Cloak & Dagger The Assassins' Guild: Mayhem 2007 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, any weapon not on this list must be shown to the umpire and approved before its use on the field. In general, all weapons must be completely safe (for both people and property), defensible so as not to unbalance the Game and materially and tangibly 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; they 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. Any kills achieved in this manner may be annulled and the players responsible disciplined.

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 make attempts using indirect methods (guns, knives, etc. only, please). 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 block a projectile, to open a door or window or to run away (although if you have to run away you may use your wounded arm/s to carry 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 with the knowledge that it 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. Limbs do not grow back with time, but regenerate on a player's return from the grave.

A. Direct Weapons:

A.1 Guns

Wooden rubber band guns, Nerf weapons, pea-shooters, toy pig catapults and rubber bands fired from the fingers all count as guns and are projectile weapons. 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 so don't 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.

Cap guns or other toy guns which produce a noise without actually firing anything may be used to kill people from less than a metre with a clear shot. In the case of cap guns, the cap must go off for the shot to count.

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 are using a gun, water pistol, water gun, or a banana clearly labelled "GUN", and are pointing it at the head or torso of your target, which you can clearly see and are sufficiently close that you would be able to touch the target, you may say, "Bang!" rather than actually firing your weapon to claim the kill. You cannot do this if your gun is 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). This is intended to stop you causing unnecessary harm to a target from close range and to avoid public nuisance, a waste of ammunition or the risk of a misfire. It is intended to be used on occassions when you are surprising your intended victim and not as a piece of combat. It is the duty of the attacker to ensure that they are demonstrably fulfilling the above conditions when they say the word, "Bang!". However, keep in mind that the Game does not involve the use of physical force. You may make bang-kills with water weapons even if the water status of an area would not allow you to fire the gun. You may not make a bang-kill through a wall, door or other substantial medium.

A.1.2 Water weapons

Any water pistol or water gun may be used as a weapon.

Players may decide as to what extent they wish to allow water-based weapons to be used in their own rooms; this information should be supplied to the Umpire at the start of the game. The default state is no water.

In-bounds areas 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 that area.

All areas should be considered No Water unless specified otherwise.

The following areas are Water with Care:

The following areas are Full 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. For reference, a hit (with any water weapons) is wetness roughly the area of a 5p piece in the case of Water with Care weapons and a 50p piece in the case of all larger weapons

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.

Storm Force 2
A Storm Force 2, the largest allowable water with care weapon
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 with lids (not metal) and without a metal barrel or sharp ends, may be used as knives. Anything which is not very obviously a knife should be labelled "KNIFE". Please do not use anything very pointy, and be careful with anything slightly 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 lightsabers may also be used. Rolled-up newspapers or cardboard poster tubes are coshes, not swords.

Latex LARP swords and knives (or other LARP weapons, not including LARP bows or crossbows) may be used if they are labelled very clearly, and you bring them to the Umpire so that he can check that they are safe, and that you can pull your blows correctly (please note that LARP shields are allowed under the Shields rules below) (3.2)

In the interests of safety, with all melee weapons, you should be careful to avoid attacks of a stabbing nature (particularly with LARP weapons) and should never aim for the head. Remember that this is a game of subtlety rather than combat.

Fluffy animals may be used as attack animals as long as they are labelled "KNIFE", "ATTACK ANIMAL", "KILLER RABBIT", etc. These work just like knives. Ideally all attack animals should be presented to the Umpire first as he likes to see what embarrassing fluffy animals Players 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 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 (i.e.. 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. Water bombs are for use only in Full Water areas.

A.5 Boulders and safes

An empty (large) box or sizeable lump of expanded polystyrene may be labelled 'safe', 'fridge', 'anvil' or similar, and then dropped. It can kill if it falls at least a metre before impact. An anvil that falls a foot or more stuns the target as if it were a cosh blow to the head. A beach ball or balloon 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 (although most other 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.

A.6 Bouncy grenades

Players may carry a maximum of 3 bouncy rubber balls (not exceeding a table tennis ball in size) to be used as grenades. These may only be thrown one at a time and with reasonable force, with at least a 10 second interval between each throw. These will cause the usual injuries if they hit any player (including the user!) directly or after a maximum of one bounce (after subsequent bounces they do not count in any way). Any player found to be carrying or using more than 3 in any situation may have kills annulled or penalties imposed at the Umpire's discretion.

Once they have come to a standstill, Bouncing Grenades may be picked up and rethrown. Use of such grenades does not count towards an individual player's tally, so long as the total number of grenades in a combat does not exceed 3 per player.

Due to their unpredictable natures, bouncy balls count as Full Water as regards Players' rooms (i.e. they can only be used in rooms indicated as Full Water in the Player's specifications). In residential corridors, they are allowed as long as there are no obviously breakable features in the vicinity (i.e. mirrors, vases, etc).

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, you may not apply it to a surface in a public place unless you have a reasonable belief that a legal target for you will be the next person to touch that surface. You may not poison any door handles. That's worth repeating: contact poisoning a door handle will make you Wanted. In general, it is suggested you limit contact poison to 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 nut extracts.

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, Joshua Guy Blanchard Lewis, of Jesus 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.

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 pigeonholes, 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. Miscellany:

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 license anything that is completely harmless, and more difficult to kill with than the items in this list.

C.2 Shields

Umbrellas may be specifically labelled as a 'shield' on their outside and count as blocking any shots when held in a hand except those of bouncy grenades, boulders/anvils or knives, which destroy the shield upon contact. The shield shall then be unusable for one hour.

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 however may block shots and any hits on weapons may be ignored so long as they are being held at the time.

Please note that otherwise shields follow the usual weapon rules, particularly as regards accomplices and bearing (although shields only cause bearing if the label is visible - surprisingly enough, other people in Cambridge use umbrellas as well!).

C.3 Disallowed weapons:

None of the following weapons will be allowed:

This list is not exhaustive; any weapon not explicitly allowed must be personally checked by the Umpire before being used in the Game.


Changes from the previous game

History

The history of this set of rules is fairly short:

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