COUNTERMOVES

Volume 2 Issue 2

April 2004

Editor In Chief

Tom Higgins

Contributors

Stephan Beal, Trevor Blake, Devlyn Davis, Tom Higgins, Lloyd Krassner,

Walter O'Hara, Andrew Plotkin,

Gottardo Zancani

Email

countermoves@wsmf.org

Article Submissions

articlesub@wsmf.org

Game Submissions

gamesub@wsmf.org

Web Site

countermoves.sourceforge.net

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Noncommercial. Countermoves permits others to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work. In return, licensees may not use the work for commercial purposes -- unless they get the licensor's permission.

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In This Issue

Editorial Rantings	1

The MDC2002 4th Place Winner

Way Of The Warrior	2

Werewolf	14

End Notes	21

Editorial Ranting

These are the choices we are given, these are the decisions we have to make. Do we fight, do we seek peace, do we wait in hopes of a better solution.

This issue finds itself well over a year past its original deadline of February 2003. One year and few months have past since that first paragraph was written and this second one was drafted.

The choices we are given, and the choices we make for ourselves, certainly had a lot do to with the delay. In doing up a zine such as this there is always the want to do more, to publish faster, to go an extra few features more than the last issue....

A wise person once told me that “Less Is More”. He was on to something. So in the time during the original layout and my sitting down to finish this issue off once and for all several realities have come home to roost.

You can not do a zine without articles.

No matter how much people want to see it more often, you can not put out issues that do not exist.

Never count your chickens before they hatch, which in this context means never count your articles until they are written.

Good things take time, people will wait for them.

And so we have our new schedule for Countermoves publications. They will happen when there are enough articles to fill the space and they will be presented to the public when they are in a shape and form that pleases at least one set of eyes, mine.

As Orson Wells put it “We will serve no wine before its time.”

The Way of the Warrior ver 1.2

by Gottardo Zancani

The Way of the Warrior (WotW) is a solo system to simulate small tactical war operations. Is not aimed at a specific period: the base version of the rules is set on WWII but is quite easy to introduce new periods/themes.

Campaign Setup

Select one of the available nationalities for your units if this is the first mission: German, US, Russian, Italian and Finland are available for the WWII.

Select one theater of the operations in the [Theater of Operations] Table where your nationality is present and use the other nationality specified in the in the table for the enemy forces.

Game Sequence

The basic flow of the game is the following:

- Mission briefing: determine the objectives of the mission

- Equipment: choose your team

- Mission:

- Event determination

- Encounter phase

- Advance to next zone

- Post-mission debriefing: experience gain

Mission Briefing

Description: each mission has a final objective that must be reached; the approach to the objective is made of a series of steps that must be followed.

Target approach: create 3+1D3 mission steps by rolling 2D6 in the [Steps Table]. Each row will list a series of steps that must be crossed over: write each step in the [Mission Track].

Objective: roll 2D6 in the [Objective Table] to determine the mission objective. Write the objective steps in the [Mission Track].

Equipment

Description: select your men or re-equip your existing team members.

If this is the first mission then [Team Table] relative to your nationality will specify how many CP you have at your disposal. You mush select at lease 3 men in the [Team Table] using these CP (unused CP can be save for later use); the max team size is given in the [Team Table]. Every man is described in terms of Quality, CP cost and weapon.

Every soldier has also 4 grenades.

If you've already played a mission then you have 2CP available (1CP if you've aborted the last mission) to select some reinforcements, plus any saved CP; the max team size is still the one given in the [Team Table]. You can freely change weapon for Veteran/Private while Green must use their starting weapon.

You can give to a new member a Medical expertise (used to treat the wounded soldiers) by adding 1/2CP (depending on the nationality) to the base cost.

Range

The Encounter phase you will be acting in one of the three possible ranges: Short, Medium, Long. You can change the range during the Movement sub-phase: the range level can be incremented/decremented of one level.

Every weapon provide a Fire Factor depending on the range: the [Weapon List] table specify the Short/Medium/Long range FF.

Formation

Your team is normally on Column formation (road): when facing the enemy you can choose between Line formation or Open Order formation.

Line formation make possible the creation of a Fire Group.

Open Order formation gives your men a positive modifier when fired at.

