Secret Moon
Secret Moon Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Overview
This is a 10 minute game for 5–8 players (recommended for 6–7). The players are divided into the "Princess team" (Princess/Wanderer) and the "Minister team" (Minister and Guards), and only one team can win. All the roles are hidden to begin with, but the players will try to deduce the others' roles during the game. Each round all players are dealt a turn order card at random, and take their turns in that order. On a player's turn, he/she takes an action, such as looking at another player's card, protecting himself/herself, or trying to find out the other players' identities by clever guess work. If the Princess or Wanderer manages to keep their identity secret for a certain period of time, or if they capture the Minister, they will find the time to share the Wanderer's tale, and they win. The Minister's team, on the other hand, try to find both the Princess and the Wanderer, or to capture the Princess in order to win. The Priestess, secretly on the Princess' side, wins if the Princess team wins. Only fate knows how events will unfold.
Contents
- 16 cards (8 character cards, 8 turn order cards)
- 30 markers (3 each of 8 colours + 4 minister markers + 2 princess markers)
- This rule sheet
Cards/Markers Overview
Character Cards
- The name of the card. The Princess team is Red, the Minister team is Blue.
- What the character looks like.
- Special effect / line. What special effect the character has, and what to reply when asked about their identity.
Turn Order Cards
- Order number.
- Action list. A summary of possible actions.
Markers
There are three types: Player markers (3 each in 8 colours), Princess team markers and Minister team markers. These are used to remind players what information has been gained during the game. Once you get used to the game, you will end up not needing these.
Preparations
- Each player takes 3 player markers of one colour. The Princess and Minister markers are placed in the middle of the play area.
- Shuffle the characters and deal one face down to each player. All players secretly look at their card, and return it face down so that no other player can see it. Any remaining cards are placed in the middle as NPC (non-player character) cards. These will work as normal player cards (mostly).
- All players close their eyes, and someone loudly counts to five. During the count, the players who have the Princess or Wanderer open their eyes to identify each other (if possible, remember one or both of these characters might be NPCs). This concludes the preparation.
With 5 Players
If playing with 5 players, first shuffle the Priestess and the four Guards, and remove one at random from the game without looking. Then shuffle the remaining 4 cards with the Princess, Wanderer and Minister. Deal them out to the players as normal (the game will be played either with 1 Guard less, or without the Priestess).
Flow of the Game
The game is played in 3 rounds and ends after the third round. Each round is played as follows:
- Shuffle the turn order cards and deal one to each player face down. Put any remaining turn order cards in a discard pile, face down.
- The players take turns, according to the turn order cards. (Since it's possible that not all numbers are present, choose a player to announce the next number aloud. If no player claims to be that number, just proceed to the next.) The turn player first of all reveals and discards his turn order card, and then chooses one of the possible actions (see below). When he has finished his turn, announce the next number in turn.
- The round ends when no player has a turn order card left. Go back to step 1 with shuffling the turn order cards and play another round. This is repeated for a total of three rounds, or until the game ends prematurely as below.
Actions
The active player may take one of the following 6 actions (provided it is allowed for your character this turn). Also, you're allowed to pass.
- Inspect — Look at a character card.
- Inquire — Ask another player "Who goes there?"
- Accuse — Guess a player's character card. Reveal it if correct, reveal your own if not.
- Hide/Protect — Defend yourself or another player. Unavailable during round 3.
- Disrupt — Force another player to pass his turn (you will be captured).
- Attack — "Capture" a player with a revealed character. Unavailable for Guards.
- Pass — Choose a discarded turn order card and take it as yours for the next round.
Inspect
Target another player or an NPC, and look at that character card. Put your marker on the card of that player or NPC to mark that you have inspected that character.
You are not allowed to reveal, in any way, what you have seen.
Inquire
Target a player and ask "Who goes there?". That player will reply depending on their character:
- The Princess and Wanderer stay silent. They then take a Princess team marker.
- The Minister says "You fool! I'm the Minister!" They then take a Minister team marker.
- The Priestess and Guards say "It's just me!" They then take a Minister team marker.
Accuse
Target another player or an NPC and state one of the five roles ("Princess", "Wanderer", "Minister", "Guard" or "Priestess"). If the guess was correct, the accused player reveals his character card. If the guess was wrong, the accused player replies "you're wrong", and the accusing player must reveal his character card.
The accused player is not allowed to lie.
You may accuse if your card is already revealed. If you accuse an NPC, secretly peek at the card. If your guess was right, reveal the card. If it was wrong, reveal your own card.
Hide/Protect
Important: This action is unavailable during the final round (round 3).
Target a player (including yourself) or an NPC, and turn that character card sideways. This means the player is "protected" and cannot be targeted by any further action for the remainder of the round. The protected state is reset at the end of the round; turn the card back.
Disrupt
Target a player and discard his turn order card (normally face down). A player with a turn order card in front of him is a player who either hasn't had his turn yet this round (in which case he loses his turn this round) or a player who passed this round and took a turn order card for the next round (in which case he loses that card; it's discarded face up as everyone knows what it is). However, this causes the disrupting player to be captured (see below).
Attack
Important: This action is not available for Guards.
Target a revealed character card and "Capture" that character.
About Being Captured
If a player is "captured", they turn their character card upside down to mark that they are captured. If the player was auto-captured because he Disrupted someone, he should reveal his card first. That player is now out for the rest of the game. They get no further turn order cards. However, they still win if their team wins.
Pass
If you pass, you do nothing. In return, you get to look at and take one of the available turn order cards from the discards, reserving it for you for the next round. It will not be part of the turn order card shuffle, and you will not be dealt any other turn order card. As you discard your turn order card before taking your action, you may take the turn order card you just discarded. However, please note that you have passed for the current round, so even if the turn order card you take is of a number that has yet to be announced for the current round, you will NOT act in the current round. Also, if you are Disrupted, you will have to discard the turn order card you took.
