The Assassins' Guild: Pocket Rules

How to use these rules

These rules provide most of what you need to know to play Assassins. Further details and edge cases are elaborated on in the main rules, sections of which are linked frequently here for reference.

Signing Up:

Near the start of each game, an email with information about signing up will go out to the mailing list. Sign up here to receive this information if you have not done so already.

Once this is received, email assassins-umpire@srcf.net with certain information about yourself - you will be told what is needed in the emails (or check this section of the main rules). This address is run by the game's Umpire, who runs the administrative and organisational side of things. They're always happy to help with any queries you might have.

How to Play:

The main game: as an assassin, you are given 3 targets which are also assassins, and tasked with hunting them down and killing them using harmless weaponry. Each time one of your targets dies, a new one is assigned to you. At the same time, three assassins are given you as a target and you must evade them. The last one standing is the winner.

A separate but intertwined game involves the 'Police force', which are a group of players who work alone or in teams to hunt down people in the main game who have made minor rules infractions (Wanted players) and people who have been inactive for some time (Incompetents). Police are not assassins, do not have any other targets or anyone targeting them, and are not eligible to win the main game.

Code of Conduct:

First and foremost, always remember that this is only a game. You must be friendly to others that you meet. Acting nastily or violently towards other players, or towards anyone while in role as a player yourself, is grounds for a ban or at least a serious warning. This covers a fairly wide definition of 'nasty' as described in the full rules.

Above all, assassins should avoid inconveniencing others or causing trouble. Bear in mind the following:

• Players are not allowed to impersonate authority figures or lie to genuine authority figures.
• Do not inconvenience porters. There should be no reason to involve porters in the assassins game.
• You should not do anything to give onlookers serious cause for concern.
• Exercise common sense at all times.

We use 'Timeout' to stop all play in order to resolve serious rules issues of any type. If you hear this call, stop what you are doing until whatever caused the call has been dealt with and play has been resumed.

We use the 'No-Force Rule' to ensure we don't get hurt in fights. Hear or make this call as a reminder that the game should not involve contests of strength, which can lead to injuries. For example, if someone is holding a door shut and calls out 'No Force Rule', you cannot force it open.

Targets:

The following are licit targets for any player:

• The 3 people they were given as targets
• The 3 people given them as targets
• Anyone on the Wanted or Incompetence lists
• Anyone acting as an accomplice
• Any player openly carrying an Assassins weapon (bearing).

If an assassin kills an illicit target (a player who was not a licit target at that point) they will be put on the Wanted List but the target will still die. If a police kills an illicit target, then the target will not die.

Killing People:

We take harmless objects and put labels on them to mark them as something 'dangerous'. Examples include pens labelled 'knife', teddy bears labelled 'rabid polar bear', and paper planes labelled 'kamikaze'. We also allow most Nerf guns and waterguns, though projectile weapons have restrictions on where they can be used. Water weapons specificially are also restricted to certain areas, and in one's signup email, one can specify that one's room is either 'No Water', 'Water with Care' (small water weapons used carefully), or 'Full Water'. For a full list of allowed weapons and where they can be used, see the Weapons Rules.

If a person is hit on the head or torso, they are dead. If a person is hit on a limb, they lose that limb for the rest of the encounter. Dead players are subject to different rules to living players: they can no longer participate in the game, but are encouraged to join the Police force if they wish.

Reporting:

If anything game-related happens to you, email the Umpire and tell them what happened. You can also include a more humorous description of events that will be put up on the site news. You will be asked to choose a pseudonym for these reports to be under. You start out with one pseudonym but can acquire more by killing people. More detailed information about reports, including an example, is available here.

Out of Bounds:

The following paragraph is a list of areas you are not allowed to kill someone for reasons of safety, security and sanity. It is not exhaustive but simply designed to give you a good idea. The full out of bounds list is here: it may be long, but make sure you familiarise yourself with it!

• Lecture theatres.
• Practical labs.
• Computer rooms.
• Formal hall
• Meetings with academic staff (this includes supervisions).
• Libraries, hospitals, museums, government buildings, banks, theatres, cinemas, concert halls.
• Restaurants which require you to wait to be seated.
• Official places of worship.
• Anyone in uniform.
• Anyone working a real job.
• Anyone in a motorised vehicle.
• All of London.
• Organised sports activities.
• Society meetings.
• Clearly marked sociological experiment locations.
• Anyone engaged in an activity which would be dangerous if it did not have their full attention (e.g. hot pans, sharp knives, juggling fire sticks).

Examples of places you can kill people:

• Their room.
• Their accommodation corridor.
• In the street.
• Outside their lecture room.
• In their college (informal) dining hall.

Some places are not Out of Bounds, but projectiles cannot be used in those places, in order to avoid disruption. These include informal dining areas, shops and pubs.

Accomplices:

If you recruit a non-player's help for the game, whether or not they know this, they become your accomplice. They cannot wield weaponry but may be able to help in other ways. If your accomplice is killed, you are put on the Wanted list and the accomplice cannot act as an accomplice to anyone for the rest of the game.

The Wanted and Incompetence Lists:

If you break the rules in a minor way, you will be put on the Wanted list and become a licit target for any other player - this includes the police force. You redeem yourself by either surviving a certain number of days, or making a certain number of licit kills (the Umpire will tell you which).

If you fail to participate in the game for a certain amount of time, you will be put on the Incompetence List and also become a licit target for everyone. You redeem yourself by making an attempt at a kill and emailing the report to the Umpire. People on the Incompetence List for a long enough time will eventually be removed from the game.

End-Game:

If all remaining assassins are successfully evading each other and nobody is dying, the Umpire may decide to invite everyone to a duel to decide the final winner. Dead players and police are welcome to spectate.

The winner is given the title of 'MA' (Master Assassin), or 'PhD' (Paranoia-Hardened Deathmaster) for a two-time winner. Other silly and fun awards are also given out to people who did something worthy of note over the course of the game. You can send in any nominations you like. Take a look at our awards page for a better idea.

Now let's go out there and kill some people!

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