Real Name: Jen Schoonover

Name of Game: Caribbean Secrets 

Link: http://hademon.wordpress.com/2009/09/07/2009-gamechef-entry/

Elevator Pitch: You have been sent to investigate rumors of a cult in the South Seas. Can you determine whether the rumors are true before it’s too late? Be careful, this game will leave marks!

Medals: One week (according to one post, it said before midnight on the 7^th, but another said before Monday, so I’m marking the badge for now and will be told otherwise whether I was wrong), Fleur-De-Lis, Star, Discus Badge

Intro:

Blood looks like black ichor in the torchlight as the fevered pitch of the drums makes you sway in unconscious rhythm. A skull-faced man separates himself from the dancing masses and enters the center of the circle, crushing feathers and bones beneath his feet. In his hand, a bottle of rum pours generous libations around the open space; you can hear him mutter as he passes close by.

The music stops. In the pending silence the fire spits and crackles, and everyone, even you, holds their breath with anticipation. With a guttural voice the leader announces that the Loa have been appeased and will spare the area from the impending doom. There is a collective sigh of relief.

The next day, the storm spares the area with minimal damage.

Was it spiritual intervention or lucky coincidence? How far are you willing to go to find out the truth?

This is a game. It’s not meant to be an accurate portrayal of any religion, people, or place. The main goal of the game is to have fun. The secondary goal is to determine whether or not vodou exists, and success or failure is determined in-play as the adventure progresses. There is a tertiary goal of survival, but this is optional. 

The setting is the Caribbean off the Gulf of Mexico, including the U.S. mainland of Louisiana and nearby areas. The era can be selected ahead of time, or it can be left open to interpretation until an event sets the timeframe.

What you will need to play:

One pre-marked T-Shirt for each player

One standard Deck of Playing Cards for each player

Markers

HOW TO PLAY

The players create very basic characters, all of whom are on a team of investigators researching the area for signs of actual metaphysical activity. The players use their decks of cards to introduce the current storyline, then influence it with subsequent cards. Play continues until a definitive conclusion is reached or until all the cards are used for that session, whereupon the adventure is over until the next time the players meet.

The Cards

The cards are used in two ways—winning a battle and developing a story. You can only use one deck for an entire adventure, and once you’re out of cards you either have to rely on the kindness of your party or die, be turned, or otherwise consumed.

Developing the Story

Each card in a deck represents a story element. At the beginning of the adventure each player selects three cards to represent his or her development of the adventure. An adventure lasts until all the elements are resolved, or touched upon in play. Once these cards are used, they cannot be used again for the rest of this particular adventure. After the adventure begins, on his or her turn the player draws a card and incorporates that story element into the unfolding adventure. Any NPCs that are brought into play are in control of that particular player. All players should note that these NPCs should be played fairly and without bias to any one particular character, and all players should okay any elements before they are brought into play. 

Fighting a Battle

In order to fight any contested battle, the numerical value of the cards is considered—a two being the lowest and an Ace being the highest. Whoever has the higher valued card wins the battle. Each character has a particular Specialty (see below), which provides the character with one of two advantages: The player can add either a +4 to any card value being used in battle, and the player can draw the next three cards and select the one he or she desires. Any player can perform both actions in a turn, adding +4 to the roll and looking ahead to find a better valued card.

Again, it should be emphasized that all of these cards that are drawn are then discarded, unable to be used again until the next adventure begins. As these cards are also used to perform all contested challenges, it might behoove the player to consider the numerical values of the cards before developing the storyline—he or she may want to reserve some cards in order to have better chances at that time.

Card Storylines

Spades

Two: Former enemy becomes ally; may be playing character falsely

Three: A partnership or friendship dies.

Four: A situation resolves

Five: A character is betrayed

Six: There is an unexpected change in the plan

Seven: The current crisis has unexpected results

Eight: There is an accident

Nine: A character is invited to an event

Ten: A recent success turns out to be inaccurate and the situation is bad.

Jack: A youth finds out something about a character and blackmails him or her.

Queen: An influential native woman reveals a secret

King: A powerful enemy makes himself known to a character.

Ace: Evidence is revealed that shows something you’ve recently seen is trickery, not real magic.

