Occult Slumber Party Rules June 2014

7/25/2019 Occult Slumber Party Rules June 2014

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It was supposed to be a fun vacation, a getaway from the city at

a rustic home in the mountains surrounded by an idyllic forest. But

that was before you found the strange old dec k of cards. And it was

f i n i t l y

before you opened the rulebook that came with the cards

and read the strange words on its yellowing pages, unleashing an

ancient demonic force that has infected some of your friendsor did it

infect YOU? Now, you must use all of your wits and c unning to find

out which of your friends has evil is lurking within t hemand

bloodily sacrifice them before they slaughter you first But be careful

whom you accuse: paranoia runs rampant in situations like this, and

you dont want to go killing innocent people now, do you? You have

to figure it out quickly, though, because every night the Demons claim

another victim, and they wont be sat isfied until EVERYBODY DIES.

So with that in mind, kick back and enjoy your

OCCULT

SLUMBER

P RTY


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WHAT IT IS

In Occult Slumber Party, you and a group of friends each secretly

assume the identity of a person on a card that you choose from a

special deck and try to identify the Demons hiding in your midst. The

game is a thematic and aesthetic variation of the game Werewolf by

Andrew Plotkin, which in turn was based on Mafia, created by

Dimitry Davidoff.

THE ROLES

The SUMMONER moderates the game and is responsible for

making sure that the Occult Slumber Party progresses in a fair,

orderly, and bloody fashion.

PARTYGOERS are simply trying to survive the horror that

theyve found themselves in the middle of without being

misidentified as demon-possessed and subsequently sacrificed.

DEMONS want to avoid detection at all cost s in their quest to

souls. As such, they must survive until the next night,

charming, lying and using every other evil trick at their disposal

to cast suspicion on others.

The OCCULTIST is a partygoer who has insight in to the secret

world of the supernatural. Once per night, the Occultist can


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look into another partygoers heart and discover if they are

possessed by a Demon or not.

The HEALER is a partygoer who can choose any one player

(themselves included) to protect from Demon assault. The only

drawback is that they dont know whom the Demons hav e chosen

to attack

SETTING UP THE GAME

If youve played Werewolf or Mafia before, this part should be eas y.

If you havent played either game, it s still pretty easy. There are 20

cards total in the Occult Slumber Party deck: 14 Partygoers, 3

Demons, 1 Occultist, 1 Healer and 1 Summoner. To play, firs t print

and cut out the cards and g lue them to the heavy cardstock of your

choice (using standard playing cards works really well). Depending on

the number of people playing (any number between 7 and 20, with an

odd number of players recommended but not absolutely essential), you

must first assemble a deck with the proper number and ratio of cards.

If seven people are playing, you should shuffle the Summon er card,

the Occultist card, two Demon cards, and three Partygoer cards

together. If nine people are playing, you should have t wo Demon

cards and five Partygoer cards. You can add a third Demon if you

have a lot of players, but that isnt requir ed. In any game of any

number of players, you can also swap out one of the Partyg oer cards

with the Healer card if that suits your fan cy (see rules below), and if

you play with 20 people, use the entire deck.


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Once the proper amount of cards are asse mbled and shuffled, the

dealer hands one to each player, face down. Each player should look

at their card, and they must KEEP IT SECRET. The only person who

reveals their identity at this stage is the Summoner. It is their role to

keep the game going and, above all, keep neutral.

Once all the players have memorized their role and hidden their cards,

the Occult Slumber Party begins in gory earnest.

HOW TO PLAY

First, the Summoner sets the properly ominous scene. Something like

this works great:

You and your friends have retreated to a secluded mountain getaway

for a week of partying and fun. But you just had t o explore that old

abandoned estate nearby, didnt you? And you couldnt resist messing

around with that cursed deck of car ds that you found could you? Now

you have some uninvited guests at your party: soul-hungry Demons

who are masquerading as your friends. Youv e spent all day trying to

figure whos possessed and whos still human, but now night has

fallen. Creatures stalk the darkness, hunting for a new victim, but

youre exhausted; you have to g et some sleep. So everyone please close

your eyes


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NIGHT PHASE

Thus begins the first NIGHT phase. The Occu lt Slumber Party is

divided into two phases: Day, when partygoers eat, drink, be merry,

and then attempt to discov er who the Demons among them are and

ultimately vote on one person to sacrific e; and Night, when all players

must close their eyes and the Demon silently selects another victim.

