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THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
1
OPEN COMBAT:
CORE RULEBOOK
SKIRMISH WAR GAMING IN VICTORIAN-ISH LONDON.
By the 17th
Marquis of Mummerset, Damien Kennedy, Esq.
Utilising Open Combat by Second Thunder (www.secondthunder.com).
© All rights reserved, 2015. All fictional sources
and images used in this manual are in the public domain.
Version 2.4.
Special thanks to everybody who contributed on the Open Combat forums,
but particularly Yuma, Ramses800, Otasolgryn.
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
2
Table of Contents Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 2
Victorian Crimefighting .................................................................................................................................................................................. 6
MASH-UPS ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 6
VOICE ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6
OPEN COMBAT .................................................................................................................................................................................. 7
DICE ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 7
PLAYERS ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 7
MODELS .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 7
SPACE ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 7
BOOKS.................................................................................................................................................................................................. 7
MEASUREMENTS .............................................................................................................................................................................. 8
BITS....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 8
DESIGN PHILOSOPHY ..................................................................................................................................................................... 8
SEXISM ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 8
The Dossier ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Name & Details .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 9
NAME, SITE, DOMAIN ...................................................................................................................................................................... 9
ALIGNMENT ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 9
ROLE .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 9
RENOWN ................................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Characteristics ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 10
LUCK .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 10
CLASS ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 10
AGENCY ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 10
MONEY .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 10
Skills .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 11
Items ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 11
Notes ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 11
Dramatis Personae ................................................................................................................................................................................... 11
The Dossier .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 12
Playing the Game .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 13
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 13
ACT STEP SUMMARY..................................................................................................................................................................... 13
Act 1 – Signs & Clues............................................................................................................................................................................... 14
CLUE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................................................. 15
Act 2 – Mean Streets ................................................................................................................................................................................ 17
Act 3 – Case Closed .................................................................................................................................................................................. 17
The Table ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 19
Table Setup ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 19
PLACING NAMED LOCATIONS ................................................................................................................................................... 19
NAMED LOCATION TABLE .......................................................................................................................................................... 19
PLACING LOCATIONS ................................................................................................................................................................... 20
PLACING BARRIERS, HAZARDS AND OBSTRUCTIONS ....................................................................................................... 20
PLACING CITIZENS ........................................................................................................................................................................ 20
PLACING CLUES ............................................................................................................................................................................. 20
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
3
PLACING CLUBS ............................................................................................................................................................................. 21
Playing Act 2 .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 22
The Game Turn ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 22
Clues ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 22
OBSERVE ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 22
DEDUCE ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 22
ASSIST ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 22
Hand-To-Hand Combat .......................................................................................................................................................................... 22
Shooting .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 22
GUNPOWDER ................................................................................................................................................................................... 22
RIFLE ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 23
Bad Light Stopped Play ........................................................................................................................................................................... 23
Citizens Turn ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 23
AI CONTROLS CITIZENS .............................................................................................................................................................. 23
THIRD PLAYER CONTROLS CITIZENS ..................................................................................................................................... 24
Call the Coppers Turn ............................................................................................................................................................................. 24
FIGHTING IS ILLEGAL .................................................................................................................................................................. 24
BANG BANG ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 24
RED RIGHT HAND ........................................................................................................................................................................... 24
THE BLOODY HANDPRINT .......................................................................................................................................................... 24
WHAT, THIS OLD THING? ............................................................................................................................................................ 24
CRIME DOESN’T PAY..................................................................................................................................................................... 24
‘ALLO ‘ALLO ‘ALLO ...................................................................................................................................................................... 24
Skills ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 26
COMBAT SKILLS .................................................................................................................................................................. 26
INFLUENCE SKILLS ............................................................................................................................................................. 26
A STEP AHEAD ................................................................................................................................................................................. 26
ACADEMIC ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 26
AGENCY ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 26
ANIMAL ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 26
ANIMAL HUSBANDRY ................................................................................................................................................................... 26
ARCH DECEIT .................................................................................................................................................................................. 26
EVIDENCE ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 26
BODYGUARD .................................................................................................................................................................................... 26
BOMBARDIER () .......................................................................................................................................................................... 26
BRIBE ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 27
BROWNING ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 27
BULLRUSH ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 27
CHARM .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 27
COMMAND ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 27
DEDUCTION...................................................................................................................................................................................... 27
DOGGED ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 27
ESTABLISHMENT ........................................................................................................................................................................... 27
EYE WITNESS................................................................................................................................................................................... 27
EYES AND EARS .............................................................................................................................................................................. 27
FAST TALK ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 27
FLAIL OF THE LORD ..................................................................................................................................................................... 27
FORTIFY ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 27
GHOST WHO WALKS ..................................................................................................................................................................... 28
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
4
HAWKEYE......................................................................................................................................................................................... 28
HEAL .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 28
I AM THE LAW ................................................................................................................................................................................. 28
KIDNAP () ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 28
OF THE PEOPLE .............................................................................................................................................................................. 28
PICKPOCKET () ........................................................................................................................................................................... 28
PRAY/ORATE/THREATEN/CAJOLE ........................................................................................................................................... 28
SAINTLY HEAL ................................................................................................................................................................................ 28
SECRET SOCIETY ........................................................................................................................................................................... 28
SIXTH SENSE .................................................................................................................................................................................... 28
STOP THIEF! ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 29
TRAPSTER......................................................................................................................................................................................... 29
VEHICLE ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 29
Items ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 30
CAMERA ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 30
CARBOLIC ACID ............................................................................................................................................................................. 30
DISGUISE KIT................................................................................................................................................................................... 30
HELMET / BREASTPLATE ............................................................................................................................................................ 30
HORSE ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 30
LANTERN .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 30
MATCHES () .................................................................................................................................................................................. 30
PEG OF BRANDY/ COCAINE/ BANDAGES ................................................................................................................................. 30
PHYSICIAN’S BAG .......................................................................................................................................................................... 30
POISON .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 30
ROPE ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 31
TUNIC / OVERCOAT ....................................................................................................................................................................... 31
Agency Cards ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 32
AGENCY CARD TABLE .................................................................................................................................................................. 32
Advanced Rules ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 36
3+ Players ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 36
Different Play Modes ............................................................................................................................................................................... 36
CLUE DO ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 36
THE GREAT RACE .......................................................................................................................................................................... 36
GANGS OF LONDON ....................................................................................................................................................................... 36
KINGPINS OF LONDON ................................................................................................................................................................. 36
ESCALATION.................................................................................................................................................................................... 36
THE FINAL PROBLEM ................................................................................................................................................................... 37
Appendix – The Plotter ................................................................................................................................................................................. 38
PLOTTER EVENTS ............................................................................................................................................................................... 38
PLOTTER OCCUPATIONS .................................................................................................................................................................. 39
PLOTTER ITEMS .................................................................................................................................................................................. 40
Appendix - Items ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 41
BAZAAR ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 41
APOTHECARY .................................................................................................................................................................................. 41
YE OLDE CURIOSITY SHOPPE .................................................................................................................................................... 41
TAILOR .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 41
MILITARY QUARTERMASTER .................................................................................................................................................... 41
Appendix – Miniatures ................................................................................................................................................................................. 42
WEST WIND PRODUCTIONS ........................................................................................................................................................ 42
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
5
WARGAMES FOUNDRY ................................................................................................................................................................. 42
WAYLAND GAMES ......................................................................................................................................................................... 42
OUTPOST WARGAME SERVICES ............................................................................................................................................... 42
TIGER MINIATURES ...................................................................................................................................................................... 42
Appendix – Clue Summary ........................................................................................................................................................................... 43
Appendix - Victorian Names ........................................................................................................................................................................ 44
VICTORIAN GIRLS’ NAMES .............................................................................................................................................................. 44
VICTORIAN BOYS’ NAMES ................................................................................................................................................................ 45
VICTORIAN SURNAMES ..................................................................................................................................................................... 46
VICTORIAN LONDON PLACE NAMES ............................................................................................................................................ 47
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
6
Victorian Crimefighting
ELCOME to The Great Game
(GG), the most subversively ‘meta’ skirmish wargame
in the history of Victorian London skirmish
wargames, featuring characters from history and
fiction. I will be your host, and I come from the 21st
century, which means I have absolutely no factual
experience of the Victorian era.
Like most bearded, sweaty, pot-bellied wargamers I
grew up on a diet of Dickens, Doctor Who history
pastiches and ponderous-yet-worthy BBC televisual
plays. I have watched about fifty actors play Sherlock
Holmes, fifty three Jack the Rippers, zero Fu
Manchus (not politically correct), Sean Connery as
Allan Quartermain (shudder) and an uncountable
number of Pips, David Copperfields and Ebeneezer
Scrooges. Including the Muppet one.
“Try not to eat the rat, no matter how good it looks.”
Given that amazing pedigree, I decided that it would
be fun to construct a game that captured the intrigue
of Sherlock Holmes dashing from 221b Baker Street
on a new case, in a dense pea-soup fog, jumping into a
hansom cab and disappearing into the snaking,
depraved underbelly of Victorian London. All the
while our hero – Sherlock, Allan, Fred Abberline,
Lord Grantham, even John Carter – is slowly being
drawn into the nefarious criminal web of Moriarty, Fu
Manchu(still politically incorrect), or Bill Sikes.
Sounds like fun? You BET. We shall start
momentarily, but first we need to get some
housekeeping stuff out of the way. This is the point on
the plane where they indicate the fire exits and the
toilets. Plus there is an inflatable dinghy under your
seat.
NOTE- All the rules in the first sections of this book
relate to what we here at 221B Baker Street like to
call ‘the basic game.’ It isn’t really basic, this game is
quite in-depth and requires some commitment on the
part of the players.
We are trying to simulate an entire Victorian London
experience, after all! And if we get it wrong, those
fierce historians with their gimlet eyes, pointy beards
and large leather-bound tomes will be after us. It can
give a nasty paper cut, that leather-bound tome …
Advanced Rules are found towards the back of the
book, and additional rules will be released in the form
of expansion books.
MASH-UPS
God, I feel dirty. I despise the term ‘mash-up,’ but
essentially that is what this game is trying to do. The
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen did it first for the
Victorian time period, and now we have Penny
Dreadful on the zoetrope.
GG does not enter the realm of the supernatural, nor
does it add steampunk crab claws to classic
characters. Our humble ‘mash-up’ is designed to take
the strengths of Open Combat – namely an elegant
skirmishing system for a more historical context – and
apply it to ‘What If…?’ scenarios using our favourite
characters from Victorian fact and fiction. Admittedly
only one of our starting characters is drawn from real
historical fact – see if you can work out which one! –
but more are on their way.
VOICE
You may have already noticed the jocular and very
21st century tone of this weighty book, which is about
as far away from Victorian prose as you can get. The
thing is, at the heart of this is a game with some fairly
avant garde rules, and your enjoyment of the game
will be hindered if the players are standing around
scratching their heads trying to work out faux-
Victorian prose.
To demonstrate my point, I will select at random a
couple of lines from David Copperfield by Dickens (I
will use Dickens a lot during this book just because he
is probably the most famous and certainly most well-
read of the Victorian authors, because they made you
read him at school) –
I need say nothing here, on the first
head, because nothing can show better
than my history whether that
prediction was verified or falsified by
the result. On the second branch of the
question, I will only remark, that
unless I ran through that part of my
inheritance while I was still a baby, I
have not come into it yet.
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
7
With the what and the who now? If I instruct you to
roll a die using this vernacular, it would take a whole
paragraph for me to justify the paucity of my claims,
believing in the sanctity of the random chance that
gambling plays in this bedevilled society of ours …
ahem … sorry, see? It’s easy to slip into, but doesn’t
make for clarity. So just go with it, and if you want to
really get into model, read or watch some Victoriana!
Especially the TV show that opens with a shot up a
dog’s arse.
OPEN COMBAT
GG utilises the very simple and elegant Open Combat
skirmish wargame rules, because of the sheer
extensibility of the ruleset. To use this book you will
need a copy of Open Combat , which is available from
secondthunder.com and as a hardcopy book. If in the
fullness of time I get to add the entire ruleset into this
manual, then the price will spike accordingly. From
zero to zero.
Right now, I will assume you have a copy of Open
Combat , and will see that I have especially
extended the Actions and Skills for GG. The rules
explanations I will give in this book concern the Open
Combat extensions, as no changes have been made to
the core ruleset.
That is important –
NO CHANGES HAVE BEEN MADE TO THE
CORE OPEN COMBAT RULESET.
Some rules have been extended, but nothing in Open
Combat is flatly contradicted by this game.
DICE
This is the obligatory bit that tells you what dice are.
In case you didn’t already know. I am going to
assume that this isn’t the first wargaming book you
have read (I’m guessing your first probably starts with
a ‘W’ and involves Marines), so you should be au fait
with the whole dice thing.
Everyone chant along! A six-sided die is called a d6.
A ten sided die is called a d10. Rolling two d10 when
one is nominated tens and the other is units is called
percentile %. When the rules state to roll 2d10, you
roll two ten-sided dice and add them together. D6 and
d10 are the only dice you need to play this game.
PLAYERS
This game can be played by any number of players. I
am not making this up. If you had twenty buds
huddled around the table, each of them could take a
model and you would be off to the races!
… although twenty wargamers in one room is kinda
gross (if you don’t believe me, visit a tournament) so
it is not advised.
The minimum number of players is two, and three is
pretty optimal as it gives someone the London
Citizens to play with.
“By Jove, you have a big head!”
“It’s genetic.”
“I don’t know what ‘genetic’ is.”
MODELS
This is a game that involves models. Not a lot of
them, but for the Full Premium 5-Star Presidential
Experience (+VAT) you will need about 24 models. If
you don’t have any period-specific models you can
sub, of course, it doesn’t bother me because I don’t
make models. An Appendix is provided at the back of
this book with links to various Victorian model
manufacturers, including truly beautiful hansom cabs,
and buildings.
Buildings are a big thing in GG. Compared to some
skirmish games, you are playing in and around a lot of
densely packed buildings. Again, I will provide links
in the Appendix, and you might already have some
left over from years of wargaming in the grim dark.
SPACE
The minimum size of the gaming area is 3x3 feet. The
maximum size is infinite, you can keep adding feet
and piling on models until you have a full
representation of Whitechapel, complete with all the
patrons in all the bars on the night of June 5th
, 1893.
This game has been especially designed to be
upwardly scalable, which you will see when we get to
the rules.
