Rumplestiltskin!
Rumplestiltskin! Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
This is a group party game that's about survival and wits. The Magic Mirror (the moderator) divides players into two secret teams – Team Rumplestiltskin (The two imps) and the Fairytale Characters. Team Rumplestilskin's goal is to kill all of the victims before being discovered. The Fairytale Characters' goal is to identify who is on Team Rumplestiltskin and vote to burn them alive.
The game cycles between day and night. During the night, everyone closes their eyes except Team Rumplestiltskin. Team Rumplestiltskin will silently decide which player they want to murder, and signal their choice to the moderator. Once they've made their choice, the moderator asks everyone to open their eyes, and announces who was murdered. Then everyone is free to say or do anything to guess which character is actually on Team Rumplestiltskin, and vote to burn someone they suspect at the stake. That player reveals their identity, and if there are any surviving players on Team Rumplestiltskin, night begins again.
Setting up
Rumplestiltskin works best with seven to twenty players and one moderator. It's best to play with an odd number of players.
For most games, you'll want your deck to have:
- Team Rumplestiltskin (2 Imps)
- The Fairy Godmother
- The Sherif of Nottingham
- Fairytale Characters (16 Characters)
Shuffle the cards and pass them out. Everyone should look at their card and memorize their identity, but they must keep their identity secret. Two of the players are now secretly on Team Rumplestiltskin, and the rest are Fairytale Characters.
Two of the Fairytale Characters also have secret powers. Each night, the Fairy Godmother can secretly protect one player from being killed by the Imps, and each night, the Sherif of Nottingham can secretly investigate one player and find out if they're an Imp or not.
Nighttime
The game begins during the night, and everyone closes their eyes. The moderator says:
"Rumplestilstskin Awakens"
At this point, Team Rumplestiltskin open their eyes and look around to see who their fellow imps are. The moderator says:
"Team Rumplestiltskin, who do you want to kill?"
Now Team Rumplestiltskin silently work together to determine who to kill. They can use hand gestures, mouth words, and point to make their choice, but they should make it quickly and silently. The moderator says:
"Team Rumplestiltskin, close your eyes… Fairy Godmother, open your eyes."
The Fairy Godmother opens her eyes, and the moderator says:
"Fairy Godmother, who do you want to protect?"
The Fairy Godmother points to any player (including herself) that she wants to protect. The Moderator says:
"Fairy Godmother, close your eyes… Sherif of Nottingham, open your eyes."
The Sherif opens his eyes, and the moderator says:
"Sherif, who do you want to investigate?"
The Sherif points to a player that he wants to investigate. If that player is on Team Rumplestiltskin, the moderator will nod his head "yes." If that player isn't an imp the moderator will nod his head "no." Then the moderator says:
"Sherif, close your eyes… everyone, open your eyes."
Now the moderator will tell everyone what happened overnight:
"During the night, Team Rumplestiltskin gruesomely slit the throat of ______ (feel free to embellish these details)."
In the rare case that the Fairy Godmother saved the player that Team Rumplestiltskin killed, the moderator adds:
"…but the Fairy Godmother saved him, and nobody died!"
If something goes wrong with this script during the night, it can throw off the entire game – there's a lot of technical issues to consider.
Morning
This is where Team Rumplestiltskin plays it cool. During the day, players can say or do anything (including lying, making alliances, claiming to be a role they aren't, etc.) in their attempts to convince one another that they are innocent and the people they suspect are on Team Rumplestiltskin. The only thing you can't do is reveal your card to another player.
Each day typically starts with a discussion of what happened overnight. By the end of the day, players will have to nominate someone they suspect of being an evil Imp and vote to burn them at the stake.
As soon as a majority of players vote to execute someone, the moderator turns to that player and says:
"You're dead. If you're an Imp, reveal your card."
If the dead player reveals their card as an Imp, the Fairytale Characters can relax a bit – they're one Imp closer to surviving and winning the game. If the player burned at the stake doesn't reveal their card, that means that a Fairytale Character has been wrongly killed – and they might have been the Fairy Godmother or Sherif of Nottingham! Yikes!
The moment a player is declared dead (i.e. the moment the moderator says, "You're dead"), they can no longer speak for the remainder of the game. They don't get any dying accusations or speeches, and they can't reveal any information (i.e. if they're the Sherif, who they investigated).
Day is less complicated than night.
Once a player is burned alive, night falls and the cycle repeats. Everyone closes their eyes, the Imps (or Imp) secretly selects someone to kill, the Sherif (if alive) secretly learns another player's status; then the sun rises, one player is found dead, and the remaining players begin to discuss another character that should be executed. Repeat until one side wins."
Alternative Roles
Additional roles are assigned when there are many players in a game of Rumplestiltskin. There are lots of special roles, some of which can be secondary, like the Villain. These roles give players advantages or handicaps, stirring up the traditional dynamic of the informed minority versus the uninformed majority.
The Wicked Witch: This villager has two potions: the first is a resurrection potion, which can be used to resurrect a player killed by an Imp at night. The second is a poison apple, used during the day to assassinate one player at any time. Each potion can only be used once per game. The Wicked Witch can't save herself after she's been killed, and she probably has no reason to poison herself.
The Frightened Child: This role is a limited version of the Sherif. Every night the little Frightened Child can secretly peek as the Imps choose their victim; but if the Imps catch him, they can point him out to the moderator and the Frightened Child gets eaten by the Imps. When there is a Frightened Child role in play, all players must show their faces while it's Night (ie. you cannot put your head down or turn your back, etc.)
The Villain: The Villain is a Fairytale Character with a secret alliance with Team Rumplestiltskin; the traitor does not wake up at night with the Imps and isn't identified as an Imp if investigated by the Sherif. The Villain works to protect the Imps during the day and wins only if the Imps win.
The Cursed: This is the Fairytale Character who is cursed to be so hideous that they appear as an Imp if investigated by the Sherif. The Magic Mirror has to do a good job remember all these abilities.