HCS/HRSFA Assassin 1999 - The Rules

"Don't panic." -- Douglas Adams

Recent changes to these rules

2/27: Added section about consent to stalking.

3/2: Changed the rules about the meeting exemption. The new rules take effect at 6 a.m. 3/3/99.

3/3: The "meeting with students" exemption for TFs has been revoked.

3/10: Updated the rules on iocaine poisoning.

HCS/HRSFA Assassin 1999 shall be played according to the following Rules. All Assassins are fully bound by these Rules and agree to obey them in the spirit in which they are intended: namely, to give Harvard students something to do other than study and to ensure a good time for all.

Assassins are responsible for knowing the Rules! Read them! Study them! Learn them! Love them! Reflect on them day and night, for they are your life and the length of your days!

These Rules and anything else the Judges deem important will be found at the Assassin website, located at http://hcs.harvard.edu/~assassin/ and will be posted on the doors to the HCS office (Thayer B-10) and the HRSFA library (Jimenez Reading Room, Pforzheimer House).

Rules are subject to change. Assassins are responsible for keeping abreast of any changes in the Rules that are posted on the website. Printed changes may be somewhat slower to update.

As stated under the Authority section, Judges' decisions are final.

Also see the Deus ex Machina page for further questions and answers.

These rules are adapted from Hillel's excellent 1999 assassin rules.

Contents

I. BASIC IDEA OF THE GAME

A number of people are playing as assassins, each as part of either the HCS team or the HRSFA team. Each assassin is assigned victims from the other team. At any time while the game clock is running, anywhere that is in bounds, assassins may (and indeed should) assassinate anybody who is one of their victims, whereupon he/she receives new victim assignments, anybody from the other team who is a rogue; or anybody who is out to assassinate him/her. If you are assassinated, you are out of the Game. This continues until one team is left or the game otherwise ends. The only exception is that if one team begins with more players than the other, the smaller team will be allotted one resurrection for every extra member of the larger team. These resurrections will be used to resurrect the first people killed from that team for as long as resurrections remain.

II. BASIC PROCEDURE AND VICTIM ASSIGNMENTS

On day 0, Sunday, February 28, 1999, equipment will be distributed. Assassins may receive their Guns and Iocaine Powder from the Chief Justices at the HCS office (chosen purely for centrality), Thayer B-10, 6-3929, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. After this time, players should contact the Chief Justices at assassin@hcs.harvard.edu to receive their supplies.

Initial Victim Assignments will be given by email approximately one hour before the beginning of the game.

The game will begin at 9:00 AM, Monday, March 1, 1999.

It is the responsibility of the assassin to report all assassinations to the Judges by emailing the Chief Justices at assassin@hcs.harvard.edu , including the approximate time of the assassination, and an action-packed recount of all the grisly details. These stories will then be posted on a page linked to this one; most creative assassinations will earn prizes and much honor. The Assassin web page will be updated periodically with death stories, rogue lists, and other useful information.

Once an assassin has reported an assassination, the Chief Justices will provide that assassin with a replacement target as soon as possible.

If an assassin's target is assassinated by another assassin, the former assassin will receive a replacement target from the Chief Justices as soon as possible. Assassins should check the web page regularly for lists of dead players so that they do not waste time stalking victims who have already been assassinated.

If you somehow have no Assigned Victims (they've been assassinated by someone else, etc.), it is your responsibility to report to the Judges for new Victim Assignments.

III. DISPUTES

Please try to settle disputes amongst yourselves. This Game is supposed to be fun; that's why you're playing it. So don't be nitpicky or go against the spirit of the Game; you may be declared a rogue.

The Judges will look disfavorably upon any retaliatory action against the other team that is not expressly permitted under these rules.

Participation in the game is considered consent to electronic and physical "stalking," including systematic monitoring of your whereabouts, by anyone else participating in the game.