BOOKS
There are three books required to play GG, this
rulebook, the Open Combat core rulebook and the
Dramatis Personae book, which is the equivalent of a
Monster Manual, a Codex, an army book and a history
lesson rolled into one. This book will refer to
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
8
Dramatis Personae when that book becomes
necessary to play the game.
MEASUREMENTS
All measurements are in feet and inches. No decimals
back in those days, laddie, so you will need a tape
measure. All distances can be premeasured before a
player commits to an Action. This is identical to Open
Combat .
“Oi! Dat’s trespassing, dat is!”
BITS
To play GG, you will also need –
3-5 sets of different coloured counters. I
personally like those glass drips they use to play
certain collectible card games, but anything will
do. Go and raid your little sister’s copy of
Chinese Chequers.
The Agency cards at the back of this book, which
you can print and stick on playing cards. This is
the quick and dirty, yet effective method. Many
great wargames have been playtested using
mocked up playing cards.
When I am rich and famous because of this game
(HA!) I might kickstart a boxed set with real art
and lots of goodies in it, but that is a long time
away, and until then, makeshift cards are it. I
have included tables in the Appendix for
simulating the card draw using a % dice roll, if
you don’t want to do the playing card thing.
DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
This is not a game that provides the players with a
hundred ways to swing a sword, or a bevy of options
for dodging a bullet. Or a game that can be tailored so
everyone gets +1 against giant creatures (you know
who you are) and words like ‘tank’ in reference to a
person are used.
This game is about strategy plus short bursts of highly
coordinated action that need to be timed to perfection
(‘or you’ll ‘ave the jacks down on yer ‘ead’).
Each of the three Acts of the game brings a separate
set of problems to face and choice of strategy to use.
There a myriad ways of winning, and dependent on
your model selection and the implementation of your
plan, you just might be successful.
The other major theme running through GG is
roleplaying. The entire Plotter (see below) is built
around generating quirky roleplaying ideas, and
engendering a life and a personality in each lump of
metal sitting on the table (I’m old, I remember when
models were metal). That model sitting outside the inn
isn’t NPC 1-H, it is old Mother Ham, and she always
sits there knitting …
The rest is up to you.
SEXISM
One of the rather unfortunate aspects of focussing on
an era like the 1800s is the rampant sexism – by
today’s standards – that abounded in the culture.
Women were either held up as fragile porcelain dolls,
David Copperfield’s child bride being an excellent
example, or fallen scarlet women. With very little in
between.
The occupations available to women were also strictly
limited- nurses, teachers, nannies, servants,
washerwomen, nuns, prostitutes (not necessarily in
that order). If you watch any Victorian TV shows (and
I am thinking about one in particular) even a
noblewoman is frowned upon when she starts writing
for a newspaper. Irene Adler, the great female foil for
Sherlock Holmes, was an absolute rarity (and oddity)
for projecting values that would be normal for today,
but quite scandalous then.
What has all this got to do with this game? Simply,
you will notice a serious lack of female sleuths from
literature and history, because they just don’t exist.
The Appendix at the back of this book lists a hundred
occupations for you to generate random ones (we will
discover why later), and they are completely male-
centric. As I do strive for some historical
verisimilitude in this book, unfortunately that’s just
how it was back then. Of course, there is nothing
stopping you generating an army of no-nonsense ass-
kicking Irene Adlers; in fact I encourage you to do so.
But please don’t shoot the messenger – I am aware of
the ‘ism.’
“Okay, I can smell it. Who needs to go to the midden?”
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
9
The Dossier Introduction
E should have a look at the dossier
of each model involved in the game. Our example
dossier is, of course, the Great Detective, at least in
his Victorian London guise, and can be found on the
following page. Dossiers for all models usable in the
game can be found in the accompanying Dramatis
Personae book, and are a flash GG name for an Open
Combat roster.
Name & Details NAME, SITE, DOMAIN
Most of the top section of the dossier is fairly self-
explanatory. Your model’s Name, your Site and
Domain are Victorian London (these will change
when future expansions are published, so are just a
placeholder now).
ALIGNMENT
There are two Alignments, ‘Justice’ and ‘Crime,’ who
represent the two sides that play the game. Good and
evil, right and wrong.
ROLE
The role of Holmes is ‘Sleuth,’ who is the Leader
of his Club. The Sleuth is the most senior (and
powerful) model that the player playing the side of
justice control.
Opposing the side of justice are the bad guys, the
Empire of Evil. The evil ‘Mastermind’ is the most
senior bad model the that side of crime control. In
each game, someone has to be on the side of justice
and on the side of crime. There are variants to this
basic setup, but they can wait for the time being.
Each player controls a Club headed up by their Sleuth
or Mastermind. In Victorian London, every man was a
member of some form of gentleman’s club (which
means something very different today!), and your
social status determined which clubs you could
frequent. Therefore ‘Club’ is a good moniker to
describe the loose confederation of models that are
going to help your hero either solve, or hinder, the
mystery investigation. In Open Combat terms it is a
warband, but a ‘warband’ of gentleman sleuths just
doesn’t have the right ring to it.
Within each Club there are rankings, which
correspond in other systems to levels of hero, and are
most useful when initially selecting your Club. They
are –
Sleuth/
Mastermind
The Leader and most powerful
model in your Club. There can only
ever be one Leader per Club.
Sidekick The Leader’s right-hand man (or
woman). Sometimes there are
multiple sidekicks, whose abilities
usually complement your Leader.
Every Holmes needs a Watson.
Accomplice Members of the Club who do the
legwork, following people, running
errands, moving kit about. There are
usually several Accomplices in
every Club.
Chavy The most inexperienced members of
the Club, who are keen to do
anything and run anywhere at a
moment’s notice (and a shilling).
They are also innocuous enough to
blend in with the general populace
… which can be useful.
Vehicle This is a new entry extending the
basic Open Combat rules. See the
full rules for Vehicles later on.
Some Sidekicks and Accomplices can be Named,
which means they are an actual person in fiction or
history, like Doctor Watson, and can only be
purchased once for your Club. See the Dramatis
Personae for details of Named models.
Outside the Club structure there are also Allies, who
can come and go from your Club but are not strictly a
part of it.
RENOWN
This is the number of points that each model is worth
to purchase for a Club. Sherlock Holmes, weighing in
at 60 points, is the most expensive model in the game.
Each mystery will have a set number of Renown
attached to it, and this dictates the size of each
player’s Club, as you may only spend up to that
number of points on your Club. For example, a small
skirmish numbering 6-10 models per Club would have
a points limit of 300 points. The bigger you want the
game, the higher the points. A full evening’s
entertainment would cost you around 300-400 points.
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
10
“No, Mr Holmes, I want you to die.”
Characteristics By the late 1800s, Victorians were starting to deduce
how the universe actually worked, but still hung onto
a few throwbacks from past British history. They had
grown out of the ancient belief that everything was
made up of fire and water (that would have made for
interesting model characteristics!), and believed that
the human being was composed of Mind, Fortitude
(body) and spirit. We don’t need to worry about spirit
in this game, so will focus on the first two.
Each model’s base characteristics in GG are drawn
directly from Open Combat and are purchased with
Renown. The 5 base characteristics are –
SPEED (SPD),
ATTACK (ATK),
DEFENCE (DEF),
FORTITUDE (FOR)
MIND (MIN).
In addition, there are 4 other characteristics that are
used purely in GG, and are purchased using Renown
on exactly the same 1:1 basis as Open Combat. They
are –
LUCK (LUCK)
CLASS (CLASS)
AGENCY (AGE)
MONEY (£)
LUCK
All models have a LUCK characteristic, although
usually only the Club’s Leader will have a LUCK
greater than 0. There are different ways LUCK can be
used –
A single point of LUCK can be expended in
exactly the same way as an Open Combat Leader
reroll . LUCK points are additional to the
base 3 rerolls the Leader has. That’s a lot of
rerolls, but you are going to need them!
A single point of LUCK can be expended to
cancel the effects of an Agency card that has just
been played.
A single point of LUCK can also be expended to
prevent an instant kill from a Gunpowder
weapon. The Solid Hit damage from the weapon
is applied as normal.
CLASS
Everything was about social class in the 19th
century,
British society was stratified to the nth degree. People
were wary of offending those of a higher status than
themselves, who could wield real power with the
police, or just because of their ancestral title. Wealth
was kind of important, but not so much as class.
All models have a CLASS ranking, which are –
6 Royalty Where does the Prince go late every night
in that unmarked carriage?
5 Nobility From Lords and Ladies to minor
Viscounts and Baronets.
4 Gentleman
Professional men of good standing who
have not had scandal befall them; the
independently wealthy.
3 Freeman The working classes, comprising artisans,
clerks etc.
2 Commoner
Factory workers, victims of the Industrial
Revolution, not dwelling in poverty but
pretty close to it.
1 Underclass Criminals, prostitutes, the destitute.
During the game, a model may be asked to make a
test against their CLASS, usually to avoid a nasty
situation, like being Arrested. To make this test, roll
a D6: any result less than the model’s CLASS is a
success. Any model equal to or greater than the
model’s CLASS is a failure.
AGENCY
Agency is the term used to describe the Club’s
knowledge of, and influence over, the everyday
happenings on the nefarious London streets. A great
example of a character with nearly infinite agency is
Mycroft Holmes: he knows who to tap and which
strings to pull to get things done anywhere in the
Empire.
A high Agency allows a Club to negotiate, bribe or
threaten their way through the web of intrigues that is
Victorian London. In GG this is represented by the
Agency card deck.
Each Club’s Agency dictates the number of cards the
Club gets dealt from the Agency deck.
MONEY
… makes the world go round. There are points in the
game when you can buy Items of equipment for your
models or offer bribes.
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
11
It is worth knowing how the Victorians kept track of
their money, because the decimal system is still more
than half a century away.
Called £Sd, the currency is broken down into pounds
(£), shillings (s) and pence (d).
There are 12 pence in a shilling.
There are 20 shillings in a pound.
Therefore there are 240d in £1.
To write 2 pounds, 3 shillings and sixpence, it would
be £2.3S.6d.
In regard to purchasing power, a carpenter or similar
artisan could earn about £100 a year. A loaf of bread
cost 5d (pence) in 1895, the time when most of your
mysteries will take place. A pair of boots cost from
4½d–1s a pair, dependent on quality. A more relevant
cost to GG players is that a hansom cab fare in
London would cost around 6d. A list of everything
your models can purchase is given in the Appendix.
Who said wargaming never taught anyone anything?
Decimalization only occurred in Britain in 1971, so
your Mum or Grandma would remember this.
Each Pound (£) that the Club starts the game with is
equal to 1 Renown. Starting the game with £2 in your
pocket doesn’t sound like a lot, but on the streets of
19th century London, it is.
“Too much?”
There we have a quick summary of the characteristics
you will take into an adventure with you. Further
along you will discover exactly how these are applied
as part of the game.
Skills Skills are used in an identical fashion to Open Combat
. Unless you are making up your own characters,
Skills have already been allocated to models in the
Dramatis Personae. Consult the relevant chapter for a
description of each Skill.
All Skills cost 1 Renown, and some may seem
overpowered compared to those in the Open Combat
rulebook. They are, but have been restricted to certain
models and Clubs who have their own weaknesses
built in, to compensate and maintain game balance.
Items Items of equipment help you solve the mystery,
usually by making Skills or Actions easier. Consult
the relevant chapter for a description of each Item
available in GG. In most cases Items work exactly the
same as Open Combat Skills.
Obviously, the first thing any good wargamer will do
is consult the list of gunpowder weapons, calculate
weight to hit ratio over ranges, determine the best
value for money, kit out his whole Club with them
and then post his ‘optimised’ list on a discussion
forum. Then I will release the Sandmen of the
Apocalypse from their secret underground bunker to
stalk this wargamer for all eternity until his sins are
fully repaid.
Ahem. Sorry, I’ve said too much.
You can buy Items at various stages during the game.
Notes This section is for some background biographical
details on your model, all of which is drawn straight
from the body of fiction that constitute the model’s
life. Of course, there is a big wide interweb out there
with so much information on the Victorian era it
would make your hair curl. Start with Wikipedia, and
the sky’s the limit!
“Smile!”
“That’s not funny, Archibald.”
Dramatis Personae Now you can read the model dossier like a
professional, and can consult the companion volume
to this one, the big fat book of models you use to build
your Clubs called Dramatis Personae. You can also
draw up your own models, and there are simple rules
in Open Combat on how to do that. You might want
to play a few games before you get to that stage (just a
suggestion). As per most ‘army lists,’ any Ninja or
Hannibal Lecter you make up that doesn’t conform to
the Open Combat rules needs your opponent’s
permission for you to play.
Also, if anyone happens to be a guru in Army Builder
and wants to turn Dramatis into clickable army lists,
I’ll be your best friend.
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
12
The Dossier NAME: Sherlock Holmes
DOMAIN: Victorian
SITE: London
ALIGNMENT: Justice
ROLE: Sleuth (Leader )
MONEY: £1
CLASS: Gentleman (4)
RENOWN: 60
AGENCY: 5
LUCK: 4
CHARACTERISTICS SKILLS ITEMS
SPEED:
ATTACK:
DEFENCE:
FORTITUDE:
MIND:
4
6
6
8
10
Inspire
Distract
Exert
A Step Ahead
Trapster
Hawkeye
Dogged
Deduction
Cane (Hand Weapon)
Webley Bulldog (Revolver)
1x Cocaine
Disguise Kit
The Great Detective is the epitome of the 19th century philosophy of cold logic over exuberant emotion. The Victorians
were, to understate dramatically, a little repressed. Holmes was positively radical in this era for his actions, but not his
philosophy. In 1891, Sherlock Holmes was a model very much of his time and place, who appealed to British readers
directly by confronting the messy, changeable world they lived in. Rather than dwelling in romance or in an idealized past,
as many of Arthur Conan Doyle’s other models did, Holmes was grounded squarely in Victorian London. The Sherlock
Holmes mystery stories, written over a forty-year span from 1887 to 1927, represented the good, the bad, and the ugly of
Victorian society- its ideals, its accomplishments, and its deepest fears.
Watson describes Holmes as “bohemian” in his habits and lifestyle. Described by Watson in The Hound of the
Baskervilles as having a “cat-like” love of personal cleanliness, Holmes is an eccentric with no regard for contemporary
standards of tidiness or good order. Watson says:
Although in his methods of thought he was the neatest and most methodical of mankind ... [he] keeps his
cigars in the coal-scuttle, his tobacco in the toe end of a Persian slipper, and his unanswered
correspondence transfixed by a jack-knife into the very centre of his wooden mantelpiece ... He had a
horror of destroying documents .... Thus month after month his papers accumulated, until every corner of
the room was stacked with bundles of manuscript which were on no account to be burned, and which
could not be put away save by their owner.
