Difference between revisions of "Ludovician deck"

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It's a work in progress. I'd appreciate some good ideas, for those who pop by this, for reducing the ruleset without reducing it's emphasis on backstabbery and strategic thinking.  This is as far as I've gotten this first night, and I'll be back soon to put some more work into the set.  I've got plenty more ideas, but typing them in is something I'm going to have to do in a bit later, once I get the balance straight in my head.
This is a deck based on the book "The Raw Shark Texts"[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raw_Shark_Texts] by Steven Hall, and featuring book's creepy Ludovician Memory Shark.  The special feature of this deck are the Conceptual Fish, especially the Ludovician, which are things that operate by their own rules and can either be a boon or huge problem, depending on the rules currently in play.  It contains some things that are elements from the novel but should not be considered spoilers.  You don't need to have read the book before playing the game, and if it helps, rename the Ludovician to a Snark or a Beast or something to make it easier to conceptualize.


This is a hybrid Nomic deck based on the book "The Raw Shark Texts" where you attempt to kill off your friends by making them fodder for the Ludovician Memory Shark.  It contains some things that are elements from the book but should not be considered spoilers.  You don't need to have read the book before playing the game, and if it helps, rename the Ludovician to a Snark or a Beast or something to make it easier to conceptualize.
At first glance, there seems to be a lot of rules. Most of these are just to govern the fish behavior, the game is really quite simple, far more simple than the Timecube deck.  For the safest possible gaming, please put one dictaphone at each corner of the playing surface.
 
While the game may seem rules-heavy, the majority of the rules are designed to govern the behavior of the Ludovician itself.  For the safest possible gaming, please put one dictaphone at each corner of the playing surface.


==Playing the Game==
==Playing the Game==
First of all, stay calm.
First things first, stay calm.


===Requirements===
===Requirements===
This game uses ''two'' decks, the Standard deck down below and an additional Blank Card deck, which can also be just strips of notebook paper, pages of a legal pad, or whatever you choose.  The Standard deck covers the basic rules of the game.  The Blank Card deck governs Concepts, which are the reality-altering stuff responsible for Conceptual Sharks in the first place.
This game uses ''three'' decks, the Standard deck down below with the black Disorder cards seperated, and an additional Blank Card deck, which can also be just strips of notebook paper, pages of a legal pad, or whatever you choose.  The Standard deck covers the basic rules of the game.  The Blank Card deck governs Concepts, which are the reality-altering stuff responsible for Conceptual Sharks in the first place.


===Concept Deck===
===Concept Deck===
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===Winning the Game===
===Winning the Game===
Eliminating all the other players in any method will win you the game. The Ludovician will help with this.
The normal way to win is by collecting Five Memories or Five Fragments. You can also play a "The Great Dream Fish" and win the next time the Ludovician attacks you. You can also win Nomically.


You can also win the game Nomically by writing your own victory scenario out of Concepts.  This is not out of the spirit of the game, and should not be considered cheating.
Memories are easy to collect, but also easy to destroy, and having the most makes you a target for many special cards.


Lastly, there is a special rule card that allows you to change the rules and win the game.  This is intended as a concept card to inspire creative Concept use, not as a real strategy for victory.  If you so choose, though, feel free to attempt it.  The Ludovician will help with this one too.
Fragments are difficult to collect, but much easier to protect from destruction.


==Cryptozoology of Conceptual Sharks==
If you find "The Great Dream Fish" and play it, be careful of other players attempting to destroy it before you can force the Ludovician to enter play on you.
The following Special Rules, as well as the Ludovician and Dead Space cards, are the only elements that cannot be altered by Nomic/Creative Dvorak blank card rules.
 
==Cryptozoology of Purely Conceptual Sharks==
The following Special Cards, such as Conceputal Fish, Ludovician and Dead Space cards, have their own behaviors which are subject to the rules in play.


