RULES of Despair
Oct 17, 2013 17:16:53 GMT 12
Post by Cloud on Oct 17, 2013 17:16:53 GMT 12
Dangan Ronpa: The Forum Game
“Academy of Hope and High School Students of Despair.”
Make it an utmost priority to read through the rules thoroughly.
How to Play:
This game is intended to be played with a minimum of 5 players and a maximum of 16 excluding the Game Master (GM). If there are under 16 players, the GM must create an equal amount of NPCs* to that of the players. (I.E If 5 people sign up, the GM creates 5 NPCs.) However, the maximum must still be 16. (I.E If 10 people sign up, the NPC only creates 6 NPCs.)
Before the game begins, players sign up in the respective sign-up threads, stating one “Super Duper High School Level [X]” or "Ultimate [X] Student" title indicating some form of talent or hobby.
NOTE: These skills must be realistic and abide by the laws of physics. (No warping through locked doors or removing people's free will with magic.)
Each game is composed of individual "cases." Each case is divided into three phases. Free Time, The Investigation and The Class Trial.
Free Time:
In this 24 hour period of time at the beginning of each case, the school layout is revealed (with more rooms added after each case) and available for preemptive examination. After the first 12 hours, the phase will enter Night Time in which no more real-time actions may be made however players may choose their plans for the night if they do not plan on murdering anyone, (E.g Sleeping, heading to the gym etc,) these actions may be either private or public.
(NOTE: If no plan is neither posted nor sent, players go to bed from 10pm - 8am as a default.)
Players wishing to kill someone may send their respective plans. Through unbiased judgement based on creativity, validity and difficulty, a killer's plan to kill a fellow player will be chosen by the GM, thus beginning the investigation.
Players choosing to kill must attempt to construct a scenario in which their murder does not incriminate them and successfully remove suspicion during the Class Trial. Once the killer decides and sends the Game Master their murder plan, the investigation will begin with the discovery of the corpse. This begins one of three phases; The Investigation, which is later followed by The Class Trial. Other players must discover clues during The Investigation and piece together information during The Class Trial to attempt to pinpoint and vote out the killer. The game will continue in this fashion until a killer wins or there are at most 4 players alive at the end of the trial. (See Monokuma's Final Case)
*If no-one sends a valid murder plan before the 24 hours are up, the GM must create a scenario using the NPCs. Unless there is only one NPC, they can not target players. If there are no NPCs, another Free Time phase is initiated, but Monokuma is able to create a scenario that forces the response of other players. (I.E. Change the circumstances in order to make murder more "accessible" such as remove locks on doors, provide more weapons etc.)
Murder Rules:
- A player can only kill a maximum of 2 people.
- A player can kill a player that has killed someone else but 2 people cannot kill 2 others. (I.E There can only be only surviving killer at the time of the trial.)
- Murder plans are not carried out as they are sent, they must be processed alongside the other plans after the first 24 hours. (I.E Not in real time.)
- A murder plan must be complete and finalized before the end of the Free Time phase. (NOTE: A murder plan does not have to occur during night time.)
- The GM must relay what the killer saw as they carried out their murder or if there have been any changes of plans, otherwise the killer is not given a unique testimony.
- Plans that fail are still executed and become at least part of the failed killers' unique testimonies.
- Lethal traps may be used but they must be used as part of a murder plan, i.e, if you do not intend to kill someone with the trap in the same case you create it, it will not be valid. (I.E All murder plans must target someone in particular)
- Any actions made that depend on information not publicly announced or given to the player taking action - e.g actions privately messaged to the GM by other players - will not be accepted.* (E.G You can not kill someone in the cafeteria if it hasn't been publicly stated that they are in the cafeteria or you haven't been told by the GM that they are in the cafeteria.)
- If any actions made by any players (killer or otherwise) requires the reaction of another player, the reacting player will be privately prompted by the GM for their response. The acting player will not be informed of the other's response, but will be asked for an alternative action in case their co-dependent action fails.
- The GM must ensure that the murders can be solved.
*(See Monokuma's Final Case)
The Investigation:
When the corpse is discovered, this phase begins. Here players must investigate the crime scenes and other rooms in The School Layout and collect evidence which is used as “Ammunition.” Players may choose to either privately message the GM their actions or state their actions publicly. If the player chooses to keep their investigation private, the ammunition will be privately messaged to them, otherwise the ammunition discovered will be revealed on the game thread. If a player moves to a different room privately, this will be stated by the GM on the game thread. In addition to The Monokuma File, players are given unique testimonies detailing what they saw before the murder was discovered. If players did not choose what they did the previous night themselves, the GM will create an action for them. The killer is not aware of what clues have been left behind and they must also attempt to recover what they can. Players are also allowed to lie about what they are given and told, including the killer.