When the first Night phase begins (after all player s have their eyes

closed and are settled), the Summoner says, Demons, open your

eyes. The player(s) who are Demons then open their eyes . Then, the

Summoner says, Choose someone to slaughter. The Demons must

then silently choose one player to eliminate by communicating using

sign language, pointing, etc. Once the Demons have decided who dies,

the Summoner then says, Demons, close your eyes.

The Summoner should allow for a pause of decent length and then

say, Occultist, open your eyes. The Occultist does so. The

Summoner then says, Silently point at s omeone to discover if they are

a Demon. The Occultist then silently indicates another player they

want to discover the true identity of, and the Summoner must then

silently let them know if that person is or is not a Demon; a nod

meaning yes, a shake of the head, thumbs up or down, etc . Once that

is accomplished, the Summoner says, Occultist, close your eyes. This

is the final turn before the sun rises.


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Then say, The sun has risen and one of your num ber has been

brutally butchered. Open your eyes : You are DEAD BY DAWN. The

Summoner then immediately points out the dead partygoer. Without

speaking they reveal their card, and they must not speak for the rest

of the game. Have them go get a beer.

DAY PHASE

Now, the DAY phase (and the fun) begins. The players goal during

the day is to come to a consensus on a Demon t o sacrifice (or, if youre

a Demon, to cast suspicion on the others and survive to take another

soul at night). What can players do? M ost anything. No one should

reveal their actual role; if a partygoer is the Occultist, they should

strive to keep their identity secret, less the Demons target them. And

if youre a Demon, it doesnt do to go reve aling your true nature to

your victims. But as you might begin to understand, this does not

prevent you from accusing other partygoers or misrepresenting who

you are. Lying, misdirection and other sorts of skullduggery are not

only acceptable, theyre encouraged. Once players vote and decide

whom they want to sacrifice, that person is cons idered dead, slain by

the hand of their friends. Then, they must reveal their card and

remain silent. If its a Demon, hooray One less thing out there going

bump in the night. If not, uh oh: another innocent dead. After a

partygoer is sacrificed, Night falls. The Summoner says, Night falls.

Everyone close your eyes, and t he whole bloody business starts all

over again


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HOW TO WIN

The Partygoers win when they sacrifice all of the Demons .

The Demons win when there is the same number of them as ther e are

partygoers.

VARIATION: PLAYING WITH THE HEALER

If you choose to incorporate the Healer card int o your game, it takes

the place of one Partygoer card. The Healers tu rn in the sequence of

play comes after the Demons and before the Occu ltist, and the Healer

has the power to protect one player of their choice from being killed

by Demons. After the Demons close their eyes, t he Summoner should

wait the proper interval and say, Healer, open your ey es. The

Summoner then asks the Healer to indicat e the person they want to

protect. The Healer can choose anybody, includ ing him or herself.

Once they choose, the Summoner says, Healer, c lose your eyes. Play

proceeds normally to the Occultist s turn. If, when the Day phase

begins, the Healer has saved the chosen victim, the Summoner

indicates the Partygoer that the Demons tried to slaughter, and says

something like, Dawn has broken, and during the nig ht Demons came

for your soul, but you were protected by a benev olent practitioner of

the Art. It is vital that the Healer r emain anonymous no matter

whom they protect If the victim was not protected, play then proceeds

in the normal fashion.


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GUIDELINES, STRATEGIES, DOs and DONTs, ETC.

Say whatever you need to in order to liv e or to kill. Lying is

encouraged and expected.

Summoners should encourage players to hum, tap their feet or

otherwise make some white noise during the Ni ght phase so as to

mask noisy activities that may give away clues.

Keep your personal business out of the game. Occ ult Slumber

Party isnt the place to sett le vendettas or be a bad sport.

Summoners should always be impartial, like the universe itself.

Dont show your cards to other players unless youre dead.

Speaking of the deadthe dead dont speak. If a Demon kills

you, zip it.

CREDITS

Occult Slumber Party was conceiv ed and written by Gabe Soria as a

goofy variation on the games Werewolf and Mafia. The art for t he

Occult Slumber Party card s is by Arik Roper, who is an all-around

badass dude and great friend with vast reserves of patience.

Occult Slumber Party Rules June 2014

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