Greetings and happy holiday season!
We’re doing something a little different this month. In lieu of discussing games I’ve run and played, I’m closing the year out with a full, free, short game: The Dagger and the Dance.
I am considering this a beta, playtest release of The Dagger and the Dance. If you play it (perhaps with family over the holidays) please let me know how it goes! Shoot me an email at clovenpinegames[at]gmail or drop a comment below. Someday, an edited or expanded version may appear on itchio or elsewhere.
The Dagger and the Dance
A game for three players.
To play you’ll need one deck of cards.
You are a girl at a masquerade ball. You are going to dance with the King. Hidden in your dress is a dagger, sharp and waiting…
Collectively, you three players are the girl. But each of you takes as your focus one of her accoutrements. Choose which you are:
If you are the Mask, your concern is identities—concealed and revealed.
If you are the Dagger, your concern is blood—shed and shared.
If you are the Dress, your concern is attention—sought and shunned.
Setup
Remove the jokers from the deck, and sort it into suits.
Shuffle the hearts and place them face down in front of the Mask.
Shuffle the spades and place them face down in front of the Dagger.
Shuffle the diamonds and place them face down in front of the Dress.
Remove the king of clubs. Shuffle the clubs and split them into two piles. Slide the king into one of the piles, then stack the other pile on top of that one. You should know that the king is in the bottom half of the clubs pile, but not know exactly where.
Gameplay
At the start of each round, draw a card from the clubs deck and place it face-up on the table. Add clubs to this Procession turn by turn. When you draw the king of clubs, normal gameplay ends and the endgame begins.
Next, the Mask draws a card from their deck of hearts and answers the corresponding question from the oracle below.
The Dagger does the same, drawing a card from their deck of spades.
The Dress goes next, drawing a card from their deck of diamonds.
Start the new round by drawing again from the clubs deck and adding that card to the Procession. Then repeat the sequence of the round: the Mask, the Dagger, and the Dress drawing cards and answering questions in turn.
If you want to ask a fellow player a follow-up question after they’ve answered a question from the oracle, give them one of the cards you have drawn. They answer your question and keep your card. Having additional cards will give them a bit more leverage in the endgame.
Endgame
When the king of clubs is drawn, each player answers one last question to paint the climax of the dance:
Mask—When you dance with the king, do you lull him into complacency by trading flattery or spit his crimes back in his face?
Dagger—When the time comes to strike, do you plunge the blade straight into the King’s heart or cut him in a way that will mark him forever?
Dress—When the dance erupts in chaos, do you stand strong and face the consequences or bolt away, hounded and harried?
Afterwards, take turns buying clubs cards from the Procession and answering their corresponding questions from the Epilogue Questions list. Buy a clubs card by trading in a corresponding card from a different suit (e.g. you can buy the ace of clubs by trading in the ace of hearts). Each player can answer a maximum of three questions. If you don’t have a card to trade in or don’t see a question you’re excited about, you can pass.
Continue until each player has answered three questions or has passed on buying a question.
Hearts Oracle (for the Mask)
A. There is an ancient design of your people incorporated into the mask. How is it misinterpreted by the onlookers?
2. Guests at the dance show their loyalty to the king with a specific ritual gesture. How have you altered it, subtly?
3. When did you first have to lie about your identity to ensure your safety or security. How did the deception feel?
4. Who acquired this mask for you? Did you tell them the truth about your intentions?
5. Once, someone you trusted lied to you to protect you. What was the lie? Have you forgiven them?
6. Just before the dance, you told someone dear to you a truth you knew would hurt them deeply. What was that truth?
7. What is the most flagrant lie the King’s regime requires his subjects to affirm as truth?
8. You learned a technique for holding true to your own identity even while deep in disguise. What is it, and how well is it working?
