Difference between revisions of "ITR"

Latest revision as of 13:00, 6 May 2022

ITR, which stands for Ineligible To Reregister, is a game affiliated with the KGB (although not an official KGB activity) and is played on the 4th floor of Wean. It originated at Harvey Mudd. A HM alum (now in grad school at CMU) has informed us that being ITR is when students are required to take a semester off for grade problems, sometimes as a result of spending too much time playing ITR. Here is HM's wiki page on ITR.

The game starts out as a cross between Mafia and Tag, but as the rounds go on new concepts are introduced and rules change.

Equipment

ITR requires a bag of fake daggers. Daggers are made by rolling up a piece of paper and wrapping it in duct tape. A minimum of one dagger per player is required, and if the Wizards or Classes rounds are going to be played, more will probably be necessary.

Permanent Rules

Some meta rules stay no matter which round of ITR the game is currently on. Any of these rules can have specific exceptions in different rounds, but unless a new rule overrides or changes one of these rules, they are always in effect.

• Kill - a kill is completed by hitting or stabbing another player with a dagger. Players who have been hit and killed go to the graveyard. They must carry their dagger in an obvious way, usually by gripping it in the middle, to indicate to active players that they have been killed and are on their way to the graveyard.

• Graveyard - the Newell-Simon/Wean bridge. This is where players who have died wait until the round is over. The first player to go to the graveyard is tasked with keeping count of the people who have died and what role they were given at the beginning of the game, so that they know who is left alive and, if sufficiently few people are left, when they should begin to limit the playing area.

• NEVER lie about game state. If killed, grasp your dagger in the pre-agreed manner (usually in the center) and make your way to the graveyard. When asked by your killer if you were happy, do not lie. Lying about happy status to when alive is encouraged, but once killed, it is illegal.

• DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES! Once you have died, you can't interact with living players.

• "Half Court!" - shouted by the people in the graveyard if the game is getting stale. Limits the play area to the tiled circle surrounding the elevators and staircases on the 4th floor, i.e. no murder hallway or carpeted extension.

• "Endgame!" - shouted by the people in the graveyard if the game continues to be a stalemate after limiting it to half court. Limits the play area to the hallway visible from the graveyard, which is the hallway connecting the Newell-Simon/Wean bridge and the Engineering library.

• "Bloodsport!" - shouted by the people in the graveyard when the game has been limited to either half court or the end game hallway. Limits play area to the same physical space as Endgame and changes the game to a free-for-all where the last person alive is the victor.

• "Part the Red Sea!" - said by the people in the graveyard whenever NPCs need to get past. This is a command for all dead players to move to the walls of the graveyard in order to leave enough space for people to walk through the center.

• Plants - the plants may or may not be armed. Be warned. Be wary.

• "Orgy!" - if a large group of people are standing around talking for a long time and a player feels like it might be holding up the game, they may shout this and leap into the center of the group. Afterwards, they must count down from three and then spin in a circle with their dagger extended. Any people they hit during this are killed, but remorse (if applicable) is not evaluated until after the circle is completed.

Vanilla ITR

Vanilla ITR is the most basic form of the game. Players are all citizens of Happyville, where everyone is happy all the time. Unfortunately, recently unhappies have appeared in Happyville. Unhappies are remorseless killers who can only be stopped by death, and it is the duty of every upstanding happy citizen to take them down. As such, daggers have been dipped in a potent truth serum and distributed to every citizen.

Upon killing a potential unhappy, happy citizens must ask for the victim's happy status. Unhappies may choose to ask, but are not required to. If a happy person kills another happy person, the killer dies of remorse.

Happy citizens win when all unhappies are dead. A unhappy is victorious when everyone besides them is dead.

Vampires

Unhappy killers were an unpleasant experience for the citizens of Happyville, but it recently got worse. The unhappies have become vampires. Vampires may create "thralls" by tapping an unsuspecting victim on the neck or shoulders (in an area not covered by state, local, or federal law) with two fingers (as fangs). That person now follows the orders of the last vampire to thrall them. They and their master now win as a team. Thralls are unhappy for the purposes of remorse, but should report their original status to the graveyard. Thralls who were vampires continue to have the power to create thralls (and retain all their original thralls) but happy people who were thralled do not gain the ability to create thralls.

Thralls report directly to their last master- so if Alice thralls Bob, and Bob thralls Charlie, Charlie still reports to Bob (who in turn reports to Alice). And if Eve thralls Charlie, Charlie still reports to Bob (and by extension Eve).

Happy people win when all vampires and thralls are dead. A vampire and their thralls win when everyone who isn't either the vampire or one of their thralls is dead.

Remember not to lie about game state- if you do not have the ability to thrall, you cannot make the thrall gesture and should refrain from touching other players on the neck or shoulders.

Classes

A new variety of ITR in which all citizens have classes based on Dungeons and Dragons archetype. Each player, before the start of the game, chooses a class, which gives them new abilities. Players are not required to tell others their class, but must not lie about having an ability.