IV. AUTHORITY

A. The Chief Justices

  1. Also known as The Most High and Revered Commissioners of the Game.
  2. Decisions of the Chief Justices are final. In the event that they disagree, their verdict will be rendered by tossing a fair coin (or two tosses of a biased coin).
  3. The Chief Justices and Commissioners of the Game are Mike Epstein, mike@hcs, and Tom Lotze, lotze@fas. They can be emailed together at assassin@hcs.harvard.edu.
  4. The Chief Justices may not under any circumstances reveal any information about which assassins are assigned which victims, except to the assassin in question or to each other. They may, however, contribute information about sightings of players to players on either side, and so forth. The only restriction on dissemination is privileged information.

B. Respect

Proper respect must be paid to the game officials at all times. While the game clock is running, any Assassin passing either Chief Justice without greeting him with "Good (morning/afternoon/evening), Most Revered and High Commissioner and Chief Justice of the Game!" and a cheery face runs the risk of being declared a rogue. This rule is in effect until the Judges tire of such flattery.

V. ASSASSINATIONS

A. Whom you can assassinate

Valid victims:
  1. One of your Assigned Victims
  2. Any Rogue on the opposing team
  3. There is no rule 3.
  4. Anybody on the other team whose Gun is visible, unless the person is involved in a public assassination or is otherwise out of bounds. Keep your guns concealed!
  5. Anybody for whom you are an Assigned Victim
  6. No one else. You may not simply kill members of the opposing team indiscriminately, even if they look at you funny.

A victim may fight back! If attacked, a victim may pursue the assassin at any time thereafter! Also, even if not attacked, if you know for certain who is after you, you may assassinate him/her just as if he/she were one of your Assigned Victims.

Caution! Don't do this unless you are sure, because...

If you kill an invalid victim, somebody who does not belong to one of the above six categories, the kill is nullified, and you become a rogue.

Important! This only occurs if you succeed in killing them. Hence, the Judges will not waste their time arbitrating claims such as bullets that missed that were probably aimed at an invalid victim but could have been aimed at somebody else. If an attempt is made that misfires, it shall be a case of "the rogue that got away," unless Judges decide to bestow roguehood anyway.

B. When you can assassinate

See Boundaries - Temporal

C. Where you can assassinate

See Boundaries - Spatial

D. Why you can assassinate

Why not?

E. How you can assassinate

  1. A general note
    No physical intervention other than proper use of the Equipment is permitted. For example, you may not have a friend hold your victim in a full-nelson (while keeping his eyes averted so as not to be a witness) and calmly execute them. No pushing in bounds, etc. Although teammates may help in information-gathering, all assassinations should be the work of the assassin involved.
  2. Assassination by Secret Shooting - the Classic Assassination:
    1. Only the official equipment may be used
    2. The Bullet must be fired from the gun as intended by the gun manufacturer - no throwing, etc.
    3. The Bullet must strike the victim. Any contact between any part of the Bullet and any part of the victim or the victim's clothing (which he/she is wearing at the time) counts.
    4. Part of "Assassination", as opposed to mere killing, is the element of stealth. Hence, nobody may directly witness the assassination.

    Note: Witnessing consists of anybody other than the assassin and the victim seeing the Gun or the Bullet before the assassination is complete. If, somehow, an assassin shoots a Bullet, which nobody sees, out of a Gun, which nobody sees, and misses, whereupon people see the Bullet, and the victim is oblivious, so that the assassin might want to try again, the assassin may retrieve the Bullet. In order to try again, the situation must be "reset", i.e., Gun and Bullet must both be hidden before an attempt can be made.

    Note: Seeing a "smoking gun" or Bullet after the fact does not constitute witnessing.

  3. Assassination by Public shooting -- The other alternative to all that secrecy business is full public humiliation. The criteria for a public shooting:
    1. Same as (a),(b),(c) above.
    2. At least 20 people must witness the assassination. Witnessing is defined as being able to see the Gun and/or Bullet before the assassination is completed (i.e., having a direct line of sight to one or the other).
    3. The assassin must begin at least 40 feet away from the victim, then standing still while screaming (so that at least 20 people hear), "Behold the vengeance of the Magic Clowns, [full name of victim]! They will strike you down for your crimes, real and imagined!" Pursuit may then commence without worrying about secrecy.