Hearts

Two: A character hooks up with a local vodou worshipper

Three: A local becomes friendly enough to offer some advice.

Four: Some locals become suspicious of someone in your group.

Five: You have an unexpected visitor

Six: You discover a clue from the past

Seven: An event seems to magically influence the situation

Eight: You find evidence that makes you question recent magical events

Nine: A character has made a miscalculation

Ten: A character does something that brings the group closer to the community.

Jack: A native teaches a character something about vodou

Queen: A powerful local woman becomes affectionate (motherly or as a lover).

King: A powerful male leader becomes friendlier.

Ace: Evidence is revealed that shows something you’ve recently seen is real magic, not trickery.

Clubs

Two: Whatever the current plan is, recent events seem to show you are on the right track.

Three: The party has an opportunity to learn more using stealth

Four: You hear about something happening (a rumor) secondhand.

Five: Someone challenges one of the characters

Six: Evidence is revealed that causes the party to question one of their team members

Seven: The odds seem to stack up against your current theory

Eight: You must travel to find further evidence

Nine: The natives decide to test someone in your group

Ten: You need to look elsewhere for more information.

Jack: A local youth is looking for a fight

Queen: A female leader decides she doesn’t like you.

King: An aggressive male leader decides to trust you, but will get angry should you fail him.

Ace: Evidence is revealed that shows something you’ve recently seen is trickery, not real magic.

Diamonds

Two: A character is caught in a potentially plan-blowing situation

Three: The current theory looks promising, as seen by recent evidence

Four: You risk losing something to gain information.

Five: Bad luck plagues the character

Six: A gamble pays off

Seven: Instead of seeking the evidence, the evidence finds you.

Eight: A character finds employment with a local suspect

Nine: A recent endeavor is rewarded

Ten: A plan reaches a dead end.

Jack: A character becomes an eyewitness to a vodou event

Queen: A powerful local woman welcomes you although with some suspicion

King: A wealthy male leader becomes friendlier.

Ace: Evidence is revealed that shows something you’ve recently seen is real magic, not trickery.

Using the Cards

Starting the Adventure: Each player selects three cards (that won’t be used again) to develop the storyline up to this point. The first card will represent something that happened in pre-game history; the second is what is happening now, and the third is a potential future to be reached before this adventure is over. The players discuss what they want to use and how, and a consensus must be reached.

Example: Player A wants to use the Eight of Diamonds, Queen of Hearts, and Four of Spades. She decides her character is working for a local suspected vodou practitioner in her curio shop and the matron has taken a liking to her character. Her four of spades, the situation resolving, is focused solely on her previous cards—this player succeeds if her employment with this woman leads to evidence supporting or disproving the claims.

Continuing the adventure: The players will take turns stating what his or her character is doing and, at any time during the turn, can draw a card to influence the story. The player can also draw a card any time his or her Specialty comes into play. Remember that these cards can’t be used again and decks only last so long.

T-Shirts

The T-shirts are used as character sheets and are continually marked throughout play.

(((Example T-shirt Here)))

Name: Of Character

Specialty: Conceal/Hide, Research, Combat, Breaking & Entering, Spiritual

These specialties are also considered the standard character types in the game.

Conceal/Hide: Thieves, Entertainers, Spies, undercover professionals. Experienced at disguises, moving silently, sneak attacks, etc., as well as determining whether someone else is hiding something. Suspicious of claims. Hard to turn regardless of evidence. 10 X’s, 2 stars crosses off one X.

Research: Students, professors, researchers, investigators. Experienced at information, discovering facts. Will try to prove claims false unless turned, and then will try to prove them true. Easy to turn, except in the face of physical evidence to the contrary. 5 X’s, 5 stars crosses off one X.

Combat: Soldiers, fighters, hired muscle, bodyguards. Experienced at fighting. Only believes what he or she sees. Hard to turn, except in the face of physical evidence to the contrary. 10 X’s, 2 stars crosses off one X.

Breaking & Entering: Robbers, investigators, specialists. Experienced at breaking into locks, computers, and the like. Neutral and doesn’t really care. 5 X’s, 1 stars crosses off one X.

