement value. There is no limit to the number of pseudonyms a given player may use, and you may select a new one at any time.

5.0 Dead players

After being killed, you are deemed to be "dead" for the next three hours. While you are dead you should refrain from interfering with the game, meaning that you should not point out the presence of other assassins or pass on information to live players.

6.0 The Umpire:

This term's Umpire is Tom Booth of Peterhouse and may be contacted by emailing assassins@srcf.ucam.org.

The primary method of contacting the Umpire is through email, though players are welcome to visit. The Umpire lives in C5 Old Court, Peterhouse. No-one may be killed in the Umpire's room, although players are discouraged from running to the Umpire in order to escape an attacker. Should you burst into the Umpire's room gibbering about attacking assassins, he will sneer and call you a pansy.

Any queries about the game can be emailed to the Umpire, or you can visit (but you should probably try to arrange the meeting beforehand, since even the Umpire goes out occasionally). Try to resolve any queries before they become a matter of life or death (yours or anyone else's).

Attempting to take items from the Umpire's pigeonhole or break into his computer account is strictly forbidden. Impersonating the Umpire is also forbidden; see Rules of engagement.

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.

The Umpire is immortal. Players attempting to test this proposition will be punished appropriately.

The Umpire's decision is final.

7.0 Administrivia:

It is the responsibility of players to read their e-mail and read the news to see whether there is anything important of which they should be aware. Anything published on the website or emailed to players is assumed to be known from then on, and claiming that you did not read it will not be a valid defence.

7.1 Web pages:

The game website is at http://www.srcf.ucam.org/assassins; you are probably reading these rules there now. During the game, the news will be published on the website along with any updates to the rules, news of upcoming special events or social events, etc.

To avoid waste of bandwidth, game news will not be distributed by email.

7.2 Newsgroup:

The game also has its own newsgroup (ucam.rec.games.assassin) which players may use for discussion, etc. You are unlikely to find news about the current game here, but you may find discussion of special events, proposed changes to the game or new mini-games, etc.

7.3 IRC Channel:

There is an IRC channel #assassins on the SRCF server (kern.srcf.ucam.org, port 6667). All assassins, potential assassins or ex-assassins are welcome to join and discuss the game or anything else. See Adam Biltcliffe's updated Assassins FAQ for more details on both the newsgroup and IRC.

8.0 Comments:


Notable changes


History

The history of this set of rules is thought to be:

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