Allies: London Citizens
Avatars: Benjamin Cummerbund, Sherlock Downs Jr
Enemies: Moriarty
Most Used Skills: Deduction, A Step Ahead
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
13
Playing the Game Introduction
HE Act in GG is the way the game
is played. There are three Acts that make up the entire
game, which corresponds to your Sleuth finding out
about a new case, all the way through to that case’s
resolution (or not, if the baddies win).
Act 1 corresponds to the beginning of the
Mystery where characters are introduced and the
Mystery to be solved is set.
Act 2 is the middle, where all the tabletop action
happens.
Act 3 is the end, or resolution, for better or worse.
DESIGNER’S NOTE: This section of GG builds
extensively upon the core Open Combat rules
(although we still don’t change anything in Open
Combat, which by its very nature does not add
narrative ‘meat’ to anything). You are in pure GG
territory here.
ACT STEP SUMMARY
Below is a high-level summary of the steps required to play the Acts of the game –
STEP DESCRIPTION
ACT 1
1-4 The Plotter: define Site, Domain and Renown for your Mystery.
5 Choose Leaders – Sleuths and Masterminds.
--- GAME BEGINS ---
6 Draw Agency cards.
7 Choose Clubs.
8 Apply campaign bonuses.
9 The Plotter: generate Mystery for the Sleuth to solve and the Mastermind to stop.
10 Buy Items.
11 Set up Table, including the Call the Coppers bucket.
12 Place Named Locations, Locations, Barriers, Obstructions and Hazards.
13 Place Citizens.
14 Deploy Clubs.
15 Act 1 Face-Off between Sleuth and Mastermind.
ACT 2
16 The Mean Streets. Fight!
ACT 3
17 Act 3 Face-Off between Sleuth and Mastermind.
18 Fight a Duel, if you require satisfaction!
19 Campaign bonuses and penalties, if applicable.
20 Win! The game ends.
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
14
Act 1 – Signs & Clues
Act 1 sets up the game from a narrative standpoint,
although there is also a tactical element to it. Act 1
comprises everything up to shuffling models about
and rolling dice.
1. The players choose an amount of Renown for
their Mystery.
The amount of Renown per game is based purely on
the number of models you wish to use, and the time
you have to play.
200 Renown will get you a Leader, a Sidekick
and maybe 3-5 other models, dependant on their
skills and equipment. This game can be played in
1-2 hours.
350 is a medium-sized game with 3+ Named
models (Leader, Sidekicks etc.) and 5-10 other
models. In some spheres we like to call the non-
character models ‘fodder’ or ‘meat puppets.’ 2-3
hours.
500 is a big game. The streets will be teeming
with your small armies as they throw down for
supremacy in Whitechapel. 2+ hours.
If you are unsure of model’s Renown values or
potential size of Clubs, check Dramatis Personae and
mock up some example Clubs. You will soon get a
sense of how many models you will need within the
various Renown bands.
2. The players choose a Site for their Mystery. This
decision is highly dependent on which models
and scenery you have at your disposal. Only one
Site is represented in this book, that of London,
but expansions will cover future Sites.
3. The players choose a Domain for their Mystery.
A Domain is a combination of time period and
the laws of physics! In this book, your Domain is
always historical and the laws of physics do not
extend to crazy steampunk zeppelins or the
supernatural. Essentially this step is a placeholder
for future expansions …
4. The players determine the number of Clues for
their Mystery.
The number of Clues used in a game is based on the
size of the game, and thus how much Renown each
player is spending. This has to be balanced properly,
as to win the game, the Sleuth has to solve all the
Clues. If the Sleuth has 20 models all working on 2
Clues, there is not much the Mastermind can do to
stop him, regardless of how many bodies the
Mastermind has in the field. Conversely, if a Sleuth is
working on 10 Clues with no support, the Mastermind
will eat him alive.
A good rule of thumb is there should be 1 Clue per 50
Renown. In a game of 350 Renown, for example, the
Sleuth would need to solve 7 Clues.
5. Choose Leaders . One player decides to be a
Sleuth on the side of Justice (drum roll), and one
the Criminal Mastermind (boo hiss!).
GAME BEGINS!
IMPORTANT- The moment the players
have declared their Sleuths and Masterminds, the
game begins! GG is unique in that the game actually
starts during the period other games would define as
‘setup,’ which is the moment each player’s Leader
has been chosen. You could be sitting around eating
pizza and working out whether to buy a pistol, when
SUDDENLY someone enacts a Skill or throws down
a card. This is not recommended, as you may end up
wearing the pizza, but is still possible.
6. Draw Agency cards.
Each Club will have a total Agency, which is based
on the Agency value of the Club’s Leader.
At this step, draw a number of cards equal to your
Club’s Agency. You may play cards at any time from
the point of the draw, as long as the card allows you.
Each time you play an Agency card, you may redraw
so you are always holding cards equal to your Club’s
Agency. Again, some factors may change your club’s
Agency value during the game, but this is unusual.
7. Choose Clubs.
8. Apply campaign bonuses.
This is the bit when you write your roster up to (but
not over!) the game’s agreed Renown. Remember
that the game is still live during this time, and some
Agency cards can affect the roster selection process.
It is a good idea to have consulted Dramatis Personae
prior to this step, and to have a reasonable idea of the
models you wish to select. BUT keep in mind that in
real life no army reaches the field in the exact order
the Generals have defined, and the streets of Victorian
London are unpredictable, to say the least. Don’t be
disheartened if your carefully constructed roster is
altered by events as they occur, and move directly to
Plan B.
Rosters are completely open in GG, there are no
secrets between dire enemies. During these steps it is
often easier just to declare what you models you are
spending Renown on, and any other actions you may
be taking.
If you are playing the Mystery as part of an ongoing
campaign and have now selected the models you are
going to use for this Mystery, there may be some
carry-over bonuses and penalties that need to be
applied to models – old injuries, equipment, that sort
of thing. Campaigns and experience for models will
be included in a future expansion.
9. Generate a Mystery for the Sleuth to solve and
the Mastermind to stop.
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
15
CLUE SUMMARY
A Mystery is a chain of Clues that the Sleuth needs to
solve. Here we will look at how to generate narrative
Clues for your game. The object of the game for the
Sleuth is to solve all the Clues, which will allow him
to deduce the Mastermind’s role in the crime and
catch him. Hooray, drinks all round, pip pip!
Even though most crimes don’t directly involve the
Mastermind, he is the one who is behind the scenes,
pulling the strings. Moriarty doesn’t go out and burg
houses himself, he gets his minions to do it, but if all
goes wrong he doesn’t want any muddy footprints
linking the crime back to him. That means the
Mastermind wins the game if all the Clues are
neutralized and it is impossible for the Sleuth to catch
him. Mwa-ha-ha-HA!
Generating narrative Clues that are more than just
generic clue 1, clue 2, clue 3 involves the use of the
Plotter.TM
The way the Plotter works is revolutionary
to model skirmish games, as it eliminates the need for
me the author, or some other poor sap, to continually
generate scenarios for players. Using The Plotter, you
can do it all yourself, and it is actually part of
gameplay! How ‘bout them apples?
Think of Clue construction as an advanced form of
‘Colonel Mustard, in the Conservatory, with the
Candlestick.’ It may sound daunting, but really isn’t –
an experienced player can get the whole Act 1
mystery construction down to about ten minutes.
Remember that the Acts are part of gameplay, Skills,
Actions and models are ‘live’ during this period.
The Plotter allows you to create infinite mysteries for
your Clubs to investigate, so it is worth getting to
know. You have already generated your Site and
Domain, Victorian London,, now let us generate 4
Clues, which is about right for a starting game of 200
points.
Each Clue involves the following –
A person …
… who does something (acts) …
… with something …
… to/for someone else.
In the Appendix there are –
a chart of female first names
a chart of male first names
a chart of surnames
a chart of Victorian London locations
a chart of occupations
a chart of events
a chart of items
The names are completely unimportant, they just give
flavour to the whole thing.
You can select any names you want, and there are
some very nifty Victorian name generators on the web
(see Appendix); if you are really historically-minded
there is even a census from 1890, which is where I
generated the names and occupations. Authors of the
time, our mates Dickens and Thackeray, also provide
us with some characterful names.
Grab some % dice and make a roll … good … you
decided on a man, rolled for first name and surname
on the appropriate tables, and got … Edwin Drood.
He goes in the first column of your Clue Summary
(see Appendix – you may want to photocopy or print
lots of these, as you will need one per game).
Second, roll on the Events table, and you got bashed.
It seems our Mr Drood is a bit violent. Next to the
entry for bashed there is a little wee Red Flag icon
() which indicates this is against the law. It doesn’t
matter if the event you roll is not against the law, we
were just lucky. Enter that in the second column of the
Clue Summary, including a mark to make sure you
remember the crime.
Third, we roll on the Items table, and get a bar of
soap. Interesting. That goes down in the third column
of the Clue Summary.
Fourth and finally, I decide I am going to make up my
own name for the other person, Pierre St Martin
Deveraux, who sounds French but is actually from
Yorkshire. His occupation is (roll on the table), a
Judge! Definitely made good, Mr Deveraux. He goes
down in the fourth column.
So we have all the elements of our first Clue – Edwin
Drood bashed Deveraux the Judge with a bar of soap?
No, that’s silly. How about Drood bashed Deveraux
for the soap (this is why adverbs are useful … see,
you have learned something).
But why? Is there a gold locket hidden inside the
soap, that is a clue? Did Deveraux plant the soap on
Drood to convict him of a crime, and it is now
evidence? Is there a number carved into the soap that
opens a safe? Is the soap the last thing Drood’s wife
touched before she was brutally murdered? Is there a
whole Fight Club soap thing going on? The
imagination is sparks and off it goes.
Leaving Mr Drood and his incriminating soap, below
is a fully generated 4 Clue Summary, which is enough
for you to start a game!
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
16
Clue Antagonist Acted Item Victim
1 Lulu Nachbar analysed a lump of wood for Green Grocer Clem Blessman
2 Israel Drake deduced the truth from an Ouija Table from Innkeeper Eli Hudson
3 Magnus Baker declared revenge with a sturdy saucepan on Farmer Travis Schicklegruber
4 Hugh Hughes escaped from gaol with Cocaine for Bargeman Gabriel Carlisle
And here is the Mystery I came up with, based on the
dice rolls -
‘It was a dark night on the Old Kent Road when Clem
Blessman met up with his sweetheart Lulu Nachbar,
an actress at the Colosseum Saloon. In amongst his
delivery of groceries, Clem had discovered a lump of
wood with white powder all over it … and some
blood. He showed Lulu, who instantly recognised the
powder as pure cocaine. Little did they know, Israel
Drake the conman had tricked the old innkeeper Eli,
from the Red Dragon in Putney, into telling him
where his supplies of cocaine for sale were kept
(cocaine was legal in the 19th
century). Drake usually
did small jobs for Moriarty, but this was his own
private con. Drake knew Eli was superstitious and
faked a séance, pretending that the poor dumb
innkeeper’s father talked to him from beyond the
grave through an Ouija Table.
Drake and Travis Schicklegruber were in on the heist
together, but they were spotted climbing out of the inn
loft by cook Magnus Baker, through his kitchen
window. Grabbing the first thing that came to hand, a
sturdy saucepan, Magnus hollered out his revenge
(some of the cocaine was for him) and gave chase.
They managed to ambush the enraged Magnus by
hiding in a barn on Schicklegruber’s farm, then
beating him to death with a lump of wood (which they
threw into a cart loaded with vegetables for delivery).
The next day, Drake visited his cousin, Hugh Hughes
(the thief) in Newgate Prison, and slipped him his ill-
gotten gains. Hughes used the cocaine to bribe a guard
and escaped from prison. All three villains are now
laying low on Gabriel Carlisle’s barge, which is
moving quietly up the Thames past the Custom
House.’
There we have it. Based on a few dice rolls and some
creativity we have established the Mystery for your
game, and the motivation for each player. The Sleuth
Sherlock Holmes needs to track down the criminals
hiding on the barge, who should then confess their
links to Mastermind Moriarty, while the Crown Prince
of Crime has to stop him doing so.
Once you have generated your own Clue Summary,
spend a few minutes with it working out a Mystery. It
can be as crazy or as funny as you like (maybe Drood
did beat Deveraux with a bar of soap!), and the more
you come up with, the more you will feel that London
pea-soup fog rolling in, sinister figures in the
shadows, Mother Ham sitting on the corner with no
teeth, hansom cabs, horses, lamplighters, ladies of the
night …
It all makes me quite giddy.
Now the Clues are generated, we will return to the rest
of the steps to finish Act 1 –
10. Buy Items.
Each Club will have a total amount of money (in £/S).
This is usually a Leader’s value, but occasionally
very well-to-do Sidekick will add some cash to the
pot.
Players may buy any Item of equipment for their
models, using prices listed in the Appendix. The price
given for each item is reasonably accurate to the times
but have been rounded up to shillings so you don’t
need to muck around with pence to shilling
conversions. Sitting around and buying equipment is a
good time to throw out ideas to polish up the Mystery
for your clues, if you are good at multitasking. Also
remember that the game is still live and Agency can
affect your choices.
Items are allocated to each model and will need to be
noted down on their specific roster, under their
starting equipment.
Some equipment is rare in Victorian London and there
is a % roll in the Appendix to discover its availability.
If you wish to purchase a Rare Item, declare this and
make a roll; for Rare Items you must roll each time
you wish to purchase the item, if you want multiples.
11. Set up the Table, including the Call the Coppers
bucket.
12. Place Named Locations, Locations, Barriers,
Obstructions and Hazards.
13. Place Citizens.
14. Deploy Clubs.
Find a receptacle, which should ideally be a sterling
silver genuine Victorian spittoon first used by General
Brudenell at the outbreak of the Crimean War. If not,
a bowl will have to suffice. This is the Call the
Coppers Bucket, and counters are thrown into it
every time someone does something naughty, to see if
the Bobbies eventually arrive and haul everyone off to
a convict ship to the colonies. More on this later.
While carefully positioning your bucket and piles of
tiddlywinks to throw in it, you should also work out
your Club’s total LUCK (including the +3 for the
Leader), and create a pile of dice or counters to
represent this. Remember that each LUCK point can
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
17
be used as a Leader reroll or to immediately cancel
the effects of an Agency card.