===The Ludovician===
===The Ludovician===
The Ludovician is a Memory Shark, and feeds upon Human memories.  It is always played at the beginning of the game, but begins Face Down and is considered inert. It becomes active and Face Up immedietely after the first Action is played.  The Ludovician's turn is always at the end of the round, before the discard phase.  It must always attempt to make at least one action per round.  If no player forces the Ludovician to act, it will naturally move on it's own at the end of turn order, before the discard phase.  This act is an attack, and follows the rules on the card.
The Ludovician is a Conceptual Shark that tracks prey through the streams of Human thought and feeds upon Human memories, causing mental illness and death.  It is always played at the beginning of the game, but begins Face Down in the center of the table and is considered inert. There are several cards that directly effect the Ludovician's behavior, and Concepts can be used to change the rules of the game in such a manner that it turns on your foes.
 
You must defend yourself from the Ludovician by avoiding it's predation while also attempting to coax it into attacking your opponents.  There are several cards that directly effect the Ludovician's behavior, and Concepts can be used to change the rules of the game in such a manner that it turns on your foes.


However, as a Shark, it has a fairly predictable feeding pattern that governs the attack behavior.  If left to it's own devices, it will seek out and attack players on its own, and so there is provided a simple list to run down and determine who is attacked.
The Ludovician is a predator, and while it is active, it aggressively seeks out humans to devour memories from. When a card dictates the Ludovician take an Action or be played onto a Memory, it becomes active, and follows the Feeding Habits as detailed below. When the Ludovician leaves play, return it to the center and turn it face down again.


====''Feeding Habits of a Conceptual Shark''====
====''Feeding Habits of a Conceptual Shark''====
If left to act on it's own, the Ludovician will attack a player based on it's own priorities. If the values of a higher priority are equal between two players, the Ludovician will discriminate between them according to the order as follows:
A short set of basic behaviors define the way the Ludovician behaves once it has entered play. The Owner is the player in whose hand or Things pile the Ludovician currently resides. The Ludovician's action takes place at the end of the Owner's turn, giving them some time to attempt to shake it loose. When you are finished, or pass, the Ludovician performs one of these actions, listed from first to last in order of priority.
 
 
'''1:''' The highest Visibility rating,
 
'''2:''' The most Actions in that turn,


'''3:''' The least number of Dead Spaces,
'''1:''' '''IF''' Owner has a Thing in play, '''THEN''' discard one Thing of your choice. Or,


'''4:''' The most recently attacked.
'''2:''' '''IF''' Owner has a Memory in play, '''THEN''' discard one Memory of your choice. Or,


'''3:''' '''IF''' Owner has a Disassocative Disorder in play, '''THEN''' pass Ludovician card Clockwise to next player. Or,


'''5:''' If the Ludovician has not yet attacked a player, or all Visibilities are no more than zero and no actions have been taken, the Ludovician will pass that round and go Face Down.
'''4:''' '''IF''' Owner has no Memories in play, '''THEN''' draw a Disassociative Disorder. Or,


===Visibility===
'''5:''' '''IF''' Ludovician can take no action '''THEN''' it leaves play and goes inert.
As mentioned earlier, cards have numbers on them showing their total 'Visibility' rating, or the degree to which playing such a card attracts the attention of the Shark.  The higher the total number of visibility for that turn the more attractive a target you become.  Actions create visibilities that only last a single turn, but Things such as Memories create a constant effect.  Some cards, such as Conceptual Fish, have no visibility penalty.


However, some Things allow you to disguise yourself.  Several of these things exist in the Deck already, such as Dictaphone Loops, or Logic Traps.  These can allow you to act covertly, without alerting the Ludovician, or to build up a defensive barricade capable of keeping the shark at bay indefinately.  This would be tantamount to winning the game, if it were not for the other players interfering.
===Thought Streams===
As mentioned earlier, cards have numbers on them showing their total 'Thought' rating, or the degree to which playing such a card opens a stream of thought for it to attack you through.  The higher the total number of Thought for that turn, the more attractive a target you become.  A card must be in play for it to count towards your total.  Thought generated from Actions fade after one turn, but not before the Ludovician can take notice.  Some actions, such as playing a Conceptual Fish card, cause no Thought increase.