You can change formation during the movement sub-phase.

Mission

Mark in the Mission Track the current position of your Squad: step #1.

The mission is over when the final step is free of enemies or if you abort it: if you abort a mission you won't get any experience points

Until you've reached and achieved the mission objective follow the sequence

1. Check the weather effects when applicable

2. If you’re on the last step if the Mission Track then keep track of the final enemy forces and goto 5

3. Roll 2D6 in the Event table corresponding to the terrain of the current position in the Mission Track

4. If no encounter is selected then go to 11, otherwise determine the enemy patrol composition in the [Patrol Table] and/or keep track of the enemy forces indicated in the Event Table.

5. Surprise Check: test morale for all men involved (including the enemy forces); Green that fail are pinned, others that fail suffer a +1 modifier for the fire on the next fire phase and cannot move.

6. Movement phase: your group can change formation or change range (only if ALL men can move); alternatively single soldiers can remove the Pinned status.

7. Fire Phase: all legible soldiers can fire. If on Line formation you can create a Fire Group

8. Enemy Action phase.

9. Route phase: check morale (also for the enemy forces) if the group suffered a Kill result in this turn. Enemy units that fails will leave the field; any soldier of your team that fails is Pinned. A team member with Medical experience can treat a Wounded soldier in this phase.

10. If the enemy forces have been defeated goto 11, otherwise return to 6 and start a new turn.

11. Advance your position in the Mission Track and go back to 1.

Weather Effect

Some missions and/or theater of operation will indicate if a special weather condition is applicable. In this case you must roll a dice in the [Weather Effect] table and apply the results.

Morale Test

To test the morale roll 1D6:

Green have a morale of 3

Private have a morale of 4

Veteran have a morale of 5

If the roll is <= to the soldier's morale the test is successful.

Fire Phase

In this phase your team can attack the enemy forces. Single soldiers can fire individually: if the team is in Line formation up to 3 men can create a Fire Group (please note that some weapons cannot be used on a Fire Group). For a Fire Group add up the Fire Factors of all involved soldiers, otherwise use the FF of the soldier firing and then select a target.

Roll a D6 and cross reference in the [Fire Table] the dice roll with the FF, considering all the modifiers that apply to the case. The final result is one of the following:

- NONE: no effect

- P: the target is Pinned. In the next Fire Phase this soldier won't be able to fire (will only recover the Pinned status).

- W: one man is wounded; a wounded soldier that suffers a second wound result is Killed.

- K: the target is killed.

Instead of firing a standard grenade you can deploy Smoke (remove one Grenade). Smoke will give some cover for the next 2 turns.

Enemy Action

If an enemy soldier is pinned remove this status.

An enemy Patrol not in cover (light or heavy) will advance toward your team with a result of 1-2 on a D6 roll.

If the enemy soldier has a Grenade it will use it as soon as possible.

If the enemy soldier has a Pistol roll 1D6: on a 1-4 result he'll use the weapon for an individual fire, with a result 5-6 he will join a fire group.

Enemy soldiers always form a Fire Group if possible. Select a random target in your Team and roll a D6. Apply the modifiers (if any) and determine the result in the Fire Table. In case of a Pinned result the soldier won't be able to fire in the next phase even if removes the Pinned status in the movement phase): mark this restriction in the Team roster.

Medical treatment

A soldier with Medical experience can try to first aid a wounded team member; on a result of 1-4 on a D6 the treatment is successful: the selected character is still wounded (ie. is Killed if newly wounded) but doesn’t suffer the +2 roll modifier in the fire phase. Only one first aid attempt can be done on a single character. If the treatment is unsuccessful mark the wound as not curable (no more treatment attempts are possible).

Post-mission debriefing

If you’ve aborted the mission skip this phase.

Add 1 experience point (XP) to your team experience. Keep track of unused XP.

The XP can be used to improve your team:

1XP: promote a Green to Private

2XP: promote a Private to Veteran

2XP: add -1 on the fire roll for a Veteran (max -1 for each soldier)

Optional rule: airborne mission

At the beginning of the Mission Briefing roll 1d6: on a result of 1 the mission is airborne and you need to add the Drop Steps of the [Airborne Mission] Table at the start of the Mission Track. The Drop steps have a special event column to be followed.