Refer to the memorably named chapter The Table for
full rules for how to set up … erm … the Table in
steps 10-13.
15. Act 1 Face-Off between Sleuth and Mastermind.
The players Face-Off and try to sabotage the other’s
efforts. This could be anything from sending the
Baker Street Irregulars out to listen to word on the
street, to scaring the only witness into keeping her
mouth shut. This face-off is the equivalent of Holmes
meeting his quarry for the first time.
The best way of handling a face-off is to stand at
either side of the table, steeple your fingers, then
declare any final Skills you wish to use. The Sleuth
goes first, then players take turns until all models have
used Skills. Remember Agency cards can be played at
any time.
Start with your Leader and work down to your
Chavies. Victorian name-calling is encouraged
(‘Wanton wench!’ ‘Dishonourable cur!’).
END OF ACT 1.
With all Act 1 steps concluded, the two Clubs hit the
mean streets of London to follow up their
investigation the down-and-dirty way …
Act 2 – Mean Streets Now we have our Table set up, it is time to venture
into the streets and start Act 2, the skirmish feature of
GG that everyone is here for. See Playing Act 2.
16. Take to the streets …
Act 3 – Case Closed Act 3 is the grand finale of the Mystery. Either the
crime has been solved, with time for tea and crumpets,
or the evildoers have escaped with their loot to murder
another day. Confrontation, justice, redemption are all
themes of a satisfying Act 3 in a novel or movie ... or
thrilling Victorian wargame.
17. A final Act 3 Face-Off between the Sleuth and
the Mastermind occurs. This is the point in the
story where the butler is revealed to have dunnit
in the old grey mansion, or Moriarty has been
pulling the strings the entire time. The best final
face-off in Holmesian fiction is the Great
Detective’s confrontation with Moriarty at the
Reichenbach Falls.
To move to Act 3, one player has to ‘call’ Act 2. This
situation is usually up to the players when it becomes
evident that a player cannot possibly win the game in
Act 2: for example there are only 2 Clues left, the
justice player has lost all of their models except a
wounded Dog etc.
Certain triggers are automatic moves to Act 3 –
One side reaches their Break Point . This is
an automatic major win to the other side.
If the Sleuth solves all the Clues, they gain a
major win.
If the Sleuth solves half or less of the Clues, the
Mastermind gains a major win.
If the Sleuth solves equal to or greater than ¾ of
the Clues, it is a minor win for the Sleuth but the
Mastermind can push for a Duel … if the
Mastermind’s Club still has more models on the
Table than the Sleuth’s Club.
The Agency card deck has been reshuffled three
times (tooooo looooong).
There are more Bobbies than Club models on the
Table.
18. The Face-Off may result in a Duel, which is very
exciting but doesn’t happen very often. Victorian
gentlemen (and ladies) tend to be quite restrained.
One player can challenge the other to a Duel at any
time during Act 3 if both players agree and can’t
decide who has won the game, or the triggers listed
above apply.
A Duel CANNOT occur if either Leader has
been permanently removed from play during Act
A Duel cannot occur if one of the Club Leaders
is a woman. Men don’t shoot women with
duelling pistols to resolve honour disputes in
Victorian times. Florence Nightingale, you are off
the hook.
The Duel is enacted thus –
1. Players place their Sleuths, Masterminds and
additional models up to 100 Renown (including
the Leader) per Club somewhere dramatic on the
Table, like at a crossroads. In the moonlight.
With suitably stirring music playing, and plenty
of close-ups. The additional models are there to
carry the duelling weapons and officiate.
2. Only 1 Table section is used for a Duel.
3. Each player redraws their entire Agency card
hand. Remember the game is still live and the
rules for playing Agency cards continue to apply.
4. Each model on the Table may have a single free
Skill or Item use, taking-in-turns Sleuth then
Mastermind.
5. The Sleuth starts the Duel. Fight!
6. There are no Citizens. No Citizen or Call the
Coppers turn occurs during a Duel.
7. Players fight until a Break Point is reached.
19. If the mystery was being played as part of a
campaign, Renown is allocated.
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
18
See the relevant Expansion Book for details on GG
campaigns.
20. Somebody wins! The game is officially over.
Everybody shakes hands, then go down the pub
for a quiet drink or six, and more Victorian name
calling (‘Uncouth cad!’ ‘Perfumed ponce!’).
And there we have it; in the space of 1-4 hours the
you have planned and enacted one of the great
criminal enterprises that has haunted London from
Victorian times to the present day. Congratulations!
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
19
The TableThe smallest table area is 3x3 feet divided into 6
Table sections, which is coincidentally also the
dimensions of a fold-up card table, so you don’t need
giant plastic tables (with skulls) to play.
You will need a whole bunch of buildings, or
representations thereof. Below are the rules for setting
up the Table.
Table Setup Table setup can be summarised in one handy-dandy
formula –
1 Table section = 1 Named Location
= 2 Locations = 1 Barrier/Hazard/Obstruction = 1
Clue = 3 Citizens.
There must be at least two major streets. Each
street is at least 8 inches wide and runs from one
table edge straight to the opposite table edge.
Roads can intersect, run parallel, whatever, as
long as there are at least two of them. You can
always have more.
There must be at least two alleys. Same deal as
the roads, they run from table edge to table edge,
and must be at least 3 inches wide. You can
always have more.
There must be at least 18 Locations. Not all
locations are houses, some are parks, cemeteries
etc. Each Location should be at least 3x4 inches
(the size of a paperback book).
There must be at least 1 Named Location per 3
Locations, accompanied by rules. This means in a
3x3 game there will be 6 Named Locations.
PLACING NAMED LOCATIONS
The Open Combat rules define interactions with
inaccessible buildings, and this covers unnamed
building Locations. The fronts of unnamed buildings
may enter play if they have accessible (with Climb)
balconies or roofs. I am thinking of Colonel Moran
and his trusty sniper rifle.
Named Locations can be entered by models, so
require new rules –
They have one entrance, which also acts as an
exit, at the front of the building, 1” across.
Models may enter the building when in base
contact with the entrance. This may be part of a
Move Action.
While in a Named Location, a model expends all
remaining Actions and may perform any number
of tasks the building allows. For example, a
model may purchase several Items.
A model is automatically returned to base contact
with the entrance of the Named Location at the
end of the player’s turn. This means models
cannot spend consecutive turns within a Named
Location.
Designer’s Note: If they did, we’d have to work out
rules for combat and model interaction in a Library or
Inn. While this could be an entertaining sub-game, it
is not part of GG, where the streets are the focus).
Named Locations are generated using this table –
NAMED LOCATION TABLE
# Locs Name Effect
1-3 Bazaar May purchase any Items listed under ‘Bazaar.’
4-6 Apothecary May purchase any Items listed under ‘Apothecary.’
7-9 Library Club gains +2 MIN to next Deduce test.
10-12 Post Office May –
Redraw entire Agency card hand for free once per visit.
Cost 10s.
Look at the top 3 cards of the Agency deck once per visit. Cost 10s.
13-15 Inn May –
Drink heartily and be healed up to +3 FOR per visit, for 10S.
Gamble. Both players roll a D6. If the model in the Inn wins he gains 10S.
You could always play a hand of poker to resolve this if you are that way
inclined. Aces high.
16-18 Tailor May purchase Items listed under ‘Tailor.’
19-21 Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe May purchase any Items listed under ‘Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe.’
22-24 Military Quartermaster May purchase any Items listed under ‘Military Quartermaster.’
25-27 Broker’s Shop May sell Items for ½ the value listed in the Appendix.
28-30+ Church May use the Pray Action.
This table is cumulative, so if you have 18 locations
(the minimum to play the game), you need to provide
a Bazaar, Apothecary, Library, Post Office, Inn and
Tailor. If you have no Victorian buildings, this is an
excellent modelling opportunity. As the size of your
games grow, you keep adding buildings, so at 19-21
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20
Locations, you add Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe to the
list. What you do after 30 Locations is up to you.
If you happen to have the buildings further down the
list and wish to use them, additional Named Locations
and rules can be added with both players’ consent.
This doesn’t preclude you from modelling other stuff
– if you want a Theatre, then model a Theatre, it just
doesn’t have any rules associated with it. In future
expansions this list will be expanded to correlate with
new Sites, Domains etc.
PLACING LOCATIONS
First, divide the Table, with streets and alleys, into six
sections. Roll a D6 and place a Named Location in
each Table section you generate. The Sleuth goes
first, then players take turns.
Once all the Named Locations have been placed,
place all the other ‘vanilla’ Locations so the streets
look densely populated. In Victorian London shops
and houses were jammed together like sardines, so
make sure the streets have creaking, gas-stained,
urine-soaked buildings looming over them.
A city park is represented by an empty space. If
one of your Locations is a park, then make sure it
has stuff in it, like trees, statues, park benches or
fish ponds.
A Standing or Running Water source is governed
by the Open Combat rules. Canals, sewers,
ornamental ponds and the Thames were
prominent in Victorian London, so don’t skimp
on the water!
PLACING BARRIERS, HAZARDS AND
OBSTRUCTIONS
The key terrain types are defined in Open Combat –
A Barrier can be a wall, a horse watering trough,
anything that can be crossed, as per the Open Combat
rules. Hazards are more dangerous variants of
Barriers, and can take up an area.
An Obstruction can be anything impassable, from a
street vendor’s cart to a stationary carriage.
Placing 6+ Barriers, Hazards or Obstructions per 3x3
Table section is appropriate, 1 per Table section. I am
not going to get all anal about where exactly the se
terrain features go, just lay them in the streets and
lanes so the table is fairly evenly covered and both
players agree. The Open Combat ethos says that more
terrain is always preferable to less, and in the middle
of a densely populated city this makes sense.
PLACING CITIZENS
For every Location you have, a Citizen needs to be
placed, which means for 18 Locations, you would
place 18 Citizens.
Citizens are randomised to Table Sections in
exactly the same way as Locations.
Citizens should be placed within 2” of the
entrance of a Named Location within each
randomised Table Section if possible, or in a
major street within each randomised Table
Section if not. All Citizens enter the game in this
way, regardless of when they arrive.
Try to allocate the 6 types of Citizen evenly, with
any surplus being made up of Bobbies and
Urchins. For example, in a 18 Citizen game place
2 of each Citizen, plus another 2 Urchins and 1
Bobby (or 1 Urchin and 2 Bobbies).
There are 6 types of London Citizen –
DOG. The streets are home to all sorts of animal
life, dogs being the most prominent. Some are
strays, some are feral, some are guard animals.
URCHIN. Bands of wastrels roam the streets,
pickpocketing, acting as lookouts, playing in the
garbage and generally making a nuisance of
themselves. They tend to travel in gangs, which
may affect the verisimilitude of your model
placement.
WENCH. “Looking for a good time? See
anything you like, sailor?” Usually found
loitering around Inns.
PUGILIST. Professional boxers do not hang
around looking for trouble, they are too busy
training, but young unemployed men or ex-
soldiers with links to the underworld and nothing
to lose do.
BOBBY. The presence of the law keeps the
peace on the mean streets. Bobbies will have the
most influence on the game due to their Stop
Thief! Skill, so their placement is key.
BYSTANDER. Market stall owners, travellers,
tourists, couriers, these Citizens fill out the rest of
the streets.
You can go to town with these guys with some
evocative models that really add colour to your game.
You can also add non-interactive models to add
further colour. They have no associated rules but act
as stationary Obstructions.
The roster for each Citizen is detailed in Playing Act
2 and the Dramatis Personae.
PLACING CLUES
After the Citizens have been placed, and are getting
about their business, it is time to place Clues. Grab
those counters because we are going to need them –
There are 4 Clues in the 200 Renown game, so
one goes in each quarter. All Clue counters
should be the same colour at this stage, as the
difficulty ordering occurs as each Clue is
discovered.
If a Clue has been Red Flagged () as Illegal, a
second counter to remind you of this should be
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21
placed next to that Clue, or a counter with a flag
on it.
The Sleuth goes first placing a Clue, then players
alternate until all are placed.
Clues can be placed anywhere outside a Location,
but must be placed in base contact with either a
Location or an Obstacle (so no planting a Clue in
the middle of the street).
Clues must be placed at least 12” apart.
Clues cannot be placed within 12” of a
deployment zone.
Clues cannot be moved, damaged or Interacted
with in any way except to be Observed and
Deduced.
PLACING CLUBS
Once all the Locations and Citizens are placed, then
your Clubs can hit the streets.
The Clubs should always be deployed on a road,
diagonally opposite the other Club. In other words, as
far away from the other Club as possible on a square
table.
Before this occurs, some fast and tricky members of a
Club may have already Infiltrated the area.
Two models from each Club (NOT the Leader)
may be placed anywhere on the table before
everyone else deploys as above. The Sleuth
places one first, then the Mastermind, and take
alternate turns until all models are placed.
No Infiltrator may be placed within 6 inches of
another.
Some Skills allow players to deploy additional
Infiltrators, which occurs once the initial two per Club
have been deployed.
Now you are ready to go!
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22
Playing Act 2 The Game Turn GG is a very detailed skirmish game, with a veritable
host of options designed to give players a breadth of
choice from slamming up against each other to almost
a roleplaying situation.
During each game turn, one player moves and makes
actions with all his models, then the turn is turned
over (so to speak) to the other player, as per Open
Combat Initiative. At the end of their turn, Citizens
are moved. The Sleuth always starts the game, so
every turn –
1. Sleuth acts with all his models.
2. Mastermind acts with all his models.
3. Citizens act.
4. Call the Coppers.
Basic Open Combat Actions are –
Move
Attack
Rest
Stand Up
Interact
Check the Open Combat rulebook for how this works.
In addition, there are two more Actions that have
special rules in GG, as well as a lot of variants on the
Interact Action –
Observe
Deduce
Clues The object of the game for the Sleuth is to solve all
the Clues. All Clues start the game hidden,
represented by counters on the Table. First a Clue
must be Observed, then Deduced, to be successfully
solved.
Unsolved Clues are transportable (if they are deduced,
they are removed from play) and may be picked up
and moved around using the Interact action. This is
very handy for the Sleuth. Note that a Clue cannot
leave the table at any time.
OBSERVE
To successfully Observe a clue, any model within 12”
may use one action and roll 2D6. If they roll equal to
or under their MIN characteristic, they have
successfully Observed the Clue. Some Skills and
Agency cards can affect this test.
Once the Clue is Observed then everybody can see it
(replace the generic counter with an appropriate
colour counter), so different models can perform the
Observe and Deduce duties.
