Description
Inner Circle
Every leader has them. An inner circle of the most trusted lieutenants who provide suggestions and plans. All of them vying to become the despot’s right-hand-man (or woman, or furry creature – depending upon your setting)
In this game you get to play the members of that inner circle in a black comedy push-your-luck game, where you have to make increasingly complex and ridiculous plans to keep ahead of your rivals.
Nobody plays the despot, they remain off screen. You may address the despot with your plans, but there is never a reply. Everyone starts with 5 credibility (less for a shorter game).
- You are each secretly dealt a pair of cards. Look at the suits of those cards and use those to narrate a plan – one that promises some combination of affection, wealth, victory and subterfuge to massage the ego of your boss.
- Taking it in turns, each of you can request additional cards in order to try to get closer to 21; with each new card there is a new suit which has to be added to your plan which might become increasingly baroque.
- When you have all decided to stick and not add to your plan, the cards are revealed. The person who is closest to 21 is the victor. They retain credibility while the credibility of their competition drains away. Anyone who has bust by getting a score of over 21 loses two credibility.
- When you have lost all credibility, you are out. You leave the game in a suitably horrible manner which you narrate. Play continues until only one survives.