Optional rule: Beach Head

At the beginning of the Mission Briefing roll 1d6: on a result of 1 the mission starts on a Beach Head and you need to add the Beach Head Steps of the [Beach Head Mission] Table at the start of the Mission Track. The Beach Head steps have a special event column to be followed.

Werewolf

by Andrew Plotkin

Cards by Walter O'Hara

Werewolf is a simple game for a large group of people (seven or more.) It requires no equipment besides some bits of paper; you can play it just sitting in a circle. I'd call it a party game, except that it's a game of accusations, lying, bluffing, second-guessing, assassination, and mob hysteria.

I really like it. But then I go to some strange parties.

Setting Up

Assemble a group of players. An odd number is best, although not absolutely mandatory. There should beat least seven players; nine or eleven is better.

Make up a set of cards, one for each player, with a role written on each one:

* One "Moderator"

* Two "Werewolf"

* One "Village seer"

* All the rest "Villager"

Shuffle the cards and hand them out, face down. Each player should look at his card, but must keep it secret. Only the moderator reveals his card and shows himself to be the moderator.

Alternatively, the group can choose a moderator in advance; the moderator then takes the "Moderator" card, shuffles the rest, and hands them out face-down.

Two players are now secretly werewolves. They are trying to slaughter everyone in the village. Everyone else is an innocent human villager; but one of the villagers secretly has the Second Sight, the seer, and can detect the taint of lycanthropy.

The Game: Night and Day

The game proceeds in alternating night and day phases. We begin with night.

At night, the moderator tells all the players "Close your eyes." Everyone should.

The moderator says "Werewolves, open your eyes." The two werewolves do so, and look around to recognize each other. The moderator should also note who the werewolves are.

The moderator says "Werewolves, pick someone to kill." The two werewolves silently agree on one villager to tear limb from limb. It is critical that they remain silent. The other players are sitting there with their eyes closed, and the werewolves don't want to give themselves away. Sign language is appropriate, or just pointing, nodding, raising eyebrows, and so on.

When the werewolves have agreed on a victim, and the moderator understands who they picked, the moderator says "Werewolves, close your eyes."

The moderator says "seer, open your eyes. seer, pick someone to ask about." The seer opens his eyes and silently points at another player. Again, it is critical that this be entirely silent -- because the seer doesn't want to reveal his identity to the werewolves.

The moderator silently signs thumbs-up if the seer pointed at a werewolf, and thumbs-down if the seer pointed at an innocent villager. The moderator then says "seer, close your eyes."

The moderator says "Everybody open your eyes; it's daytime. And you have been torn apart by werewolves."

He indicates the person that the werewolves chose. That person is immediately dead and out of the game. He reveals his card, showing what he was, and leaves it face-up.

Now it is day.

Daytime is very simple; all the living players gather in the village and lynch somebody.

The mob wants bloody justice.

As soon as a majority of players vote for a particular player to die, the moderator says "Ok, you're dead." That player then reveals his card, and the rest of the players find out whether they've lynched a villager, a werewolf, or the seer.

There are no restrictions on speech. Any living player can say anything they want, truth, misdirection, nonsense, or barefaced lie.

Contrariwise, dead players may not speak at all. As soon as the sun comes up and the moderator indicates that someone is dead, he may not speak for the rest of the game. No dying soliloquies allowed.

Similarly, as soon as a majority vote indicates that a player has been lynched, he is dead. If he wants to protest his innocence or reveal some information, like the seer's visions, he has to do it before the vote goes through.

No player may reveal his card, to anyone, except when he is killed. All you can do is talk.

Once a player is lynched, night falls and the cycle repeats. Everyone closes their eyes, the werewolves, or werewolf, secretly select someone to kill, the seer, if alive, secretly learns another player's status; then the sun rises, one player is found dead, and the remaining players begin to discuss another lynching.

Repeat until one side wins.

Winning

The villagers win if they kill both werewolves.

The werewolves win if they kill enough villagers so that the numbers are even; two werewolves and two villagers , or one werewolf and one villager. At that point they can rise up and slaughter the villagers openly.