DEDUCE
To successfully Deduce a clue, any model in base
contact may use one action and roll 2D6. If they roll
equal to or under their MIN characteristic, they have
successfully Deduced the Clue. Some Skills and
Agency cards can affect this test.
Once the Clue is Deduced it is solved and removed
from play.
Note that any model in the Sleuth’s Club can Observe
or Deduce a Clue, it does not have to be your Sleuth
alone.
ASSIST
Other models in the vicinity of a Clue may add their
expertise to Deducing it. This is why the eminent
scholar is sometimes consulted by the detective during
their investigation of a case.
Any model in base contact with the Observed Clue
may add +1 to the Deducing model’s MIN score for
the purposes of the Deduce test. For example, a model
with MIN 8 with two Assists (+2 MIN) would then
be rolling 10 or less on 2D6 to Deduce the Clue,
Some Skills and Agency cards can also aid an Assist.
“Thruppence on the little ‘un with no neck!”
Hand-To-Hand Combat All hand-to-hand combat is as defined in Open
Combat .
Shooting All shooting is as defined in Open Combat , with
the following additions –
GUNPOWDER
All Gunpowder weapons have this special rule. Guns
can kill you. All. The. Time. There is always a
chance, when hit with a gunpowder weapon, that you
can die. Simple as that. To represent this, any natural
double that Solid Hits on the ATK test instantly kills
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
23
the target stone dead, regardless of how many FOR
they have. The only way to avoid dying this way is to
expend a LUCK point.
Some gunpowder weapons, like the unwieldy muskets
used during the Crimean War, which are usually fired
stationary, can be covered easily by Open Combat
rules: a Musket is simply a combination Crossbow
(the shooty bit) and Spear (the bayonet), gains the
Gunpowder special rule and costs 2 Renown.
Similarly, a basic pistol is effectively a bow, but with
the Gunpowder special rule.
Gunpowder weapons not covered by Open Combat
that can be found in the Dramatis Persona include –
Rifle - 2 Renown, Gunpowder, Rifle (see below)
Pattern 1853 Enfield - 2 Renown, Spear,
Crossbow, Gunpowder
Revolver - 1 Renown, Bow, Gunpowder
RIFLE
A rifle is the most effective (and stable!) weapon to be
utilised during the Victorian era, much more than a
musket. The biggest advantage of a rifle is it hits hard
and can be moved and fired. Therefore, it acts as a
Crossbow but without the movement restriction, and
consequently costs 2 Renown. Rifles are rare items in
Victorian London, for obvious reasons, and only
certain models have access to them.
Bad Light Stopped Play Some game events can bring on reduced visibility for
models on the streets. These include night falling and
the sudden onset of a famous London pea soup fog.
This is called Bad Light Stopped Play. If there is
Bad Light for only a set number of turns, this means
entire turns for both players and the Citizens. The
following rules apply in the swirling mists –
All LOS is reduced to 8”. Remember that you
cannot shoot at or charge an enemy you cannot
see.
All rolls on the Behaviour Table are at -1.
Citizens Turn After the shooting stops and the dust settles, it is time
to see how Citizens react to this madness. Each basic
Citizen has the following statistics –
Dog SPD ATK DEF FOR MIN
Chavy 6 3 3 2 1
Fangs (hand weapon), Animal
Urchin SPD ATK DEF FOR MIN
Chavy 4 2 2 2 2
Dagger, Pickpocket
Wench SPD ATK DEF FOR MIN
Chavy 4 1 3 3 3
Fists, Charm (Male)
Pugilist SPD ATK DEF FOR MIN
Chavy 4 4 2 4 3
Fists, Furious Assault, Bullrush
Bobby SPD ATK DEF FOR MIN
Accomplice 4 3 3 3 3
Truncheon (Hand Weapon), Lantern, Stop Thief!
Bystander SPD ATK DEF FOR MIN
Chavy 4 2 2 2 2
Fists
Citizens do not suffer from Morale .
AI CONTROLS CITIZENS
If you do not have a third player to control the
Citizens, work through the following steps in order to
generate the automated actions of the Citizens. The
order is based on the most noticeable and potentially
dangerous the situation is to the Citizens. Citizens will
always move their maximum move distance if
possible.
1. If within 8” of hand-to-hand combat –
Dogs will move towards the com bat and attack
the closest model if within range.
Urchins will move towards the combat but will
not attack. They will attempt to Pickpocket the
closest model if within range.
Wenches will move towards the combat but will
not attack. They will attempt to Charm the
closest male model if within range.
Pugilists will move towards the combat and
attack the closest model if within range.
Bobbies will move towards the combat and
attack the closest model within range. Remember
their Stop Thief! Skill.
Bystanders will move directly away from the
combat.
2. If within 8” of an action that causes a counter
to be thrown in the Call the Coppers bucket –
Dogs and Bystanders will remain stationary.
Urchins, Wenches, Pugilists and Bobbies
will move towards the action and act as
above.
3. If within LOS but greater than 8” away from
an Action that causes a counter to be thrown
in the Call the Coppers bucket –
Bobbies will use their Stop Thief! Skill.
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
24
Bobbies armed with firearms will shoot at the
model who performed the Action.
All models (including Bobbies) will move
towards the source of the Action, most out of
a sense of opportunity and Bystanders out of
a sense of duty.
4. If within 8” of a model in a player’s Club –
All Citizens will move towards the model
and use Skills if able.
THIRD PLAYER CONTROLS CITIZENS
In the situation where Jeff brings his drooling kid
brother Mungo around to try to introduce him to
wargaming, an excellent opportunity exists for a third
player to be added to a GG scenario.
The Citizen player has no real goal in the game, as far
as victory or defeat goes. The London Citizens can’t
‘win’ as such, they have no interest in solving the
Mystery or stopping the bad guys. The single
overarching goal of the Citizen player is to support
and extend the narrative. Think of the Citizen player
as a roleplaying Games Master in this regard, who has
final responsibility for telling the story in a satisfying
way. A good GM is not going to send his Pugilist
attack the tactically significant old academic who is
busy analysing a bloody handkerchief. A good GM is
going to ask ‘What would the Pugilist do?’ and send
his Pugilist off to scrap with a Club’s Pugilist, to
prove who is brawnier.
As far as rules go, the Citizen player can either adhere
to the AI rules given above or do exactly as they see
fit with the Citizens, weaving a fascinating narrative
of intrigue that combines crime, justice and the
faeces-ridden streets of Victorian London.
Call the Coppers Turn GG is not a game played in isolation, where two
fantasy warbands show up on a nice flat green field
with scenic flocked terrain (and skulls) to pound
seven shades of manure out of each other. This game
takes place in a claustrophobic urban environment
(that hasn’t been bombed with laser mortars) where
the police – although maybe not competent – still do
exist.
Each time one of the situations listed below occurs, a
counter needs to be thrown into the Call the Coppers
bucket. Each player has a different colour counter to
distinguish between them, and the player that
committed the foul gets to shoot the hoop with his
coloured counter.
FIGHTING IS ILLEGAL
In a city like London, it is illegal to run up to someone
in broad daylight and stick a knife in them.
When resolving hand-to-hand combat, if the damage
done to the defender is equal to or above 2 FOR, then
a counter needs to be thrown in the bucket.
BANG BANG
Usually speaking, in Victorian London people don’t
tend to blast away with firearms in the street, as it is a
good way to be dragged off to gaol.
Every time a weapon with the Gunpowder special
rule is fired, a counter needs to be thrown in the
bucket.
RED RIGHT HAND
Death is frowned upon in Victorian times. Every time
a casualty is removed from play, a counter needs to be
thrown in the bucket.
THE BLOODY HANDPRINT
If an Illegal Clue with a Red Flag () is Observed or
Deduced, a counter needs to be thrown in the bucket.
This means an Illegal Clue is equal to two counters,
although the Observe and Deduce may be spread
across different turns.
WHAT, THIS OLD THING?
Each time an Illegal Item with a Red Flag () is
used, a counter needs to be thrown in the bucket.
CRIME DOESN’T PAY
Each time certain criminal Skills are used, for
example Kidnap or Pickpocket, a counter needs to be
thrown in the bucket. Criminal Skills are marked with
a Red Flag () in the same way as Illegal Items.
‘ALLO ‘ALLO ‘ALLO
Each time a counter is thrown into the bucket within
LOS of a Bobby, an extra counter must also be
thrown in the bucket. If multiple Bobbies are within
LOS, this means multiple extra counters.
At the end of the turn for each group – both players,
Citizens – a determination must be made as to
whether all your skulduggery, firing off elephant guns
and knifing people has drawn unwanted attention
from the Blue Bottles (that’s actually Victorian slang,
that is).
Call the Coppers follows these steps –
1. Roll a D6 and compare with the number of
counters in the bucket. If the D6 roll is less than
the number of counters in the bucket, the police
have been called. Remove all the counters from
the bucket. If the D6 roll is equal to or greater
than the number of counters in the bucket, the law
is unaware of your misdemeanours until the next
turn.
2. One Bobby is placed on the Table in exactly the
same way as during Act 1. He may have an
immediate free turn.
3. The player who had the higher number of
counters in the bucket (dice off for a draw) must
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25
remove a model in his Club with the lowest
CLASS (his choice) from the Table permanently.
The model has been Arrested and hauled away.
In Victorian times, getting arrested was a lot
more to do with social class and a lot less to do
with actually committing a crime. As usual, Skills
and Agency cards may affect the Arrest of the
model.
“Shooting at people is just not cricket, what what!”
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
26
Skills This section details the Skills used by models in GG,
and are listed under each model’s dossier in the
Dramatis Personae. Just as with the Open Combat
core rules, some Skills endow a persistent benefit
while some take Interact Action/s to use. These are
noted in each Skill’s description.
Check the Open Combat rulebook for full descriptions
of the core Open Combat Skills –
COMBAT SKILLS
Aim
Focussed Blow
Sharp Eyed
Marksman
Shield Bash
Furious Assault
Exert
Quick Recovery
Nimble
Evade
Ambidextrous
Surefooted
INFLUENCE SKILLS
Enrage
Taunt
Intimidate
Inspire
Feint
Distract
Below are the listed the GG-specific Skills. Unless
otherwise specified and you are building your own
GG dossiers, each Skill costs 1 Renown.
A STEP AHEAD
The model’s thought processes are so advanced, he
can predict the actions of his enemies and has
planned cunning stratagems accordingly.
The model and his Club may take an extra turn,
directly after theirs has ended, once per game even if
Initiative has been lost. The model’s Club has 2 turns
before their opponent’s turn, Citizens or Call the
Coppers occurs again.
ACADEMIC
The model is a scholar and applies his vast book
learning to deducing the mystery. Sometimes
knowledge of a rare subtropical butterfly comes in
handy when examining evidence!
+2 MIN to Deduce Test. This Skill may be used in an
Assist.
AGENCY
“One day, and this day may never happen, I may call
on you to do … a favour.”
A model with this Skill may discard an Agency card
of their choice and redraw for 1 Action.
ANIMAL
The streets of London are home to many a beast that
cannot call itself human. And many who do.
Models with this Skill are subject to Mount and
Monster Behaviour Rules . In addition, although
these seem self-evident –
Animals cannot be Arrested.
Animals cannot make Interact Actions.
Animals cannot enter Named locations.
Animals cannot carry Items.
ANIMAL HUSBANDRY
Some have grown up with animals, some have learned
to dominate and train them, some just feel a unique
kinship with them.
Animals will never attack a model with this Skill. A
model with this Skill does not have to test on the
Behaviour chart when driving a Vehicle.
In addition, this Skill can be used for 1 Action. During
the next Citizen turn, no animal within 12” of the
model who used this Skill may make any Actions nor
use any Skills.
ARCH DECEIT
Any criminal mastermind worth his salt has plenty of
bent police in his pocket. They know when to look the
other way when needed.
Model may cancel one Call the Coppers turn, once
per game. No Actions are expended.
EVIDENCE
True detectives have eagle eyes for the tiniest little
detail, like someone beating someone else over the
head with a giant Zulu ceremonial war club.
If the model is in LOS of an event that causes a Call
the Coppers counter to be thrown in the bucket, an
extra counter is also thrown in the bucket.
BODYGUARD
“I’d like to introduce you to my … associates …
Mungo and Bubba.”
A model with this Skill, within 1” of a friendly model
who has just been wounded, may take any damage
onto themselves instead. Damage has to be taken and
cannot be deflected in any way. No Actions are used,
the redirection takes place automatically.
BOMBARDIER ()
BANG!
“Tee hee hee …”
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
27
The model counts as permanently having the Matches
Item.
Using the Bombardier Skill is the same as using the
Matches Item and is a crime, thus will add a counter
to the Call the Coppers bucket.
BRIBE
Grease a few palms, and at the right place at the right
time, the right people will look the other way.
This Skill takes 1 Action and 10S to use. During the
next Citizen turn, no Bobby within 12” of the model
who used this Skill may make any Actions nor use
any Skills.
BROWNING
Even before the invention of the machine gun,
miscreants had worked out that a hail of bullets was
more likely to force enemies to keep their heads down
than one carefully placed shot.
A model with this Skill may take 2 shots per 1
Shooting Action with a Gunpowder weapon, but will
only ever score a maximum of Minor Hits . Note
that each shot causes a counter to be thrown in the
Call the Coppers bucket.
BULLRUSH
Some guys are just built BIG, and when they drop the
shoulder and charge you, you know you’ve been
charged.
As the per the Shield Bash Skill , but no Shield
is required.
CHARM
Beware the Mysterious East, the Dark Continent, and
especially the wiles of the fairer sex.
Nominate a model within 6.” This model may not act
next turn. This Skill may only work on members of
the opposite sex, as defined in Dramatis Personae; for
example Charm (Male) will only affect male models.
COMMAND
Criminal genii like Professor Moriarty or Fu Manchu
also rely on an intense, almost otherworldly personal
charisma. The sheer force of their personalities is
sometimes enough to bend others to their wills.
A model with this Skill also counts as having the
Exert Skill, and may transfer their Exert Skill to
another model within 12” via a barked order or
meaningful glance, for 1 Action. The target model
may act as if they have the Exert Skill for the rest of
the turn.
DEDUCTION
Lateral thinking was a foreign concept to people in
the 19th
century, but some can just join the dots and
turn a lot of abstract information into useful
knowledge.
+3 MIN to Deduce test. This Skill may be used in an
Assist.
DOGGED
Some crime fighters solve problems using their deep
knowledge, some use their street smarts and contacts,
others are just bullish (or maybe bull-headed) and
keep on grinding until the criminal is brought to
justice.