===Conceptual Objects===
Some cards have a Negative Thought listed, which masks your current Thought rating equal to that number.  A Negative or Zero Thought rating does not make you immune to the Ludovician's predation if your foes coax it, but it will make you far less likely to be naturally attacked.
Key to the game, even more key than the Ludovician itself, is the idea of conceptual reality.  Concepts can be given concrete reality, and the Ludovician is only a conceptual shark.  The real power and danger in the game is using conceptual objects or actions to alter the shared reality, and this is done in Nomic and Creative Dvorak form using the Concept deck.


The Concept deck is a stack of blank cards used for the creation of Concepts. To keep Conceptual reality seperate from actual reality, it is wise to add 'Conceptual' as a prefix, allowing you to discern between Things and Conceptual Things.  Concepts can be actions, rules, things, or even other Conceptual Fish.  So long as they do not interfere with the Special Rules, this deck is free to be used in Nomic and Creative Dvorak fashion.
===Disassociative Disorders===
The symptoms of a Ludovician feeding survivor are clinical mental illness relating to memory loss and trauma known as Disassociative Disorders. They are represented as Cards that consume a space of your hand and provide no value whatsoever.  If you are fed upon many times, your hand will fill with Dead Spaces and other Disorders and you will be eliminated.  Playing a Disorder card will remove it, but only if you satisfy the specific situations and pay the heavy cost.  This is intended to replace an artificial hitpoint value and allow for strategic play.


However, all Conceptual Objects have a visibility of one, and remain visible as long as they are in play, and any card that would normally be played on nobody (such as a new game rule) must be played on themselves.
==Fish, Disorders, Things, Memories, and Actions==
There's quite a few card types.  For reference, everything besides the Disorder cards in black go into the Standard Deck pile.  The Concept deck is just blank cards, or any other paper.  The Disorder Deck pile is full of copies of the Disorder cards, and nothing but.  You may need to make several copies of them to have enough, though it is generally advisable not to make it a habit of playing while highly Disordered.


<br clear=all>
<br clear=all>
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|bgcolor=889
|bgcolor=889
|type=Conceptual Shark
|type=Conceptual Shark
|text=Force a player to discard two cards and draw a Dead Space card.
|text=Force a player to discard two Memory cards from play.  Draw Disorder cards equal to any shortfall.
|flavortext= ...the ''Cognicharius'' family, a species of predatory, purely conceptual fish. They are solitary, territorial and see only people, especially the ones they are hunting. It eats memories and is the biggest and most aggressive of the conceptual animals.
|flavortext= ...the ''Cognicharius'' family, a species of predatory, purely conceptual fish. It eats memories and is the biggest and most aggressive of the conceptual animals.
}}
}}


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{{card
{{card
|title=Fry
|title=Panophageus
|bgcolor=889
|bgcolor=889
|type=Conceptual Fish
|type=Conceptual Fish
|text=Play onto a Thing - Increase visibility of Thing by two.  Unaffected by all but specific Fry removal cards.
|text=Remove one conceptual fish.  Discard both cards.
|flavortext= ...are little thought fishes that like to pick at commas and more old-fashioned letters. Fry shoals are so small they can easily slip through most defensive barriers. Aren’t big fans of the note Middle C.
|flavortext= ...small conceptual sharks known as 'Shoal Queens,' they are powerful of conceptual predators, and prey nearly exclusively on other conceptual fish.
}}
}}