In Case It's Not Totally Clear

The villagers are trying to figure out who's a werewolf; the werewolves are pretending to be villagers and trying to throw suspicion on real villagers.

The seer is trying to throw suspicion on any werewolves he discovers, but without revealing himself to be the seer because if he does, the werewolves will almost certainly kill him that night. The Seer is the greatest threat to werewolf national security. Of course the seer can reveal himself at any time, if he thinks it's worthwhile to tell the other players what he's learned. Also of course, a werewolf can claim to be the seer and "reveal" anything he wants.

The only information the villagers have is what other players say , and who dies. Accusing someone of being a werewolf is suspicious. Not accusing anyone is also suspicious. Agreeing with another player a lot is suspicious, and therefore so is pretending not to agree with another player. Never voting to kill a particular player is very suspicious for both of them -- unless it's the seer who knows that player is innocent.

Technical Notes

When everyone closes their eyes at night, it is best for people to also start humming, tapping the table, rocking back and forth, or some such noise. This will cover up any accidental sounds that are made by the werewolves, the seer, or the moderator.

The moderator should stick to the script to avoid mistakes or clues. If he says "Open your eyes, werewolves" instead of "Werewolves, open your eyes," a player may misconstrue the command before the last word.

The moderator should be careful to always talk towards the center of the group. If, for example, he turns to face the seer when he says "Seer, select someone," the werewolves may detect the change in acoustics.

It is really important that dead players not speak, and the moderator not speak outside his official capacity , even to correct a blatant misstatement about a matter of record.

I've seen a game where one player, a werewolf, recited the history of the game up to that point: "X was murdered, then we lynched Y, then Z was murdered..." He swapped two names, a night-murder and a day-lynching, to confuse matters. It would be unfair for a dead player to say "Hey, that's not right, I was lynched!"

There are several reasons to have an odd number of players, including the moderator. There will be an odd number of living players during each day, which prevents tie votes on lynchings; and the game will always end with a lynching. If there are an even number of players you can get ties and the game will end with a nighttime murder, which is anticlimactic, because everyone knows when the sun goes down that the game will end at dawn.

But more importantly, the villagers chances are significantly weaker when there are an even number of players, including the moderator. This is probably because an even game always ends with a nighttime murder, and an extra murder is always to the advantage of the wolves; whereas an extra daytime lynching could help either side.

This game can produce a lot of shouting during the day and a lot of humming at night. Don't play where the neighbors will complain. "Don't mind us, we're just deciding who to kill!"

Possible Variations

* When the seer secretly points to a player at night, the moderator says out loud "Yes, that's a werewolf" or "No, that's not a werewolf." Avoid "he" and "she"! The other players still don't know who was pointing or who was pointed at, but they do know what the answer was. If it was "yes", the werewolves know the pressure is on...

* Don't use a "Moderator" card; instead, put in one more "villager" card. Then have an extra day phase at the beginning, where the lynched player becomes the moderator. Advantage: Everyone gets to introduce themselves and start casting suspicion around, based on no information whatsoever. Since it's before the first night, not even the werewolves know who each other are! Disadvantage: It's possible for the moderator to be a werewolf or seer, which starts one side off with a handicap.

* Instead of passing out cards randomly, choose a moderator first, and then let the moderator decide who will be what. The moderator passes out cards as he pleases. This might be fun if the group has played a lot of games together, not necessarily werewolf, and know what it's like for different people to team up. If the group is new to werewolf, I wouldn't recommend this variation.

* Instead of everyone making noise at night, everyone is as quiet as possible, and they listen for the sounds of pointing. I feel this pollutes the pure brain-ness of the game. You should cast suspicion on each others' arguments, not on whether they can sign silently. But some people do play this way.

* If there are a whole lot of players, say seventeen, it might be better to add a third werewolf. I have not experimented with this, so I don't know. Of course at that point it's also possible to split into two separate games.

* If the number of players is even, you can give the villagers an advantage by granting the seer a free inquiry, letting the werewolves recognize each other, and then starting with a day-phase. Or, equivalently, start with a night but don't let the werewolves attack that first night. This keeps the parity normal. It's hard to quantify the advantage of a free inquiry, since it's entirely psychological, but at least you don't have an entirely information-free first day.

