Cult of 11. Card game idea.

I used MS Excel to make a play mat and me and the wife are playing a game together on Boxing Day.

The squares are not quite big enough for the playing cards. The trackers on the left are proving handy. (Need to add the clock hands for the ritual clock tracker.)

With all the white areas between the trackers and the card placement areas, I may need to make it black or maybe use lots of “11’s” in several fonts and styles.

I feel these fit the bill.

Slightly cheaper than the Theory 11 deck, but not as intricate and plush.

They do suit the cult theme and will definately be more appropriate than my London Tube map ones i have around right now.

High Victorian Playing Cards

Just thinking of ways to make the game look and feel more culty i found a playing card company called Theory 11! Cult 11 meets Theory 11?! Maybe.

Not cheap but they are gorgeously detailed.

The London Underground cards are not really setting the scene. ?

If the example Escape Phase had gone badly for the players and the threat tracker had reached 6 the phase ends and a “Chase Phase” begins.

Rules that didn’t play out on the play through…

The standard playing card order of things, (Ace, King, Queen, Jack descending) applies.

When attempting to go lower than a chase card, you need to go lower (not equal to.) e.g. If you want to go higher than an Ace you have to have another Ace or a Joker, but if you want to go lower than a 2 you can only play a Joker.

If a Joker is one of the three chaser cards the players can play any card and count that as passing that chase card.

In the example played out above, If player 1 had no cards higher than a 7 then he simply doesn’t play a card and moves to the second chase card and sees if they can play lower than an ace.

If one player lays one card higher and lower for all three chase cards but their opponent doesn’t the successful player goes up one lare level, but the unsuccessful player remains on the level they went into the phase on.

At the end of the phase if neither player has successfully beaten the chase cards then the henchmen have been able to delay the players exit to the next level and the clocks chime for the next hour.

The players remain on the same escape level, the Ritual clock level goes up by one hour. (starting on 9pm with no marker and then a marker is placed on 10pm, 11pm and finally midnight.)

I was going to allow the players to play an Escape Phase at Midnight and another Chase Phase at midnight, but i found that the likelihood of the game beating the players is too low already. I decided that once at midnight the game ends, but if any of the players are at level 4 the game can go to one last chase phase. If the player wins they escape, if they fail the game ends and the Cult (the game) has won.

In the example above you would simply deal two more hands of 4 cards, shuffle the discard pile and draw pile back into the deck, reset the threat tracker to zero and start another Escape Phase.

The rules that weren’t covered…

Aces can be played from your hand when played on a 10 or any Face card.

If a joker is drawn as a top of the deck card you can play any one card from your hand and the threat tracker is dropped by 1.

If you play a Joker from your hand and the threat tracker has started, playing the card drops the tracker score by 1.

If the tracker reaches 6. You end up going to a Chase Phase. The Cult henchman are an arms length away and you are literally dodging high and low with your pursuers.

This phase represents your failure to find your way out of the current level of the Cult’s lare in the escape phase and they have seen you creeping around and are giving chase.

The chase phase involves dealing three face down cards and dealing each player 3 cards each.

Before checking their hand, the player with initiative gets to choose whether the players need to play cards higher or lower than the first face down card. (e.g. So the pattern will be either Lower, Higher, Lower or Higher, Lower, Higher.) Then the card is revealed. Using the example Lower, Higher, Lower; if you can play a card lower than the revealed card then you choose and place a card. The next face down card is revealed and the players need to play a card that is higher or equal to the revealed card, then the last card is revealed and cards are played where possible.

If a player was able to place all three cards they escaped the chasing pack of henchmen and go up one level.

If none of the players successfully play all three cards the clock clicks forward one more hour towards midnight.

The game is set to be played with standard playing cards deck with 3 jockers. Based on trying to empty your hand of four cards by scoring 11 with a card from your hand and the top card drawn from the deck. ie 7 and a 4, ace and 10. Jokers and King , Queen and Jack are trump cards that can always be played.

The mechanics seem to be working right now. When the top card is drawn both players have the chance to play a card before the next top card is drawn. I am giving a player intiative for an entire playing round of play as this seems to remove confusion over who can place a card first. If neither player can play a card. They both pick up a card and a threat tracker goes up by one.

When the threat tracker reaches 6 the standard “Escape Phase ” of the game above ends and the “Chase Phase” begins.