{{card
{{card
|title=Panophageus
|title=Fry
|bgcolor=889
|bgcolor=889
|type=Conceptual Fish
|type=Conceptual Fish
|text=Remove one conceptual fish.  Discard both cards.
|text=Play onto a Thing - Increase visibility of Thing by two.  Unaffected by all but specific Fry removal cards.
|flavortext= ...small conceptual sharks known as 'Shoal Queens,' they are powerful of conceptual predators, and prey nearly exclusively on other conceptual fish.
|flavortext= ...are little thought fishes that like to pick at commas and more old-fashioned letters. Aren’t big fans of the note Middle C.
}}
}}


{{card
{{card
|title=Dead Space
|title=Amnesia
|bgcolor=222
|bgcolor=222
|type=Dissociative Disorder
|type=Dissociative Disorder
|text=Action - If Dead Space is discarded, discard all your Memories and Concepts.
|text=Action - If Amnesia is discarded, discard all your Memories and Concepts.
|flavortext= ...formerly Psychogenic Amnesia, is a pervasive loss of significant personal information. This disorder is characterized by a blocking out of critical personal information. Dissociative amnesia does not result from other medical trauma, such as a blow to the head....
|flavortext= ...formerly Psychogenic Amnesia, is a pervasive loss of significant personal information. This disorder is characterized by a blocking out of critical personal information. Dissociative amnesia does not result from other medical trauma, such as a blow to the head....
}}
}}


{{card
{{card
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|bgcolor=222
|bgcolor=222
|type=Dissociative Disorder
|type=Dissociative Disorder
|text=Thing - Discard all your other Things when Fugue comes into play. Allows for the playing of Un-Space.
|text=Thing - If Fugue is Discarded, discard all Memories and Concepts.  When Fugue enters play, discard all your Things. Allows for Un-Space Sanctuary to be played.
|flavortext= ...is a rare disorder. An individual with dissociative fugue suddenly and unexpectedly takes physical leave of his surroundings and sets off on a journey of some kind. These journeys can last hours, or even several days or months...
|flavortext= ...is a rare disorder. An individual with dissociative fugue suddenly and unexpectedly takes physical leave of his surroundings and sets off on a journey of some kind...
}}
}}


{{card
|title=Identity
|bgcolor=222
|type=Dissociative Disorder
|text=Memory - If Identity is Discarded, discard all Concepts.  When Identity enters play, discard all your Memories.
|flavortext= ...a mental condition whereby a single individual evidences two or more distinct identities or personalities, each with its own pattern of perceiving...
|cornervalue=-2
}}


{{card
{{card
|title=Un-Space
|title=Depersonalization
|bgcolor=222
|type=Dissociative Disorder
|text=Rule - If Depersonalization is Discarded, the Ludovician attacks player. While Depersonalization is in play, you cannot create or maintain Concepts and other's cannot effect you.
|flavortext= ...periods of detachment from self or surrounding which may be experienced as unreal, while retaining awareness that this is only a feeling and not a reality....
}}
 
{{card
|title=Un-Space Sanctuary
|type=Thing
|type=Thing
|text=Play onto a Thing - You may only play Un-Space onto Fugue.
|text=Play onto a Thing - You may only play Un-Space onto Fugue.
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|flavortext= Un-Space is the greatest refuge from conceptual life.  It is the empty abandoned area of the world.  The corridors behind the shops in malls, storeroomes, dark tunnels, passageways, fire escapes, stairwells, elevators, old boarded up houses.  
|flavortext= Un-Space is the greatest refuge from conceptual life.  It is the empty abandoned area of the world.  The corridors behind the shops in malls, storeroomes, dark tunnels, passageways, fire escapes, stairwells, elevators, old boarded up houses.  
}}
}}


{{card
{{card
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|flavortext=The most effective conceptual camouflage is the non-divergent conceptual loop, played back through four dicataphones.  
|flavortext=The most effective conceptual camouflage is the non-divergent conceptual loop, played back through four dicataphones.  
}}
}}


