Engines of Vengeance – 18 card game

Perhaps ‘RPG’ is stretching it, but the roles do weigh heavily on the Vigilante and the Detective in this two-player card management game.

The game has a twist of push-your luck and moral decisions like:

• Does the Vigilante kill the witness to prevent two cards going to Evidence?
• Does the Detective pump the assassin for evidence, or keep them around for convenience?
• Do you print the game full-colour or just monochrome?

Both players have four cards that can be used for scoring – if they go to the right place. The players have to keep these cards in-play and out of the opponent’s scoring pile. The Vigilante and Detective behave differently and the play style is different accordingly.

The Vigilante has to keep their Wrath running – if it expires then it goes to Evidence, helping the detective. You could go for a big finish; cashing in all four Wrath at once; or a catastrophic failure where all four expire on the same turn.

The detective has to make sure that their double-ended TAIL/INTERROGATE cards don’t come into play combined with the cards that will send them straight to Bodycount- helping the Vigilante.

Both players are facing off against the No Morelz gang. They keep popping up like mushrooms.

Every photograph in the game art is either a photograph of me, or was taken around my house & garden.

Play variations

There was not enough space in the rulebook for these – and they have not been as well tested.

Act1 – Play as normal

Act2 – The FIXER/TURNCOAT must start with the TURNCOAT side up. Half of the TAIL cards must start with the INTERROGATE side up

Act3 – Players remove KEEPING TABS and SUBVERT from their decks, shuffle and exchange two cards without looking at them. Then shuffle KEEPING TABS and SUBVERT back into the appropriate decks.

Questions raised in playtest of v1.0

Whilst in play, double-ended cards are whatever they started as.

I.e. a TAIL that is rotated 90 is still TAIL – it is only INTERROGATE after hitting Discard. Even on the turn that it goes to discard, count it at TAIL until it is back in play from the Deck.

Discard is not Exhaust.

When a single-ended card is discarded, it always goes onto discard with its original orientation – the ‘right’ way up.

If a double-ended card is discarded because it exhausted then it should go onto Discard upside-down from how it was played.

If a double-ended card is discarded by another action, then it should go onto Discard the same way it entered play.

E.g. if TAIL exhausts, it goes onto the Discard as INTERROGATE. But if discarded by THE STATION, then is goes onto Discard as TAIL.

FIXER is the same – If it exhausts then it goes into Discard as TURNCOAT. But if you discard it with SAFE HOUSE, then it goes onto Discard as FIXER.

Rotate all cards first and then deal with exhausted cards.

FIXER does not save cards from going to to Evidence once it has turned to 180 degrees because it is no longer active.

TURNCOAT does not prevent cards from going to to Bodycount once it has turned to 180 degrees because it is no longer Active.

FIXER and TURNCOAT affect everyone.

Both the Detective and the Vigilante are affected by the TURNCOAT and FIXER special rules.

WITNESS affects everyone.

WITNESS can unrotate itself. Keep it Active until you can discard it. Or send it to Bodycount if you are beyond redemption.