Guilty: Houston 2015
Guilty: Houston 2015 Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components and Setup
Remove the following items from the box, one by one, without flipping them over or peeking at them:
- Investigation Area supplement: Place the supplement in the middle of the table, "Inmates" side up. This supplement lets you store cards in designated spaces, letting you retrieve information quickly and easily.
- Story card deck (62 large cards): Place this deck on one side of the play area, near the Investigation Area. These cards (each numbered in a box) represent actions that you can perform during the game (such as questioning suspects or searching cells), and the consequences of those actions.
- Time card deck (44 small cards): Place this deck "clock" side up on its designated space, to the left of the Investigation Area. Make sure the deck is sorted in ascending order of the numbers in the bottom-left corner of each card. This deck represents the relentless passing of time. A number of locked Events await you at the end of this deck that will likely throw your investigation into disarray!
- Additional material (in an envelope): Leave this near the Story card deck. This material consists of clues that may come to light during the investigation.
Investigation Area
- Time card deck: placed to the left of the Investigation Area, "clock" side up.
- Time card discard pile: next to the Time card deck.
- For now, leave all inaccessible items here.
- Organize unlocked cards by arranging them around the Investigation Area.
Conduct the Investigation
In a Guilty scenario, players collectively take on the role of a single character trying to solve a case.
Each scenario unfolds as follows:
-
Read the introduction (on the back of this sheet). The game will then prompt you to collect specific numbered Story cards and add them to the Investigation Area.
-
Investigate... All Story cards in the Investigation Area are available. They represent suspects available for questioning, locations to search, evidence to analyze, etc. Simply pick a card and flip it over to reveal its contents.
The back of a Story card can contain several types of information. There is always a text or an illustration with information to guide your reasoning.
After reading a card, leave it face-up in the Investigation Area (unless otherwise instructed). Then pick another card in the Investigation Area and flip it over. Important: In many cases, flipping a Story card over requires you to spend time, represented by drawing a card from the Time deck! Items left outside of the play area are considered inaccessible.
-
Solve the case. The final Time card will inform you that it is time to report your findings, and explain how to do so. Simply flip the supplement over and follow the instructions. Note: You won't have enough time during the game to read all the Story cards.
You will then have to answer questions or make choices. Each outcome is different and written into the narrative arc.
The Game Is Your Guide...
Guilty uses simple rules: Just follow the instructions on the cards and focus on your investigation. All you need to know is summarized below.
Always resolve any actions shown in a yellow banner immediately. Do what this yellow banner asks, immediately after reading it.
For example, a card might instruct you to collect a Story card from the deck and place it face-down in the Investigation Area.
Many cards also require you to draw Time cards or insert an event into the Time deck. This is a key concept in Guilty: Time passes and your choices have consequences.
Symbols
- Collect the numbered card from the corresponding deck and add it to your Investigation Area, face-down. Important! Newly acquired cards always enter play face-down. You are not required to reveal them immediately unless they have the flip symbol (see below).
- Insert the numbered card into the corresponding deck.
- If you see the flip symbol on the front of a card in the Investigation Area, or on the top card in the Time deck, flip the card over and read it immediately. Discard Time cards after reading them. If this symbol is present on the front of a card, flip it face-down.
- Reveal the top Time card of the Time deck. Read any text on the card, then discard it. Do not flip any Time cards over unless expressly instructed to do so by this symbol or another rule. This symbol appears at the bottom of nearly all Story cards.
Tips
Guilty is packed with details: Cards are full of clues and information you'll need to deduce useful insights. Initially, you will have little information to work with. If you get stuck, trust your hunches. Sooner or later, you will find a useful lead to follow up on.
You will gradually be inundated with information, making it important to keep your Investigation Area organized. Feel free to use a pen and paper to note your ideas. Similarly, re-reading existing cards can often cause them to appear in a new light.
At the end of the game, you will score points for many different things, not all of which will be obvious! Take your time to understand as much as you can!
Guilty is highly documented: The game will let you know whether you can use the Internet to search for information. Make the most of this possibility if your scenario allows it.