The Class Trial:
After every important piece of evidence has been discovered at least once, the class trial will begin. Here players may relay and piece together ammunition to try and solve the mystery whilst the killer tries to derail the trial; they can even fabricate ammunition of their own. If the other players encounter a contradiction or a falsehood in something previously stated, they can present ammunition that proves otherwise. (In this same way, players can use ammunition to concur and confirm statements.)
Players must vote who they think is the killer within 48 hours, otherwise the killer will win by default. If the killer receives the majority of the votes, they will be executed. If the player that has the majority of votes is NOT the killer, everyone except for the killer will be executed.
If the killer is executed, the game will enter Free Time again and a new "case" will begin. The game will continue in this fashion until a killer wins or there are at most 4 players alive at the end of the trial. (See Monokuma's Final Case)
The School Layout:
At the start of the game, several rooms are provided and described with the exception of the players’ individual dormitories which must be investigated individually by the players.
Ammunition:
Ammunition (alternatively Evidence) is collected during Investigation phases and is used as specific clues to each player that comes across them. Each player will be given The Monokuma File - A file detailing the victims’ conditions - and their own individual testimonies relevant to events before the case. Ammunition may be exchanged and discussed however its primary function is to be used to back up or refute statements made in the Class Trial. Players can make their own Ammunition based on anything else they come across in both the investigation and the class trial and believe is noteworthy.
Monokuma's Final Case
In the event that at most 5 players remain at the end of a class trial, the game enters a final case in which there are no murders. In this case, players must discover "The Traitor." At the start of the game a player is assigned The Traitor by the GM, The Traitor automatically receives all private messages sent to the GM during Free Time and may make whatever actions they wish to either tamper with or avoid the actions made by the other players. The Traitor will not be executed if a killer wins The Class Trial. (The Traitor can still kill and will be executed if they are caught.)
During Monokuma's Final Case, several clues (including ones from previous cases) must be investigated in order to finger who was aware of of everyone's actions throughout the course of the game. If The Traitor is voted out correctly, The Traitor (and Monokuma) will be executed, the players will be set free and the game will end.
RULES FOR THE GAME MASTER:
As in fitting with the source material, Monokuma is bound by the rules and therefore must abide by them no matter what their vicious deeds entail:
A Game Master serves first and foremost as a host for the duration of the games, but similarly to Umineko, Monokuma is able to provide challenges and more personal input than the typical DN, CP, or Higurashi GM. However, all actions made by the GM must be unbiased.
- DO explain any circumstances when asked about them by players, killers or otherwise.
- DO abide by any specific requests from the killers. (I.E If a murder is executed in a way so as to obscure time/cause of death, or identity of the victim, do not note the time/cause/identity within the Monokuma File.)
- DO respond to any questions concerning description of evidence.
- DO NOT provide further information beyond your answers.
- DO NOT answer questions concerning a case beyond what the evidence implies.
- DO prompt elaboration on any players' plans. (E.G if sent "I stab Nate in his sleep," ask where/when to kill Nate, ask how to ensure Nate will be there, stabbed with what etc. This same rule applies to plans that do not include murder.)
- DO NOT provide suggestions.
- DO NOT force a player to do something that they wouldn't, if a plan is illogical but still not fundamentally invalid, let it fail.
- DO describe how scenarios appear to the players.
- DO NOT inform a player that they are dead.
- DO NOT provide players with information that is neither publicly revealed nor privately investigated by the players themselves. (With the exception of The Traitor.)
- DO use NPCs to the advantage of players by having them hold vital information.
- DO provide subtle prompts for players to question NPCs.
- DO NOT use NPCs to explain the case autonomously.
- DO provide enough ammunition in order for a case to be solved.
- DO NOT provide red herrings unless linked to either The Traitor or specified by the killers.
- DO urge players to kill and urge players to solve.
- DO NOT kill players yourself.
- DO NOT solve the cases yourself.
- DO shape and change the world as much as you wish in order to make an entertaining game, create random events to "shake things up."
- DO be imaginative. Create unique scenarios that tie together the players, motives, setting etc together. This game can become as creatively free as Umineko if not more so.
- DO NOT break these rules.