Model may reroll Deduce tests. May be used in an
Assist.
ESTABLISHMENT
“You wouldn’t arrest me, would you, officer? My
aunt’s uncle’s neighbour’s driver once sat next to the
17th
Earl of Essex at Lords. Great game, by the way.”
The model with this Skill automatically avoids Arrest
once per game.
EYE WITNESS
Holmes has his Watson, Nayland Smith has his
Doctor Petrie, Professor Challenger has his Edward
Malone. Every great crime fighter needs a faithful
assistant, who also happens to record his adventures.
Automatically Deduce a Clue when Assisting a
Sleuth (and only Assisting a Sleuth).
EYES AND EARS
Having plenty of eyes on the streets and ears to the
ground certainly speeds up the process of unearthing
important clues in any mystery. If enough of your
people are making enquiries, something is bound to
be found!
+1 MIN to Observe test for every instance of this
Skill within 6” of testing model.
FAST TALK
If the Artful Dodger wasn’t as fast with his mouth as
he was with his fingers, he would have ended up in
Pentonville long ago. Or face down in the Thames.
If a model with this Skill is being Arrested, roll a D6.
If the roll is equal to or less than the model’s CLASS,
the model avoids Arrest through a combination of
patter and stage-acting to rival Shakespeare (“Please
guv’nor, I ain’t a bad kid …”)
FLAIL OF THE LORD
Some colonial men typify everything that makes the
Empire proud. They are scholars, action heroes, pious
family men, and what’s more … they are leaders.
A model with this Skill may use the With Me
Combined Action , requiring only 1 Action.
FORTIFY
Extra sandbags, street refuse and random body parts
all make useful additions to a bulwark when the
bullets and rocks start flying.
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28
It takes 2 Actions for a model with this Skill to
Fortify either Soft or Hard Cover . Mark the
terrain feature with a counter, which has +1 DEF
bonus for the rest of the game. A terrain feature
cannot be Fortified more than once.
GHOST WHO WALKS
He’s gone! I blinked and he had already disappeared
into the crowd …
The model with this Skill may disengage from hand-
to-hand combat without penalty.
HAWKEYE
Being able to pick out the smallest valuable detail is a
talent unto itself.
Range for Observe tests for a model with this Skill is
18”.
HEAL
Hacksaws, leeches, powders, unguents and
preparations, the 19th
century was a time of much
experimentation when it came to medicine. The
physician’s art was beginning to stabilise into a
science, luckily for their patients.
A model with this Skill may transfer their Rest
Actions to another model in base contact. The model
being Healed may not move but may perform other
Actions as normal.
I AM THE LAW
“Didn’t you realise, Mr Holmes, that society works
for me, not the other way around.”
A model with this Skill may use 1 Action to control a
single Bobby within 6”. The Bobby acts immediately,
then the control is finished. This Skill may not be used
twice on the same model in the same turn, including
Club and Citizen turns as 1 turn.
KIDNAP ()
They say that the longest distance between two points
is between a kidnapper and his ransom. Doesn’t stop
some from trying …
This is a Psychological Attack with a range of 1”.
Kidnapping is mainly opportunity, not brute strength.
If the defender wins, nothing happens. If the attacker
with the Skill wins, the defender is removed from
play. The defender is not dead, and may roll a D6 at
the start of each turn, on a 4-6 they may enter play
again from a Named Location of their choice (they
have escaped, or the ransom has been paid).
Using the Kidnap Skill is a crime, and will add a
counter to the Call the Coppers bucket.
OF THE PEOPLE
For many people, the greatest fear in life is public
speaking. Not so for the rabble rousers, nutcases and ,
fanatics and agitators of Victorian London. On every
street corner there is always someone with an agenda
to push. Ideally over a cliff.
A model with this Skill may use 1 Action to control a
single Citizen (excluding Bobbies) within 6”. The
Citizen acts immediately, then the control is finished.
This Skill may not be used twice on the same model
in the same turn.
PICKPOCKET ()
The art of the pickpocket is subtle: selecting the right
mark, getting close while they are occupied, getting
away amid the ensuing hue and cry. It is a battle of
the minds as much as dexterity.
This is a Psychological Attack with a range of
1”.
If the defender wins, nothing happens. If the attacker
with Pickpocket Skill wins, one Item of the attacker’s
choice is removed from the defender’s roster. If the
defender has no Items, 3S are removed instead. The
thief does not acquire the stolen Item, they all go to
Fagin, who has to then split them with Bill Sikes.
Using the Pickpocket Skill is a crime, and will add a
counter to the Call the Coppers bucket.
PRAY/ORATE/THREATEN/CAJOLE
Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park has been a bastion of
free speech for decades, where anyone may say
anything at any time, protected by law. Some
anarchists and conspiracy theorists should have
stayed there.
This Skill takes 1 Action and 10S to use. During the
next Citizen turn, no Citizen except Bobbies within
12” of the model who used the Skill may make any
Actions nor use any Skills.
SAINTLY HEAL
Natural healers are rare in society, but sometimes a
person comes along who has been touched by God
(who is British) and can lay on hands to save the men
of the Empire.
One model in base contact, or the model with the Skill
itself, regains +1 FOR or +1 MIN at the cost of 1
Action. This Skill can only be used once per turn.
SECRET SOCIETY
The Freemasons, the Hellfire Club (kinky!), the
Golden Dawn, those damnable Knights Templar who
seem to be everywhere, the Victorian era was a
hotbed of both spiritualism and keeping lots of
skeletons in closets.
The Stop Thief Skill does not add the extra +1
counter to the Call the Coppers bucket when used on
actions committed by a model with this Skill.
SIXTH SENSE
Some people can just … sense stuff. That tingle, that
pricking of hairs on the back of the neck, that
undefinable quality … Some say it is just bunkum, but
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
29
the Victorian era was a superstitious time! Just ask
the Masons and the Theosophists …
A model with this Skill is never affected by the
Gunpowder instant kill rules. Damage from a
Gunpowder weapon is still applied as normal.
STOP THIEF!
“A veritable hue and cry went up as the cutpurse
hared off down the a street with my silk kerchief.
Fortunately one of our upstanding young officers was
on hand to apprehend the little beggar.”
If a model with this Skill is within LOS of a Red Flag,
add +1 counter to the Call the Coppers bucket.
TRAPSTER
“Gotcha!”
Place a Trap counter anywhere within base contact of
the model with this Skill, for 1 Action. Any model
who moves within 3” of a Trap must deduct D3 FOR
as the trapdoor opens or the poisonous snake darts
out. There is no effect on models within 6”. Any
model in base contact may remove a Trap counter for
2 Actions.
VEHICLE
Coaches, hansom cabs, rickshaws, wagons, barges:
the streets and canals of Victorian London were
teeming with a miscellany of transportation options.
Unfortunately most of these options also defecated in
the street.
The following rules apply to Vehicles in GG -
A Vehicle cannot be Arrested.
Embarked passengers count as being in Hard
Cover .
A Vehicle has its own statistic line. Harnessed
animals (usually horses and mules) cannot be
targeted directly in hand-to-hand-combat, they
use the FOR of the entire Vehicle. This is for the
sake of simplicity.
It takes 1 Action to embark or disembark from a
Vehicle, from being in base contact. It takes 1
Action to drive a vehicle up to its maximum SPD
in the same way as any other model.
Carrying capacity of each Vehicle should be
agreed before the game, and dictated by the size
of the model itself.
Embarkation points can be agreed before the
game, otherwise a model may embark anywhere
in base contact with the Vehicle model.
The driver of a vehicle harnessed to animals must
test on the Behaviour chart once per
Vehicle, not per animal.
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30
Items
“Your cocaine, absinthe and laudanum, sir.
This chapter lists the Items available to GG models in
the Dramatis Personae. Items work in the same way
as Skills, in that some Items give a persistent benefit
while some take Interact Action/s to use. The Actions
are noted in each Item’s description. Some Items are
One Use Only, and must be erased from the model’s
roster once used.
Illegal Items are Red Flagged () and their use will
cause a counter to be thrown in the Call the Coppers
bucket.
Items are grouped alphabetically here for ease of
reference. In the associated Appendix they are
grouped according to their availability (Common or
Rare), and the Named Locations where they are
available.
CAMERA
Although primitive by modern standards, cameras
taking reasonably clear black and white photographs
were readily available – if expensive – at the end of
the Victorian era.
A model with a camera may reroll all Observe and
Deduce tests once.
CARBOLIC ACID
The use of gaseous Carbolic acid to sterilise field
hospitals was a breakthrough in medical hygiene
during the Crimean War, spearheaded by … you
guessed it … Florence Nightingale.
One Use Only.
Takes 1 Action to use, and may be used on a model in
base contact with the bearer. Target model regains +1
FOR or +1 MIN.
DISGUISE KIT
In Victorian times the male fashion was for lavish
moustaches, beards and hats, which made the art of
disguise significantly easier.
One Use Only.
A model with a Disguise Kit who is being Arrested
may retarget the Arrest to any friendly model within
12”.
HELMET / BREASTPLATE
The pith helmet has become a symbol of colonialism
as much as an item of apparel. Just ask the Zulus.
A model wearing a helmet or similar protection is
never affected by the Gunpowder instant kill rules.
Damage from a Gunpowder weapon is still applied as
normal.
HORSE
“Giddyup!”
A Horse has the Animal Skill. Anyone riding a Horse
gains +4 SPD.
LANTERN
When the fog comes down, all that can be seen by
night are bobbing lanterns and the string of glowing
gas lamps fading into the distance.
A model bearing a Lantern ignores all reduced LOS
effects (usually caused by Agency cards).
MATCHES ()
The voices in my head tell me to light fires.
One Use Only.
A model in base contact with a Location or any
flammable Terrain Feature may destroy it, for 2
Actions. If a model is toting Matches it may be worth
agreeing which Terrain Features are flammable before
the game begins. All Victorian London buildings are
flammable (and how!).
Using the Matches for arson is a crime, and will add a
counter to the Call the Coppers bucket.
PEG OF BRANDY/ COCAINE/ BANDAGES
“Nothing like a pick-me-up to get one through a hard
day’s crime fighting, Watson.” <SNORT>.
One Use Only.
Model bearing this restorative regains +2 FOR, for 1
Action.
PHYSICIAN’S BAG
“Trust me, I’m a doctor. Now bend over and think of
England.”
Model bearing this restorative regains +1 FOR, for 1
Action.
POISON
Only demons from the mysterious Orient would stoop
so low as to use serpent or spider venoms on their
weapons. And they want you dead a whole lot quicker.
All Minor Hits caused by a model with Poisoned
weapons are upgraded to Solid Hits. All weapons
carried by the model count as Poisoned.
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
31
ROPE
Behind the humble towel and a ten-foot pole, a coil of
strong sailor’s rope is the most valuable thing in the
gaming universe.
A model bearing a Rope automatically passes Climb
tests .
TUNIC / OVERCOAT
Stiff tunics and helmets are a standard part of any
British military uniform, and are tough and coarse
enough to turn a blade … in the right circumstances.
A model wearing heavy outer wear gains +1 DEF.
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
32
Agency Cards Copy each of these Agency cards onto a sticky label
and attach to a regular playing card. The cards are
numbered if you want to randomise and distribute
them using the table, but this could get quite
convoluted as there is only one of each card. See how
you go.
The following rules apply to Agency cards –
If an Agency card is marked with a red flag ()
then playing the card requires a counter to be
thrown into the Call the Coppers bucket.
In regard to Agency cards, a ‘turn’ counts as both
players and the Citizens. For example, if a card
says ‘impassable terrain is passable for a turn,’
and it is played in the Citizen turn, the terrain is
passable until the start of the next Citizen turn, so
everyone gains the effects.
Many Agency cards require the player of the card
to ‘nominate’ a model. This can be any model on
the Table, including opposing Clubs and Citizens,
unless specified on the card itself.
‘Players’ written on Agency cards refer to the
player of the card.
An Agency card may cause a counter to be
thrown into the Call the Coppers bucket during
Act 1. Any counters thrown into the bucket in this
way remain for the start of Act 2.
If a player can prove an Agency card cannot be
played during the rest of the game, the card may
be discarded and redrawn.
AGENCY CARD TABLE
1 Reinforcements Nominated Club gains +D3 Chavies of the player’s choice. They are deployed
immediately in the same way as Citizens.
2 But Sir? Playing this card cancels the effects of a Threaten/Cajole/Pray, Command
or Bribe Skill.
3 Plans Within Plans Cancels the use of a LUCK point.
4 Bribe A Chavy on the nominated Club’s roster switches sides.
5 Mountaineer Every model in the player’s Club gains the Rope Item.
6 Take ‘Em Down One model in the nominated Club immediately gains 1 Rifle Item.
7 Dropped Murder
Weapon ()
One model in the nominated Club immediately gains 1 Revolver Item.
8 Rough Stuff () Cancels the effects of an Agency card as it is played … violently.
9 Wheels Within Wheels Cancels the effects of an Agency card as it is played.
10 Crime Pays () Nominated Club gains 3 shillings (3S).
11 Blood Brothers Player nominates an Accomplice in each Club, who switch Clubs
immediately.
12 Ha-ha-HA! Must be played before Act 2. Player may rewrite their entire Club list,
including their Sleuth.
13 Reroll This card does what it says on the tin. Reroll nominated die immediately.
14 Gotta Pick A Pocket or
Two ()
Nominated Club loses 6 shillings (6S).
15 High Ground All player’s models count a fighting from High Ground.
16 Beat Down All models, including both Clubs and Citizens, upgrade Hits to the next level
(eg. Minor Hits to Solid Hits) until the beginning of their next turn.
17 Sign of Four All models, including both Clubs and Citizens, count as having the Poison
Item until the beginning of their next turn.
18 Safe House Nominate a Named Location. Any model from nominated Club may make 2
Actions after leaving that Named Location, for the entire game. Money is still
spent as normal.
19 Deadshot The player’s next Shooting attack automatically Solid Hits.
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33
20 Act 2 Climax This card may only be played when 2 opposing Sidekicks are within 12” of
each other. They are moved into base contact, each moving half way.
21 Hatred Nominated model has double ATK for 1 turn only.
22 Into the Breach Barriers/Hazards/Obstructions are open ground for one turn.
23 Bang! Play this card when a Gunpowder weapon is fired. The gun explodes and is
removed from the wielder’s roster. The wielder takes a Solid Hit.
24 Boxing Tourney 2 Pugilists are deployed on the Table and may make immediate Actions. They
act as Citizens for the rest of the game.
