Truce - A game of subterfuge, co-operation, and above all, diplomacy

example round.md

Example Round of Truce

We have 6 players: Agatha, Barney, Celeste, Darcy, Emmett, and Freja

Emmett wants to kick off the game aggressively and wants to attack Agatha. They reach out to both Freja and Barney privately asking for support. Both Freja and Barney agree to support, but Barney does not plan on following through.

Barney tells Agatha of Emmett's attack and convinces her that she should defend with him supporting her, asking that the favour be returned later in the game. She agrees, but Barney is planning to decieve her. Instead he plots with Darcy, that they should attack Emmett, and split the winnings.

Celeste decides to stay out of the schemeing for this round. Seeing that everyone is busy and the Stash is at 2 coins, she decides to Loot thinking that no one else will.

Each player submits their actions secretly and are revealed.

Player	Action	Target
Agatha	Defend
Barney	Attack	Emmett
Celeste	Loot
Darcy	Support	Barney
Emmett	Attack	Agatha
Freja	Support	Emmett

Resoluton

• Celeste successfully Loots, gaining the entire Stash (2 coins) into her Spoils.
• Agatha Defends, but with no supporters, her defense value is 0
• Emmett's attack on Agatha is successful, his attack value is 1 (Freja's Support). He takes 1 of Agatha's coins into his Spoils
• Barney's attack is also successful, since his attack value is 1 (from Darcy's support), and Emmett's defense is 0 since he attacked. Barney takes all of Emmett's Spoils (1 coin) and 1 coin from Emmett's supply.
• Once everything is resolved, Barney keeps his word and gives 1 coin to Darcy which goes into her Spoils for the next round, potentially making her a target.

truce - quick rules.md

Truce - quick rules

short version of the Truce rules for fast reference.

• each player starts with 3 coins
• pick how many rounds that game will be (8 - 15)
• each round add 1 coin to The Stash
• each player secretly selects an action. They are all revealed at the same time
  • attack + target: Attack value = # of supporters. Attack is successful if Atk val is greater than Def val.
  • defend: Defense value = # of supporters. Ties go in favour of Defender.
  • support + target: become a supporter of another player.
  • loot: Split The Stash with other looters into your Spoils. You lose to Attacks automatically.
  • pass: Do nothing.
• if attack successful, take 1 coin from target + their spoils into your spoils.
• at the end of the round, each player move Spoils into their Supply
• the player with the most coins in the final round wins. If tie, player with the most supporters that round wins.
• always split coins evenly among players, remove the reminder from the game.

Key things

• You need support to succeed at attacking and defending.
• If every something is shared, it's always split evenly and the reminder is removed from the game. Eg. Split 5 coins between 3 players? Each gets 1 and 2 are lost
• If you run out of coins, you are not out of the game. You can still support whoever still has coins. Be careful who you double cross, you might need them in the end game.

truce.md

Truce

A game of cooperation & deceit

Truce is a zero-sum social game, where everyone is against you, but you need other's help to make your actions are successful. It's a streamlined version of the popular, yet daunting, Diplomacy. Truce removes the pieces and map, simplifies the interactions, and adds a jockeying element of the siezeing the stash. This makes it much easier to teach, and is possible to play remotely via correspondance without sacrificing the schemeing and backstabbing.

What you need to Play

• 3 to ∞ players (works best with 5+)
• A method of secretly writing down each player's actions and revealing them at once. (Slips of paper + pens work great.)
• A number of objects to present "coins", 3 per player plus 15 is good. If playing remotely, a public ledger works as well.

How To Win

Be the player with the most coins in their Supply at the end of the final round. If there is a tie, the player who has the most Supporters that round wins. If there is still a tie, the victory is shared.

Setup

1. Decide how many rounds we will play.

• We suggest between 8 and 15.
• If you are playing by Correspondence we suggest doing 1-2 rounds per day, providing enough time inbetween rounds for discussion and plotting.

2. Give each player 3 coins. This is their Supply.
3. Give each player a method of writing down their action. If playing remotely, decide on a medium.

How to Play

1. At the start of each round, add 1 coin to The Stash.
2. Each player, at the same time, secretly decides which action to take and it's target (if applicable).
3. Once all actions have been decided, or the round's deadline has been reached, all action are revealed at the same time and resolved (see below).
4. Move all coins from each player's Spoils to their Supply. Update the public ledger if you are using one.
5. If it is not the final round, begin a new round.

Actions

Attack

Attempt to take coins from another player

• Specify another player as your target when you pick this action
• Your Attack value is equal to the number of Supporters you have
  • If you have no Supporters, your Attack value is 0
  • If your Attack value is greater than your target's Defense value, the attack succeeds.
  • If your target selected Loot, your attack succeeds automatically.
• If your Attack is successful, take 1 coin from the target's Supply and all of their Spoils, and place them into your Spoils.
• Attacks will most likely fail without Supporters.
• You can not select this action if you don't have any coins in your Supply

Defend

Attempt to stop a potential Attack

• Your Defense value for this round is equal to the number of Supporters you have
  • If you have no Supporters, your Defense value is 0
  • If your Defense value is equal to or greater than the attacker's Attack value, the attack fails
• You can not select this action if you don't have any coins in your Supply

Support

Enable another player's Attack or Defend to succeed

• Specify another player as your target when you pick this action
• If your target also selected Support, your Support is passed along to their target, and so on.
• You don't know for sure which action you might be supporting
• If you have no coins, you may still select this action.