{{card
{{card
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|flavortext=Fiction or Non-Fiction work equally as well. Be sure not to open any live texts outside of a Circular Pile of Books.
|flavortext=Fiction or Non-Fiction work equally as well. Be sure not to open any live texts outside of a Circular Pile of Books.
}}
}}


{{card
{{card
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|flavortext=Letters from people you don't know, ideally addressed to other people you don't know, and left unopened.  A light masking defense, inadequate at close range.
|flavortext=Letters from people you don't know, ideally addressed to other people you don't know, and left unopened.  A light masking defense, inadequate at close range.
}}
}}


{{card
{{card
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|flavortext=Mimicing another person's thoughts, responses, jokes and prejudices allows you to hide yourself in the mind of another person.  While only of temporary good, it is wise to have several alternate identities.
|flavortext=Mimicing another person's thoughts, responses, jokes and prejudices allows you to hide yourself in the mind of another person.  While only of temporary good, it is wise to have several alternate identities.
}}
}}


{{card
{{card
|title=Letter Bomb
|title=Letter Bomb
|type=Thing
|type=Thing
|text=Discard at any time to remove or block the playing of Serrasalmerrida, Luxophage or Panophageus.  Discard both cards.
|text=Discard at any time to remove or block the playing of Luxophage, Serrasalmerrida or Panophageus.  Discard both cards.
|cornervalue=0
|cornervalue=0
|flavortext=Literally a letter bomb, a set of old iron typeface wrapped around a pipebomb mixed with shredded newsprint can create a momentary disturbance capable of killing small conceptual fish or stunning the Ludovician.
|flavortext=A literal weapon as well as conceptual camouflage, a letter bomb is an explosive wrapped in iron typeface and old newsprint.
}}
}}


{{card
{{card
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|flavortext="I wanted to say, 'No really,' and explain how Ian really wasn't a getting-to-know-you type of cat or even a casual-hello type of cat, more a sort of whirlwind made out of blades."
|flavortext="I wanted to say, 'No really,' and explain how Ian really wasn't a getting-to-know-you type of cat or even a casual-hello type of cat, more a sort of whirlwind made out of blades."
}}
}}


{{card
{{card
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|flavortext=
|flavortext=
}}
}}


{{card
{{card
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|flavortext=
|flavortext=
}}
}}


{{card
{{card
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|flavortext=
|flavortext=
}}
}}


{{card
{{card
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|flavortext=
|flavortext=
}}
}}


{{card
{{card
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}}
}}


{{card
|title=Book of Unusual Fishes
|type=Thing
|text=When the Book of Unusual Fishes enters play, discard the Great Dream Fish.
|cornervalue=2
|flavortext=
}}


{{card
{{card
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|text=Any player to be eliminated by the Ludovician wins the game.
|text=Any player to be eliminated by the Ludovician wins the game.
|cornervalue=5
|cornervalue=5
|flavortext=Myth: ancient Native Americans believed that the Ludovician was not just a predator, but a divine being. These great dream fishes consumed all of the dreams, memories, events and identities of the people consumed and they would live on forever in a neverending paradise of dreams.
|flavortext=Myth: Ancient Native Americans believed the Ludovician to be a great dream fish, and that all of the dreams, memories, events and identities of the people consumed would live on forever as part of it.
}}
}}


{{card
{{card
Line 253: Line 257:
|cornervalue=1
|cornervalue=1
}}
}}
<br clear=all>
==Conversions==
One of the cleverest things to do is convert the ruleset to something your friends might know better.  Cthulhu, for example, works well.  Change the Ludovician to an Elder Horror, memories to Dark Knowledge, and try to avoid encountering evil enough times to go insane and lose the game.  Any sort of Survival Horror game works, even a Zombie Horde game.  Use the Things I've provided, but rename them to Flaming Barricades or Moats and try to hold out against the Zombie hordes while steering your cross-town rivals into them.
You can also play this, or any Conversion of the game teamplay if you want.  Use your cards to save friends from evil, and work together to deflect the horrors back at your opponents.  Change Memories into 'Survivors' or 'Soldiers' or even 'Bullets' if you want.