      (Note: any resemblance the Magic Clowns bear to any person, real or imagined, is purely coincidental.)

    4. After the assassin shoots the victim, the assassin must yell "So long, and thanks for all the fish!" (if the assassin is playing for HRSFA) or "Nobody escapes kill -9!" (pronounced "kill dash nine") (if the assassin is playing for the HCS) to make the kill official.
    5. If, after 60 seconds from the time the assassin completed his/her scream, the assassin has not successfully assassinated the victim, the victim may end the public pursuit at any time by yelling "What are you doing, Dave? I'm sorry, Dave, I can't let you do that." (This is the proper form, even if the would-be assassin is not named Dave.) For 15 minutes after the intended victim thus ends the public pursuit, the failed assassin may not assassinate that intended victim. (Note that stopping a public assassination does not allow you to assassinate the person who tried to kill you.)
    6. From the time assassin X begins yelling to commit a public assassination of victim Y, until 16 minutes later, X may not assassinate Y by any method other than public shooting, and Y may not assassinate X.
  4. Assassination by Iocaine Powder
    1. Only the official equipment may be used.
    2. To assassinate by Iocaine Powder, place an official sticker on a victim's food, plates, glass, etc., or on his/her clothing. The item with the sticker is thus tainted.
    3. A person dies by Iocaine Powder if the person
      1. consumes tainted food or drink or any food/drink out of a tainted container
      2. wears tainted clothing for 20 consecutive minutes
    4. In order to consummate the assassination, after (c) is fulfilled, the assassin must stand up, face the victim and exclaim "Your feeble skills are no match for the power of the Dark side!" (if the assassin is playing for HRSFA) or "Didn't your mother ever tell you about the GOOD TIMES virus?" (if the assassin is playing for the HCS). The Assassin must say the relevant phrase with the Victim in his/her line of sight, loud enough so that the Victim can hear. Both Assassin and Victim must be in bounds, and in the case of poisoning via clothing, the Victim must still be wearing the article with the poison sticker.
    5. When poisoning a victim via clothing, both Assassin and Victim must be in bounds when the clock of death begins ticking (i.e., when the sticker is applied to clothing that the Victim is then wearing, or when the Victim puts on poisoned clothing).
    6. If a victim notices an Iocaine Powder sticker from his/her clothing before 20 minutes have elapsed, in order to stop the count towards his/her doom, the victim must shout as loudly as possible, "I spent the last few years building up an immunity to iocaine powder!" before removing the sticker.
    7. It is impossible for the intended victim to un-taint food or drink. Such food or drink may be thrown away, returned to dining services, etc. Touching it is not fatal; only eating or drinking it is fatal. If the sticker falls off by itself or the intended assassin removes it, the food or drink is no longer tainted. But eating tainted food or drink while out of bounds is not deadly.
    8. The appropriate way to call a teammate's attention to Iocaine Powder on his/her clothing or food is to say or yell, "Hey [name]! Telephone! It's your 'mother'!"

VI. BOUNDARIES - TEMPORAL

  1. As in any sporting event, the Game shall be "On" from Beginning to End, except during Time Outs.
  2. The game clock:

    The fas.harvard.edu computer clock shall be the official timer of the Game.

    Type "date" instead of "ucvote" at the pine prompt.

  3. Beginning:

    The Game shall begin at precisely 9:00 AM, Monday, March 1, 1999, fas.harvard.edu time.

  4. End:

    The Game shall end whenever

    1. Only assassins from one team are left alive.
    2. The Chief Justices decree it. (They may then decree a "shootout" between the remaining Assassins, for which the rules will be explained at that time.)
    3. The arrival of January 1, 2000 (or January 1, 1900, as the case may be) occurs.
  5. Time Outs
    The Chief Justices may declare a Time Out to begin at any time. Notification will be by email and/or web page posting. (This, or a shootout, will probably occur during Spring Break if the Game is still going on.)
  • Any person in contact with, possessing, carrying, etc., any Game Equipment during a Time Out shall be declared a rogue. Don't look for loopholes here -- stay away from the Equipment during Time Outs!

