Merry Murder Day!

Merry Christmas. Eve. I got you all something. A board game.

The game is called Kill Doctor Lucky. The object is... well, take a wild guess. In Clue, you start with the murder victim already dead and the object is to figure out who did it. Here, the murder victim is still alive and the object is to fix that. Why? Why not? The winner is the one who kills Doctor Lucky. If you're looking for a place to go buy it, there's no need. This is a Christmas present, remember. All you have to do is print the stuff out; the materials can all be found here. If that's too much work, an online game room has been set up here. They made the game to be free, anyway.

You go around the mansion collecting cards to put in your hand, some of which move you around the mansion, some of which are weapons, and some of which are 'failure' cards we'll get into in a second. You have a large amount of potential murder weapons available to you, such as a Civil War cannon, rat poison, a duck decoy, or a loud noise. If you're alone in a room with Doctor Lucky, when no other player is positioned to see you, you can take a whack at whacking him. You can try to kill him barehanded, or use a weapon to improve your odds. A point value is added up to determine how strong the attempt is. (Most of the weapons are more effective in specific rooms. For example, the loud noise is worth 2 points normally, but if you make the noise in the Carriage House, it's worth 6 points.)

However, Doctor Lucky is lucky. He has 'failure' cards in the deck, or rather, your opponents do, worth anywhere from 1-3 points. (There are many ways to fail. For example, "You have somehow mistaken a child's toy for Doctor Lucky." Or, "A wizened kung fu master intervenes on the Doctor's behalf, then vanishes." Or, "You are stupid, stupid, stupid.") When you make an attempt on Doctor Lucky, play goes once around the circle to the other players, who may each make one decision to play a failure card or not. Once a failure card is played, it's out of the game for good, so overkill trying to foil a murder attempt may not be a good idea. As failure cards are removed, the odds of success improve... especially since each failed attempt earns you a Spite Token, worth a permanent +1 to all subsequent murder attempts. Early on, attempts will likely fail, but Doctor Lucky eventually runs out of luck as the attacks get stronger and the defenses get weaker.

Nothing tomorrow. Enjoy the holidays.