Latest revision as of 09:37, 17 April 2009

Ludovician deck
Designer Quietly Confident
Date 25/07/2007
Players 3+
This deck has not been categorised.
To play Dvorak: Draw five cards each and leave the rest as a draw pile. On your turn, draw a card from the draw pile and play one Thing and/or one Action. (See the full rules.)
Cards.gif Print this deck

Telnet.gif Generate MUSHcode
Cards.gif Generate Lackey export

Padlock.gif
This deck is locked. Further cards should not be added - leave feedback on the talk page.

This is a deck based on the book "The Raw Shark Texts"[1] by Steven Hall, and featuring book's creepy Ludovician Memory Shark. The special feature of this deck are the Conceptual Fish, especially the Ludovician, which are things that operate by their own rules and can either be a boon or huge problem, depending on the rules currently in play. It contains some things that are elements from the novel but should not be considered spoilers. You don't need to have read the book before playing the game, and if it helps, rename the Ludovician to a Snark or a Beast or something to make it easier to conceptualize.

At first glance, there seems to be a lot of rules. Most of these are just to govern the fish behavior, the game is really quite simple, far more simple than the Timecube deck. For the safest possible gaming, please put one dictaphone at each corner of the playing surface.

Playing the Game

First things first, stay calm.

Requirements

This game uses three decks, the Standard deck down below with the black Disorder cards seperated, and an additional Blank Card deck, which can also be just strips of notebook paper, pages of a legal pad, or whatever you choose. The Standard deck covers the basic rules of the game. The Blank Card deck governs Concepts, which are the reality-altering stuff responsible for Conceptual Sharks in the first place.

Concept Deck

Like normal Creative Dvorak games, these cards can be anything, and are written mid-play. Within Ludovician, these are called Concepts, and are different from real Things and Actions. They are Conceptual Things and Conceptual Actions. Aside from a few special rules pertaining to Concepts, they play the same way, and add extra flavor to the game. That's all!

The only other thing you need to know is how to make the Ludovician behave. Like any angry monster, it wants to eat someone, and it doesn't care who. It does have a pattern though, and the rules below detail how to model that behavior. No Concepts can alter the Ludovician's behavior though. Aside from that, knock yourself out. And stay out of the water.

Winning the Game

The normal way to win is by collecting Five Memories or Five Fragments. You can also play a "The Great Dream Fish" and win the next time the Ludovician attacks you. You can also win Nomically.

Memories are easy to collect, but also easy to destroy, and having the most makes you a target for many special cards.

Fragments are difficult to collect, but much easier to protect from destruction.

If you find "The Great Dream Fish" and play it, be careful of other players attempting to destroy it before you can force the Ludovician to enter play on you.

Cryptozoology of Purely Conceptual Sharks

The following Special Cards, such as Conceputal Fish, Ludovician and Dead Space cards, have their own behaviors which are subject to the rules in play.

The Ludovician

The Ludovician is a Conceptual Shark that tracks prey through the streams of Human thought and feeds upon Human memories, causing mental illness and death. It is always played at the beginning of the game, but begins Face Down in the center of the table and is considered inert. There are several cards that directly effect the Ludovician's behavior, and Concepts can be used to change the rules of the game in such a manner that it turns on your foes.

The Ludovician is a predator, and while it is active, it aggressively seeks out humans to devour memories from. When a card dictates the Ludovician take an Action or be played onto a Memory, it becomes active, and follows the Feeding Habits as detailed below. When the Ludovician leaves play, return it to the center and turn it face down again.

Feeding Habits of a Conceptual Shark

A short set of basic behaviors define the way the Ludovician behaves once it has entered play. The Owner is the player in whose hand or Things pile the Ludovician currently resides. The Ludovician's action takes place at the end of the Owner's turn, giving them some time to attempt to shake it loose. When you are finished, or pass, the Ludovician performs one of these actions, listed from first to last in order of priority.