    VII. BOUNDARIES - SPATIAL

    1. The basic rule
      Assassinations of any sort can only take place if both assassin and victim are in bounds for the beginning and completion of the assassination. (For an added wrinkle, see the end of this section.)
    2. Boundaries are defined as follows:
      1. Unless explicitly stated otherwise (or of course at Judges' discretion), everywhere is in bounds.
      2. Out-of-bounds areas are defined in two ways, fixed and portable.
        1. The following are fixed out-of-bounds areas:
          1. Bathrooms, public or private
          2. Classrooms, professors', departments', and TF's offices during a victim's classes, sections, labs, exams, reviews, scheduled office hours, etc. (This covers office hours in the Greenhouse, Loker, etc., ONLY WHILE the victim is actually meeting with his/her TF. Victims who are TFs or CAs are out of bounds for the duration of their scheduled office hours, under the "employment" provision.)
          3. Libraries and computer terminal rooms. ("Computer terminal rooms" refers to public or semi-public areas with multiple computers, including House and dormitory computer labs, Science Center computer labs, etc. Kiosks do not count as computers for this purpose (so, for example, Loker Commons is not a computer terminal room).)
          4. The victim's own assigned dormitory suite. (If you are living somewhere with communal bathrooms, the path between your room/suite and the bathroom is IN bounds. Sucks for you!)
          5. The victim's workplace, while he/she is on the job. This only applies to paid jobs with fixed hours, i.e. positive timebound employment.
          6. The giant T token outside the Alewife T station.
          7. Bowing or kneeling in silent contemplation before the Apple advertisement on the elevator kiosk at the Harvard T station, while within 10 feet of the advertisement.
          8. Pandemonium in the Garage.
          9. All swimming pools.
          10. The state of Florida.
          11. Stephen Jay Gould's office.
          12. Any other planet or heavenly body other than the Earth. (One's significant other does not count as a "heavenly body". New Jersey does not count as another planet.)
          13. The HCS office and the HRSFA library.
          14. HCS and HRSFA meetings, or meetings of their subgroups. Such meetings must have been announced on a mailing list with at least 10 members at least six hours before the scheduled start time of the meeting. Persons who attend such meetings are exempt from being killed from 5 minutes before their arrival at the meeting (which cannot be previous to the scheduled start time of the meeting) until 5 minutes after they leave the meeting (not counting temporary absences). Such temporary absences may total at most five minutes over the entire time of the meeting; that means that the player must actually be at the location of the meeting for all but fifteen minutes of the claimed exemption. This exemption may last, in total, no more than four hours. Anyone claiming this exemption may not kill anyone else during the duration of the exemption. Meetings for the purposes of this clause must be approved by assassin@hcs. They must be submitted 24 hours in advance. No spurious or overly long meetings will be approved. Meetings must have a legitimate connection to the non-assassin business of the organization. Ungodly proliferation of SIG meetings is discouraged.
        2. A portable out-of-bounds area may be created by an individual by the following method:
          1. Being naked. No "Psycho"-style assassinations allowed. (This out-of-bounds area is only created if the victim is completely naked. Therefore, if you wear shoes for the Primal Scream and are shot, you stay dead.)
        3. Abuse of out-of-bounds areas
          1. A general note:

            Since an assassin cannot assassinate (just as he/she cannot be assassinated) while out of bounds, the assassin will not acquire fame or prestige for his/her (lack of) exploits. Roguehood is also conferred, as stated below. Finally, while a person could survive for a while, he/she cannot, of course, win this way.

          2. Abuse of fixed out-of-bounds areas

            If an assassin seems to be a rare sight in any in-bounds area, deal with it. It's that assassin's problem of how to live for a week without leaving a library or bathroom.