An apology: The Pass rule was added after the card print, so it's not printed on the cards. It's still a possible action.
End of the Game
If any of the following four things happen, the game ends:
- The third round is finished (Princess team wins).
- The Minister is captured (Princess team wins).
- The Princess is captured (Minister team wins).
- The Princess and Wanderer are both revealed (Minister team wins).
If the game finishes after the third round, or the Minister is captured, the Princess, the Wanderer and the Priestess win. They've managed to put the Minister to sleep and while the Guards are confused, they can have their private conversation.
If the Princess is captured, or both the Princess and Wanderer are revealed, the Minister and the Guards win. The caught Princess is scolded by the Minister, and the Wanderer has to flee into the night.
Important Rules
In this game, the players are basically not allowed to speak. All players are characters silently hiding in the garden at night, if they make the slightest sound, they will be found. Consequently the players are not allowed to talk except when stated in the rules. And of course, you are not allowed to show your card, or to say what it is, either by telling the truth or lying about what it is. Also you are not allowed to suggest to other players what they should do.
But of course, you can speak of things not related to the game. If you accidentally scream because someone poked you, well, such things happen. And refraining from going to the bathroom because you must stay silent isn't good for your health. So by all means, do speak, as long as it's all in good spirits.
Also, when asked "Who goes there!" in the game, you must respond as indicated, and are not allowed to lie.
Character Advice
The Princess
The most important character in the Princess team. Given the Princess team loses if you are caught, you need to hide better than even the Wanderer, and many will try to find you. However, the only one who technically can capture you is the Minister, so don't despair just because you're found. You can hide to protect yourself, and try to accuse the remaining Guards to buy time.
The Wanderer
The game isn't over even if the Wanderer is captured, so you can act somewhat fearlessly. You know who the Princess is, and the rest of the players are almost all Guards, so you can accuse them and deplete their numbers. However, you do lose if both you and the Princess are found, so if you want to play dauntlessly, you need to hide the Princess well. Why not inspect the Princess, just to fool the others?
The Minister
The most important character in the Minister team. Also, the only one in the Minister team who can accuse without risk, though accusing too much may draw unwanted attention. You might want to start out with a few Inspections. If you're found, hope for the Guards' protection and accuse the others in order to find the Princess and the Wanderer.
The Guard
The Guards are really weak. In spirit. As soon as you are found, you faint and are captured. But you can't go around just being afraid. You are not alone. Use your numbers, and pin down the enemy. Sometimes you will need to sacrifice yourself.
The Priestess
In reality, you're the third member of the Princess team, but if asked, you say the same thing as a Guard. To mask the whereabouts of the Princess, you can start out with hiding the first round to draw false suspicion, or accuse Guards like the Wanderer would. In some ways, the Priestess might be the most interesting character in the game.
Personalities
The Princess
The second daughter of the king. As the only child of the king's second wife, she has been brought up separately from the rest, and has thus come to treasure reading alone in peace. Tied to her royal duties, she harbours a wish to see other lands, and as a fervent reader of love literature, she is intrigued by the thought of secret, silent meetings with chivalrous men. Many factors led to her taking such a daring step that night and she has asked for help from the Priestess who brought her the letter.
The Wanderer
A young man who has travelled here from a faraway land. He is in reality the third son of a powerful man in his own country, and he met and spoke with the Princess at a festival he attended as a child. He is completely uninterested in political power, and has trained himself to one day leave his country to travel the world. During his travels, he discovered the identity of the girl he met as a child, and has come here to see her once again. He entrusted a letter to the Priestess just the other day.
The Minister
A powerful bureaucrat who manages the castle. His loyalty to the royal court is firm, and he watches over the Princess like his own daughter. Since the recent love letter frenzy, he has kept his eyes and ears peeled, afraid that some untrustworthy whelp will catch the attentions of his dear protégée, and many are the love letters that have been burned by his hand. He is mighty surprised by the shy princess' daring move, but even so he can not let this pass, and has decided to put a stop to this foolish nighttime meeting.
The Guards
Each is a loyal guard working in the castle. By order of the Minister, they are patrolling the garden that night. They are but lowly guards, and are not allowed to act against their superiors. Also, many of them feel sorry for the princess with her confined life, and aren't exactly eager to stop her nighttime adventure.
The Priestess
A kind female priestess. When the princess asked her for help, she was quick to accept. Officially, she is helping the Minister to find the Princess, but uses the search to buy time for the Princess. While she is full of grace, and has been trained as a holy woman, her agility should not be underestimated.
To End With
This time I wanted to ride with the times and do a Werewolf game. I am personally horrible at chatting, and not very good at that type of game, so I wanted to make a game that could be enjoyed by people like me, by decreasing the need to lie and bluff, and making a deduction game where you only use the rules. Also, I tried to keep the romantic atmosphere by not having anyone killed in the game. This game is kind of a continuation of my previous game "Love Letter", if that is anything that can be appreciated by the players. Even in this game, it's a bit hard to decide what to do at first, but the games are short enough for you to regard the first game as simple practice, and then play some 2–3 games with the same group. Deep thanks for trying out my game. I constantly want to improve, so if possible, please come back for my next game too. Finally, I want to thank Noboru Sugiura for always providing amazing art, and all players who participated in the test playing.
— Seiji Kanai
Credits
- Manual ver 20141204
- First print 2014-10-15
- Published by Kanai Factory (Seiji Kanai)
- English Translation: Simon Lundström
- Proof Reading: Nick Pitman
- Printing: Man-indo Co., ltd., Tachikita print.
Please do not use the art in this game without permission. This game is fiction. Any similarities with existing persons and groups is pure coincidence.