Guilty is dense: Keep discussing and elaborating new theories as the game progresses. One of them may lead you to the truth! Now read the introduction to the scenario on the back.
Houston, 2015 — Introduction
It's taken until 9 p.m. for the bar to start buzzing. Trapped having drinks for your coworker Terry's birthday, you're already on your third beer, with a fourth round on its way. You've been munching peanuts to forget that this time last week, you were still chain-smoking cigarettes.
"Jeez, TD, don't you ever check your damn phone?" your partner Abraham grumbles, thrusting his own cell towards you.
You pin the phone against your ear and head for the exit, away from the noise. Outside, the night is unusually chilly, even for a 15th of December. The reproach in your commissioner's voice is unmistakable.
"I've been trying to reach you for the past hour, Theodora."
"I..."
"Can the excuses. Someone's dead. You know who Senator Kowalski is, right? (You quickly confirm his presumption.) Well, the stiff's his own daughter! Get over to the county jail. The warden's waiting for you."
You hang up, sniff the lingering tobacco smell, and catch your fingers rolling an imaginary cigarette. If Abraham hadn't been on sick leave for burnout, you would have happily handed him the case. Back in the bar, you give an excuse to the birthday boy and turn on your phone.
After parking your car by the entrance to the penitentiary center, you recognize two familiar faces and instinctively raise two fingers to your temple in an informal salute. That would be Garcia, married to the job but not the sharpest tool in the shed, and O'Hare, a guy with a dubious moral compass.
A stocky man in a zipped-up parka saunters up to you. He greets you with a handshake.
"Dan Russell. I'm the lucky guy in charge here. Follow me, I'll give you the run-down."
Gratefully releasing his hand, unpleasantly cold yet clammy from anxiety, you follow the warden as he breathlessly explains the situation.
"Frank Kowalski's daughter had been incarcerated here for the past year and a half. Tonight, we found her soaking in her own blood. We called 911, but she was DOA. That's, uh..."
"It's a shit show. You don't have to spell it out!"
After a few twists and turns, you reach a Formica-furnished office. Russell takes a seat between an outdated computer and a heap of paperwork.
December 15th, 2015
"So, any idea what happened?" you inquire.
"Not really", he shrugs. "Julia was prone to bouts of depression. And I'm not even sure what's better: If she committed suicide or was offed by a fellow inmate.
"Any suspects?"
"Four, actually. Julia was being held in a single-bunk cell in a restricted area."
You feel your mind sharpening, cutting through the alcohol-induced haze.
"The VIP block, I suppose?"
"Actually, no. A pilot rehabilitation project, they call it. Some of the girls are serving long sentences, but they keep out of trouble. They run the workshop, kitchens, and laundry. The mens' quarters are on the floor above them. There's no way they could be in contact with the male prisoners. This ain't one of those Swedish hippie jails!"
"Anyways... Julia... Kowalski. D'you know her father?"
"Yeah, kinda. I saw him once, last year in 2014, during his re-election campaign. A tough guy, but he called me from time to time. I never dreamed I'd be contacting him to tell him his daughter was dead... I thought he was going to roast me alive over the phone!"
Russell tosses you a hefty ring of keys, followed by a hostile glance.
"Take a look around. But lock the doors behind you."
"Got it...!"
You peer through the window. Outside, the watchtowers are bathed in the blue and red glow of police lights, like eerie Christmas trees.
"Where did you find her?" you ask, without shifting your gaze.
"In the showers. There's blood up to the ceiling."
"And the suspects?"
"They're in isolation. Good luck interviewing them! Some didn't say a word during their own trial..."
He taps his watch face nervously. It's 10 P.M.
"There's already a press conference slated for 11 a.m. tomorrow. You're gonna have to brief the media and the family. We both have an interest in understanding absolutely everything that has happened here. Good luck!"
Take cards 1 to 24 and place them face-down in the Investigation Area, in the spaces matching the symbol on each card.
Your investigation starts here! Pick a Story card in the Investigation Area. Flip it over and read it.