Intrigue

Intrigue is a social deduction game for seven or more players (plus a moderator). You may recognize it as a variant of the party games Mafia or Werewolf.

Background

The monarch of the realm has been incapacitated, leaving the Court to be ruled by majority vote in their absence. By night the Court is in recess. The courtiers revel and enjoy furtive rendezvous. But when dawn breaks they find a courtier murdered by a secret Assassin.

When the Court is back in session, the assembled courtiers present any clues they’ve found until they’ve condemned and executed the guilty party—or so they hope.

In the next recess, another murder occurs. In the next court session, another trial and execution. This repeats until all the Assassins are dead (and the Loyalists win), or when enough Loyalists are dead that they can no longer convict Assassins in court votes (and the Assassins win).

How to Play

1. Enable the Experience

The game requires that you enable the Second Life experience “The Emmeverse” on the land parcel where it is rezzed.

2. Rez the Game

The Game of Intrigue is contained in this little table with a book on it. Rez that.

Intrigue Table

3. Click the Book to Get the HUD

Players join the game by clicking the book. When clicked, a HUD will be rezzed, which will ask the player for experience permissions. Once they’re granted, it will auto attach.

Intrigue HUD

4. Begin the First Recess Phase

The first player to click the book will be the Moderator. Their HUD will have a BEGIN button that they can click once all the players have joined. This begins the first Recess phase.

While the Court is in Recess, two things happen.

The Assassins Conspire and Kill

The Assassins will have two buttons on their HUDs. The CONSPIRE button will let any Assassin send a message to all the other Assassins. The Assassins can use this to identify each other, decide which of the Loyalists to kill, and decide which of the Assassins will do the deed.

There are three kinds of Assassin, each with their own advantages and disadvantages.

  • A poisoner can poison their victim in complete secrecy, but sometimes the poison is too weak and the victim survives.
  • A cutthroat always succeeds in killing their victim, but sometimes the blood left on them will be seen by one of the Loyalists.
  • An enchanter can kill two courtiers in one round, but there is a high chance of the enchantment backfiring and killing the enchanter as well.

The Spymaster Surveils

One of the Loyalists will secretly be assigned the role of Spymaster. This player will have a SURVEIL button during the Recess phase. This allows them to pick one courtier and learn their role, whether Loyalist or some kind of Assassin. They can use this information when the Court is back in session to steer the debate toward accusing Assassins and away from accusing Loyalists. But they need to be careful: if the Assassins suspect someone of being the Spymaster, they’re likely to be the Assassins’ next victim.

Important: The Recess phase will end as soon as the Assassins have struck. If the Spymaster has not surveilled by then, they will lose their chance.

5. The Courtiers Debate and Vote in the Session Phase

When the Court is back in Session, courtiers will debate who should be accused of being an Assassin. Players can say whatever they want in this debate, including bald-faced lies, but may not screenshot their HUDs to prove their role. There are various pieces of information that the Loyalists can use to infer an Assassin’s identity:

  • Roles revealed by the Spymaster’s surveillance.
  • Blood seen on a cutthroat’s hands.
  • The votes cast in earlier Session phases (which are shown publicly).

The Moderator can call for an actual vote at any time during the Session phase. When they do, every courtier (both Loyalists and Assassins) will get a blue dialog to vote Yes or No. If a majority of courtiers vote Yes, then the accused will be executed, and the court will go to Recess again (unless one side has won at that point). If the vote fails, then the Session phase continues with more debate and votes.

6. Ending the Game

The game ends when one of these things is true:

  • The Assassins have all been killed. Then the Loyalists win.
  • The number of Assassins is greater than or equal to the number of Loyalists. Then the Assassins win.