1: IF Owner has a Thing in play, THEN discard one Thing of your choice. Or,

2: IF Owner has a Memory in play, THEN discard one Memory of your choice. Or,

3: IF Owner has a Disassocative Disorder in play, THEN pass Ludovician card Clockwise to next player. Or,

4: IF Owner has no Memories in play, THEN draw a Disassociative Disorder. Or,

5: IF Ludovician can take no action THEN it leaves play and goes inert.

Thought Streams

As mentioned earlier, cards have numbers on them showing their total 'Thought' rating, or the degree to which playing such a card opens a stream of thought for it to attack you through. The higher the total number of Thought for that turn, the more attractive a target you become. A card must be in play for it to count towards your total. Thought generated from Actions fade after one turn, but not before the Ludovician can take notice. Some actions, such as playing a Conceptual Fish card, cause no Thought increase.

Some cards have a Negative Thought listed, which masks your current Thought rating equal to that number. A Negative or Zero Thought rating does not make you immune to the Ludovician's predation if your foes coax it, but it will make you far less likely to be naturally attacked.

Disassociative Disorders

The symptoms of a Ludovician feeding survivor are clinical mental illness relating to memory loss and trauma known as Disassociative Disorders. They are represented as Cards that consume a space of your hand and provide no value whatsoever. If you are fed upon many times, your hand will fill with Dead Spaces and other Disorders and you will be eliminated. Playing a Disorder card will remove it, but only if you satisfy the specific situations and pay the heavy cost. This is intended to replace an artificial hitpoint value and allow for strategic play.

Fish, Disorders, Things, Memories, and Actions

There's quite a few card types. For reference, everything besides the Disorder cards in black go into the Standard Deck pile. The Concept deck is just blank cards, or any other paper. The Disorder Deck pile is full of copies of the Disorder cards, and nothing but. You may need to make several copies of them to have enough, though it is generally advisable not to make it a habit of playing while highly Disordered.