• Bard - The bard can stun players. To stun, make eye contact with another player and say "stun." So long as you keep eye contact, they cannot move. This ability can be used twice.
• Cleric - The cleric can heal. To heal, look at a player who has died recently and within your view and say "heal." This ability can be used twice.
• Druid - The druid can raise an animal companion. Go to the graveyard and choose a player to be your companion. They have a single dagger, but do not retain their previous abilities. They must clearly act like an animal which you specify, and follow your orders. Animals and anyone who kills an animal do not evaluate remorse. If an animal's master is killed, the animal goes berserk and kills everyone nearby.
• Fighter - The fighter has forelimb armor. Their arms, from the elbow down, and legs, from the knees down, are protected against daggers.
• Monk - The monk loses their dagger and gains a palm attack, allowing them to kill with a touch. They also have limb armor, and their arms from shoulder down and legs from hip down are invulnerable.
• Paladin - The paladin can detect evil. They may make eye contact with another player, wiggle their fingers in front of their nose, and ask another player if they are happy. That player must answer truthfully. This ability can be used twice.
• Wizard - The wizard can cast magic missile. They may look another player in the eyes and say "Abracastabra." That player dies immediately and the wizard does not evaluate remorse. This ability can be used once (or possibly twice, I forget).
• Ranger - A ranger can dual wield, gaining two daggers. They have also studied the art of knife throwing, allowing them to kill with a thrown knife. They must still evaluate remorse.
• Rogue - The rogue can backstab players by stabbing them in the back (while behind that player) and saying "backstab". The rogue may choose not to ask the backstabbed player if they are happy. If they do ask, the rogue must evaluate remorse (if relevant).
• Sorcerer - The sorcerer can stun once and heal once.

Here are some classes not typically used, but sometimes added for variety.

• Barbarian - The barbarian is illiterate and did not read the rules. They are immune to abilities (and should announce that they are a barbarian if 11they are targeted). They can still be stabbed by a ranger's second dagger and an animal companion's dagger (they know what daggers are, after all), but are immune to heal, stun, detect evil, and magic missile. They are also immune to palm attacks, making barbarian / monk duels hilarious to watch. The barbarian isn't especially fun to play against, but can be a good way to ease new players into classes.

Here are some variants of existing classes.

• Ranger - Before the introduction of knife throwing, the ranger could headshot players by making eye contact and saying "Boom, headshot." That player dies, and the ranger must evaluate remorse. This ability can be used twice.
• Rogue - To strengthen the historically weak rogue, the rogue was given cloak armor, granting them forelimb armor (like the fighter) only on their non-dagger hand.

Wizards

The citizens of Happyville have stumbled across books of magic and, through much effort and training, have become wizards. This variant is an even bigger mess of rules than Classes.

Players are not assigned as happy or unhappy in wizards. The last person standing wins. Dead players should not go to the graveyard- they sit down where they died and act as reagents for spells.

A blob is a group of players who have made a horrible mistake. They link arms and walk through the halls slowly. They're immune to stabbing, and anyone they touch becomes part of the blob. When a blob reaches four people, everyone in the blob dies. A blob cannot win.

Each person may pick one cantrip (unlimited use) and two spells (limited use).

The cantrips are

• Body Armor - You have forelimb armor, protecting your arms from the elbow down and legs from the knee down, like a fighter in Classes.
• Dual Wield - You can carry two daggers, like a ranger in Classes.
• Illusion - By saying "Illusion", you raise every dead player in line of sight as an illusion. They walk around pretending to be players. If they have a spell cast on them, are stabbed, stab somebody, or otherwise interact with a player they sit back down. They cannot cast spells or affect other players in any way.
• Blob Psion - Blob scions are immune to blobs. They are absorbed as normal. They can exit blobs at will. If the blob containing them is banished or splits before they exit, they die. They maintain spell counts and life through blob encounters, but cannot cast spells while inside a blob.
• Thrall - Works just like thrall in Vampires- tap a player on the shoulder and they must follow your orders. They win when you win, you win when they win.

The spells are

• Magic Missile - Make eye contact with your target and say "Magic Missile". They die. (2 uses)
• Stun - Make eye contact (squinty) with your target and say "Stun". They cannot move until they break eye contact or die. (3 uses)
• Animal Companion - Choose a dead player to be your animal companion. They follow the same rules as in Classes. (3 uses)
• Reflect - Causes a spell to rebound on its caster. Can be used on Magic Missile, Stun, and Death God. If a spell is reflected twice, both its caster and original target become a blob. (2 uses)
• Banish - Destroy one target animal companion, death god, flaming zombie, or blob. (2 uses)
• Death God - Choose a dead (sitting) player to become a Death God. Tell them a name. The Death God now seeks out that player to kill them. The Death God cannot be killed, but can be banished and reflected (if a Death God is reflected twice, they should find both players involved and make them be a blob). Death Gods should be very clear that they are Death Gods (say, "I am a Death God and cannot die, I will kill you [TARGET]"). (3 uses)
• Flaming Zombie - Pick a dead player to be a flaming zombie. They blindly attack everyone near them as they count down from 10. Anyone they tag becomes a flaming zombie. They cannot be killed, but can be banished. When they finish their countdown, they die. (1 use)
• Heal - Pick a dead player. They're resurrected in the same state in which they died. (2 uses)

Outbreak

Outbreak is a last-game-of-the-night variant, which is to say that it goes very quickly and is frantically active. One player is assigned to be unhappy, with all the rest happy. Whenever a player (happy or unhappy) dies, they go to the graveyard and are reborn as a unhappy. The winner is the last happy person left alive.

Combinations

Vampire Classes? Wizard Outbreak? Combining variants can make things even more incomprehensible / fun!