I don't know how often boardgame ideas pop up on here, but I figured I would post this and see what people think. This isn't a new game, but a rules/gameplay addition to a current boardgame. The famous "Clue". My friends and I just got done playing a game of "Clue". First time I had played that game in a very long time, and when it was over I felt it was time to make it better. I searched but didn't come across this idea anywhere, so it's possibly new. Currently, the means to win in the boardgame of "Clue" is to make the correct accusation as to who/where/what was involved in the murder. There are no reprecussions for actually being the murderer. This new gameplay feature changes that. If you are playing and your character is the killer, you must now kill the rest of the players characters in order to win. This is done by entering a room already occupied with a player and a weapon. The killer no longer makes suggestions or accusations and therefore cannot win by discovering the exact who/what/where, therefore he cannot pull other players or weapons into the room with him. The first kill by the murderer acts as an accusation type scenario. If a person makes the announcement that they are murdering a player and they are not in fact the killer, they lose. This is like making a wrong accusation. So, for the murderer to start killing off the other players he/she must be absolutely certain they are indeed the killer. This introduces a level of suspense to the game. If you're not certain who the murderer is, you have to worry about being the first one they kill if they have discovered they are the murderer. Also, once the murderer has started his spree, the other players will want to avoid being in a room near the murderer or pulling the murderer into a room with them via suggestion. They now must find out the weapon and room before it is too late. What does everyone think?

On your turn, how do you kill another player without giving yourself away to everyone else playing the game?

Does the game take place quickly enough that if a player is eliminated they'll be ok with waiting for the next game to start?

Quote:Original post by Jack Bandit
If you are playing and your character is the killer, you must now kill the rest of the players characters in order to win. This is done by entering a room already occupied with a player and a weapon. The killer no longer makes suggestions or accusations and therefore cannot win by discovering the exact who/what/where, therefore he cannot pull other players or weapons into the room with him.

If the killer no longer follows the gameplay rules that the others do, wouldn't it then be obvious who the killer is?

I like where this is going though; but you're going to need some mechanics that encourage multiple players to group up in a single room, since the killer can only remain undiscovered as long as there are other suspects.

There are other options of course, for example, if the killer need only be one room away from a player who is alone in a room with a weapon. Then all players one room away, and possibly one in the same room, are suspects.

You would need a fairly well designed map though, with many entry points into each room, and game rules that prevent players from strategically grouping to find the killer.

Quote:Original post by Tom Sloper
Jack, you need to explain the play mechanic in more depth. How does a player ascertain that the killer is his avatar? What's the gameplay prior to that discovery? What do the other players do? What's the gameplay afterwards? Have you tried playing this yet?

Prior to the murderer revealing himself, and this only occurs once the player himself realizes it, everyone is playing by the standard Clue rules. Everyone is trying to figure out the who/what/where involved in the Mr. Body murder per usual. For instance, one player may receive a lot of character cards at the beginning of the game, so they have a better notion who the murderer is, and may deduce who the murderer is first and therefor avoid the player who is the killer, if the killer is indeed one of the characters being played by a player.

If you have concluded that you are indeed not the murderer, then continue to try and solve the mystery. If you have discovered who the murderer is and they haven't yet figured it out his/herself, then you will continue to play normally and hope they haven't figured it out and are not waiting to murder you.

If you've gathered enough evidence to know that you are indeed the killer, then you must start trying to murder the other players. The first person attempted should be the one you feel is closest to solving the mystery. Yes, this does announce that you are the killer, but the other players still need to find out the what/where for the original mystery.

So, the win conditions using this ruleset would be as follows:
Discover the who/what/where and make a correct accusation.
Everyone else makes wrong accusations and you win by default.
Discover you are the murderer and kill everyone else.

Losing conditions
Make a wrong accusation.
Attempt to kill a player when you are not the murderer.
Murdered by killer player.

You'll need to try this out to see if it works. I've got a suspicion that with really tough players aiming to win it will degenerate. All you need is Clue and some other players.

It's been ages since I've played Cluedo (the English variant of Clue), but I remember it was usually pretty easy to figure out "who dunnit". "Where 'e dunnit" was the hard one as there's more options and you had to be in the room to ask the question. We'd be pretty good at masking that. If your character's card was in another player's hand, expect that bastard to keep pulling you into the complete wrong section of the board to ask pointless questions.

I'd expect the murderer, once figured out, would stake out a section of the board to stop people asking questions about those rooms. You could easily end up in a stalemate situation.

You've also got the issue of what to do if someone has their own character card hidden in their hand, realises they're not going to win and decides to go on a killing spree. Admittedly in a real board game you've got the issue that people won't want to play with you if you bend the rules that much, but it could happen.

Quote:Original post by Trapper Zoid
You've also got the issue of what to do if someone has their own character card hidden in their hand, realises they're not going to win and decides to go on a killing spree.

I would say to prevent this, the person trying to murder a player must show their hand to that person if no one else can prove that they aren't the murderer. This would work because that person is getting killed anyways, so it doesn't matter what they find out from being shown the hand.