* If the number of players is small, or even, perhaps improve the villagers chances by giving one of them wolfs bane? The villager with wolfs bane cannot be killed by wolves; if he is picked, the moderator announces "It's dawn... nobody was killed last night." Of course, the herb is no protection from lynching. Disadvantage: this screws up the parity, so some games won't end with a lynching. This is a very speculative variant, and needs a lot of play testing before it can be recommended.

* A variant from Princeton: one villager has wolfs bane, but he chooses which player to sprinkle it on every night. If he picks the same person the wolves pick, that person doesn't die. If he picks a wolf, nothing happens. Disadvantages: again, this screws up the parity. Also, if the last two players are a wolf and the wolfs bane-owner, the game is a stalemate. That's the result that was described to me, but it doesn't necessarily follow. You could say that since the wolf-team has equal numbers, they win by daytime massacre, and the herb doesn't help.

* "Dark City": At night, the werewolves get to swap two villager cards, thus possibly changing the identity of the seer. Ideally, when a villager dies, it should not be revealed whether or not he was the seer.

* "Cupid": One villager is also the Cupid. At the start of the game, he secretly indicates two others players. These players are now a pair of Lovers. The moderator taps the Lovers on the shoulder, and has them open their eyes and see each other. So the Lovers know who each other are, and the Cupid knows who they are, but none of them initially know whether the Lovers are human, wolves, or one of each. Now: if one Lover dies, day or night, the other dies immediately of a broken heart.

Furthermore: if the Lovers are the only two people left alive, even if one is a human and one is a wolf, they both win.

* Other variants are noted below, with links to groups that play that variant.

History

I did not invent this game. I don't know who did. I learned it at the 1997 National Puzzlers' League convention, under the name "Mafia." in which there are two Mafia gangsters, one Knight Commandant, and everyone else innocent citizens. I think werewolves are niftier, so I changed it.

I have done some statistical simulations of the game, mostly to figure out when to add a third werewolf. Seventeen players looks right

A friend has reported another name for the game: "Seduction", where two seducers try to deflower all the virgins before they're caught, with a gossip peeking. Every day the virgins go out and... arrange a tryst with one of their number? Send someone to a brothel? Ok, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

If you have any more information about the origins of the game, please send me a note. erkyrath@eblong.com.

Commercial Editions of Werewolf

* Les Loups-Garou de Thiercelieux -- a French publication. Has a number of additional character cards, including the "Cupid" described above.

* Are You A werewolf? -- published by Looney Labs. Just werewolf, villager, seer, and moderator cards; rules basically as described on this page. Looney Labs events tend to degenerate into werewolf late at night. Friday night at Origins 2002, we had four games running with 52 people total..

And I might as well give my opinion about this sort of thing:

I did not invent this game, so I have no right to permit or forbid people from publishing commercial versions of it, or otherwise making money off of it. As far as I'm concerned, it's folk culture, as much as hopscotch or chess. Even if it was invented in 1986 folks work fast.; the word gets around.

On the other hand -- if you publish a version which is called "werewolf", as opposed to "Mafia" or some other theme, it would be cool if you noted my name. I don't insist. I'm just asking. Because I am the sole inventor of the idea of having this game be about werewolves... and while that gives me no rights of ownership, it does mean that the chain of causality flows back through me.

It's kind of a weird feeling, actually. I am your memetic lycanthropic Eve!

For more information on Werewolf, variants and history please visit

http://www.eblong.com/zarf/werewolf.html

End Notes

By Tom Higgins

Given the length of time between the last issue and this many of you will be wondering when the next action packed issue of Countermoves will be out. Well that is a darn good question. The best answer i can give is to simply visit the web site from time to time and see what is stirring.

If things are moving too slow for you then remember some of the realities of zine publishing I spoke of in the intro of this issue.

Sending in articles and games for inclusion will certainly help the zine come out more often. If there is enough material I can have an issue out much quicker than if I have to go searching for them.

Remember the Countermoves chant..

” games games games playing games rolling dice flipping cards moving chits resolving conflict flipping cards rolling dice moving chits playing games games games ”

Repeat until your either playing a game or writing an article for Countermoves.

'Nuff Said........

This Copy Of Countermoves Provided By Volume 2 Issue 2 April 2004

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