Captive
Captive Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
The Rules
Your character is defined by three main attributes: Strength, Dexterity, and Will.
- Strength — the higher the value, the easier it will be for you to break down doors, lift heavy weights, fight hand-to-hand, or perform any other physical feat.
- Dexterity — this attribute defines your agility, your nimbleness, and your ability with a gun.
- Will — this refers to your bravery, your perseverance, and your ability to remain cool under pressure. Your resolve also underlies your manual skills, and a high score lets you remain your own master in extreme circumstances.
Each of these attributes begins with a minimum of 5 points. However, you have 5 additional points to distribute between them, bearing in mind that a single attribute may have no more than 9 points. For instance, you could go for Strength 9 / Dexterity 5 / Will 6, or Strength 6 / Dexterity 7 / Will 7.
Your physical condition is determined by your Health value. This characteristic diminishes when you receive a blow, when you are wounded, or if you become sick, faint, or exhausted. You can recover Health if you receive first aid or drink a remedy of some sort, but you can never have more Health than the 20 you start with.
Should you lose all of your Health at any moment during the story, you die and must stop reading immediately. However, you are welcome to start the story again from the beginning, this time with a different attribute profile if you wish.
Time plays an important part throughout the story. You will sometimes be asked to check your current Time value, and the result may affect the course of your adventure. You begin the book with a Time value of 0. Each time you spot the sand-timer symbol while reading, add 1 point to your total Time value — this applies as soon as you spot the symbol, even in a panel you have visited before.
You have a limited amount of time to find your daughter, so do not confuse speed with haste! Some panels hide numbers within their art; keep your eyes open to spot them. You will only stand a chance of saving Lili if you keep the right balance between speed and efficiency.
You will be able to take items and add them to your Inventory whenever the story suggests it. You may carry at most three items in your pockets at any time; your gun and your wallet (containing 10,000 euros in bank notes) do not count against this limit. You may drop an item at any time to make room for another one.
Character Sheet
Before starting, fill in your character sheet:
- Strength, Dexterity, Will — record your chosen attribute values (5 minimum each, 5 extra points to distribute, 9 maximum per attribute).
- Health — starts at 20; track damage and healing here as the story instructs.
- Time — starts at 0; tick off a box each time you spot the sand-timer symbol.
- Inventory — up to three items, plus your gun and your wallet (which never count against the limit).
- Notes — use this space to jot down anything useful you read or overhear (codes, names, clues) as the story tells you to.
Playing the Game
Start reading at panel 1 and follow the numbered panels through the book. Each panel presents a scene; most panels end with an instruction telling you which panel to turn to next, sometimes after checking an attribute, your Health, or your Time value, or after a coin flip or a choice between two or more doors, actions, or lines of dialogue. Follow the instructions exactly as given — you are only ever reading one panel at a time, not the whole page.
If a panel calls for a test of Strength, Dexterity, or Will, compare your attribute's value against the threshold the panel gives you, and follow whichever outcome applies to your score. If a panel deals you damage, subtract it from your Health immediately; if your Health reaches 0, you have died, and your reading of the story ends there (you may start over with a new attribute profile).
Watch for the sand-timer symbol in a panel's art: whenever you spot one, add 1 to your Time value on your character sheet right away, even if you have already visited that panel before. Some panels test your Time value directly, so a slow, thorough search of the mansion carries its own risk.
When a panel invites you to pick up an item, add it to your Inventory (remember the three-item pocket limit, separate from your gun and wallet). Some items unlock alternate choices or outcomes in later panels — the story will tell you when an item you are carrying matters.
The adventure ends when you reach one of the story's endings — successfully rescuing Lili, or one of the game's other, less fortunate conclusions.
Achievements
If you finish your adventure, congratulations — you have completed your mission. There are many ways to reach your goal, some requiring more heroism, luck, or intelligence than others. Check which of the following achievements you accomplished along the way and add up their points to calculate your final score. The best possible outcome results in a score of 38 points, but whatever your final score, what really matters is that you were able to rescue Lili from her kidnappers.
Each achievement below is unlocked by discovering, reading, or accomplishing a specific thing somewhere in the story (the book marks exactly which panel unlocks each one):
| Achievement | Points |
|---|---|
| Kill the cultist with a gun without being wounded | +2 |
| Kill the cultist with the shurikens without being wounded | +2 |
| Find the newspaper clippings in the first secret room | +1 |
| Find the letter the Prophet wrote to Sylvère | +1 |
| Find the burnt note and the yellow key | +1 |
| Discover the right combination to gain entry to the second secret room | +3 |
| Find the bottle of cognac in the cellar | +1 |
| Kill the cultist with the blades without being wounded | +2 |
| Arrive in time to save Clovis | +4 |
| Discover the secret staircase | +3 |
| Read the internet article about the manor | +1 |
| Find the diary | +1 |
| Find the Prophet's personal notes | +1 |
| Receive the doll from Solange | +3 |
| Light the magic lamp | +2 |
| Show the doll to Caroline's ghost | +2 |
| Find the labeled key | +1 |
| Escape the predators in the vivarium | +2 |
| Read the Magnus Symbolum in the library | +2 |
| Find the scoubidou key | +1 |
| Watch the amateur film until the end | +2 |
| Distract the sorcerer cultist with the billiard ball | +2 |
| Find the locker | +2 |
| Find the scythe | +2 |
| Free Lili before the end of the ritual | +3 |
| Kill the cultist with the cap by surprise | +2 |