25 Melon Cart Crashes Place a Hazard anywhere on the Table, player’s choice.
26 Condemned Nominate a Named Location. It has been shut down and is inaccessible for the
rest of the game.
27 Small Minions Play this card when a model has been Arrested. Switch this model with
another model of the same CLASS or lower from the same Club.
28 Empty Crates Place an Obstruction anywhere on the Table, player’s choice.
29 Break it Up! () Select a Barrier/Hazard/Obstruction and remove it from the Table.
30 Damned Bureaucracy An extra Named Location may be placed on the Table by the player, replacing
an unnamed Location.
31 Sale! Sale! Sale! Nominate a Named Location. For the rest of the game, all Items purchased at
this Named Location are half price.
32 Ninja Impassable terrain is passable for 1 turn.
33 King Hit () The next melee attack automatically Solid Hits.
34 Follow That Car Leader or Sidekick may immediately move 12” for no Actions.
35 Take That! () All hits from the nominated model count as Additional Hits.
36 Shieldwall All models in nominated Club gain the Shield Bash Skill for this turn. A
model cannot take advantage of having 2x the Shield Bash Skill.
37 Stand Firm All models in the player’s Club gain the Resolute Skill for one turn. A model
cannot take advantage of having 2x the Resolute Skill.
38 Poisoned () Nominated models takes up to -3 FOR. May only reduce model’s FOR to 1.
39 Doped () Nominated models takes up to -3 MIN. May only reduce model’s MIN to 1.
40 Golden Shower Mrs Gummidge from the 3rd
floor empties her chamber pot on the nominated
model. The model takes -2 DEF to a minimum of 1.
41 Second Wind Nominated model gains +3 MIN. This cannot take the model’s MIN over its
starting value.
42 Ne’er Do Went 1 nominated Chavy is removed from the game.
43 Räche () 1 nominated Citizen is removed from the game.
44 There He Is! All Bobbies move at maximum speed towards nominated model.
45 Hansom Cab Nominated model may move anywhere on the Table.
46 Royal Rumble () All hand weapons count as double handed weapons for 1 turn.
47 Gambling Pays () The next model from either player’s Club who visits the Inn gains £1 for their
Club.
48 Master Duel Both Leaders fight 1 round of combat now. Assume they are in base contact
and have 2 Actions each. Neither model is actually moved.
49 Duel 2 nominated Sidekicks fight 1 round of combat now. Assume they are in base
contact and have 2 Actions each. Neither model is actually moved. If a player
has no Sidekick, this card may be redrawn.
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
34
50 Next Step All models in player’s Club gain the Exert Skill for 1 turn.
51 Do It Now! Nominated model gains the Command Skill for 1 turn.
52 Go Go Go! Nominated model may take an extra 2 Actions.
53 Sit Ubu Sit. Good Dog. No models with the Animal Skill may be hired by the nominated Club unless
1 model in the Club has the Animal Husbandry Skill.
54 No Riff Raff No Chavies may be hired by the nominated Club.
55 Sold Out No Accomplices may be hired by the nominated Club.
56 A Word in Your Ear Nominated Sidekick may not act next turn.
57 The Dark Side … No Accomplice in nominated Club may move next turn.
58 Ox Cart 3 nominated models may immediately move anywhere on the Table, for no
Actions.
59 Dark for Dark
Business
Night has fallen. Bad Light Stopped Play applies from this point on.
60 Misled 4 nominated models begin the game by deploying at the start of their player’s
second turn.
61 All the Pretty Horses 3 nominated models may immediately make 8” moves for no Actions.
62 Curfew Bad Light Stopped Play applies for the next 2 turns.
63 Charge! All move distances during the player’s turn may be doubled.
64 You Won’t Like Me
When I’m Angry ()
Nominated model gains the Ambidextrous and Furious Assault Skills for its
next turn.
65 Fire Discipline All models in Club gain free Volley Fire in their next turn.
66 Duck and Weave All models in Club gain free Feint in their next turn.
67 … and Englishmen Nominated Dog moves up to 12” into base contact with the nearest model and
makes an attack.
68 Rotgut Nominated Pugilist is removed from the game.
69 Mistaken Identity Player may substitute a model who has just been Arrested with any model
within 6”.
70 The Peasants Are
Revolting
Player may substitute a model who has just been Arrested with any friendly
Chavy.
71 Wear Them Down All nominated Club’s models are at -1 DEF until the start of their next turn.
72 Tall Poppies Nominated Leader begins the game at the start of their second turn.
73 Whispers Draw Agency cards up to your Club’s total Agency.
74 Crime Blitz Add 1 Bobby to the Table, who deploys according to the Citizen rules.
75 The Navy is in Town Add 2 Wenches to the Table, who deploy according to the Citizen rules.
76 London Calling Draw 2 Agency cards and apply effects to random Club, if possible. Then
discard.
77 Crimewave () The next Call the Coppers turn is cancelled.
78 Get Out of Gaol Free Empty the Call the Coppers bucket.
79 General Strike () No nominated Club’s Chavy models will move this turn.
80 Take the Strain All Hand Weapons count as Spears and all Spears count as Halberds until this
time next turn.
81 Pea Soup Fog Bad Light Stopped Play rules are in effect from now on.
82 Ripper Strikes () Nominated non-Leader female model is removed from the game.
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
35
83 Eleventh Hour Draw an Agency card and apply its effects to both Clubs.
84 Brain Drain Observe or Deduce test automatically fails.
85 Cocked Dice Cancels the use of a LUCK point.
86 Building Boom During Table Setup, add the next Named Location on the list to the Table.
87 Bankrupt Nominated Club loses -£1.
88 Deputized All Accomplices in nominated Club gain the Stop Thief! Skill permanently.
89 The Gig is Up () Nominated player reveals their Agency hand.
90 Damnable Regulations One Named Location can be place anywhere on the Table by player of card.
91 Prison Break () Remove 3 counters of your choice from the Call the Coppers bucket.
92 Sneaky Git Next time there is one of those exchanges where players alternate and the
Sleuth goes first, instead the Mastermind goes first.
93 Laudanum () Nominated Sidekick has been Kidnapped exactly as per the Skill.
94 Focus Pull Draw 2 Agency cards. This may take your hand over your Agency score.
95 Insight Draw 3 Agency cards. This may take your hand over your Agency score.
96 Lamplighter
Convention
Bad Light Stopped Play rules are cancelled, if in effect.
97 Winter Solstice Bad Light Stopped Play rules are in effect from now on.
98 Spy Nominated player must reveal their Agency hand.
99 Run Amok Play an immediate Citizens turn.
100 Silencer Shooting from 1 nominated gunpowder weapon does not cause a counter to be
thrown in the Call the Coppers bucket for the whole game.
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
36
Advanced Rules To add even further texture to the great game of crime
and justice, here are summarised a bunch of rules that
can be added to any game, as long as both players
agree.
3+ Players When a third player is playing the Citizens, they have
less options than the Club players and no real winning
objective. Some suggestions for livening up the
Citizens turn include –
The Citizen player may have an Agency hand,
which starts at 3, but +1 may be added for every 4
Citizens on the Table after the first 4. This makes
the words ‘nominate’ and ‘player’ on the Agency
cards exceptionally relevant.
The Citizen player may have LUCK points.
Generate LUCK the score based on generating
the Agency hand above. Citizens are not a Club
and will never have a Leader.
Named Allies (see Dramatis Personae) may be
placed instead of generic Citizens, as long as the
narrative sustains it. Good examples include
Mycroft Holmes when Sherlock is the Sleuth or
members of the Royal family (there is a model
out there of Queen Victoria with a shotgun) if
Jack the Ripper is the Mastermind.
Bobbies may be equipped with Rifles or
Revolvers. They do not have to use the Call the
Coppers bucket (do I really need to say this?).
Different Play Modes The basic form of GG is asynchronous: the players
have different objectives to win the game. If a third
player is controlling the Citizens, then (weirdly for a
wargame) they have no objective at all except to cause
trouble, extend the narrative options and to have fun!
Below are some optional play modes if you want to
stretch your legs with more ‘What if?’ scenarios –
CLUE DO
Who is the greatest crime fighter of them all? After
Super Man, of course.
In this variant, both players select Sleuths, with the
same number of Clues to be solved as a game with
only a single Sleuth. This could get really bloody,
with a high chance of a duel at dawn to finally settle
the outcome.
THE GREAT RACE
Two intertwined stories. One winner of the ‘best crime
fighter’ competition. Cannes Film Festival gold.
Both players select Sleuths, and both have their own
set of Clues to solve. Whoever solves theirs the fastest
is the winner. Will the two Clubs actually interact, or
will they pass like ships in the night? Who will stoop
to fighting dirty first and reveal their true colours?
GANGS OF LONDON
Fighting with big decorative crosses is never a good
idea, after guns have been invented.
Both players select Masterminds and Clubs with the
restriction that no model may have a CLASS greater
than 2. They engage in a turf war for the Four Corners
… I mean Whitechapel. The goal is to wipe out the
opposition, and Open Combat Break Points apply as
normal.
KINGPINS OF LONDON
This town isn’t big enough for two Empires of Evil,
and a final showdown must take place
Both players select Masterminds and Clubs as normal.
This is the equivalent of a ‘pitched battle,’ and the
winner should be pretty obvious once Break Points
start being factored in.
ESCALATION
“The solution was obvious, Watson, you just needed
to know that potassium bivolvolate acts as a catalyst
for gherkin skin to turn orange. Child’s play, really.”
The Clues are ranked in their degree of difficulty to
solve. The easiest Clues are always deduced first in
most crimes, and they get progressively harder as the
investigation goes on.
To represent this, each Clue is given a value from 1-9,
which you can write on each Clue counter, or find
counters every colour of the rainbow. Clues can be
represented by this handy-dandy ROYGBIV column,
as wargamers think visually –
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
37
You can refer to the Clues as either numbers or
colours, dependent on how your brain is. Mine is very
small, and in a jar. Clues are used in a game bottom-
up, so in a four Clue game you would use Black
through Yellow. In a 6 Clue game, you’d be playing
Blue through Black.
The number on the Clue is the score you have to roll
equal to or under on the Deduce Test to solve the
Clue. The following modifiers can be made to the
score based on the Deducer’s MIN –
1-3 0
4-6 +2
7-8 +3
9-10 +4
Other modifiers for Assists etc. are applied as normal.
For example, Holmes with a MIN of 10 is trying to
Deduce a Black Clue by himself. He needs to roll 6 or
less on 2D6, as the base score for Deducing a Black
Clue is 1 (1+5=6). If you crunch the numbers, it will
become apparent that some easy Clues can be solved
practically automatically, while the hard ones are
impossible for stupid or uneducated people. Not
everyone in Victorian London knows something about
organic chemistry.
This makes it far more difficult for the Sleuth to solve
the Clues, and to reflect this the Sleuth may have an
additional 100 Renown to hire his initial Club.
THE FINAL PROBLEM
Reichenbach Falls. It all had to end at the
Reichenbach Falls. The final climactic confrontation
and the death of the Great Detective. All or nothing,
conclusive victory in the Great Game.
The ‘Escalation’ Play Mode applies in this scenario,
BUT the Sleuth must solve the Clues in a particular
order. All 9 Clues are utilised and must be solved
sequentially top-down from easy White 9 to deadly
Black 1.
This variant is extremely difficult for the Sleuth to
win. To represent the extra resources needed for the
Sleuth’s Club to be victorious, the amount of Renown
the Sleuth has to spend on his Club doubles that of the
Mastermind. This game cannot be played fairly if the
Sleuth’s Renown is less than 500.
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
38
Appendix – The Plotter
PLOTTER EVENTS 1 Murdered 34 Tried to sell 67 Notified
2 Connived 35 Got drunk 68 Warned
3 Attacked 36 Ran off 69 Admitted
4 Escaped from 37 Sang 70 Confessed
5 Laughed at 38 Was tormented 71 Lied
6 Cried over 39 Teased 72 Lied to save
7 Sneezed 40 Analysed 73 Saved
8 Danced 41 Deduced the truth from 74 Fixed
9 Used 42 Dug up 75 Questioned
10 Was insulted 43 Retaliated 76 Worked
11 Was cheered 44 Tricked 77 Paid good money
12 Was embarrassed 45 Jumped at the chance 78 Was unaware of
13 Tried to eat 46 Renegotiated 79 Grabbed
14 Threatened 47 Signed 80 Got drunk
15 Was surprised 48 Hid 81 Resented
16 Giggled 49 Screamed about 82 Eloped
17 Was shocked 50 Humiliated 83 Wrote poetry about
18 Shocked 51 Declared revenge 84 Employed
19 Stole 52 Bashed 85 Alerted the police
20 Replaced 53 Pawned 86 Shot
21 Added 54 Swapped 87 Knifed
22 Cleaned 55 Poisoned 88 Maimed
23 Dirtied 56 Was suspicious of 89 Strangled
24 Rearranged 57 Threatened 90 Operated
25 Cooked 58 Rubbed fingerprints off 91 Argued
26 Smoked 59 Saw 92 Opened
27 Took cocaine 60 Broke 93 Closed
28 Took opium 61 Smashed 94 Played
29 Assaulted 62 Repaired 95 Chastised
30 Seduced 63 Dried 96 Applauded
31 Lost 64 Soaked 97 Married
32 Found 65 Suggested that 98 Divorced
33 Sold 66 Was tipped off 99 Gaoled
100 Escaped from gaol
indicates that the act was illegal, and the resulting Clue should be marked as illegal with a flag. Observing or Deducing
an illegal Clue causes a counter to be thrown into the Call the Coppers bucket.