Spiritual: Spiritual leaders, occultists, occult researchers. Has knowledge of magic, understands basic premise of vodou, charms, and curses. Easy to turn regardless of evidence. 5 X’s, 5 stars crosses off one X.

There can be more than one specialty playing but only after each one has been used once. This means that up to five players, one of each type will be assigned. More than five and multiple specialties can be had. If ten people are playing, it is recommended that you have two teams vying against each other.

Marking the T-shirt

The rest of the T-shirt is available for marks, badges, and merits.

X: Every time the character says or does something that seems to indicate that he or she believes magic is real, the T-shirt is marked with an X. This includes accepting tutoring in any magical art, agreeing with something said about vodou or magic, or seeing something extraordinary. The other players should pay attention and point out when something is questionable. Once the character reaches a certain level of X’s, he or she is “turned” (see below).

Star: Every time the player does or says something that refutes magic, he or she should be marked with a star. This includes looking for wires, mentioning a possible way to use trickery to get the same result, seeing something that proves trickery, a convincing argument of the same, and so on. These stars reduce the amount of X’s a character has accumulated.

Fleur-de-lis: When a character succeeds in his or her current goal, the T-shirt gets a fleur-de-lis badge, indicating a level of play. At three, the character gets +6 to scoring in his or her specialty and can reuse one card in the discard deck. At six badges, the character gets +8 and can re-use two cards.

Skull and Crossbones: The character has been killed, turned into a zombie, or runs out of cards… sometimes all three.

Bottle: Resurrected character, usually in the form of a zombie.

Turned Characters

Once a character is turned, he or she utterly believes in Vodou, regardless of whether or not it’s real. Depending on the story and the character in question, this does not have to mean the character is in league with the Vodou practitioners—he or she can still be a member of the team and try to take down the Vodou cult, even as a zombie. For others, the mission changes: either convince the fellow party members of their misconstrued ways or get rid of them by using cards and Specialties to hamper the team’s efforts.

Dead Characters

When a player runs out of cards he or she is at the mercy of the Vodou practitioners unless another player gives some of his or her remaining cards to the player. With no more cards the character is dead, unless he or she is willing to be Zombified.

Zombified Characters

The player is resurrected (add a bottle). This does not actually mean the character REALLY died and was resurrected. It just means the character THINKS he or she died and was resurrected. The player gets to pick up his or her spent deck and re-use it, starting with three cards to explain what he or she think happened, where he or she is now, and what the goal is. The character must be played with the assumption he or she is a zombie. However, if the character gets ten stars’ worth of evidence proving it was a trick, the character will stop believing he or she died.

Locations

This is a list of all the places characters can travel to and in-between to learn more and determine what is actually going on.

Haiti

The United States, mainly New Orleans, Louisiana

Dominican Republic

Cuba

Bahamas

Eras

This does not have to be a contemporary investigation. The characters could also have to deal with pirates, soldiers from foreign governments, slavery, and so on.

Pre-1790s: The Haitians are slaves. Vodou is underground. Pirates roam the seas. Investigators are from a foreign government. Racial differences may prove hard for the investigators to obtain acceptance.

1791–1800: The slave population revolts. Dangerous for investigators, but rumors of attacks using vodou may force foreign governments to insist on an investigation at this time.

1804: The Haitians declare independence and all whites are killed or exiled.

1915–1934: The United States occupies Haiti to control rebel armies that the Haitian government can’t control by themselves. Now the investigators could be from the U.S. as well. Tens of thousands of Haitians go to Cuba.

1957–1986: Due to the dictatorship of the Duvaliers creating a private army and death squads, thousands of Haitians flee to the United States. Investigators could go anywhere in the U.S. to learn of Vodou activity.

1986–the future: Anywhere.

Screw it: HIGHEST ROLL WINS. More specifically, Highest CARD wins.Yep, we’re going for the standard deck of cards. Actually a half-deck. Why? because 26 cards can also equal “A” to “Z” and I think I can incorporate that too.

Intrigue: This is going to involve voudou around Louisiana or Haiti when it first became known (research). Your characters have been sent by a government to figure out whether or not there really is such a thing as voudou.

Discovering the truth without being killed, turned into a zombie, or succumbing to the will of the Loa is the tricky bit.