9. Part of you wishes for a very different life than this. What did it cost you to turn down a chance at that life?
10. The mask covers an identifying scar on your face. Why are you grateful for what the scar represents?
J. Someone at the dance knows exactly who you are. How did you buy their silence?
Q. During the dance, someone begins to suspect you are not what you appear to be. How do you deflect their suspicions, and whom do you feel you’re betraying in the process?
K. You know something about the King that no one else does. What is it, and why does it complicate your task?
Spades Oracle (for the Dagger)
A. Someone’s name is inscribed on the dagger’s blade. What would they think of you being here, if they knew?
2. A close member of your family feels great loyalty to the King. How did they try to dissuade you from coming here?
3. What is your earliest memory of violence committed against your family?
4. Who taught you to use this dagger? What lie did you tell them to get them to do it?
5. When was the first time you took someone’s life? How did you steel yourself to do it?
6. Once you injured someone close to you by accident. Who was it? Did they forgive you?
7. You fought with a family member before coming here. What did they say that hit you hardest?
8. An elderly family member taught you a lesson about bloodshed. What was it, and are you following it?
9. The King’s war took away someone precious to you. What did their last message say?
10. You spilled your own blood on the dagger, once. Why?
J. There is a member of the King’s family here who loves you. Who are they, and how will you explain yourself to them?
Q. You proved yourself worthy of this task by besting a brutal challenge. What was it, and how did you succeed?
K. The King has blood on his hands. How does he justify himself, and how can you tell he doesn’t believe his justifications?
Diamonds Oracle (for the Dress)
A. Something about the dress is decidedly out-of-fashion. How do you use this to your advantage at the ball?
2. Someone at the dance makes an ostentatious display of loyalty to the King. How does the crowd respond?
3. What is your first memory of making a spectacle of yourself? Did you achieve your purpose?
4. Who sewed this dress for you? Whose eye did they hope you’d catch with it?
5. Once, you were taken in by the shimmering promises of luxury. How did you realize your mistake?
6. You broke someone’s heart by using them to get into this ball. Who was it, and how did you pull it off?
7. The King is wearing a different crown than usual tonight. What rumors are flying about the meaning of this gesture?
8. A mentor showed you how to command or avoid attention. Which did you find easier, and which do you need most?
9. As a child, you dreamed of fame and glory. What piece of those dreams do you still cling to?
10. Someone at the ball wore a dress similar to yours. How do you upstage and outshine them?
J. Someone you dance with at the ball before reaching the King becomes obsessed with you. How do you dodge their attentions—or manipulate them to achieve your goal?
Q. A moment comes when everyone at the ball is focused on you. What message do you convey, and how?
K. The King’s attention is on you. Why do you avoid dancing with him just yet?
Clubs Epilogue Questions
A. Who adopts the girl’s mask as a persona and what is their agenda?
2. Who finds the girl’s dagger and presents it as a relic?
3. How does the girl’s dress revolutionize the fashion of the kingdom?
4. Who says they saw the girl afterwards and what do they claim she told them?
5. What lessons do the common people of the kingdom take from these events?
6. What lessons does the next monarch take from these events?
7. What false rumors about the ball immediately spring up?
8. What retaliation do the girl’s actions call forth?
9. What movement draws inspiration from the girl?
10. What becomes of the girl’s family?
J. What becomes of the person who did most to assist the girl?
Q. A century from now, how is the girl herself remembered?
K. A century from now, how is the King remembered?
Acknowledgements
Thank you to Alex Roberts and For The Queen for mechanical inspiration.
Thank you to Leah Sargeant for early feedback and suggestions.
Thank you to Rosamund Hodge for the basic motif of a girl with a dagger about to make some choices.
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I hope you enjoyed this little holiday treat, Cloven Pine fans! I’ll be back next month with a more regular installment featuring games I’ve played and run along with design discussions. Remember, you can also follow me on Twitter for game recaps and news, and pick up games of my design on itchio.
Till next time, may you celebrate what is good and strike a blow against evil.
Gamefully yours,
Alexi