          3. Abuse of portable out-of-bounds areas

            If a Judge determines that an assassin is making too much use of indecent exposure, an assassin may be denied further use of them. You're right, this is entirely subjective. See the section on Authority.

    3. How to be in bounds

      We go by NFL rules: in bounds means both feet in. Either foot not in bounds means out of bounds.

    4. An added wrinkle

      The only time when duration of assassination is a concern relative to boundaries is during a public shooting pursuit and during the 20 minutes of an Iocaine Powder poisoning.

      1. If a pursued victim goes out of bounds during pursuit, he/she cannot be assassinated. The victim must still use the proper procedure to end the pursuit, which the victim may do while out of bounds.
      2. While Iocaine Powder stickers may only be placed while both assassin and victim are in bounds, a victim might then wander out of bounds with a sticker on his/her clothing. The victim cannot die during this time, but the clock of death keeps ticking. One of three things can happen:
        1. If the sticker is on for more than 20 minutes, in order to consummate the assassination, the assassin must wait until the victim returns in bounds and then proceed. The sticker must still be on when the assassin consummates the assassination.
        2. The assassin can give up on waiting; the assassination fails.
        3. The victim can remove the sticker by the normal method after 20 minutes have elapsed. If this means yelling "I spent the last few years building up an immunity to iocaine powder!" in the Widener stacks, so be it.

    VIII. BOUNDARIES - METAPHYSICAL

    Both the assassin and the victim must be their actual selves at the time of the assassination. If someone has stolen your identity, please report to the Judges for a new identity.

    IX. ROGUES

    You don't want to be a Rogue! Any assassin alive in the Game (on the opposite team) may assassinate any Rogue.
    1. You will become a Rogue if you
      1. Violate any of the rules of the Game. A few important reminders:
        1. Don't kill anybody who is not a valid victim for you.
        2. Keep your gun and stickers hidden, except during public executions.
      2. Fail to pay appropriate homage to any Judge
      3. Annoy a Judge or go against the spirit of the Rules of the Game.
    2. A person is officially granted Rogue status when his/her name appears on the web page Rogue list. Assassins do not enforce the law on their own.
    3. Rogues may not kill anyone just because everyone is after them. They may only kill their assigned victims.
    4. Deroguification
      It is possible to have your Rogue status revoked. Be warned, it is not easy. This is fully at the discretion of the Judges. Whining cannot possibly help you. However, bribery may. On the other hand, attempted bribery is looked upon disfavorably and may cause Roguehood, except if the offer is really good. Note: both Judg es are single.
    5. Defenseless players
      If you really annoy the Judges, they may declare you Defenseless, which means that none of the out-of-bounds areas protect you from assassination. (However, you may not use this fact to assassinate others while you are in normally out-of-bounds areas.)

    X. EQUIPMENT

    1. A general note
      The Official Equipment for use in the Game shall be distributed by the Judges. Use of other equipment to assassinate is not permitted. Physical means other than the official equipment are also not permitted. Functional modification of the Official Equipment is not permitted. For example, no doctoring the guns. Cosmetic modification of the guns (though not the Iocaine Powder stickers) is permitted. For example, you may paint your gun. Weapons may be concealed by clothing, by being in bags, etc. In questionable cases, the Judges will delineate what constitutes concealment as opposed to modification.
    2. Guns
      The Judges shall distribute the official Guns of the Game, consisting of plastic guns and rubber bullets.
    3. Iocaine Powder
      The Judges shall distribute the official Iocaine Powder stickers of the Game. (Attempts to duplicate official equipment can result in roguehood or instant death.)

    XI. PRIZES

    1. There shall be prizes awarded, in name, spirit, and/or concrete form, for the following categories:
      1. Winner - last team left
      2. Most kills
      3. Best / Most creative kill(s), as determined by the whims of the Judges
    2. Extra money shall be used to fund the end-of-game party. The losing team must contribute an additional $50 to the end-of-game party. No iocaine powder (real or in sticker form) may be used at the party.

    Have fun, and watch your back!