Card List

Ludovician
Conceptual Shark
Force a player to discard two Memory cards from play. Draw Disorder cards equal to any shortfall.
...the Cognicharius family, a species of predatory, purely conceptual fish. It eats memories and is the biggest and most aggressive of the conceptual animals.
Luxophage
Conceptual Fish
Play onto a Thing - Stop the owning player's next Action. After, it enters that player's hand.
...is a primitive conceptual fish. It lives inside humans and feeds on their ability to think quickly; parasite of a kind that ensures its host is quiet and well-behaved. Causes nausea.
Serrasalmerrida
Conceptual Fish
Action - Remove one Conceptual Thing.
...dangerous in large schools, deconstructive pihrana attack human ideas, and chip away at meanings and definitions. A once obvious truth can become confused, stripped of all relevence or objectivity.
Panophageus
Conceptual Fish
Remove one conceptual fish. Discard both cards.
...small conceptual sharks known as 'Shoal Queens,' they are powerful of conceptual predators, and prey nearly exclusively on other conceptual fish.
Fry
Conceptual Fish
Play onto a Thing - Increase visibility of Thing by two. Unaffected by all but specific Fry removal cards.
...are little thought fishes that like to pick at commas and more old-fashioned letters. Aren’t big fans of the note Middle C.
Amnesia
Dissociative Disorder
Action - If Amnesia is discarded, discard all your Memories and Concepts.
...formerly Psychogenic Amnesia, is a pervasive loss of significant personal information. This disorder is characterized by a blocking out of critical personal information. Dissociative amnesia does not result from other medical trauma, such as a blow to the head....
Fugue
Dissociative Disorder
Thing - If Fugue is Discarded, discard all Memories and Concepts. When Fugue enters play, discard all your Things. Allows for Un-Space Sanctuary to be played.
...is a rare disorder. An individual with dissociative fugue suddenly and unexpectedly takes physical leave of his surroundings and sets off on a journey of some kind...
-2
Identity
Dissociative Disorder
Memory - If Identity is Discarded, discard all Concepts. When Identity enters play, discard all your Memories.
...a mental condition whereby a single individual evidences two or more distinct identities or personalities, each with its own pattern of perceiving...
Depersonalization
Dissociative Disorder
Rule - If Depersonalization is Discarded, the Ludovician attacks player. While Depersonalization is in play, you cannot create or maintain Concepts and other's cannot effect you.
...periods of detachment from self or surrounding which may be experienced as unreal, while retaining awareness that this is only a feeling and not a reality....
-5
Un-Space Sanctuary
Thing
Play onto a Thing - You may only play Un-Space onto Fugue.
Un-Space is the greatest refuge from conceptual life. It is the empty abandoned area of the world. The corridors behind the shops in malls, storeroomes, dark tunnels, passageways, fire escapes, stairwells, elevators, old boarded up houses.
-2
Dictaphone Loop
Thing
Discard at any time to block Ludovician for one turn. You may only have one Dictaphone Loop running at any time.
The most effective conceptual camouflage is the non-divergent conceptual loop, played back through four dicataphones.
-1
Circular Pile of Books
Thing
Play one Thing onto Circular Pile of Books to reduce both visibilities to zero.
Fiction or Non-Fiction work equally as well. Be sure not to open any live texts outside of a Circular Pile of Books.
-1
Other People's Post
Thing
Can be discarded into another player's Things.
Letters from people you don't know, ideally addressed to other people you don't know, and left unopened. A light masking defense, inadequate at close range.
-1
Alternate Identity
Thing
Discard to reduce one Action's visibility to zero.
Mimicing another person's thoughts, responses, jokes and prejudices allows you to hide yourself in the mind of another person. While only of temporary good, it is wise to have several alternate identities.
0
Letter Bomb
Thing
Discard at any time to remove or block the playing of Luxophage, Serrasalmerrida or Panophageus. Discard both cards.
A literal weapon as well as conceptual camouflage, a letter bomb is an explosive wrapped in iron typeface and old newsprint.
1
Cat
Thing
Increase your total hand size by one.
"I wanted to say, 'No really,' and explain how Ian really wasn't a getting-to-know-you type of cat or even a casual-hello type of cat, more a sort of whirlwind made out of blades."
3
The Lightbulb Fragment
Thing
Any player with five different Fragments wins the game.
3
The Dust Fragment
Thing
Any player with five different Fragments wins the game.
3
The Aquarium Fragment
Thing
Any player with five different Fragments wins the game.
3
The Envelope Fragment
Thing
Any player with five different Fragments wins the game.
3
The Shadow Fragment
Thing
Any player with five different Fragments wins the game.
2
Book of Unusual Fishes
Thing
When the Book of Unusual Fishes enters play, discard the Great Dream Fish.
5
The Great Dream Fish
Memory
Any player to be eliminated by the Ludovician wins the game.
Myth: Ancient Native Americans believed the Ludovician to be a great dream fish, and that all of the dreams, memories, events and identities of the people consumed would live on forever as part of it.
1
Middle C
Action
Remove all Fry from play.


Conversions

One of the cleverest things to do is convert the ruleset to something your friends might know better. Cthulhu, for example, works well. Change the Ludovician to an Elder Horror, memories to Dark Knowledge, and try to avoid encountering evil enough times to go insane and lose the game. Any sort of Survival Horror game works, even a Zombie Horde game. Use the Things I've provided, but rename them to Flaming Barricades or Moats and try to hold out against the Zombie hordes while steering your cross-town rivals into them.

You can also play this, or any Conversion of the game teamplay if you want. Use your cards to save friends from evil, and work together to deflect the horrors back at your opponents. Change Memories into 'Survivors' or 'Soldiers' or even 'Bullets' if you want.

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