Loot

Attempt to take the coins from The Stash

• The Stash will be split evenly among all players that selected Loot and put into their Spoils
• If The Stash can not be split evenly, the remainder is removed from the game
  • Example: The Stash has 5 coins, 3 players select Loot, each player gets 1 coin into their Spoils and 2 coins are removed from the game
  • Example: The Stash has 2 coins, 3 players select Loot, each player would get no coins, and those 2 coins are removed from the game
• If you Loot, any Attack against will automatically succeed (even if they have no suppoters) and they will take all of the coins in your Spoils.
• Supporters do not affect this action
• You can not select this action if you don't have any coins in your Supply

Pass

Choose to not participate this round.

• If a Player does not, for any reason, submit an action in a timely fashion or their action is invalid or can not be interpreted, their action is defaulted to Pass for that round.
• If you have no coins, you may still select this action.

How to Resolve Actions

• Resolve Support
  • Each player notes how many Supporters they have
  • If a player that selected Support is also the target of Support, it's passed along to their target
    • Example: Charles supports Agatha and Agatha supports Barney. Charles's support is passed along to Barney, so Barney now has 2 Supporters
• Resolve Loot
  • Split The Stash evenly among all players that selected Loot. These coins are added to their Spoils. Any remainder is removed from the game.
    • Example: The Stash has 5 coins, 3 players selected Loot, Each player gets 1 coin and 2 coins are removed.
    • Note: It's possible to gain no coins from Loot if too many players choose Loot.
• Resolve Attacks
  • Go through each player that selected Attack and determine if their Attack was successful or not
  • An Attack is successful if the Attack value is greater than the target's Defense value. Ties go in favour of the Defender.
  • If the target selected Loot, the Attack succeeds automatically.
• Earn Spoils
  • For each successful Attack, the attacker takes 1 coin from the target's Supply and adds it to their Spoils
    • If there is not enough coins in the target's Supply for each Attacker, the Attackers receive no coins and all coins from the target's Supply are removed from the game
  • If the target has any Spoils, they are split evenly among all successful attackers and added to their Spoils. Any remainder is removed from the game.
    • Example: Barbara has 1 coin in her Supply and 3 coins in her Spoils. She is successfully attacked by both Agatha and Barney. Agatha and Barney would not receive any coins from her Supply (and her Supply is removed), but they would each get 1 coin from Barbara's Spoils. Barbara now has no coins in her Supply and 1 in her Spoils.
  • In the case of Attack chains, resolve the start of the chain first and make your way down, Example:
    1. Agatha gains 2 coins from The Stash into her Spoils by selecting Loot
    2. Barney successfully attacks her, not needing any support since she looted. He takes 1 coin from her Supply and her Spoils (2 coins) and adds it to his Spoils (now 3 coins)
    3. Charles successfully attacks Barney (Darcy supported Charles this round). He takes 1 coin from Barney's Supply and all of Barney's Spoils (3 coins) and adds it to his Spoils (now 4 coins)
    4. Agatha and Barney lost 1 coin each, and Charles gained 4 coins.
  • In the case of Attack cycles, eg. Two players attacker eachother, the transfer of coins happens simultaneously.
    • Both Agatha, Barney successfully Attack eachother. Both would lose 1 coin from their Supply and add it to their Spoils at the same time.

Other Rules

• It is always public knowledge how many coins are in your Supply and what actions Players have taken in previous rounds
• If you have no coins you are not out of the game, however you may only select the Support or Pass action.
• Table-talk and private discussions are highly encouraged
• If a Player does not, for any reason, submit an action in a timely fashion or their action is invalid/can not be interpreted, their action is defaulted to Pass for that round.
• Unless you select the Attack or Defense Action, your Defense value and your Attack value is 0
• Ties in Attack and Defense value go in favor of the Defender
• A player may change their submitted action only if it is done before the actions are revealed.
• You may gift coins from your Supply to other players during the round, before the actiosn are revealed.
  • Gifted coins are put into that player's Spoils.
  • Coins can not be gifted from a player's Spoils, only from their Supply
  • This is a public action and all players are informed of it.

Tip & Tricks

• Simplest Backstab: If you convince someone to Support you, you can easily turn around and Attack them and win. Make sure you trust who you support.
• Support Chains: Sometimes your Support may get transferred several times and end up helping someone you did not intend
• Ghost Players: Players with no coins are still incredibly valuable as they can still support you in your actions. Don't burn bridges.
• Time to Strike: Try to anticipate when players will go for The Stash as it grows. The more players that try and take it at the same time will result in less for everyone.
• Stealing the Pot: If you convince other players to support you in a big action, you know they aren't going to loot, that might be your opportunity to take it all for yourself.
• An Olive Branch: You can always convince people to help you by promising that you will gift some of the Spoils of an Attack if they give you support. You are never bound to such agreements, but might pave the way to a strong alliance.

Ways to Play

In-Person

• Truce can be played using slips of paper, pens, and random items to represent coins.
• Each round, write your action on the slip of paper and reveal it once everyone has written their action.
• Use player shields to ensure no one peeks while writing
• Try to play in a timely fashion. Use a timer if anyone is lagging the game.
• Encourage table-talk and private discussions.

Correspondence

• Truce was designed to also be played over Correspondence, where the game takes place over several hours or days, and can be done completely remotely.
• Rounds end at a specific time, instead of when everyone submits their actions
• If you are playing in a shared space, a slotted box where you can drop your action on a slip of paper works well.
• If you are playing remotely, elect a 3rd party person to act as the Arbiter, that will receive each player's action via any communication means (SMS, IM, email, etc.) and will present all actions to the group when the round's deadline has ended.
• Keep a public ledger of who has how many coins that is easily accessible by all players.

Terminology

• Spoils: All of the coins you have gained this round. Moved into your Supply at the end of the round.
• Supply: The coins a player has.
• The Stash: a central pool of coins that grows each turn. Players may attempt to take from the pool by selecting the Loot action.