Fleur-de-lis, Seabird, and Star are easy, but Dividers can there too.

Although zombies may exist, I’m not sure yet if they are going to be significant enough for protagonists, so I’m not sure if I can pull the WAJ Chair Medal, but if I can get people to dance with a dead chicken the Lombardi Trophy may be mine.

Out of the rest of the awards, I’m aiming for the Discus Award and I think I have it. T-SHIRTS. The character sheets are T-Shirts  with spaces for everything, PLUS as the person gets into riskier and riskier stuff the players and/or GM can mark each other and themselves depending on what’s happening.

This could be so much fun.

You can earn one or more of the following “campaign medals” for submitting a playable draft of your game by the specified deadline:

	Submit your game within One Week (on or before Monday Sept 7).
	Submit your game within Two Weeks (on or before Monday Sept 14).
	Submit your game within One Month (on or before Wed Sept 30).
	Submit your game within One Year (during or before Game Chef 2010).

IDENTIFICATION BADGES

Traditionally, Game Chef has had both an official “theme” and “ingredients” to help inspire folks in the design process and provide a bit of cohesiveness to each year’s challenge. This year, chefs can earn “identification badges” for their submitted games by incorporating the theme and one or more of the 4 special ingredients. Note that you don’t have to try for any identification badges, necessarily, though I strongly recommend trying for at least 2-3.

Theme Badge

Include the theme: INTRIGUE.

Ingredient Badges

	Include the ingredient: FLEUR-DE-LIS.
	Include the ingredient: DIVIDERS.
	Include the ingredient: SEABIRD.
	Include the ingredient: STAR.

SERVICE MEDALS

When you submit your game, you can nominate 1-2 other chefs for “service medals.” These chefs should be those who provided significant assistance and support that helped you complete your game or made your game much better than it otherwise would have been. These service medals are tacked on to those chefs’ hardware collections, ideally earning more attention for those designers and their games.

Someone else mentions you as being especially helpful during GC2009.

SPECIAL DISTINCTIONS

Over the years there have been a number of additional special requirements that have been a part of the Game Chef, beginning in 2005. “Special distinctions” are additional medals that pay homage to this tradition. Chefs can attempt to incorporate any number of these requirements into their designs, earning medals for doing so, but I would advise against attempting to earn more than 2-3 special distinctions, simply because your game with drift further towards wackyland.

The Albert Arnold Gore Jr. Award for Invention in Contemporary Game Design

Design your game to be played over the internet or cell phones.

The A. G. Bell A/V Award

Submit your game as an audio or video file.

Brevity Award

Keep the rules of your game to 4 pages or less.

The Cerberus Award

Make a game for three players.

The Dressed to Impress Award

I (Jonathan) arbitrarily give this award to the prettiest games.

The Gabriele Reinsch Discus Appreciation Award

Make a game that requires a custom-printed CafePress (or other POD) object besides a book or booklet.

P.S. This award is named after Ms. Reinsch, holder of the current world record in discus (76.80m), because it would have originally required the rules of the game to fit on a custom-printed frisbee. Unfortunately, CafePress doesn’t print frisbees anymore. Very sad.

The Holmes-Kitkowski Heritage Award

Dramatically re-envision a previous Game Chef entry by someone else.

Note that, if your game is sufficiently derivative, you might need the permission of the original author to do any number of things with it, even though you wrote it! To avoid later difficulties, you might consider contacting the author of the original game before proceeding too far. Most will be thrilled you are inspired by their game.

The Lombardi Trophy

Make a game about sports or a game that requires physical athleticism.

The Royal Academy of Flatland Award

Make a board game.

The Save Water, Bathe With a Friend Award

Submit a game collaborative created by two or more chefs.

The Sorensen-Nixon Class of 2001 Memorial Award

Set your game in the year 2001.

The Wm. Appleby-Jenkins Chair of Archaeological and Zombiological Sciences

Make a game in which the main protagonists are zombies.

Now we’re going to think about this for a while.

This is my blog for the Iron Game Chef. I probably won’t use it hereafter.

I’m a game designer, therefore I like joining up and writing new games.

So my game will be along shortly.