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
39
PLOTTER OCCUPATIONS
1 Able Seaman
2 Falconer
3 Accountant
4 Ale Draper
5 Almsman
6 Assurance Agent
7 Bailiff
8 Baker
9 Baler
10 Barber Surgeon
11 Town Crier
12 Bill Poster
13 Cabman
14 Caretaker
15 Undertaker
16 Carpenter
17 Chandler
18 Quarryman (mason)
19 Forgeman (blacksmith)
20 Cartographer
21 Clerk
22 Dog Whipper (hunting)
23 Embroider
24 Doctor
25 Engineman
26 Errand Boy
27 Engineer
28 Exciseman (tax
collector)
29 Fancy Man (pimp)
30 Farmer
31 Fisherman
32 Hawker
33 Gold/Silver Smith
34 Watchmaker
35 Jeweller
36 Soldier
37 Cavalryman
38 Green Grocer
39 Grazier
40 Lord
41 Earl
42 Count
43 Viscount
44 Duke
45 Prince
46 Baron
47 Hair Dresser
48 Footman
49 Cook
50 Butler
51 Groom
52 Teacher
53 Academician
54 Haberdasher
55 Iceman (sells ice)
56 Ironmonger
57 Rag and Bone Man
58 Indentured Servant
59 Newspaper Man
60 Policeman
61 Chimney Sweep
62 Fishmonger
63 Lumberjack
64 Innkeeper
65 Knockknobbler (dog
catcher)
66 Knoller (bell ringer)
67 General Labourer
68 Lagger (sailor)
69 Lamplighter
70 Licensed Messenger
71 Preacher
72 Vicar
73 Bishop
74 Actor
75 Machinist
76 Travelling Salesman
77 Master Mariner
78 Merchant
79 Muffin Man
80 Notary
81 Lawyer
82 Judge
83 Navigator
84 Newsagent
85 Gambler
86 Watchman
87 Auctioneer
88 Painter
89 Sculptor
90 Office Boy
91 School Master
92 Pensioner
93 Playwright
94 Railway Porter
95 Train Driver
96 Pugilist
97 Reeve (royal official)
98 Bargeman
99 Soap Boiler (maker)
100 Tailor
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
40
PLOTTER ITEMS
1 Cocaine 34 A lost manuscript 67 A bloody knife
2 Opium 35 A violin 68 A smoking gun
3 A quartz candlestick 36 Floor wax 69 Bandages
4 An iron bar 37 A sturdy sauce pan 70 The Maltese Falcon
5 A pair of pince nez (glasses) 38 A roofing tile 71 An oil lamp
6 A snuff box 39 Mud from the Thames 72 Sugar
7 A pistol 40 Beard clipping scissors 73 Castor oil
8 A kitchen knife 41 A tin of ox tongue 74 Dr Whizzo’s Remedy
9 A jam jar 42 £5 75 A bucket of water
10 Bed linen 43 £2 76 One leather shoe
11 A dress 44 A beggar’s bowl 77 A bar of soap
12 The curtains 45 A fake moustache 78 A model sailing ship
13 A lamp shade 46 A wig 79 A map of Australia
14 Seven eggs 47 A brocaded parasol 80 A map of Africa
15 A hot skillet 48 A winged collar 81 A map with a giant X
16 A lump of wood 49 An ancient gold coin 82 Sealed documents
17 A sextant 50 A forgery mould 83 Scandalous love letters
18 An objet d’art 51 A pot of hot mustard 84 Beggar’s rags
19 Grandma-ma’s medicine 52 A rolling pin 85 The Royal Warrant
20 A truncheon 53 Bath salts 86 Prisoner’s manacles
21 A leather-bound volume 54 A stuffed dodo 87 A promissory note
22 A bag of juniper berries 55 A small dog 88 The Necronomicon
23 A phial of laudanum 56 An angry cat 89 Hat with a bullet hole
24 A cigar 57 A suet pudding 90 Two theatre tickets
25 A pot of ointment 58 A claw hammer 91 A box of ammunition (6)
26 A framed portrait 59 Went fishing with 92 Naughty men’s’ pictures
27 A genuine Rembrandt 60 A ship’s anchor 93 Lady’s makeup kit
28 A fake Rembrandt 61 A box of mints 94 Tickets to New York
29 A lady’s sewing kit 62 A tobacco tin 95 A Turkish water pipe
30 Knitting needles 63 Tobacco 96 An Ouija table
31 An empty bed pan 64 Half a bottle of gin 97 A pack of marked cards
32 A full bed pan 65 An empty whiskey bottle 98 The skull of a caveman
33 A trashy pamphlet 66 Sailor’s rope 99 A sent telegram
100 A meat cleaver
indicates that use of the Item act was illegal, and the resulting Clue should be marked as illegal with a flag. Observing or
Deducing an illegal Clue causes a counter to be thrown into the Call the Coppers bucket.
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
41
Appendix - Items To save you the trouble of converting shillings to pence during the game, these prices have been dramatically
rounded up. A peg of brandy, for example, would actually cost 10d.
When purchasing Items, whether from a Named Location or during Act 1, consider the narrative absurdities this
could generate. Some pretty convincing reasons need to be established for a Pugilist to be buying a Physician’s Bag,
or any Chavy to have enough money for an Overcoat.
BAZAAR
Cudgel (Hand Weapon) 5S Common
Knife (Dagger) 10S Common
Lantern 10S Common
Matches 5S Common
Peg of Brandy 1S Common
Physician’s Bag 15S Rare 50% (4-6 on D6)
Rope 10S Common
Loaded Dice 5S Rare 33% (5-6 on D6)
APOTHECARY
Bandages 5S Common
Carbolic Acid 3S Rare 33% (5-6 on D6)
Cocaine 5S Rare 33% (5-6 on D6)
Laudanum 3S Rare 33% (5-6 on D6)
Camera £2 Rare 16% (6 on D6)
YE OLDE CURIOSITY SHOPPE
Cudgel (Hand Weapon) 15S Common
Dagger 10S Common
Lantern 15S Common
Matches 5S Common
Peg of Brandy 1S Common
Physician’s Bag 10S Rare 33% (5-6 on D6)
Rope 10S Common
Marked Cards 5S Rare 50% (4-6 on D6)
TAILOR
Disguise Kit 10S Rare 33% (5-6 on D6)
Overcoat £1 Common
MILITARY QUARTERMASTER
Chavies may not purchase Items from the Military Quartermaster.
Military Tunic £1 Common
Helmet 10S Rare 66% (3-6 on D6)
Revolver £1 10S Rare 33% (5-6 on D6)
Rifle £2 Rare 16% (6 on D6)
Cudgel (Hand Weapon) 5S Common
Army Knife (Dagger) 10S Common
Bayonet (Spear) 15S Common
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
42
Appendix – Miniatures There are a plethora of miniature manufacturers out there who make really cool Victorian models. A lot of them
also come with their own rules, which you should buy, as you can’t ever have enough Victorian wargaming
rulesets! Below are just some manufacturers we like. I haven’t got permission to replicate their miniatures in this
manual, so that’s why God invented the internet –
WEST WIND PRODUCTIONS
http://www.westwindproductions.co.uk/catalog/index.php?cPath=204_222
WARGAMES FOUNDRY
http://www.wargamesfoundry.com/our-ranges/castingroomminiatures/victorians/
WAYLAND GAMES
http://www.waylandgames.co.uk/1989-in-her-majesty-s-name
OUTPOST WARGAME SERVICES
http://www.outpostwargameservices.co.uk/
TIGER MINIATURES
http://www.tigerminiatures.co.uk/page3.htm
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
43
Appendix – Clue Summary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------
Clue Antagonist Acted Item Victim
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Clue Antagonist Acted Item Victim
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Clue Antagonist Acted Item Victim
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
44
Appendix - Victorian Names VICTORIAN GIRLS’ NAMES
1 Abigale / Abby 34 Ettie, Henrietta 67 Leah
2 Ada 35 Eudora 68 Lenora
3 Parthena 36 Zylphia 69 Letitia
4 Agnes 37 Fidelia 70 Lila
5 Allie 38 Polly 71 Lilly
6 Almira,
bAlmyra
39 Fanny 72 Lorena
7 Alva 40 Flora 73 Lorraine
8 Molly 41 Florence 74 Lottie
9 Amelia 42 Geneve 75 Louise, Louisa
10 Annie 43 Ginny 76 Lucy
11 Arrah 44 Genevieve 77 Lulu
12 Beatrice 45 Georgia 78 Lydia
13 Becky 46 Gertrude, Gertie 79 Mahulda
14 Bernice 47 Gladys 80 Margaret
15 Bess, Bessie 48 Grace 81 Mary
16 Charity 49 Hannah 82 Theodesia
17 Charlotte 50 Hattie 83 Winifred
18 Chastity 51 Nelly 84 Martha
19 Stella 52 Helene 85 Matilda, Mattie
20 Constance 53 Henrietta, Hettie 86 Maude
21 Cynthia 54 Hester 87 Maxine, Maxie
22 Dorothy, Dot 55 Hope 88 Mercy
23 Edith 56 Hortence 89 Mildred
24 Edna 57 Isabel, Isabella 90 Minerva
25 Edwina 58 Jane 91 Missouri
26 Sophrona 59 Jennie 92 Molly
27 Rufina 60 Jessamine 93 Myrtle
28 Ellie 61 Josephine 94 Nancy
29 Elizabeth 62 Judith 95 Natalie
30 Elvira 63 Vertiline 96 Philomena
31 Emma 64 Juliet 97 Nettie
32 Esther 65 Katherine, Kate 98 Nora
33 Ethel 66 Sally 99 Orpha
100 Patsy
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
45
VICTORIAN BOYS’ NAMES
1 Isaiah 34 Commodore Perry 67 Reuben
2 Abraham, Abe 35 Victor 68 Micajah
3 Horatio 36 David 69 Theodore, Ted
4 Albert 37 Richard, Dick 70 Nathaniel, Nathan, Nate, Nat
5 Alexander 38 Edmund 71 Mordecai
6 Alonzo 39 Oscar 72 Ora, Oral
7 Ambrose 40 Edwin 73 Ninian
8 Amon 41 Eldon 74 Nimrod
9 Amos 42 Eli 75 Matthew
10 Andrew, Drew 43 Elijah 76 Obediah
11 Aquilla 44 Meriwether 77 Orville
12 Archibald, Archie 45 Enoch 78 Octavius
13 Arnold 46 Ezekiel, Zeke 79 Hiram
14 Asa 47 Ezra 80 Pleasant
15 August, Augustus 48 Francis 81 Israel
16 Barnabas, Barney 49 Luther 82 Jeptha
17 Bartholomew, Bart 50 Franklin 83 Timothy
18 Benjamin 51 Frederick, Fred 84 Horace
19 Bennet 52 Gabriel, Gabe 85 Jedediah, Jed
20 Benedict 53 Garrett 86 Harrison
21 Hugh 54 George 87 Zebulon
22 Bertram, Bert 55 Dan, Daniel 88 Silas
23 Buford 56 Gideon 89 Zedock
24 Byron 57 Gilbert, Gil 90 Magnus
25 Calvin 58 Granville 91 David
26 Charles, Charley 59 Gus, August 92 Zachariah
27 Isaac, Ike 60 Hank, Henry 93 Thaddeus
28 Jasper 61 Wilfred 94 Levi
29 Clarence 62 Harland 95 Uriah
30 Clement, Clem 63 Harold, Harry 96 Marcellus
31 Clinton, Clint 64 Washington 97 Ulysses
32 Cole 65 Roderick 98 Lafayette, Lafe
33 Columbus, Lom 66 Rudolph 99 Lucius
100 Maxwell, Ma
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
46
VICTORIAN SURNAMES
1 Ackeridge 34 Magnussen 67 Dawson
2 Abeldinger 35 Hudson 68 Bird
3 Achee 36 Stubbs 69 Lang
4 Ackroyd 37 Hooper 70 Moorsum
5 Blessman 38 Morstan 71 Carter
6 Bletchley 39 Wiggins 72 Napier
7 Bleymeyer 40 Sawyer 73 Swire
8 Brecount 41 Wilkes 74 Drake
9 Cisney 42 Riley 75 Strallan
10 Corveleyn 43 Smallwood 76 Copperfield
11 Coshnitzke 44 Bradstreet 77 Carlisle
12 Caulfield 45 Gregson 78 Zoernig
13 Dez 46 Pike 79 Zaversnick
14 Greel 47 Lupa 80 Yerrington
15 Baker 48 Goldberg 81 Yeoman
16 Chandler 49 Baynes 82 Yockney
17 Mason 50 Shinwell 83 Quirey
18 Farmer 51 Coyle 84 Quill
19 Shepherd 52 Grantham 85 Kenady
20 Frood 53 Crawley 86 Klemach
21 Downton 54 Branson 87 Kleinsmith
22 Watson 55 Painswick 88 Toadvine
23 Adler 56 Levinson 89 Trevorrow
24 Lovecraft 57 MacClare 90 Tivador
25 Hardwicke 58 McCleod 91 Burroughs
26 Doyle 59 Carson 92 Poe
27 Dunsany 60 Hughes 93 Terwilleger
28 Moran 61 Bates 94 Nonamaker
29 Donovan 62 Barrow 95 Smith
30 Anderson 63 O’Brien 96 Nickenberry
31 Schicklegruber 64 Patmore 97 Nachbar
32 Frankland 65 Parks 98 Osmanski
33 Small 66 Molesley 99 Ohlendorf
100 Osmundson
THE GREAT GAME – CORE RULEBOOK
47
VICTORIAN LONDON PLACE NAMES
1 Blackfriars 34 Saffron Hill 67 Lewisham
2 Westminster 35 Christchurch 68 Kilburn
3 Camden 36 Marylebone 69 Fulham
4 Richmond 37 Bethnal Green 70 Holloway
5 All Saints 38 Paddingon 71 Portsoken
6 Brompton 39 Woolwich 72 Bishopgate
7 Kensington 40 Saint Olave 73 Stoke Newington
8 Saint Pancras 41 Norwood 74 Deptford
9 Southwark 42 Walthamstow 75 Poplar
10 Whitehall 43 Wimbledon 76 Aldgate
11 Newgate 44 Wood Green 77 Greenwich
12 Kew 45 Saint Saviour 78 Nunhead
13 Dulwich 46 Strand 79 Edmonton
14 Hampstead 47 Stepney 80 Bermondsey
15 Plaistow 48 The Hyde 81 Ealing
16 Leadenhall 49 Rotherhithe 82 Chingford
17 Burlington 50 Walbrook 83 Old Town
18 Trafalgar 51 Wandsworth 84 Mile End
19 Piccadilly 52 Hammersmith 85 Bow
20 West India 53 Spitalfields 86 Holborn
21 Billingsgate 54 Anerley 87 Dowgate
22 Regent’s 55 Streatham 88 Shoreditch
23 Albery 56 Saint George 89 Acton
24 Bedford 57 Brockley 90 Mortlake
25 Saint Thomas 58 Mill Hill 91 Hendon
26 Albany 59 Hanover 92 Shepherd’s Bush
27 Sabbarton 60 East Ham 93 Soho
28 Docklands 61 Catford 94 Tottenham
29 Battersea 62 Peckham 95 Plaistow
30 Camberwell 63 Bloomsbury 96 Homerton
31 Islington 64 Peckenwell 97 Saint Giles
32 Lambeth 65 Charing Cross 98 Manor Park
33 Finchley 66 Gloucester 99 Hackney
100 Leyton
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