Game Setup Hello, Old Chum! Welcome to an England that never really was, floating hazily within the 1920s and 1930s. The end of the Great War has brought new-found social mobility and allowed previously unthinkable behaviours to become commonplace. Respectable ladies from well-to-do families hike their dresses up and go dancing in jazz clubs with cab driver’s sons, servants return from war with unlikely skills and a new scepticism towards their young charges, and immigrants travel from the empire’s fringes to its heart in search of fortune. With this game you’ll make characters with unique skills, desires and obligations. Together you’ll tell the story of what they do to try and get what they want, how that puts them in hot water, and how it all works out in the end. Goal of the Game The goal of What Ho, World! is to tell a fun story together. As players you should build on each other’s contributions and make sure each character has a chance to shine. Your characters, however, are much more short-sighted and petty. As you go you’ll try to use Assets (yours and other’s) to advance your Goals. When a Goal’s advanced enough, you’ll attempt to achieve it, but in doing so risk losing the Goal forever. Once someone’s hit their Goals, the game is up and you’ll tell an epilogue that resolves your story. Contents ASSET The Gadabout Vitas ium fugit untorest, quas sequatur? Unt. Oluptaquam, quibusda aut GOAL Untem nonsedionet es quist liquibuscid quis doluptas a nost, tempore 30 Asset and Goal cards The Conversation Playing What Ho, World! takes the form of a conversation: you’ll describe your actions, other players will describe their character’s response, and the story you’re building will continue onward. When describing your actions, you can do so as a narrator (“Herschel asks Margaret how she’s doing”) or an actor (“Hallo, Marge! How’s things?”). Either works: go with what you’re comfortable with! When someone interacts with the environment or with minor characters, the whole group decides what happens. On top of the conversation, you’ll have move cards. These let you declare what happens in specific situations by spending a limited stock of tokens. Game Structure MANSION 5 character decks (9 cards each) 1) Each player picks a character deck. 2) Each player picks deck options: two deck moves, positive and negative relationships, and personal style. Flip the remaining moves to their token side. 3) Each player gets a Basic Move and Rule Reference card. 4) Shuffle the Asset and Goal cards and deal out one more than there are players. Starting left of the dealer, go clockwise picking a card until one is left. Deal out the same number and pick cards going anticlockwise starting with the dealer until everyone has two cards. Flip the remaining cards over for use as tokens. 5) Put the two starting Locations (the Country Mansion and London Townhouse) in the centre of the table. 6) Start play with the Gadabout (or the youngest player) framing the first scene (see Scene Framing Procedure). 10 Location cards 5 Basic Move and reference cards For expanded rules, play examples and FAQs, visit ufopress.co.uk/WhatHoRules The game is broken down into scenes. Each scene one character is the focus, and the scene is about whether they achieve a particular aim of theirs. When you’re the focus your abilities are refreshed to help you push for your Goals, but everyone else can further their own Goals if they’re canny and find a way. Each scene is set in a Location. The game comes with 12 of them with suggestions for characters you might see there and events that might happen, but feel free to make up your own. Instead of framing a scene as a focus, you can activate your Trouble Move. This creates a brief interlude where we see things getting more troublesome and hectic for your character, but you come out of it with extra abilities to use! Move Cards Most move cards will have the following: A trigger. The circumstances when the move comes into play. If you meet the trigger of one of your move cards, you must carry on and resolve the rest of it. Something that happens when it’s activated. This is guaranteed to happen, but may be modified by your choices. Optional extra effects you can get by spending tokens. You can activate as many extra effects as you can spend tokens for. Tokens You begin with 3 facedown move cards in your hand. These cards each show two token icons: grace , wits , skulduggery or knowhow . They can be spent as either type shown. Excellence tokens can be used as any token type. To get some in your hand use your Trouble Move or achieve a Goal. Whenever you gain a token, swap it with one of your free facedown moves and flip that card over. From then on you can use that move as well as your starting ones. Free tokens are those in your hand, available to be spent. When you spend a token put it in your discard pile. To bank a token put it under the specified card. Banked tokens are committed and can only be spent in specific ways. When a card is refreshed, take it back from your discard pile. Scene Framing Procedure Refresh all your spent tokens, and decide if you want to activate your Trouble Move. If not: 1) Decide on your Aim: a step towards your Goal that’s doable in a single scene, with clear success and failure conditions. 2) Pick a Location and use its prompts to add extra details. 3) Decide which characters are present, and suggest minor characters for the players whose characters are absent. 4) When everyone’s ready, begin the scene! 5) When it’s clear the Aim is met or thwarted, the scene ends. Pass focus clockwise. Credits: www.ufopress.co.uk Design: James and Elizabeth Iles Layout: James Iles Illustrations: Jacqui Davis Logos made by Lorc, available at game-icons.net Achieving your Goals At the end of a scene, any character that used any Asset to make progress towards a Goal can bank a token under the Goal. Each Asset can only be used to advance a given Goal once. If a Goal has been advanced at least once and you’re the focus, you can declare the Goal as your Aim to try and complete it. Gain the banked tokens to use during this scene. Everyone else declares an obstacle in the way to achieving your goal. You must use moves to overcome every obstacle in order to succeed not to mention the actions of the other characters! If you succeeded, flip the Goal over and gain it as a permanent token, flipping a facedown move card as normal. If you failed, discard the Goal and draw another. You’ve missed your chance! Describe how the new Asset enters your life. Either way, discard the tokens you banked on this goal. Ending the Game If someone achieves both of their Goals, the game is over. Going clockwise from the focus, each player narrates an epilogue for their character that ties up their plot threads. Include a rise in status, good fortune or happy outcome for each succeeded goal, and a public embarrassment, stroke of bad luck or fall from grace for each unmet or failed goal. Don’t make things too final: there’s always room for another tale! Tips For the first round of scenes, everyone should have a go at playing minor characters and helping adjudicate move card use. Try having only half of the characters present in any one scene. It’s useful to have paper to hand to write down the names of recurring characters, location details, and so on. If you’re not the focus, go into a scene with a question that centres the focus: “How will they react if I do X”, “How can I get them to help me do Y”, and so on. This’ll help you drive the scene and keep it entertaining. Edit aggressively: start scenes as close to their crux as you can, and wind them up before people start spinning their wheels. Special Thanks to Amaanda Keyes, Donald A Turner and Eleanor King. Thanks also to Abram Bachtiar, David Ells, Ealasaid Haas, Eleanor Williams, Elisabeth Fracalossi, James Carter, Jennifer Fuss, John Evan Kerns, Jon Garett, Jon Morgan, Jonathan Cassie, Jonathan Korman, Juliet Youngren, Laurie Rich, Mary-Carol Riehs, Megan Brett, Michael Cule, Nathan Miller, Paul Arezina, Paul Bennett, Peter Howell, Peter Morgan, Regina Head, Richard Schneider, Richard Walch, Robert Bersch, Robert Maxwell, Stacy Weaver, Tim Smith, Tomohisa Naka, Will King, William O’Neill, William T Carmichael, and the rest of my Kickstarter backers!
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